Damien didn't dodge.
He flickered forward, skipping through space like a phantom, and struck. His death-infused fist drove through ribs like paper, splintering bone with terrifying ease, slamming the beast into the ground in a smoking crater.
The third gorilla roared, unleashing a tidal wave of mana. Trees splintered, the wind screamed, the air boiled.
But Damien was already there. He met the charge head-on, death energy swirling like a storm around him. He moved through the barrage like a specter, dodging each strike with eerie grace, countering with brutal simplicity.
He struck joints, broke stances, crushed breath. The S-rank beast, proud and powerful, could only flail and howl as Damien carved it apart one piece at a time—an execution without emotion.
The fox watched in horror, the melancholy replaced entirely by fear. Her elegant body trembled, realizing too late the depth of the mistake she'd made in targeting this seemingly ordinary human.
