Hyunsoo panted heavily, his hands on his knees as he bent down for a better breathing.
His whole body was burning, eyes disheveled. He gradually tilted his head upward.
The sky, which was bright orange-red, was now light blue. Like that fireball was never real to begin with.
Just as he straightened himself, the hunters had already appeared. Now, ten of them.
Ten top-tier S-Rankers. Not a scratch on them. Like they hadn't just thrown a sun at him.
Jiwoo was among them too, arms crossed, the remains of his wand floating behind him like broken bones held together by mana threads. His purple coat swayed with the wind, somehow still clean. The bastard even looked smug.
"Still alive," one of them muttered. "Guy's either lucky or suicidal."
Hyunsoo chuckled through cracked lips. "Can't it be both?"
Minsoo stepped forward again, slinging his greatsword onto his back with a heavy clank. "You done showing off?"
"I was just warming up."
"Sure." He rolled his neck. "Then how about Round Two?"
Hyunsoo's smile faded.
His knees were shaking. His vision kept flickering in and out. Aura reserves low. Muscles torn. Bones probably fractured in places he didn't want to check.
This wasn't a fight anymore.
It was cleanup.
"Guys," Hyunsoo said, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Honest question. How many laws of war are you all breaking right now?"
Shin snorted. "All of them."
Harin, who hadn't done anything for a while, now spoke. "Surrender yourself. You can't win this."
Hyunsoo chuckled.
His chuckles grew more and more until it was a full on laughter.
The hunters were taken aback of his laughter, this was no situation for his to be laughing. Especially, like that.
Seokjin blinked. "What's this now?"
---
"Huh? What the heck is a berserk-swordsman?" Lucian frowned, clearly hating the idea of that stupidity.
"Uh.. i don't know. It's what this system guy assigned me." Hyunsoo pointed at the translucent screen.
[Look, i don't assign the classes. It's the constellations work. I am just a manager working under them.]
"How foolish can they be? A Berserker is a whole something else, they cannot be compared to a swordsman." Lucain sighed.
He added. "Warth is also a berserker. You can't imagine him trying to think straight and attack with a frail sword that might break in a swing."
"Well, since you are somehow a berserk-swordsman. Then, what can you do?"
"I have a number of skills, lemme show them."
A blue screen erupted in front of them, showcasing a list of skills.
---
[Class: Berserk-Swordsman]
Designated by: ??? Constellation of Fury and Control
Class Rating: A → Potential S+
Skills Unlocked:
1. [Adrenal Crash]
— Temporarily boosts all physical stats by 50% when HP drops below 30%. Stacks with Rage States.
2. [Unchained Blade]
— The lower your health, the sharper your blade. Even a stick can become a sword. Ignores armor.
3. [Mindbreak Howl]
— Releases a roar that disrupts enemy concentration and breaks low-tier barriers. Increases own aggression and speed.
4. [Blood Reversal]
— Converts blood loss into raw energy. The more you bleed, the stronger your next attack becomes.
5. [Last Stand: Requiem Slash] (Locked)
— A one-use-only finisher skill. Requires HP to drop below 10% and "Heartbeat Threshold" to activate.
6. [Controlled Rage] (Passive)
— Unlike normal Berserkers, you retain partial control during rage mode. Can identify friend from foe.
---
Lucian tilted his head. "…Wrath would probably kill himself if he sees this."
"Is that a good thing?" Hyunsoo blinked.
"Probably, he is the second strongest demon king." Lucian counter blinked.
"Who's the first?" Hyunsoo once again blinked.
"Me of course" Lucian counter blinked again.
[Stop blinking!]
Hyunsoo AGAIN blinked at him. "...You just said that like it was common knowledge."
Lucian scoffed. "It is. Anyone with a brain knows Pride trumps Wrath. The only thing he beats me at is yelling."
[Correction: Wrath trumps you in raw destructive output.]
Lucian narrowed his eyes at the system window. "Shut up."
[No.]
"You-"
[I would like to sincerely apologise by any mistake that has occured and offended you in any way possible. I am still a mere a child, please do forgive my ignorance and not understanding your greatness.]
'Where did he learn to butter up this much' Hyunsoo stared at Lucain, who's expression had now calmed down.
---
The ground started to shake, dark red aura erupted from Hyunsoo's body like steam.
The hunter tensed at this sudden power-up.
His laughter had stopped.
Hyunsoo's head was down, shadow covering his eyes, but the air around him—no, everything around him—was starting to distort.
The blood on the ground trembled. Cracks spiderwebbed beneath his feet.
That deep, heavy aura roared out like a beast on a leash finally breaking free.
"Wait, wait—" Jiwoo took a step back. "He was already this injured! How the hell—?!"
Seokjin's eyes widened. "It's not mana."
The aura wasn't clean. It was wild, reckless, and angry. A spiraling mess of red and black steam surged from Hyunsoo's body, crackling like an overcharged battery on the verge of snapping.
Then came the sound.
"THUMP."
A heartbeat. But it didn't belong to any of them.
Hyunsoo raised his head, and his eyes were bloodshot—irises glowing a furious crimson.
[⚠️ Skill Triggered: Adrenal Crash]
[HP: 23% | Physical Stats boosted by 50%]
[Rage State Active — Berserk-Swordsman Sync: 89%]
Another beat.
"THUMP."
[⚠️ Skill Triggered: Blood Reversal]
[Calculating damage absorbed: 31,000 units → +72% Power Surge]
He took a step forward.
The world shook.
Harin whispered, "this... this isn't just desperation."
Hyunsoo's breath was ragged. His smile twisted—not manic, not cocky. Just… done.
"You wanted Round Two?" he muttered.
And vanished.
A boom exploded from where he stood, and Minsoo barely raised his sword in time to block a wild, horizontal slash.
"Gkh—!"
The shockwave blasted three hunters off their feet. Seokjin's barrier flared instantly, cracking on impact.
Hyunsoo appeared behind him, already mid-swing.
[Skill Activated: Unchained Blade]
[+51% Armor Penetration | Weapon: Metal Pipe]
[Converting Hostile Aura into kinetic blade range]
The literal piece of broken rebar in his hand shimmered like a holy sword—despite being scrap metal.
Jiwoo yelled, "He's gonna kill someone! Harin, now!"
"I know!"
Harin raised both hands, a white fox appeared and took on the strike. It immediately vanquished from the sheer intensity.
But this wasn't the end.
Hyunsoo spun midair and striked again.
Taesik immediately rushed and stopped the strike with his body, buffed by Hyuk.
"Hyuk! More buff.!" Taesik yelled, already getting pushed back.
A magic bullet hit Hyunsoo at the shoulder, making him stagger.
But that was just for a second, he immediately rushed towards Daejin, who was shooting from the top of the building.
He lunged, reaching the top in just a second.
On the roof, was Daejin and... A turtle.
A white turtle, similar to that fox just now. And there was a translucent green barrier in front of them both.
Hyunsoo Didn't think much and still attacked. The strike tore through the barrier and the turtle but it had given enough time for Daejin to disappear.
He landed on the rooftop with a crack, debris flying beneath his feet. Blood dripped down his arm, his shoulder still oozing from the bullet wound. But his eyes—his eyes were locked onto Daejin's last known position like a predator denied its prey.
His body trembled. Not out of fear.
Out of rage.
The red steam was still hissing off him, wrapping around his limbs like living armor. His grip tightened around the bent metal in his hand—more blade than pipe now. It gleamed unnaturally, as if responding to his fury.
Below him, the hunters regrouped, panting, wide-eyed.
"He's... targeting the ranged ones first," Minsoo said, wiping blood from his mouth. "Smart for a berserker."
"Not smart," Seokjin muttered. "Controlled."
On the roof, Hyunsoo raised the metal pipe above his head. A low growl escaped his throat. That barrier hadn't been enough. That turtle hadn't been enough. Nothing was enough to stop him now.
[⚠️ Berserk-Swordsman Sync: 96%]
[⚠️ Mindbreak Howl available.]
[⚠️ HP: 14%]
[⚠️ "Heartbeat Threshold" nearing activation...]
He was inches away from full madness.
And Daejin's scent still lingered.
Hyunsoo turned his head—slow, jerky, robotic.
The next hunter—Shin—stood just a few buildings over. Wounded, distracted, still recovering from the shockwave. An easy target.
Hyunsoo's legs bent.
[Target Acquired.]
The system interface blurred red.
He lunged—
—but never reached.
His body froze mid-air, eyes wide. The steam halted. The blood dripping from his wounds stopped mid-fall, suspended in time like broken rain.
And then—
His eyes rolled back.
The aura shattered like glass.
The metal pipe slipped from his fingers.
He collapsed mid-air, crashing onto the rooftop like a ragdoll.
[⚠️ Berserk Sync forcibly terminated.]
[User unconscious. Vital signs critical.]
[HP: 3%]
Silence followed.
The rooftop wind howled gently, brushing past his collapsed body. The rebar rolled beside him with a hollow clang.
Infront of him, shin panted. His fear calming down as he looked at the unconscious body.
"Success...i Guess."
Minsoo climbed up to the rooftop, his greatsword dragging behind him with a low metallic screech. He stared at Hyunsoo's body, eyes narrowed.
"Is he breathing?"
"Barely." Shin wiped the sweat off his brow. "We got him… but damn, I thought I was gonna die."
Jiwoo hovered up next, his coat fluttering as he landed gently beside them. He looked down at Hyunsoo with a complicated expression.
"That wasn't a fight," he muttered. "That was a storm."
Minsoo crouched and checked Hyunsoo's pulse. "He's stable. But we need a healer, fast."
"I'll call Mira."
"No." Seokjin's voice came from the edge of the rooftop, calm and cold. He stood with arms crossed, eyes sharp. "Don't heal him yet. "
"What?!" Shin stepped forward, fuming. "He's dying—!"
"He'll live. Also, Mira ain't going to heal him after all that."
They all silenced themselves, they all knew he was right.
"Well, I am glad it's over now!" Harin, who had just reunited with the group, exclaimed.
"True. I am quite gl-"
CRACK!
A sudden sound echoed in the air, reflexively everyone looked up.
From above something was falling, at high speed.
"What's that?" Minsoo asked to other as well as himself.
After a moment, it hit the ground with a large explosion, as the dust settled. A silhouette was revealed.
A silhouette of a man.