My SSS-Rank Class Is Blood Monarch!

Chapter 202- True Test

Sucking in a very cold breath, Arthur focused on his surroundings. The injury was minimal so it didn't really matter at that moment. There was a way bigger problem at hand that he needed to deal with.

The hordes of monsters attacked Arthur at the same time. There was no way for him to escape. So, he immediately activated 'Lonesome Warrior's Howl' and 'Soul Fear' at the same time.

Immediately, a loud roar coupled with a strong wave of energy exploded from his body, sending most of the spirits stumbling back in fear. The effect of Soul Fear immobilized the closest ones and stunned many of the other monsters.

Arthur immediately took that opportunity and dashed forward, slicing through several targets in quick succession. Notifications popped up in his retina quickly only to get ignored the moment they appeared.

'This hurts! Each hit feels like I'm swinging at a hard wall!' Arthur clenched his teeth as he kicked and sliced through his enemies. Not only was their body nature annoying to slice with a sword, Arthur knew that his Sanguine Blade was sustaining damage constantly with each hit.

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[+1 Health.]

It took the monsters a few seconds to regain their composure, during which, Arthur had already killed almost 7 of them. His speed had increased again and his monstrous strength made him appear like a deadly ghost, rushing through the masses of Lake Spirits.

Once they finally lost the sense of overwhelming fear, it was chaos again. The monsters quickly chased after Arthur like crazed beasts. Swarms and swarms of these spirits manifested out of thin air as they encircled him from every direction.

'Great. I can't create any kind of space.' Arthur clenched his teeth as he dodged a sharp slash to his neck before he grabbed the monster's head and smashed it into the ground. Then, he grabbed the rest of the body and threw it at two other monsters.

At the same time, Arthur was constantly manifesting blood arrows as if there was no tomorrow. The area around him turned into a complex net of flying projectiles that kept hitting their targets. The arrows turned out to be quite useful as they were able to kill a good number of spirits.

Meanwhile, Arthur himself didn't really focus on that as he kept fighting the dozens and dozens of monsters attacking him. His reaction speed was luckily considerably faster than most of them so he was able to dodge the attacks in time. However, with their sheer numbers, Arthur quickly started getting overwhelmed.

*BANG*

Punching a monster, Arthur stabbed the second one with his left claw before he kicked a third monster in the face. Another monster sneaked up behind him and slashed his back.

"Ugh!" The boy groaned before he turned around and punched the monster square in the chest, bursting through its body.

'It really got me. That attack took at least 5% of my health.' Arthur clenched his teeth. 'Not good, not good at all. I need to find a path out of this mess.'

Looking around him, all Arthur could see were swarms of these spirits closing up on him like a horde of zombies.

As he was thinking of a way out, Arthur kept fighting to the best of his ability. The more he killed, the more monsters manifested around him.

The wind swept through the area and the piles of crushed crystal bodies started growing in number.

'Maybe if I can somehow create an opportunity to escape... All I need is just a small op-'

At that moment, several spirits attacked him at the same time.

"Ugh! Can you give me a second to think, goddammit?!" He yelled loudly. The frustration Arthur felt at that moment had reached its threshold. He had enough of these monsters that kept popping up in his face wherever he looked.

Arthur's yell echoed in the empty ice lake to the point where even Arthur was surprised that he had yelled that loudly.

Then, for the first time, the monsters suddenly halted their steps, all at the same time. Their frozen expressions were as blank as ever. However, Arthur immediately felt something wrong with their behavior.

'Why did they stop? Was my scream that intimidat-'

*BADUMP*

At that moment, Arthur heard a soul-shaking noise in his ear. The sound was akin to a deep ripple... coming from the most horrifying places imaginable. Like a twisted heart beat of an ancient being or the cry of a horrifying beast, echoing across the vast area.

*BADUMP*

Looking around him in a hurry, Arthur couldn't pinpoint the noise. It wasn't coming from any of the monsters nor from the wind and the snow. However, each time that ripple echoed in his ears, Arthur felt his limbs grow cold and his face slowly paled.

*BADUMP*

'What is this? Where is it coming from?'

Even as he tried to breathe in and out and calm himself, Arthur was starting to panic. The deep feeling of unease welled up in his heart.

'Where is it goddamit?! What am I listening to?!'

"Show yourself!" He yelled in a not-so-calm manner. He was at his wits end and he couldn't keep himself composed anymore. There was only so much Arthur could handle and this fight, as short as it was, took a toll on his mind as it only dragged on and on, without any positive outcome in sight. Now, there was another mysterious noise and possibly even more trouble on top of the trouble at hand.

It was getting out of control!

*BADUMP*

Then, at that moment, he saw something. It happened in a split second, but he still saw it and quickly realized... The reason he couldn't pinpoint the noise wasn't because it came from nowhere or because it was too far. Instead...

It came from beneath.

*BADUMP*

A//N: Thank you all for the gifts, golden tickets and ps. Let's keep it up!