The sky was painted in bloody tones, and it is unclear what caused this. Whether it was a crimson sunset that emphasized the cruelty and tragedy of the battle unfolding on earth, or a blood-soaked battlefield overflowing with bones and torn bodies.

Fifteen people were fighting monsters coming at them from all sides. They are the last survivors of a squad that used to have 150 men.

Despite the current situation, which should have filled them with despair, they did not retreat, but fought with the last of their strength. The bitterness of the losses hardened their hearts, which were now filled with intense hatred for monsters.

Through pain and fatigue, they went to victory. Surrounded by countless monsters, they felt the courage of battle. Fighting like wild animals, they defended their land and their family. 

Among the fifteen warriors, the man with the two-handed sword stood out most vividly. His eyes burned with hatred, and when he noticed the monster, his face would distort in disgust. His entire body was covered with terrible scars, and his clothes were soaked with the blood of monsters.

Fanged creatures attacked him from all sides: huge bats, mutant wolves, giant snakes and other spiked monsters. The warrior easily deflected all their blows with his two-handed sword, and then cut the monsters' bodies into pieces.

Each swing of his sword summoned the wind, which not only repelled the enemies and prevented them from attacking at the same time, but also cut through their flesh, leaving terrible wounds.

- Conrad, the Fourth One is now a hundred meters away from you at twelve o'clock!

The warrior heard the cry of his comrade, who called his name, and turned in the direction of the main goal, for the sake of eliminating which this battle is taking place.

[Wind Path: Ascension]

Conrad's body and sword began to emit streams of air. In a split second, he made a circular attack that caused a powerful vortex that repelled the monsters and left not deep, but numerous cuts on their bodies.

He did this to free himself from the continuous attacks of the monsters. In just a moment, Conrad had determined the direction in which the Fourth was, the same freak who had summoned this horde of monsters that had killed his companions.

[Wind Path: Aspiration]

With a sharp jerk, he rushed in the direction of the Fourth and in just a couple of seconds crossed his sword with the claws of a creature that looked like a human.

- How you got me!

The creature's face contorted in rage. He held back Conrad's blow with ten claws of both hands. Fresh cracks appeared on the claws.

The fourth realized that he would not be able to block the warrior's blow, so using inertia, he slightly changed the direction of Konrad's jerk, thereby dodging the blow.

- Argh!

The creature screamed in pain, which was the result of cuts inflicted on it by gusts of wind, resulting from the warrior's jerk.

[Earth's Path: Hardness]

A rude male voice rang out from a height above the creature, and a moment later a man, huge by human standards, landed next to it, thereby throwing the monster several meters away.

When the Fourth came to, Conrad had already rushed at him. The monster could only fend off the onslaught of the enemy, he did not have a chance to counterattack, because he could not block all the blows and some of them reached the target. The monster's body continued to be covered with new wounds.

- That's enough!

The Fourth released a large amount of energy, which slightly pushed Konrad back, thereby interrupting his series of punches. At this time, the Fourth spread his arms, and the claws on his fingers turned into clumps of energy, gathering around his palms and turning into portals, from which the heads of new monsters appeared.

However, the Fourth was too focused on Conrad and did not notice how another person sneaking up on him from behind.

[Wind Path: Dissection]

Another fighter got into a fight with the Fourth. He appeared as if from nowhere. His dagger was covered with dense wind energy, thereby making the weapon incredibly sharp.

The dagger hit him right in the neck. The fighter wanted to chop off the monster's head with just one swing, but the dagger stopped in the middle.

At the moment of impact, the Fourth closed the portals and returned the energy back to his body. He re-created claws on his left hand, and added energy from his right hand to the one in his neck area, acting as a protective layer. 

By increasing the concentration of energy aimed at protecting the neck area, the Fourth managed to survive. He instantly attacked the dagger fighter in return, but his strike was blocked by the second dagger.

- Die!

The Fourth One's voice became hoarse and hollow.

At this time, Conrad made a sharp lunge forward and swung his swords up, cutting off the Fourth's arm.

Being trapped between two opponents, the Fourth couldn't do anything, most of his energy was directed at restraining the dagger that was in his neck.

Noticing that after the blow Konrad was going to immediately make the next attack, the Fourth became very nervous.

Suddenly, all the living monsters around began to turn into dark energy, which was absorbed by the body of the Fourth. During this process, he created a powerful explosion that threw Konrad and the dagger fighter away from him.

[Transformation]

The Fourth's body began to transform, he gradually became larger, and his appearance less and less resembled a human one. Suddenly, he was hit in the face with such force that the Fourth flew back several dozen meters.

- I may be slow, but I'm incredibly heavy!

It was that huge man who had thrown the Fourth away earlier with his landing. Because of his [Hardness] technique, his body weight had increased significantly, so unlike Conrad, it took him a little longer to get to the Fourth. But it was his enormous weight that protected him from the discarding flow of black energy.

The flight of the Fourth was interrupted by a fiery explosion.

- Don't let him transform!

The girl who had created a fiery explosion earlier screamed, and now continued to throw an incredible number of fireballs at the Fourth.

Once again, there was an outburst of dark energy, which now dispersed across the battlefield, creating an impenetrable darkness.