Vritra was swinging the sword at all the surrounding goblins, making sure to avoid or block as many attacks as possible, still countless wounds began to appear over his body.
One goblin's intestines hung from Vritra's sword as he turned to face the next. He kicked the corpse away and moved further ahead, not wanting to get trapped.
Klik- kik- kreeeeh
Another leapt. He caught it midair and slammed it to the ground, then crushed its windpipe with his foot.
His face was a mask of blood, cold and emotionless yet filled with only brutality.
Vritra decided to test dust manipulation as his right hand became a blur, cutting goblins down one after another while using the other hand to crush their throats or deflect the approaching attacks.
Kiiiiik- kliiik- kreeeeeeeeh
In his left hand he held a blade made of bone; now swinging with both hands, creating a thick mist of blood in the air.
[Activating Dust Convergence.]
Just as he activated his skill, unlike before a cloud of thick dust rose around him, blinding all the goblins within a range of around fifteen to twenty meters.
Although his own vision was obstructed yet within the dust he do not really need his sight or hearing to sense the presence of the goblins, inside that range he could sense everything through the dust particles itself.
Not only the dust blinded them, but it also made them choke as it flew into their mouths, all the goblins became disoriented inside the cloud of dust, Vritra even sensed that he could now concentrate the dust into a single place, killing goblins by blocking their windpipes but he couldn't shape the dust yet.
Still, it was a big improvement.
More than a day of slaughter inside the Death Canopy had passed, Vritra was now feeling incredibly hungry and thirsty, his body aching all over that not even the healing potion could fix.
Plus he felt exhausted physically and mentally, making his eye lids heavy.
++++++++++++
[You have killed a Level 3 Goblin.]
[You have killed a Level 1 Goblin.]
[You have killed a Level 8 Goblin.]
[You have killed a Level 7 Goblin.]
…
[+EXP Earned.]
[You have Levelled Up!]
[You have Levelled Up!]
[You have Levelled Up!]
…
[All Stats Increased by 1.]
[All Stats Increased by 1.]
…
[ You have gained 1 Allocation Point.]
[ You have gained 1 Allocation Point.]
…
++++++++++++
As more time passed his breathing grew heavier and heavier.
SWOOSH SWOOSH
BANG!!
SccccrrrrrreeeeeeEEEEEEE
He was hungry. Starving. His stomach growled, and his mouth was dry.
But he didn't stop.
He couldn't, after all time was a luxury he couldn't afford.
Although the dust cloud allowed him to kill goblins far easily while getting very little injuries, but he had more pressing problem now, he have to do something about his hunger and thirst otherwise he would soon be too weak to even move his arms, but it didn't seem there was any food or water in this space.
This trap was meant to kill everyone who is unfortunate enough to fall down, so the chances of finding food or water was non existent, Vritra couldn't find an answer to his problem.
Hours bled into days, as messages kept popping in front of him; declaring his kills or level ups or maybe some other things but he didn't had the time to even glance at it, one mistake and his body would be crushed and torn to death.
******
Vritra's eyes were sunken. His clothes had turned completely ragged barely doing their job, his skin appearing green, painted with the blood.
He had only been relying on the healing potion but it couldn't replace the need of food or water though it did just enough to keep him moving.
At least his sword was good enough to not chip away no matter how many attacks it defended against.
His movements became more brutal without any hint of hesitance, the scene was becoming more and more gruesome, as Vritra plunged his hand into the belly of one goblin and pulled out its intestine, his increased strength allowed him to rip apart their bodies with his bare hands.
A goblin tried to flank him.
He turned, grabbed it by the jaw, and crushed its face with a sharp twist of his wrist, Vritra didn't even flinch as more blood spurted onto him; even his black hair now drenched and dripping with the goblin's blood.
Another stabbed him in the thigh. Vritra gritted his teeth as not even a scream was released, he was already getting used to the pain, then he retaliated by plunging his fingers into its chest and yanking out its heart.
His hands dripped green.
He didn't even look as he threw the heart away and moved to the next.
Despite all the pain and adrenaline rush, his exhaustion was catching up to him; Vritra hadn't even slept at all in the past few days, so despite the large cloud of dust he was starting to get more and more injuries on his body.
++++++++++++
[You have killed a Level 11 Goblin.]
[You have killed a Level 8 Goblin.]
[+EXP Earned.]
[You have Levelled Up!]
[All Stats Increased by 1.]
[ You have gained 1 Allocation Point.]
++++++++++++
He saw the notifications, but had no time to check.
More came. Always more, the number was endless.
The goblins howled, leaping over the corpses of their kin. A wall of flesh that didn't hinder their movement in the least.
As Vritra kept moving forward, he had already walked quite far away from his starting point, leaving behind a large amount of corpses lying all over the way.
Just then another notification flashed, Vritra instantly felt the changes as he sensed the power of his skill increasing but he couldn't feel happy at this moment.
++++++++++++
[Your skill has Levelled Up]
[Dust Manipulation has advanced to Level 3.]
[Dust Convergence have now transformed into Dust Weaving.]
++++++++++++
No matter how many he sliced down or tore apart, more goblins replaced them getting stronger with time but Vritra didn't break.
Not yet.
His sword flashed like lightning, each swing cutting apart at least two goblins. His eyes, bloodshot and glowing with exhaustion and fury, lack of sleep made his mind and body slightly slow.
The bone blade he had picked earlier had long since broken, instead he picked a long sword that dropped after he killed a relatively strong goblin but he had no time to read the description of this new sword, both his hands were moving at full speed killing with madness.
Just as he swung the two sword and took the life of over six goblins, he sensed two goblins charging straight at him their body was much more muscular and their height twice as the other goblins, they were clearly much stronger than the other ones and several levels higher than even himself.
Even their speed was much faster than him, one of the goblins charged ahead into the dust and swung its heavy staff towards Vritra's head with a loud roar; Vritra barely had any time to react as he hastily pulled the two sword in front of his face, crossing them.
BANG
As the staff collided with the swords, they shattered into pieces almost instantly. Vritra was thrown back with a loud explosive sound, crashing into a mountain of corpses. Both his hands were shaking badly, almost broken, with faint cracks running along his bones.
He gritted his teeth and just as he was about to stand, Vritra's gaze finally landed on a message that shimmered in front of his eyes.
++++++++++++
[You have survived for a total of three days and eleven hours twenty nine minutes.]
[Quest Progress: 26 days 12 hours 31 minutes remaining. (11.6%)]
++++++++++++
The messages had been flashing in front of his eyes since the moment he had started this slaughter but he ignored them all, yet now this message completely shook his mind, seemingly taking away any hope of survival.
'I fought all that time, without stopping, without any sleep, food or water and I have to continue t- this for over a month?' Vritra was filled with a sense of hopelessness and despair; there was no way he could survive in this wretched place without eating or drinking or even sleeping for an entire month.
This place truly was meant to kill anyone who ends up trapped, all struggles are useless; with each hour and each day stronger demons kept appearing and after one month ends, demons much stronger than any of them will emerge, an infinitely large horde of them.
Vritra finally felt it—true dread and despair.
His chest heaved as panic twisted his insides. All hope was gone. Whatever sanity he had left began to crumble like a fragile shell cracking under pressure. Hunger gnawed at his thoughts, thirst scorched his throat like acid, and the lack of sleep hollowed out every last trace of reason.
He had nothing left—not strength, not strategy, not luck. Only death awaited.
The dust that had once cloaked him, a frail barrier that held back dozens upon dozens of demons, slowly dispersed as he lost all control. His limbs trembled. The skill he had clung to like a lifeline slipped from his grasp both his mind and body stopped reacting, there really was no hope of survival.
The two towering goblins advanced, hulking forms smeared with dried blood, their green skin marred with scars and brutality. Their cruel grins stretched unnaturally wide, as if they already knew how this would end.
And for a moment—so did he.
GrrrrrrrRRRRRRRR
But as they drew closer, as the stench of their bloodlust filled his lungs, something broke. Not with weakness. Not with fear.
But with rage.
The despair and fear transformed into beastly instincts and unquenchable rage.
The fear twisted and reshaped into pure, unfiltered hatred. His eyes, bloodshot and wild, locked onto the nearest large goblin.
Without thinking, Vritra's hand darted out and gripped the hilt of a hammer lying beside the fallen corpse of a goblin. The metal was producing a faint light, its weight heavy but manageable, but what he held right now didn't matter. Nothing mattered.
He lunged forward, the air splitting from the force of his movement. Dirt exploded beneath his feet increasing his speed further as his body became a blur. With both hands clenched tight around the hammer's grip, he swung with everything he had. The weapon whistled through the air and slammed into the goblin's skull with a sickening crunch.
But it didn't die.
The creature stumbled, dazed but alive, thick blood dripping from its split forehead. It roared and grabbed the hammer mid-swing as Vritra tried to hit it once again, yanking it away with monstrous strength, its claws tearing into Vritra's arms as it dragged him forward, ready to rip him apart.
And Vritra... bit!!
He bit down hard!!
He opened his mouth wide like a starved animal and sank his teeth deep into the goblin's shoulder with all his might, no emotion or reason visible in his hollow eyes.
SPLUTTER
Flesh was torn. Hot blood poured.
The goblin shrieked in confusion and pain as Vritra ripped out a chunk of its meat and still held it tightly in his mouth, not out of hunger—but madness; as the goblin stumbled back letting him go roaring in agony.
There was no thought. Only instinct, and at this moment he could be considered anything but human.
He bit harder, tearing a big chunk of the hard raw meat of the goblin into his mouth.
GULP
________
Thanks for reading...