The air inside the cavern was heavy with the stench of iron and dust. Yoshiya stood frozen near the breach, his hands still gripping his pickaxe like a useless weapon. Omina and the miners behind them were equally still—watching, listening, unable to look away.
From within the kobold camp, the sound of steel colliding with bone echoed like a relentless drum. It wasn't a battle. It was slaughter.
Kaito Mugenrei moved through the swarm of kobolds like a living storm. His massive black blade carved vicious arcs through the air, every swing followed by a wet, violent crack. Kobold shields shattered like driftwood. Bodies flew. Screams were cut short by the sound of steel ripping through flesh.
He didn't block. He didn't sidestep. He simply charged, taking blows head-on as though his body were impervious to pain. Spears stabbed into his shoulders. Blades sliced into his sides. He responded not with hesitation, but with more power—each injury only fueling his momentum.
Yoshiya's brow tightened as he tracked the pattern. No defensive stance. No technique. Just pure aggression. And yet… he wasn't slowing down.
Omina muttered under her breath, eyes wide, "He's not fighting like a man… he's like a beast."
Blood spattered the cavern walls. Kaito swung again and again, the red stripes of his blade glowing faintly in the torchlight, as if drinking in the carnage. With each wound he received, his movements grew sharper, faster, more explosive. His roars were guttural and primal, echoing through the mine like the cries of a frenzied animal.
The kobolds tried to rally—forming a line, raising their crude shields. Kaito smashed through them as if they were paper. One wide horizontal swing cut down four in a single motion. Another overhead strike split a shaman in half, sword biting deep into stone. When the alpha emerged, snarling commands, Kaito was already on it—no hesitation, no strategy. One brutal exchange later, the alpha's head hit the ground with a dull thud.
And then… silence.
The last kobold fell with a gurgle. Kaito stood alone amidst a sea of corpses, his chest rising and falling, his body covered in blood and cuts. For several seconds, he didn't move. He simply stood there—blade lowered, aura still flaring like black fire.
Yoshiya felt a chill crawl down his spine. This… isn't normal.
As the moments passed, that violent aura began to fade. And as it did, something stranger happened: the gashes and wounds across Kaito's body began to close on their own. Skin knitted together. Blood dried and flaked off. Within seconds, his battered form looked almost untouched—except for the crimson stains that marked where the wounds had been.
The miners whispered in awe and fear.
"Did he just… heal himself?"
"What is he…?"
Kaito neither spoke nor acknowledged anyone. Once his aura fully vanished, he lifted his sword with one smooth motion, slung it over his shoulder, and without a word walked deeper into the cavern, leaving the mangled kobold bodies behind like trash.
Yoshiya clenched his jaw as he watched the man's silhouette disappear into the shadows.
He fights like a demon… and now he's in the same mine as us.