'I'm faster than before.'
His eyesight and reflexes were also as sharp as the edge of his blade.
The feeling was rather strange.
Not only that, but the constant fear that seemed to have plagued his heart in the past was now gone.
Instead, most of what he felt towards these things, was disgust.
With every swing of his blade and every close call from a proboscis nearly running him through, the sensations just kept getting more and more intense.
The horrid stench the flies released coupled with the devilish air that began settling all around him.
His mind swam into a haphazard mix of sensory responses.
A sharp, stinging pain came from his shoulder, forcing him to jolt out of his strange mental state and yell in pain.
With a forceful hack, he cut the monster that attacked him, severing it in two.
A spell of dizziness hit him like a truck.
His eyes widened,
'Poison?'
{Mark fragment absorbed: 0/1000}.
The main swarm was getting closer. The buzzing might as well have become a physical force, pressing against his eardrums until he thought they might burst.
He turned around and bolted for the tree lines.
Most of the flies were turning towards the town to feast on the corpses of the townsfolk.
A small contingent of them, however, came biting in his heels.
As he made his way to the tree line, Dust heard a sharp, buzzing sound come terribly close to his ears.
In a panic, he swung his sword violently.
Another scout died to his blade.
{Mark fragment absorbed: 0/1000}.
One more scout fell, its head rolling across the cobblestones.
{Mark fragment absorbed: 1/1000}.
Dust stopped running and stared at the floating runes.
He had been absentmindedly paying attention to the runes for some time now.
However, something in particular had just caught his attention.
"One?" he said aloud, his voice barely audible over the buzzing. "One mark for ten kills?"
More flies were diving at him. He cut a few of them down before turning around.
His feet hit the moist earth as he sprinted back towards the marsh.
Even more flies appeared, painting the forest path black.
{Mark fragment absorbed: 1/10... 1/10... 1/10...}
"Voice of God!" he shouted, dodging another spray of acid. "What the hell is this?"
The Voice of God's response came immediately,
{Horde creatures typically contain fragments of corrupted marks. The Hordes of Beelzebub each possess approximately one-tenth of a complete Mark of Sin. This is due to their collective nature and shared corruption source}.
Dust slashed another fly in half, cursing under his breath. "You couldn't have mentioned this earlier?"
{The Heretic did not ask}.
"I'm asking now! How many other creatures work like this?"
{Most lesser monsters possess only fragments. Greater aberrations may possess multiple complete marks}.
The swarm was almost upon him now. The air itself seemed to writhe with wings and compound eyes. Acid rained down from above, forcing Dust to keep moving.
"This is insane!" he yelled, cutting down three more flies. "At this rate, I'll need to kill ten thousand creatures to get my thousand marks!"
{Correct}.
Dust wanted to strangle the Voice of God.
Unfortunately, that would be a bit difficult to accomplish. So instead, he focused on his own survival.
He needed to get out of here. Fast.
Swimming through the path as fast as he could, the canopy of leaves overhead could only slow the approaching swarm for a bit.
'The marsh...'
His eyes flashed with determination.
As long as he could get to the marsh, he would certainly escape from the terrible pursuit.
Dust changed direction, sprinting toward the water. Flies dove at him from every angle, their acid burning holes in his armor and clothes. He weaved between their attacks, the Rippling Blade cutting a bloody path through the scouts.
{Mark fragment absorbed: 1/10... 1/10... 2/10...}
By now, he had cut through at least twenty flies, which was just barely a drop in a disgusting, buzzing ocean of terror.
Despite that, he could already feel his muscles numbing.
The Rippling Blade was definitely not light. It also didn't help that the footpath differed slightly from a marsh.
Dust grit his feet as he bent his body at an unnatural angle to avoid a deadly stab.
His blade traveled in a silver crescent, crushing the wings off the damned thing.
With a ferocious growl, Dust's leg snapped, kicking at the chitinous body of the giant insect.
With a sickening crunch, it fell to the side.
Its body, however, was not left alone. A few of the chasing swarm rushed at it hungrily, devouring their kin within seconds without hesitation.
Dust didn't witness such a horrid sight as he kept sprinting away.
Very soon, the particular scent of water filled the air.
Dust's body trembled as he sped up and ran for the marsh like his life depended on it.
Mostly because it did.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he reached the shoreline just as the swarm caught up to him.
A rain of acid splattered all around, hissing against the rocks.
Dust didn't hesitate.
Swallowing a deep breath and without looking back, he dove right into the murky waters.
The cold shocked his system, but he forced himself to swim toward the center of the marsh.
Flapping his arms to remain buoyant, he looked up.
A shiver ran up his spine.
The marsh was pitch black.
And that was because the entire surface of the marsh, was covered with the swarm.
The Horde of Beelzebub, was rather persistent, it seemed...
But they didn't follow him into the water.
'The Hordes of Beelzebub cannot swim.'
If they could, then perhaps his fate would have been sealed.
Since there were no foul things lurking in the marsh, which was rather unusual, Dust knew he could make use of it to escape. And when he rose to the surface, his scent would have been washed off, allowing for his complete escape.
'It's a good thing I had a few options in mind if things went to shit.'
He began swimming towards the outlet channel, where the marsh thinned and spilled into the river that cut through it.
From there on out, he would have truly entered the wild cursed lands teeming with all manner of Aberrations.
There would be no protection from enchantments.
Only danger and death lurking in every shadow and dark crevice.