Chapter 47: Offensive Defense

The purple blade in Eden’s hand flickered.

It wasn’t perfect.

The shape was rough, the edge unstable, and the Essence composing it constantly threatened to scatter. It was only a C-Rank skill, after all. Compared to Devour, it was practically insignificant.

But right now, Eden didn’t care.

He looked at the hundreds of Essence Knights surrounding him.

His breathing was ragged.

His body was exhausted.

His eyes were bloodshot.

But he laughed regardless.

"Heh..."

His shoulders trembled.

"Hehehe..."

One of the knights charged.

Eden raised his head.

And laughed louder.

"Hahahahahaha!"

The knight swung its massive stone sword.

Eden stepped toward it.

The blade came down with enough force to shatter the floor.

Eden slipped underneath the strike, planted one hand against the knight’s torso, and drove his knee into its stomach.

The Essence Knight was launched backward like a cannonball.

Its massive body smashed through three other knights behind it.

All four were sent crashing through a stone wall.

The wall collapsed.

Eden didn’t even look.

Five more were already attacking.

One from above.

Two from either side.

Two directly ahead.

"That’s more like it!"

His purple blade flashed.

The knight above him was split in half.

Eden immediately spun.

The same swing continued into the two on his left.

Both torsos were cleaved apart.

He ducked beneath the attack from the right and grabbed the attacking knight’s wrist.

His fingers tightened.

"Got you."

He twisted.

Crack!

The arm broke.

Eden ripped the creature forward and smashed his forehead into its face.

Boom!

Stone exploded.

Before it could fall, Eden caught its head with one hand and swung the entire several-meter-tall creature sideways.

Three more Essence Knights were flattened beneath it.

Eden landed in the middle of the destruction.

His hair whipped around his face.

Dust rolled through the corridor.

Purple Essence flickered around his body.

He looked at the wreckage.

Then he grinned.

"Oh, this is actually pretty damn fun!"

Another wave came.

At least fifty.

Eden’s eyes widened.

His grin became almost childish.

"Come on!"

He charged.

The dungeon shook.

Eden didn’t fight like someone trapped in a C-Rank Gate.

Instead, he treated this life or death battle as if it was just another game, recklessly cutting through several Essence Knights at once.

He swung Aura Blade in a massive horizontal arc.

Five Essence Knights were cut apart at once.

Their stone bodies split and crashed into one another.

Another group rushed from the side.

Eden planted his foot.

The floor beneath him cracked.

He launched himself into the air.

Three knights swung upward.

Eden twisted between them.

One missed by centimeters.

Another passed beneath his leg.

The third nearly clipped his shoulder.

Eden grabbed the top of its helmet.

"Too slow!"

He drove it downward.

Its head smashed into the floor.

The impact created a crater.

Eden used the fallen knight as a springboard.

He jumped higher.

Then dropped.

His heel struck the chest of another.

Boom!

The Essence Knight was driven straight through the floor.

The impact sent cracks racing across the stone in every direction.

Eden landed.

Five more were already there.

He didn’t hesitate.

His blade moved once.

Five stone bodies fell apart.

Eden looked at the purple weapon in his hand.

"I’m starting to get the hang of it now..."

The blade flickered.

He could feel how crude it was.

Its Essence consumption wasn’t particularly efficient.

Its cutting power was nothing compared to Devour.

Its stability was terrible.

But it worked.

A massive sword came down.

[Defensive form]

Eden caught it with his bare hand.

Boom!

The force pushed his feet several centimeters into the ground.

His fingers trembled.

His arm shook.

But he held.

The Essence Knight tried to overpower him.

Eden stared up at it.

"...Really?"

He smiled.

[Offensive form]

"You think you’re stronger than me?"

His muscles tensed.

Boom!

Eden ripped the sword out of the creature’s hands.

The enormous weapon went flying.

The knight stumbled.

Eden jumped.

He grabbed its head with both hands.

And drove his knee into its face.

The helmet caved inward.

Eden didn’t stop.

Another knee.

And another.

Then he threw the entire creature sideways.

It collided with six others.

The resulting impact destroyed a massive section of the corridor.

Stone rained from the ceiling.

Eden stood beneath it, laughing.

"Hah!"

He wiped a smear of blood from beneath his nose.

He wasn’t sure whatever had caused it, but he certainly didn’t have it in him to care.

The Essence Knights kept coming.

Hundreds of them.

They filled the dungeon.

They climbed over one another to reach him.

Their offensive capabilities were genuinely frightening for their rank.

A single Essence Knight possessed enough physical strength and combat ability to overwhelm an ordinary C-Rank Awakened.

Their stone bodies could withstand ordinary attacks.

Their weapons carried enough force to shatter concrete.

Their movements weren’t fast enough to surprise a veteran C-Rank individually, but once several attacked together, even experienced Awakeneds could be overwhelmed.

That was what made Essence Knights so dangerous.

They weren’t particularly difficult to kill.

They were difficult to kill before they killed you first.

But Eden had a different perspective.

He stared at the approaching horde.

Their weapons didn’t matter.

Their offensive capabilities didn’t matter.

Their coordination didn’t matter.

Because they had one fundamental problem.

They had to survive long enough to use them.

And Eden wasn’t giving them that chance.

"You guys hit hard, huh?"

He rolled his neck.

"That’s nice."

His grin widened.

"Just means I gotta hit yall first!"

He disappeared.

Boom!

The ground where he’d been standing exploded.

Eden tore through the first line.

His Aura Blade swept across the battlefield.

Ten.

Fifteen.

Twenty-nine.

Forty.

Stone bodies exploded apart one after the other.

He didn’t stop moving.

His fist smashed into one.

His elbow crushed another.

His knee shattered a third.

His foot sent a fourth flying.

He even bit down on the wrist of one that managed to grab him.

The Essence Knight froze.

Eden ripped his head sideways.

The stone wrist shattered between his teeth.

Eden spat the fragments out.

"...Tastes like shit."