The sand burned beneath his feet. The creature in front of him loomed like a living wall, slithering in circles around the crater, its scales reflecting the scorching sun like demonic mirrors. The eyes of the Hell Sand Serpent gleamed with a savage intensity, and its guttural roar shook even the most distant dunes.
Antares cracked his neck. "Let's get this over with..." He summoned his Demonic Power into the gauntlet.
The Boosted Gear activated with a deep, metallic sound. The gem on the back of the gauntlet gleamed brightly, and an ancient voice echoed in his mind like distant thunder.
[BOOST!]
The system released a small surge of energy through his arm again. He felt it. A sudden spike of strength. Small, but real. His muscles tightened. His senses sharpened.
"So that's how you work…" he whispered, feeling the red-hot energy of the gauntlet course through his body. "One boost every ten seconds…"
The serpent twisted in the air like a demonic whip, attempting to crush him with its colossal body. Antares leaped forward, dodging the charge, and then launched a punch with the Boosted Gear activated.
His fist struck the serpent's flank.
There was a dry crack — scales shattered, skin tore open, and a jet of dark blood sprayed out like crimson rain.
[BOOST!]
Another wave of power. His eyes widened at the intensity. The blood boiled. His muscles adjusted. The world seemed to slow down — not through magic, but because he was getting faster.
"Do you feel that, worm?! This is just the beginning."
The serpent screamed, its tail whipping around to smash him like a ton of steel. Antares raised his arms and blocked the strike with both gauntlets.
The impact sent him flying back, burying him in a wall of sand, but he didn't break. The power of the gauntlets absorbed most of the force. He gasped for air. The pain still lingered, but his body held firm.
The right hand, wrapped in the Gauntlet of Chaos, remained silent. No glow. No voice. No reaction.
He tried to channel energy into it. Nothing. No response.
"Typical… you look down on me while your brother shines, huh?" he muttered, struggling to get back on his feet.
[BOOST!]
Another surge of energy shot through his body.
Three boosts.
It was now or never.
Antares ran.
A crimson blur crossing the dunes. His feet sank into the sand, but he pressed on — like a missile. The serpent turned to meet him with a bite, but he dove beneath it, sliding along the creature's scaled belly.
He leaped, propelled by the Boosted Gear, and launched himself along the serpent's body, climbing the cracked scales he had torn open earlier.
[BOOST!]
Four impulses. Each time, he felt less of his body's weight and more of the power's control. Every second was gold. Every boost, an eternity compressed into muscles and fury.
At the top of the serpent's head, "Go back to hell!"
And he punched.
With all the force of the four accumulated boosts, his fist crushed the creature's skull like a celestial anvil. The sound was dry, grotesque, and the creature writhed violently, letting out a final howl before collapsing into the sand.
The ground trembled.
The serpent fell lifeless.
Silence.
The desert became mute.
Antares remained there, atop the creature's warm corpse, panting. His body trembled with exhaustion, but his gaze was one of triumph.
[PUNISHMENT MISSION – PROGRESS: 00:49:37][Target eliminated: Hell Sand Serpent – Rank E][+1 attribute point awarded for exceptional performance.]
He dropped to his knees beside the corpse, his arms trembling. The Boosted Gear vanished in particles of red light. His other gauntlet... still silent.
But something changed. Even though the Gauntlet of Chaos had done nothing, he felt... a whisper. An echo in the back of his mind.
"It's not time yet..." Cold. Ancient. A voice that belonged to no living being.
He didn't answer.
He simply lay in the sand, feeling the heat still radiating from the monster's corpse.
"First step taken..." he murmured. "Let's see what else this stupid world is going to throw at me."
The system flickered again.
[Resistance increased: +1][Time remaining: 03:11:05]
Antares's body cracked with the effort as he spun through the air, dodging a bite from the serpent. The creature's jaws dug into the sand where he had been only moments before, raising a golden explosion that obscured his vision.
But Antares was already above her.
[BOOST!]
Time seemed to slow for a moment. A crimson glow exploded from the gem in his left gauntlet, and the strength coursed through his muscles like a lightning strike. His clenched fist fell like a meteor onto the Hell Sand Serpent's skull.
CRACK!
The sound of the impact echoed through the dunes. The creature roared, its head sinking into the cracked sand. The jaw that had once threatened to devour him was now buried in blood and dust. The serpent trembled, arched its body... and collapsed.
[+ XP obtained]
[Progress: 12% to Level 2]
Antares landed on his knees, panting, sweat running down his temple. The heat still crushed him like an invisible wall, but something inside him had been awakened.
That feeling.
The adrenaline.
The familiarity with the battlefield.
He stood up slowly, his golden eyes sweeping across the horizon.
… And then the desert began to move.
The dunes trembled.
Shadows slid beneath the surface.
One.
Two.
Three.
Sand Serpents. Many of them.
[Multiple hostile entities detected: 8x Hell Sand Serpent (Rank E)]
A low laugh escaped his lips — dry and sarcastic.
"Ah, of course. One wasn't enough."
The system pinged again.
[Bonus mission unlocked: "Hunt in the Dunes"]Objective: Eliminate all threats in the designated area (min. 5 creatures)Extra reward: +1 level, +5 attribute points]
Antares cracked his neck.
"Alright… let's dance."
The first serpent charged like lightning, its jaws wide open. Antares sidestepped and met it with a BOOST!, launching his elbow into the side of the creature's skull — the strike shattered its scaly armor and sent the monster's head flying like a projectile, smashing through other dunes in the process.
The second attempted an attack from below, its tail whipping the sand at an absurd speed. Antares leapt into the air with a perfect spin, the reflex of millennia of combat guiding him, and then descended with a flaming knee activated by the left gauntlet.
"BOOST! BOOST!!"
Each shout from the system burned his body but multiplied his strength.
The impact created an explosion of sand and broken bones.
The third serpent tried to catch him off guard from behind. A mistake.
Antares raised his right hand, the Gauntlet of Chaos still silent... but subtly reacting to the presence of the enemy. Red lines pulsed along his fingers.
SLASH!
With the very edge of the gauntlet, he cut the creature in half. No energy used. Just pure strength, amplified and refined through thousands of years of massacre and dominance.
The smell of blood and venom spread.
Three enemies down.
[+ XP gained]
Level 2 reached
+3 attribute points received]
But he barely had time to celebrate. The entire ground shook.
Five. Five serpents remained, surrounding him. Wide eyes. Tongues hissing with fury. A storm of mana was forming in the distance, tinting the sky purple.
And yet… Antares smiled.
"You really think this is enough to kill me?"
He ran.
Straight at the creatures.
Like a fallen king who never learned to crawl.
Two charged at the same time — he leapt between them, bracing himself against their bodies while sliding along one, delivering an explosive kick to the neck of the other. The head was decapitated by the impact.
Four remaining.
"BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!"
The left gauntlet glowed fiercely, pushing his body beyond its limits. His muscles screamed, but his spirit was in ecstasy.
The fifth creature spat a magical venom blast. Antares raised his left arm — and the ethereal shield of the gauntlet blocked the attack with a deep hum.
"BOOST!"
He advanced like a rocket, his fist clenched.
The impact cracked the creature's skull, sending its body flying meters away.
[+ XP gained]
Level 3 reached]
The sixth and seventh attacked together — one from the front, the other from above. Antares raised both arms, crossing them in an X shape. The Gauntlet of Chaos finally glowed — slightly — releasing a wave of purple energy.
The impact created a shockwave that launched both creatures away.
He leapt after them.
"BOOST!"
The strike landed on the skull of the fallen serpent, while his leg brutally kicked the other against a rock, destroying everything.
Only one remained.
The eighth serpent — the largest. Enormous. Black scales and golden eyes.
[Mini-Boss: Desert Alpha Serpent]
[Rank D]
It didn't hiss.
It roared.
The attack was instant. An explosion of sand, followed by a blast of fiery mana that melted part of the dune. Antares barely managed to dodge, rolling to the side and landing on his knees. The sand burned, but he laughed.
"So… you're the leader of them, huh?"
He slowly rose, his face shadowed, his gaze wild.
"BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!"
The power erupted in waves.
The Gauntlet of Chaos reacted more intensely now — black lines spread across Antares' arms. But it still wasn't using any abilities. It just… observed.
The Alpha Serpent charged, and Antares ran too.
Collision.
Monstrous impacts.
Fists against fangs. Claws against scales.
Each blow they exchanged was like the clash of two beasts trying to rewrite who ruled this world.
"BOOST!"
Antares spun his body and drove his fist directly into the creature's mouth.
"EXPLODE!!"
The energy accumulated exploded inside the serpent, which arched its body and screamed — blood and mana spraying everywhere.
The body collapsed.
Dead.
Silence fell over the desert.
[Bonus mission completed][Reward received: Level +1 | +5 attribute points]
[Status updated: Level 4][Points available: 9]
Antares fell to his knees, sweating, his hands braced on the hot ground.
But he laughed.
Laughed loudly.
"This… this reminds me of who I am…"
His eyes were wild.
The light from the left gauntlet pulsed intensely, while the right vibrated slightly — almost... eager.
[Status Updated]
[Name]: Hyoudou Issei (Antares)[Profession]: None[Title]: None
[HP]: 160 / 160[MP]: 160 / 160
[Level]: 4
[STR]: 12
[AGI]: 16
[SENSE]: 26
[VIT]: 17
[INT]: 16
[POINTS LEFT]: 9
"So I get 2 points in every stat per level up, and some extra points for completing certain things... I see..." Antares looked at the screen, "Put everything in Strength," he said.
[STRENGTH: 21]
"Good..." He smiled, "I basically doubled my strength, so this will be easier when dealing with a fallen angel." He murmured, looking at the screen. "But there's still a lot of time left." He whispered, grinning like a demon as he read the screen...
[Time remaining: 01:10:35]
"How many levels can I climb...?"
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