It happened so fast. Yet the moment Zeph truly realized what was happening was when the oversized sword in his grip drove straight into the upper neck of the Calamity.
He tightened his hold and planted his feet on the shoulders of the massive wolf. Gritting his teeth, he poured every ounce of strength he had left into the attack, forcing the blade deeper into the base of its neck, where flesh met the spine.
The monster thrashed wildly, trying to crush whatever was clinging to its body. But the countless undead swarming it from every direction made even the enormous beast struggle to move freely.
"This is where you end, you filthy monster!"
Zeph fought to hold on and twisted the blade as hard as he could, trying to tear a wider wound and inflict even greater damage. But he knew the maneuver was vicious. He could barely keep himself anchored there.
Then came another violent impact.
Zeph's body was slammed hard to the side. He reached desperately for the sword's hilt, refusing to let go, but the force hurled him straight into the mass of undead below.
A sword sliced across his shoulder and arm.
"Oaarrgggh!"
Zeph let out a hoarse roar of pain, yet his fingers remained locked around the hilt.
He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on holding on, ignoring the agony tearing through his body.
The Calamity bucked with savage fury. Zeph felt himself crash into one side, then suddenly get flung upward, all while desperately clinging to the sword's hilt.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Each impact felt stronger than the last.
Until finally, with one last violent thrash, Zeph was slammed into the ground so hard that his vision began to blur.
He could feel undead soldiers trampling over him. Boots crushed against his arms, legs, and even his head as they surged forward without stopping.
Yet the Calamity's resistance was no longer as fierce as before.
With what little strength remained, Zeph lifted his gaze toward the massive beast sprawled before him. The pair of crimson eyes finally began to dim.
Slowly.
Silently.
Until they closed.
Had he really done it?
Had the monster finally been defeated?
[You have successfully killed Lv. 21 Epic - Deathhowl Alpha]
"Ah, a Level 21 monster? A Tier 2 creature inside a Tier 1 Rift. That's seriously ridiculous."
Yet Zeph had killed it. Just thinking about it sent a wave of satisfaction through him.
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to endure the countless wounds and aches covering his body. Every inch of him burned. The sword cuts stung fiercely, as if the nerves beneath his skin had been torn apart and left exposed.
But Zeph remained where he was.
Even the foul stench of the undead corpses no longer seemed to bother him.
If he ever managed to escape this Rift and tell someone what had happened here, they would probably laugh in his face. And honestly, Zeph would likely laugh along with them.
But this was an Epic-grade monster.
Not a Rare-grade.
An Epic-grade.
Imagine ten Apprentice Rank Awakeners being forced to fight a creature that savage, that deadly, and that overwhelmingly powerful. How were they supposed to survive? A single attack from that monster would have been enough to kill several of them at once.
Zeph stayed where he was, eyes closed, allowing his strength to slowly return.
He endured the pain, gritting his teeth through every pulse of agony. Moving would only make it worse. Right now, even the smallest motion felt like torture.
Eventually, after who knew how much time had passed, he slowly opened his eyes again.
Had he fallen asleep?
He had completely lost track of time.
The world around him was still shrouded in darkness. He had no idea when the night would finally end.
Could this be an endless night here?
Zeph glanced upward.
The moon had clearly shifted from where he remembered it being earlier. At least that meant time was still moving. Morning would probably come eventually.
He just had no idea when.
Carefully, he pushed himself up. The pain and heaviness weighing down his body had lessened considerably. Even the pounding headache that had plagued him throughout the battle was beginning to fade.
A moment later, he managed to sit upright and turned toward the fallen Calamity.
The massive wolf lay motionless on the ground.
"What about the undead?"
Zeph looked around, sweeping his gaze across the surrounding area.
The undead were still there.
They were scattered all over the battlefield. Some stood completely still. Others wandered aimlessly without any clear destination. A few had already returned to their previous resting spots, collapsing back into their eternal slumber.
"What exactly was going on here?"
The corpses of the green army were still scattered everywhere. Why weren't the undead waking up together and resuming their endless war against one another?
Instead, they had all joined forces to attack the Calamity.
As if, for a brief moment, every undead on the battlefield had shared the same enemy. And now that enemy was dead, they had simply lost all reason to keep fighting.
Zeph then tried to stand and looked around for something useful. Sharp weapons were scattered everywhere, swords, axes, and all kinds of broken equipment littering the ground.
He kicked a few of them aside, searching for something that still looked usable. Eventually, he found what he needed. A short sword, or maybe it could be called a dagger. He also picked up a fairly large axe and carried both weapons with him.
Zeph walked toward the lying corpse of the Calamity. He paused for a moment, holding himself back.
“This corpse isn't going to get back up as an undead too, right?”
He grimaced slightly at the thought alone.
There was one thing that always had to be done after successfully killing a monster, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he imagined it.
He circled around the massive body, looking for the best spot to begin his operation. He pushed the monster's corpse slightly to make things easier. After finding the right position, he raised the axe with both hands.
Grinding his teeth, he brought it down directly into the beast's chest. A wet cracking sound echoed out as the remaining blood inside the monster splattered across the surrounding ground.
“It doesn't feel as tough as when it was alive,” he muttered. “Its body seems to be drying out much faster too.”
He continued striking again and again, hacking deeper into the monster's chest with brutal force.
“Before it's too late, I need to harvest whatever's left from this poor monster.”
After some time, he tossed the axe onto the ground and switched to the short dagger. Zeph moved closer and began digging into the opening, this time slowly and carefully.
Several minutes passed before he suddenly paused. He brought his left hand in as well and continued searching through the cavity. Then his eyes widened slightly as his fingers closed around something hidden inside.
Zeph pulled with all his strength and ended up falling onto his backside when an object about the size of his fist came free, gleaming with a dark brown light in his hand.
“Damn it!” he shouted. “My first monster core!”
His very first monster core, obtained through his own efforts.
Well, with a little help from those brainless undeads.
Hahaha...
He was so happy that he almost forgot how weak and exhausted his body still felt.
“My first monster core.”
The sudden shout startled even him. He quickly looked around and noticed that the undeads showed no reaction at all.
“Woohoo!” Zeph shouted again, unable to contain his excitement.
A moment later, he stopped himself and swallowed nervously.
Damn it. Just because the undead did not react to his shouting did not mean there were no other monsters inside this rift. He immediately regretted yelling so loudly and fell silent again, admiring the object resting in his hand.
“Epic Grade, Tier 2 Monster Core!”
The thing was worth an incredible amount of money. He was going to earn a fortune from this.
The higher a monster's grade, the lower the chance of a monster core remaining after death. He was seriously, unbelievably lucky.
Hahaha.
But he fell silent again a moment later as another thought crossed his mind.
“A monster core this rare would be a waste to sell.”
He considered the idea carefully.
The money from selling it could buy many things to help him grow stronger. But this was an Epic Grade monster core. Something incredibly rare. Maybe he could use it to create a powerful tool, weapon, or some other valuable item.
The problem was that finding a crafter capable of working with something like this would take time. It would also cost a huge amount of money. And right now, he had nothing else he could rely on.
“Hah...”
Zeph forced himself to stop thinking about it for now and carefully stored the monster core away.
His gaze returned to the monster's lifeless body, and he took a deep breath before moving on to the next task.
“Hide, teeth, claws...”
A smile appeared on his face as he grabbed a section of the beast's hide and began carefully cutting into it.
“If only I had a dimensional storage. I could stuff this whole monster inside and sell it once I got out.”
But all he had was his small body and an equally small backpack. There was no way he could carry everything.
He would only take what was worth bringing. Just enough to avoid slowing himself down.
**
Zeph needed quite a bit of time to finish the rest of the work. Once he was done, however, he finally found a decent place to rest. It was the same place where the Calamity had been hiding before. He climbed to the top floor of the small watchtower and lay down there.
Until a sharp sting of sunlight hit his face.
Zeph opened his eyes and immediately squinted again. The bright light was almost painful after being asleep for so long. He slowly pushed himself upright and looked around.
It was already midday.
He had passed out again.
Fortunately, no other monsters seemed to have appeared while he was unconscious.
His gaze shifted toward one side of the watchtower. The large dark hide he had stripped from the wolf-like monster was spread out there, while the backpack he had managed to save looked noticeably fuller now.
Zeph then looked beyond the watchtower, surveying the battlefield below.
The countless undeads had returned to their previous state, lying motionless across the ground as if they had fallen asleep once more. However, those undeads with the green attribute that had marched away earlier had not returned.
“Maybe they migrated somewhere else?”
Just how large was this rift?
This had to be the most absurdly difficult Tier 1 Rift imaginable. Or perhaps this was never supposed to be a Tier 1 Rift in the first place.
This felt more like a Tier 2 Rift, something that should be handled by a team of ten Rank 2 Guardians.
Even Rank 2 Guardians would probably have a miserable time surviving in a place like this. Or maybe rifts were simply this brutal. After all, this was only Zeph's first experience inside a world he knew absolutely nothing about.
Zeph found himself thinking about the others again.
“What about everyone else?” he whispered. “Lena, Madou, and the others.”
People he barely even knew.
Zeph opened his backpack and pulled out a bottle of water. He unscrewed the cap and pressed the bottle to his dry, cracked lips, taking several long gulps.
The cool water flowed down his throat.
Oh, that felt incredibly refreshing.
After finishing, he stood and walked over to the stretched wolf hide. Lifting it, he realized it had already dried considerably, even though not even a full day had passed.
A smile appeared on his face.
He shook the hide out and draped it over his shoulders, letting it rest across his back like a rough cloak.
“It won't be very useful in a fight, but it should do a decent job keeping out the cold and the wind.”
After saying that, he adjusted the hide one last time and looked out across the vast landscape surrounding the watchtower.
“Now,” he said quietly, “it's time to find out where everyone else is.”