Khan's eyes lingered on the boar-like creature without caring about its appearance. His senses had already told him everything he needed to know. The monster's size, level, and danger had been clear in his mind long before its charge.
That awareness told Khan that a single hand would have been enough to stop the beast, and the reality matched his prediction. The creature was as strong as a second-level warrior, and its size enhanced that innate power. An ordinary third-level warrior would struggle to deal with its charge without resorting to martial arts, but Khan was different.
Khan only needed to adjust his knees and match his elbow's movement with the incoming beast to disperse the charge's momentum. Once the monster stood still and its tusk was in his grasp, the stalemate turned into a battle of raw strength, which he won by a landslide.
The beast had a tinge of intelligence, which worsened its surprise. Khan's raw strength was unreasonable. He was too tiny to wield so much power, but everything became clear when the monster saw his eyes.
A primordial intensity that crossed language barriers and more rested in Khan's blue eyes. He didn't need words or mana to convey his intentions and pressure. The monster only needed a glance to decide to run away, but its body couldn't do anything under Khan's overwhelming influence.
The appearance of the cursed knife killed any lingering hope. The humming noise from the weapon added a violent bloodlust to Khan's already wild presence. The boar was supposed to be the monster in that situation, but its brain told the opposite story. An apex predator had descended into the forest, and the food chain was bound to change forever.
Khan sent some mana into the cursed knife before swinging it at the monster, abiding by the Divine Reaper's moves. The weapon cut the boar's face in half, sending a purple-red slash forward. The attack fed on the monster's blood and mana, turning red and gaining enough power to cross its entire body.
The slash flew forward and tried to rise into the sky, but its energy ended when it crashed into a tree. A long cut appeared on that huge trunk, but Khan only tracked it through the symphony. His eyes remained on the gory spectacle before him, and the bloodlust inside his mind inevitably intensified.
Khan could achieve a similar result against a monster at that level, but the cursed knife had made it effortless. The slash had cut the boar into two halves, exposing its disgusting insides. A foul smell also rose into the air, but Khan mostly focused on the fur.
'The cut is clean,' Khan noted. He had tested the cursed knife, but that was his first time using it against a living being, and the outcome had been incredible. The slash didn't only carry as much power as he hoped. It even retained the Divine Reaper's properties.
"Behave," Khan ordered, flicking the knife's blade. He could feel the bloodlust growing inside his brain and didn't feel like suppressing it with his element every time.
The knife didn't listen to Khan's order and continued to expand its bloodlust, forcing him to sigh. He had grown used to unstable techniques and spells by then. His very element loathed control, but he couldn't let a relatively sentient weapon do as it wished, especially when he carried it at his side.
"I will give you plenty of corpses," Khan tried to negotiate, "But attack without my permission, and I will melt you."
Khan didn't only speak through words. His mind conveyed the same meanings to the expanding bloodlust inside his brain. The knife could sense his promise's honesty but mostly cared about the threat. Khan didn't care how valuable that knife was. He would destroy it if it merely thought about attacking Monica.
As much as the knife wanted to break loose, Khan's mind was too scary. The clicking cry and the chaos element had turned it into a hellish mess that could suppress any foreign threat, and his nightmares had added an unmatchable deadliness. The cursed weapon could only shrink back, hoping its next meal would come soon.
'Now,' Khan thought, his gaze wandering on the surrounding trees. 'How much is three square kilometers?'
.
.
.
Major Kilwood stood at the center of the encampment, staring at the vast sea of huge trees ahead. At times, slight tremors would reach his feet, and the same went for faint explosions, but nothing was visible from his position.
"How long has he been inside?" Major Kilwood asked the team of soldiers around him.
"Almost a week, sir," One of the soldiers replied.
"With no supplies or weapons, right?" Major Kilwood questioned, asking for information the soldiers had given him multiple times in the previous days.
"He had his knife, sir," The soldier revealed.
"What about the monsters in the quadrant?" Major Kilwood probed.
"The strongest should be at Captain Khan's level, sir," The soldier exclaimed. "However, their number isn't negligible."
"Chances that they attack together?" Major Kilwood wondered.
"There are some packs, sir," The soldier explained, "But nothing too threatening, at least for an armed team."
Major Kilwood felt a headache coming, even if his mind was already full of them. He had received countless calls in the past week, and Khan's absence left him with no answers. He had even considered sending probes but didn't want to go against Khan's last orders.
Theoretically, any Major could order Captains around, but Khan was a special case, and the recent news aggravated the issue. He was now engaged to a Solodrey, and the Harbor had basically given him the job of an Ambassador, pushing his authority far past his rank's limits.
Many on the network actually wondered how Khan didn't receive a promotion yet. The public could understand that the title of Ambassador only came through higher education and achievements in the field, but Khan had already proven himself superior to Captains. His sheer strength alone could make him a Major.
Those were the reasons behind Major Kilwood's hesitation and why he was still stalling for time before making a decision. He didn't want to end up on the wrong side of a prodigy bound to become his superior in a matter of years. He preferred to play his cards right, but the wait was becoming too long.
"How long until it's a full week?" Major Kilwood eventually asked.
"Half a day, sir," The soldier responded. "Maybe a few hours under that."
"Wait until it's a full week," Major Kilwood decided. "Send probes afterward, and only probes. No one steps into the forest until I say so."
The soldiers performed military salutes and chanted a simultaneous "Yes, sir", but Major Kilwood didn't bother nodding at them as he turned toward his jeep. The matter was truly troubling him, but a thick red drop suddenly fell before him, halting his steps and distracting him.
A second drop quickly followed, landing in the same spot as the first. Major Kilwood couldn't refrain from leaning toward it, squinting his eyes to inspect the liquid. That red color reminded him of blood, which alerted his survival instincts.
Major Kilwood promptly wore a battle stance and lifted his gaze, but his surprise only intensified. A figure covered in blood was floating a few meters above the encampment, with his face fixed on the forest. The dirt accumulated on him made him hard to recognize, but the fact that he was flying led to a single conclusion.
"Captain Khan!" Major Kilwood called, bringing the soldiers' attention to the sky.
"Wait," Khan said, lifting a finger to add value to his order.
The Major and soldiers didn't know what was happening and followed Khan's gaze toward the forest, but nothing was visible from there, which brought their eyes to Khan again.
"Sir?" Major Kilwood couldn't help but utter once a few seconds passed.
"The quadrant should be clear," Khan declared, his eyes still on the forest. "I don't know if I covered all three square kilometers, so send an armed party just in case."
"What?" Major Kilwood gasped, but a buzzing noise suddenly came from above.
Khan sent a hand into his bloodstained pocket, quickly retrieving his phone. Looking at the name on the screen made him shake his head, but a smile broadened on his face as he gave another message to the soldiers below.
"I have to take this," Khan half-apologized, bringing his phone to his ear and switching to a teasing tone. "We talked four hours ago."
Major Kilwood and the soldiers couldn't hear what was happening on the other side of the phone, but meaningless shouts still reached them. It sounded like someone was scolding Khan, but his smile never disappeared.
"Yes, I told you," Khan sighed. "The reception was ba-. How do you expect me to control the reception?"
The scene was beyond strange. A man covered with dripping blood was having a casual call in the sky. The Major and the soldiers were so stunned that they couldn't find the words to intervene.
"I didn't hang up on you," Khan pointed out. "It doesn't count. How can I cheat on you with a monster?"
The shouts from the phone grew louder, allowing the soldiers below to recognize a female voice. Still, none was in the right mind to care. The last line made them give up hope of understanding what was happening.
"I have to fly somewhere else first," Khan stated, finally lowering his eyes on the soldiers. "Get the next shipment ready in a month and a half. No, I'm not staying here another month and a half."
Khan waved his hand at the soldiers before slowly flying away, his phone still at his ear. Major Kilwood and his team followed his departing figure, and their eyes didn't move from the sky even after he disappeared.
