Chapter 7
The rain had not stopped for an entire night, and yet Orion kept moving. The world around him stank of wet mud, damp fur, and rotting monster blood soaking into the earth, but none of it slowed his steps. His cloak dragged lazily behind him, its edges torn from the previous battles, leaving faint trails on the soaked ground. Every breath he released turned into mist, curling upward like ghosts escaping his lungs.
By the time the sun rose, the battlefield looked like a graveyard of beasts—hundreds of them—yet Orion's expression didn't shift. His fingers rested calmly on the hilt of the sword strapped to his back, its weight a constant reminder of purpose. He hadn't slept in three days, but exhaustion didn't matter. He didn't chase rest. He chased growth.
Ahead of him, faint vibrations trembled under the ground. Something massive stirred in the distance. The remaining forces of the beast horde… or perhaps something worse.
Orion didn't stop. Instead, he inhaled slowly.
The world was quiet.
Too quiet.
He crossed a fallen tree in a single step, boots sinking into the mud on the other side. The forest canopy above blocked most of the morning light, leaving everything pale and washed in muted colors. As he walked deeper, thorny branches snagged at his cloak, scraping faintly against fabric but failing to leave marks. His aura wasn't leaking, but something heavier and sharper lay around him — a silent pressure that monsters felt long before they ever saw him.
This was why they fled.
Why they hid whenever his steps approached.
The Silent Hunter.
A title whispered by survivors… and feared by predators.
But today, the forest didn't whisper. It held its breath.
A faint growl echoed to his right. Orion didn't glance. The beast lunged from the bushes a moment later — a wolf with bone-white fur and blood-red eyes. Before its claws even left the earth, Orion flicked his wrist. His cloak brushed aside as a thin line of black light slipped from his fingers.
The wolf froze mid-air.
Its head slid off its body, falling silently into the mud.
Orion never slowed his stride.
Another pack circled him from behind. Their steps were cautious — slow scraping sounds of claws. They didn't attack immediately. These ones were smarter. Stronger.
One of the wolves stepped closer, jaws trembling.
Orion stopped walking.
He turned his head slightly, just enough for the light to hit his eyes.
The pack collapsed instantly.
Not from injury…
But from fear.
He moved past them without a word. Those who didn't die ran. Those who couldn't run stayed frozen, their instincts screaming that something far above their level had walked by.
But Orion wasn't paying attention to them anymore. The deeper he traveled, the more intense the rumbling became beneath his feet.
The fake Stage 5 monster he had been chasing should've been close.
He stepped into a clearing where sunlight finally pierced the clouds. A towering stone ridge rose on the opposite side, vines tangled across its face. And lying beneath it, carved into the dirt, were massive claw marks — dozens of them — forming a trail deeper into the mountains.
Orion crouched and touched one of the grooves. It was warm.
Still fresh.
He stood again and narrowed his eyes.
Something shifted behind him.
He didn't turn.
He didn't even breathe.
A shadow rose behind him — a giant humanoid beast with dark yellow skin, veins bulging like living cords, and arms thick enough to crush boulders. Its breath stank of rotting meat.
It swung.
The air cracked from the force of the blow.
Orion stepped forward lightly.
The massive fist slammed into the ground where he stood, shattering it into pieces. Dirt exploded upward. Birds cried in the distance, startled by the tremor.
Orion didn't bother to look back.
Instead, he unlatched the sword on his back with a calm motion.
Its edge gleamed faintly, a thin line of cold light.
The beast roared behind him, furious at being ignored.
Orion tilted his head the slightest degree.
"Move," he said quietly.
Not a shout.
Not a threat.
Just a simple command.
But it was enough.
The beast's instincts screamed. It leaped backward instinctively, smashing into a tree with its own weight. Bark cracked. Leaves fell like rain.
Orion finally turned.
He walked toward the creature one slow step at a time. The air grew heavier with every step he took, pressure folding down on the world like an invisible mountain. Even the clouds above seemed to hesitate.
The beast roared again and lunged.
Orion lifted his sword.
The world stilled.
A single slash cut through the air — no sound, no afterimage, just a line of absence where light itself seemed to vanish.
The beast dropped to its knees.
A red line slowly opened from its shoulder to its hip.
It tried to speak or scream, but the sound never came. Its body split a heartbeat later, falling in two clean halves.
Orion exhaled softly and continued forward.
But as he sheathed his sword, pain exploded behind his eyes.
He staggered.
His vision blurred.
An overwhelming sharpness stabbed through his thoughts — like someone hammering directly into his soul. The world swirled. Trees melted into shadows. The sky darkened. Light fractured.
He pressed a hand against his forehead.
"What… is this…?"
The pain intensified.
His heartbeat thundered.
His vision blackened.
Something grabbed his consciousness, dragging it downward — or upward — or somewhere entirely outside the world.
He inhaled sharply.
And everything stopped.
No wind.
No sound.
No movement.
Time froze.
His realm cracked open.
He looked up — or at least his soul did — and saw a vast cosmic space above him. Stars shattered. Light unfolded. Around him, twenty-five lights hovered like burning suns.
Seven drifted toward him.
Twenty-three fled like terrified birds.
His breath trembled.
Something ancient stirred in him.
But before he could reach the lights… before he could understand anything… the scene shattered—
And he woke back in the forest.
The ground beneath him was still wet. The split corpse of the beast still lay in two neat halves.
But Orion wasn't the same.
His eyes pulsed with a deeper darkness, like eclipses folded into his pupils.
He took one quiet breath… and something inside him responded, a whisper echoing through his veins.
He didn't understand it yet.
But the path to Stage 5 had opened.
And the war of gods had begun—
Even if he hadn't realized it.