"What??? You can speak!! And that weapon! How did it....." His voice trailed off, replaced by a muffled groan as the layer boss threw a punch.

The blow landed like a battering ram on Leon’s face.

Whoosh!

He flew back like a cannon and again cratered the wall.

"Ahhhhh." Leon felt like all the bones in his face had shattered. The orc didn’t even give him the chance to move. It shot forward and stopped before the wall, its speed creating a violent gust of wind.

Without giving Leon any chance to recover or process what was going on, it yanked him out of the crater by grabbing his legs and slamming him hard on the ground.

Crack! The ground cracked. So did Leon’s bones. But the boss didn’t just stop there. It grabbed Leon by the legs and slammed him to the ground again. And again.

Leon’s vision blurred. ’So much for getting stronger.’

When the boss felt Leon was done for, it tossed him aside like a piece of waste. Leon’s body thudded to the ground, blood pooling up beneath him, nonstop.

The orc then leaped into the air, raised its cleaver with both hands and started descending over Leon.

Leon couldn’t see clearly but stared at the descending monster helplessly. The green figure was slowly growing bigger. And the cleaver flashed under the dim light of the gate. Leon knew what was about to happen. His fate... It was sealed.

But just when he thought everything was done for, a memory flashed in his mind.

A woman in her early thirties.

She was crawling back with tears in her eyes. Her swollen belly — pregnant. And before her... The same towering orc. Green, muscular, but bigger. At least five times larger than the boss, Leon was fighting. And in its arm... A great sword.

"Don’t....." The woman said desperately, blood dripping from the corner of her lips. But it didn’t stop the orc. Its long steps closed the distance between it and the woman in seconds. It raised the sword high.

The woman screamed. "Logaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan."

But the next moment.

Whoosh!

A downward slash. The woman froze, her voice dying instantly. The next moment, a thin line of red appeared from her head to the bottom. And then.... Her body slid in half, internal organs and blood spilled out.

Dead.

Suddenly, Leon’s vision, which had been almost fading into the dark, cleared instantly. A rage surged up within him. He didn’t even know who that woman in that short memory was. He wasn’t even sure if it was real or not. But that memory stirred something within Leon. As if something was trying to crawl out from within and destroy the monster before him.

The orc was only a metre away, its cleaver closing the distance toward Leon’s head.

But before it could touch his skin...

Leon sprang into a kneeling position with one leg. His right fist clenched. And then he lunged upward. His fist slammed into the orc’s chin in a clean uppercut.

Boom!

Whoosh!

The tide turned upside down. This time...

The boss flew upward like a chunk of earth torn loose by an explosion. The whole cave shook, dust and debris raining down.

"This power!" Leon was shocked beyond words. He had hit the boss on pure impulse, an explosion of sudden rage. But he had imagined himself getting hurt.

But this.... This was totally the opposite, an outcome he wouldn’t even dream about.

"And.... Who was that woman? Why did her dying make me lose control like this?" Leon whispered. But what he didn’t notice were the drops of tears rolling down his cheeks.

[Congratulations, Host.]

Just then, the panel shimmered before him.

[Host has awakened a new ability due to sudden mental comprehension.]

[Ability: Berserk Mode

Description: When the ability is fully comprehended, the Host can activate it at will. Berserk mode multiplies the user’s abilities and strength by 20. It lasts for 60 seconds. Once the ability is deactivated, the user will be paralysed for the next few hours due to the severe strain on the body. It can be activated only once in 24 hours.]

"Berserk mode? What an intriguing ability." Leon’s lips curved up into a smile. But with all the blood and damage he had taken, that smile made him look like a monster of his own. "Wait! 60 seconds? And a few hours of a paralysed state after that? Damn! You should have told me that at first."

Leon leaned forward and then....

Whoosh! He shot forward like a hungry animal, the ground cracking beneath his foot.

The orc was just falling from the air. Leon drew his hand back like a coiled spring. His knuckles whitened due to the sheer force. And then....

He exploded it forward in mid-motion. His fist touched the green flesh and sank deeper. The time seemed to have slowed down. And then....

Boom! The orc blasted away, hitting spikes and towers one after another.

Leon’s feet only tapped on the ground before he shot forward like a cannonball again. The cleaver was still in the air, about to fall onto the ground. Leon grabbed it in mid-motion.

The orc had just hit a wall and slid down. But Leon was already there, the cleaver raised high.

"You bastard, dieeeeeeeeeee...."

The boss raised its hand to shield.

Just before the cleaver touched the orc’s hand, a cold glint flashed in Leon’s eyes.

And then.

Schlk!

A clean slash of the cleaver.

At first, nothing. But then, the orc’s left half slid down obliquely. Even the wall behind was slashed.

Ding! 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

[Mission complete!]

[Congratulations, Host.]

[You have completed the mission.]

"Yes... I... I di..." Leon tried to speak, but his voice trailed off as he collapsed to his knees. The cleaver slipped from his grasp, clanging against the ground. His strength gave out completely, and he fell forward like a puppet with its strings cut. Dust and smoke exploded outward.

Amidst the silence, notifications continued to pop up in the panel.

[You have unlocked a reward for successfully completing the mission]

[Reward: Heaven Grade Curse Eradicator Key]

[The key is reacting to the 2nd curse placed on your body]