A Chimera warrior threw itself at Epsilon, with the same intense fury as all the rest. But what it hadn't expected, was for Epsilon to respond in kind.
The moment it took a single step forwards, the loose end of a wooden nun chuck slammed right into its face. Crushing its nose and teeth, forcing its blood to flow, but it was over yet as a blade flashed across its torso, tearing open its chest.
The Chimera warrior roared, it refused to fall, so Epsilon changed its mind.
The warrior swung its fist down on him, but he had long since disappeared, leaving but a blur behind. Before it knew it, the crushing power of someone's foot crashed right into its spine, breaking it in two while pushing it to ground.
It wasn't dead yet, the madness kept it thrashing about. A single blow to its heart should've been enough. But actually landing it wouldn't be be easy.
Another Chimera warrior tackled Epsilon, knocking him off its injured comrade, while a chimera scout attempted to jump on him from above. Leaving behind another blur, Epsilon disappeared again before appearing right in front of a far away chimera scout.
Before it even noticed it, a blade was shoved right into its heart, and then the Madness frenzy followed as it smacked against its skull.
In a single blow its head exploded, spilling rivers of blood all over.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Chimera Scout.]
Immediately after, a powerful force rammed into Epsilons right side, pushing him back, and then another from above, this time from a scout. The blow didn't do much other than disorientate him, making him drop the Maddened Frenzy.
But even if he was no longer holding the hypnotizing memory, Epsilon could very well feel its effects persisting. In fact, he felt his hatred and anger grow more powerful, making him numb to pain and even more savage.
He turned his head to the Chimera scout, looking at it with a sickening bloodlust. The scout attempted to growl, but all that came out was a low eep. Standing before Epsilon, it felt only like a tiny mouse who was in the presence of a mighty lion.
Before it could even escape, Epsilons arm shot forwards and gripped the creature by the neck.
"Why are you running!? WHY DID YOU TRY TO RUN AWAY!?"
With but a single tremendous squeeze, the Chimera scouts face turned purple before the pressure finally made it pop. The blood spurted onto Epsilons face, but it didn't bother him. In fact, a wide, haunting smile formed on his face.
"More.. MORE!"
The enchantment imbued into the Madness Frenzy, was one that put its wielder in a state of Madness. However, what Epsilon didn't know was that this enchantment grew stronger over time. The more the user attacked while using this enchantment, the more rage and instinct induced they became, until eventually, they were nothing but a wild beast. Even if the user were to let go of the weapon, its effects could still persist if it became strong enough.
Although Epsilon had used this enchantment before, his fortunate accident with them led to him dropping the weapon before it could grow strong enough. But since Epsilon had already brushed with Madness, once he used the weapon a second time, it took hold of him even faster, and its grip became even firmer.
The fight was so brutal, so bloody, that Epsilon and the chimeras hadn't even noticed that a fire had spread all around them. The once lush green forest, had quickly become a blazing inferno, incinerating everything to the ground.
But in those flames, Epsilon and the pack of Chimera Warriors all danced to their deaths.
"I'LL KILL YOU TOO! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!"
A Chimera Warrior swung its arm in Epslions direction, and so he responded in kind. The two fists clashed, however only one of them was broken. The sound of bones cracking and breaking erupted through the Chimera warriors limb, while Epsilon pushed forwards and released an onslaught of blows on the creature.
its ribcage was crushed into splinters, its skull smashed into a pulp, but somehow it still moved, still fought. At least until Epsilon punched a whole straight through its chest, and crushed its heart with his bare hands.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Chimera Warrior.]
"MORE, I NEED MORE!"
A path of flames spread around him, walling him off from the rest of the chimeras, as even they seemed fearful of the fire.
But that didn't stop him.
Epsilon jumped straight through it, as he rushed towards them with only madness in his eyes. He too, had become exactly like them. Ignoring pain, pushing through death with just sheer rage.
Throwing a punch, it collided against a warrior which tried to defend itself. But instead of feeling a crushing weight slam into it, it felt a soft, quiet thud.
The radiance which empowered Epsilon quickly dimmed, and although the Madness from his memory kept him going, he was severely weakened.
The fist of the chimera warrior flew towards Epsilon. He tried to dodge it, but suddenly he felt himself grow slower, and his movements became sluggish. The draw back of using 10 years of his life, flood over him like a torrent.
'No!'
A terrible blunt force collided into him, and unable to defend himself at all, Epsilon was sent hurdling away through the air, eventually crashing into a burning tree.
He struggled to mutter with his voice hoarse from his rampage,
"Fight! I need to fight! I'll pulverise, and crush you into atoms!"
But it was no use, that single direct hit completely shattered his body, adding to his already life threatening wounds. He couldn't move, not even an inch.
Lifting his head up ever so slightly, his vision became stained with red. He was bleeding from his head, several of his organs were punctured, his weapons were all lost in the flames somewhere, and he doubted if he could even summon them back in time.
'That's right.. how did this fire even start?'
But a stinging pain immediately cancelled out those thoughts.
'No! I need to fight!'
He had to keep fighting. The Madness told him so. But despite the orders it commanded, Epsilons body was simply incapable of following them.
"Fight..."
His vision blurred, his consciousness faded, letting the last thing he saw be the menacing figure of the Chimera Scout looming over him.
"I'll... I'lll"
The Chimera Warrior stood before the unconscious monster. That thing was even more of an abomination than he was. Despite being a small human, if it could even call it that, it had somehow wiped out swaths of them with nothing but brute strength.
Just looking at him now, just being reminded of that massacre, it felt fear. And even if it didn't posses the intelligence to plan ahead, it knew what had to be done next.
But far in the distance, a lone silver sword hovered in the air, glowing with a strange white calming radiance. Its tip, aimed directly at the Chimera warriors skull.
Seconds before it could harm Epsilon, it zoomed through the air, carving a vacuum of air in its wake. And in just a few moments, it cleanly penetrated its skull. That wasn't enough to kill it though, if anything the Chimera Warrior was confused.
Staggering back, it tried to pull the weapon out of its head, but before it could even grab its handle, a strange paralysing feeling took over its body.
Limping, the creature collapsed to the ground, while the weapon lodged in its skull vibrated to life. It tore its own way out, before making a horrific mess of the creature. The voice of the Nightmare spell rang out to it,
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Chimera Warrior.]
The blade then hovered in the air for a few moments, seemingly turning whatever it had for a head, looking through the flames before realigning on Epsilon. The tip of its blade lifted, carefully aiming at him, and then it...