CHAPTER 190: DESTROY THE CURSED (7)

Chapter 190

Aiden had sensed something was wrong minutes ago.

Even when the One-Tailed Scorpions and Two-Tailed variants burst into the open battlefield, his instincts kept screaming—something wasn’t right. Something deeper than danger. It felt as though his primal intuition had been forcibly suppressed, muffled, and that in itself was terrifying. That sense had saved his life countless times, yet now it was as if it had been snatched away.

But the moment the Three-Tailed Scorpion Beasts emerged—grotesque, monstrous things, their thick carapaces glinting under the flickering warfires—he understood why.

Their presence.

It was suffocating, like a massive weight pressed against his soul. Though he couldn’t be entirely sure, Aiden felt it was their aura—so overwhelming, so unnatural—that it disrupted his instincts altogether.

But there was no time to ponder.

These beasts weren’t just powerful. They were menaces.

Each Three-Tailed Scorpion possessed not only immense physical strength and overwhelming defense, but also dual-elemental affinities—a rare and deadly trait. Fire and Earth. Ice and Wind. Poison and Lightning. Whatever combination it was, they wielded it with brutal efficiency.

If these monsters were allowed to break deeper into the formation, the Guild’s forces—most of whom were C-Rankers with a few scattered B-Ranks—would be utterly decimated. Aiden knew that.

To make matters worse, these weren’t rare elites. There were many of them. Scattering. Rampaging. Slaughtering.

Each one was A-Rank. Perhaps low A-Rank by classification, but that meant nothing in real combat. They were still more powerful than the majority of warriors on the field.

"The Cursed..." Aiden growled under his breath, his expression darkening.

This tactic was underhanded, brutal, and cruel—but then again, that’s what the Cursed were. Their methods always reeked of treachery, and while war had no rules, Aiden had always believed in a line of honor—even if they didn’t.

But now...

"If it’s a dirty game you want... then I won’t hold back either."

He exhaled slowly and whispered one word:

"Morph."

The response was instantaneous. A tidal wave of energy surged through him, wild and primal. His body jerked, muscles spasming, reshaping. His bones groaned and cracked beneath his skin.

His transformation had begun.

With each step forward, his figure changed—growing, twisting, evolving. His frame became larger, more animalistic. Claws sharpened into deadly blades. His blonde hair grew wild, trailing behind him like a burning mane.

His skin darkened, toughening into a thick, chitinous shell with an earthy brown hue. Two jagged insectoid wings burst out of his back, buzzing with raw kinetic force. His legs grew longer and leaner, like a predatory beast mid-hunt.

Then came his eyes.

They snapped open, glowing a deep amber with slit pupils, primal and feral. He let out a low growl, barely human, his fangs glinting in the dim light.

"The Three-Tailed ones have to die—now."

Without hesitation, Aiden lunged into the air, straight at another scorpion beast.

This one was different from the others. Its tails shimmered with green and icy blue hues, a clear indication of Wind and Ice affinity. The ones he killed earlier had red and brown tails, Fire and Earth—this was something else entirely.

But he didn’t falter.

The scorpion saw him coming and struck first—its green tail lashing forward with terrifying speed. To the untrained eye, it looked like a pointless thrash. After all, Aiden was still dozens of meters away.

But he knew better.

He twisted in midair.

A sharp whistle split the battlefield—and a split second later, a razor wind sliced past his previous location, moving so fast that it carved clean through a One-Tailed Scorpion behind him, shredding it like paper.

Aiden didn’t need further proof. That wind wasn’t a simple gust—it was a compressed slicing force, nearly invisible, and lethally precise.

"Smart bastard..." he muttered, smirking as his wings beat once and he vanished in a blur, heading straight for the icy predator that dared aim at him.

The sheer power of the force launched him forward like a missile, tearing through the air at an incredible speed. In a blink, he was already upon the three-tailed scorpion that had attacked him moments earlier.

The scorpion reacted swiftly, its obsidian-black tail lashing out with lethal intent. Aiden met it head-on, raising his arm in time to block the blow. The impact was brutal. His bones trembled from the force, and for a moment, he felt as though he’d be thrown off his feet. But gritting his teeth, he twisted his body, redirecting the full brunt of the attack downward. The force exploded into the ground, sending dust and fragments flying.

The scorpion recoiled in surprise, clearly not expecting Aiden to stop its attack. It was stunned—but only for a second. And that second was all Aiden needed.

With a fierce glint in his eyes, he retaliated. His fist surged forward, smashing into the scorpion’s head with the weight of a thunderclap. The air trembled from the blow, and spiderweb cracks shot across the ground beneath them. The beast shrieked in pain, its shrill cry echoing through the desolate field.

But the fight wasn’t over.

Enraged, the scorpion lashed out with two of its tails in a rapid double strike. Aiden readied himself to dodge, but that was when he felt it—his legs wouldn’t move. His body was frozen in place.

He looked down, eyes widening. The creature’s third tail had silently struck the ground moments earlier, releasing a freezing toxin. The earth beneath Aiden was now encased in ice, trapping his legs. He cursed under his breath for letting his guard down. Then, before he could react, the beast’s massive pincers clamped down around his arms like twin iron vices, lifting him from the frozen earth.

It was a sight to behold—Aiden suspended in mid-air, restrained by a beast that towered over him. But it was far from amusing. The two tails were still descending toward his head like twin spears of death.

Aiden snarled, his expression fierce.

With a sharp gust, the large wings on his back flared forward, moving to intercept the incoming strikes. The tails smashed against his wings with brutal force. He grunted in pain, but it wasn’t unbearable—not enough to stop him.

Drawing from his inner power, Aiden roared. His muscles tensed, and with a surge of strength, he shattered the beast’s pincers holding him captive. Then, with a single motion, he slammed his fists down, breaking apart the ice that bound his legs.

His wings parted.

Aiden surged forward like a comet streaking through the sky. He landed atop the beast with a devastating blow, his fist crashing through its armored carapace with a bone-shattering impact. The scorpion howled in agony. But it wasn’t done.

All three of its tails struck at once in a desperate counterattack.

This time, Aiden didn’t move. He braced himself, letting the hardened hide covering his body take the full brunt of the damage. The first tail—a green one—pierced into his side, leaving a sharp, burning wound. The second—blue—froze the skin on his shoulder, ice rapidly forming. The third—black—crashed against his back, leaving a large, dark bruise.

Pain exploded from every angle.

But Aiden didn’t scream.

Instead, he roared again—more beast than man now—and drove his fist down for a second strike, pouring everything he had into it. The blow landed with a sound like a collapsing mountain. The beast’s carapace beneath his feet crumbled entirely.

The scorpion shrieked louder than ever, thrashing violently—but Aiden wasn’t finished.

With a savage expression, he leapt into the cracked shell, diving into its inner body. The creature went berserk, screeching in pure torment, spinning and crashing into the ground in wild spasms.

Then, after one final convulsion...

It collapsed.

Dead.

To be continued......

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