CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 58: OUTER ZONE

Chapter 58 – Outer Zone

Step. Step. Step.

Kaden walked forward, then stopped.

In front of him was a vast green sea of trees—an endless stretch of forest with no end in sight.

He hadn’t really paid attention to it back then, but now that he was standing here, he realized just how massive this forest truly was.

"That princess must’ve teleported me near the entrance," Kaden muttered under his breath. "Not out of mercy, though... probably because she couldn’t push me deeper in."

Because if she could have, he was sure she would have thrown him into the heart of hell itself.

He didn’t dwell on it. He gathered his thoughts and walked straight in.

"The poisonous area is in the middle zone, east side. I need to get through the outer zone first," Kaden recalled, pacing his steps carefully.

But he wasn’t worried.

The outer zone rarely held anything beyond awakened-rank beasts—troublesome, but manageable. The real problem was what came after.

Inner zone. Core zone.

He had no intention of going that deep. At least not now. In the inner zone, even the weakest were master-rank beasts. And in the core?

"Grandmaster," he whispered with a dry chuckle. "Yeah... no thanks."

But despite telling himself that, in some corner of his mind... he wanted to go there. Just to die.

Not for glory. Not for challenge. Just to walk into a forbidden zone, get obliterated, come back stronger, and repeat.

And the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. It was the most efficient way to use his system.

’But I need more death coins for that.’

And with that thought, he asked silently,

’Is questing the only way to earn Death Coins?’

[It is, host.]

Kaden frowned, disappointed. He hoped there was another method—something quicker, something consistent.

’Then how do I make sure I keep getting quests?’

[By creating situations where I can issue one.]

’Meaning?’

[Court trouble. Invite death. Push your limits. Be loud. Be wild. Just don’t be boring.]

Kaden stared at the notification for a long moment... then smirked.

"So basically, I need to lose my mind... just like my family. But not completely. Mine will be more... refined insanity."

His grin widened.

Suddenly, Reditha flashed into his hand. The crimson weapon pulsed with eagerness—its hunger to fight bleeding through the bond they shared.

Kaden smiled and entered the forest.

"Don’t worry. You’ll get more than enough blood today. Let’s consider as a date between us."

But Reditha responded with confusion.

Kaden laughed, "Ah, right. You’re basically a newborn."

Then he stopped walking.

Up ahead—dozens of tall, green-skinned monsters with twisted faces and thick wooden clubs in their hands. Trolls.

"Pretty aggressive for a warmup," Kaden muttered with mild interest.

The moment they saw him, they screamed like enraged animals and charged.

Kaden’s eyes narrowed, and as he walked toward them without urgency, blood surged from his body like a tidal wave. The air twisted as thirteen blood javelins formed, each one sharp, sleek, and perfectly aimed.

There were thirteen trolls. And thirteen javelins.

Each javelin struck its mark with surgical precision, piercing the massive bodies of the beasts—but trolls weren’t that easy to kill.

They growled, writhed, and their bodies twitched as their regeneration kicked in.

But Kaden didn’t give them the chance.

He summoned a massive sphere of blood above their heads and dropped it right in the center of the group.

"Blood Explosion."

BOOOOM.

The ground shook, and blood and guts sprayed like rainfall. The trolls never stood a chance.

Their blood drained, and Reditha greedily absorbed it all.

Kaden approached the corpses and took their origin cores without emotion.

He tilted his head slightly.

"Not enough," he said flatly. "Too easy."

He wanted more. He needed more. Many of his stats had reached 200, and he wanted something... better. He wanted to test himself.

"I can do that in the middle zone. But right now?"

His lips curled into a devious grin.

"I want to bully them a little."

He expanded his perception, scanning the forest. Within moments, he found another target—several groups of beasts nearby.

Without wasting a second, Kaden blurred forward, moving so fast it left streaks of red light in the air behind him.

He came to a halt.

Ahead of him, massive black ant-like monsters were carrying the carcass of a dead wolf.

Kaden raised his hand. Reditha pulsed in excitement.

He slashed, cleanly bisecting the wolf corpse, enraging the ant-beasts instantly. They screeched and lunged.

One from the left, one from the right, and one straight ahead.

Kaden dismissed Reditha.

Barehanded, he stood there calmly as they charged.

The moment they reached him, mouths open wide aiming to attack, Kaden struck.

He grabbed the two on either side by their jaws, forcefully snapping their mouths shut and then squeezing—bones cracked and splintered in his grip.

The monsters howled, but before they could recover, Kaden spun and delivered a brutal roundhouse kick to the third one, caving in its skull in a messy explosion of green blood.

Reditha flashed into the sky and slammed down like a falling star, piercing one corpse, then the next.

All dead.

Kaden raised his hand, and Reditha returned to it, trembling with satisfaction.

"You’re improving," he praised.

Reditha pulsed, proud.

Kaden turned to the remaining ants guarding what was left of the wolf carcass.

But now, they weren’t angry. They were trembling.

"I’ll make it quick," Kaden whispered with a bloody smile—and then, in a blink, their heads were gone.

Thud. Gushhhhh.

Their blood sprayed out, and Reditha drank it all, feeding their shared reservoir.

Kaden crouched down and collected the core origins.

They were useless to him now—he had already saturated his—but they’d sell well enough.

Without pausing, he darted off again.

More cores. More experience. More death.

Eventually, he stumbled upon a group of goblins mid-orgy, moaning and grunting in the open.

"Sorry to interrupt," Kaden said casually—before beheading them all in a single, fluid motion. Clean. Elegant. Ruthless.

And just like that...

Kaden continued his little massacre, slicing through the outer zone of Asterion Forest like a ghost made of blood and fury.

—End of Chapter 58—