Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

The scenario that Ethan created in his head was simple… he was facing an army of enemies, and his health bar was almost empty. A single strike would made him fall and become an easy target for the monsters. Putting his brain into and making him accept that situation when it wasn't real was difficult, but Ethan pulled it off. However, that had a few downsides… he wouldn't stop unless the monsters stopped appearing, and, in the simulator, that would only happen when Ethan received a single hit that would be enough to kill him in a single strike. Or when he completely runs out of gas.

Even while he was in the other world, Ethan could count the number of times when his level of concentration reached such a stage. It usually only happened after fighting for days without stopping. Ethan had returned to that world… at least his mind did.

You received a new quest!

Complete the eleventh stage of the VR simulator!

Reward: 50.000 coins.

The monsters of the eleventh stage had not even appeared completely when Ethan dashed toward them. The monsters this time were ants, red ants that had the sizes of big dogs. Their claws were razor-sharp, and they also had some big-ass fangs. Those were the vampiric ants, a creature that Ethan had never fought before, but he had no interest in learning about them.

Ethan's bastard sword suddenly appeared above one of the ants, and the creature was fast enough to identify the dagger and try to block the attack. Although the monster succeeded in that, it lost both of its claws. Ethan lost the momentum of his attack, but in the next moment, the creature began to burn just because it was touching the sword. In the next moment, Ethan kicked the ant, even though the monster still was on fire, and made it hit several other ants. Those who got caught by that attack became defenseless to Ethan's next attack. His bastard cut them in half, and it also hit the ground, making the space around vibrate. Emily and Ian felt the tremor, even though they were fifty or so meters away from there.

"That is rather impressive," Ian said.

"True," Emily nodded. "He became able to use his new skills on an instinctual level pretty fast."

"I was actually referring to the fact that Ethan can become even more savage than he already is," Ian said. "It looks like he somehow forcefully made his mind go into a berserk mode. I'm pretty sure that isn't a skill that his system has… but it is even more impressive because of that."

Those ants were quite fast, and few people could deal with them alone before getting surrounded. Still, Ethan managed to pass the whole group as if nothing had been standing in his way. When he turned around, the remaining ants tried to attack his limbs. Still, with a single swing of his sword added with the power of Blazing Enchantment, Ethan stopped their attack. In the end, the ants didn't pose any threat to Ethan.

You received a new quest!

Complete the twelfth stage of the VR simulator!

Reward: 75.000 coins.

When the next stage started, new ants appeared, but these new ones were a bit different. Instead of certain elements covering their bodies, they had carapaces made of steel covering certain parts of their bodies. They lost some of their speed, but they gained an extra durability. The current Ethan didn't even think about that, and he just charged toward them as usual. When he tried to smash the ants with his sword, the massive impact of iron colliding against steel passed through the whole room. Fortunately, Emily and Ian imagined that would happen, so they protected their ears.

Unfortunately, Ethan's sword was starting to receive considerable damage, and even though his attacks cracked the carapaces of several ants, it would take a while before he could nullify their defense. Ethan was in a state where he couldn't think clearly, but his instincts were as sharp as ever. His instincts told him that he could improve the situation with a few kicks but not with the power of his current kicks.

Ethan's right leg suddenly stopped moving while the ants were approaching. Still, in the next instant, the leg disappeared and reappeared when he landed a kick on the carapace of one of them.

Congratulations! You learned the skill Crescent Kick!

Effects: Increases the power of your next kick by fifty percent.

Cost: 10 stamina

Lv 01 – 0/100

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The ant that got kicked hit the others, and that stopped the whole charge of the monsters as well as putting them in a totally vulnerable position. Things worked well for Ethan, but he would feel that kick later since while he used ten stamina points, he also suffered thirty points of damage. In fact, he began to feel right at that moment. Since he forcefully put himself in that mad state, any type of outside influence could have broken his concentration, and that kick did the trick.

"Ouch…" Ethan muttered while feeling the throbbing pain in his right leg. "I should have known that something like this would happen."

In that state, Ethan would be dominated by his instincts, the instincts he developed after fighting against the demon king's army for almost a year. Thanks to that, he also forcefully learned a skill that helped him many times, but it was also a skill that he obtained thanks to his cursed power.

"No time to complain," Ethan held his sword firmly. "That trick helped me more than I thought, but I had to pay quite a high price…"

Ethan's stamina had dropped to twenty percent of its max, so it looked like Ethan would be forced to stop or rely on potions. However, he didn't either. He just attacked mercilessly the armored ants.

"It looks like that kick woke him up," Ian said. "Well, I guess this is enough. My father certainly will accept the cooperation of someone who can pull that kind of stunt."