Destiny's Reshaping: A Danmachi Reincarnation Tale

(Author: Important news. From today two chapters per week will be published. one on Tuesday and one on Saturday. Obviously if the size of the chapter reaches at least 3000 words, i.e. two chapters in one, only that chapter will be published that week.)

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The first kobolds began to emerge from the darkness, their glowing eyes reflecting the dim light of the luminescent stones. Vincent tightened his grip on the axes, preparing to fight.

"You won't have it easy, damned bastards." - He whispered, launching himself forward with surprising speed.

Meanwhile, Agata and the children had hidden in a small side cave, sheltered from the chaos unfolding at the entrance of the mine. Agata tried to reassure them, whispering words of comfort while listening to the sounds of battle.

The battle raged on. Despite his skill, Vincent began to show signs of fatigue. The kobolds seemed endless, and every blow dealt was quickly replaced by more enemies. Fortunately, the cart limited the influx of monsters; otherwise, he had no idea how he would handle them all.

*Slash!

With another swing, he cut off one of the monster's heads while breathing heavily, but when he remembered the presence of the others, he gripped his weapons tightly and continued to fight.

"I'm too old for this stuff!"

Meanwhile, much deeper in the mine, Mark was grappling with the process of energy absorption. His body twisted in pain, and from his mouth came anguished moans, capable of scaring even the undead, but even in that state, he could faintly hear that something was wrong with the others.

'I-I need to move!'

Even though his mind still possessed some clarity, his body refused to move.

"Grrrr!"

Next to him, some kobolds passed by, also seemingly hearing the noises and calls of their companions, and began to move towards Mark's group.

Ten, thirty, forty, Mark counted more and more, and his anxiety grew accordingly.

'Move! Come on, do it! DO IT!'

With immense effort and a body screaming in pain at every point, Mark managed to slightly bend his leg.

"I SAID MOVE!"

With a beastly roar, as if coming from the depths of the abyss, Mark kicked the rocks he had used as cover, which flew away like cannonballs, annihilating some of the kobolds there.

"HARGHHAA!"

Mark felt his body shatter as he collapsed in pain in the middle of a group of kobolds, who shifted their target to the defenseless prey.

One of the kobolds attacked and bit Mark's leg, but immediately found Mark's hand on its skull, which he crushed by squeezing.

"ARGH! HAH!"

Mark's head seemed submerged in a vial of water. Sounds and images were all distorted, and he didn't even realize he was being attacked because he was enduring a much stronger pain all over his body.

"C-Come on!"

With bloodshot eyes, Mark swung his claymore clumsily, which, though lacking in technique, still possessed formidable strength.

Three kobolds died instantly, and Mark's weapon got stuck in the ground due to the uncontrolled attack.

Another monster tried to attack him, but Mark repelled it with an elbow and, with even more effort, swung his sword again, killing more kobolds that had tried to attack him.

*Heavy breaths.

Leaning against the mine walls, Mark could barely stand as he watched the horde of monsters surrounding him. His vision was clouded with red, and his body felt like it had turned to crystal. Every movement or attack caused unbearable pain, but he gritted his teeth to the point of breaking them to avoid collapsing.

"I can't leave them alone... I have to endure..." - He thought while fending off another group of kobolds with a claymore strike.

He was shattered and exhausted, with such waves of pain that anyone would wish to simply die, but he stood there blocking their passage.

"GHHHA! HAAAA! N-NO ONE GETS THROUGH HERE!"

Mark attacked again with his weapon, mowing down more lives. Overwhelmed by all these stimuli, one of Mark's pupils began to change, taking the shape of a scarlet X. Little by little, Mark's expression became more excited, though still distorted by pain.

"HMMMHAA! HEHEHEHE! More! GIVE ME MORE!"

The ferocity with which he attacked increased, as did the waves of pain, but strangely, he seemed to want to suffer even more.

"OVERLOAD!"

With the new surge of strength, Mark became a monster shredder. Wherever he passed, only death remained, along with the echo of his distorted laughter.

"This is so much fun!"

His last words echoed in the depths of the mine, along with the kobolds' screams.

(Sunrise.)

*Heavy breaths

Leaning against the wall, Vincent caught his breath, exhausted. He had fought all night and suffered several wounds, but fortunately, with the arrival of daylight, the monsters had stopped attacking, allowing him finally to rest for a moment.

"I-I feel like dying..." - He had no idea how many he had killed.

"Vincent, are you alright?"

Agata and the children emerged from their hiding place, worried about his condition, but he raised his thumb in a reassuring gesture.

"Exhausted and wounded? Yes. Dead? Not yet."

Agata sighed in relief but asked the question that worried her most.

"Where's Mark?"

"He... said he would explore inside; I'll go look for him right away!"

Not finding a better excuse, he hurried off, leaving Agata without a real answer, and headed into the mine.

"Mark!"

He tried calling, but there was no response, so he continued, encountering magical stones and traces of blood. Worried, he pressed on, finding more and more magical stones until he started to pale.

"If these came from behind..."

The thought of being attacked from both sides of the mine sent a shiver through him, and he continued his search. He had to go much further before he finally spotted Mark on a bed of magical stones.

"Mark! Tell me you're alive, or we're all dead!"

Vincent shook Mark's body several times, which moved like a puppet without strings.

"Move me... one more time... and... I'll break... your... face." - Mark mumbled weakly.

Seeing he wasn't joking, Vincent decided it was wiser to help him up and bring him back to the others.

"Did you really kill all these monsters? There must be hundreds!" - He exclaimed, shocked.

"...Indeed."

It seemed like an achievement, but for Mark, it was a failure. He had promised himself not to fall victim to that sensation again, but after just a few days, he had succumbed and started that mad massacre.

[I would say the effects were less severe than last time.]

'You think?' - Mark replied with little hope.

[Definitely. If it had been like last time, the effects would have been much worse. Plus, it was inevitable. You were subjected to too many stimuli and emotions and had a moment of weakness.]

*Sigh.

Bitterly, he and Vincent headed back, soon enveloped by the others who welcomed them with concern. Everyone wondered where Mark had been during that time, and to cover for him, Vincent explained that the monsters were inside too, and Mark had dealt with them.

"I don't think I'm the only one who needs it, but I need a few hours of rest."

No one protested as they were all exhausted and indeed needed rest.

Mark focused on his breathing technique, and to his surprise, since they had started traveling, his ring had reached 65%.

'Do you think I'm growing fast?' - Mark asked seriously, having no reference as a basis.

[Very much so. Much of it is due to your latent talent, but also thanks to those accumulations in your core, speeding up your growth which should have slowed down instead.]

'That's good.' - Mark clenched his hand a couple of times, but his expression still seemed to have more questions.

[Still dissatisfied with being a victim of chaos energy?]

'Haaaa, yes. I don't want to seem hypocritical; I know I've been saved twice because of that thing, but it terrifies me what it's capable of making me do. All that pleasure and power are intoxicating.'

[This is the effect that chaos energy has on living beings, and now that you have become more sensitive to it, there's little that can be done. You need to be able to avoid being completely consumed by it. As long as you maintain a partial state, the damage to the body and mind will be low, but if you get lost within it, there's no return, Host.]

Interrupting his breathing technique, Mark rubbed his tired face. A new uncertainty had entered his life, threatening to ruin everything he was fighting for.

'There's no way I'm going to let something I can't even see hold me back.'

Clenching his hand firmly, Mark refused to be a slave to fear. He would keep moving forward, no matter the cost, to protect what he cared about.