Return of the Woodcutter

Fearmongers, the bane of civilization and progress. The plague that has threatened Iris's population since their appearance, bringing them near the brink of destruction.

Exhausted by a never-ending war, Segolene has longed for an end to this conflict ever since she became part of the military one hundred years ago.

For one hundred years, she has waged war against a species that seemingly had endless resources at its disposal. One day you thought you killed them all, the other they came back with the same numbers than they previously had. And that, for a very specific reason.

The Fear.

On the front lines, apart from "fake" bravers, no one could provide protection against that powerful skill. Only Transcendents and Legends could resist the low-level Fear without any trouble. However, even they had no choice but to ask for the protection of a "fake" braver's aura when battling against a Fearmonger of their level.

But the number of braver was dwindling. Fearmongers especially aimed for their brave-asses during battles to reduce their numbers. Finding people with compatibility to braver skills contained in memory beads was also harder than one would think.

Bravers were protected at all costs during battles because when their numbers could not keep up with the need for protection using Aura of Bravery—which started to be the case—a lot of humans became corrupted by the Fear.

Corrupted low-level soldiers started as Berserkers. Those that survived long enough would eventually become real fearmongers. Basically, inhabitants of Iris were fighting their own people.

A thought that saddened Segolene.

Only prayers soothed her worries. Being a fervent believer, she knew all the prophecies and past holy deeds of the Four Churches—previously Five a long time ago.

One of them talked about the reappearance of a genuine braver preceding the return of the Goddess of Bravery that would lead Iris into a New Age.

After witnessing countless blood baths, Segolene had hoped for that day to come. Thus, far from the battlefield, watching from the mountaintop, her eyes sparkled with delight. "That's… aura of bravery, isn't it? But it seems so different from the others I've seen. It's so bright and so warm, like a mother's embrace. Is that… the real skill? Ha, haha. Although you are ugly for lying, black challenger..., right now, your cuteness overshadows the lie."

On the bridge, confused, the Goliath took four rapid steps back while shielding itself from the golden light. Behind it, the flood of berserkers vanished as if it were but a bad dream, leaving only around fifty corrupted humans that looked… unwell.

Berserkers were kneeling on the stone bridge, holding their heads as if they were keeping them from falling apart.

"No…, no, no! That's a lie! A lie!" The Goliath lost its previous fearless composure, feeling an emotion he previously thought was impossible.

"My Khan, let me send this disgusting thing itchkack itself," Krugan said, getting to his feet as a gentle light coated his body.

Aito gently shook his head and looked up. The timer atop Krugan's head was 40 seconds. "Don't. That ugly-ass thing isn't an opponent you can handle. I'll deal with it."

"Lier! An utter lie!" Grey energy akin to formless metal covered the fearmonger's four muscular arms, "For this lie, I will not allow you to join our ranks like the others. Death will be your penance."

'The others? Were challengers turned into berserkers?' Aito thought, coating his ax with durability.

[Stop rising questions with obvious answers and focus! This isn't an opponent you can underestimate!] Valinar berated him.

The Goliath's stomped the ground and charged in his direction. Aito sent three consecutive air strikes with Cleave. Surprisingly, the fearmonger's arms deflected the air blades one by one.

'So that grey matter is acting like Durability, huh? Good to know,' Aito thought, dashing to meet his opponent head-on.

He dodged a powerful fist strike at the last moment and counterattacked with an ax slash. The fearmonger immediately blocked it with one of its arms and soon regretted its choice when it realized how powerful the blow was. It immediately used a second arm that finally stopped Aito's attack.

'This thing is level 3, though, nowhere near the Khan's level. Its strength and speed are almost comparable to mine. But it's clouded by rage. Without its Fear, this thing is nothing but a big lump of flesh,' Aito thought, taking notice of the small wound that appeared where his strike had landed.

It had not really fought anyone and used the Fear to bring challengers to their knees, resulting in a poor fighting experience. Realizing it was hurt, the fearmonger who was no longer used to pain after so many years got furious, "You puny thing dare hurt me? Die! Die!"

It brought down its four huge fists like a hammer, shattering the stone floor, sending shards of frozen blood, pebbles, and snow flying all around, creating a cloud of white mist.

With the gusts of wind, the cloud quickly receded, revealing Aito unscathed, not far from the small crater created by the humongous beast. Staring straight at it, he waved for the Goliath to come at him using a provocative gesture.

Crazed, the creature took the bait and charged madly at its target, only to be severely disappointed. The Goliath's fists passed through Aito who vanished like the mist upon contact. Realizing something was wrong, it turned around, looking for its prey.

Too late. An ax vibrating with yellow and transparent energy was already heading his way. 

—Active skill: Durability—

—Active skill: Cleave—

BAM!

A powerful ax strike sliced off two arms, spraying purple-blue liquid on the bridge that had already turned all purple because of berserker blood.

"ARG! Fearlord's curse upon you, challenger!"

Krugan who was patiently waiting, paid close attention to the fight of his Khan, nodding in admiration despite the cold.

His Khan had taken advantage of the timely "smoke bomb" to pass by his enemy undetected, leaving some sort of illusion behind to trick it into thinking he was still standing there.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Aito had struck a powerful blow to amputate his enemy of one of its weapons, at least, that's what he thought. He couldn't wait to see how the fight would end. Unfortunately for him, the time was up.

WOOSH!

Too absorbed by their fight, both human and fearmonger did not notice when the orc vanished in a portal.

"What are you doing? Attack him, you useless pieces of corrupted meat!" The Goliath ordered the berserkers. However, they were tumbling around. "This doesn't make sense. Unless it is… the Inheritor of Bravery, berserkers shouldn't react this way. You…no, this isn't real. You cannot be real. No…, bravers are dead! All dead!"

The creature charged at him with its remaining two fists. Aito dodged, sidestepped, aimed for the spot at shoulder lever uncoated with the fearmonger's strange grey energy, and hacked with all his might.

SLASH!

A roar of pain echoed in the mountains when the Goliath lost yet another arm. Furious, its second mouth on its torso opened wide, tripling in size, creating a powerful suction force that moved everything in a five-meter radius towards it.

"I cannot let you leave this place! Die and be forgotten like the rest of them!"

Snow and peddles entered its mouth to disappear into the void, replacing its stomach. Aito clutched the ground, forcing his fingers into the stone to create a handle.

Looking all around him, he searched for a way out of this ridiculous situation. No matter how he looked at it, the suction force was too great. If Aito let go, he would risk getting absorbed in that seemingly bottomless stomach.

At that moment, his ax vibrated strongly in his hand, 'Launch me.'

'Uruk? You awake?' 

[Go back to sleep, Destroyer.]

'Shut up, dead goddess. Human warrior, launch me, now! We'll talk later!'

'I see,' Aito said, understanding what the Khül meant as he aimed for the fearmonger's mouth, more by habit than by actual need, "have a taste of Uruk!"

'Why would you—' Uruk's voice was cut out when Aito hurled Soulcleaver. Drawn by the suction force, the ax rapidly flew into the Goliath's mouth and to wherever it led.

Soon after, the fearmonger suddenly closed its second mouth.

"What did you—" it stumbled to its feet and trembled uncontrollably. Its head dropped to the ground and its second mouth opened wide to let go of everything it had sucked in before.

'Hum, it really seems like I'm the only one who can touch Soulcleaver.' He had already realized that with a few berserkers that had tried to catch his ax before. They had all ended up dead after only a second or two. His guess was, apart from the owner, Soulcleaver would eat the soul or anyone that dared touch it.

As for why that had not happened to him the first time, it was probably because the Khül was outside the weapon at that moment.

Aito grabbed to the side. Soulcleaver burst out from the fearmonger's stomach, whirled in the air, and finished its course in his hand.

'Urg,' he complained mentally, seeing bits of guts and blood on the handle.

'You should have a look at what was inside…,' Uruk said.

[You should stop intruding on other's matters, parasite.]

Aito sighed as he killed the remaining berserkers. It seemed that, thanks to Aura of Bravery, they opposed almost no resistance when he hacked them one by one. That was something new. Suddenly, notifications of achievements popped up in front of him. It should have been a moment of joy, albeit for the fact that...

'I should kill you for what your kind has done to me!?'

[Ha? Like you can remember what we've done to you!]

'Look at who's talking!? I bet you can't even remember what happened yourself!?'

[Bastard…]

'That's what I thought.'

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Aito roared, unable to contain his rage anymore. He pointed at Valinar's notification window, "You floating window, stop popping up so that I can actually read through the achievement I just got! You, the voice in my head. If the next thing that comes out of your mental mouth isn't an explanation for why you're not your usual evil self, I will dump you in the chasm to shut you up! Am I clear?"

[…]

'Sorry for this unsightly behavior,' Uruk said.. 'As for how I woke up…, I think it's related to your skill.'