The man's death was the trigger for more.
Blood was splattered in the air from all sides.
Sometimes, the abominations would pass through a person's body, freezing it from the inside out before breaking it like ceramic.
As the forest continued to be shrouded in darkness, Lenny stood tall, his eyes ablaze with determination.
In each hand, he wielded his Katana swords, their gleaming blades reflecting the dim light that struggled to pierce through the ominous mist.
This land, plagued by an army of malevolent negative spirits, their shadowy forms haunting everything in their path, stood before his advance.
As the horde of dark, negative spirits descended upon him, Lenny took the lead without hesitation.
With a battle cry that resonated in competition with the thunder above, he charged headlong into the heart of the oncoming darkness. His two swords slashed and parred with unmatched precision.
The clash of his steel against ethereal forms echoed through the air and trees as Lenny's swift strikes cut down the malevolent negative spirits one by one.
His swords danced with an otherworldly grace, each swing a testament to his unyielding resolve and unwavering zeal.
The spirits, though numerous, were obviously no match for his unwavering determination and mastery of combat.
As the battle raged on, Lenny's movements became a blur of deadly elegance.
He spun, lunged, and pivoted with the grace of a seasoned dancer, his swords leaving trails of light in their wake.
Ella, in her monkey suit, turned and saw him move.
During the fight that occurred at the gate, she had been too preoccupied to take note of his true capabilities.
But now, she just couldn't believe what she was witnessing before her eyes.
Ella was a woman who had lived for hundreds of years; her sense of the battlefield was as profound as it could get.
Rarely was there anyone she ever found worthy of praising their fighting technique.
But Lenny, he was different.
Lenny did not have wings, but his movements were as graceful as the birds; no movement at all was in excess.
It was as if his muscles already knew the right amount of effort to use for his attacks to be most effective and yet preserved enough strength to show that it was effortless.
What's more, from the look on his face, she could tell that he did not consider this malevolent creatures a daunting task.
It was just another stroll through the fun garden of slaughter.
As Lenny took charge of the advance, the horde began to falter, their sinister ranks thinning as, surprisingly, fear crept into their ghostly hearts.
Lenny's unrelenting assault sent shockwaves through their spectral ranks, his sheer presence radiating a beacon of hope to those who had all but given up.
And so the men followed behind him.
Along the way, the negative effects of the forest begin to invade the minds of the men.
For Lenny's teammates, it had taken days for this to happen.
However, that was expected, as they were all very strong.
Besides, the mental strength of the Gladiators was abnormally high.
However, these people were very human.
Only a few minutes into the forest, and some had already grabbed their heads, rolling on the ground.
Lenny had assumed that since many of them were ghouls made from negative magic, they would be stronger.
However, that was not the case, as they continued to fall.
Surprisingly, when Lenny looked behind him, he found that Nikky, Scarface, and Father Black were still alive and continued on the sure advance.
He was actually impressed to see this.
The fight continued, but the horde of negative spirits did not look like they were getting fewer.
Rather, it was as if they had changed their pattern of attacks.
By now, Lenny already knew that these creatures were intelligent; after all, they showed signs of it.
For a person like Lenny, they no longer attacked straight forward but used other tactics like throwing giant, robust trees at him.
However, Lenny was already of the fourth rank in the lesser demon realm.
Throwing him giant, robust trees was like giving a monkey a very big banana.
Although it was big, it was still a banana.
He chopped it up like it was nothing.
His fighting style was a testament to his will to keep moving forward.
The negative spirits noticed this, and as intelligent beings, a new tactic was to be initiated.
There was suddenly a loud howl in the sky. Surprisingly, it was loud enough to drown out the thunder.
This howl was soon echoed by the other negative spirits.
At this moment, the negative spirits rushed from all directions as they hurled together on each other in one giant mess.
Slowly, it began to grow and change form.
It churned on itself; evidently, it was becoming one.
Quickly, it became one massive mass of unkindness.
With a height of about fifty feet, it had broad limbs that were more like dark claws made out of black smokey shadows.
Now, its signature ruby eyeballs had all converged into one, right on the center of what was supposed to be its faceless head.
This was an abomination through and through.
The moment it was formed, the men advancing all stopped.
They couldn't help it.
This form before their eyes was nothing anyone had ever seen.
They were already fearful so far, but they still continued the mission as their survival depended on it.
However, the arrival of this mass of obvious destruction was a great testimony that they were nothing but ants.
One man behind saw this, and he swallowed hard. "Fuck this; I didn't come here to die."
He turned around and ran back.
The moment he did, two others did the same thing.
However, they had only run a couple of steps before arrows made of holy power imbedded themselves, one for each man in their heads.
Everybody witnessed it.
Those arrows came from one person.
It was none other than Ella. She turned to the men and women that made up their rough crew.
"A coward's only escape is death."
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