Berseker Soul

*Skill: Berserker Soul Obtained* *Berserker Soul Activate"

"I SAID, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING!!!" Aki yelled at the top of his lungs. 

*Skill: War Cry Unlocked*

The air began to vibrate as Aki's voice overtook the sounds of screaming and metal clanging, with a sudden chill, and pressure fell upon the battlefield. Every single living being on the battlefield, soldiers, adventurers, civilians, and monsters, began to fall to their knees as their bodies began to weaken, trembling with fear. 

Brox & the Guild Master dropped to their knees and lay, falling on the ground, as they took the full force of the War Cry Skill. They were only a few meters away from Aki and could feel the immense pressure that was coming from his red aura. 

"T-T-This overwhelming pressure!" Brox exclaimed, "It's just like before, but way worse!" 
"I-I agree," the Guild Master commented, "It's at least five times worse when we sparred". 

Aki began to take a step forward towards the Troll, who remained frozen still, staring at something above him, a pair of white glowing eyes. 

When it comes to life or death situations, there are two types of options to choose from: Fight or Flight, with most intelligent species choosing to flee to fight another day. The Trolls, who had never experienced this sensation before, began to panic and chose to fight out of fear. 

The Red Troll quickly picked up a tree and started running towards Aki erratically, hoping to tackle him with it. As it approached closer towards him, its entire left arm and tree slammed onto the ground, *SPLRRT*, with purple blood splattering out as it screamed in pain. 

"I TOLD YOU BEFORE, DIDN'T I? I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!" Aki declared again, holding a long sword covered in purple blood with his healed right arm. The Troll glances down towards the human, looking directly into his grey eyes, and before suddenly realizing that its vision was upside down. Aki had also severed its head from its neck from an earlier swing and didn't fully process it until it looked down, dislodging itself. 

The other Red Troll began to run as a new instinct awoke in themselves, telling them to flee before it was too late.  Suddenly, the Troll fell to the ground as it turned around and noticed it had just been shot in its right knee by an iron crossbow bolt. "Where are you going?" Aki asked,  stepping on its large, blubbery body, and reloaded the crossbow without any signs of struggle like before. He shot the Troll in its left hand, pinning it to the ground with a painful screech, followed by sudden quietness with a long sword's blade slowly sliding across its neck, decapitating it. 

Aki stepped off the Troll and began walking towards Brox and the Guild Master, "Are you my enemy?" he asked, aiming the loaded crossbow towards them with cold, empty eyes. Brox and the Guild Master remained still on the ground, unable to answer due to the pressure Aki was emitting. After a moment of silence, Aki fired the crossbow, with the iron bolt tip grazing the Guild Master's left cheek and ear before striking a Goblin in the head as it leaped into the air. 

Aki attempted to reload the crossbow again, but the cocking device was jammed, forcing him to discard the weapon onto the ground. Aki started to run past Brox, and the Guild Master started to engage the horde of monsters as they started to rush towards him in a desperate attempt to survive, ignoring the soldiers, adventurers, and civilians that remained still. 

In a single minute, Aki had ruthlessly slaughtered over a dozen Goblins and Kobolds with random weapons that were spread across the open plain: a broken sword, a shield, the pole of a spear, and even claws from a Kobold's arm. The more Aki killed, the faster his injuries recovered as they automatically healed with a white steam emitted from his wounds. 

"Captain, Guild Master, are you both okay?" Layla asked, frantically arriving at the scene. 

"We are alright," Brox replied, "But on the other hand, this is just insane!" he commented, watching Aki singlely continue massacring the horde of monsters without a shred of hesitation. "What is happening?"

"I agree, the way he allows them to attack him and then counterattacks, it's like he is a Barbarian from Legends," the Guild Master commented, "Barbarians refer to an extinct tribe that once lived in the snowy area by the mountains region that is now the home of dragons. It was once said that they would emit a red aura during combat and could fight for days without rest or food, with their wounds healing by themselves. The tribe ended up becoming extinct due to the sudden invasion of dragons that occurred, and with their stubbornness, they fought to the death instead of fleeing." 

"Aki..." Layla muttered, clasping her hands together. "Should we help him?" 

"No, in the meantime, we should evacuate everyone back to the gate and stay out of his way. Based on what just happened, there is a good chance he won't be able to distinguish between friend and foe," Brox stated. "Once everyone has been evacuated and the situation has calmed down a bit more, the Guild Master and I will try to stop him," with beads of sweat dripping down his muscular neck. 

"I hope he doesn't die before then," the Guild Master prayed as they signaled everyone to retreat. 

After thirty minutes, the evacuation was completed with all the remaining civilians, adventurers, and soldiers returning to the gate's entrance. All the able-bodied people stood around the gate, watching the piles of monster corpses pile higher and higher, with a single monster in the center, slaughtering them alone. 

"Are you ready now?" the Guild Master asked Brox, knowing it was finally time to tidy up the loose ends. 

"Yeah, we've kept him working for too long, so it's time for him to rest now," Brox replied as he fastened his arm guards. 

The forest began to shift, with the sound of branches breaking could be heard, along with the sight of emerald green scales shimmering through the dense green forest covering. Suddenly, a large pair of yellow eyes appear out of the forest with a large snake head towering above and its long purple tongue whisping in the air. 

"WHY DID THE GUARDIAN COME OUT NOW!?!" Layla yelled, watching the large head towering above, reaching past the Kingdom's walls.

The Guardian began to look down towards Aki, who had finally stopped fighting, and remained still alongside the other remaining monsters in fear. The Guardian began moving its head again and finally found the thing that caught its attention, a broken merchant wagon further back and away from the search perimeter.  The Guardian's tail suddenly appeared from out of the forest and swiped away the top layer of debris, revealing an unconscious mother & daughter covered in a sugary fruit sap.

"OH NO!" Brox yelled as he began to sprint towards them with the Guild Master behind him, "We are too far away," he realized, watching Guardian lowered its head down and licked the sap off the mother and daughter's faces. 

The daughter began to wake up and saw giant yellow eyes in front of her, "Mom, wake up! Mom, wake up!" she cried loudly, shaking her mom's body. The Guardian proceeded to lick the large clump of sap off the daughter's head and started to get excited. For the Guardian, it had never tasted such a wonderful flavor in its entire life before and wanted more of it, opening its wide mouth to feast. "MOM, WAKE UP! PLEASE!!!" the daughter yelled with all her might as she stared directly into the monster's purple mouth. 

The daughter's cries were carried by the gentle wind towards Aki, who remained unconscious from the nonstop fight. "MOM, WAKE UP!" The cries for help echo into Aki's eardrum as he recalls another memory.

It was in the middle of the night, and a convenience store robbery had just gone wrong, with the robber taking a civilian hostage. After a small confrontation, the robber realized he couldn't escape with an adult hostage, so he sliced the right side of the hostage's neck and threw her in front of Aki, hoping to grab her daughter instead. Aki reacted and shot the robber directly in the head, killing him instantly. Aki proceeded to immediately start first aid on the mother, putting pressure on her neck wound with a clean cloth, while her daughter was screaming for her to wake up next to him.  

"You better shut that god damn mouth of yours!" Aki demanded, uppercutting it in its lower jaw, forcing the Guardian's mouth shut as it flew onto its right side and lay on the ground. "It's alright now," he assured the little girl, standing in front of her and her unconscious mother. 

*Skill: Flash Step Unlocked* *Skill: Martial Art Unlocked* 

Aki took a few deep breaths, "BROX, I KNOW YOU ARE NEARBY!! TAKE THEM TO SAFELY!!" he yelled, picking up a few unbroken glass jars full of fruit syrup and starting to run in the opposite direction. The Forest Guardian recovered and started to chase after him in anger, focusing its entire attention on Aki. 

"The first thing he does when he returns is order me around like he is the King," Brox complained, giving a small chuckle. "You will be alright now," he stated, giving the little girl a small head pat, calming her down. 

Layla began to order the soldiers to bring some clean water over to wash off the smell of fruity sap as soon as they returned

Aki continued his full sprint towards the monster pile, but began to notice one thing: "My body fucking hurts!" he yelled. "My body hasn't hurt this much since I was tackled by that drunk American Footballer, and went straight through a glass panel, landing on the ground." 

"Over here, you slithering fuck!" Aki yelled, opened a jar, and began throwing it behind him to keep the Forest Guardian from gaining on him. As the jar's content coated the Troll's body, the Forest Guardian lowered its head and swallowed it whole while its tongue whisp in delight. 

Aki had finally arrived at the pile of monster corpses and began to empty covering them like it was fudge on a sundae. The Forest Guardian began to look down with delight before a single sound shifted its attention, *Crash*, a box of fruit jars shattering onto the ground, and the smell of a fruity aroma filled the air. When Brox was getting ready to pick up the unconscious mother, her long skirt was caught on one of the boxes, causing the box to get lifted and crash open onto the ground. In this situation, neither Brox nor the Guild Master could properly defend themselves.

The Guardian began to slither back to the carriage, and Aki took a nearby spear and stabbed it into the Guardian's body, allowing him to tag along for the ride. When the Guardian stopped in front of the carriage, Aki was sent flying into the pile of broken glass, sap, and into a custom weapon made request.

"I'M YOUR PREY NOW!!" Aki declared, standing up, holding a giant war hammer, *War Cry*, forcing the Guardian's total attention back to him as Brox and the Guild Master took off toward the gate with the mother and daughter.

The Guardian was slowly getting annoyed by the small human disturbing its meal once again. Originally, the Guardian was amused by Aki's tenacity and wanted to keep him alive to play with, but determined to eat him, opening its mouth wide with a pair of meter-long fangs with venom dripping out. The Guardian began lunging forward to swallow the human whole before a loud *CLANG* stopped it in its tracks. The meter-long left fang was only an inch away from poisoning Aki, but was struck by the long war hammer's pointed tip, causing it to crack on the surface while the pain shot through the entire Guardian's brain. 

The Forest Guardian began to flay its entire body, knocking over trees and shaking the ground immensely. The Forest Guardian was furious, as its yellow eyes turned red, smacking Aki with its swift tail, sending him flying towards the gate entrance, and landing a dozen meters away from Brox and Layla. 

"FUCK YOU!" Aki yelled, pointing out his middle finger in retaliation, and the Forest Guardian began a long spring lunge towards him with its mouth wide open again. Aki looked down, realizing that he didn't have any weapons with him to stop the attack this time. "I screwed up this time, huh?" He closed his eyes, hoping that with his death, the Forest Guardian would return home peacefully. 

"AKI, CATCH!" Brox yelled, throwing his halberd axe at him, spiralling into the air, and landing next to him. 

Aki quickly opened up his eyes and grabbed the extremely heavy two-handed axe, and swung it forward, as it perfectly made contact again with the same meter-long left fang, chipping it even more. The Forest Guardian's head flew backwards, landing onto the blood-soaked field and lying unconscious. Aki dropped the axe onto the ground, as his arm muscle was completely shredded, causing him to fall to his knees in immense pain.

Before the cheer of joy could be stated or heard, the Forest Guardian quickly regained consciousness, darting straight towards Aki and staring directly into his grey eyes with its red, anger-filled eyes. 

When Aki had made his peace earlier again and closed his eyes, the Forest Guardian felt a strange connection, as if something similar had happened before.

Three years ago, when a group of dragons came down from the mountain to find food, its own mother fought back to protect her. No matter how many times the dragon tried to attack, the forest attacked like a natural barrier that kept her mother's body hidden, preventing any attacks from connecting. As the fight continued for days, the dragons began to feel anxious to feed their young and decided to burn the forest down in an attempt to hunt the mother, even though it was a precious food source. When the first fireblast scorched a large section of the forest, the mother knew that if the forest were to completely burn down, countless children would end up starving to death, including her own. She stopped her attacks, closed her eyes, and surrendered herself as food, and in return, she requested that the forest remain unharmful. The dragons agreed with her plea, mercifully ended her life, and took her away. 

Aki's intent at that time felt the same as its own mother's, fighting to protect someone and gladly giving up their life if it meant it would bring an end to the fight. This gesture of self-sacrifice meant everything to it as it began to lower its head onto the ground for a few seconds in respect.

The Forest Guardian lifted its head off the ground, breaking off its already chipped fang, and then proceeded back to the pile of monster corpses, swallowing them whole and retreating into the forest. 

Finally, the battle was over, and Ak was frozen still as he was unable to move a muscle, with Layla, Brox, and the Guild Master rushing to offer aid.