God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 525: Pushing.

"Ehem!"

A cough from the side caught Cain's attention...

"What?" Cain said.

Steve grinned, "Well, we obviously need equipment to get rid of the pest, right?"

Rubbing his hands, his eyes sparkled with greed,

"So what'd you bring for us?"

With an understanding look on his face Cain squinted as though thinking about it,

"I didn't make any special equipment. Apart from a new type of ammunition round."

Steve was clearly intrigued, "Really? Let me see!"

Cain handed his a graft bullet from his inventory,

"They are called Graft Bullets. Quite powerful. The gun powder is made from a strange type of seaweed we stumbled upon. I can also modify them to become sniper rounds."

Steve nodded, clearly pleased,

"Not bad at all. With these maybe we might have a better fighting change. How many rounds?"

"Ten thousand magazines, twenty-four rounds per magazines. Of the ten thousand, four thousand of them are filled with Graft Bullets."

In his free time, when he wasn't too busy, Cain would usually either made regular equipment to keep his smithing skill sharp, or ammunition and arrows, depending on his mood.

Thanks to the {Divine Essence of Metallurgy}, he could make these quite easily. The hardest part was infact placing the necessary runes on the bullets, as well as fixing the primers made from a special type of crushed magic stone, into the bullets.

However, he was still incredibly fast. If he possessed such skills at a certain time period in the old era, he would be a valuable national asset.

"Incredible!" Steve was impressed.

Ignis snorted, "Stop stroking his ego. Hand them over so I can begin distribution."

Once he had handed over a majority of the things he had packed into his inventory, Cain sniffled as he watched Ignis strut away. He then turned to Steve again,

"By the way, what is the reason for this cold?"

It had been bothering him for a while now. With his resistances and defense, normal weather conditions definitely shouldn't have made him feel some type of way.

Steve seemed hesitant, "Well, I guess you could say this is our own fault."

Cain was stunned a bit, "How so?"

Steve narrowed his eyes, "Well, the thing is... I have no idea. Maybe someone must have angered some sort of Deity, or something. Either way, I couldn't get to the root cause."

He paused for dramatic effect before continuing,

"What I can say, is the reason it isn't affecting the normal people as much is because this chill doesn't have normal origins. In fact, for a human with absolutely no affinity to mana, things won't be any different from usual."

Cain was perplexed, "So you're saying the more attuned you are to mana, the colder you'll feel?"

Steve nodded.

Cain sighed, "Yeah, things are definitely fishy over here."

"Tell me about it. But can you expect these days.* Steve said with a shrug.

Cain couldn't have agreed more with that statement.

***

Cain spent the better part of the afternoon strolling through the gymnasium, which had been transformed into a giant storage facility.

Then, he silently strolled through the camp. Everywhere he went, the people seemed dto be on maximum alert, their hands never leaving their weapons.

It was clear they had been subjected to all sorts of horrors on this island. Cain felt a strange feeling in his chest. Although they had all chosen to be here, he couldn't help but feel a bit responsible for their lives.

For one, he was using them, in a way...

Sure, if they survived this, they would definitely gain a lot. However, they were a means to an end at the end of the day. Tools for him to firtehr his interests.

He sighed, 'Then I'll just need to make sure they don't lose their lives for no reason.'

The road to power was bound to be one filled with conflicted feelings. Maybe there would come a time when he could do things he would've never agreed with now. But he was determined to see it through to the end.

After all, that was what it meant to live. To die for your beliefs and goals. To him, that was the main purpose of living...

Once he was done taking a look around the camp, he settled into a tent provided for him.

While he could provide himself with better accommodations, it made no difference to him.

He opened his status window and glanced through it quickly...

His stats were very impressive right now. For a human, it could even be called scary. Not only that, but he also had a plethora of abilities, skills, and spells.

His direction of growth was very odd. He had no set destination. His was a swordsman, as well as a mage. However, he also possessed the ability to be a gunslinger, and an archer. If he wanted to, he could also carry a huge tower shield and become a tank.

The way his status looked, it seemed as though he could go in any direction.

'Humorous...'

While he wasn't in the mood to laugh, his situation was indeed quite humorous.

Magic was the backbone of most of his abilities. His archery and shooting skills were still subpar when compared to rest, and he would rather not carry a heavy shield on his back.

He rubbed his hair furiously, 'Argh! How infuriating...'

'Regardless, the most important thing now is raising my level.'

Cain sighed, then closed his status screen.

Getting to his feet, he began walking.

Ignoring the stares directed at his back, he walked into the forest...

Information traveled quickly to Steve and Ignis.

"That guy... Well, I doubt he's going to find trouble. Let's just keep doing what we are doing." Steve said to Ramus with a wave of his hand.

Ignis gritted her teeth, "What the hell is that idiot up to?"

Meanwhile, said idiot was busy walking aimlessly through the dense foilage.

His mind was blank, occupied with something far away. So much so, that he didn't seem to notice the pair of eerie yellow eyes closing him from behind.

He had chosen not to walk on the path Steve had lined with the Beast-warding magic circles. That way...

The creature did well to mask its presence, not making a sound until it was already a few meters behind.

Then it exploded in not action. Like a spring released from tension, the creature shot forward, its elongated fangs clenching around its target's neck and snapping yt like a twig.

At least that was what was supposed to happen...

Instead, the target had skillfully ducked under its open maw.

Staring at the abomination creature that had attempted to sneak up on him, Cain prepared an attack.

Coating his fist in a layer of [Ki Fire], his eyes blazed with murderous intent. However, he wasn't done yet...

Next, a layer of black, tar-like energy coated his fist. The first was covered with a net of purplish pulsating veins as well. The moment it enveloped his fist, the [Ki Fire] enveloping his fist ballooned.

Moving faster than the creature could reach get back to the ground, Cain smashed his fist into the creature's body.

The entire upper part of the creature's body was immediately obliterated, turning into a rain of mushy flesh and blood...

There was no time to cry out, no time to retaliate, nothing...

An instant death scenario...

{Congratulations to Host... You have slain a Venomfang Blutwolf}

Without even looking back, Cain continuous walk forward.

Soon, he was confronted with another obstacle.

This time, it was a pack of creatures. Five of them, giant wolf-like creatures. Standing on all fours, they stood taller than him. Foaming at the mouth, their eyes were an eerie yellow glint.

'Could the first one have been their brother?'

Either way, he wasn't bothered. In fact, he was a bit happy.

"Still too few."

He coated his other hand in Demon Matter. Then a layer of [Ki Fire] coated it as well.

The flame had taken on a purplish color thanks to the Demon Matter. It was a strange phenomena, as it usually had a crimson hue to it.

However, he wasn't worried about that. The mere sight of these creatures had already filled him with bloodlust.

Now, all he could think about was ripping these creatures to shreds.

The strange new energy, Demon Matter, that had evolved from Devil Essence, had several applications...

For one, it created a layer of defensive coating on his skin, greatly increasing his defenses and dispersing forces, almost like an exoskeleton.

Not only that, he could also extend it outside his body and condense it into a more solid form.

It could be used to increase the attack power of his weapons, or the defensive attributes of his armor. He could even use it without applying it a physical object.

It acted like an extension of his body in a way...

And most importantly of all... It increased the effects of abilities, skills, or spells that could be applied to his body; up to a certain extent...

For now though, he wasn't able to bring out its full potential. He only had enough to coat his hands and a portion of his forearms.

But still, that was more than enough to tear these beasts to shreds...

Applying force to the tip of his toes, Cain launched himself at the rabid animals. At the same time, the wolves lunged at him, eager to tear him to pieces with their poisonous fangs.