Digitize: Rebirth of the Silver Death God

Unaware of the dangers behind him, Nero had continued through these lands at a steady pace. He jumped from tree branch to tree branch, moving no different from a nimble ape in its home grounds.

Suddenly, Nero had come across an open field, he perched on top of a tree branch and glanced down at peculiar sight before his eyes.

There, a creature which looked like a praying mantis was prowling about, its eyes glowing in red light, with dark-colored skin and its front arms looked no different from two sharply shimmering crimson blades.

From a glance, one could tell that these beasts were roughly one to two times Nero's size, and based on its intimidating presence, its battle power was guaranteed to be no way inferior.

Around this beast was a series of corpses belonging to various types of monsters, each of them was split into multiple segments of body parts as their entrails scattered about the field. The air here had a dark and gloomy scent as if death was only a hair's distance from reaching any lifeform.

As Nero stared at the mantis, he couldn't help but get a dark feeling even more so as he saw the blood dripping from its two blade-like hands.

He thought to himself, 'So this is a Crimson Blade Mantis, I wonder how strong it is?'

When Nero pondered to here, his eyes flashed as the creature's details had appeared before him on a wide virtual screen.

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[Crimson Blade Mantis]

[Level: 6]

[Grade: Common (Middle Class)]

[Health: 700/700]

[Magic Power 250/250]

[Combat Force: 170 stones]

[Body Tenacity: 65]

[Spiritual Awareness: 50]

[Speed 85 km/h]:

[Skill: Mantis Chop]

[Description: A fierce beast by nature, it lives for slaughter and thrives in an environment where killing is the only the rule.]

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Nero's eyes widened in shock after seeing those details as he thought to himself, 'This... are you telling me that a casual Crimson Blade Mantis is already stronger than that Snalard King? What the hell kind of zone is this?'

Adult Nero chuckled at this as he spoke as if he was waiting for this chance, "It's a training zone..."

Nero clicked his teeth at those words and rolled his eyes, he was about to complain, but as if the Crimson Blade Mantis sensed something, it took an alert posture as it raised its glimmering blade-like arms and glanced towards the branch Nero was hiding above.

'What? How did it sense me?' Nero inwardly cursed as he continued to suppress his presence.

Adult Nero spoke, "You might not have noticed, but its Spiritual Awareness is many times above yours... I advise you to prepare for battle."

Nero didn't even have time to complain as the Crimson Blade Mantis seemed to have determined that someone was directly above it. It jumped from the ground at alarming speeds, nearing the branch at a rapid pace.

Though Nero was a bit surprised, he was still stronger than it; as such, he didn't react in fear, nor waste time to curse his older self.

"Hmph! I'm not so weak that you can strike preemptively." Nero said with a snort as he manifested his scythe and jumped down from the tree faster than the mantis.

Swing! A sharp cutting sound resounded the moment Nero jumped, as the mantis chopped apart the thick branch into many pieces of wood. However, as if it only now noticed that Nero had vanished, it made a confused sound, "Crek?"

Before it could even understand what was going on, a sharp curved blade was already positioned around its neck.

Nero, who was already behind it, made a cruel smirk as he yanked the scythe's handle, causing the blade to cut down with full force as he continued to fall from the air.

With a puffing sound, the Crimson Blade Mantis's head went flying into the air as its green blood spattered about while its corpse fell from the sky.

____

Ding!

[You've killed a Crimson 39 EXP!]

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Nero had now arrived a meters distance from it with his back turned as he landed on the open field, he held the scythe in a backward grip with its edge facing his direction from behind him as it dripped with green blood.

As if he didn't like the mess, Nero twirled the scythe and made a full swing, which splashed the blood from its edge before he held the handle over his shoulder.

A strange bloodthirsty look came into his eyes as he slightly licked the corner of his lips while glancing at the corpse behind him as he spoke, "So weak, it looks like I over anticipated its strength..."

Adult Nero said nothing, his eyes had a strange light as he found it amusing, he thought to himself, 'Huhu, if those old rumors were correct, you'll be taking those words of yours back quite soon...'

Nero naturally didn't know of his older self's thoughts; having killed his first monster, he felt a bit more confident, so he lessened his caution by a notch.

Nero then walked towards the corpse and saw that the mantis had dropped a few copper coins with nothing else.

He frowned while thinking, "So stingy as always..."

After putting away the coins, Nero then glanced around at the shrubs but as he prepared to move from the area, a few shuffling noises were heard. Moving his eyes towards the source, he noticed that a group of similar leveled Crimson Blade Mantises had appeared.

The moment they arrived; they each emanated a murderous aura as they dashed towards Nero without even a slight amount of hesitation.

Nero seemed as if he didn't care about their actions, his eyes still having a cruel look as he positioned himself in the Mowing Twist stance.

"Come, I'll use you all to level up my Myriad Spector Cut and other skills..." Nero uttered as his eyes gleamed in a red light that left trails as his body started to spin.

His figure vanished with a swooshing sound leaving behind his scythe's edge that created a series of circular lines. The line started to twist as if it had a life of its own, slanting as if it were a snake dancing, but this only lasts for a while before it returned to the circular pattern as it flashed back and forth the field.

Adult Nero's eyes flickered when he saw the change; he couldn't help but make a satisfied look as he spoke to himself, "Ohh... his Reaper Stance is beginning to find its correct flow. If he can consciously realize this, then he might be able to achieve the Second Level, but I suppose he's still quite a distance from achieving it..."

While Adult Nero pondered, Nero's scythe had already made quick work of the mantises that had attacked him from all sides.

Their bodies fell to the ground as now only their corpses remained in a pool of blood and copper coins. A few more shuffling was heard, but Nero didn't seem to mind it as he quickly looted the corpses and jumped into the trees.

'These batches are too weak; I need to find stronger foes to increase my rate of mastery and experience points...' As Nero concluded his thoughts, his eyes had a sharp look as he proceeded onwards to further his training.

However, while Nero was having a wonderful time, those who ventured here were having a horrible experience that they would remember for the rest of their lives.