“[Corrosion Arrows]!”
“[Body down]!”
“[Wall of Magic]!”
“[Cyclone cut]!”
I heard different magic skills being shouted out with magic circles popping up around me. They were using Rune magic so they didn’t need to chant the spell, yet here they were shouting it’s name.
[You have been afflicted with [Weakness]]
[Your physical stats will go down by 10%]
‘What?!’
One of the spells had weakened my body. I looked up, searching for the one who cast the spell, but all I got was green slimy arrows heading for my neck and a dark blue slash.
Using [Shadow Travel], I reappeared behind one random member and tried to cut his neck, but once again, my sword simply passed through him. Rather, he grabbed my wrist and flipped him over, slamming me into one of the pillars.
[You have lost 20 health points]
Barely an amount for me to even be bothered about. With [Auto Regeneration], that recovered in an instant. Since at its current level, I’d recover 500 health points in a near instant.
While I was thinking that, the robed man stabbed my hand to the pillar with a dagger with so much force I could hear the pillar cracking.
[You have lost 50 health points]
[You have been afflicted with [Paralysis]]
[You will not be able to move]
[Due to your low resistance to Poison, you will only be stuck frozen for 5 minutes]
‘E-Eh? Low resistance? F-Five minutes?’
I had completely forgotten about raising my resistances. For certain situations like this, a high poison resistance would have been very suitable.
Honestly, even with my paralysis, using [Shadow Travel] to escape should have been easy enough. It wasn’t like [Paralysis] stopped my ability to use magic out of nowhere.
“[Fist of the Sea God: Third Form – Righteous Punch]!”
One other assassin came towards me with his fist at the ready. Since I couldn’t scan them, I had decided that the best option was to tank one of their attacks to get a rough estimate as to how strong they were.
The assassin looked rushed at me with a speed equivalent to mine. At first, I saw his punch to be a regular punch, but once it connected with my abdomen, my eyes opened. It felt like his hand was being pushed by a rocket propeller.
The lower part of the pillar shattered with me still standing stuck in place.
“Kuok!”
It felt like I had been hit by a bullet train at full speed, causing me to even spit out blood. Shards of the [Sigma Sine Armour] broke off, leaving me a bit more vulnerable.
[You have lost 1000 health points]
[You have been afflicted with [Broken Bones]]
[Your stats have been lowered by 5%]
‘The fuc-?!’
‘No! Ignore the pain! Do it now!’
Akira reminded me of the actual plan. Quickly, I tried grabbing him with my [Shadow Limbs], but they simply passed right through him even though he was still connected to my body.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt‘W-What the hell?’
“[Fist of the Sea God: Fourth Form – Blazing Trail]!”
He retracted his punch and delivered another mind-blowing hit.
[You have lost 350 health points]
Then another hit.
[You have lost 230 health points]
Then another.
[You have lost 250 health points]
Another.
[You have lost 190 health points]
Another.
[You have lost 200 health points]
Another.
[You have lost 213 health points]
[Due to the unique skill [Evolver], your [Low Poison Resistance] has levelled up to [Low Poison Resistance Level 9]]
[You will be afflicted by the poison for only 4 more minutes]
[Due to the unique skill [Evolver], you have developed the skill [Shock Absorber]]
I sensed an incoming needle being shot with more power than the [Needle Master] could muster.
Having no time to focus on the messages from the system, I used [Shadow Travel] to escape my captivity. Unfortunately for me, an assassin was already coming at me.
He punched me in the head and another sliced at my back.
[You have lost 400 health points]
[You have lost 200 health points]
[Due to the unique skill [Evolver], the skill [Low Poison Resistance] became [Mid- Poison Resistance]]
[You have recovered 500 health points]
‘W-What…? All that happened in a second?’
I hadn’t even realised that my [Auto Regeneration] had kicked in till then. And I was still paralysed, meaning they changed the poison that they were using. That meant these opponents also possessed speed and adaptability on top of power. Some of them were still in the background, simply observing.
Like the old man that was kneeling down and praying. When I looked at him again, I was starting to feel a weird vibe.
‘Whatever! If I’m paralysed, I’ll just need to keep them busy. [Shadow Demon Summo - !?’
“[Anti-Magic Area].”
The moment I attempted to summon beasts to help me, they had nullified any and all forms of magic in the area.
I was quite literally a floating shark.
‘That’s not the expression…’
‘Sitting duck? Whatever. Agent. Can I win without magic?’
<<Under normal circumstances, no. However, with “that”, you should be able to escape>>
‘Oh? I didn’t think I’d have to use “it” so soon.’
I looked at my surroundings. Three of them were coming at me with either their fists or a weapon. The others in the background had their hands raised at me, with runes glowing in front of them.
‘O-oi! That’s not fair!’
[You have recovered 500 Health points]
‘How come they can use magic?’
<<The magic spell [Wall of Magic] is a buff that prevents the targets from being affected by magic nullifying spells such as [Anti-Magic Area]. This suggests that they had always intended to prevent you from using magic>>
‘Always, huh? But why would they do that?’
‘Are they afraid of our magic?’
‘B-but then, we can’t even touch them.’
‘So, what makes them so scared?’
‘Wait… is it the shadow demons?’
‘No, it can’t be. [Shadow Limbs] did nothing to them.’
‘W-What about the demon aspect?’
Akkun suggested something elementary to me! It was so interesting I had almost forgotten that I was about to get hit.
[You have lost 110 health points]
With [Slime Body] and [Shock Impact], I avoided the slice from the weapon holding assassins while reducing the damage from his incoming attack.
‘Then we don’t need to use “that”?’
‘Looks like we don’t. For now, I’ll just settle for [Devil Form].’
The skill activated. In my head, I felt something click just like when I first used it. My hair remained blonde, but grew more. Four horns appeared on top of my head like some sort of crown. My body grew taller, to about 6 feet and 6 inches – a very sudden change, as well as my physical appearance. I had become a sort of adult in this form.
The orb that I normally kept hidden on my chest was bigger as well, glowing with a more eerie darkness. I felt empowered, like I could beat anyone now.
“Haha… Interesting.”
Even my voice sounded different.
[You have activated your Devil Form]
[You will receive a 5x boost in all stats]
[You have not consumed enough souls to fuel this form]
[In exchange, you will lose 100 health points per second in this form]
[Those with [Holy Affinity] will be alerted to your existence if near]
[Those with [Dark Affinity] will be alerted to your existence if near]
[Your paralysis has worn off]
I spread my arms out and inspected my opponents more. They backed away from me slowly.
‘Hm? Why are they backing away?’
<<I have successfully narrowed down the possible skills they are using in this fight.>>
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm‘Oh? Let me hear em.’
I sent warning glares to all of them to ensure that they didn’t come any closer.
<<There is a 99.12% chance that they are using the skill [Astral Projection]. A skill that allows the user to send their spiritual form to another location from where their physical body is.>>
‘Astral Projection? Oh, so they are scared because…?’
<<Devils are capable of interacting with spiritual life forms, meaning you can now touch them.>>
‘Eh? But I’m a literal demon.’
<<Demons are different from devils.>>
‘Ah… that makes no sense. Whatever. I’ll just end these bastards now. [Lethal Black Claw].’
Sharp, jet-black claws protruded from my fingers. Since I could now harm them, there was practically no use in using my weapons. I would become the weapon.
‘[Ferocious Slash]!’
I moved behind one of the assassins that had their magic circle pointed at me and cut an arc across their back. I could feel my hand ripping against them.
“Ah!”
The assassin screamed, causing the one next to him to point his spell at me, releasing a bolt of lightning.
I returned to my original position, allowing the attack to hit the one who was coming for me from the behind.
‘Wait… since they are spiritual forms, can I take it that they are souls?’
<<Yes.>>
“Oh, dear heavens. Such a filthy creature has made its way into your humble abode. Allow me to end this disgrace."
After a while, the old man finally spoke. I looked at him and his straightened his posture, revealing himself to be quite the hulking figure.
“My fellow disciples.”
He called out to the others, making them all focus on him. Worst mistake.
I jumped on one of the assassins who wasn’t paying any mind to me, however, just before I could catch them, my limbs froze up, like I was bound by ropes.
‘What’s this?’
“We have disgraced our lady! Over the years, we have allowed weakness to seep into their walls of our lady. I propose a culling. We shall start over.”
He started talking about something very weird.
“First of all, we shall tame this beast, then we shall proceed to eliminate the weak who dared to run away from an invader.”
‘Eh?’
I looked at the old man. He was ripped with bulging well-define muscles. His skin was green in colour, suggesting that he wasn’t really a merman, but rather a fishman. His hood still covered his face even though the remainder of the cloak was no where to be found.
With a simple flick of his finger, my body was sent flying towards his body, where he delivered a devastating punch to my face.
“Ah!”
I felt some teeth breaking. My body was feeling numb out of nowhere. The situation had turned on me in a complete instant.
The old man growled at me and from underneath his hood, he was starting to appear as a demon, with looked like steam around him.
‘All enemies, shall be purged. All weakness, shall be purged. Only the chosen ones shall progress. Are you a chosen one, wild beast?’
‘W-What’s happening?! Why do I feel like I really will die this time?’
‘No! Use this!’
‘[Demonic Light Manipulation]?’
<A/N: Sorry for not posting this on Monday as usual, however I decided to do this at the start of June. Since I plan to post everyday in this month! Don't hold me to that, but I will try my best. So I hope you do your best with power stones and reviews. There seems to be an issue with the site where some reviews don't even show up. So please do check if your reviews are still there (That is if you've reviewed it) and if you haven't, please go do so so I get more readers.>