Do you see what I see? → Shen
Does it have huge, sharp nails and bonny hands? → Ryu
Huh? No, it’s made out of infested mud and is huge. I think the moment I touch it I’ll turn into a pool of blood. → Shen
Well, this thing has loose skin with bony limbs and huge nails. Also, it has two huge eerie black holes where the eyes should’ve been and the face of a zombie horse… Ugh man, I think my opponent is much more disgusting than yours. → Ryu
Yeah, but mine is deadlier. → Shen
I might die from feeling sick here. → Ryu
Please be serious now. → Shen
I started to feel irritated at Ryu’s constant complains about how ugly his opponent was and tried to focus on the one in front of me.
Buh~ so boring. → Ryu
Be on guard. The aura they emanate seems as strong as that of S ranked monsters. → Shen
Heh, that’s nothing for us. Let’s go. → Ryu
My body then emanated a dark and cold aura while my eyes turned completely red. I took a position of combat and in my hands, a halberd spawned, the handle fully made of cold ice while the blade was made out of dark flames. The handle was emanating a blue mist from the frosty air while the dark flames slowly danced, just like a freezing fire.
“It was about time for me to test this out.” → Shen
By using the devil’s powers, I commanded to create a halberd that subconsciously appeared in my head. Without knowing, I created a halberd that is called in the spiritual world “The Devil’s Bane”, made out exactly from a devil’s powers. Now the problem was my proficiency with it, for I never wielded a halberd in my life, while I had no recollections from any vision of me swinging such a weapon before.
The monstrous thing detected me and instantly spun and pouched at me with its huge body.
So huge yet so fast… → Shen
Right before impact I turned into a cloud of black smoke and reappeared behind it. I wished to slash at it with my halberd but a huge tentacle appeared from my side, blowing me away the next moment.
“Guaah!” → Shen
I felt an excruciating burning sensation and saw how my stomach was slowly melting from the acid. I stared in shock at the monster and observed how red eyes appeared all over his body, being able to see all and every one of my movements.
[15.000/150.000] → [65.000/150.000] → [26.000/150.000]
My health bar was emptying and filling back up then falling down again by the second. The pain was mind-breaking and I felt like going mad from the burning sensation coming from the acidic substance that was stuck to my abdomen.
“F***!” → Shen
I used the halberd and cut my own stomach. The black flame enveloped my waist and froze it completely. Because of the extreme temperature, the acid lost its disintegration power and stopped burning my innards.
[WOOONG~!]
The monster reacted again and jumped at me for the second time.
“You’re annoying.” → Shen
Because of the burning sensation and incredible pain I just felt, my irritation reached the peak and my energies reacted based on my emotions. Two humongous arms made out of mana shot out and stopped the monster mid-air, making him crash in front of me. More acidic tentacles shot out toward me but I simply cut them frozen with the halberd, one swing and sharp ripples slashed at everything in front. My red eyes shone with killing intent and I slashed out in front horizontally once again, forming a huge crescent cut on the stomach area of the monster. The slash froze the monster’s insides and made it halt its movements.
Finally, some time for myself. → Shen
While my stomach was still frozen, I cut off the affected area and only then have I melted the ice.
Grrr, even frozen, the cutting feeling still makes me grit my teeth. → Shen
After completely healing up, I redirected my attention at the monster which wished to strike me again but was blocked by the phantom arms around me. The two huge arms then grabbed the monster and ripped it apart, again and again, turning it into blocks of ice.
“…Wait. I never wished to do that… Oh well.” → Shen
After ripping the monster apart and suddenly freezing them, I continued my way inside the cave.
Ryu, I’m done here. What about you? → Shen
That damn horse-face was a bigger pain than I thought. Those huge nails were able to penetrate my scales and it almost heavily injured me. → Ryu
You underestimated it. → Shen
Ugh, yeah. My bad. → Ryu
No. I did the same. I almost turned into a pool of blood as I said… → Shen
Oh wow. Good, I’m not the only one, haha~. → Ryu
Focus… → Shen
I couldn’t understand how he was able to be so easy-going when we both almost lost our lives. While going further and further inside, I discovered another monster, this one having the body of a huge bald baboon with loose skin, the skull of a horse with barely any skin on it, bony limbs, and huge sharp nails.
Shen… I think I found your former opponent. → Ryu
What a coincidence… → Shen
I was surprised at how ugly it was and tried my best not to look into its hollow eyes.
Watch it. It’s extremely fast and it can turn invisible. Also, those nails are ridiculously sharp! → Ryu
You as well. It might seem huge, but in truth, is extremely fast and it can shot out tentacles with deadly acid. Also, it has no blind spot. There are eyes all over its body. → Shen
Damn, this dungeon is even more bothersome than an end-game one. → Ryu
Maybe because this is no game in the first place? → Shen
Well damn. Thanks, Sherlock. → Ryu
Ah, shut up. → Shen
I then summoned the same halberd and focused all my senses, trying to train my skills on mastering the weapon. The monster discovered me and it shot right at me with a speed comparable to that of sound. I was able to dodge it by breath and hastily turned around for a counter. However, when I slashed out there was nothing but darkness.
It turned invisible! → Shen
I felt a chill down my neck and ducked just before a dark slash cut some of my hair threads. After finding out the location the slash came from, I cut out in a rush with my own halberd and got one of its arms. To my surprise, it ignored the pain and slashed out again at my neck. With my hand, I grabbed the bony arm and pulled hard for a head-butt. The monster’s skull cracked in the middle then I kicked it away from me. I rushed forward for another strike with the halberd but it disappeared right after, the halberd only cutting through the rocky ground. Afterward, light slashes appeared on my body one after the other, on my limbs, chest, neck and even face.
It strikes without the intent to kill… Does it wish to make me bleed until I die? Damn crafty. → Shen
I smirked mockingly then took a light step.
[Freezing Hell]The area around me froze stiff and a statue of ice suddenly emerged from the shadows right behind me with its nails pointed at my back.
Again… Too much power infused. But it still did its job. → Shen
“A good strategy against the wrong opponent.” → Shen
With a light swing from the halberd, the ice-statue shattered in pieces.
Done here. This time it was better. Thanks for the tips. → Shen
Yeah, same here. Even though it was indeed fast, it wasn’t comparable to the monkey from before. With just a dragon breath and I turned it into a pool of burning mud. → Ryu
Let’s see what will come next. → Shen
I continued to walk while I was inspecting my own status.
[AP: 720 – 2000]The oscillation in power is too much… When I wish to use little power, I overdo it, but when I strike with all I have, the destructive force is nowhere to be found. At first, I ripped that monster in pieces when all I wanted to do was to block, then I wasn’t even able to retreat when it struck me… This can really turn out to be more dangerous than I thought. → Shen
While I was thinking all by myself, another monster appeared in front of me. This one was half human and half goat, something like a faun, but it had the head of a black goat with bloody horns. It emanated an incredibly eerie aura while it’s bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at me, drooling as if wishing to eat me whole.
“…”
As a former satyr myself, that appearance is disturbing. They are neutral spirits and happily living in harmony with nature itself, wishing to assist any kind of living being which asks for their help. Using the appearance of a satyr to represent evil really pisses me off. → Shen
I massaged my temples as I slowly started to forget about a golden rule inside a separate-space: never lose yourself to your emotions.
[GROWL~!]
The beast growled in a low tone, making the ground vibrate then it shot right at me with incredible power.
“Please let it be a powerful one. [Sura’s Warth]” → Shen
I activated the evolved form of [Godly Fist] from the Earth Spirit Fighter and felt how the initially Earth element, transmuted into Darkness and Frost, completely enveloped my entire arm and formed three huge dark crystals behind my elbow to be released in a destructive punch. Right when the beast was in front of me, I struck out with all I had but most of the energy started to disperse right before the contact.
Damn! → Shen
A strong shockwave appeared after striking his forehead but there was not even a scratch left after the impact, my fist being stopped by the faun’s forehead without a problem.
[GROWL!]
The beast then slashed out with its claws and sent me flying backward, making me hit an invisible wall. Three huge claw marks were imprinted on my body, letting my innards discovered. The cloak already having a hard time to keep me in one piece.
Good thing it was made to block only a percent of the attacks, and not the entire strike. Otherwise, it would’ve been broken long ago. → Shen
If not for the cloak, the first tentacle that struck me back then would’ve pulverized my low-power-ranked body to smithereens. It does have the effect to block 80% of the attack, but my body is still too weak to even resist the 20% left.
I tried to get up but the beast was already in front of me, its fist raised for the finishing blow.
“Ah just give me a break already…” → Shen
I felt like rolling my eyes at the thought of dying once again, only to revive later, so as a last form of struggle I tried to focus my chi all over my body, inside and outside. When the blow almost landed atop my head, the time suddenly started to move slower. I stared in confusion how the beast’s fist came at me in slow-motion.
Oy, come on. Are you mocking me now? → Shen
A ridiculous thought appeared in my head which made me stare at the slow beast dumbfoundedly. As a test, I slapped the head of the beast and to my surprise, it’s entire upper body turned into a pool of blood.
“…”
Okay, this is truly exaggerating. You mean I finally used the full 2000 AP just now? Wasn’t this beast something like an S+ ranked beast? Not even before was I able to simply slap it into a pool of blood… → Shen
I finally understood that at this level of power, I would be able to resist quite some time on my own even against Thanatos.
No, still too weak. Even if I gain full control over it, I’ll still be far too weak for that monster. → Shen
I shook my head then continued on my own.
Shen! Man! What the Hell?! What appeared before me this time was a God-damn Minotaur! I think he was ten meters tall and his brute force was more than on par with mine! Even I had a hard time to take on his blows! → Ryu
Who said you have to take on the blows…? → Shen
Well, I wished to test my defenses. But after a few blows, I was able to still take him out. How about you? → Ryu
A beastified faun. Something like what Satan is being represented as in our world. → Shen
Eh? Weren’t you a faun yourself in the other life? How did you do? → Ryu
I was a normal one! Not beastified! Haah~… anyway. It was fine, I slapped him away. → Shen
…Slapped? Are you One-Slap Man or something? → Ryu
Who’s that? → Shen
By how O.P. you’re becoming, I’d say he’s your father. Well, never mind now, let’s continue on our way. → Ryu
Wait, you knew my father? Why was he named like that? Isn’t it embarrassing? → Shen
What? God, no! Just- just don’t mind it, okay? It was a joke, Jesus… → Ryu
Uh, okay?… The darkness around us is slowly dissipating. I think that the more monsters we confront, the faster we’ll clean up this place. → Shen
Ah, true. Then talk to you when we’re almost done. → Ryu
Sure. → Shen
We continued to advance and fight monsters after monsters, every time having my life on the line because of the unstable power. Even though I would revive if I suddenly died, I wasn’t sure what would happen if the monsters devoured me, and at that point, my pride wouldn’t even let me imagine.
“Huff, huff~… This was the 66th one… I can see the darkness dissipating more and more, but why the speed at which it cleanses slows down the more I advance? From where does it gets this power? Just what is this dungeon?” → Shen
I stared around in distress at the now grayish space around me, unable to understand why the darkness remained almost the same after the 20th monster killed.
Shen. I think something’s wrong. → Ryu
So you observed as well. Space remained almost the same for a while now. → Shen
No, not that. Don’t you have more foes in front of you? → Ryu
More? → Shen
I redirected my attention in front and observed all the 66 monsters I defeated before, suddenly reappear in front of me altogether.
S***… → Shen
Indeed, I feel the same. What do you say we should do? → Ryu
… Ryu, I think you should stop playing and get serious. → Shen
Ops~ you found me out? → Ryu
You love to drag out a battle only to feel the excitement, don’t you? → Shen
Hahaha~ good observation skills for once. Fine, I’ll get serious now. You should do the same. → Ryu
Eh? Ah… Sure → Shen
I was unable to tell Ryu that I was serious from the very beginning. All the mistakes and injuries I acquired by the past few battles were all caused by my oscillations in power. I was unable to control it and so I was already struggling with just one monster at the time, going against 66 from the start would prove to be more than ridiculous.
[GROAAAH~!]
The monsters detected me and roared together, making for my eardrums to break and bleed.
This is ridiculous! Not even a physical attack and I’m already injured! It seems I struck rock-bottom with my AP right now. → Shen
I took out a dark Energy Stone from my inventory and tried to unite with it and succumb into the darkness around.
“Gah!”
The pain of having your meridians cracked and rebuild again made me feel like turning crazy but I had to resist it so I won’t get engulfed by the monsters. After I dodged their charge and got behind them, I suddenly felt myself being pulled out from inside the shadows back into the materialistic world.
“What?!” → Shen
I looked behind and observed a dark shadow that held me by the cloak from the back, raising me from inside my own shadow. It’s shining white eyes stared at me, and then a dark mouth suddenly opened, trying to swallow me whole.
[Heaven’s Wrath!]I used the Tian Set and summoned the strongest lighting I was able to create at the moment. The strike was too weak to harm it but strong enough to scare a Darkness-type monster away from me.
[SHRIEEK~!]
After making another ultrasonic wave from panic, it let me go and retreated back in the shadows.
Damn. I forgot about this one-… eh? → Shen
As I wanted to wipe the sweat from my forehead, a feeling as if needles punctured my arm made me flinch for a moment. I stared at my arm which I used to summon the lightning and observed how smoke was rising from burning marks. The burning pain was numbed but the smell of burnt skin was still as real as possible.
What? Did that thing just counter me? No, it was too scared to do so… Then, was it my own lighting? → Shen
The other monsters stared at me in anticipation, as if wary of my next move.
“… You all aren’t dark spirits for nothing. It seems lighting scares the s*** out of you all.” → Shen
For dark spirits and monsters, lighting and the golden fire is their bane. Once struck by it, even by a low-class spell, it would still prove to be quite an efficient strike. Just like a spark in the darkness, the shadows will never be able to engulf it until it dies on its own, such as the omnipotence of light over darkness. This was the main reason why Yuri was able to push me back even when I was possessed by the Devil and showed powers of God power-rank.
… I don’t like it one bit, but I’ll need to use this double-edged sword if I wish to get out of here in one piece… Or I might really need to build my own body later after I wake up in the astral world again… → Shen
However, that doesn’t mean Darkness is the weakest while Light is the strongest. Even though Light is superior to Darkness, it is still equal to the other elements, or possibly even weaker. On the other hand, Darkness can swallow any other element with ease, be it normal Fire, Earth, Wind or Water. It has complete dominance over the other four elements but also complete helplessness in front of Light, which was supposed to be close to the weakest element.
Let’s wish I won’t kill myself again, haha~. → Shen
A feeling of excitement swirled inside my stomach as I focused my strength and a black hole finally formed inside my palm. The monsters felt the change in the atmosphere and shot at me altogether.
Oho~ S***! I can’t do it with my current power-rank! → Shen
I threw the black hole at the acidic pile of mud monster and half of it was absorbed inside the space-rift, the rest turning into a miniature form of the monster, its red eyes staring madly at me. The Minotaur Ryu fought with first, punched out and sent me flying for around 20 m in air, making for the view in front of my eyes to spin and twist. While still flying, a Winged Lion appeared and bit off one of my arms, then the umbra from before stabbed through my chest from behind, not even letting me to land properly. My heart was beating like crazy as the crazed feeling of excitement made my blood boil. The beasts then continued to rush at me and I felt how if I did nothing, my end would be inevitable. My eyes shone red but I tried my best not to lose myself to the maddening feeling of excitement.
“Grr [Phantom Steps]” → Shen
I turned into smoke again and reappeared behind the entire group of demons. The monsters dashed towards me again but right at that time, a bolt of lightning struck the ones from the front, making them retreat with ugly wounds on their bodies. Loud shrieks resounded everywhere while I breathed out heavily from the burning feeling in my one arm.
“Hehehe~ ah~! How I love this! If only I had some more time!” → Shen
My eyes were deep red while my only arm was burnt black to my shoulder, an ugly lightning scar remaining on it barely healing. Even so, a twisted smile appeared on my face, feeling my heart rush in front of the danger.
It seems this kind of injuries heals much slower than normal. → Shen
The time it took for my arm to heal was equal to the amount it took for my other wounds to completely recover and for my left arm to grow back again.
… This proves my speculations… It seems I turned into a Half-Devil. → Shen
Only from this thought alone, my smile vanished as irritation took over me, thinking that I turned into what I hated the most. Then I tried to calm down and shot out blindly low-ranked spells of lighting so I won’t injure myself too much, just to keep the monsters away.
“My powers are on the growing point again. Is time to try it out.”
I created another black-hole in my palm and a little white dot started to form, growing larger and shinier. From a barely visible one to a blindingly shining one, growing from barely a millimeter to half a centimeter, then to two centimeters. I stared sharply at the blinding dot and thought for a while before releasing it.
More than this and I might wipe myself as well… Hehe~ well! Let’s see what will happen! → Shen
My blood boiled as I thought if not them, then it will be me then raised the little star above my head. The star then grew, the shine slowly died down and the color turned red. I sent the now 10 cm globe of active plasma toward the monsters as I prepared to defend myself from it, covering myself in multiple layers of dark barriers. While advancing, the globe then diminished again and started to shine even stronger than before, turning into a blinking dot of light. The beastified faun thought it was just a fireball and struck it with a mocking smile. The smile then froze after feeling a strong Light element evading the little fireball, covering everyone in a blinding light as a deafening sound buzzed my eardrums for a moment.
[Nova]The explosion killed every monster around and while I was still at the top of my AP, I created a barrier around myself with everything I had.
Damn…
The light was unexpectedly blinding enough to even momentarily burn my eyes, making me feel a numbing sting. I did protect my body, but it seems I miscalculated the power of radiating light. After a moment, the thunderous explosion together with the vibrations from the shockwaves completely disappeared, leaving behind nothing but the darkness. I wasn’t able to hear or see anything for a period of time until I suddenly heard Ryu’s voice in my head.
Shen. Has the environment changed for you as well? → Ryu
Changed? → She
Yes… → Ryu
After a moment, I finally started to regain my sight. I observed how my palms were drenched in blood after I touched my face. With a rather indifferent feeling, I scratched my head as I looked at the blood on my hands.
Oh, ops. It seems I destroyed my eyes there. → Shen
