Draco spawned in the Training Hall once again and rubbed his head speechlessly. How was anyone supposed to clear that? He even used his greatest trump card, the Black Dragon, but was still unable to do shit.
Yes, he managed to defeat one of the Dragon Lords, but who cared that he failed by 66.6% instead of 100%, if the outcome didn't change?
Well, it did have a success chance of 0.01%, so it made sense. If it was that easy to succeed on the first try, the success chance would not be so abysmally low.
Draco looked at the Devil Lord and Demon Emperor classes and wondered if he should attempt them as well? After all, the success chance for both of them was just about the same.
Still, knowing he would more than likely fail was not enough to deter Draco. Despite him being aware of this, a little voice at the back of his head told him to try it out.
What would he lose if he failed? Only time and some money. What would he gain if he succeeded? A Legendary class that was even better than the ones Sublime and co got.
Draco sat down and immediately took out an Angel's Kiss potion. He then consumed it in order to recover his bloodline energy, as it was the only thing not having recovered after his trial. Then he removed a Master Rank dish from he made that boosted some stats from his inventory and ate it.
When he was sure he had stacked up on all the boons he could muster, he smiled menacingly and chose to begin the Demon Emperor Class Up Procedure. As was the case with the Dragon King's version, Draco was whisked away into blackness.
He then found himself in a barren wasteland that was like the residue of lava. The ground was fragmented and parched, steam rising from various cracks all over the place.
Many of the wider crevices showed lava underneath, and the ambient heat of this area was astronomical. Were it not for Draco's increased fire resistance after suffering the backlash during blacksmithing, he would have been fried to death!
The land was a dark gray color, like volcanic ash. There was a very strange sky above him, one that was endlessly black, but surprisingly still had stars.
However, there was no moon, so Draco didn't even know where the light came from. It was truly an eerie and discomforting place.
Draco assumed that this was hell, the Demon Realm. Looking at it, he suddenly understood why they wanted to take over the main plane so much.
Being forced to live here for generations had turned them into a hardy and war-like species, but it would get dreary and repetitive after some time.
｢System to Player Announcement
Beginning Demon Emperor Class Up Procedure. Standby.｣
｢Demon Emperor – Legendary Class Up Procedure
Description: As a pureblooded Royal Demon, you must prove your dominance in order to become the Demon Emperor. Clear the objective to complete this procedure.
Rewards: Legendary Class - Demon Emperor｣
｢System to Player Announcement
The objective of the Demon Emperor Class Up Procedure has been set. Player Draco must defeat the Four Hors.e.m.e.n of the Apocalypse to clear this task.｣
Draco blanched and felt his heart go cold. The Four Hors.e.m.e.n? How could he not know who they were?
They were the strongest entities of Hell under the Demon Supreme. A Demon Emperor wasn't the ruler of the whole race. He was like a Dragon King, a duke of Demons, just underneath the ruler.
The Four Hors.e.m.e.n were 99% of the reason why the whole human race almost always got wiped aside from some stragglers. Sure, the myriad armies of the Demon Race also wreaked havoc, but their numbers were far fewer than humans.
It was impossible for them alone to cull the many humans who had multiplied like rabbits in the span of a millenia, even though most of their members were weak or non-combatants.
However, when these four fellows came along, they performed even better than their real-world biblical depictions.
Death, War, Pestilence and Famine.
Before Draco could ponder how he should flee, his face was hit with many notifications from the system popping up.
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Diseased> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Decaying> Status effect. You have failed to resist.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with an <Enraged> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Starving> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Thirsty> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with an <Insane> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Stunned> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Confused> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Weakened> Status effect. You have failed to resist.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Fear> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Slow> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Charmed> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Blind> Status effect. You have successfully resisted.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Deaf> Status effect. You have failed to resist.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have been hit with a <Silenced> Status effect. You have failed to resist.｣
The Four Hors.e.m.e.n rode on their horses as they neared Draco at a steady pace. They each had a bleak aura that chilled the heart and struck the soul.
War was in full plate mail and so was his horse, its red eyes and shark-like teeth looking ready to rip enemies to shreds.
Pestilence was on a diseased horse with skin that bubbled and burst with boils, leaking green pus. He wore wretched clothes that had flies buzzing around him.
Famine was on a skinny and malnourished horse that looked worse than anorexic. He himself was also extremely thin, and he wore light leather armor.
Death was on a grey and lifeless horse that was stiffer than a corpse. He wore black robes that covered his form.
All four of them shared one trait, which was they had back hoods over their heads that covered their faces. It was even scarier and more eerie than Riveting Night's get-up, because these four carried the look perfectly.
They all stopped and stared at Draco, who was coughing blood on the ground, without moving an inch.
｢Name: War – Rank 1 Demon General
Level: 50
HP: 2,000,000/2,000,000｣
｢Name: Pestilence – Rank 1 Demon General
Level: 50
HP: 2,000,000/2,000,000｣
｢Name: Famine – Rank 1 Demon General
Level: 50
HP: 2,000,000/2,000,000｣
｢Name: Death – Rank 1 Demon General
Level: 50
HP: 2,000,000/2,000,000｣
Of course, this wasn't their true Rank, but it had been lowered for the purpose of this challenge. Numerically their HP was far below that of the Dragons, and so was their combat power.
Draco could take these four down in about 20 minutes with his two swords and 70% of his full power. However, for a mission with a success chance of 0.01%, how could things be easy?
The Four Hors.e.m.e.n were truly easy to kill. Even Richmond could bombard them into ash as a Titled God during all the past Great Wars in which they had appeared.
However, they had been able to walk scot-free. Why was this? Why did Richmond and co never even attempt to kill them? Was it because they were too scary?
That was not it. The simple truth was that Richmond and co did not dare to! Being within a certain range of these four would render you weakened by their aura, but not directly.
Instead, hundreds of different status effect would bombard you, and it would depend on your Endurance stat as well as your physique/skills/equipment to resist them. Not even the Titled Gods could escape their auras.
Draco had the best bloodline and physique, so he resisted a lot of the status effects compared to normal humans at Rank 7 - which would have been the true Rank of those four.
However, if it was this simple, then Richmond and co could pay a certain price to rush in and smash these fellows to death with Semi-Divine attacks.
These status effects spawned every second, performing a quick endurance check! So, after this first batch in which Draco had resisted 90% he still got hit by four of them, which was why he was on the ground, he had to go through a second round.
This time, another four got through, and his health began dropping thanks to the <Decaying> - and now <Diseased> - status effects from Pestilence and Death respectively.
Then there was the <Weakened> status effect from War which made him useless. His combat power was lowered by 50% and his stats were suppressed preventing him from retaliating. This was also why he didn't use Dark Resurrection on himself through loopholes.
There was also the <Deaf> but that was pittance to him, as he had Control. However, the <Silenced> status effect prevented him from using any skills and spells, whether objective or subjective.
Before he could even fight, Draco was rendered useless!
Draco wanted to curse the AI. What dogshit 0.01% chance? How was anyone supposed to survive this? Sure, these fellows were at his Rank, but even Rank 7 entities feared them.
Whenever there was a Great War, they would just ride around the human settlements of the Main Plane, and their status effects would do the carnage and killing without them having to lift a finger.
If even a monster like Draco was eventually hit with some of them, any normal human would be hit with every single one at once, leading to instant death.
No wonder… no wonder so many people died every time! If someone could truly kill these four, the deaths during the Great War wouldn't even amount to 60% of the human race.
Draco was killed and went into his first invincibility state, yet it was useless. Even though he resisted every single new attempt, the ones that had already latched on were not dispelled.
The Seal of Camelot wasn't a fusion item, but an external one that simply stuck itself to his armor's b.r.e.a.s.tplate. The golden aura that constituted the invincibility appeared externally, like a barrier, not internally.
This was why attacks that hit would still blast him backwards, but dealt no damage.
Most status effects lasted 30 seconds, so Draco needed to get away from the Four Hors.e.m.e.n for long enough that they would dispel. Once they did, hehe, he would show them the true meaning of 'Revelations'.
Thinking like that, Draco activated blink and strategically retreated the maximum distance away. He refused to believe that the Hors.e.m.e.n could travel 500,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.
If they could, he would just give up. Unless one had the Purefire Mystic Flame, they would never complete this Class Up Procedure. Draco dared to say that he had the best physique among humankind, but even he couldn't resist everything.
However, he blanched when he saw the Four Hors.e.m.e.n riding over casually, the landscape ruining itself with each trod of their horses' hooves.
If Draco went to church every Sunday, he would have known that the Four Hors.e.m.e.n could reach anywhere in the world, as this was one of their characteristics.
Seeing this, he simply smiled bitterly as he died three additional times, each time with more and more status effects piling on. By the time he was vanquished, he had 30 status effects activated on his person.
It was not a joke that even Titled Gods avoided these four. If they were so easily beaten, then they wouldn't be the right-hand men of the Demon Supreme.
As for Draco, he wasn't unhappy or coy like before. When he spawned in the Training Hall, he had a light smile on his face as he rubbed his chin softly.
"System, how are my odds of success calculated and what is factored into it?"