“What the heck was that all about, Benny? You suddenly run over and start barking orders. What was that spear?” Dusting off the boy’s back, Selene looked from Benny toward the Ogodoth, who was wearing a stunned expression due to his attack landing on his companion.
“Huff, that demon’s Affinity is weird as hell. Not only can it effectively take over, corrupt, and even mimic Affinity skills, but it can improve the skill it copied further.” Benny stated as he faced the Ogodoth, who stood on the opposite end of the room.
“I have no clue at all what the hell that Affinity is, but it isn’t something we can handle. Either it can steal away our Mana particles and change them due to higher proficiency, or that Element is just pure lunacy and is a hard counter to every other Mana particle.” Benny said as he tightened the bracer and straps of his Aspis.
“In the best-case scenario, the demon can only use that ability a couple of times; in the worst, there is no limit. I couldn’t get close enough to try dealing physical damage to it, and honestly, I’m not so sure we should. Normally this is something Big Bro would be left to deal with, and I’m sure he is the only one who could figure out what that Element was, let alone how to beat it.” Breaking eye contact with the Ogodoth, Benny turned his head and examined Selene’s expression.
“I have a feeling he would come up with some kind of paranoid delusion like, “What if it can weaponize the Mana inside our Codex?” but I don’t want to think that way. Instead, we need to worry about what we CAN do and not what that thing MIGHT be able to do to us.” Selene said as she walked over and retrieved her spear from the ground.
“Agreed. I took care of the nine excess demons, so we only need to take out the Tier-2. We can try some tag team tactics, but under no circumstances do I want you to use ANY Affinity skills. Don’t even channel Mana into your attacks.”
“Kekeke,” across the room, the Ogodoth grounded its pointed teeth together as it went from one fallen lackey to another. It had already taken note of the damage the being caused and was becoming increasingly more agitated as it examined each stumpy wound the nine injured demons had.
Realizing that healing them was simply a waste of energy and resources, it chose to place its hand on the head of a Begraz and use some kind of skill that aged the creature so rapidly that it appeared as if hundreds of years flashed by in the blink of an eye. Channeling its Affinity, the Ogodoth went from one fallen demon to another, leaving the first Begraz rolling on the ground and gasping for air.
“Uh, Benny…what is it doing?” Selene asked as she tugged on his shoulder and began running toward the Ogodoth. Now wasn’t the time to sit around and wait for something to happen.
Keeping pace with the girl, Benny’s pupils constricted as he saw the demons’ state after the black-skinned one touched them.
“Crap, Selene, pick up the pace before it….” Before Benny could finish his statement, a horrifying scene occurred, as one of the Begraz demon’s skin fell off, and its bones turned to dust, triggering a notification.
|A Begraz demon has succumbed to Corruption Mana sickness, had its life force drained, and Died. Neither Challengers will receive any rewards.|
“No way; what the hell is that thing doing?” Selene murmured with her eyes going wide as she burst into a full-on sprint.
Cackling in its weird voice, the Ogodoth clutched the head of a crippled Tiz’gog and repeated the same process that had killed the earlier Begraz. Within a few seconds, the Grey skinned creature with spikes all over its body shriveled up and turned to dust.
|A Tiz’gog demon has succumbed to Corruption Mana sickness, had its life force drained, and Died. Neither Challengers will receive any rewards.|
With the death of a second demon, the Ogodoth started undergoing physical changes, as the bones in its shoulders popped loudly, and several spikes erupted from its back, forearms, and shins. Noticeable red swirl markings appeared on its shoulders and, like a snake, slithered down its arms to its hands.
Next, the horns on its head took on an orangish hue, and its wings seemed to expand, growing to the size of a condor. Lastly, the creature’s bulky muscles leaned out, and its stature condensed as it transformed from a bodybuilder physique into one similar to that of an MMA fighter.
Flexing its wings a few times and examining the changes to its body, the Ogodoth cackled loudly before moving on and grabbing the head of a third demon.
“Damn, damn, DAMNIT, Selene, stun it!” Benny yelled as he caught up to the girl, grabbed her by the arm, spun around twice, and threw Selene with all his might, catching her off guard and sending her sailing right toward the demons over 20 meters away.
With the death of the second creature, Benny was forced to start counting down for the respawn timer in his head. Realizing that the Ogodoth planned on killing off all of its companions, Benny made a split-second decision.
Since every member of MyrkLys knew each other’s skills by heart, especially Cynrik and Benny, who were the party tacticians, he was able to come up with the idea that required some luck but would buy them some time.
The only issue was that Selene would need to be within five meters of the Ogodoth for it even to have a shot at working. So in the heat of the moment, realizing that she would never make it close enough in time, Benny used his STR stat and threw her; that way, Selene could cover the distance MUCH faster.
A few meters ahead, Selene spun slowly and flew, judging how close she had to be to execute her Class Skill while slimming down her body and going faster. Traveling through the air for a couple of seconds and noticing she was within the appropriate range, Selene extended her right hand and pointed at the Ogodoth.
“[élugi]!” Selene shouted as she felt both her MP and Stamina drain slightly. Small, visible shockwaves shot out from her lips, smacking directly into every one of the ten demons ahead of her, causing more than half to stiffen and freeze in place, the Ogodoth included, as they gained the Negative Status effect (Stun).
Flipping and landing on the ground, Selene wasted no time in thrusting her spear forward fast enough to make a ‘Swoosh’ sound as she rapidly stabbed the Ogodoth while it was under the effect of (Stun).
The moment it registered what was happening, the demon’s eyes flew open in pure terror as it knew it had screwed up by not instantly killing off all its lackeys.
Yet all the creature could do was rue the fact that it hadn’t tried chasing down its opponents the second it could. From the beginning, its greed and pride as a higher lifeform had consumed the Ogodoth, and now as it turned into particles, that had proven to be its downfall.
|You have successfully Killed a Level 10, Early Tier-2 Virtual Ogodoth Demonoid.|
|You have received 10 Obelisk Kill Points.|
|You have received one KCP (Kill Counter Point).|
|You have received a 10000 Essence, XP Crystal.|
|You have received 6 Merit Points.|
Exhaling and jumping up into the air, Selene bounced off a few pillars until she reached where her original spear was and retrieved it before touching back down on the ground as Benny arrived at the horde and examined the few demons who seemed to be on the edge of death.
“What the hell was that Affinity?” Benny murmured as he grabbed a Tiz’gog by the bottom jaw and stopped it from biting him.
Reaching down with his right hand and using his shield as a lever, Benny quickly dislocated both the arms of the creature before moving on to breaking its jaw. Once he was entirely sure it couldn’t hurt him, he began a thorough examination of the sickly and ancient-looking Begraz, the third target that the Ogodoth had tried draining.
Lucky for them, Selene’s timely arrival had interrupted the Ogodoth from completing its skill. As such, it had left this single creature in such a state that if Benny applied any more damage to it aside from the dislocations and broken jaw, the demon would instantly shatter into particles like glass.
“Amazing, if I didn’t see it for myself, id truly believe this thing was old.” Walking from one legless demon to the next, Selene set about to render each one completely crippled as Benny had done. Once satisfied with her handy work, she grabbed one of the few semi-healthy Begraz demons and dragged it over to Benny by the back of its head so that he could compare the two.
Ignoring how Selene had just basically tortured all of the alive creatures, Benny pulled the non-aged Begraz, propped it up beside the aged one, and leaned forward, taking in every minute difference between them.
The first noticeable difference was how sunken the aged demon’s chest was. Placing his open palm against its skin, Benny closed his eyes and focused as Cynrik had trained him and tried sensing any Mana within where he estimated the Begraz’s Codex was located.
After several seconds without feeling anything other than a slow heartbeat, Benny gave up and reached over to the non-aged demon. Unlike previously, the instant he focused, he noticed a swirling heat from within the creature’s chest and scrunched up his face in thought.
“Haiz, so the old demon’s Codex has either been entirely powered down, or all its Mana was drained. Unfortunately, without one of the brothers present, I have no way of figuring out the specifics. Still, I can say without a doubt that the old-looking one is utterly devoid of any Mana particles in its body.” Benny stated as he reached over to the old demon, grasped its head, twisted forcefully, and broke its neck, ruthlessly killing it.
|You have successfully Killed a Level 20, Peak Tier-1 Virtual Begraz Demonoid.|
|You have received 5 Obelisk Kill Points.|
|You have received one KCP (Kill Counter Point).|
|You have received one 1000 Essence, XP Crystals.|
|You have received 3 Merit Points.|
“Let’s clear them out; I’m at 230 seconds left until the respawn begins, and we still need to kill off at least four more before we can comfortably wait out the clock,” Benny stated as he punched the unaged demon’s head, exploding it like a watermelon.
-This series is exclusively published on WebNovel if you are reading it anywhere else…You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the discord,