Eren was subconsciously using his inherent spell on the human wraith.
Slimy, dark blue smoke made contact with the rotten skin of a wraith. It started melting at a rapid pace and soon turned into a liquid. The wraith's entire skin and muscle on her face and then some more were missing when Eren's left hand in slimy form was done with it.
The wraith couldn't even produce noise anymore because of the liquefaction of the vocal cords along with her face. But that didn't prevent her from struggling with her hands. She tried to scratch Eren with her nails, which she had somehow managed to extend till they reached Eren's body.
Eren was still drinking the weird mixture. But his skin soon turned dark green with crocodile-like scuts over it. This was his body's self-defence mechanism that had kicked in.
The crocodile-like green scuts were the same one Renar was used to having when he entered his anthrope transformation. Eren had assimilated with Renar's blood and flesh and derived this power from him when he was sparring with the guy.
That anthrope-like power had finally made its appearance in the real battle. Eren didn't want to use it because of the side effects he had felt at the time. But not being critically injured was criticalqqqqqq to him.
The scuts and the hardened skin prevented the female wraith from damaging Eren's skin in any way. The rate at which she could suck Eren's vitality also dropped.
But Eren wasn't paying attention to what the female wraith was doing to him. The mixture of what he was drinking was wreaking havoc inside his body and healing him at the same time.
Eren felt like his throat and his windpipe were on fire after drinking the mixture. The dark blue mana residue also conflicted with the existing mana in his body. The two of them were repelling one another- as if to deny each other's existence.
But the tears worked wonders for him. They soothed the burning sensation, aided him in healing all the injuries he had faced, and energized him while clearing his head.
The female wraith tried to retaliate by trying to freeze Eren. But Eren was done with his energy shake by that time. He threw the wraith's eyes inside his storage and saw what was happening around and below him.
The wraiths were slowly but surely closing in on him. The fire snakes he had employed now could only do so much. The sword wraith was also about to wrap up his battle with the fire snakes.
Then he looked at the female wraith and realized what he had done with her. Her entire skeletal face was visible since there was no flesh to cover it. Eren then looked at his scuts-riddled hands and understood what had happened.
'I used my inherent spell. Again. On this old hag.'
Eren concluded quickly. But he felt something was missing. The inherent spell hadn't finished its job. So this time, he decided to use it on his half-finished victim and complete the assimilation.
Eren got up from his squatted position while still keeping the female wraith's abnormal hands pinned to the ground. He didn't think twice and used his inherent spell on the old hag with both his hands turning into slime form and covering her entire body with it.
********************
Unbeknownst to Eren, an earthquake shook the area around the Purgatory's entrance. This earthquake was felt at various places outside the separate dimension. Even black clouds had gathered in the sky above the entrance.
"Fufufufufu! I like this boy already. Trying to walk on a taboo path without any hesitation.
Layla, let's change the previous plan a bit.
No matter the first floor's results, you have my permission to save the boy if and when he is about to die. Intervene if you have to.
I'm not sure the boy will survive the process of assimilating with something like that. So you are allowed to use the recovery potions from my collection as well."
A known ancient voice contacted Layla and told her to assure Eren's safety in a commanding voice. The voice seemed old and fragile. But it also contained a certain dignity that comes from wielding so much power.
Layla heard the voice and nodded her head to nobody in particular. Then she focused her attention on the spectral screen in front of her that had Eren's live feed on display.
She felt that the task of keeping Eren alive was too difficult to perform when he was trying to mess with the natural order of the world.
'What is that idiot trying to do? His mana core is going to burst at this rate.'
With her newly acquired rights, Layla activated Purgatory's mechanism. A teleportation array was lit a few meters away from her in a seemingly endless place. She was planning to teleport straight to Eren and bring him back with her before things got out of control.
But just when she was about to use the teleportation array, she opened her eyes wide in surprise and stayed frozen in her place. A look of disbelief painted on her face. That's because she saw what was happening with Eren.
*********************
Eren felt like his body was about to explode after he retracted his slime form and willed his hands to resume their previous shape. He was immediately brought to his knees as he felt like his body was going to implode from the fluctuation of mana running through every fibre of his flesh.
"Aaaaaargh!"
He yelled in agony as his body started heating up. His clear skin had turned red. And his eyes were bloodshot. His skin was all overlooked like there were loads of bugs running around everywhere beneath it.
The fluctuation of mana finally reached Eren's mana core. This was due to the severity of the fluctuation as well as the involvement of foreign mana.
But then, the runic symbols that were imprinted on the core as well over the region just under Eren's navel lit up. That phenomenon stabilized the fluctuation before eventually killing it.
The unbearable pain and unclear thoughts stopped giving Eren a splitting headache. The unknown and incoherent whispering in Eren's ears finally stopped when the fluctuation stabilized.
Eren got up and looked around. He saw the wraiths of the horde had almost closed in on him. And the sword wraith seemed to have gotten rid of his animated spells. But most of his attention was on his right hand as he raised it.
Eren willed it and his right hand turned semi shrivelled before the nails on his fingers started growing. The hand didn't look like the one the old hag had. But it also didn't look like something a human should have.
Eren's psyche was also branded with an unknown spell in the end. It was the old hag's wretched ability that she had used against him so many times by now.
Life Drain!