"She's... incredibly strong and dominant..." the Soultaker trembled in my hands. "Much stronger than you."
"Yeah, well, if she kills me permanently, won't you disappear along with me?" I muttered back to the sword, keeping an eye on Skalyt.
"Who knows? Maybe I'll be reunited with my master in the afterlife."
This fucking sword. I definitely planned to find a stronger weapon if I came out of this alive.
[Luquier, be careful. I'm nervous you might enjoy the pain she could inflict.]
Scowling, I landed in front of the other Players. I noticed Rhys and Vella stepping forward to fall in line with me, though like the rest, they were hesitant to actually face the demon lord. I was only hesitant because I had no idea what she could do. I was also struggling with the weird sense of violence brewing within me.
Behind her, Uri laughed maniacally. "You think you can defeat her? You pathetic mortals? Ha! This is your end!"
Skalyt turned around, regarding Uri with an amused expression. "Oh? Are you the one who summoned me here?"
Uri glared at the demoness. "Yes! I did! And I'm going to enjoy watching you destroy these pathetic insects!"
"Hmm," Skalyt purred, stepping closer to Uri. "Are you also not one of these so-called 'pathetic insects'?"
Uri continued to glare at her. "Of course not! I am the one who summoned you!"
"Oh dear, my apologies. Here's my token of appreciation, then." In the blink of an eye, Skalyt had her scythe in her hand. Other than the two guild representatives and I, no one else was able to catch the speed at which the demon lord ran her blade several times through Uri's body.
Silent and open-mouthed, Uri's body unraveled with a sickening squelch, shredded into fleshy ribbons. Skalyt giggled coldly, absorbing the red haze that emitted from his corpse. She turned around, smiling with her razor-sharp teeth, and licked her lips. "Now, where were we?"
I had already moved into action. There wasn't really a plan I had that could deal with Skalyt, considering she was so much stronger than me. Frankly speaking, the best choice would be to hang back and learn her moveset while using ranged Skills to keep safe. It was just that, in the moment, I had no fear or restraints facing a non-human boss.
[Speed: +1721]
Perfect. My achievement now made me slightly faster than her. To add to that, I casted a Flooded Kingdom empowered by a Holy Element, watching Skalyt's expression display an amused surprise as she found herself rendered immobilized by the chilling water. I swung the Soultaker at her head.
I kind of expected a boss known as a demon lord to have a few tricks, so I wasn't too caught off-guard when Skalyt easily sidestepped, countering with a swing of her scythe. I managed to block it with the blade of my Soultaker, noticing that her legs had shifted into a bloody mist. Damn, that's why she wasn't affected by the slow. Since the water wasn't touching her, it was pretty much useless as a debuff.
Skalyt cackled, sending shivers down my spine as she snapped her fingers, conjuring a swarm of demonic beasts that erupted from the corpses littered through the village. It became a chaotic mess that was somewhat lessened due to my Flooded Kingdom’s effect on the grounded demons. The demons that could fly, however, proved to be a threat towards the Players.
"Oh? You're quite strong," Skalyt said, her voice dripping with amusement. "I'll give you that. But, you're still just a human." She lunged forward, thrusting the tip of her scythe at my chest. I barely managed to dodge, feeling the blade scrape against my cloak. Huh, it was impervious to physical damage? I should keep it on all the time, then.
"Here goes nothing, I guess," I muttered, casting Rainfall empowered by a Holy Element.
A heavy downpour fell from the sky, obscuring the battlefield in a veil of white. The demonic beasts that had been summoned by Skalyt were slowed down, their movements clumsy and uncoordinated against the battering of the rain. With a 105% increase in Speed, I took the opportunity to attack, but she was quick to dispel the effect with a snap of her fingers. The rain vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. Not only that, but the flood was gone too, enabling the remaining grounded demons to move again.
[!!! What the-]
"Fuck?!" I finished Sephera's sentence. Skalyt grinned wickedly.
"Can't have you heroes suddenly powering up more than I can handle, can I?" Skalyt cackled. Her tone was taunting, as if she was mocking me. Her expression was mocking, as if she was mocking me. Everything about her was mocking me. I felt a surge of anger rise within me.
Falling silent, I casted Duplicate, my clone stepping forward with a copy of the Soultaker. Then, I swapped my own Soultaker out for the Silver Serpent, ignoring the concerned protests of both the sword and Sephera. I knew they were worried that I'd let myself tank hits from her just to activate my achievement boost, but I ran the numbers in my head already. There was no safe guarantee that I'd be able to do that.
I wasn't sure if Skalyt could dispel my clone, but it didn't look like she could, considering her eyes narrowed curiously at the both of us. That was good. It'd enable me to execute my plan.
My clone and I shared a nod, and with bated breath, I watched as he used his own skills for the first time. Skalyt's eyes widened in shock as my clone dashed forward, sending out a torrent of Reaps towards her. With unnatural speed, the demon lord reacted to the shadowy spears, spinning her scythe around to deflect them as they reached her. I checked her Stats, letting loose a couple of swears as I saw that they had grown, probably from her minions killing a couple of Players. That wasn't good.
With the boss's focus on my doppelganger, I took a deep breath and ran towards the mobs, feeling pressured to end this quickly before Skalyt got too strong. It wasn't a far-off guess to assume that every death around her added to her strength.
[Are you really about to-]
"Yes, I am," I scowled at Sephera's message. "If you're going to say what I think you're about to, then don't. She's canceled two of my best crowd control Skills already. If you've got a better plan, let's hear it."
[...Good luck, Player.]
Oh. I wasn't expecting that. If Sephera wasn't cracking jokes anymore, that told me two things. One, this boss and dungeon was serious enough for her not to waste her breath on humor, and two, it was serious enough that she didn't want me to get myself killed. Which meant I was probably about to get myself killed.
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Relying on my clone to handle Skalyt for the moment, I wasted no time jumping into the sea of mobs, carefully taking damage. With a 250% pain sensitivity increase, one would think I would've cracked after tanking one or two hits. Truthfully, it did hurt. A lot. Feeling the demons' claws, unholy magic, and other sorts of damage was easily the worst torture I had ever gone through, and by some miracle, I was sane enough to continue with it.
I wasn't sure if it was because I probably died the most out of any Player, but the pain slowly became white noise in the back of my head. I focused on my Health, watching it drop lower and lower as my cloak and Tough Skin passive maxed out. It was a good thing that the demon mobs Skalyt summoned were around the same level, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to pull my plan off.
Just as soon as my clone ran out of Skill usage for Reap and Death's Shadow, my Health finally reached below the 25% threshold.
[System alert: 'Pick On Someone Your Own Strength.' triggered. Increasing Stats by 500% for 1 minute.]
Before the demons around me could close in, I roared, feeling my power skyrocket as I swapped swords. The Soultaker moaned as I swung it around in a whirlwind of steel, easily dispatching the mobs within a millisecond.
[You have gained 0.1 (x1000) experience points.]
[You have gained 1000 experience points.]
[Level up!]
More.
Sensing my exponential boost, Skalyt immediately tried to end things with my clone, but it was too late. I mean, with more than a million points in my Strength and Speed, there was nothing strong enough to contest with me.
Everything moved in slow motion to me as I rushed towards the demon lord, restoring a bit of my Health through my cloak. I could see the expression on her face as I closed in, her eyes widening in surprise at the turn of events. Her minions, too, seemed confused as they tried to react to the sudden change in pace, unable to keep up with my enhanced speed.
Kill.
I swung my Soultaker once, opening a clean cut wound on Skalyt's chest and cutting her Health in half. Before her blood could even come rushing out, I swung my sword once more, splitting her upper half from her lower this time.
Time began to catch up with me as silence fell. The adrenaline rush of the battle subsided, leaving me panting and feeling the ache in my muscles. Skalyt seemed to finally register what I had done but I leapt back to safety, my clone right beside me.
The demon lord made a gurgling sound as black blood gushed out from her chest wound followed by her severed halves as she fell to the ground in two pieces.
"Wh-what... How...?" the demon lord gurgled, her voice barely audible over the sound of her own black blood pooling on the ground. I didn't respond, instead watching with morbid fascination as her minions began to scatter in fear, some of them even turning on each other in their panic.
My achievement ended, restoring my Stats. With the Cloak of the Guide's recovery, I was sitting around 375000 Health, more than enough for the inevitable second boss phase.
I gripped the hilt of the Soultaker tightly, my clone following suit. Skalyt's eyes locked on me, filled with hatred and despair. I could tell she knew I was aware that things weren't quite finished yet.
"Who... are you?" Skalyt hissed, her eyes filled with hatred. "How did you–"
I fired off a Reap to test if I could kill her before she could go into the second phase, watching it dissipate into nothing as it touched her. Damn, the system was fair and just to both NPCs and Players.
"You insolent-!" Skalyt screamed, her voice echoing through the village. "You think you can kill me so easily?! I'LL SHOW YOU THE TRUE POWER OF A DEMON LORD!"
I smiled wryly, using up the 500050 Stat Points I had just gained. My clone and I watched as her halves began to glow with a red mist. Shocked cries came from the Players as the demons they struggled against were turned into a similar red mist, flowing back towards Skalyt.
"Hey, I synced with your Stats," my clone muttered to me, "It refreshed my Skill limits too."
"Perfect," I replied, unable to stop the grin on my face from spreading. "Let's do this."
The red mist restored Skalyt's body and began to morph it as well, her wounds healing before our eyes. Her form shifted and elongated, growing into a hideous, demonic giant, easily dwarfing the buildings around her. Her new body was a mass of twisted, dark flesh, covered in razor-sharp spines and ended in powerful claws. Her head, now three times the size it once was, sported a pair of massive horns that curved back over her shoulders.
[Name: Awakened Demon Lord Skalyt | Level: 3000]
[Health: 2000000 | Strength: 2000000]
[Speed: 250000 | Magic: 1000000]
Oh. I had expected her stats to be higher, but this was better. I shared a glance with my doppelganger.
As Skalyt roared, charging up a demonic beam attack, my clone and I casted Rainfall and Flooded Kingdom, empowered by Holy Element. Her movements halted, to her shock, but I knew she'd cancel them quickly. Not that I was going to give her a chance to do so.
My clone fired off several Lightning Bolts, distracting her just enough for me to fly up and swing my Soultaker twice. On the second swing, I made sure to draw it out, thrusting the sword all the way to the hilt in her neck and dragged it back with a satisfying squelch. Blood gushed out of the wound, covering my hand and flowing down her massive body, staining the ground beneath her.
"How...? Why do you give off the same aura as him?!" Skalyt gave a choked gurgle before toppling over, her massive form crumpling like a house of cards. I landed next to my clone, grinning as multiple white messages popped up.
[Congratulations! Village of the Wicked has been cleared.]
[Main contributor: Player Luquier Vaunt.]
[Rewards: Demon Lord Skalyt core]
[System alert: All Players have received a Demon Lord Skalyt core.]
[You have gained 1 (x1000) experience points.]
[You have gained 1000 experience points.]
[Level up!]
I bid farewell to my clone with a fist-bump, reveling in the massive amount of Stat Points I was just awarded. With the initial reward, I had increased my Health and raised my Risk to 300000, saving 150. Having leveled up from killing Skalyt, I was now sitting at more than 30 million.
[Congratulations! You have earned the achievement: 'Demon Slayer.']
[You obtained Awakened Demon Lord Skalyt's Neutralize Skill.]
The Soultaker violently shook in my hands, as if overwhelmed with pleasure. The feeling that I couldn't describe earlier was now clear to me. It wasn't that I was conflicted about killing humans, it was that I enjoyed killing in general. It didn’t help that I was no longer scared of that.
[System alert: Your Title has reached the peak of evolution. Reckless Immortal is being upgraded...]
I blinked at the message, temporarily forgetting about my revelation. As the other Players around me either cut down the last of the demons or ran over to the fallen boss, the exit portal shifted colors, signaling the exit.
"Yo, Luke! Holy shit, you were awesome!" I heard Tommy call out behind me but I was too focused on the system alert.
[Congratulations! Reckless Immortal has been upgraded to Infinite Immortal.]
****
[Updating…]
[Name: Luquier Vaunt | Level: 1390]
[Title: Infinite Immortal (S)]
[Health: 750000 | Strength: 300000]
[Speed: 250000 | Magic: 100000]
[Risk: 300000 | Stat Points: 30000650]
[Experience: 17%]
[Skills]
[Neutralize 1390/1390]
[Cooldown: 1x (24 hours)]
[Description: Allows user to negate an opponent’s ability once per day.]
[Achievements]
[Demon Slayer]
[Items]
[Soultaker (1125700)] +11
[Awakened Demon Lord Skalyt core (x1)]