Felix was taking undercover of some rubbish as the sounds of explosions echoed throughout the night. The explosions were violent and they were made from the countless sacrifices of his ant monsters.
If he had to guess, it took up 40% of his reserves. The other 60% was still in his body. He had sent about 100 ants and even he couldn’t guarantee that he could survive the explosions.
‘But, if the information that I got was true then… There’s a slight chance he’s still alive.’
After 30 seconds had passed by, the sounds of explosions finally ceased to exist. Finally escaping from under the refugee of the rubbish, Felix trekked back to the blast site. And all he could see was the devastation caused by the explosions.
The surface of the area was scarred and torn apart by the multitude of explosions. Dust was traveling across the area, making opening your eyes a nightmare. There were random craters and cracks everywhere as he traveled deeper into the blast site. The deeper the destruction and the deeper the craters that were formed. What was supposed to be a lush and vibrant forest had turned into a desolate wasteland under the countless suicide bombings.
Felix burst out into a coughing fit. Trying to breathe in the dust-filled air was horrible. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, as the irritation of the dust kept harassing them.
‘Damn… This dust is horrible.”
Enduring the horrible environment caused by his destruction, he finally made it to the center of the blast site. The campfire that Katsuro had built was long gone; what replaced it was a gigantic hole that traveled down to the earth. The hole stretched so deep that when he tossed into it, it took a few seconds before the sound of collision occurred.
‘Is he dead? I can’t see shit.’ Felix questioned as his eyes kept scanning the inside of the hole.
His eyes kept scanning the hole until he saw a dark red light appear from afar. He didn’t know what it was, but it kept getting closer and closer. Almost as if something was desperately trying to claw its way out of the hole. When it finally approached close enough, Felix finally had a good look at what it was.
It was a gigantic skeleton that was covered in dark red fire. Flames were pouring out of all the holes in its body as it was letting out a maniacal laugh. The figure looked like a demon that had climbed out of hell, swearing to destroy everything in its sight.
It was the Gashadokuro that Katsuro had contracted! Its figure was nothing like its first appearance, as its bones were currently pitch black with red molten-like veins flowing through the bones. It was wearing a wooden mask on its face and the mask displayed a wrathful expression. Not only that, Katsuro was lying unconscious inside of the skeleton’s ribcage. His eyes were wide open as his face kept changing, showing extreme pain.
Taking a deep breath, Felix couldn’t help but be shocked! How strong was this demon? That it could not only survive the explosions but its aura seemed to be full of power.
A cackling and deep voice echoed through his ears as the skeleton was letting out a crazed laughter.
“Thank you human. You pushed him hard enough that he summoned me in desperation. Haha!”
The skeleton was laughing as it fed off the dark emotions released by the unconscious Katsuro. Fear, hatred, resentment, and countless other negative emotions were strengthening the demon skeleton. This was the reason why demons were hated and feared. They could absorb the negative emotions of humans and monsters, to strengthen themselves. Even Monster Tamers wouldn’t form a contract with a demon unless they were sure they could control it. Because there existed the chance of bewitchment!
Bewitchment was the term coined by humans. It was when humans lost their consciousness and ended up being controlled by demons, acting as nothing more than a puppet in the hands of the demons. Not only that, if they controlled a strong human, they could use the talent of the human! This was what was happening right now.
The Gashadokuro was using the talent of Katsuro, Synchronization!
Watching the skeleton gripping onto the edge of the hole with its bony hands, Felix couldn’t help but debate whether he should just flee or fight. Fleeing would mean he gave up on the mission, and countless people would be angry at him. It's not like their anger could do much to him. Weighing his options, Felix decided to fight!
If it looked like things were going in the wrong direction, he’d just immediately surrender. He had trust that his mouth would move fast enough before things went wrong.
While thinking about countless battle plans, Felix couldn’t help but think about Katsuro’s talent.
‘Synchronization, what a troublesome ability. It can link two different monsters together, allowing them to borrow each other’s attributes and powers. Looking at the wooden mask on the skeleton’s face, it should be the Hate-Filled Oni Mask, that Julius told me about. So, from what I know, the extreme heat being released from the skeleton is probably because of the mask. Not only that, the mask can enter an enraged mode, making its strength grow stronger. A Gashadokuro is a demon, so he can absorb the emotions from Katsuro, making it stronger too. Damn! How troublesome.’
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His thoughts came to an end when the skeleton had finally pulled itself out of the hole. First came its skull, then the ribcage, and finally the rest of its legs. Felix had already backed away from the hole, but seeing the gigantic figure upfront, he couldn’t help but be surprised. Although it was big, it was still smaller compared to the dragon.
The skeleton let out a laugh as it thanked Felix.
“As a present for allowing me to take a stroll, I’ll give you a fast death!”
The Gashadokuro knew that their freedom right now was temporary. The organizers wouldn’t allow it to rampage for free, but he didn’t mind gaining as much benefit as he could in this period of free rein.
The skeleton wined up a mean punch as it threw out his right arm like a cannon. Seeing a fist that was headed for his figure. Felix summoned out Michael while a pair of bony wings appeared from his back. He didn’t want to be near the skeleton at all, as the suffocating heat it was emitting would probably roast him alive.
‘I’m counting on you, Michael.’
An angelic statue appeared behind Felix as it rushed towards the gigantic fist, Michael slashed at the fist with his cross sword. The two figures collided with a bone-jarring force, the sound of the impact was like someone punching at a metal plate. Michael was overwhelmed by the power from the fist, as his figure was sent flying.
The first clash resulted in Michael’s loss as he made contact with the ground countless times before the momentum finally stopped, sparing him from continuing to skid across the earth.
Michael’s figure was launched away like a cannonball, but he did his job. Felix was now in the sky, floating in the air while he nervously asked if Michael was okay. His eyes couldn’t help but wince at the sight of his monster being abused, as he stared at the skeleton in anger.
‘Are you okay Michael? We don’t have to fight if you think it’ll be too hard.’
Michael’s stoic and reassuring voice, calmly replied as he climbed out of the rubble. His figure was dusted up, but the damage wasn’t that great.
‘I’m okay master, and it's not like it came out unscathed.’
Taking a closer look, Felix finally had a good look at the damage that Michael had inflicted on the skeleton. There was a gigantic crack between the bones of its fingers. The skeleton as if seething, angrily let out a roar.
“I won’t give you a merciful death anymore human, I swear I’ll crush that statue of yours and cremate your body!”
Sneering, Felix didn’t even bother to reply. He didn’t want to waste his spit against it, as he knew about the most common ability of any demon. The more you talked, the easier it was for them to influence your emotions. So it was better to just stay quiet and focus completely on beating it.
Without wasting time, Michael entered the fight again. He flew in the air, staring at the gigantic skeleton below him. The skeleton, furious, angrily mocked them.
“Are you two scared? Why don’t come down and fight? What’s the point of flying in the air? You can’t beat me this way.”
Ignoring its taunts, Michael prayed a chant. As the archaic runes on the sword lit up. Why would he give up his flight advantage when he could just humiliate it from afar? With his prayer done, Michael used a new skill.
“Divine Judgement!”
A gigantic and holy magical array had appeared above the head of the skeleton demon. The runic circle faced the demon skeleton diagonally as a sword-shaped holy energy stabbed out from the circle. The sword was white and made out of holy light.
The skeleton roared in anger as the flames on its body erupted. The sword threatened to cut his body, but he wouldn’t go down that easily as flames burned on his hands, giving it the look of gauntlets. He used the flame gauntlets to hold onto the top of the sword.
The clash was intense and wild, each of them trying to overpower the other, but it seemed as if their strength was equal.
Felix, seeing the stalemate at hand, looked for something that could help overturn the situation. He searched the inside of his body while communicating with Mu, looking for a few specific ants. When he finally found three small ants, he took them out. They were the fusion of Fifty Ants, the strongest ants in his body.
Three gigantic ants dropped onto the skeleton. They were like missiles as they fiercely dropped onto the back of the skeleton. The skeleton was 15 meters tall, but the ants were also huge, attacking it with their mandibles.
The skeleton, facing the combined attack of the three ants, couldn’t concentrate on the sword. As if finally finding a breakpoint, the sword pierced through the skeleton’s arms, making a gigantic incision on its body.
The skeleton roared in pain and anger as there was a gigantic hole from his arms to his ribcage. Not only that, Katsuro seemed to be awakening to consciousness. His eyes seemed to be regaining some light and he finally stopped making exaggerated movements with his face.
The battle looked like it was about to conclude soon!