The air was tense. Osiris had just fallen. Me and Asher were trying to get the gist of the current situation. Clara was trying to carry Osiris to a safe place. Asher went to help her. In the meanwhile, I saw Eldan near the entrance slowly making his way to the throne.

“Do you think you have the luxury to show your back to your opponent? Three people at that?”

“I don’t consider fledglings as my opponents. You are just not worth my time.”

Damn, he didn’t consider us as his opponent? Does he think we are that weak? I mean, sure, it had only been a month since we inherited our attributes, but he didn’t know that. So on what basis was he saying this now? Our auras were better than a middle-noble demon.

At this point, Asher and Clara had carried Osiris, safely placed in a corner of the room, and had returned to the spot where I was standing.

“Asher, do you think you can use your attribute to invade his mind?”

“That was the first thing I tried upon entering this place, but it seems that he has a strong mental barrier.”

Shit. This was bad. If mind invasion didn’t work, then Asher would be useless in this battle. Our odds at victory too wouldn’t be guaranteed.

To add to this hopeless situation, we didn’t know what his attributes were yet.

Well, there was only one way to find out. I had to charge at him.

I looked at Clara and she nodded like she understood.

I powered the Luminivine blade and it shone a dazzling shade of white, and cast my Seraphic Slash at him.

The magic energy that was shaped in a semi curved shape, moved through the air. The moment it was about to hit Eldan, it got extinguished like water poured over fire.

I immediately tried casting multiple Seraphic Slashes, but they got extinguished just like the first one had.

It was risky to get into close combat with a person with an unknown attribute. It would be suicidal.

There was no other way. I had to use ‘that’. It was something frequently used in my old world.

“Tell us about your attribute if you’re a real man!”, I shouted at Eldan.

Clara and Asher were staring at me dumbfoundedly. Eldan was startled and I could see him slightly shaking. Indeed, using this sentence invokes an identity crisis, so he should be telling us his attribute shortly.

“Andreas…this isn’t the time to be playing around.”

“That’s right. All our lives are at stake. One mistake could cost us our lives.” Asher supported Clara. Contrary to my belief of having given an ingenious idea, my companions’ replies say otherwise.

“I usually don’t get provoked by lowlifes like yourself, but I guess telling you my attribute will not make any difference now, will it?”

Yes! I knew it! My plan worked.

Asher muttered with disbelief and flashed a grin at the absurd situation.

“Heh..No way. Right?”

“My attribute is Necromancy.”

The air around us became heavy and eerie. I suddenly felt numerous gazes on me. But there was no one in this room except Eldan, me, Asher, Clara and Osiris.

I belatedly realized what was going on. Eldan grinned like it was interesting.

He must have killed a lot of demons on his way to this room. Which means..

There were sounds of something crying. Something was approaching us. It was invisible. The temperature around us dropped drastically.

Then ‘they’ appeared.

Numerous undead appeared. Some of them had no flesh while some had flesh dangling on their stomach and thighs.

Eldan’s smile was now beyond creepy. It was a sadistic smile that sent a chill down my spine.

He muttered some unintelligible words and an undead the size of a mammoth appeared. It was the exact height of this room.

“Damn! How the hell are we supposed to beat that?!” Asher was panicking.

I immediately unsheathed my sword and charged at the skeletal undeads.

The undeads were dying like maggots. It was easy to kill one of them, but….there was an entire legion of them. More were appearing constantly.

Eldan raised both his hands like he was blessing us, but it was the exact opposite. I could feel something different in me.

Ah..I see. He placed a ‘mark’ on me. That was the Necromancy attribute’s special skill. It was the ability to mark an enemy. Once marked, you become vulnerable physically and mentally to the undead.

Now it was harder to kill even a single undead. The damage dealt by a single undead was now equivalent to a mid to high-noble demon. It was no wonder he was the second strongest demon. I don't know how he was second. His power seems beyond Osiris.

Clara was using her attribute to control the particles around us so that the undead’s ability to detect us decreases.

The only disadvantage of the Necromancy attribute was that the undead can't see. But they can use their other four senses.

We tried to walk past them silently without making a noise with our footsteps.

Eldan once again chuckled. “You guys realize that I'm right here don't you?”

Shit. This showed how inexperienced we were compared to a demon who had probably lived decades longer than us. He could control the undead through his thoughts and emotions. How could we forget this?

I explained my plan to Asher and Clara.

“Okay. I'll try.”

“Right. We'll go with that.”

According to my plan, I'll lure all the smaller undeads to an area. Then Clara would enclose that place with her particle magic.

Right now, Eldan’s mental power would be exhausted due to controlling so many undeads at once. Which means Asher would be able to invade his mind.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

My plan was executed smoothly. But.. the big undead did not move. It just stood at its place near Eldan.

The smaller undeads were no longer a problem. Or at least that's what we thought…

Eldan mocked us. “Not bad. But that was only my first legion. Will you be able to handle more?”

We were already exhausted. Clara was at her limits. Any more and her mana would be exhausted.

Asher used his mind invasion skill.

Eldan lost his balance for a few minutes. Then he stopped moving and looked up at us and smiled.

“Keokuk! Ahhuhh!...ehh?”

Asher looked down at his hands. It was covered in blood. Blood constantly flowed from his mouth.

“Asher no!”

“No, not again! Asher!”

Then Asher fell down one knee and struggled to breathe.

Eldan spoke in a mocking tone to imitate us. “Oh Asher..No Asher…Asher please..”

Suddenly the door to the throne room opened once again. This time two people came in. They were Viver Valico and Merlin Torrix.

“Oh? We've got guests.”

Viver Valico spoke to Eldan. “Eldan, I have brought us a new ally. “

“A new ally? How lovely. I honestly feel bad for these kids.”

No.. this can't be right? Why is this happening? This is so abrupt…

Viver Valico and Merlin Torrix walked to Eldan’s side. Now this was going to be a three versus three battle. This doesn’t sound so bad on paper, but if you look at their individual abilities, this would be a losing battle for us. Just Eldan alone was a nightmare for us. He is the second strongest demon in the entire world. I still didn't know anything about Viver Valico and Merlin Torrix.

The battle resumed shortly after Eldan calmly said, “Charge.” His voice came out like the calmness before a storm.

Merlin and Viver ran toward us. I was the only person who could tank in our party, so naturally I went ahead and did just that.

Clara used her Particle manipulation to create hundreds of small daggers, and threw them at Merlin Torrix.

I couldn’t hold them both off. While Merlin was busy dealing with Clara’s daggers, Viver cut through my right thigh. “Ugh…agh.”

I held up my sword and slashed it through his left shoulder. He screamed in pain, but I didn’t stop. It would all be over the moment I stopped. The moment I stopped, Viver would join Merlin to attack Clara and Asher. Wait…Asher?! I had forgotten. He was lying on the ground with blood flowing from his mouth, nose and eyes non stop.

This was two versus three? There was no other way. I had to kill Viver Valico.

I used the much avoided Gravity manipulation and increased the force of gravity around me. I used the skill so that gravity was increased only for myself. If anyone other than Viver attacked me during this time, I wouldn’t be able to make it in time to dodge the attack.

The tendons in my upper arm made a crunch sound. The pain was unbearable and the force of my blade dropped by half, but still I couldn’t give up.

My Luminivine blade, powered up by my light magic, cut through Viver Valico’s left shoulder. His left arm dropped to the ground.

“Arghh! Nooo!”

While he was shocked and exclaimed in pain, I didn’t waste any more time. I went for his neck next.

But..Viver lifted his right arm that was equipped with his sword and smote my stomach.

Shit I couldn’t make it in time. My sword stopped right before slashing his neck.

I spat out blood and blood spewed from my stomach. I couldn’t lift my hands. They were slowly becoming numb with the loss of blood. I was slowly becoming light-headed. I dropped to the floor.

Viver laughed. “I’m not going to die alone. If I’m going to die, then let’s die together hahahaha!”

Clara didn’t notice the state I was in yet. There were flames and a fiery warmth came whenever Merlin cast her magic. The battle between her and Merlin was intense enough to forget about her surroundings.

But..I didn’t need to worry. It would take some time, but this wound would surely heal. I glanced towards the unconscious Osiris in a thankful way.

Clara too didn’t have to worry. She had three lives after all. Her bracelets gave her two extra lives while boosting her Abacomancy attribute’s powers.

I stood up slowly, still trying to get used to the pain. I pointed my blade towards Viver. “The one who is going to die is you!”

“How? There are no healers here…”

Haha. Right there were no healers here, so how could I heal? I couldn’t possibly reveal my only hidden advantage against him.

“I can’t give you the details.”

I ran towards Viver Valico once again. I should be faster than him now, since he lost one of his hands. His body should be unbalanced right now, so it would take some time for him before he can familiarize himself enough to run with a single hand.

I ran to his left and got behind him. He struggled to turn around quick enough to evade my next attack.

Hmm…It would be dangerous to strike him now. If I struck him now, he wouldn’t go for my stomach, but rather for my neck which would be fatal. For that reason, I think I should cut off his other arm first, and then kill him.

I struck his right shoulder while standing behind him.

“You are not going to cut my right arm!”

“Oh yes I am.”

He was struggling to turn toward his right to look at me. I was applying more pressure. I glanced toward Eldan who didn’t turn to walk towards the throne, but rather was enjoying the scene.

I used gravity manipulation once again. This time the tendon in my left forearm snapped. “Arghh!” This was bad. Shit, why did the damage occur only to my left hand. Continuous damage to my left hand made it difficult to move. Now I can't use it.

I used all my remaining force on my right hand. Then the sound of bone breaking was heard. Then the right arm of Viver Valico fell to the floor.

Viver Valico couldn’t bear the pain and fell down. Then finally, after some time died of excessive bleeding.

I sighed deeply and breathed heavily. This battle was exhausting. The battle with Polso wasn’t exhausting like this, but the rankings showed that the Dakus were fourth and the Valicos were sixth.

I looked at Eldan who was astounded by my victory against Viver Valico. He still wouldn’t know about my Gravity manipulation because I had adjusted the scale of its power, so that only I would be affected by it. It served as a good substitute for lacking muscle power.

----------------------------------------

Clara

Merlin Torrix. She was a person with a Fire attribute. It was the one attribute Abacomancy had a weakness at. I wouldn’t be able to win not because of the attribute’s weakness, but because of the sheer difference in magic power. I would lose regardless of the duration of the battle.

I wanted to take a defensive approach to this battle, and covered the area in particles, so that it was difficult for her to see. I naturally wouldn’t be affected as I am the attribute master.

She was an offensive type. No surprises there because people with a Fire attribute tend to be aggressive. Or at least that is what Osiris had told us.

If I needed a chance at winning, I had to negate the disadvantage of Particle magic.

I started to bring my hand together in a praying manner. Then, I faced my palm outwards and dragged my hands to the right. The particles in the area moved accordingly.

I condensed the particles and brought it together as tightly as I could and it constricted until it heated. Then the particles melted and bonded well together. The matter looked like a moldable brick.

I made many daggers. Probably in the hundreds. I couldn’t tell. I also molded some of the leftover matter into a big, thick shield.

Merlin watched the situation with interest. It was as if she found it to be pathetically amusing.

She waited till I was prepared. Then her inner Hephaestus emerged.

The entire area surrounding me and Merlin burned to ashes. I barely managed to protect myself with the shield I had prepared before in advance.

“Hmm..I certainly hadn’t expected this performance from you.” She seemed to be surprised. “No one has gone unscathed from my Flame Tsunami skill. Not even Osiris.”

Wait what? Osiris? I didn’t know she could injure Osiris. My defense seemed to have worked but the particles were in a semi molten state. I have to spread them everytime she casts this skill. It is going to consume a hell lot of mana. In addition, she had much more mana capacity than me by the look of it. She didn’t seem to sweat even in this heated atmosphere or breathe heavily due to mana exhaustion.

I had to finish this off quickly. I didn’t have any high fire power offensive skill like Andreas but I can try to create one right here.

I used my last remaining bit of mana. I poured everything into it. Then the ground started shaking. A small chunk of the floor floated up.

Merlin stared at the chunk of earth like it was unreal. “How? Isn’t your attribute ‘Abacomancy’?”

Originally, that was the case. However, I recently discovered this when training. It was that I could control earth even without having Earth magic. How was this possible? It’s simple. Earth is composed of tiny particles numbering in the decillions or higher. It was possible to control it. But it would take much more mana compared to using Earth magic which can easily manipulate large quantities of earth while only spending a drop of mana.

I struggled to control the earth, but after some time of trying to mold it. I succeeded.

I molded the giant block of earth into a spear and swung it at Merlin.

The sharp, narrow, streamlined spear propelled through the air.

Merlin tried using her Fire magic to evade the attack, but here’s where the disadvantage of the Fire attribute plays a significant role. The Fire attribute had skills which enabled a faster and powerful offense, but it has some downsides in order to maintain the power balance of attributes. The attribute doesn’t have any defense related skills. Not even defensive skills which would be sufficient enough to stop a small dagger. The attribute user must use their offensive skills to deal with the incoming projectiles.

Merlin used what seemed to be like more than three-fourth of her mana to cast a fire spell to evade the rapidly approaching spear.

Flame was naturally weaker to Earth, so by that law of nature, the outcome of this battle is in my favor.

The flames burned at the earth spear and slowly and gradually began to melt it. A look of triumph appeared on Merlin’s face.

Then the sound of flesh being pierced was heard.

The spear pierced through Merlin’s heart.

The earth spear, although non-flammable, will begin to melt when exposed to higher temperatures. But it would be gradual and time consuming.

The spear began to melt by the high temperatures of Merlin’s fire, but it was slower than the speed at which the spear was thrown. This toned down the heat that was affecting the spear. The spear that had absorbed the heat, strengthened and cut through Merlin like a heated needle cutting through plastic.

Merlin’s body lost consciousness and burned to a crisp due to the heat of the spear.

Once I confirmed Merlin’s death, I looked in the direction of Andreas. He was also looking down at Viver Valico’s corpse. It was good to know that he defeated Viver, but he was covered in wounds.

We both looked toward the smug looking Eldan and then toward each other. We both knew what came next. No words had to be spoken.