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Chapter 215: The Demonic Cyborg

Three hours after Sila went deeper into the Single-Horned Dragon Forest, he still couldn’t find any Single-Horned Dragons. It made him feel worried about what happened to them. The feeling intensified as he saw the traces of a battle along his way. He sped up and finally arrived at the inner part of the forest. There, he sensed ominous powers in front of him.

Surely, Sila was aware of Rex’s Tiger Dragon Qi. However, the powers clashing with it were Lone Wolf’s Sun God Qi and another sinister cold qi which possessed comparable strength. In addition to these two supreme qi, the person who was up against Rex was also able to control the chain whip in his hand as if it were a living being. Furthermore, he was emitting some kind of dark magic domain around him.

This person could use qi, magic, and psychic power simultaneously, each at terrifying degree.

Of course, most if not all players could use three energy types simultaneously as well. However, only the selected energy type could be polished and exerted to its full potential thanks to supporting skills.

The reason Sila was in awe of this person was that all of his powers from each energy type were formidable.

Rex in human form had trouble coping with this man. For the record, all the Single-Horned Dragons had gathered in this place. Their horns were glowing orange as they constantly transmitted their powers to Rex.

It was their fault that Zazae had to spend three days fighting non-stop even though he could usually end most of his battles in three moves. If it wasn’t for Lone Wolf’s Sun God Qi which helped to stimulate his vitality and his own Frost Demon Qi which helped him to keep his calm, he would have already ran out of stamina and died.

His Dragon Domain had already considerably weakened Rex. However, fighting against Rex was equivalent to fighting all of the Single-Horned Dragons in the entire forest. Their ability to transfer their power to Rex had been prolonging the fight for two days.

It was a battle of attrition. The side which ran out of energy and couldn’t go on would end up losing. Will it be Zazae or the Single-Horned Dragons?

Looking at the situation, it was Zazae who got the upper hand.

Though, that was only the case if no third party joined the battle. With Sila witnessing the fight, although he had never seen the person who wore the assassin garment, he figured the man must be one of the Five Dragon Warlords—Zazae, the Three Stars Warlord—based on Bluebird’s summary of the situation in Zhongsuyuan City.

Sila’s power was still clogged up, so he couldn’t properly circulate his qi and exert his full power. However, for him to be able to defeat Zazae who could subdue Cross and Lone Wolf simultaneously, he had to rely on Five-Attributed Cloud Qi in order to have a chance. Thus, he decided to use a shortcut, forcefully circulating his qi.

Evil God’s Essence — Transcendent Qi Circulation.

The jam of power within Sila’s body dispersed in an instant. Sila knew he only had five seconds so he had to hurriedly make use of them. He circulated Five-Attributed Cloud Qi at a speed he almost couldn’t keep up with. He felt pain all over his body due to him being too forceful, though he clenched his teeth and continued rushing forward as he didn’t want to waste time.

Personally, Sila didn’t want to perform a sneak attack. However, Rex seemed to be near his limit. Rex was the representative of the Single-Horned Dragon Forest. When he collapsed, that would mean the death of all the dragons living in the forest. As such, Sila didn’t have the luxury to be mindful about righteousness.

Attribute of Earth — Ghost Claw.

Sila bore his claws and instantly slashed Zazae’s back. The black power spread into five lightning streaks, running through Zazae’s body and attacking five of his internal organs.

Sila was best at using the attribute of Earth, so it was extremely effective as his killing move.

Zazae was tired from fighting against Rex for three days straight. Moreover, his concentration had been mainly locked on Rex. As Sila exerted his power in the blink of an eye, Zazae became aware of the assassination attempt only when the attack had already struck at him.

The impact sent Zazae flying several meters away. The power of the earth element exploded and injured his five internal organs, sending him to death without even seeing the face of the one who killed him.

Sila’s five seconds were fast yet slow. His body connected to nature, absorbing and returning the power to the great flow as if he became a part of it. Immersing himself in that moment, Sila felt his body become weightless like he was about to ascend to a higher realm. However, the precious five seconds ran out. Afterward, he regained his senses and he felt his body collapsing on the ground.

Sila coughed up a mouthful of blood. He circulated his qi and found that it was no longer clogged up. Sadly, he suffered internal injuries. Regardless of his pain, he was glad. As long as his power could flow properly, he could recover his strength when he found a safe place to cultivate.

Rex sent a thankful gaze at Sila before sitting down and cultivating to recover its strength. The situation seemed safe now, however, Sila still felt danger looming. The reason for that was revealed instantly when he turned his head to look at Zazae. Sila had to hurriedly tilt his head to dodge the metal ball attached to the chain whip, which almost hit his head and exploded it like a watermelon.

Zazae’s body shortly glowed with a faint light. Sila had seen Montra in such a state before. It was the effect of Dragon Heart. Nevertheless, Dragon Heart should have belonged to Montra. He wondered why Zazae could revive.

The Dragon Domain, Fallen Kings, was reactivated. Though, because it started anew, its effect was negligible.

Based on his experience fighting dragons, Sila knew that every Dragon Domain was horrifying. Thus, in addition to circulating Five-Attributed Cloud Qi to recover himself, Sila covered his body with Divine Raiment.

His Divine Raiment also gained an increase in strength as Sila grew stronger, especially when it gained a boost from Monster Heir.

Sila could decide what to pass through Divine Raiment and what not. Zazae’s sound of movements clearly entered Sila’s ears. He could envision the scene even if his eyes were closed. His concentration increased, enabling him to think things through without feeling the pressure. He calmly analyzed the situation as if he wasn’t a part of it.

‘The problem at hand is to defeat Zazae. There is no need for me to take unnecessary risks.’

“Release Mamon.”

Mamon made an appearance in a black long-sleeved turtleneck and a beanie on his head. He looked at everyone with contempt.

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Receiving such a gaze, Zazae didn’t show any mercy even if Mamon had the appearance of a boy. The black chain darted forward and squeezed Mamon’s body.

“Begone, pet. Blame your master for this.” Zazae sent his power through the chain to cancel Mamon’s psychic power reinforcement.

Sila had approached Rex to check on him since he believed Mamon could handle Zazae. Looking at the current situation, he started to feel concerned. However, looking again at Mamon’s expression, he could tell that Mamon was in a good mood.

“I’m not anyone’s pet. I’m my own boss,” said Mamon. Then, a single metal link on Zazae’s chain broke and the entire chain fell despite Mamon not doing anything.

Zazae was surprised. It was possible for weapons to break. However, this chain had never broken even when he used it in extreme situations. He wondered why it broke this time when he used it normally. It was such bad timing.

“You dare to look down on me? Today, you shall know the reason why I’m the monster every being doesn’t want to fight against the most.”

Mamon’s body had a sudden growth spurt and became a slender male model with an elegant demeanor yet wearing the same gaze of disdain. He showed his signature evil grin. It was the effect of Lucifer’s Hidden Gift, Perfect Physique, which enabled him to exert his full power regardless of place and time. Meanwhile, he also activated Satan’s Hidden Gift, Horrifying Existence, which brought primitive fear to those near him.

Zazae’s psychological state sharply fell. In fact, Mamon had yet to exert any power. However, he felt an irresistible fear without any reason.

People had different ways of handling fear; some cried, some screamed, and some ran away. As for Zazae, his method was to destroy the source of his fear as soon as possible.

Dozens of small daggers flew at Mamon. Some of them were strengthened by Sun God Qi’s explosive power while some were imbued with Frost Demon Qi’s slow yet terrifying power. Both contradicting powers blended together and posed great pressure.

Sila was interested in seeing how Mamon would cope with them.

“Are you using Leviathan’s card? Do you know how much it desires to kill me for stealing its ability? Such an envious creature. How about facing your own ability to alleviate your longing?”

Mamon snapped his fingers and his body sank into his own shadow before reappearing behind Zazae. With Leviathan’s Hidden Gift, Envious Shadow, Mamon could emerge from any shadow in his line of sight. It was an ability that Leviathan cherished greatly and had chased after Mamon for years, trying to regain it.

Mamon possessed hundreds of Hidden Gifts that he had stolen from monsters all over the Monster Realm. During his prime, he desired for his own devil race to reign over the Monster Realm, so he utilized Moon Alterer to share the Hidden Gifts he had stolen with the devils serving him. As a result, all of them gained every single beneficial Hidden Gift Mamon possessed. It strongly led to the crumbling of balance in the Monster Realm. Even a newborn Squire Rank devil could fight evenly against Marquis Rank monsters from other races.

Ultimately, Joshua had to personally descend and seal Mamon. With Mamon’s disappearance, the devils under his wing lost their shared abilities. Then, they were hunted down by enemies and on the verge of extinction.

Zazae clad his back with qi reinforcement. However, Mamon simply smiled and plunged a metal rod into Zazae’s thigh, electrocuting him.

“With my creation, Portable Neutralizing Pole, directly touching your body, I think you can’t use your energy resource for several seconds. Kiekkiek. Lost Grea City is indeed a treasure land. It has materials that even the Monster Realm lacks. If I return with them in my hand, the dream of having the devil race rule over the Monster Realm will be within my reach.”

Zazae flicked his mantle once, and several spider-shaped bombs appeared on Mamon’s body, locking their legs onto his body parts. They were time-bombs with a clinging function, the latest product sold in Lost Grea City. It price was rather expensive at 50 gold each, and the detonation timer was set at three seconds. Zazae lifted up his mantle, which was explosion-resistant, to cover himself.

“Such a low-grade item. You dare to use it in front of me? Don’t be so stingy, kid,” Mamon said while opening a system window on each bomb. Then, instead of the timers going down, the numbers continued to shoot up.

Mamon wielded a laser sword in his hand and penetrated through Zazae’s mantle along with his body. A hole with burnt flesh around it appeared in Zazae’s stomach and his blood gushed out.

Zazae gnashed his teeth and grabbed onto Mamon’s wrist, directly injecting the weakening power of the Skeleton Dragon to completely cancel Mamon’s power. His dagger in his other hand was strengthened by powerful qi, flying at Mamon with the intent to kill.

Zazae’s dagger missed its target as Mamon utilized Envious Shadow to teleport himself next to Sila.

Zazae spat out blood. “You coward. Fight me fair and square if you dare.”

“You are really stupid. I have never fought anyone fair and square. The most blissful moment for me is when I drive my opponents to death while they scream in agony due to being cheated. Personally, I enjoy losers like you who always bark at me to fight fair and square. You use your prominent powers while I use mine. What about it that is unfair? You luring me into a fistfight is what I call unfair. Oh? Is this your attempt to try to play dirty against me?”

Mamon’s strange logic stimulated Sila’s thinking. Exactly like Mamon had said, fighting with everything you have is a fair fight. A tiger challenges a shark to fight on land, a falcon challenges a lion to fight in the sky, an orca challenges an eagle to fight underwater... What is fair about those? Everyone had different things they were good and bad at. Rather, it was unfair to force others to fight without being able to give their all.

Zazae jumped at Mamon while firing hidden weapons to his surroundings. However, his strength suddenly left him and he felt a strong headache. He collapsed and held his head with both hands.

“What did you do to me...?” Zazae felt dizzy.

“Hm? Aren’t you just drunk from smelling the air? I guess no one had warned you not to talk to me when fighting, otherwise, you shall die feeling puzzled. Kiekkiekkiek.”

Mamon’s statement reminded Sila of Sebastian’s warning that he should defeat Mamon as soon as possible if he were to fight the devil prince. The longer the fight dragged on, the slimmer his chances of winning grew. No one had ever known the reason, though Sila believed that it must be related to one of Hidden Gifts in Mamon’s collection; a secret ability which couldn’t be blocked by either qi, magic, or psychic power. The only solution was to defeat Mamon before he could use it.

Mamon slowly approached Zazae and kicked his stomach, causing Zazae to vomit. Then, Mamon spread his arm. Eight short laser swords protruded from arm, making it look like a mechanical insect’s leg.

“Try defending against my Spider Blade.”

The laser swords created eight wounds on Zazae’s body at once. Zazae gritted his teeth as he seized Mamon’s other arm and stabbed his dagger through his backhand to pin Mamon down, preventing the devil prince from teleporting as he pleased.

“You are about to die, yet you still try to drag me down with you.” Mamon’s words seemed like praise but his tone was mocking. “Oh, right... Your bombs are already outdated. They are products from two weeks ago. I take it you don’t mind if I do a few modifications?”

The bombs detached themselves from Mamon and crawled toward Zazae with an automatic pilot system in a spider-like manner. The numbers on their screens counted down at incredible speed. Soon, the explosion went off with a bright light. Before Sila knew it, Mamon had appeared next to him, sweeping dust off his clothing.

“Are you injured?” asked Sila.

“Some sandworms possess a Hidden Gift that helps them have extremely high resistance against explosions. I’m using it, so I’m fine,” Mamon replied. His body was covered in dirt, but he had no major injuries.

“What about Zazae?”

Mamon lifted his arm up as an answer. Zazae’s severed arm was still holding onto Mamon’s wrist. It seemed he cut off his own arm at the last moment before the explosion to escape.

Zazae was standing next to a nearby tree, using his mantle as a bandage to wrap around his severed arm. His cloak was ragged, revealing a large scar on his face, which he hurriedly covered with his other hand.

“This time, you might—”

Zazae hadn’t ended his sentence when Mamon suddenly used a laser gun to shoot him, adding one more wound to Zazae’s stomach.

“The words from losers are all the same. You will take revenge someday or the next time won’t be the same. I have listened to these lines more times than you realise. I’m bored. If you want to run away, just run. You are annoying the great me!”

Finally, Zazae left. He disappeared into the woods.

“Thank you, Sila. Things would have gone badly if you didn’t appear,” said Rex.

“I didn’t do anything much. You should give your thanks to Mamon instead.” Sila turned to Mamon.

“Truly, thank you. All the Single-Horned Dragons in this forest owe you their lives.” Rex politely bowed his head to Mamon.

“Ah, no need to thank me. I merely couldn’t stand him. Moreover, I have obtained his Gift. Think of it as me doing something for myself.” Mamon shrugged it off. He still wasn’t used to receiving words of gratitude. In the past, the ones meeting him always either cursed at him, fled from him, feared him or wanted to kill him.

Sila looked in the direction Zazae fled to with concern. “By the way, is it okay to let him leave? What if he returns?”

Mamon let out his evil laugh. “Kiekkiekkiek. No worry. Although I’m like this, I actually don’t like taking advantage of someone else. Since I got something from him, I obviously already returned the favor. This is fairness... I guarantee that he won’t come back any time soon.”

Sila didn’t know how Mamon repaid Zazae for his Hidden Gift. However, he was certain that Zazae wouldn’t like it.