Zero continued to explore the castle and kept track of the progress of Soma and Genya. Soma was still at the castle entrance probably still fighting skeletons and zombies but Genya had almost reached the area where Zero fought the sirens. Zero decided to focus on avoiding Genya and worry about Soma later when he grew stronger.
Focused on his thoughts Zero failed to notice the slight trace of mana on the ground. He stepped on a teleportation trap and was warped randomly somewhere in the castle. When the spell ended Zero was inside a dark room but due to his vampiric eyesight let's see in infrared. Zero noticed something flying overhead and prepared for an attack. It was a large winged demon and Zero appraised it
RACE: ARC DEMON
SOUL: CORRUPTED DEMONIC SOUL
SOUL RANK: C
LEVEL: 58
ATTRIBUTES: DARK, FIRE
STRENGTH: 1150
SPEED: 810
MAGIC ENERGY: 19,000
VITALITY: 22,000
SKILLS: MAGIC CANCELATION, FIRE MAGIC MASTERY, DARK MAGIC MASTERY, MANA NULLIFICATION, DARKNESS RESISTANCE, SUMMONING
Zero cursed his luck he hadn't planned on fighting such a high-level demon so soon. He tried to teleport but the skill failed to activate. 'What's wrong with my teleportation skill?' Zero asked the system
DUE TO ARC DEMON'S SKILL MANA NULLIFICATION'S EFFECT, NO SKILL CAN BE USED BY ANY OTHER CREATURE
IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO FLEE
Zero decided to follow the system's instruction and run when he noticed the arc demon waving its clawed hand and the room lit up. Zero's situation just went from bad to impossible when he saw his surroundings. He was in an armory and surrounded by hundreds of suits of armor. He appraised them because he knew that in the world of Castlevania armor is never just armor.
RACE: FINAL GUARD
SOUL: CURSED SOUL
SOUL RANK: C-
LEVEL: 42
ATTRIBUTES: EARTH, FIRE
STRENGTH: 1350
SPEED: 340
MAGIC ENERGY: 1,000
VITALITY: 18,000
SKILLS: PHYSICAL RESISTANCE, STRENGTHEN GUARD, FIREBALL
RACE: SHADOW KNIGHT
SOUL: CORRUPTED CURSED SOUL
SOUL RANK: C
LEVEL: 51
ATTRIBUTES: DARK, FIRE
STRENGTH: 1530
SPEED: 310
MAGIC ENERGY: 3,000
VITALITY: 16,000
SKILLS: PHYSICAL RESISTANCE, SHADOW MANIPULATION, DARK FIREBALL
'Damn it at this rate I'm dead. System what are my chances of survival?' asked Zero in his mind
THE ESTIMATED SURVIVAL RATE IS 4%
'Is there any strategy that could help me increase my survival?' asked Zero as the armors began to stir and move while the arc demon flew overhead watching Zero.
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RECOMMENDED ACTION IS TO DEFEAT ONE ENEMY AND USE SOUL MONARCH SKILL TO ABSORB SOUL AND INCREASE STATS AS RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE
'Okay well to increase my chances copy the physical resistance skill from the knight that I'm about to attack.' Thought Zero
CONFIRMED
Deciding that this was indeed the best possible action Zero rushed at the nearest shadow knight and slashed it with his quick draw slash containing all his strength. The blade struck the black armor and shattered it into pieces. The attack had caused a slight dent in the armor but had not caused much damage. The shadow knight raised its fist and punched Zero who luckily managed to guard in time. Zero was sent crashing into the wall creating a large crater.
Zero fell to the ground and began to cough up blood. The attack had heavily damaged his internal organs and broken the bones in his left arm. Summoning an emergency blood pack from his soul dimension Zero drank it quickly and his body began to heal. Getting up he noticed that the armors had surrounded him but did not attack him. They split and let the shadow knight whom he had attacked approach. It took a boxer-like stance and readied itself.
In the previous exchange with Shadow Knight Zero managed to only block to reduce the damage but used his soul dimension to absorb the knight's blade in the split before the punch. Zero now released the red claymore and attempted to grab it using all his strength. He could wield it but it would be very slow and he could only swing it a couple of times before he would be exhausted. Regardless he took his stance and prayed that he wouldn't die.
The shadow knight rushed at Zero and threw another punch but this time Zero expected it and dodged to the right. He then attacked the knight quickly without giving it time to dodge but its shadow formed into a sword and he blocked the attack. Zero then retreated as the knight prepared another attack. 'Damn, it's not only strong it's actually smart. It waited until it needed the skill to use it and I almost died because of it.' Cursed Zero in his mind.
Zero then returned the sword into his soul dimension. The shadow knight rushed at Zero and slashed to cleave him in two but no longer weighted down by the claymore Zero easily dodged. The slash hit the ground and destroyed the floor causing debris to fly outward. Zero then ran towards the wall and the knight chased after him. With his back to the wall Zero faced the approaching shadow knight. The knight raised his sword and tried to stab Zero through the chest causing another impact causing debris to fly out again.
Zero had jumped as high as he could before the impact and raised his hand and pulled the claymore out of his soul dimension. Now that he was in the air he didn't need to worry about his attack speed because gravity would take care of that. His claymore cleaved into the shadow knight but stopped at its chest. This attack had hurt it incredibly but hadn't killed it so it grabbed Zero and slammed him into the wall. With the last of his strength, Zero grabbed the sword and pulled it down as much as he could while the knight was increasing the pressure on him causing him to start bleeding from his mouth and nose.
SKILL PHYSICAL RESISTANCE GAINED
This was the break he needed the pressure and weight of the knight pressing his body into the wall decreased. This gave him an opportunity to grab and pull the claymore down slightly. The knight suddenly stopped moving and dropped to its knees still not dead yet. Zero managed to barely stand on his feet again. He no longer had any strength left in his body so he sent the claymore into his soul dimension and released its blade pointing down and the knight. When the sword came down it finally split the knight in two killing it. A dark red soul was released and absorbed into Zero.
Zero ordered the system to carry the stat increase as he pulled out 3 bags of blood and began drinking it. The armors had begun to move towards him. Apparently, it seemed that the shadow knight he fought had wanted a 1on1 duel. Now that that was over he would be fighting multiple opponents. As he downed the 1st bag he received the notification.
CORRUPTED CURSED SOUL CONSUMED CHOOSE
ABILITY GAIN: PHYSICAL RESISTANCE, SHADOW MANIPULATION, DARK FIREBALL
KNOWLEDGE GAIN: DARK FIREBALL SPELLS CAN BE GAINED AT THIS TIME BUT WILL NOT GAIN MEMORIES OF THE VICTIM DUE TO A DAMAGED SOUL
STAT GAIN: INCREASE STRENGTH: +1530, SPEED: +310, MAGIC ENERGY: +3000, VITALITY: +16,000
STRENGTHEN SOUL RANK: UPGRADE SOUL RANK FROM F+ TO E
'STAT GAIN'
STATS INCREASED
COMPLETE
NAME: ZERO
RACE: DHAMPIR
SOUL: DHAMPIR (CHAOS VARIETY)
SOUL RANK: F+
ATTRIBUTES: NONE
STRENGTH: 1975
SPEED: 820
MAGIC ENERGY: 12,000
VITALITY: 18,800
SKILLS: POWER ASSIMILATION, WORLD TRAVEL, MESMERIZE, SWORDSMANSHIP MASTERY, INTERMEDIATE MARKSMANSHIP, CHAOS TRANSFIGURATION, SOUL MONARCH, CHAOS SOUL DIMENSION, TELEPORTATION, DARK MAGIC MASTERY, PHYSICAL RESISTANCE
NULL SWORD STYLE: COUNTER FORM, VOID FORM, OBLIVION FORM
POWER ASSIMILATION: ABLE TO COPY ANY SKILL FROM ANOTHER BEING AND ASSIMILATE IT PERFECTLY WITHIN THE HOST. DUE TO PERFECT ASSIMILATION, SOME ABILITIES WILL BE CHANGED TO BETTER SUIT THE USER. DUE TO LOW-RANK RESTRICTIONS PLACED ON THE ABILITY
RESTRICTION 1: TIME NEEDED TO COPY A SKILL DEPENDS ON THE POWER OF THE SKILL
RESTRICTION 2: CAN CURRENTLY ONLY HOLD (06/15) SKILLS
WORLD TRAVEL: ABILITY TO TRAVEL TO ANY WORLD SO LONG AS THE USER HOLDS SOME KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD. DUE TO LOW-RANK RESTRICTIONS PLACED ON THE ABILITY
RESTRICTION 1: ONLY ALLOWED TO USE ABILITY ONCE EVERY MONTH
RESTRICTION 2: UNABLE TO WORK ON ANYONE ELSE BESIDES THE USER
MESMERIZE: CAN HYPNOTIZE ANY INDIVIDUAL WITH THE SAME OR LOWER SOUL RANK THAN YOU. ABLE TO CHANGE MEMORIES FREELY AND CONTROL INDIVIDUALS. ABLE TO ALTER PERSONALITIES OF INDIVIDUALS
SWORDSMANSHIP MASTERY: ABLE TO LEARN SWORD TECHNIQUES AND STYLES EASILY
INTERMEDIATE MARKSMANSHIP: INSTINCTIVELY IMPROVE ABILITY TO AIM GUNS BY 25%
CHAOS TRANSFIGURATION: THROUGH COMBINING DARK METAMORPHOSIS, SHAPESHIFTING, AND CHAOS ATTRIBUTES USER HAS GAINED THE ABILITY TO SHIFT BOTH THE FORM OF THE BODY AND SOUL AND PASS AS ANY TYPE OF CREATURE
SOUL MONARCH: A SKILL DERIVED FROM DRACULA'S SOUL ABSORPTION ABILITY. THE ABILITY OF A KING WHO RULES OVER SOULS. THIS ABILITY LETS THE USER CONSUME AND ABSORB THE SOULS OF THE DEFEATED AND USE THEIR POWERS AS THEIR OWN.
TELEPORTATION: TRANSFER OF MATTER OR ENERGY FROM ONE POINT TO ANOTHER WITHOUT TRAVERSING THE PHYSICAL SPACE BETWEEN THEM. ALLOWS USERS TO MOVE TO ANY LOCATION PREVIOUSLY VISITED LOCATIONS.
DARK MAGIC MASTERY: ABLE TO LEARN ANY FORM OF DARK MAGIC EASILY
CHAOS SOUL DIMENSION: A SKILL DERIVED FROM DRACULA'S CASTLE ABILITY. THE ABILITY OF A KING WHO RULES OVER SOULS. THIS ABILITY CREATES A SUB-SPACE DIMENSION IN THE USER'S SOUL THAT IS ABLE TO STORE SOULS AND ITEMS OF ANY KIND. THE SPACE CAN ONLY HOLD AS MUCH AS THE SOUL CAN ALLOW. TIME DOES NOT EXIST IN THE SPACE. CAN SACRIFICE THE SOULS OF THE DEFEATED TO PREVENT THE DEATH OF THE USER AND RESURRECT.
PHYSICAL RESISTANCE: RECEIVE 25% LESS DAMAGE FROM PHYSICAL ATTACKS