Brackt! Lightning chains thundered across the battlefield, delivering divine judgement upon the sinful undead that dared defile their wielder’s holy grounds. The undead desperately tried to chase after the dastardly Jade to end the judgement at its source.
Fortunately, no one was more aware of Jade’s Glass Cannon status more than the sorceress herself. She smartly enveloped her body in lightning, boosting her speed and agility. However, unlike most members of Hopeful Maggots, the young woman determinedly kept her distance from the undead. Instead, she dutifully fulfilled her role as a mage, obliterating the hapless monsters from a safe range.
“Are you Maggots watching!? Why the hell’s our healer drawing so much aggro!?” A squad leader suddenly shouted when he realized that he, like so many other soldiers, were watching dumbstruck without helping.
Well, they could not be blamed. Most people knew about the Maggots’ Kashi, Leila, Syel and Shoko. Very few, even among the Maggots, knew that Lunette had capable fighting skills, and even less were aware of Jade’s prowess. After all, the others’ battle achievements massively overshadowed Jade’s in the Battle of Aygorzi. Furthermore, while Shoko and Syel helped with monster hunting, Jade disappeared from the public eye to work on her experiments.
Seeing these two seemingly harmless women—a singer and a healer—dominate the battlefield so openly would leave anyone in shock.
However, being dumbstruck was one thing. The Hopeful Maggots were not so incompetent to leave both women to deal with so many undead. The undead’s surprise attack ultimately failed. Having weathered the worst initial push, both Lunette and Jade were able to fall back as reinforcements rapidly poured in to consolidate their positions.
Lunette and Jade drank several mana potions to recover their lost mana, before returning to their previous stations. However, things were different. Lunette and Jade managed to lure in several high-ranking undead before eliminating them.
As a result, although the overall number of undead was not majorly affected, their quality experienced a steep drop. This gave the Hopeful Maggots’ elite forces more freedom to bully the regular undead. Furthermore, with the orcs’ incursion from the undead’s rear, the battle situation began to look even more favourable for the coalition.
Never forget. The coalition’s job was not to eliminate the undead, but prevent them from reaching Oni Hill. They had been prepared for a bitter defensive battle. No one expected they would get a chance to go on the offensive like this.
“Tighten up, Cyanide! You’re getting too far.” Absalon did not let the battle’s success get into the soldiers’ heads. From his vantage point, he constantly recalled any Maggots who strayed too far into enemy territory.
The Maggots’ greatest advantage was Oni-Hill’s fan-like mountain terrain. If they pushed too far out, their meager numbers would leave many holes that the undead could exploit to get in behind them. Only a fool would do that.
With Absalon’s firm grip over the overall situation, there was no chance for the undead to launch a reversal. At least, unless their leader intervened. With this thought, Absalon cast a weary glance at the distant forest where he felt several chaotic ki engulfed in battle. “Hang in there a little longer, Stryke. I’ll come once the deadline passes.”
***
11:40
Whoosh! While the battle raged on outside, an equally intense battle was in full swing within Oni Hill. After Gentle Breeze cleared the Sloth Floor, Rono cleared the Glutton in near-record time. The poor Primate on the Glutton barely had a second to announce himself before Rono’s dagger pierced his brain.
The next floor, the Lust floor, was more of a challenge. First, unlike previous floors, the invaders found themselves in a large town. The champion of this floor, Sonic took a moment to admire the thousands of stunningly beautiful, sensual women and powerful, muscular men strutting about the town.
However, Sonic soon reacted with shock, when he saw a man pull a woman’s kimono down in public and begin fondling her breasts. Elsewhere, a woman grabbed a man’s private part and pulled him into an alley.
It only took a moment for Sonic to understand. This was a weirdly liberal town. It seemed like every member was open to sex any time and any place. Furthermore, there was a weird scent in the air that provoked a human’s arousal.
Despite only being present for a few seconds, Sonic found his body beginning to react. Furthermore, there was no sign of the floor’s Primate. The guildmaster frowned, hesitated for a tenth of a second, and then went for the quickest solution.
Whoosh! Sonic blasted off in a whirlwind of evil justice! With his daggers by his side, he zipped past the lovemaking townspeople, leaving trails of corpses and blood in his wake. By the time the townspeople realized something was wrong, the kafu had already eliminated over half of their population.
The remaining half quickly looked for weapons to protect themselves, but Sonic was not the type to lose to a bunch of weaklings who had lost themselves to several generations of lust. Sonic’s endless murder spree eventually brought him to a mansion near the heart of the town.
There, Sonic finally encountered this floor Primate. The Primate was a gorgeous Masonian with long orange hair that bounced on her perky bottom. Her alluring body-hugging dress accentuated her curves but retained a teasing elegance that captured the imagination. Unfortunately, her pretty smile soon turned to an enraged grimace as she battled the stubborn kafu that refused to play by the rules.
The lady, named Ko Sun-Ah, who specialized in enthralling others to fight for her, engaged Sonic in a bitter battle with fifty enhanced soldiers. Sonic’s speed gave him a large advantage against the soldiers, but their enhanced meaty skin caused him to waste more time than he would have liked dispatching them.
Eventually, Sonic eliminated the last henchman, but his expression turned ugly instead of happy. That was because he noticed that the henchmen’s corpses always dried out immediately after death like they had been sucked dry of their essence.
By the time he eliminated the last henchman, Sonic glared at the Primate, who was flowing with abundant power and ki, that far outstripped her earlier prowess. It did not take a genius to realize that she somehow absorbed ki and mana from the dead henchmen.
Sonic also knew that this was a temporary boost or she would not waited until they died to drain them. Usually, he would draw out the time to wait for the effects to wear off. Unfortunately, the one thing he did not have was time. Hence, the kafu decided to go all out for once.
Sonic’s gaze turned dark as he took out a leather belt from his inventory and strapped it around his waist. The belt housed several small knifes with talismans wrapped around their hilt. Before anyone could figure out their purpose, Sonic took out another scroll from his inventory and slammed it onto the ground.
Sun-Ah’s expression shifted immediately she saw the scroll. She immediately tried to retreat, but Sonic was much faster. He bit his thumb and plastered his blood over the scroll before shouting, “SEAL!”
Guooo! The heavens let out a loud screech as four gigantic, black walls dropped from the sky. The walls, which where roughly thirty meters long and high, fell in the shape of a square around Sonic and Sun-Ah, firmly trapping them within their boundaries.
Sonic grimaced as the scroll spontaneously combusted after use. Such one-time use scrolls were insanely expensive. He only obtained this one during a legendary dungeon raid. The scroll summoned boundary walls that cut off a space from the world around it. The walls would not come down until either the time ran out, or an otherworldly force destroyed them.
Of course, neither Sonic nor Sun-Ah had the power to destroy these walls.
Sun-Ah, especially found out the hard way, when she struck the wall with her fist. A powerful backlash blasted her several meters away. The damage was so much that she could not help but cough up a mouthful of blood.
Sun-Ah stared at the walls in fright. She dared not imagine what would have happened if she was not buffed. Would she have directly exploded from the backlash? Unfortunately, she had no way of knowing that the backlash scaled in proportion to the prisoner’s power. It would never outright kill its prisoners. The walls were a prison, not an executioner’s block.
Sou! Sou! Sou!
Sun-Ah had yet to process her near-death when she heard three daggers whistling towards her. “Don’t underestimate me!” Sun-Ah roared as she turned around. Her hands turned black as she reinforced her skin with her clan’s ultimate [ Adamantine Body ] .
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Sun-Ah knocked the daggers out of the air, and then snorted as she glared at Sonic who came charging after. At her base stats, she would not have been able to keep up with his speed, but the current her was not so weak. The Primate smirked before throwing out a punch with shockingly perfect form.
A massive ki-enforced fist burst forth, crashing toward the incoming Sonic with insane speed. With Sonic’s current momentum, there was no way for him to dodge.
Sonic, however, did not display any traces of panic. He smiled and then instantly disappeared, leaving Sun-Ah stunned.
The Primate, however, displayed why her title was not for show. Her instincts flared, causing her to harden the skin around her neck. Clang ! Sparks flew as a dagger sparked against the hardened neck.
“Bastard!” Sun-Ah cursed as she glared at Sonic’s lackadaisical smile. She instantly reached out to grab the kafu’s hand, but Sonic decidedly released the dagger, and then instantaneously disappeared again.
This time, Sun-Ah kicked hard, beating a hasty retreat. Just in time it turned out, as Sonic appeared on her right this time, stabbing another dagger toward her ribs. Fortunately, she had already charged out of his attack range.
Sonic smirked at the rapidly retreating figure before flinging several daggers. Strangely, only a few flew directly at Sun-Ah, with many others flying in strange arcs toward wildly different directions. Immediately after Sun-Ah dodged one of the daggers, Sonic appeared by her side with the dagger in hand. This time, he managed to leave a shallow cut down the Primate’s arm.
Unfortunately, this also allowed Sun-Ah to accurately determine Sonic’s ability. “ [ Teleportation by Medium ]!” Sun-Ah cursed. Teleportation-by-medium was an advanced teleportation skill that allowed its user to instantly travel to a marked totem. This overpowered skill was beyond extremely rare. It was said that one-in-a-million adventurers would come across this skill in their life-time. Out of those few, one-in-a-million would successfully learn the skill. Such were the harsh requirements to master it.
However, Teleportation by Medium had severe drawbacks. First, it required plenty of prep time to be effective. Second, teleportation was a mana-sink. Third and most troubling, it was only effective as a sneak attack in the first few bouts before the enemy caught wind. Once the enemy realized the skill, they just had to keep track of the totems to guess where the wielder would attack from.
Sun-Ah quickly calmed down as she regained her wits. Now that she knew Sonic’s ability, she only needed to expend a little bit of mental energy to keep track of every dagger he threw out. This was a daunting task, to be fair, but Sun-Ah did not break into the ranks of Primate by virtue of her looks!
A desperate battle of wits and guts swiftly exploded in the enclosed space. Sonic alternated between frontal attacks, and teleportation to throw Sun-Ah off her game. However, the Primate parried all attacks with insane precision. No matter how Sonic threw the daggers, he could not catch her off-guard.
Sun-Ah even kept track of the fallen daggers, such that when Sonic appeared next to an old, fallen dagger, she was still able to react in time and vault over a sinister blow to her legs. It did not take long before Sonic only had a single dagger left.
As if by prior agreement, they separated by around ten meters and observed their counterpart.
“Heh. Looks like you’re out of tricks.” Sun-Ah smirked as she mocked the kafu. “What are you going to do now? I do not think you can catch me before time runs out.”
Sonic revealed a lackadaisical smile in reply. “Well, we won’t know until we try, right?” With those words, he tightened his grip around the dagger and then began running in a circle around Sun-Ah. He rapidly sped up until he was but a series of afterimages around the watchful Primate.
“Do you want to confuse my eyes?” Sun-Ah did not bother tracking the speeding Sonic with her eyes. She knew that was a recipe for failure. Instead, she spread her ki around her, and heightened her senses to pick up any disturbances. Sun-Ah had already confirmed there were no daggers around her, so she knew that Sonic’s best bet was that final dagger in his hand.
Sonic did not make her wait long. Whoosh! With a bang, Sonic suddenly exploded straight towards the Primate with a dagger in his hand.
Sun-Ah raised her reinforced arms in preparation, but she then suddenly punched above her head. Clang! Shockingly, her fist struck a dagger in Sonic’s left hand, who had appeared above her. The dagger in his right hand then snaked to her temple, but she effortlessly grabbed his arm, stopping the charge, and then slammed him toward the ground. But then, just before he struck the ground, Sonic suddenly disappeared.
All the hairs on Sun-Ah’s arms stood on end as the greatest sense of danger she’d ever experienced assaulted her at once. She did not hesitate to scream, “I forfeit!” Amid her scream, Sun-Ah was shocked to see an arm protruding through her chest. She nearly teared up in fright, but then she noticed that she could not feel any pain.
Only then did Sun-Ah realize that her body had turned intangible. Sonic’s arm harmlessly passed through her body because it had turned ethereal.
Sun-Ah finally looked over her shoulder at the kafu, who still wore his trademark lazy smile. “H-How? There were no daggers there.”
“Why should I tell you?” Sonic replied with a teasing question of his own. He clicked his tongue and drew his arm with a disappointed smile. “I wanted to reduce your numbers as much as possible. I guess it’s not easy to kill a Primate.”
“Ha—ha.” Sun-Ah let out a broken dry laugh as her body slowly disappeared. “I will remember you, Sonic.”
“I’d prefer if you forgot I existed,” Sonic lazily waved her off as he bit on a thistle he took out from god-knows-where. After Sun-Ah disappeared, a portal appeared behind the kafu.
Sonic glanced at the still standing walls and then at the portal. This was supposed to be an isolated realm, but Oni Hill’s machinations somehow overrode all of that without destroying the barrier itself. “This place is more fucked than I thought. How the hell did Razznik build this place?”
Sonic let out a breath as he waved his hand, causing all the daggers scattered around the field to return to him. He then, placed them in the belt, returned it to his inventory, and then finally walked into the portal with a calm smile after checking the system clock.
11:45.
They were really cutting it close.
***
“Isn’t that Fermes’ Divine Skill?” Cathek murmured as he glanced at Sayen with a knowing gaze. “You really spoiled your champion.”
“I merely pointed the way.” Sayen retorted with a cold gaze. “He seized the opportunity with his own hands.”
Zeing scratched his head as he looked between the two. “You guys understand what happened there? It did not look like an average teleportation.”
“Of course, it isn’t something as banal as teleportation.” Cathek pulled strand of fur from his fur and freed it, so it danced in the night breeze. “It’s Fermes’ Divine Skill [ Winged Displacement ] . Fermes is the fastest god, not because of his base speed, but because he can instantly switch places with any feather. It’s said the cosmos rebelled after he developed the skill, eventually placing a terrible limitation it.”
“Limitation?”
“Yes. Fermes’ feathers burn up after each use. Furthermore, they can only regenerate once every five years. Hence, although it is very powerful, Fermes rarely uses it in battle.” Cathek paused and then chuckled, “I did hear that Fermes burned every feather during his battle against Razznik. I can’t imagine what that must have looked like. I wish I was there.”
Zeing scratched his head. “How does that apply to the kafu brat, though?”
Cathek smiled as he patiently explained, “He trained in a modified version of the skill. Rather than feathers, he can substitute with his fur. During their battles, he deliberately left some of his fur in her hair. He then swapped with it during the final charge. It was an ingenious use of [Winged Displacement], or should I call it [Fur Displacement]?”
“That’s good and all, but how did he even learn that skill?” Fladnag questioned. “Kashi was the one who freed Fermes. Except for Aethir and Ferulic, there are no written records of the gods’ divine skills, so there’s no way he could have learned it from some random chest.”
“True. But there is one god who knows every god’s divine skill—no, who knows every skill ever created.”
Fladnag’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really? He freed that god?”
Sayen nodded. “Yes, he freed Chisoa, God of Wisdom. Chisoa’s inherited skill was not compatible with Sonic, so he granted him the modified [Winged Displacement] as compensation.
“Lucky boy.” Fladnag whistled. “Of all the gods, Chisoa is the best to free. He’s the only god that can grant you a skill that definitely matches with you. Speaking of which, does Sonic have a god’s mark too?”
“Every mortal deserves their secrets.” Sayen’s light smile ended the conversation.
Even Fladnag did not dare get on the Jinx’s bad side.