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710. The Sacrifice Of Knowledge
[Paimon the Slave - Lvl 203]
Jofis panted as he stared up at his enemy standing right before him. It was a Primordial Demon. The first one Jofis had ever been forced to fight.
Of course, this was not his first time encountering one. He had seen [The Great Agarus] in the far distance. He had witnessed the terror of the [Hellevil]. He had even seen the slumbering figure of the Beast.
But he had managed to elude them all.
Until now. Right when he was at the cusp of his goal.
Because Jofis was a [Hellprince]. On the verge of becoming a [Hellking]. He knew that with his next evolution— that once he became a Primordial Demon— he would become the [Hellking]. It was something which he knew instinctively: like it was imbued in his blood.
But now, his plans were ruined. All due to [Paimon the Slave].
She looked like an ordinary [Fiend] at first. She stood shorter than even Jofis, and she had pale-white skin with golden hair. But the part that stood out about her the most at the moment were her white eyes.
Her eyes were black and gold earlier. They only became white when she activated her Grand Skill.
She strode forward slowly, stepping over the corpses of the [Hellprince]’s subordinates. Their bodies were gray and discolored, lacking any color. They were some of his most trusted and loyal followers. And it was not like they were weak either. There had been a dozen of them, each at a Primeval Demon’s level.
But now, they were all dead. [Paimon the Slave] had killed them all. With very little effort too.
Jofis shrank back as she approached him. There was nothing he could do here. He couldn’t even fight back against her.
He gritted his teeth as he picked up a large boulder and hurled it at her. She easily swatted it to the side, continuing her approach without any visible reaction.
“I can’t die here…”
If only Jofis could use his Grand Skill. But that was the problem. That was the reason why he and his subordinates had all been so easily defeated. Because he couldn’t… he couldn’t use any of his Skills.
Not against her.
None of them could.
And Jofis could only close his eyes and accept his fate.
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“Paimon the who?”
I blinked as I watched Jofis’s eyes turn white. But before I could even process what was going on, Lotus’s blast of lightning struck him, engulfing his entire body. The attack shredded the landscape. It was so powerful, the shockwave sent me reeling.
But I knew that Lotus was strong. I had faced her in battle myself, and I would have died if not for my Grand Skills.
Even still, Jofis had an annoying regeneration due to his Demon Mode that would help him recover from this attack without a problem.
“Do you know who that is? What does their Grand Skill do?”
I asked, turning to Hartia. He shrugged back at me.
“Fuck if I know. But we have to be prepared for anything.”
Hartia narrowed his eyes, peering at the smoking crater where Jofis had been standing. Lotus began to conjure up another lightning strike. And I blinked as the smoke cleared.
“Wait, Jofis isn’t…”
I whispered as my eyes grew wide. Hartia nodded slowly.
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“He’s not regenerating.”
That was right. Both Hartia and I watched as Jofis stepped out of the crater, half his skin charred. Part of his shoulder had melted. His face was completely burned. But his regeneration still hadn’t kicked in.
He was still hurt.
Raising his head, he looked towards the sky where Lotus was floating. Her body crackled with electricity as the swarm of Fairies around her readied their spells. And I just watched, utterly perplexed as to what happened to his regeneration.
Before Jofis brought a hand to the air.
A pulse shot out from him. The world that was touched by the pulse shifted, turning gray and discolored. The moment it touched the weaker Fairies, their bodies began to disintegrate.
I stared in shock, watching as thousands of Fairies turned to dust before my eyes.
“What is going on?”
The pulse reached Lotus a moment later, but she didn’t immediately start disintegrating like her fellow Fairies. Instead, the electricity that she was conjuring faded away. Her wings stopped working, and she fell straight to the ground. Her body turned gray, just like the world around her affected by whatever Skill this was.
I blinked as I saw that. Even Hartia was at a loss for words.
I wanted to fly away— to escape. But there was nowhere to go. The pulse was moving too fast, and it reached me in a moment. But… nothing happened.
“Huh.”
I looked down at myself, completely confused. I had expected something to happen. I thought my body would start disintegrating too, like the other Fairies. But that didn’t happen. In fact, my body remained the same color, rather than turning gray.
The iridescent aura of [My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends] continued to wisp off me.
But the same couldn’t be said for Hartia. He recoiled as the gray pulse reached him. His wings slowly began to beat slower behind his back, and I watched as his body flickered. I narrowed my eyes, realizing that the space around him was twisting— like it was peeling away.
He stared at himself with round eyes.
“What’s wrong, Hartia? What’s going on?”
I asked with a frown. He was utterly mortified. I could tell that something very wrong was happening to him. Even though he wasn’t disintegrating like the other Fairies. It almost seemed like this was worse.
“My Skills…”
Hartia whispered as he slowly looked up to meet my gaze. His wings stopped beating behind his back, and he hovered there for a moment.
I waited with bated breath for what he had to say.
And he closed his eyes.
“They’re not working.”
Then Hartia fell out of the air as the dome encasing us cracked.
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Jofis remembered his encounter with that Primordial Demon so long ago. With [Paimon the Slave]. He thought that it would have been his death.
And yet, he survived. He killed her, becoming a [Hellking] and a Primordial Demon himself.
So now, he could embody her Grand Skill. A Grand Skill that was a massive risk, but could pay off incredibly well if employed against the right opponent.
Because right now, none of his other Skills worked.
Nor did the Skills of his enemies.
And that was why this was happening.
Jofis swept his gaze over the sky, watching as a massive crack continued to spread out across the dome overhead. In the distance, mountains began to crumble, while the army of Fairies slowly faded away.
Only the Supreme Spirit seemed to survive a little longer. She picked herself up, aiming her lance straight at Jofis.
But the Winged Horror wasn’t afraid of her. Even as his body slowly shifted back. Because he could no longer maintain his Demon Mode, nor could his body regenerate.
Even still, he strode forward, approaching the Supreme Spirit as she took on a defensive stance. He was confident in his abilities to defeat her, even with his sustained injuries. Even without Demon Mode.
Because other than removing his own Skills from the equation and the Skills of his enemies, there was something else that [Paimon the Slave]’s Grand Skill did.
Baring his teeth, Jofis felt his thoughts slowly dissolve as he came to a halt right before the Supreme Spirit.
Temporary Grand Skill [Wild Divinity] Gained!
That was right. The only Skills that worked within the confines of this antiskill domain were Divine Skills. Flakes of iridescent light wisped off the Winged Horror’s body as he let out a mindless roar. The Supreme Spirit thrust out with her lance, but he reached out with his claw, grabbing the weapon before it could pierce his neck.
He moved just as fast as he would have with Demon Mode active. But he lacked the same regeneration it provided.
But he made up for it with his instinctive thirst for blood.
The Supreme Spirit tugged at her lance, but he did not budge. She let go of the weapon as she tried to fly back, but her wings failed her. And Jofis leapt at her, taking this opening as his chance.
He struck out with his claw, which she narrowly dodged.
Before he swung down and impaled the Supreme Spirit with her own lance.
The Supreme Spirit’s eyes went wide, before her body convulsed for a moment. She raised a hand up for Jofis’s face, but she couldn’t do anything. Then her entire body went limp, and she started to disintegrate as well.
Drawing back, Jofis dropped the lance as he looked up. As all around him, Hartia’s Grand Skill came to an end. And he let out a mindless but triumphant roar, before turning his gaze to Salvos and Hartia.