-Vol 5: A New Life-

-Kenshin Vs. Princess of Darkness-

The mass of darkness that surrounded the vampire girl like a cocoon started to thin gradually. A vague silhouette of a lady with wings was seen beyond the mass of darkness. Then the dark fog exploded, covering everything around twenty meters. The mist was so thick that it completely blocked the vision.

Kenshin’s dragon sense went haywire as he felt a large amount of that from whatever within the darkness. He was also happy as his skill was gaining exp like craze. It won’t be long before he experiences a level up of this skill. Even so, he couldn’t be happy. The opponent he was going to face had triggered a compulsory mission, how can that be a simple matter? Thankfully he had help in the form of his two minions who had stats better than him at his base form.

Within the darkness, Kenshin saw a pair of red eyes glowing exceptionally bright. The moment he saw it, countless images appeared on his mind. All of them was about him getting killed again and again by something vicious in the bloodiest way. There was one vision in which he was being eaten by a massive creature with grotesque features.

Kenshin shook involuntarily as he suppressed this feeling in his heart. When he came to his senses, he found himself sweaty, his back especially felt cold. He became especially serious reminded himself to avoid looking at those eyes directly. Thankfully, during this illusion session, his [Dragon Sense] had leveled up twice. Though he was still not in the level of predicting attacks, he would be there very soon.

Gradually his vision cleared as the figure of the so-called ‘Princess of Darkness’ came into vision.

“Eh!” Kenshin made a face like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Not only him, but even the two zombies who had low EQ despite their higher intelligence, standing near him also couldn’t believe it. Standing in front of them was an overweight lady with leathery black wings flapping, trying its hardest to keep her afloat.

Before Kenshin and his minions stood a plump lady with bats and a pair of horns on her forehead. There was a pointy tail moving behind her as if it had its own mind. The chubby face was especially bad to look at as it deformed the vampire girl’s slightly good features.

{oH sO yOu aRe tHe Human who DarEd tO cHaLLenge My auThorItY} a very distorted voice came from the plump woman that made Kenshin’s hairs stand on end. This voice sounded so demonic that even by just listening to it had increased his [Dragon Sense] by a level. By now, it had already reached 5. From what he had seen, when his skill touches double-digit, he could start to predict attacks towards him.

The plump demonic woman flew at Kenshin at a steady pace. Even though she was overweight, her wings were doing good at keeping her afloat.

“Attack.” Kenshin calmly ordered. He didn't want to give the enemy the initiative to attack. He also didn’t want to listen to some bullshit spouted by this creature.

“yes!” nodding to him, the two zombies vanished. Their agility was already way beyond expectations since they were made with half of the stats that Kenshin possessed after a 500% boost. The demonic lady hadn't expected to be attacked this suddenly. Before she could even introduce herself properly, the two zombies reached below her. One of them joined his hands and leaned down, nodding to his partner. The other one came running and stepped on his hands to jump over, boosted by the other zombie’s strength.

Within one-fourth of a second, he reached beside the plump floating demon and slowly unsheathed his katana gifted by Kenshin. With a roll, he initiated attacks after attacks at the lady. The swords glowed yellow as they started to burn brighter than fire as smoke came off them. The zombie, while floating in midair, sent a few burning crescent waves at the lady demon.

The plump demon could only use her wings to block the strikes while flying back to create distance between herself and the intruders. Losing his momentum, the zombie fell down, landing gracefully with a squat. The other one came around and unsheathed his sword. But unlike the other one, his sword didn’t glow, rather it extended infinitely and headed for the demon who was just standing above them.

The demon didn't expect such a sneak attack and hence completely unprepared for the sword as it stabbed through her left foot and going for her throat. But she wasn’t a powerful demon for nothing. Furthermore, her title was ‘princess of darkness,’ how can she be normal? In an instant, her body turned into a mass of black smoke as she vanished from the spot and reformed elsewhere. But at that time, before she could manage to breathe, she saw a cluster of shiny objects in the shape of stars heading her way.

{DaRK bArREar!} the lady called out a magical move with her distorted voice. Soon, a hexagonal shield of pure darkness manifested in front of her, as it tried to stop the cluster of stars. But to her horror, the stars penetrated through the barrier and went through her body. At that instant, she felt pain, unlike any other. This kind of excruciating pain, it was like her very soul was punctured by those stars.

{AaHH!!} a horrifying scream rang throughout the place, sounding like screams of thousand ghosts.

Standing a few meters away, Kenshin was idle. While his zombies were fighting with her physically, he conjured some stars using [Starfall Dominion] and threw them at the woman. Currently his only [Divine Skill] was very low level, taking some time to manifest. Not only that, but the damage value was also very low, only 1000. Although it was good for normal monsters, against this kind of demons who had HP beyond 100k, and unique recovery abilities, it was pretty useless. He can’t continuously spam it for 100 times now, can he?

{WhaT iS tHAt?} the plump demon screamed once more and fell to the ground like a puppet with her strings cut. The pain was simply unbearable. The zombies were instantly on to her, they surrounded her and initiated attacks one after another. Few scratches and cut wounds appeared over the plump demon who was trying her hardest to block or dodge them. But these zombies were just too strong.

A look of astonishment and helplessness flashed on her face. She couldn't believe that she would get beaten to such a miserable state in the lower realm like this? When she was summoned to here by the sacrifice of that girl, she thought she would just kill her opponents with a few moves, after all, how strong can be a hunter of a small realm like this can be? But this outcome was unexpected.

{yOu wILL StoP aT tHis InStaNt!} the lady shouted, throwing a glare at the two erratically attacking zombies. As a demon of darkness, how can she not tell the true identity of these middle-aged men attacking her? They were obviously low classed zombies…but since when did low-class zombies held this much power and intelligence?

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Regardless, as a princess of darkness, she had authority over everything that was related to the afterlife. So, using her powers, she wanted to control these zombies. She was confident that she could make them stop attacking like this, but what happened next left her dumbfounded.

“Who are you ordering?”

“How dare you order us like that?”

The two middle-aged zombies shouted in anger and redoubled their efforts in attacking her. Yellow and silver light flashed as they attacked the demon with everything they got.

{wHAt The hEll?} the plump demon couldn’t understand at all. How can that be? How can her powers didn’t affect these small creatures? She was the title holder of one of 9 ‘Princess of darkness,’ how can she not control a measly zombie? The plump demon felt her common sense was being challenged.

Just as she was about to ponder over this matter, another cluster of stars appeared, penetrating her, causing her to scream in pain. The pain was really unbearable to her, it made her very soul burn.

Kenshin looked at the wreathing demon in puzzlement. Looking at the flailing demon, he thought ‘what the hell is going on here? Isn't his [Starfall Dominion] was a little too effective on her?’ He had used it on monsters and a few humans, but none of them showed such exaggerated reactions. In fact, Kenshin was still largely unaware of the true ability of a Divine Skill. He was still unaware that the ‘divine’ word on the skill wasn’t just for show. There were a reason and meaning behind it.

This plump demon is a denizen of darkness, how can it survive under the divine light? Kenshin’s skill, [Starfall Dominion] was a skill that was both Divine and Light by nature, making it an ultimate tool against those people of darkness. The demon felt its soul was burning, it was just a side effect of the stars when they pass through her body. The bright divine light accompanied the stars burned their very soul and make them feel extreme pain.

Unaware of this, Kenshin had adopted a hit an run tactics. He would allow his Divine skill to momentarily distract the enemy, then he would allow his minions to rough her up. Just before she regains her bearing, he would make them create distance. After condensing another cluster of stars, he would make it repeat again. By doing so, he was planning to slowly chip away this plump demon’s health.

Just by scanning, he couldn’t get any details from her by his system. Even her names or physical attribute wasn’t listed. Everything was showing ‘???’ this. With such a thing, how could Kenshin allow it has the initiative to attack? Who knew what skills she possesses and what could she do? He had no intention to give her time to recover.

{i wILl nOT bE tReaTed lIke thIS!} the demon shouted in rage as a burst of dark mist exploded from her body. She aimed a punch at the nearest zombie who was about to initiate an attack. Grabbing into the extending sword, she yanked it towards her, pulling the zombie who was holding it. Clenching her fist, she pulled her hand and surrounded it with a ball of dark mist and landed a devastating blow at the zombie’s head, making it cave in.

“AH!” with a small, stifling shout, it died just like that. Its 20k HP drained in an instant.

Kenshin’s face changed when he saw it. He and these zombies, they were spiritually connected. When the zombie died, he felt a tingling sensation all over his body, and he felt a sense of phantom pain over his head. At the same time, he shuddered in fear. The zombie died in just one attack, making him wonder just how much power that punches packed…

‘Definitely above 30k’ Kenshin thought. The zombie had a DEF of above 2k, it also had made conscious effort to block the punch. But even still it died in just a single punch. Just a physical punch from this demon could pack above 30k ATK, just by thinking of this made Kenshin’s hairs at the end stand. If it weren’t for the Compulsory Quest, he would never have dared to take on such an enemy.

‘I am already in the middle of the water, its either I swim or drown.’ Resolving this matter to fate, Kenshin gave his all to fight against the demon.

After killing one of the zombies, she headed for the other one. Trying to use the same tactics to kill it too, but it became careful after his partner died. The plump demon had already gone berserk as she chased after the other zombie, like a mad ghost.

Kenshin was just about to use the same combination and create another zombie when his eyes shifted at a certain skill. A skill that he had received after forming a contract with Core. He had never used this skill, and the description was vague.

But what he did know was that it can only be used on monsters of Ekla’s Garden. As a guardian of the dungeon, of course, the monsters he creates would be a part of the dungeon too. So this sill should be useful for them. Thinking of such, Kenshin used that skill.

[You have used Skill Respawn.]

[a monster created by you will be revied with its peak ability. Zombie 1 would be respawned.]

[Note: Since Zombie 1 was killed by darkness imbued punch to its face, it will remain invincible to all punches to its face. Zombie 1 would be unable to take any damage to its face or head for 72 hours.]

[-40 MP]

“What!” Kenshin didn’t expect to see such a terrifying thing after using a seemingly useless skill.

Invincibility!

What the hell?

Kenshin furiously checked the notification again, but the words didn’t change at all. A bright light flashed as the zombie that just died miraculously appeared in front of Kenshin holding its sword.

“Master!” the zombie kneeled in front of Kenshin. It knew it died and also knew it had revived by its master. He was now expecting orders from him.

“Go and fight with that woman and help the other one.” After ordering him, Kenshin returned to the notification, trying to understand what they truly meant. Should he take the words literally?

After receiving his master’s orders, Zombie 1 hurried along towards his other companion. When he arrived at the location, he saw the other one being pinned to the ground by the demon who was about to punch him. Flashing his sword, he used its [Lengthen] ability and aimed at the demon’s eye.

Sensing the danger, the demon rolled out of the way and stared at the assailant, only to struck speechless at the appearance of the very zombie she had just killed. Taking advantage of her dazed state, Zombie 2 elbowed her stomach and sent a knee to her gasping face. After that, he rolled away and stood beside Zombie 1. They both looked at each other for a moment. Zombie 1 nodded his head, which was acknowledged by Zombie 2 with a nod of his own.

A tacit understanding was formed between them.

The plump demon was yet to stabilize herself, and suddenly she was assaulted by another string of flashing stars. Taking advantage, the two zombies initiated attacks with well-coordinated moves with each other. One swiped, other stabbed. One thrust, others used the unique sword skill. They simply didn’t give the demon the time to retaliate.

This went for a few minutes. Kenshin kept himself far from the demon’s reach. There were a few times she tried to attack him, Kenshin, in the end, used burrow and drowned himself inside the ground, making himself virtually unreachable to the demon. Amidst this, the demon even tried to kill the zombies by punching their faces, but every time she did that she discovered Zombie 1 would come forward to take the blow. What made her astonishing was that this Zombie 1 didn’t get any injury even with a serious punch from her.

She was also getting frustrated with all the pain that came from those shooting stars. It was simply unbearable to her, even her resistance skills weren’t useful against them. She had tried many things, but nothing could stop it.

Unable to take it anymore, the plump demon simply decided to run away. There was no use fighting this one-sided battle where she was the only one getting beaten. Furthermore, the pain was unbearable, and she was starting to feel uncomfortable all over her body.

{I wIlL rEmEMber ThIS hUMan!} giving out a line like a typical defeated thug, she covered herself with a mass of dark smog. A second later, it vanished, leaving behind a dried-up corpse that floated on the sky for a few seconds before falling down like a puppet with strings cut. The sky was also gradually cleared up as sunlight penetrated through the whole clearing.

[Ding* Compulsory Quest Completed.]

It was only then Kenshin dared to come out of the ground. He was waiting for this notification to pop up, he wouldn’t be confident otherwise.