NOVEL NEXT Chapter 139
Grah!
Clang!
Edwin’s party was fiercely battling the approaching demon creatures.
As the corpses of the demon creatures piled up one by one, their area of movement began to shrink.
Sssst!
Ah!
The color began to return to Aveline’s pale face, who had been lying next to Aria.
In no time, an unknown power healed her wounds completely, and she slowly opened her eyes.
“Aveline…?!”
“…”
Aria’s eyes widened in surprise as she watched.
Could it be that a miracle has occurred?
Clearly, the healing revelation hadn’t worked properly.
“You saved me, didn’t you?”
“…?”
While Aria was confused, Aveline’s voice ringing in her ears was so… serene.
…
Kuhuk. Hahaha!
Markosias manifested in this place through Aveline’s body.
For some reason, the magic tower had begun to operate unsteadily, causing delays.
“Hmm…”
He took a deep breath in the body of the creature he loathed.
“Ah, is this the smell?”
His spirits started to rise.
The long-missed scent of humans, and the divine fragrance of the saint that made his whole body tingle every time they met, the scent of purity.
“What a pity, what a pity!”
Markosias couldn’t help but exclaim inwardly.
“If I had possessed a male creature, I would’ve torn that purity apart right away.”
And so, Markosias, donning the guise of Aveline, stared at Aria for a while before calming his mood and speaking.
“Aria Bluebell. Thank you.”
“…Are you really okay? I haven’t really… done anything.”
That was true.
Aria had only come close to the saint’s qualities, but she hadn’t actually activated her powers yet.
This was pretty good news for Markosias.
The saint, who had been missing and in a near-death state—this meant that that girl, Psyche, was getting closer to death.
With that in mind, after this girl awakens as a saint, that’s when the problem begins…
Markosias couldn’t help but smirk.
A simple solution came to mind.
If he used the power of subjugation to make her a part of his followers, it would be done.
It was a different judgment compared to the previous great demons, who had been careless.
Hoo-ha. Lev, Denek…
A creature like that had taken Dalian without permission.
So then, shouldn’t he gift that despicable creature with absolute despair?
Markosias’s next target was his body.
After stealing that guy’s soul and abducting Aria Bluebell, he would indulge himself in her.
Khuhkk!
The physical relationship between a demon and a saint.
How forbidden that territory is!
And then, indulge until he got tired of it, and at the last moment tell the girl.
That he was, in fact, the great demon himself.
Also, through memory sharing, he would show her how her parents had been violated by Andras.
Of course, Aria Bluebell wouldn’t have the option to commit suicide or escape.
By that time, she would already have become my follower, after all. Tsk tsk.
What kind of expression would she show?
In what way would she express her despair, hatred, and pain?
While Andras doesn’t obsess over the joys and sorrows of mere creatures, the despair, pain, and hatred that the saint feels are on a different level.
This way, she would become a tool to fill Markosias with dark magic for the rest of her life.
The numbers are increasing! Let’s narrow the space more!
Yes!
Understood…!
Hmm…?
As he surveyed his surroundings, he noticed that these pitiful creatures were all busy fighting.
Well, they had decent skills, and they were somewhat equipped to face the demon creatures, but…
I wonder who will betray first when the demon creatures are right at the brink?
When the magic tower stabilizes, the beasts and demons would double in numbers and devour these guys alive.
Swish.
At that moment, Aria, who had been checking Aveline’s body, stood up.
“Aveline, please rest for now. The situation isn’t good, so I’ll report to Violet, then help the others.”
“No. Aria Bluebell. Wait a moment.”
“!”
Markosias grabbed Aria’s wrist and gently pulled her closer.
Then he sweetly whispered as if luring her.
“Could you just look into my eyes for a moment…?”
“…What?”
Sensing a hint of unease in his tone, Aria was drawn into his gaze.
—
Finally, it was time to check Caeran’s customized daughter skill.
Ding!
—————————————————
[Great Demon – Caeran Hiss]
[Skills Acquired]
[Common]
[Indomitable Will (Passive)]: Stats are boosted when facing someone stronger, and additional damage is dealt to the weaker.
[Massacre (Passive)]: Stacks when an enemy is slain or on a successful attack, increasing stats further.
[Absolute Growth (Passive)]: The growth rate of stats and skill levels is significantly increased for the target with this skill.
[Experience of Death (Passive)]: On reaching a state of death, black magic is released, gaining half the erosion stacks instantly.
(*Can be activated once every 10 days)
[Exclusive Skill – Human State]
[Demoniac Transformation (Active)]: Significantly consumes mana to transform into a demon. Activating this skill drastically increases health, agility, and strength. Stats can exceed the maximum limit by up to 100%. (*Does not cause rampage.)
[Enraged Transformation (Passive)]: Upon reaching a state of death, becomes invincible for one minute, ignores activation conditions, and automatically transforms into a demon, recovering health proportional to black magic.
(*Can be activated once every 10 days)
(*Does not cause rampage.)
[Exclusive Skill – Demon State]
[Great Demon’s Determination (Passive)]: Restrictions on acquiring unique traits are removed. The power of all skills is greatly increased.
[Erosion]: When stacks of massacre are accumulated, the erosion level fills up. The more erosion level accumulated, the more stats skyrockets.
(Max Erosion Level: 500)
[Absolute Growth EX (Passive)]: When the erosion level reaches the maximum, it ranks up. Status bonuses are gained, along with 3 unique traits and 5 new active and passive skills each.
(*Can be activated once every 100 days)
[Special States]
[Enraged Transformation]: Caeran’s enraged transformation activates when receiving a lethal attack, and the demoniac transformation activated through this does not engage in rampage.
[Weakened]: [Caeran] is not immune. Moreover, as [Caeran] is humanoid, entering a rampage state imposes restrictions on skill usage.
—————————————————
“Looks like you’ve eaten quite a lot.”
What if there was a copy involved?
Ugh. That horrid thought is off the table.
Grr… Grrr…
“…”
I organized my thoughts while looking at the writhing creature in pain.
Simply put, the guy could become a growth-type munchkin if he could trigger demoniac transformation “normally.”
“No? He’s just invincible, actually.”
And the conditions for that transformation are, first, drastically using mana to activate it voluntarily.
Secondly, it activates automatically when he receives a lethal attack in human form.
It’s simple, without any real restrictions, and even covers the downsides—an absurd skill, truly.
However, unfortunately, that guy could fulfill none of the conditions.
The former was impossible since he had poured most of his mana to activate the magic tower.
The latter, since Caeran wouldn’t be killed in humanoid form.
Zoom! Zoom!!
“Lev… Denek…”
Right now, he was in a state of unstable demoniac transformation due to my forced injection of black magic.
No one, apart from me, could freely manipulate black magic.
Crow Pay had implanted a magic circuit into Caeran without considering me as a variable, and thus my presence had become Caeran’s only Achilles’ heel.
Additionally, the parasitic skill had removed Caeran’s [Copy] and [Immunity] skills, which was a divine move.
Had he only possessed the immunity skill, he wouldn’t have fallen into a status ailment from holy damage.
In that interval, if he had consumed even one mana potion to activate demoniac transformation, I would have been finished.
Grr…
[Erosion Level: 232/500]
Caeran was in a completely deranged state due to the aftereffects of the unstable demoniac transformation.
By now, dozens of crossbow bolts had embedded themselves in his body.
His form was unrecognizable, and viscous, unpleasant liquids were oozing from all his openings.
At that moment, Caeran twitched violently.
GRAAAAH!!!!
Ah!
And he started emitting a sound akin to a dragon’s roar.
Scared the hell out of me.
Ding.
—————————————————
[Caeran HP: 18%]
[Time until Silence Status Dispelled: 15.5 seconds]
[Time until Fainting Status Dispelled: 15.0 seconds]
[Time until Slow Status Dispelled: 14.7 seconds]
[Time until Confusion Status Dispelled: 14.3 seconds]
[Time until Block Status Dispelled: 13.3 seconds]
[*Status ailments have reached maximum capacity. Subsequent status ailments will have significantly reduced duration.]
—————————————————
“Hmm…”
Unfortunately, I can’t maintain the status ailments I inflict indefinitely.
Extending Mazes indefinitely is a basic feature prevented in games.
It was another penalty of the gamer passive.
Brrr! Burrrr!
As the erosion level rose, he started bulking up and prepared to fall into monstrosity.
Ding.
[Erosion Level: 245/500]
At this rate, he’ll rampage right after the statuses wear off before a rank-up.
Well, I don’t really care.
It’s one of the passives that Caeran possesses.
—————————————————
[Experience of Death (Passive)]: When HP drops below 1, black magic releases, immediately gaining half the erosion stacks.
(*Can be activated once every 10 days)
—————————————————
To the naked eye, it seems incredibly OP, but it has a trolling aspect now.
If I decrease his health at 250 erosion level, he would rank up by force.
“It’s about time to end this, isn’t it?”
As I loaded the ash-gray bolt with holy damage, Caeran raised his head slowly, as if sensing his own demise.
“Blame the author who created you.”
I aimed the crossbow directly at his forehead.
GGRRRAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
He howled pitifully.
The wind blast, which would instant kill 20 percent of his health, has to be saved for Markosias.
Well, at this distance, the wind blast would strike harder like a shotgun spread.
I slowly took a deep breath and focused on the numbers in the status window.
Ding!
[Erosion Level 247/500]
“3.”
“Uuugh!”
I measured the angle.
To optimize skill costs, I needed to deal damage to the tower in one shot.
Ding!
[Erosion Level 248/500]
“2.”
“Sa, sa, sa…”
Momentarily, it seemed like Caeran regained his senses, but that wasn’t my concern.
Whoosh!
I merely calculated the protective barrier of great magic I received from Bunea and deployed it in front of me.
Ding!
[Erosion Level 249/500]
“1.”
All that was left for me was to move my finger to pull the trigger.
Wowwwwww!
The ash-gray bolt trembled loudly, waiting for my command.
Ding!
[Erosion Level 250/500]
“There’s nothing in particular to say.”
“!”
Click.
…
…
…
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…
…
…
As if an angel descended upon this island, now a playground for demons, everything before my eyes began to turn white and explode.
…
…
…
Ding…
[…]
[Great Demon – Caeran Hiss has been defeated…]
[Unique Trait: Soul Collector activated! The souls of the defeated enemies have been collected.]
[By defeating a demon, the maximum erosion level increases!]
[Rewards can now be obtained!]
[Rewards can now be obtained!]
[Crossbow proficiency has risen to level 9!]
[Pandemonium’s observability has significantly increased!]