NOVEL NEXT Chapter 69: Monstrous Annabelle
-----
[Character: Heisenberg] has activated the {Demonic Seal} within his hand!]
[The power of the {Demonic Seal} has freed the {Demonic Manifestation} of [Character: Annabelle]!]
[Character: Annabelle] has undergone a forced transformation into her {True Demonic Form: Arachneia Destrux Gasth}!]
[All of her Stats have increased by +300%, Health Regeneration Speed has increased by +500%, Skill Damage has increased by +200%.]
[However, Annabelle has gone completely Berserk as a result, and will not recognize allies as foes.]
“URGH…!!” Annabelle roared, frustrated and slowly growing madder. I was certain she couldn’t control her transformation. “M-MY BODY… IT HURTS! BIG BROTHER… WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! UAAAAGGH…!”
“Why are you ashamed?” Heisenberg smiled as he saw Annabelle transform while screaming that she didn’t want to become a monster. “Don’t you see? This is your true form, Annabelle! My dear sister, why do you keep rejecting your true nature? Why do you keep trying to pretend you’re not like us? It has been a long time since we stopped being humans, we are all monsters! Did you truly believe you could actually become friends with them?”
Anna glared at Heisenberg with utter rage. Despite having predicted this to happen eventually, she couldn’t help but feel incredibly furious. This man was completely heartless. He was capable of forcing his own sister to turn into a monster and laugh at her suffering while spouting utter nonsense.
“I’ll crush that face of yours one day,” Anna said with utter rage, her eyes glowing like two golden stars. “You’re not going to have a quick death; I’ll make you suffer! I swear it…”
“You say you’re going to kill me? You? A mere human that’s going to die now?” Heisenberg asked with a stern expression, devoid of most emotions other than mockery and a sense of superiority over everything else. “Shouldn’t you be worrying about the monster in front of you?”
“Annabelle is not a monster. The real monster is you, Heisenberg!” Anna roared.
“Huh? How do you know my name?!” The silver-eyed man felt taken aback.
“Boss, she’s dangerous. She knows too much.” Shade said, glaring at her with his red eyes. “Should we…?”
“Tch… It’s not even worth it, Shade.” The silver-eyed man smiled confidently. “Have fun with my sister. I’ll come pick her up later, alright? I’m actually quite busy right now, so I don’t have time to spend amusing a group of dead people.”
“I swear I’ll make you scream in agony, Heisenberg,” Anna said once more.
Perhaps anybody else who was to say this would probably look funny, but... As Anna said these dead-serious words with an incredibly stoic face, the silver-eyed man felt something.
Fear.
Somehow, inexplicably so, he felt a slight fear. Even though Anna’s appearance and her face made her look like an adorable girl, there was something within her—a force, an aura—that sent a powerful pressure down Heisenberg’s entire body.
He gritted his teeth as he quickly decided to leave.
“Empty threats like that will not intimidate me.” He sighed, disappearing from within the shadows.
“GRAAAAHH! R-RUNNN! ANNA, RUUUNNN! UUUAAGGH…!" Annabelle kept screaming as her gigantic legs began moving. Her enormous body, over ten meters in height, was charged against her and her friends.
“Why is she a monster now?!” Kevin was really confused.
“There’s no time for questions! Evade!” Baihe cried.
“Move! Now!” Anna commanded.
The trio immediately ran in different directions, attempting to see who Annabelle would chase after. Violet and Snow were also alongside them, with Violet sitting above Anna’s head while Snow was running at Baihe’s side. The young pup had grown rather attached to her.
“GRAAAH!” Annabelle groaned monstrously, charging towards Anna.
“Of course, she’s coming after me.” Anna sighed, quickly checking her inventory. All the materials she needed were already readily available, but actually crafting the item through the Alchemy Skill would take a few seconds—seconds she couldn’t risk.
“Annabelle, come here!” Anna roared, quickly stopping her rush as she stood right in front of the charging, gigantic spider.
Annabelle roared, opening her gigantic mandibles and showing a long tongue from within. Her big, red eyes were crying tears of regret. Her own body was now moving against her will, attempting to eat the first friend she had ever made.
“Anna!” Kevin and Baihe panicked, only to see Anna emerging from above. At the last moment, she jumped into the air at super-speed.
CRASH!
Annabelle’s enormous mandibles were suddenly stuck in the floor as she was attempting to take them off the ground.
“Ah! Good timing!” Kevin said, pointing the spear at Annabelle. “Like this, we can-”
“Don’t kill her!” Anna said. “She’s not a Demonic Human.”
“EH?! She isn’t?!” Kevin wondered. “But she transformed-”
“I’ve seen them transform. Demonic Humans have total control over their bodies and transformations." Baihe said. “Annabelle is different! Her brother somehow forced her to transform. Anna, do you know of a way to..."
“I do! But I need time.” Anna said. “Can you buy me at least ten seconds? You’ll need to somehow distract her and not hurt her too much. She thankfully has a good regeneration, but don’t do any lethal blows! At most, aim at her legs!” Anna spoke as if she had fought this form of Annabelle many times.
But by merely recalling the memories of reading the Novel “Solo Player,” she instantly knew of Annabelle’s Demonic Form weaknesses; her giant legs were a huge weakness and hurting them would make her constantly trip around. This was how Jack had originally defeated her.
However, in such a story, Annabelle had tragically died in Jack’s hands, as he had no idea how to turn her back to normal, and she was too much of a threat to be left alive. However, much later in the story, Jack and Henrietta discover an “Undemonification Potion," made with specific materials.
Once sprayed over someone who has been forcefully transformed into some sort of demonic beast, they will return to normal. However, it only worked on those that could actually return to normal naturally, such as Demonic Humans or the "chimeras," which was what Annabelle, and the rest of the Dawn of a New World were.
Those forcefully turned into demonic monsters through miasmic infection couldn’t be cured, and this is why Anna had put so much emphasis on not letting anybody touch the crystals.
“Time, huh? Alright… Ten seconds?!” Kevin asked.
“Maybe twenty, thirty at most.” Anna sighed.
"You're asking too much!” Kevin said.
“She’s coming!” Baihe roared.
Annabelle roared, clicking her mandibles furiously. Her spider swarm suddenly started surging around her as they charged towards the trio. Violet and Snow charged forward, swinging their claws and scythes furiously and cutting down hundreds of tiny spiders at once, clearing the swarms rapidly.
Annabelle wasn’t done yet, opening her jaws as a gigantic magic circle of black color materialized. A beam of darkness surged from within the magic circle, unleashing a deadly explosion in front of Anna, Kevin, and Baihe!
BOOOM!
However, as the smoke dissipated, the trio was running around the giant spider once more, having barely evaded that deadly beam.
“She can even use such powerful magic?!” Kevin was shocked. “Dammit, I’ll have to push myself to my fucking limits... Alright, let’s fucking do it anyway! Baihe!”
“On it!” Baihe nodded, channeling Mana into her body. She gave Anna one last glance. “I’m counting on you, Anna!”
“Leave it to me!” Anna nodded, jumping to the second floor of the mall and staying there as Kevin and Baihe rushed toward Annabelle and began to distract her.
“Hey, big ass spider girl!” Kevin said, provoking her. “I’m right here!”
“GRRHHH!” Annabelle, having completely lost control of her own mind, rushed towards Kevin without hesitation. The cute and slightly playful girl that they had seen before seemed to not even be there anymore.
Yet they choose not to trust Annabelle but to trust Anna!
CLASH!
Her gigantic claws hit the ground several times, attempting to squash Kevin and Baihe like bugs. However, the two agile youngsters constantly evaded her blows by a hair. Meanwhile, the rest of the hunters they had rescued were currently running away onto the second floor too, and thanks to their efforts, they were finally given a window to escape in time.
Annabelle kept roaring and attacking with devastating blows. Baihe and Kevin were betting their lives on this battle! Barely managing to inflict any injury on her incredibly hard exoskeleton, even attacking the legs wasn’t working properly.
“Dammit, she’s fucking tough as hell!” Kevin muttered.
"Is she as strong as an A+ Rank monster? No… S Rank?!” Baihe muttered.
“Can we even keep this up?!” Kevin cried.
Suddenly, Annabelle roared with fury as she rushed forward, unleashed seven blows at a time using her gigantic claws, and then unleashed another dark beam. Kevin and Baihe were unable to completely evade the flurry of attacks, as their armor was instantly covered with cracks, and several bruises and burns appeared over their skin.
“F-Fuck…” Kevin muttered. “Oi Anna! Hurry up!”
“What’s taking you so long?!” Baihe cried.
“I’m doing my best, okay?!” Anna cried.
It had only been, actually, just 7 seconds since they separated, yet they could barely hold on! Annabelle’s movements were actually much faster than her size made her appear to be.
“Come on, come on!” Anna said as she gathered all the materials on the floor one by one.
Five of the Swamp Snake’s Venomous Scales, two of the Two-Headed Cyclops Snout bottles, four of the Skin of the Snake Eater, ten small fragments of Demonite, and lastly, the blood of a person that possesses a physique that has the Holy Light Attribute.
Using her knife, Anna quickly cut the palm of her left hand as tons of crimson blood surged from within. The moment the blood was still in midair, she activated Alchemy.
“{Synthesis}!”
The blood mixed into a swirl with the rest of the bizarre materials, gathering together in the middle of the air into a single item!
[You have synthesized the [Swamp Snake’s Venomous Scales (D++ Rank)] x5 [Two-Headed Cyclops Snout (C- Rank)] x2 [Skin of the Snake Eater (D+++ Rank)] x4 [Small Demonic Fragment (A Rank)] x10 and [Saintess Blood (S Rank)] x1!]
[Due to the effects of the [Jester’s Reverse Fortune (S Rank Privilege)] your LUK Stat has been reversed!]
[Your sheer amount of LUK has increased the success chances from 6% to 100%!]
[You have synthesized the [Sanctification Elixir (S+ Rank)]!]
-----
[Sanctification Elixir (S+ Rank)]
This is an extremely unique Elixir never seen before, made using a variety of strange materials and the blood of a Saintess.
It has the power to purify demon forces from a living vessel and turn them back into their non-demonic form (if they have one).
This Elixir can deal extremely huge quantities of damage against True Demons, Archdemons, or Apostles of Death.
-----
“Here it is!” Anna grabbed the golden bottle in an instant and jumped right over Annabelle.
“RAAARGH!”
The furious spider monster girl roared, unleashing several Dark Beams against Baihe and Kevin. Baihe was constantly shielding them using shields made of ice, but that wasn’t enough, and her Mana was already running low!
However, from above the skies, Anna finally descended.
“Annabelle! Snap out of it ALREADY!” She roared furiously, opening the Elixir bottle and spraying the golden liquid over Annabelle’s entire body!
SPLASH!
-----