Demon King

[Kagagak!]

My senses were focused on the entity created by the fusion of two monsters. The rest were running amok about me, assured of my destruction. They all were physically stronger than me, but this battle happening on the Rookie’s Battlefield wasn’t simply a collision of physical forms. These monsters didn’t just attack physically; after all, their souls would collide violently with my own as they struck. ‘If I can make even one of their souls collapse, it’s enough.’ I had to give it to them, their sheer tenacity to cling to life to the point where they were no longer recognizable as human.

I further expanded my detection range. My own body and soul were no exception. I had time to analyze the Demon’s Claw protruding out of my left shoulder while I battled, beginning to understand its power. I only knew how to defend during my battle with L, but now I was learning how to attack. It made me realize how much my defense had been lacking. Now it was as if I had another body that I could move at will, a body that I had been leaving unprotected. Now I needed to learn how to deal with it.

I had to sharpen my soul, make it harder and deadlier. I focused on the Demon’s Claw, moving it down from my shoulder to my hand, overlapping it with my sword. ‘Now it’ll be easier to actually use as a weapon.’ The claw wasn’t an object with a physical presence, something I confirmed as it began to overlap with Blood Shadow. A low vibration went through my arm for just a moment. It felt as if the part of my soul that I had been moving had assimilated into Blood Shadow.

[Beginner Demon’s Claw has become Lv4.]

‘Now this’ll work.’ It was still impossible for me to invade their souls by transforming it into those tendrils; its mobility was lacking compared to these monsters. They must have had intermediate, or even advanced, skills. But that was fine. The higher the opponent’s skill level, the more effective Predation would be.

[Kiii!]

[This guy… is he one of us?]

I heard a human voice from one of the monsters but ignored it, leaping up once more into the air with my teleportation. Now that I had a better understanding of their skills, I could see why they were sensitive to my presence. They didn’t have a proper body, their soul and body were becoming mixed, and now the boundary between the two was blurring. They now were in a form that shouldn’t exist, and it granted them heightened senses and an ability to attack the soul directly.

I had only been attacking their bodies, but they had been attacking both my body and soul. I could sense their physical form, but they were able to sense my soul as well as my physical body. So, little by little, my detection was failing me, and attacks were slipping through my defenses. It had also been why they had seen right through me, knowing that I was a human.

But now, I could use my own soul to attack. Now the playing field was level. Even if I could move my soul’s shape with as much power or finesse, it was still enough for me to take advantage of.

I was everywhere. I raised the power of my confusion and Shadow Walk, dark metal hung from my waist, shaking and silently crying. It was the second item Rain had given to me, Drops of Darkness.

[Drops of Darkness [500/500] – Ancient Rarity. It absorbs all noise that the wearer emits.]

Simple but incredibly useful. It made my biggest weapon, Surprise and Fairy Tale, even more powerful. I thought their abilities of detection were too powerful, so it didn’t have any use. But now, it was different. Now that I could control my soul through these claws, I could hide it from them. I jumped again; my goal was the monster’s head.

[Kiiiiiih!]

This monster, created by merging three animals, had its head split open, contaminated blood gushing out from the wound. I barely had time to think before someone unexpected popped up.

[Convergence successful. Traces of one’s own soul are now hidden.]

[Superior Surprise became Lv10 and has evolved into Extraordinary Surprise. No matter how much you move, it is still as if you are not there. Surprise attacks will deal additional damage.

[Advanced Martial Arts became Lv7.]

I did it; I was able to hide my soul. It was hard not to feel elated by this progress, but I knew that this was no time to celebrate as I narrowly dodged an attack from another monster. ‘It’s almost funny, I was nearly hit by a monster because my plan worked, and it caught me off guard.’ But it was all worth it regardless. I had mastered the art of stealth, but I had to remain vigilant and not let myself grow overconfident.

Now I could move forward and show my true strength against these monsters instead of being put on the ropes and struggling to kill them. My initial wound against this large beast in front of me didn’t look as impressive as I had originally thought, but it was a start. Their souls were reinforcing their bodies. In addition to tough flesh, they had gained a lot of strength by projecting their souls outside their bodies. But by doing so, they also exposed their weaknesses.

[Kill him! Make him one of us!]

[He’s devouring everything!]

I revealed my presence to them after my attack, watching as their soul tendrils filled the air and made their way toward me. I could’ve jumped away from it but stood my ground instead. I didn’t have to run anymore. I swung my sword, enhanced by the Demon’s Claw, and it easily cut through all the tendrils before they could reach me. Fragments of body and soul scattered in the air, fading from existence. ‘If only I could eat that too.’ But I suppose devouring pure fragments of a soul wouldn’t be possible with Predation. It wouldn’t have been necessary, anyway. The fact that I could block their attacks and hurt them was enough.

[Why?!]

[Kigaaaah!]

[He is like us. Join us!]

One of them rushed forward, only able to catch onto my alter ego I left behind as I jumped away. The alter ego only had physical strength, but it managed to jab into the monster’s eyes before it vanished. I moved over to the head of the monster I had previously damaged with my initial surprise attack.

[Lower Ubiquitous became Lv4.]

My head was bursting with information as I read the movements on those who were united in soul and body, precisely controlling my powers all the while. It was an exhausting task, but if I didn’t do it, I would die. I was dancing on needles, only a hair’s width away from death at any moment. Blood Shadow was sharpened even further by the Demon’s Claw. The monsters closed in around me, but all I could think about was taking their lives as my sword flashed out again and again.

With a firm grasp on their souls’ trajectories, I jumped forward with Ubiquitous and attacked the giant monster again. Its head, shaped like a massive castle, was slowly split open from my repeated attacks. The spirit tried to grab onto me, to devour me, but I cut off its advance with my sharpened blade and riposted, driving my sword into its head again.

[Aggggh!]

[No, stop it!]

[I can’t kill him…you guys, help me!]

The monster’s strength, born only from hatred, was too weak to harm me now that I had a weapon that would hurt them. Their weapons were heavy but were much too slow and dull to pierce me now. Blood Shadow pierced deep into the monster’s head, the sword belching out fire and lightning as it did.

[You gained 967,102 experience!]

[You received gold and 22 silver.]

[You have obtained a Fragment of a Fallen Soul.]

[Kieeeaaa!]

The notification window popped up in front of me, the sound of it drowned out by the monster’s dying wails. ‘If Lee Chan-yu was here, that Madness noise would probably be enough to knock him out.’ It couldn’t crush me with its powerful form or grab onto me with the soul tendrils. So now it was letting out one inevitable attack. It made sense, of course. It was a powerful attack that slammed against my resistance to abnormal statuses and threatened to overwhelm me.

But now I had a new source of food, and it was enough to stop me from falling to this final attack. By the time I had acquired this Demon’s Claw, this battle was as good as over. Not to even mention my new form of Predation. I turned towards the collapsed form of this monster, raising Blood Shadow. Black smoke billowed out from my body, beginning to eat away at this massive body. I let power begin to build up in my sword, black roses forming around it. Dark lighting began to explode forth, making my sword look even larger than it was.

Only

I could detect more monsters approaching the area. Not just one or two, but a massive wave of them closed in as if they had all promised to meet here. Most of them I could tell were already fused with at least one other. It occurred to me then that the purpose of that final Madness noise wasn’t to incapacitate me, but rather to call for reinforcements.

The thought brought a grin to my face. Thinking about the time, I figured it was about three hours until I could return. ‘This is almost a bit silly.’ The monsters now were easy to kill, a delicious prey full of experience. It would be such a shame to go back home so quickly, especially when such an enticing hunting ground was coming to me.

“Come to me.”

[Beginner Demon’s Claw became Lv6.]

[Lower Madness Noise became Lv5.]

In time, my feast would end. But for now, I could be happy with this chance to run about and eat as much as I liked. I leaped into the air with Ubiquitous.

Two hours, forty-seven minutes, and fifty-three seconds had passed by the end.

All the monsters gathered were killed and consumed, and my level was now 110.