First Great Scam!

"Brace yourself. Round two's starting!" Nex solemnly shouted as he dodged yet another deadly mandible.

Around him, a sea of monsters was wriggling, trying to devour him to no avail. But that's when their Boss, the Pseudo-Behemoth, acted.

— SHRIEEKKK! —

The creatures instantly spread out!

In mere seconds the bloody and messy melee turned into an arena with walls made of cockroaches: a carapace tortoise formation!

Nex stood in the middle, surrounded by broken body parts, his poor cloak already shivering in fear.

"W-what's happening?!"

"That huge bastard's controlling them." Nex grimly stated.

"It is?! Oh god. We have to run! What are you standing there for?!" Asher screamed.

Nex gave a derisive smile. Run away? As it that was possible. What was he supposed to do? Climb the cockroach wall, perhaps? He'd definitely lose a leg trying!

That's when the Behemoth started pulsing, red light gathering at its mandibles. So much mana, and it was only getting worse!

But Nex didn't just stand idly: "Arise my minions."

The blood around him started bubbling before converging together, slowly taking cockroach shapes. This was his new skill: Blood Invocation (F-)

[Congratulations! Successfully Invoked!]

[NEW! Summons x 7!]

The creatures bowed before their master, but the Behemoth had charged its skill by now. Hell was coming!

— SHRIEEKKK! —

The creature finally released its attack, one so terrifying that it made Arcadia whole turn toward it anxiously. It was one so powerful that no one would dare take it head-on.

A colossal bloody beam rose toward Heaven, reaching the bloody clouds above and mixing with them. They became overcharged, the mana in them already past quantifiable.

Worse: all the energy in this annihilation spell was locked onto one guy! Nex could sense the perverse's Boss' gaze on him. It seemed to say, 'Try and survive this!'

It had gone straight up to the Ultimate Move!

What kind of crazy concept was this?!

"We're done for. Doooone!" The cloak cried out.

Even a Miracle wouldn't be able to resurrect them after this! But even then, the mad youngster hadn't given up. He waved at his minions, seemingly instructing them.

"You guys better protect me well."

A second later, the blood cockroaches started….scaling his body?! They coiled around them, wriggling and then tightening. "Whaaaa?! Geeeeet off!" The Shadow cried out.

Nex ignored the pleas, facing Heaven directly. He could have run away and should have been frightened…yet only one thought arose as he gazed at death.

Beautiful.

The Blood crackling sky was gorgeous.

"See this on the bright side. Either we survive this, or we won't know we're dead." Nex playfully uttered. Asher froze. What kind of last words were those?!

But then it all came crashing down.

A thunder-blood-bolt, a godly power that none could stand against.

Nex remained perfectly still, and before he knew it, all he could see was blood. No sound, no scenery, and he even lost the feeling of his own body. Was this death?

No, it wasn't. He could still think and could sense the creatures he had summoned. He could even feel Asher's presence if he focused enough.

At this moment, he understood the hype back at the Awakened Tower when the S-Rank grading had appeared. Blood Immunity (SSS) made him a god in this specific case.

He could faintly sense the invincible Behemoth carapace under his feet being strained by the power. Yet, as it washed over him, all danger completely vanished.

It also applied to the cloak he was wearing, Asher utterly speechless. He had always known Nex's blood immunity was strong but wasn't this exaggerated?!

"The view's nice, isn't it?" Nex chuckled.

"Y-yeah, it's….n-nice." The Shadow croaked nervously.

The light finally started rescinding, but so did Nex's sanity. Out of nowhere, he…started punching himself in the face?! What?! Why?!

A battered but still standing Nex reappeared as the light finally faded away. One of his blood summons was also missing, but he didn't seem to care.

"That's it? I'm still standing!" He screamed at the Behemoth with apparent "false bravado". Heck, he even threw a bit of blood at the end!

— SHRIEEKKK! —

The Behemoth shrieked in shock and fury. The puny human was still alive?! That's when it felt its supremacy challenged.

It shrieked again as it began gathering energy once more. This time it would kill the annoying pest for sure!

The human resummoned more bloody cockroaches, the Behemoth not even bothering to resummon the ones its attack had killed.

That's when began the oddest ultimate fight.

The Behemoth kept spamming that one spell of his that it knew damaged the human. Destruction relentlessly kept raining from Heaven.

The more this happened, the weaker Nex became. He had already gone past the point of being battered and was approaching the realm of a walking corpse.

It even reached a point that even Asher became concerned.

"Haven't you done enough? Just rest for a second!"

"No can do. That's our only path for survival." Nex weakly uttered.

The monster they were facing was unbelievably strong and fast, the only thing keeping them alive being Nex's SSS-Ranked Passive.

As soon as the monster realized its blood magic was ineffective, they'd die. It wasn't a possibility, but a certainty! All it would take would be one back flop, a hard shake, or anything physical…

That's why Nex kept injuring himself repeatedly, opting for minor but flashy wounds. By now, he even had trouble summoning cockroaches to help him defend.

His entire body burned, and he felt like he was already dead. He was experiencing the feeling of mana depletion for the first time.

He just wanted to lie down and sleep, or die even! But every time he'd almost give in, he'd remember the kids that depended on him, and he'd cast yet again.

Still, his life wasn't some bullshit shonen: determination couldn't create mana out of nowhere. Instead, he cut on the summoning mana costs.

- Made the summons weaker

- Reduced their overall lifespan

- Got rid of their basic intellect

- …

In the end, his summons were nothing but bloody empty shells that couldn't even walk by themselves. Yet, even summoning that trash was becoming harder and harder.

"One more, I just need to endure one more." In a world of red, Nex weekly uttered.

He had long lost sense of time, space and wasn't acting anymore. He was genuinely growing feeble. All he knew was to keep going, and then some more, and more…endlessly.

He was in a constant world of suffering and constantly pushing his limits. Even he wasn't sure how he held on.

"You can stop now." Asher's voice resounded akin to a devil.

"No... I'm not…giving….up.." Nex struggled even to say those words.

But it seemed he had misunderstood his companion. He wasn't urging him to give up, not at all. "Look around you."

For the first time, Nex saw something other than red. There was an army surrounding the Behemoth from all sides, countless Awakened as far as the eye could see.

"When the hell did they even get here?!"