9 Chapter 9 The race to Belphegor

"what's the longest time I've ever stayed out there?"

[1hr if I remember correctly]

"I should've guessed it wasn't high..."

[master, I'm struggling to understand the logic behind this decision]

"seems quite logical to me this is how any player would grind up levels up anyway"

I stroked my chin gently while assessing the leveling plan I'd set up on the grey sand I'd layed on the floor.

Fighting a dangerous enemy was idiocy at it's finest although at the same time, it had reward, a massive reward to it that I'd unconsciously been using so why not just go a little further with it?

[.... Your mentality worries me master..]

"Worrying!?" I laughed, "The larger the difference, the more EXP for me"

[you're hinging everything on luck....?]

"trust me I'm no maniac, a 5 level difference will be changeling enough for me to get a good haul of EXP"

[if I'm understanding this correctly then your entire plan is using the EXP that's acquired after near death situations?]

"exactly"

[....you made this sound like such a grand plan]

"technically it is, I mean who else would think of something so bold?"

A pitch black night that I'd oddly become indifferent from with the sudden rise of shadow demons like a level from a game no longer spiking the same fear and paralyzing feeling of stillness.Chaos reigned with the first roars of pain, I'd never realized how noisy the place actually was until now.

"right, shadow evasion"

[Shadow evasion has evolved to shadow step master]

"aha..forgot about that, well then let's try it out"

[shadow step:activated]

surprised, I barely dodged the swipe from the shadowy bear's figure in front of me which instead striked the demon behind me square in the face, confused on what was going on, my eyes layed upon the entrance to my shelter with realization quickly smashing me like a truck.

"d-d-did I teleport?"

[unlike shadow evasion, shadow step is not limited to shadows alone]

A little overjoyed, I plunged my hand into the bears mouth while activating shadow slash causing the back of the bears neck to tear open as it's jaw slammed shut over my arm as I expectee a surge or some sort of pain and readied myself for it though nothing came.

right I forgot I had a new skill that nullifies pain but to this extent is just monstrous, I'm feeling absolutely nothing

carefully examining my health, I allowed the bear to rip off my right hand entirely before bringing down my left hand and slashing the bears neck again with shadow slash,this time it fell to the ground in a decapitated mess.

sigh I forgot that Kin eater is out of commission

shrugging a bit, I turned around in the direction of the demon the bear had striked as it made a quick dash towards me, noticing my right hand had been torn off, not wanting to lose too much health anytime soon, I used shadow step causing me to appear right behind the demon as I realized that the skill placed me wherever I looked.

"does this have a range limit?"

[20 meters]

I grabbed the demons leg to the ground with my hand set a blaze along with the rest of the demon in a mesmerizing display of lilac flames, deafening screeches followed while it slowly burned to death.

"now it's all about how can I use manifestation effectively...."

[a smaller weapon would be a great start]

"...never thought of that"

I activated shadow manifestations, forming a dagger in my hand that barely took any manner to conjure let alone strengthen,pleased with the result, I dropped the dagger onto the floor and made a new one while keeping an eye on my decreasing mana, I did this till my mana dropped to 476 and ran my eyes in search of another fight amongst the chaos.

Crackle!! Bang!!

the sound like a whip had been smashed into the air travelled into my ears along with a terrible hissing and the sound of sliding sand as I targeted my sight to a demon that striked me as oddly familiar. A silhouette of eyes with half of them closed shut seemingly unable to work and a scaley shadow like appearance with 2 arms supporting it's entire weight acting as legs, lastly was it's tail, a long sharp appendage that extended past the bodies own length.

The demon rushed towards me, it's remaining eyes only locked upon me and myself alone, startled but half expecting to be targeted by anyone during this time, I jumped back moments before the half eyed demon brought one of its arms onto the ground in front of me, causing grey sand to splash like water that blinded me from the demons next attack for a split second.

BAAM!!

a large scar appeared on my chest from the quick slash of the half eyed demons tail from the sand.

"I'm guessing that must've done some serious damage"

[HP:659/1023]

"250 damage!!"

I frowned at the half eyed demon standing ahead of me, it's abnormally long tail swaying from left to right in an expression of defiance.

"appraisal"

[race:shadow demon

type:eyeless hunter

level:18]

"Your stats are just as terrifying as that appearance but why target me?"

a violent hiss escaped from its mouth as it circled me.

"I mean you do seem familiar...."

angered, the half eyed demon lunged towards me to which I dodged with shadow step a whole 17 meters away in order to avoid it's tail, the demon shot a glare at me and opened its mouth to a long tongue that stretched out further than it's tail and grabbed my ankle.

how much damage will this do now?

lifting me high into the air, I was able to get a brief glance of just how vast this place was before being smashed onto the ground in a loud thud.

[HP:359/1023]

300 damage huh, I think I've had just about enough now

staggering a bit, I stood up with my hand in a firm fist as the half eyed demon rushed towards me fully ready to finish the job, using shadow step a 4th time, I appeared right above the demons tail and grabbed it while half expecting it to slash me on the back moments before I was able to attack it from above.

I stared at my right arm that I'd forgotten was missing a hand but tried to use the flames of insanity anyway, unexpectedly, a bright pillar of lilac flames emerged through the wisping stub of my arm.

so I can use it without hands, Ha! Imagine what I'd look like if I tried using it with my mouth.....yeah that'd be terrifying

shaking away the unnecessary thoughts, I brought the pillar onto the demons back, causing it to flay and scream in pain as it slowly caught ablaze.

Quickly I jumped of its back, using the remaining mana I had left to evade its tail,a purple beacon in a starry night sky. It couldn't even look for me as the pain was the only thing occupying the nerves riddling its shadowed body and at that moment a memory flashed past my head, reminding me what was burning in front of me.

"oh I get it, this was personal from the start. Who knew demons could hold grudges, geeze you even came back with a stronger tail and a new appendage"

the demons movements slowed drastically as it took one last glance at me with eyes that were now a melting mess, surprisingly a loud hiss escaped from its mouth before it fell dead on the floor with the flames dwindling quickly right after.

"you leveled up and everything....thats some serious determinatio-"

I paused as my body started feeling like lead,the feeling was familiar....it was the same intimidation skill Belphegor had used on me or at least I thought it was a skill. Swallowing some of the fear, I robotically and robustly made my way up, one of the dunes next to me and there it was, a standoff that left me frozen.

Belphegors quills were a sparking yellow stream of bright electricity, scars completely covering a body of broad and robust dedication to murder, its opponent was no more harrowing, in front of it was a large bat like creature with a stature towering as the dunes of sand with wings shrouding the ground below under a shadow of its own glory, dwarfing Belphegor himself and yet treating the creature with as much caution as the other.

I watched in awe as a bright ball of electricity formed in Belphegors mouth, pointing it straight towards the bat-like creature that responded in kind with it's own attack, a spherical formation of blood red flames oozing with an aura of terrifying malevolence. Both looked as if it was the last thing they could muster from the depths of their oceans of mana, sizing the other in an air of agonizing anticipation.

"this is going to be destructive huh?"

[I'd advise we get down]

*5 hours later*

[race:evolved shadow demon

Level:16

HP:1345/1345

mana:986/986

stamina:1200/1200]

[shadow step has leveled up by 3]

[bravery and tenacity that could be considered insane, the spirit of fire graces you with joy]

[elemental aptitude to fire has increased]

[shadow manifestation has leveled up by 2]

[defense(lvl5) ]

"well would you look at that it worked out surprisingly well"

[you seem to enjoy the feeling of death, master]

"The last thing on my mind is trying to die but this method is quite affective"

[I'd beg to differ..]

"sigh, I'm not dead am i?"

[...]

"besides how else am I going to beat this....."

I slided across the massive crater of black glass realizing just how far I was from even standing on the same pedestal as Belphegor.

this is going to take much longer than I expected.....