Chaos in the Dungeon (3)

I was terrified.

If the demon's words are true, then his other fragment wants to use all the freshmen in this dungeon as supplements.

"Is he crazy…?"

[It's just a few mortals. Honestly, I would have praised his plan if he was not our enemy.]

I scowled.

I forgot that this demon doesn't have any humanity in him.

But after listening to the demon, I was curious about something.

"Hey, do you know how to use that method too?"

[I don't.] The demon shook his head. [As fragments, each one of us harbors different parts of the complete memories. The only memory all of the fragments share is the one related to our identity and our purpose. However, if I absorb another fragment, I will get his memories.] 

I nodded.

In other words, as the demon devours more fragments, it grows stronger and consequently, the host grows stronger too.

It seems like defeating other hosts is the quickest way to become stronger.

If that is true...

I looked in the direction of the rampaging student.

"We must stop him."

[Yes. If the fragment's plan is successful, then he will become much stronger. That is bad news for us.]

I grunted in agreement and rushed toward the direction of the student.

As soon as he appeared in my line of sight, I attacked him.

The sudden attack surprised him. He opened his eyes wide as my spear headed for his chest.

All of a sudden, he screamed.

"AAaahhh!"

Purple lightning was discharged from his body, rushing toward me like countless snakes.

But I had already seen him use lightning when I was observing him with Understanding, so I was prepared. As the rays of lightning approached me, I pulled out lightning from my lightning seed and wrapped it around my body, allowing me to defend against his attack while only stiffening for a brief instant.

The student, on the other hand, was not expecting me to receive his attack without being injured, thus he was too slow to react when I broke through it and reached him.

Without hesitating, I stabbed my spear into the right side of his chest.

This attack should be enough to activate the bracelet.

But–

*Spurt!*

The bracelet did not activate.

My spear pierced his chest, gouging a hole as blood gushed out of his body.

I froze in shock. 

'What happened?'

[Boy, careful!]

Following the demon's shout, the student clenched his fist and struck my chest.

"DiE!

"Ugh!"

I groaned in pain while retreating. 

Fortunately, the demon warned me beforehand and I managed to coat my chest with mana. Otherwise, I could have been seriously injured.

But the student was not done. After the first attack, he followed up with a kick wrapped in lightning.

"I WoNt LOsE!!!" He roared in a crazed manner.

He did not care about the hole in his chest and continued attacking me without regard for his injuries.

"Crazy…!" I muttered in incredulity as I defended against his frenzied attacks.

What in the hell is happening? Why did the bracelet fail to activate?

That injury should be grave enough for him to be disqualified.

[Don't get distracted boy. He is getting faster.]

I clicked my tongue and tried to widen the distance between us. But he did not allow it. He stuck to me while swinging his fists and legs like crazy.

In the meanwhile, blood continued gushing out of his chest, but he seemed not to feel it. Quite the opposite, his movements seemed to become faster.

"Shit. What kind of fucked up situation is this?"

Actually, the student was not that strong. I had landed a couple of blows besides the initial stab in his chest, but he seemed unable to feel pain, and the bracelet did not activate no matter how many attacks he received.

'Is it because he still can fight?'

I was not sure of my judgment.

'Should I land a lethal blow to test it? But if the bracelet still doesn't activate, I could kill him.'

Although the rampaging student was somehow related to a fragment of the demon, I didn't want to kill him; furthermore, if he ended up dead, I would be in a lot of trouble.

However, I did not know how else to stop him without killing him.

He did not show any signs of fatigue either. Honestly, I could not see any way to end this battle soon.

[He is consuming his life force. At this rate, he will die soon. If you want to prevent that, you must stop him.] The demon commented.

'Any ideas, demon?'

[In your current circumstances, your only option is to attack his joints to immobilize him and ask the professors to come. I don't have any more ideas.]

Shit. 

What are the professors doing!? Can't they see something is wrong with him!?

Out of options, I followed the demon's advice.

"DiE diE DIE!!!"

While ignoring his crazed speech, I crouched down, avoiding an elbow strike while swinging my spear to his left foot.

The tip of my spear cut through his ankle, making him lose his balance. But despite that, he continued charging at me while dragging his injured foot.

I clicked my tongue and avoided him again, this time slashing his right ankle with my spear.

"Agh…!"

The student finally collapsed on the muddy floor.

But instead of stopping, he used his arms to drag his body in my direction while looking at me with bloodshot eyes.

"StrONgEST! ImTHeStRoNGesT!!!"

"You look like a zombie," I muttered while panting softly. I then looked around and shouted.

"Professors, are you listening!? Someone should come to check on him! Something strange is happening! For some reason, the bracelet did not activate!"

I shouted a couple of times and waited for a professor to arrive.

Fortunately, it seemed that the professors did not ignore me. 

Less than one minute later, a professor appeared.