'That's right...'
Raven's body was filled with wounds, broken fingers, and bloody flesh torn open from their sharp, jagged claws.
'They are waiting because I am slow and too weak.'
The remnant demons and monsters were still in their thousands as even the S-Rank and A-Rank enforcers were struggling to progress due to the sheer volume of mid-level monsters slowly.
He flicked his wrist, crushing the body of a demon that tried to jump onto him with its sharp claws and deformed fangs.
-> Level Up!
Like magic, a sudden healing force exploded through his body—the broken bones were fixed, and his bruised and lacerated flesh completely healed. Once again, he held onto Mor'Vaar tightly, filled with a passion, a desire to become stronger.
'Increase Dread Mantle's Level'
> Alistair "Raven" Granbell
->Title: "Chimera of Black Storm." "Monster of Endless Hunger."
->Title: "The Dryad (S)Layer" "Dryad's Bane."
-> Chimera (Manticore / High Orc)
-> Age 28 (Visually 21)
-> Blood Type O-Z1
[Class]
-> Class: Dread Knight (Lord of the 12th Seat)
->Level: 38
->Experience: 1%
[Cultivation]
-> Cultivation: The Twelve Gates Of Bliss (Manticore Only)
-> Cultivation Realm: Gate 6 [Gateway of Serenity]
-> Cultivation Stage: Stage 9
[Economy]
-> Credits: 11,515 (2,540 Lilith's Pocket Money, 6,000 Harem pocket Money)
[Attributes]
Strength: 23
Agility: 22
Stamina: 21
Vitality: 22
Intellect: 23
Wisdom: 24
[Skills]
Manticore's Heart (Passive) [Level 6]
A massive increase in Vitality, Blood and Stamina regeneration at all times, creating the perfect mate for a female Manticore.
Shadow Strike [Level 7]
Dash towards an enemy and brutalise them with a dark cleaving flurry of up to 7 strikes, causing heavy shadow damage, ignoring defence.
It can be used three times per cast!
2-second cooldown
Dread Aura [Level 4]
Cause fear to all enemies around you, slowing their actions for 4 seconds.
The caster takes reduced damage for 10 seconds after the fear ends; once this effect ends, all damage taken is doubled for 5 seconds.
10-second cooldown
No cost
Dread Mantle [Level 5]
[The Raven's Lament]
You are the Lord of Dread—this mantle is your own, and nobody can take this from you!
Grant's the user a protective cloak of gloom that can cover the entire body, recovering stamina slowly while gradually increasing attack damage and defence every minute it is activated.
It can also be used to attack the enemy when all is lost, trust in yourself!
No Cooldown
Dread Claws [Max] (NEW!)
Control your mantle to form large shadowy claws that protect your arms and tear apart your foes!
Brutal and relentless, walk the path of Dread.
Kill all enemies!
-
After cultivating with Valeria and Claudina, Raven was too scared to check his attributes.
It was a kind of trauma for him, worried he might have destroyed his foundation, as the eastern cultivators called it.
However...
The gates had begun to repair themselves while somehow Zestria was also the Pillar of Balance, the 5th Gate in his heart, which was strange... but he accepted it for now, wondering what the criteria were for becoming a pillar.
He looked at the new changes to his Dread Mantle, no longer draining his magic or stamina but now slowly recovering stamina and a gradually building damage and defence buff, which seemed amazing.
<<Dread Mantle>>
A burst of gloom surrounded Raven's body, the quality and effect of his mantle now completely different—like a beautiful raiment of Raven's feather, it wrapped around his body, covering every inch of his skin.
At the same time, his tail began to emit a gloomy glow—when it flicked to the side, the claws from his Dread Claws sliced through the sky.
'Cool...'
His entire body had become a deadly weapon and fortress.
Taking one last look at the glistening shards of the fallen Gate, the monsters were terrified the moment he levelled up and increased his Dread Aura. His entire body pulsed with a dreadful and gloomy aura that caused them to feel as if he would devour them at any moment.
They were right.
"I spent so long bothered about manticores, dread knights that.... but what am I?"
Raven spoke to the demons, slowly gaining their minds back after the gloom faded, now wrapped tightly around his body.
The new form of Dream Mantle was called The Raven's Lament, a beautiful black armour filled with raven feathers fluttering under his command.
Sadly, he didn't get an answer from them.
His head tilted with a bitter smile before the black gloom extended, covering his face with a black raven-like helmet with a long beak curved down like a plague doctor but terrifying.
"Well... No matter...." His voice was distorted, as if speaking through a speaker with the bass and echo maxed, causing the air to vibrate with a slight hum.
"The answer was ORC!"
*Bang!*
His huge Axe sliced through the air, his muscles tightly condensing before they exploded with his full power—beyond 19 humans, it was a strength comparable to those of the A rank easily, as his blade tore through the demon's flesh like a level 1 goblin.
<<Dread Aura>>
"Do not fear; I won't let you feel pain."
However, something was different from the usual mantle and Raven...
Each time he killed a demon, a powerful suction assaulted their bodies, and their power and aura they devoured like a female manticore or succubus.
He was devouring them, but not their essence...
Raven was devouring them entirely, leaving behind a mere husk as it increased his experience and sent a huge flood of pink aura into his core.
The powerful life energy spiralled around with a mixture of pink and purple as he felt the barrier to reach the 7th Gate, still half destroyed from his moment of Cultivation, with Claudina and Valeria.
'Good, this purple energy can make my women stronger... Ah~ it feels great to crush monsters!'
His body lunged forward, cleaving, tearing and smashing the monster with his tail. The sharp shadow claws formed after his tail crushed their bones, ripping their bodies apart.
Raven was like a mobile harvester—each kill, albeit small, brought him closer to the pinnacle.
And the demons were powerless, under his Dread Aura that reduced their movements to a standstill.
***
At the other end of the wave defence battle, a member of the S-Rank Enforcement unit was much like Raven, except nothing touched her.
Her hair was crimson red, flowing long, swaying from her movements in twin tails bouncing as she lifted a single palm, bathing dozens of demons in a pillar of flame, melting them in seconds.
'Boring...'
'This world is so boring...'
'4,000 years...'
Her name was Zeon, and she was of a now almost extinct race of dragons, a superior tier even above the True Dragons...
She watched the battlefield with her Golden iris, seeing everything in slow motion as if playing a video at 0.5 speed.
Zeon collected the spit in her mouth before a massive crackle sounded around her lips as she opened her maw wide; sharp dragons teeth and a long pink tongue balled into a channel before she started to absorb blue energy which formed as she sucked the magical aura from the air.
A brilliant luminescent light exploded from her mouth as her lips opened. The beam of superheated flame created hundreds of monsters in an instant.
Her head turned to the side to remove the entire threat when her eyes widened, the black slit pupils dilating as she saw a man... wrapped in gloomy darkness in the path of her attack.
Her Axe cutting down the demons was no different from her co-workers or the many heroes who tried to court her in the past.
So like always, using her supernatural communication, her body flashed, sending him the message to flee.
"Escape, you will die. My attack is going to hit you!"
"Noone can survive the flame of a Bahamut!"
***
Raven's mind was filled with pleasure and delight—his body wanted more to kill, devour and grow.
However, he was not lost—the pleasure and feelings were under HIS control and were not some crazed state, and with each kill, his mind was clear enough to count how much he gained and how many monsters it would take for him to level again.
"12"
He heard a husky, enforcing voice the moment his tail pierced the chest of a spiked demon which was rather creepy, a deformed humanoid figure with a crooked spine, but its body had white spikes growing all over that would grow larger instantly.
"9"
Raven ignored the first message, his body twirling as Mor'Vaal cleaved the heads of three demons about to shoot fireballs at his back; then he grabbed one by the face, crushing its skull with his left hand.
"4"
"Noone can survive the flame of a Bahamut!"
Filled with the energy and adrenaline of killing, he began to swing his Axe recklessly, chopping their limbs, cleaving their chests as blood and essence filled his body—he felt like he had discovered his way to the top...
"1"
Again that slightly sexy voice sounded, but Raven didn't know what a Bahamut was... He could only feel strong and hostile energy moving his way—it was strong...
'Fuck... What kind of demon?'
Raven's mind lost a touch of clarity due to being 1 away from his next level, both his Class and the Gate reaching the next stage... opening the Gate of Unity!
Angry, he grabbed his Axe—the oncoming beam was hot just seeing it approach the ground, and demons melted and exploded like a hamster in the microwave as it popped.
Standing with his feet anchored into the ground, all his muscles tensed, ready for one blow to contend with this attack, he would need to fight these monsters eventually. Why not try now? He didn't feel like he would die!
Holding Mor'Vaal above his head, the beam approached rapidly, the worried and angry words of that sexy old woman ringing in his head.
'Let's do it together, my Raven Mantle of Gloom!'
*Boom**Slash!*
Layering Shadow Strikes over and over more than 20 times as his head began to hurt—he slashed down, his Axe now completely black with a beautiful blade light forming as thick and powerful as the beam but only a few inches in size.
<<Shadow Strike!>>
Raven grits his teeth, the beam's power causing his body to overheat, his lips burning, but he continues!
Until his body fell, he would continue to cast Shadow Strike until he WON!
Like a stubborn ORC!
[Gained Title: Knight of Gloom - Embracing Dread and Fighting off the Light]
R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freew𝒆(b)novel.c(o)m Only