My Skills Can Evolve Infinitely in a Game-Like World

Chapter 40: Medusa’s Gaze & Selene’s Strength

Aurelius watched as two people turned to stone right before his eyes.

The process was almost instantaneous.

One moment the two were perfectly normal. The next, they had turned into stone statues that were facing the ceiling.

Their eye sockets were hollow as their eyeballs had long since melted, while terror remained etched across their faces.

Aurelius was deeply shocked by the scene.

He only snapped back to reality when he heard their final screams, as well as the chime of a bell ringing within his head.

[Medusa’s Gaze has taken effect...]

[Ability: Petrify beings with Intelligence less than 35. Stun beings with Intelligence less than 50.]

[Ding!]

[The Player has an Intelligence higher than 50! You have resisted the effects of Medusa’s Gaze!]

The moment the final notification appeared, Aurelius was forcefully brought back to reality.

Barely a moment had passed since everything began.

Selene had yet to recover from the gray light’s influence, while a puzzled look had appeared on Priest Mayin’s face.

In this situation, Aurelius was forced to make a swift decision.

And he acted quickly.

As soon as he woke up, he immediately shed off his external disguise. Taking hold of Selene’s shoulder, he shoved his foot against the floor, pushing both of them backward.

As he did, the effects of the Disguise Potion rapidly dissolved.

He quickly returned to his original, noble but masked appearance while Selene turned back into a dark-hearted beauty.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been a bad thing.

But only a split second later, Aurelius’ hurried decision proved correct.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The floor tiles where he originally stood snapped apart.

Tendrils made of shadows, dripping with a black, murky liquid, appeared as the tiles turned over.

They slashed at his previous location, smashing everything in their surroundings.

"It seems that two mice have reached this place..." Priest Mayin quickly recovered from the shock.

"Are you from the Sun Church?" he questioned, each syllable making the shadows beneath him writhe.

But before anyone could respond, he shook his head.

"No."

"The Sun Church would not send just two people to deal with me. Even if they came, they would have sent at least a Rank 2 Paladin."

"So..." Priest Mayin raised his head to stare at Aurelius and Selene, a faint smile slowly creeping onto his face.

"You two came here on your own?"

A chuckle escaped his lips.

It was not sinister like those of the cultists before him, but similar to the laughter of a kind older gentleman.

Yet the dark shadows still squirming beneath his body, as though they were puddles of black ink, served to ruin whatever goodwill one held toward him.

The moment his words fell, he didn’t speak any further.

With a wave of his hand, the shadows shot forward, turning into a wave of dark liquid and firing at the duo.

Seeing the darkness gradually swallow his vision and sensing the cold chill running down his spine, Aurelius reacted quickly.

His hand holding onto Selene’s shoulder, he was about to step to the side and evade the blow.

But just then, he felt Selene’s body escape his grasp.

Unknowingly, a silver dagger had materialized in each of her hands as her figure dashed forward.

Then, stopping in front of the sea of black ink, she swung her weapons dozens of times.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Silver arcs filled the air.

The power of darkness was severed again and again, as though the Assassin and the darkness had reached a stalemate.

Yet whenever part of the shadows was cut off, evaporating into the air, a new splash of dark ink would replace it.

Inch by inch, it constantly drew closer to Selene, whose counterattack became increasingly weaker.

Finally...

Bang!

The shadows descended upon her, tearing her body into pieces.

A victorious smile emerged on Priest Mayin’s face.

The scene of his prey being ripped apart made him particularly joyful, despite doing his best to conceal it.

However, the smile vanished almost immediately.

Rather than blood and flesh splattering, Selene’s figure simply cracked.

Then, like a porcelain doll, it shattered into countless pieces.

Click! Click! Click! The sound of the fragments hitting the floor echoed through the room.

However, Priest Mayin had long stopped paying attention to them.

Spinning around, he faced the empty space behind him and raised his hand in a hurry, erecting a shadowy shield.

The next instant, an invisible veil was taken off.

In the space where there was originally no one, Selene’s beautiful figure had unknowingly appeared.

The daggers were still tightly within her palms as she thrust them forward with all her strength.

Assassin’s Shadow Clone!

By creating a clone of Mana, an Assassin could conceal their true body within the surrounding shadows.

When their opponent lowered their guard, they would strike with a single precise blow, reaping their lives.

A split second after Selene’s appearance, her daggers and the shadowy shield collided.

At first, the daggers’ forward momentum was contained, as though Priest Mayin had succeeded.

But soon, large fractures started to spread across the shield. Within moments, it crumbled into pieces.

The two silver daggers continued unabated, ready to slice Priest Mayin’s throat.

But just as his face seemed sealed, Priest Mayin raised his hands.

A dark, murky liquid enveloped his arms, dripping onto the ground and corrupting the reinforced tiles beneath him.

When his hands worked like pincers, snapping around the silver daggers and holding them back, that exact dark liquid forced them to stop.

Under Selene’s stunned eyes, her extraordinary weapons were quickly corroded, melting and merging with the dripping liquid surrounding them.

"Hehe, little girl, you’re overthinking it. Do you think you can kill a Rank 2 Awakener just based on a sneak attack?"

"You’re overestimating yourself! What’s a mere Assassin in front of a Dark Apostle?"

Even as the Priest spoke, his movements never paused.

The power of shadows continuously converged, looking ready to envelop Selene and kill this obnoxious Assassin.

In the final moment, however, the Priest’s expression rapidly changed. Alarm bells rang in his heart.

When he unnaturally tilted his head backward, the only thing he could see was a rapidly expanding sphere made of golden flames.

The brilliance of the Sun surrounded it, causing the darkness throughout the chamber to riot as though it had encountered its natural enemy.

Level 2 Fireball!

Solar Manifestation!

Two powerful offensive skills fused into one.