The world changed once more as we took a step inside the Goemon's tombs.
"Race, folks?" I asked.
"You look like you're in the mood to lose?" Noa quipped.
"I just want to test the limits of this new thing, you see? See how good I can go."
"The authority?" Irina followed. "Sealing your abilities on tight time is stupid."
"No, no…"
I grinned.
"The fact that I am a demon."
All of them narrowed their eyes.
"One versus all, I can understand if you guys are too scared of big bad demon guy here though. Totally understandable."
"Oh, you're asking for an ass-whooping?"
"I could still understand if this was free for all, but you alone?"
"Meryl, Meryl, what do you think? I don't want to offend our brother."
"Marcin, Marcin, being stupid is being stupid. No offense there."
The caves' inviting stretch spread far and wide, the darkness of the tomb clear as all hell.
"So?" I pumped my brows. "Are you guys game?"
Irina sighed. "Of course not, brat—Turn into a frogus!"
A cloud of dust was kicked up with Luka and Irina moving in perfect sync as Albert screamed.
"Here, follow along! Let's show this bastard."
A grin escaped me as the spirits stopped just short of turning me into a frog. I waved my hands, a gust spread and the cloud of dust was gone, and with it were gone all the idiots that were here with me.
"Brats."
Did they think I was going to go down that easily? Foolish.
I hopped back a little and clenched my fists. Once, twice.
This was about speed.
I took in a breath and summoned all the strength in my hands. With a single crash into the ground, the floor of the dungeon smashed through and the land two levels below revealed itself.
"You're cheating!" Titania hummed from the side, but I only grinned.
"Amazing, my body is much stronger now."
"We already established that."
Snark.
I hopped down the floor, on the one below was yet another hole leading down to the third which I dived straight into.
The third floor was littered with ghoulish fiends donning armor and blades, the dark stony walls of the cave were lit up barely by burning will-o-wisps. Souls of the deceased.
I turned my hand behind me and cracked my neck.
The monsters saw me and took a stance with their weapons.
"Neat, wanna eat some demonic energy, Catene?"
The chains in my hands whirred as it slowly changed into a sword.
"Krarr!"
"KEEE!"
The monsters came rushing my way. My Ki filled my legs while the black, rotting, deviling demonic energy crept up the surface of the blade.
It whirred more, not in pain, not in fear, but in ecstasy. And truly, I understood it.
The greed that this transformation brought, it was pleasant and addictive like the finest of honey.
A cloud of dust erupted as I shot ahead. The blade swung to the side and I chopped one head off right away.
My feet slammed on the ground, and I pivoted to the next. In a hook kick, I swung around and slammed the face of the ghoul.
The helmet crushed. Then its skull, and then its head shot off from its neck like a volleyball being spiked away.
"Whoops."
I shrugged and looked at the rest of them. The ghouls charged in again and I swung the blade again. Like a simmering dance, I cut them all with the black blade and its dense black demonic energy.
Efficiency incomparable.
But there was still something yet that I hadn't seen. The strength of the demonic energy was nowhere fully explored yet. I wanted to see it a step ahead.
"Alright, Catene, let's rush ahead."
I tossed away the last of the corpses here under my feet and the sword turned back into chains. Each floor usually had a floor boss, unlike in collectives like the Deep Down Dive. There was little to do here other than killing the floor boss and fucking off.
The others would handle the ones above.
I charged through the route once more. Demon energy coalesced in my hands.
As soon as I saw any of the monsters in my path, I simply shot out the demonic energy. Small, tiny lumps that slowly started consuming the monsters.
Groups of ghouls started to turn on each other and engage in wars of the sword as I simply dashed by.
And then, my eyes fell on the giant armored ghoul almost touching the ceiling of the floor. In its hands a spear instead of a sword.
"That's the boss, Eugy. Want its status?"
"HAH!"
I scoffed at her words and held Catene in my grip. The bottom of the chain slowly wrapped around my hand while I swung the rest and ran toward the monster.
"KRIEEEEK!"
The monster screamed and raised it's whip, clouds of dust and stone merged and fell on the ground. Without stopping for a fleeting second, I whipped my hand ahead.
The demonic energy filling the chains reached a max as it started extending in length.
The chains clamped on the spear of the bastard and started shrinking from the other end, slinging me along.
"Whoo!"
I swung through the air and kicked the giant ghoul in the face, crushing its nose and shoving part of its head inside.
The chains turned into a sword once more.
"Two more floors,"
My legs balanced on its shoulders, I raised the sword up high and this time, my Ki filled it to the brim.
"[Falling Azure Dragon]"
The sword slammed down on the head of the monster, like a dragon raging through the caves, a crashing spread through the place and a hole formed on the top of the monster's head. The dragon's rage didn't stop even as the monster slumped backward.
The ground, and then another giant ghoul!
"HAHAHA!"
The second boss was crushed too, and then the next floor opened. The dragon kept reeling down, another enormous ghoul entered my sight as the dragon kept raging down on the floor and smashed open yet another.
I swung on my feet and turned on my back, in a single go, I let go of my body and jumped down the hole and into the ones below.
The giant ghoul passed me by as I entered the next floor.
My demonic energy marked it and I fell on the ground.
Behind me, was the next boss with an axe.
It raised its axe up high.
And I grinned.
Right then, the boss that I had passed through broke through the hole in the wall and came jumping down at the one here. It crashed its hammer into the axe and its head into the head.
The strongest forte of demonic energy was not just to corrupt, but to raise. People were more in tune with their desires and easier to destroy. The two bosses started fighting each other to death. It was then, a voice emerged from the top of the three holes I had just made.
"What the fuck!? You're cheating you bastard!"
Luka screamed at me.
I simply snapped my fingers and a new form of land emerged around the hole, covering it.
If they tried hard, they could break it without much trouble. So I dashed away and started making another hole in the ground to jump through. This time I made sure to seal it first as I left.
The will o wisps around started taking over the place the deeper I went into the dungeon, my eyes sweeping through every place to look for anything that could be of use.
Our goal was the core, the center of the dungeon after all. That was likely where an artifact was to be too.
The will o wisps suddenly grew larger as no ghouls entered my sight. And down the eleventh floor, they turned into my enemies.
A chuckle escaped me.
"What if I seal my ability to be hurt through these ghosts?"
"Hoh. Can you? Won't that break a lot of balances."
"I wonder."
I tried to focus the authority in my horns as I ran through the walls and prepared to dive down once more. The souls around came charging at me all at once.
But no matter how I tried, I only felt a static in my head.
It seemed I wasn't locking my ability to be hurt, but instead trying to ADD immunity.
In that case.
"Alright, you ghosts lose the ability to move."
An image of a lock formed itself in my head as I felt the weight of my horns lighten.
And all the souls approaching, were frozen in place.
"Hm…. AHAHAAHH!"
I cackled and started making more holes down, this time not bothering to cover them.
I would run around and seal more and more ghosts.
When I was on the nineteenth floor, the idiots looked down and screamed again.
"We're right here!~ Eugene!"
I clapped my hands.
And the lock opened.
"KIEEEE!"
An almost harmonious scream resounded as the spirits all had their ability to move amplified manifold. All of them charging straight at the idiots behind me.
I whistled and made one more hole yet.
Boss time.
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