98 Chapter 98: The grim reaper

Within the clouds of death aura the Minotaur failed to realize the strange movements Derik made with his claws, all he knew was thatched the death aura around the kid who was supposed to be human suddenly doubled. The Minotaur was terrified! Its eyes narrowed and its bushy eyebrows knitted together. "Silver level Secret combat technique: Brilliant claw!" Derik roared, brandishing his claws at the Minotaur! Two brilliant darkish purple flames the shape of claws burst out of the clouds of death aura and dashed towards the Minotaur. The beast roared and took a step forward before swinging it's war ax to meet the brilliant flashy claws of doom! Dang! Dang!!This time the Minotaur retreated by two steps this time, its body quivered violently and its grip on the war ax loosened slightly. Its eyes only left Derik for only a few seconds and when it returned Derik was gone. Shrill laughter's and numerous trails of claw shaped residual death auras filled the place. It was confused for only a second and when it finally located Derik, it was already too late... PUFF!!!... An unhealthy amount of blood gushed out of them from the place which its kneecaps are supposed to be found! The Minotaur let out a cry of pain as it fell on its left knee and before it could even prepare itself, two more claw marks rich with death aura penetrated its chest and the death aura infested its body and quickly spread! Knowing the implications of what just happened, the Minotaur was aware of the fact that its life will definitely come to an end soon and since that was the case, it vowed to take the human responsible for its demise along with it. Suddenly its eyes turned bloodshot and its already enormous muscles began bulging. Its grip on its war ax tightened as it set its eyes on the cluster of death aura with a pair of purple burning fiery eyes. In its berserk state, the beast could ignore the pain and its physical capabilities doubled. It made a very quick movement with the war ax in its hands, so fast that even Derik could not see it coming... Swooosh! A massive amount of blood splashed out of the cluster of darkish purple aura and the being within staggered back. A broad grin appeared on the face of the Minotaur as it expected its prey to panic and probably try to escape but to its greatest surprise what followed was something he never thought a human would do! Another shrill laughter resonated from the cluster of death aura and Derik lunged forward like a prehistoric beast, driving his claws deep into the Minotaurs abdominal muscles. The Minotaur quickly spat out a mouth full of blood, quickly raising its war ax and chopped down on Derik! Splash! Puff! Over and over again lots of blood splattered on the ground of the narrow corridor and soon even the Minotaur began laughing hysterically. This beast was used to hunting its prey, watching them run and cower in fear but this human in front of it is the first to ever stand his ground and fight like a man. This bloody battle brought about unexplainable joy in its tiny heart and it just mimicked Derik, laughing out loud both when it took damage and dished out damage. The crazed laughter of these two echoed around the first level of the dungeon that everyone who heard it felt terrified slightly in their hearts, even silver realm warriors and mages were not exempted from this. The combination of Derik's sinister and diabolic death aura coupled with the complete chaotic aura which escaped the body of the Minotaur in its berserk state was so unpleasant that everyone decided to wait from a safe zone until the battle ends. Surprisingly, this continued for over ten minutes and the laughter's finally died down, the aura's were withdrawn and deadly silence presided for over a minute. "Who do you think won? And when did that Derik kid get this strong... He must have been hiding a lot of strength... That kid is not simple!" Anna said with a terrified expression on her face as waited for the final results to be announced. Gerald in response only nodded but remained silent, he too was worried about Derik, for Derik to fight a mythical creature with such chaotic aura, chances are he's either dead or close to death. At most the beast and Derik should be dead, in no scenario did he see Derik coming out on top of this, but then... Booooom!!!!!.... "Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!"... Along with the sudden outburst of terrifying death aura was a peal of hysterical laughter that echoed all over the dungeon. Anna screamed in fear and retreated while a smile bloomed on Gerald's face while he silently cursed Derik for making him worry. He was no stranger to the animosity all expedition troops present in the dungeon bore for Derik but with this performance, if they should realize that the person capable of causing this much chaos and destruction was a kid, wouldn't they go crazy and try to recruit him? Who would let someone with so much talent waste away, especially when he has no ties to any kingdom? Donald and the rest with the exception of Cyrus wore ugly expressions on their faces, to be honest, they secretly prayed that Derik would not survive that battle but now their hopes have been dashed. These people did not necessarily hate Derik, the only thing that bothered them was the promise Derik made to them about his return. As far as they are concerned it spells doom for their family and knowing the way Derik is, he will most probably carry it out. At this point, they realized that for some unknown magical reason, Derik has always surpassed their expectations, climbing to greater heights at the shortest amount of time and pulling out amazing strength which always made him seem invincible. They were almost a hundred percent sure that if Derik leaves this dungeon alive, no one will be able to kill him again. At this point, they were all drowning in despair! Meanwhile, dragging his bloodied body across the wall was Derik who seemed to be excited for some reason only known to him. His left hand had almost been severed completely and numerous deep gashes caused by the war ax could be seen all over his body. His body was dangerously pale and covered in sweat yet the smile on his face didn't fade. His excitement was simply due to the new ability which he had acquired from Demos. Even though it was morally wrong, it didn't really matter to him much. According to Demos, this can be regarded as the basic ability of all Death mages but he chose to keep this away from Derik because of his background and high moral standard, waiting for the day Derik will fall from grace and realize how the world truly works. The concept of this ability of the spell is based on the primary duty of the angel of death which is to reap the soul of mortals whose mortal body finally dies, but in this case, what he does is different. As every being on the planet is a part of the creator which possess a certain level of energy which is inherited from their master, Derik's spell allows him to steal the soul of these people, unlike the actual angel of death which presents the soul to the creator for judgment, Derik absorbs the soul into his own host soul, permanently increasing his own power permanently. According to Demos, when he reaches the silver realm where his understanding of the element of death and his bond with it has increased to a certain level, he should be able to call upon the souls of the damned in him to fight alongside him for a while.While absorbing the soul of the Minotaur, he felt his power rise by a certain level. His was more of a cheat code to him when compared to the wolf side which has aided him all this while! Even though he knew he probably wouldn't have agreed to this earlier if Demos brought it up he still cursed him in his mind for not doing so. At the arrival to the other end of the corridor, Derik sat down and rested for a while, a week headstart was not something that could be covered easily. Even though he was aware of the fact that he spent most of the previous weeks training and not traveling, he still knew they could not catch up easily. While his injuries healed he still needed to rest his mind which has gone through the most amount of stress, even if his body was at peak condition he sincerely doubted he could resume his journey at his current mental condition. After checking relying both on his enhanced senses and Demos, he passed out in the corridor with a satisfied smile on his face. Four hours later his eyelids slowly opened his right hand was used to caress his left hand which was almost severed initially. His eyes ran through his body and he realizes that his black sleeveless shirt had been shredded completely so he simply used what was left of it to wipe away the excesses blood off his body before summoning a new black short sleeve shirt, some biscuits and a small bottle of water. Within thirty minutes, Derik was done and he stepped out of the corridor brimming with confidence as he approached what seemed like a massive alter with a mesmerizing crystal orb on the altar in a massive room. It glowed brighter as Derik approached confidently and when Derik was only fifteen meters away a beam of purple energy shot forth and smashed into Derik's belly like a hammer, making him fall over and roll about five times before stabilizing himself. He spat out a mouth full of blood while clutching his belly tightly, trying to endure the pain. "Welcome brave warriors and mages... This is the final test of the first floor... Getting past the maze was based on a group's strength to cooperate properly... But to advance to the next level, only individual strength can grant you a good fortune... Your goal is simple... Make physical contact with the alter and you will be transported to the second floor" A mechanical voiced resonated from the purple orb. Hearing this, Derik sneered and wondered why this thing did not mention this first before blasting him away. While the thing spoke, he took the time to understand the environment before making a move. Behind him were multiple narrow paths similar to the one he just emerged from, numbered around ten. He easily guessed that these were paths from which other groups in the dungeon will emerge and face the same issue with him before proceeding. He knew he had a head start so he was probably the first to get here. The room had this golden glow everywhere, so bright that it made it difficult for someone to see his or her legs. The only thing that didn't blend in completely was the purple orb and the not so glowy alter. If not for his enhanced perception, he probably wouldn't have seen the mirrors placed all over the walls, floors, and even ceilings, he didn't know what purpose these mirrors serve and he really wasn't eager to find out. His muscles began bulging and all the hair on his body stood up! He decided it was best to rely on all the power he can muster for this task, knowing fully well he could easily he killed should a mistake take place. "Death magic: Death armor!" "Ooo power of death, grant thy servant thy power and lend thee thy strength... Give me the power to vanquish all those who stand against thy power of death and by the end of this day, thy heads shall hang on the tip of thy spear… Death magic: Bone spear!!!" He screamed as a with exoskeleton bone like structure appeared on his body and a bone spear appeared by his side, levitating! His fiery purple eyes lit up and with a roar, he dashed forward to meet the challenge head on!