Chapter 19：Epiphany

The night sky was clear. Normally, it would have been the best time to drink and enjoy the moon. However, not a single bit of excitement could be seen.

The surge of the lifeless aura was like a dark cloud pressing down on a city. The bright moonlight was shining down, yet there was a dim illusion.

The camp was filled with a lifeless aura, and instead of the wind blowing away the stench from the demonic corpses, it seemed that the stench was spreading. The smell was disgusting.

A demonic corpse swooped down from a roof with a hoarse roar. It opened its mouth and revealed its jagged teeth. Then, with fingers like a sword, it stabbed at a guard.

A trace of fear flashed across the face of the guard who was chosen as the target by the demonic corpse. However, the guard did not retreat. Due to his many years of combat experience, he had learned that if he became timid at a time like that, then he would very soon become a corpse himself and be eaten by the demonic corpses. Therefore, when he saw the demonic corpse swoop down and aim towards him, he fiercely raised the round shield in his hand. He sank his body's center of gravity downward, as the muscles in his arms tightened. The curved blade in his right hand was also ready in case he needed to swing at a moment's notice.

Bang!

With a muffled sound, the demonic corpse that had jumped down from the roof smashed into the round shield in the guard's hand. A ripple that was invisible to the naked eye shook the air.

But this time, the guard had not been knocked back a few steps.

Sean knew that the guard had already used his "skill."

The demonic corpse had its sharp fingers stuck into the round shield, so with a slight stroke of the guard's left hand, the demonic corpse followed the direction that the. The corpse was forced to expose more than half of its body in front of the guard. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, the curved blade in the guard's hand emitted a silver light. A loud tearing sound could be heard. The demonic corpse let out an even clearer roar. Before it could do anything else, its body was cut in two by the blade.

As soon as the guard swung his hand, the half of the demonic corpse's body that was left stuck to the shield was flung away. It smashed into other demonic corpses that were about to kill a few members of the team. It knocked over the demonic corpses like a rolling gourd, taking them down with it. However, there were too many demonic corpses in front of everyone. Even though a few of them were smashed and thus not a problem anymore, there was still a large wave of demonic corpses that were rushing towards them like wolves and tigers. However, everyone seemed to have gotten used to the scene. Even though there was a bit of fear on their faces, their actions were not sluggish in the slightest.

Sean, Drouin, and two guards formed a small team. They situated themselves with the two guards on both sides, Sean leading in the front, and Drouin two positions away in the back. Sean was in charge of leading the way, while Drouin was responsible for preventing the demonic corpses from sneaking up behind them. The two guards were responsible for guarding the sides, one on the left and one on the right.

The four of them did not pause at all. Even if they were surrounded by hundreds of the demonic corpses, they did not dare to slow down the slightest bit. They knew very well that once they were surrounded by the demonic corpses, then they might never be able to get out of there.

It was not that there were no demonic corpses that went to find trouble with the five people on the roof. It was just that there was a guard responsible for intercepting them. Coupled with Old Pete's long spear, which had returned to his hands, plus Cecilia's magic and the fact that the space on the roof was not wide enough, the demonic corpses left the five people on the roof alone after more than a dozen of their comrades had fallen. Instead, they gathered their strength and went after Sean and the others.

The scene had surprised Old Pete.

When he saw the demonic corpses, they were like an army. Not only did they know how to separate themselves into troops to attack, they even knew how to bypass, penetrate, outflank, and kill. However, when looking into the eyes of the demonic corpses, they seemed to have no flash of wisdom at all. In that case, there was only one possibility for how they could fight so well. The demonic corpses had a commander leading them.

Old Pete remembered what Sean had said, and he began to look for the demonic corpse that was wearing red clothes.

Just like Old Pete had guessed, the group of demonic corpses had all come to be like that because of the virus infection of the mutant demonic corpse. Therefore, the group of demonic corpses simply did not have the slightest bit of intelligence to speak of. They were all slaves of that mutant demonic corpse and would only follow the orders and commands of that particular demonic corpse. Even though the group of demonic corpses had rank-three strength, once the mutant demonic corpse stopped giving orders to the group, then they were no threat to the travelers.

Back inside the game, finding the mutant demonic corps and making it furious so that it could not concentrate on commanding the group of demonic corpses was the key to clearing the dungeon.

Sean glanced at Old Pete, hoping that his eyes would become a bit sharper and his movements would become a little faster.

After Sean was slightly distracted, a demonic corpse suddenly jumped out of a corner.

That demonic corpse had been crouching in the corner for a very long time and had not made any move until then. That was not its original intention. It was the decision of the mutant demonic corpse who was controlling it. Now that Sean, the leader of the team, was distracted, the mutant demonic corpse finally could not hold back any longer as it let the demonic corpse it was controlling make its move.

The two guards on the sides were not able to react at all to the sudden attack. Even Sean felt a little bit frightened!

In the environment that already had a rotten smell, the stench that was emitted from the demonic corpse seemed to be a lot clearer. It was as if a chilly wind had suddenly blown from behind Sean. The cold and fearful feeling made Sean's heart almost stop, and a chill went down his spine. The impact of the strong air from in front of the demonic corpse who had jumped out at the group made Sean feel a pain in his cheeks. It was as if a blade was carving lines on his face.

It was the first time that Sean had felt what death was like since he had come to that world!

He wanted to avoid it, but he also knew that his speed was not as fast as the demonic corpse who was rushing towards him. After all, there was a gap between rank three and rank two.

But all of a sudden, there seemed to be a flash of the spirit within Sean's mind.

It was a completely subconscious act. Before Sean was able to consciously react, his body moved. It had responded faster than his thoughts.

The entire world seemed to be in slow-motion.

Whether it was the attack from the demonic corpse, or the frightened expression on the people's faces around Sean, or even the movement of his own hands gradually being raised, everything looked a lot clearer to Sean. He could even clearly feel the power that was currently flowing through him.

At that moment, Sean seemed to have comprehended something.

Mysterious Sword Skill!

At the moment when Sean began to understand, all the slow-motion disappeared.

The speed of the demonic corpse, the tearing sound of the air, and the breeze of cold aura were all the same as before.

However!

In the direction where the demonic corpse was heading towards, there was an extra sword.

A faint fluorescent light suddenly bloomed out from under the sword with a surge of lifeless aura. Like lightning tearing apart the night sky, the sword stabbed between the eyes of the demonic corpse that was heading towards Sean at unparalleled speed. To everyone else, it looked as though the demonic corpse was looking for death and had crashed into Sean's sword. No one even had the time to see exactly when Sean had raised his sword.

The tip of the sword gently tapped between the eyes of the demonic corpse. Then, it immediately withdrew.

The demon remained in the same posture, hunched over and running at full speed, but brushed right past Sean. Sean and the others kept moving forward without stopping at all. A sense of incomprehensible shock appeared in everyone's hearts.

In the next second, the head of the demonic corpse, which was still in the air, exploded. There was no red and white liquid. A sticky black fog erupted out in place of blood.

Everyone looked at Sean with a little bit more awed and incredulous expressions on their faces.

Sean only had rank-two strength. But along the entire journey, just how many times had he surprised everyone?

Even Sean felt a little bit surprised. However, his surprise was different from the other people's. Wasn't the Mysterious Sword Skill an added attribute of a passive skill? Why did the sword that had stabbed out like a conditional reflect have a feeling of a Mysterious Sword Skill?

Sean was a little confused, but for some reason, he suddenly remembered what he had seen and heard along the = journey inside the Starfall Forest. Starting from the very beginning when Drouin had flung a Wind Striped Black Wolf away with his sword, to earlier when the guard had blocked the attack from a demonic corpse with his shield, all of the times people had used their skills flooded his mind. Everything was related to the "skills" people had, and they used them one by one. The memory was as vivid as if it had been projected onto a screen in Sean's mind.

Sean was no longer just enlightened, but instead was going through an epiphany.

The way people of this world displayed their skills was very different from how Sean did. For the guards, Drouin, or Old Pete, their skills were a type of personal ability that had been formed after learning them. That was also the case for the archer. Their skills were a type of "Strength Technique" and "Movement Technique" that belonged to the body. It could even be considered more brilliant, such as a "Condensing Force,""Movement Force," or "Generating Force."

When Sean used his skills, he did not have the strength technique and movement technique at all. As long as his skills were activated, then Sean was able to use them. He did not have to think about what their principles were. Also, once a skill had been started, apart from skills such as sprint, very few skills could be stopped halfway. That meant that once these skills had been used, then they couldn't be stopped until the skills had finished.

Sean suddenly understood something.

It was the real world. Not everyone had normal data. All of their achievements up to that point had all been borne from their hard training. Even geniuses had to train. Although Sean was a little different, he was still a person, a real person that lived in the real world. Therefore, as long as he wanted to, he could also train like the others. It was just that his starting point was much higher than everyone else.

Just like the Mysterious Sword Skill, it was no longer a simple passive skill in Sean's hands. What was imprinted in his mind was the strength and movement of the Mysterious Sword Skill, or perhaps even the skills of the condensing force and moving force.

After understanding that, Sean once again used the Mysterious Sword Skill. He was like a swordsman who had been immersed in the skill for decades.

After Sean had killed more than a dozen demonic corpses with the Charles' Sword, a sharp arrow finally shot out of Old Pete's hand. The arrow shot into the demon with red clothes. A roar of terror sounded.

"I found you."

Old Pete's lips opened and closed. His eyes became a little bit more arrogant, as he shot out a second arrow.