Chapter 159 Objective: Kill

"HOW—?!?!?!?!"

In sheer rage at the continuous slipperiness of his opponent, Dae-Mon screamed out before transforming his limbs into a grotesque, violent mixture of forms: dangling, far-stretching chains with chainsaws revving at their ends, numbering in the dozens.

"Oh, shit," he mumbled, seeing this new alteration.

From every angle, the steaming, spinning saws flung and whipped around him, prompting him to evade with every ounce of strength and effort in his body before–SLICE.

"Ngh–!"

The element of the [Clutch Factor] could only reach so high, and last so long, before one of the visceral chainsaws reached him–slicing one of his hands clean off.

[Health -850 | 1100/3250]

His left hand was flung from his wrist as blood immediately geysered out from the new wound.

Witnessing this, Dae-Mon laughed out, filling the grotesque, vast space with his ear-piercing laughter, "--Aha-ha! How's it feel?! You've been cutting me up and battering me this whole time, but I got you this time! You can't heal like me, can you? Too bad, so sad!"

He yelled out in pain, falling to his knees as the revving onslaught of chainsaws hovered around him by the supernatural chains, profusely sweating as he held his handless wrist with his right hand.

Flesh…Temple! He thought.

Utilizing the martial arts technique before he could lose blood, he forced his wrist to clench shut and halt the bleeding through forcibly tightening and contracting his muscles in that area.

"Huff…"

It was a dizzying sight to see a lack of a hand at the end of his arm, but he did his best to maintain a level head–picking up his own severed hand and shoving it in his pocket.

[I'll handle focusing on keeping your wrist clenched. You just focus on combating the enemy in front of you, Jeong-Hui.]

"...Thanks…" He said quietly through a heavy breath.

"Oh? Wow! I'm impressed! You've got a good head on your shoulders, Mr. Jeong-Hui!" Dae-Mon called out, "--Mind if I take it?"

While standing there, left with only left hand against the devil that was already seemingly unbeatable when he had two, he breathed out slowly.

I've noticed it…for a while now. At the start of all of this, from the day "God" descended from Heaven to issue his proclamation of our destruction…I've tried to convince myself not to lose my humanity.

To me, "humanity" was simply benevolence, or something akin to sainthood. I didn't want to allow myself to take a single life–but, I realized soon enough I wasn't strong enough for a conviction like that.

Even in Armageddon, with everything resembling a society gone, I wanted to hold onto that image of "humanity"--no matter how fruitless of an endeavor it was. Part of it was me wanting to honor my Mother…I didn't want to become a killer in her eyes.

But, I was punished for that. My own reluctance to kill resulted in me losing everybody around me. I changed my resolve; from not killing anybody, to killing only those who "threaten me or those close to me."

That's the wrong way to go about it though, isn't it? I'm still holding onto some reservations. Even in this decrepit world, I'm still holding out.

I'm afraid of where I'll end up if I continue moving the goalpost.

"What counts as a threat?" "Who counts as a danger to me or my friends?" It'll continue to move–becoming more and more vague, and easier for me to accept smaller mistakes as excuses to kill.

With this System, my body has been fine-tuned for killing. It's my first instinct, but I've suppressed it. If I let it go completely, killing will be at the forefront of my mind–as natural as breathing. But if I'm alone like this, it's fine.

If I want to make it out of here…I have to let go of those chains completely, and I'll need your help with that, Sage System, he thought.

With this reforged conviction, he honed his eyes, looking past any semblance of humanity left in his enemy as he burst forward, wielding only a single dagger now, with his single hand–though he didn't let such a shortcoming dull his resolve.

"Yes! Come! Come! Let's play, Mr. Jeong-Hui!" Dae-Mon laughed out loud.

The pink-haired devil reshaped his arms into dozens of mouths, launching them towards the nimble assassin, who ducked around their clamping teeth.

"Let's play!"

"Play! Play! Play!"

"Let me taste you! Please? Please?!"

Each of the mouths spoke in high-pitched versions of Dae-Mon's voice, filling his ears from every angle as they stretched out as tendrils of flesh that bore only the talking, violent mouths, attempting to bite him repeatedly.

One opportunity; that's what he sought through this Hell: a chance to find the weakness of the devil before him.

"Come on! Play with us!"

"One little bite! Pretty please?!"

He tried slashing at the dozens of mouths as they repeatedly slammed their buck, pearly teeth towards him, but they were slippery; weaving from the range of his dagger.

"How is it?! I took some inspiration from you and made them annoying to hit! Aha-ha-ha!" Dae-Mon yelled out, standing still as he let his transfigured limbs handle the fight.

It wasn't just that, though. He knew what was the real reason for his inability to land a substantial blow to the grotesque mouths.

I'm not used to this; for months now, I've worked on solely dual-wielding…this feels off, but I'll have to adjust, he thought.

While it wasn't enough to level up, the continuous effort in the battle while beaten, battered, exhausted, and mutilated allowed to continue cultivating various proficiencies:

[Zombie Self-Sustain]

[Undying]

[Clutch Factor]

All of these proficiencies were at work, all gaining experience as he fought against the laughing devil while maintaining his composure to the best of his ability.

Finally, catching his optimal footing in the midst of the continuous dodging of the many, serpentine mouths, he braced himself–

"Ripper!"

[Spirit: -100 | 200/3600]

It was by virtue of his Sage Period that had reduced the cost of Ripper, otherwise he would've never used it, but the skill allowed him to momentarily transcend his nimble limits and utilize his one dagger to unleash a plethora of quick slashes.

"Gyuh!"

"Oh no…!"

"..Ah, I'm dying! I'm dying!"

The squeaky-voiced, taunting mouths screamed out as they were cut by [Ripper], which carved through the stale air with picture-perfect killing intent.

"Ah-ha! That won't do~!" Dae-Mon grinned.

The grotesque tendrils quickly reformed, regrowing the chattering mouths that now unleashed a series of high-pitched, taunting laughter around him.

However–

This is what I was looking for! He thought.

He was already just in front of Dae-Mon, who didn't seem to notice he had broken the distance of the chamber at such a speed.

What? Dae-Mon was momentarily taken aback.

It was a series of successive [Blink Steps]; a technique that, no matter how fast his opponent was, he could get the jump on them with the perfectly-crafted opportunity.

And that's exactly what he forged for himself; holding his dagger between his fingers still, but clenching his fist tightly shut.

It was clear that he wasn't going for a cut or a stab, but something else as he swung back, pulling his arm back before his fist became swallowed in a swirling, black heat, coiled with strands of violet lightning.

He used everything he could:

[Dark Edge]

[Twilight Cutter]

[Breaker Fist]

What was forged from this unison of spells was: [Abyssal Flash]

Due to the nature of the long-range shape Dae-Mon had taken with his limbs, the devilish, pink-haired fiend was unable to counter what was coming as it all occurred over the course of a few moments.

[Spirit: -200 | 0/3600]

Take it…all! He thought.

Slamming his fist, which had been amplified many times over by the last reserves of spirit he held, he threw it against Dae-Mon's torso, sinking it in with every ounce of strength he had left.

A condensed release of black flames and purple lightning lashed out, creating a flash of sharp energy.

"Ghh–!" Dae-Mon spit out.

"--"

He stayed focused, looking on as the elements dispersed to see the result–

Squelch.

His eyes widened as he saw what had happened, finally noticing the heat felt at his arm; the abnormal body of the gray-skinned devil had retaliated against his blow–protruding spike that stabbed right through his fist and forearm from various spots.

[Health: -500 | 600/3250]

Still, his combined skill had managed to land–blowing a hole through the Artificial Devil's chest that caused Dae-Mon to spew black blood out as if vomiting bile from his bowels.

I felt it that time. But, just to make sure…System-guy, what did I just destroy? He questioned.

[It seems you've managed to obliterate one of this entity's hearts. From what I can gather, there are still a few more. If you can get rid of those, then…]

Then he'll be defeated, he thought.

[Precisely. However, at the current moment, I'd worry about getting your arm free. Remaining close to this foe is a dangerous tactic.]

"Gotcha," he mumbled quietly.