Chapter 177 Maximum Daggers

…I can't. They helped me craft these…Kamou and Myung-Hee...this was their gift to me, he thought.

With that conviction, another choice made itself known to him by a prompt issued by the multi-armed, Defect blacksmith.

[Upgrade weapons?]

It wasn't an option that he had considered, but seeing it now–it was his best option.

However, knowing he could upgrade his beloved, treasured daggers…he did not stop at simply just one upgrade as he continuously clicked the prompt.

It started with the first upgrade costing fifty Angel Coins, then the next was one-hundred, the next two hundred–

By the time he maxed out his daggers, he had spent over one-thousand Angel Coins in the span of a few minutes, but they had changed now, reaching their final state.

[Weapon [Stygian Daggers] successfully evolved into [Fangs of Revelation] | New Skill(s) Acquired: [Void Shift] | [Parade of Death] |]

Displaying his daggers, which were given new life as their black steel was almost opalescent with a subtle glow of silver, his two companions were questioning his decision.

"...One-thousand coins? You could've bought yourself some really awesome new daggers," Sol said.

"That's a helluva lot of coins, are ya' sure about that?" Yeong-Un asked him.

He smiled, looking at his daggers a bit with eyes that reminisced before sheathing them with a nod, "Yeah. These have their own value to me."

"If you say so–anyway, let's go home and grab a bite!" Sol jumped up.

"Good idea, I'm runnin' on empty," Yeong-Un smiled, patting his toned abdomen.

He followed behind his two companions, happy with what he spent his hard-earned coins on as he felt as if the daggers at his hip carried a bit more than simple violence now.

…Let's go, Kamou, Myung-Hee, he thought.

–

From his max-upgraded daggers, the skill exclusive to the [Fangs of Revelation], [Void Shift] allowed his black-steel blades to phase through anything in their way.

Even the radiant shield wasn't able to stop his weapons as they cleaved through the demons that pressed against the barrier.

"...Is that helpin'?" Yeong-Un questioned, staying readied by the young woman's side.

Eunji nodded, still strained, "--Keep it up, please, Jeong-Hui!"

He didn't need to be asked as he raced across the length of the room-stretching wall, sliding his daggers through it with split-second shifts that were timed with his swift slashes.

"Void Shift" doesn't require any spirit, but it only lasts for a second with each use. I have to time it perfectly! He thought.

While he wasn't able to land lethal blows just yet, he was able to inflict deep enough eviscerations on the abhorrent, malformed demons.

"Get going–!" He yelled out while slashing at the closest fiends.

Though Eunji was standing there, not knowing if she should or not, she moved once the spiky-haired man next to her ushered her along.

"C'mon! Are ya' going to waste the chance he's given us?!" Yeong-Un yelled to her.

Eunji looked on for a moment, sweating as she shook her head and began to follow Yeong-Un up the stairs, still maintaining the barrier through a strained effort.

That's right. Just be resilient, Eunji! He thought.

While he was left alone in the split room, cutting away at the fiends that tried to bludgeon or cut the barrier, it seemed only more and more demons began to show up.

"--"

There's no end to them, is there? He thought.

[Enemy Identified: "Blue-Skinned Cyclops | Level 28]

While he was busy keeping some of the larger, ogre-like demons away, who wielded massive clubs that could greatly harm the integrity of the barrier, he was unaware of another problem that soon made itself known.

Crack.

What? He thought.

Glancing back, he could see through the window of the kitchen door that cracks were forming along the back wall.

Crack.

It was the same for the wall to his left–it was beginning to give in.

This was a horrific revelation; perhaps the "worst case scenario" in the abrupt invasion of demons.

While he was still busy keeping the ogres at bay, slashing at their kneecaps to prevent them from slamming the barrier–the walls to his right and behind him were shattered.

"Jeong-Hui!" Eunji called out from atop the staircase.

From all around, the building was now marched in by those who crawled out from the depths of Hell.

"Go!" He yelled.

"But–" Eunji tried to contest his reluctance to retreat.

"Go–!!!" He repeated.

Before Eunji could try to convince him further, Yeong-Un grabbed the girl by her arm and pulled her along, "C'mon!"

"--He'll die down there!" Eunji looked at Yeong-Un.

"No he won't! That bastard is as tenacious as a cockroach–he'll make it!" Yeong-Un said, though he couldn't bring himself to look back at all.

With so many enemies flooding in, he knew if he simply ran up those stairs, they'd catch up to the others in no time.

[You're a reckless bastard, Jeong-Hui.]

"Heh…Maybe so, I'd call myself it "calculated recklessness", though," he responded to the voice of his Sage System.

[That's contradictory.]

"That's kind of the point," he replied, steadying his breathing as he focused himself.

Don't worry. I'm not a suicidal idiot–I'll grab their attention for as long as I possibly can, then I'll be right behind you! He thought.

As they poured in from all sides, coming in varying sizes, levels, and aggression, he relied on his augmented perception to carefully plan his next actions.

He quickly leapt up, using the barrier as a foothold before he launched forward, taking the heads off of two, long-necked demons in an instant.

There was no time to acknowledge any System prompts or even think for that matter as he relied on instinct, instantly jumping back up as he kicked a blue-skinned cyclops in its jaw as it tried rearing its flesh-mended club back towards him.

"Raagh!" The bellowing cyclops stumbled from the sharp, well-placed kick.

He spun around, using his momentum from jumping up to guide his dagger's edge through the neck fat of the large, thick cyclops.

Though as soon as he felled the club-wielding brute, he could see a spear-armed, apron-wearing demon approaching from behind the sliced cyclops, and a pig-nosed demon approaching from his right.

[Enemy Identified: "Man-Eating Swine" | Level 25]

He had to act quickly–opting to plant a strong kick against the cyclop's stomach to knock it back against the spear-limbed demon, buying enough time for him to face the pig-demon that wielded a humongous knife.

"--"

Without batting an eye, he flipped back as that knife came down towards him from the red-skinned, tall pig demonoid as it oinked with its beady, red eyes watching him.

It was fast; the blood-stained swine fiercely swung its oversized knife towards him while squealing.

As fast as it was though, he was able to evade it with nimble movements; flipping around, ducking and even jumping off of the walls to gain an advantageous opening–slashing his daggers towards its neck, intending for a quick kill.

CLANG.

To his surprise, the butchering swine possessed a surprising level of finesse in combat as it managed to block his daggers with its rusty, blood-soaked knife.

"Rreeegh!" The swine squealed in his face.

"--So, you want to play that game, huh?" He mumbled.

Backing away, he went for a slash towards its opening, having his attack blocked purposefully before he instead flung one of its daggers towards its throat with an easily missable flick of his wrist.

Even so, the swine presented its unexpected skill as it raised its knife to block the path of the projectile–

"Void Shift."

Squelch.

However, despite the hellish pig-humanoid's best efforts, the dagger phased right through the knife, sinking into its throat.

"Reeegh–!!!" The swine yelled in pain, thrashing around.

With a [Blink Step], he swept by it, retrieving his dagger as withdrawing it from the swine's neck resulted in a spray of blood filling the room.

While the Man-Eating Swine continued to thrash while squealing out, it accidentally butchered the horned gremlins that attempted to infiltrate the building as well.

"...Reeegh…"

As the swine had blocked the hole crashed through the side of the bar, it was suddenly sliced in half from behind as something even larger stepped through, blowing steam from its flared nostrils.

"Holy…" He said in shock at the creature that entered the room.

It was a minotaur-like demon with all-black fur and large horns that spiraled around, stomping in with a massive greatsword that had cleaved through the large swine seamlessly.

[Enemy Identified: "Sentinel of Samael" | Level 29]

His first instinct was to bolt up those stairs, but he knew something as large and imposing as this newly arrived demon would easily burrow through the walls and impede on the group's efforts.

I'll end this thing right here and now–I can do it, he told himself.

In fact, at that moment–he was in the "zone"--a state that could not be forcibly entered; an inexplicable experience in which everything simply "came together" and "felt right". Simply put, he was at his best.

First, he sprung forward, leaving a few slashes against the hellborne minotaur's chest before it could lift its enormous greatsword again.

–Hardly an effect.

His blades did pierce its body, but only just barely cut through its skin, leaving only superficial wounds on the minotaur's torso.

Shit, he thought.