Chapter 58: Goliath

"When I heard the rumors of a level 100 Higher Demon wandering in a low-level Dimensional, I knew it was my big break," declared Goliath, a towering figure with eyes blazing like hot coals. Two pairs of gleaming silver swords, each over two meters in length, materialized in his grasp.

Then he brandished both swords together, sending a surge of invisible shockwaves outward.

'Warrior type Awakened,' Nox noted, the shockwave pushing him back slightly. However, Nox felt his back bump into an invisible wall. He touched the air and indeed it seemed the demon had set up an invisible barrier.

But when?

"There's a reason I specifically ordered those demons to bring you here," Goliath pointed his sword at Nox. "I don't want to share my treasures with anyone else, not even with the one who lives on the top floor of the Blight Castle. Everything will be mine!"

A puzzled expression appeared on Nox's face. What treasures was this moron speaking about? Except for the shield, dagger, and the beast cores in his inventory, there were no treasures on him. Even if this demon were to turn him upside down and shake him, there was nothing on him that could interest a level 100 Awakened.

'There seems to be a big misunderstanding,' Nox thought. The reason he was even standing here was because of the barrier that had been set up by Goliath.

As long as the barrier was up, nothing and no one could escape. Goliath had come prepared; he was determined to eliminate the Higher Demon and take all the treasures with him, then he would devour him. The demons had long discovered that they could gain extra experience points when they devoured lower demons.

This ability seemed exclusive to their race. Demon society was based on the survival of the fittest, so the netizens didn't frown upon this cannibalistic practice. Besides, demons were known to do things far worse.

Ever since he learned about the Higher Demon, Goliath had been planning to capture and kill him. When an Awakened died, all their treasures in the inventory would drop as loot. seaʀᴄh thё NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Goliath licked his lips when he thought about the loot. For a Higher Demon, he would certainly have thousands of beast cores and magic items. He could even acquire several levels by devouring the Higher Demon.

'Then… then I can finally face that man and become the lord of the Blight Castle!' Goliath had his priorities straight.

In truth, the top ten demons also had the same plan to gang up on the Higher Demon to devour him, but Goliath was a step faster than them. Inside this ruin, no one would interrupt his fight!

By now even Nox had noticed the demon's intention, and he couldn't help but curse himself inwardly. It seemed setting the level at 100 had brought more harm than good.

'Sigh, why do I have bad luck? Why can't I just peacefully increase my strength and go back to the real world?' Nox thought.

They said when two hands work together, they could become successful, but this demon had four arms to boot. Without a doubt, he would be successful in getting rid of Nox.

Still, Nox couldn't help but feel an itch to test himself against a level 100 opponent, wondering how far he could go. This was the first level 100 he had encountered. He suspected that Eve could be at a similar level, but when he tried to view her information, nothing came up, as if he were being blocked.

The same for his grandfather, his mother, Uncle Elvin, Serena's father Gordon, Aunt Celine, and even Hans.

'If I see it's too difficult, I'll just return back,' Nox thought as he brought out his dagger. Compared to the two-meter dual swords, the dagger was too inferior.

But from his master Eve, Nox had learned that the size of a weapon didn't really matter. What really mattered was the way the wielder utilized the sword.

Seeing that Nox was ready, Goliath made his move. "Let's not delay any longer. Show me your might!"

Shing!

Thud!

Nox's eyes shot wide open. He stared at his hand with an inexplicable expression; he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"H-how… how?"

Right before him, he could see his arm lying on the ground, blood dripping from the stump on his shoulder.

He didn't even see Goliath move! He only heard the demon speak incomprehensible gibberish, then the next second he saw a flash of light and his arm lying on the ground. It was a strange sight, and Nox felt as if he were immune to pain because he wasn't feeling any.

But this was merely because he was too stunned for the pain to register in his head.

'Since I couldn't react, that means he could have gone for my neck and I wouldn't even know how I died. Fuck it, I need to get out of here…' Nox thought, panicked.

There was no use fighting an opponent he couldn't even see.

"True, I could have gone for your head, but let me tell you this, I hate Higher Demons with a passion. Every demon hates your kind, actually, but I hate you more. As such, I'll spend a long time with you!"

"Hmph, as if I'll let you do that." Because of the adrenaline pumping through his veins, Nox summoned the Dimensional Key in his hands and rubbed it. At the same time, he raised his still intact left hand, pointed a finger at Goliath, and uttered,

"Shadow Oblivion!"

A thunderous rumble as a dark apocalyptic blast descended on Goliath like a tidal wave. The impact of the blast rocked the entire dimension and all the demons were alerted; they could feel the seismic wave on the ground.

"Are the rank one and two fighting for the top spot?" a demon thought because such a devastating attack that affected the entire dimension could only be caused by those two.

"It could be. Because the lord of the Blight Castle just left some minutes ago."

"Arggggghhhhh!" Goliath screamed at the top of his voice, his body convulsing as the dark blast ravaged him, sapping out his life force bit by bit, but he was fighting against the invading force.

How could he die just from one attack? The battle, which had been in favor of him a few moments ago, had suddenly taken a drastic turn. Now he couldn't even fight and was just trying to fight against the force that was trying to sap away his life force.

Slowly even the roof of the ruin was collapsing one after the other. Luckily, the Dimensional Key was already activated, and Nox had escaped back to the human domain, leaving the demon to bawl its eyes out and reel in pain.

Nox appeared in his room and roared in pain as the agony he hadn't felt at first came back tenfold. It felt as if his head were splitting in two and his soul were about to eject from his body.

"Nox!"

Aina called from outside and kicked the locked door open with brute force. Despite the pain, Nox placed the mask and daggers into his inventory. He couldn't afford for his mother to see him like this.

"Mom, it hurts!" Tears came out of his eyes. "It really hurts."

"How did this happen?" Aina exclaimed as she rushed over, horrified by the scene.

Step!

Nox then saw a man with waist-length hair and two differently colored eyes step out from the still-open golden door.

"So this is where the Legendary Hounds dwell… the air here feels so different, so pure," the man said as he looked around.