Chapter 245: What’s Worse Than A Demon?(1/2)

Chapter 245: What’s Worse Than A Demon?(1/2)

It was important to remain calm and collected.

That Faust was as cool as a cucumber was extremely fortunate because Sylver wasnt certain he would have had the capacity to deal with someone panicking right now.

The number one priority was preventing the demon from fully forming the portal.

Because if the demon crossed over, and it was 6th tier, or higher, as Edmund had estimated, then everyone was done. Sylver would be dead, as would Edmund, and Faust, and Sophia and her lot would likely die from the sheer magical pressure.

Then the demon would be free to wait for the winter solstice, after which the whole world would drown.

In theory, given the specific nature of this demon, there was a chance it would be weak upon crossing into this realm, but the sheer amount of mana it had in its possession would counter even the strongest of Edmunds attacks.

But given that the demon wasnt stupid, it was unlikely to stick around long enough for anyone to do anything.

As Nautis lowered his hand into the portal, Sylver felt the portal nearest to his head solidify. As the primal-energy-distorting hand materialized in Sylvers blind spot, Sylver used [Fog Form] to get away from it.

But Nautis didnt wait for Sylver to catch his breath, and repeated the exact same attack, using the exact same hand.

If this was anyone else, Sylver would have felt obligated to admit that this was a brilliant, and deadly, combination, but given that the caster was Nautis, Sylver refused to believe it was anything other than dumb luck and coincidence that he had combined those two abilities.

But, as impressive as the whole thing sounded, and as unbeatable as it may seem, this wasnt Sylvers first time fighting against it.

As Sylver continued dodging out of the way of Nautis teleporting hand, a shade hiding behind the altar at the top of the pyramid threw one of the rogue-type shades at Nautis. Sadly, instead of knocking Nautis out of the air, the shade merely passed through him and disappeared into a cloud of black smoke.

Normally, when a shade is destroyed, Sylver can pick it up, and heal it back into shape, but this shade was gone. The framework in its head and skull had been severed, and that in turn disrupted the magic that allowed it to exist as an undead shade.

But its death hadnt been in vain, because Sylver now knew that Nautis defense was passive, given that he didnt react until after the shade had already passed through him. He didnt stop his assault with his teleporting hand either.

The fact that Nautis reacted at all meant he didnt have complete confidence in his defenses. It was also possible he wasnt accustomed to being untouchable but considering that this was a power given to him by a demon, the former was more likely than the latter.

Sylver had been building distance between him and Nautis, as had Faust, but as Sylver began to close the distance, Faust mirrored him and approached the floating white robe-wearing figure.

Nautis didnt appear to panic, but then again, its hard to tell without seeing his face.

Sylver reached the pyramid and began to run up the bone cubes. With a flick of his wrist, a thin black staff appeared in his hand. It teleported with him as he used [Fog Form] to reach the top of the pyramid, and as Sylver spun the staff in his hand, the tip extended and stretched into the shape of a scythe.

I hope you enjoyed this Nautis, Sylver said, as he spun the scythe faster and faster, and increased its size and length with every swing.

Sylver rolled his shoulders as he got a better grip on the piece of turtle heart jerky, and with a grunt, began to squeeze it.

His bones creaked from the pressure, and steam escaped from the small cracks that formed on his humerus, but Sylver pressed on, and eventually, a barely visible droplet of pitch-black ink gathered at the bottom of the apple-sized turtle heart clump of meat.

Sylver was careful as he shook the piece of meat, and eventually, the honey-like black liquid fell. The droplet was smaller than a dried raisin, and it disappeared into the blood flowing along the floor without leaving a trace. The blood didnt even ripple from the droplet and continued to flow up into the altar, into the black square.

On the verge of losing consciousness, Sylver had to use the altar to steady himself, and while he was at it, he grabbed the blood-soaked book and hid it away in his robe.

Just short of delirious from the labour he had just performed, Sylver stood on his shaking legs and waited for the curse to reach the portal above.

[Mutating Override (IV) Proficiency increased to 100%!]

[Mutating Override (IV) rank up available!]

Nautis chose that moment in time to return to the room, and to his and Fausts mutual surprise, the black scythe Faust had been wielding melted out of his hands. Sylver vaguely felt a portal forming directly behind his head and then had the metaphorical wind knocked out of him, as Faust grabbed him by the back of the neck and carried him away.

Sylver was thrown from one corner of the room to the other, and although he managed to gather enough strength to stand on his own, his mind was too fried to properly predict Nautis portals.

Faust shouted something into Sylvers ear and slapped him across the face, but Sylver couldnt gather the mental force needed to understand language.

With the weakness of a man about to fall asleep from a fatal concentration of narcotics, Sylver just barely managed to tell Faust that they needed to get upstairs.

Faust said something in response, but it fell on deaf ears. Spring could only repeat what Sylver had said since he couldnt understand what Sylver was thinking.

At some point, Spring decided to kill three-quarters of the remaining shades, and the influx of mana woke Sylver up like a splash of cold water in the face.

He was inside a tunnel, on Fausts back, and Faust was using Sylvers arms the way someone would use the straps on a backpack to carry him.

Sylver used [Fog Form] to get off his companion, and as he materialized next to him, and ran alongside him, Sylver saw that Fausts face was drenched in sweat.

Go ahead, Ill be fine, Sylver said as he sped up the tunnel.

It warmed his heart that Faust trusted Sylver enough to do as he said, and as soon as he finished nodding, Fausts body became blurry, and he disappeared.

Sylver ran with all the strength and speed that he could muster, but his legs could only do so much.

He very nearly crashed, as he lost his footing, on account of not having any floor to run on. Very briefly Sylver saw that the tunnel he was coming out of was connected to a giant empty sphere of a room, and on the left he could see the pulsing black metal pillar embedded into the bone.

He continued running, climbed up the wall, and ran through the connecting tunnel on the other side of the spherical room.