As the battles between Marcus' party and the devils raged on James and Fallon took on the second strongest of the devils, that was only under the archdevil Marcus was fighting.
It was level eighty-one, which was higher than any of them. With James being three levels lower at seventy-eight and Fallon trailing right behind him at level seventy-seven.
This devil had dark red skin covering its entire body and horns that formed into the shape of a crown on the top of its head.
He seemed to have a perpetual confident smirk on his face and was twirling around a pitch-black spiked chain that gave off a menacing aura.
"I am Mavxire the strongest of my lord's servants. I have now introduced myself, so, tell me your names so that we can engage in honorable combat." The devil said with his best act of chivalry.
Of course, both James and Fallon knew he was just trying to get them to fall into his trap and had no intention of engaging in a fair fight.
Mrazivy had warned them specifically of one the unique skills this devil had called Name Cursing.
Anyone that willing gave their name to Mavxire would be hit with his curse that would drain their stats by twenty percent and temporarily give him their power.
A truly nasty unique skill that while not the easiest to use, would under most circumstances guarantee a win if it worked.
"Oh, the beast I can understand not giving her name, but what kind of knight refuses to give his name when challenged." Mavxire said in a goading tone in response to James and Fallon's silence.
"We already know your tricks and are not going to fall for them."
No longer waiting and wanting to shut the devil up, James pulled back his lance and threw it with all his might right towards Mavxire.
Unable to get either of them to give him their names Mavxire clicked his tongue in annoyance and jumped out of the way of James' attack and into the air.
Yet as the lance flew past the devil it suddenly turned around and continued after him like a heatseeking missile.
This was thanks to James' unique skill called Targeted Foe, which allowed him to pick out three enemies every day who his attacks would pursue and deal more damage to.
It was not the flashiest unique skill, but it was certainly powerful when facing just a single enemy.
With James's lance chasing after him and gaining no matter where he went, Mavxire was forced to stop and take the attack.
He began whirling his spiked chain around incredibly fast, until he had created a windstorm around him.
Then with the flick of his wrists he entangled his chain around James' lance.
Pulling the chain taught he slowed the lance down until it came to a stop and lost all the energy it had.
"You must be quite foolish to toss away your weapon like this. But now that I have it, this lance will make a fine addition to my arsenal."
Mavxire reached out toward James' lance now that it was no longer chasing him around and with greedy eyes took ahold of it.
He spun it around a few times before pointing it right back towards James and charging at him.
"As if you would be worthy to wield that weapon." James said with a smirk on his face.
His hand outstretched, he focused on his amethros lance that was an heirloom of the Borelian royal family and pulled it back to him.
In an instant it warped out of Mavxire's hand and back into his own.
This caught the powerful devil off guard, and he was ill prepared to deal with the follow-up attack.
'ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ No(ve) l Bi n',
Fallon, who had been preparing the entire time, opened up her mouth and unleashed a torrent of flames.
The devil activated multiple defensive skills as he was engulfed by the flames that were hotter than the surface of the sun.
"Pierce through all Storm Breaker!"
His lance filled with mana James once again launched it, but this time used the incantation that activated the powerful weapon's greatest ability.
With far greater speed than before it flew straight towards Mavxire despite him having vanished from view while consumed by Fallon's flames.
A loud shattering sound could be heard throughout the area the moment after James unleashed his attack.
His lance had easily broken through all of Mavxire's defensive abilities and shattered the multiple barrier surrounding him.
A smoldering body with James' lance striking out of its chest fell to the ground and there lay Mavxire.
He was struggling to get to his feet and was hanging on only thanks to his extreme durability and multiple hearts.
"How are you both this strong!? Arrakas said nothing about you having power like this!" Mavxire screamed as he pulled himself up.
He then yanked James' lance out of his chest and tossed it aside.
Out of the hole in his chest dark black blood flowed out of Mavxire's body and onto the floor.
"Storm Breaker return." James said and brought his weapon back into his hands.
Once more he leveled his lance at his enemy and prepared to launch it again.
Seeing this Mavxire realized he had made a mistake to keep his distance and fight from the air where he thought he would have the advantage.
James, and Fallon especially since she could not fly due to the special dungeon's restriction were actually in many ways stronger at range than up close right now.
Mavxire rushed in with his spiked chaining spinning around his body rapidly and firing off blasts of mana at random.
He had activated his Absolute Frenzy unique skill and was attacking recklessly at James and Fallon.
Meeting his charge James jumped in with lance while Fallon moved back in order to get out of the range of the mana blasts Mavxire was fringing off.
"Volution Barrage."
Spinning his lance around James unleashed a fast series of thrusts to meet Mavxire's whirling chain.
Sparks flew as their two weapons clashed against each other.
Multiple deep gashes began appearing on James's body where the spikes tore into him, but he kept on going with his attacks and worrying only about defending vital areas.
This dangerous fighting style allowed him to score his own hits and soon he had punched a half dozen holes into Mavxire's body.
Still the tough devil did not go down even after all these injuries, and madly swung at James with all his might as they fought to see which of them would fall first.
Except James wore a confident grin even as he took more and more serious injuries. And that was because he was never worried about being hurt in the first place.
In an instant his body that was covered in his own blood returned completely to normal without injury.
Watching this happen Mavxire went wide eyed and could not believe it even with the clouded judgment from his unique skill.
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Certainly, they both had regeneration skills, but not even the highest level of the skill could immediately restore someone so injured to full health.
No, what just happened could only be the work of a unique skill. But not one of James'.
From her position standing behind the devil Fallon's body exploded in a fountain of blood with wounds all over her in the same places as James.
This was the effect of her unique skill Share Pain which allowed her to take on any injury of those she had linked up with.
And while on its own this power only had limited use in conjunction with one of her other unique skills it was incredibly powerful.
"Retribution."
In a flash all of the injuries that Fallon had absorbed from James disappeared and were transferred to Mavxire who had originally inflicted them.
His body was suddenly cut open in multiple places by an attack he could not block.
This created a moment where he lost his ability to move as blood flooded out of him and James took his lance and pierced it right through Mavxire's head.
The once powerful devil collapsed onto the floor dead. His head completely blown off and his body that was riddled with horrible wounds.
"Whew that got a bit rough when he came at us with wild abandon, but we managed to get through without any lasting damage." James said to Fallon who was fully healed after sending all the damage she had taken from James back to Mavxire.
However, as they were celebrating their victory over their enemy, Mavxire's body burst into smoke and began flowing across the ground towards the center of the battlefield
There what looked like a seed began sprouting and quickly a massive black flower bloomed and in the middle was a fully restored Mavxire.
Yet now his body, which had been completely red before, was now orange.
And it was not just his skin color that was different. His entire demeanor seemed to have changed and the weapon in his hands was now a long bident that's tip was glowing from extreme heat.
"Ah, I cannot remember the last time that one of me was beaten." The new Mavxire said as he cracked his neck.
Taken aback, neither James nor Fallon understood how this devil was able to bring himself back to life.
Mrazivy had told all of them about the most dangerous skills and race abilities that their opponents had, and she did not mention that Mavxire could revive.
"Now shall we begin anew. I wish to fish this fight quickly and take both of your souls So I along with my master and compatriots can escape this place." Mavxire said as he readied his weapon.
Feeling his current presence, James gulped and felt a shudder of fear.
The devil they had been fighting before was completely different and gave off a far more dangerous aura than before.
It was more focused and sharper than the raw untamed power he seemed to have in his previous form.
The tension in the air was rising and it felt like it could break at any moment when one of them made the first move.
However, right before James launched his attack to restart the battle, a large portal appeared at one end of the battlefield he had been taken to.
At first, he thought it might have been one of his allies, but what stepped out was the last thing he expected.
The entity that had arrived was the third strongest of the devils and was level eighty.
But what caused the most shock for James was that this was the opponent that Mrazivy and Eirene had been taking on.
If it had arrived here though, that meant that it must have won its fight against his sister and her beast companion.