79-80

Chapter 79: Qualification 4

Demon King

Qualification – 4

A couple of huge events had taken place during the early stages of the Great Fusion. During that time, the elves had not yet been able to adapt to their new environment, and none of them could even consider the idea that a monster born from the transformation of a human soul could worm its way into their haven. Because they couldn't prepare for it, the devastation that happened, as a result, was terrible. The most important thing that had happened, however, was not that elves were killed. It was that there were monsters who were able to take over their bodies after destroying their souls.

It was only natural; their abilities were optimized to kill the soul but leave the flesh intact. It would be weird if no elf had their body stolen. The problem was that once the body of an elf was taken over, it became hard to tell them apart from other elves. As time passed, the monsters continued to mutate, slowly losing their memories of when they were human and, eventually, losing their ability to find their partner. But what about the monsters that had succeeded before that had happened?

Elves prided themselves in the purity and nobility of their soul and rejected those who could not keep their souls pure. They couldn't admit that human souls had been able to overtake the body of an elf. So, doubt had been born. I could believe anyone who hadn't been with me from the start on the battlefield. Before I went and said it would be nice to meet the other elves, I had to be sure of their identity first. No one could be convinced that the person wearing the face of an elf was truly one.

The elves created this world to protect themselves and, at the same time, become their own worst enemy. No longer could they stand united. There was no need to protect myself from them; these scattered elves bound to this battlefield could not be my enemies. The issue was those who were exempt from it. This gave me pause, as I had been only considering the Rookie's Battlefield as a new place to train.

"I've never seen the Knights of Elakatra before." Mireina said as she peeled an orange-colored fruit. It was shaped like a triangle and only grew in the elven forests.

"They have a huge fortress here in the battlefield, right?"

"That's right." I was playing dumb, and that seemed to be enough to convince Mireina. She didn't doubt me at all, her sincerity so pure I had to wonder how she survived for so long.

"Or at least, there was one. I wondered at the time why that built it. I wonder if they were expecting an attack. If they did… it would've been nice if they told the rest of us."

"I think that if they warned everyone, they would have panicked and flocked to them. That might've interfered with their own survival."

"That's not fair, we're all the same kind, right? If everyone were nice like you, we could all join forces to defeat the monsters." I chose not to answer her, instead munching on the fruit she had given me as I thought. I thought about those who had perspectives different than that, and those who were high-ranking amongst the elves. How they prepared as if they knew an attack would happen here.

It had been some time since I entered the Rookie's Battlefield, but I couldn't be sure how long. I remembered what Rain told me about the ones who were called 'natives' by human society. Those who brutally murdered the ones who escaped from the elves of the past and had angered the fallen. They reminded me of the Knights of Elakatra, those who had sworn to protect their own people and yet left them to be killed and scattered.

"It's a bit scary. Do we have to talk about it?"

"No." I smiled bitterly and shook my head. If I had more time, I would've liked to investigate them further, but it was only recently that I learned of the Knights of Elakatra. I was close to evolving again, too. It would be wiser for me to be content with what I knew and withdraw for now. I didn't want to risk announcing my presence to these irregulars. After all, a surprise attack would be most effective if I knew of the enemy, and they didn't know of me.

"Is it today?"

"It appears to be starting." A wind of disaster that would never stop until elves and monsters alike were wiped out, tickled my hair. I had gotten used to it, but I still couldn't help but feel a little nervous. I couldn't let myself be driven by that feeling, however.

This was the moment when the monsters who strived to destroy the elves' souls would fuse together with the purpose of destroying all things they encountered. Although I didn't feel threatened by them, no matter how much they might fuse, I couldn't help but feel a bit disgusted by them.

"It doesn't seem like there are any monsters around."

"Be careful, we don't know when that'll change." Mireina said as she grabbed onto my clothing. I smiled bitterly at her and expanded the range of my detection outward. Her attitude was a bit pitiful, but she wasn't wrong. When the Wind of Eutinus began to blow through, nothing was certain. I wouldn't have been surprised if a monster had formed right above my head. But it wasn't a monster that today's wind had summoned. It happened in an instant, something strange within my field of detection.

"Who are you two?" An elf appeared out of thin air in front of us—a beautiful woman dressed in pure white cloth and wearing a red muffler. I had encountered several elves since I had been visiting the Rookie's Battlefield, but this one felt different. The other ones I met felt… insecure. They couldn't trust us, and we couldn't trust them. But this one felt more solid, confident. She exuded strength, and I was convinced she had to be one of the Knights of Elakatra. Mireina stood next to me, trembling, unable to respond.

"It's nice to meet another one of our kind."

"Our kind? I don't consider myself the same as you." She frowned, lifting her sword to point it right at me.

"For me, kin refers to Elnim, leader of Elakatra, and my comrades." I couldn't help but wonder why a member of the Knights of Elakatra was appearing in front of us here, freely identifying herself. I had too many questions to even begin.

"Well, did you kill the monsters around here?"

"I have heard that they have been a problem lately." She exuded confidence.

"But I have no need to explain our plans to you. If something gets in our way, we will remove it. That is all."

"Even one of your own kind?"

"You are not one of my kind." At that moment, I was everywhere, using Ubiquitous to jump around. She readied her sword and her mana, aiming for when I would reappear near her.

Blood splashed through the air. Black smoke snapped at her left arm, trying to bite into it. She resisted it, fighting against my mana, but it wouldn't be enough to stop my power of Predation if I could wrest control from her. Her magic was increasing rapidly, the taste of her arm bitter and unappetizing. I was shocked by how strong she seemed to be, but equally excited at how strong I could become by devouring her.

"You…!" She pushed her body away from me, shouting.

"You were going to try and kill us, weren't you?" I floated around her, extinguishing the magic she tried to shoot at me.

"Run away before you get caught in this, Mireina."

"But!" I didn't have time to listen to her response, a rapier flashing out toward my neck at incredible speed. I couldn't properly block it but was able to deflect its course at the last second.

"Get off my arm!" I ignored her as I increased the mana in the smoke that was attached to her left arm, pulling at it roughly. She gritted her teeth as she tried to break free from it, unable to stop me from breaking it. It was too tough for me to get through, but I could at least disable it for now.

"I can't use my communication magic!"

"Were you trying to kill us?" My attention was drawn away from her, unable to ignore the Wind of Eutinus now. The wind that broke the will of a monster and made it do strange things. Who made it?

"Mireina, run away!"

"I can't!" I ground my teeth, noticing the distorted smile of this woman who was standing against me.

"Come now, can't you save this lovey-dovey business until later?" Her rapier flashed out again, shots of magic energy flying out with it. I struggled to stop the attack with my own sword, wondering if I could keep this up and protect Mireina. I continued to search this opponent for some sort of gap in her defenses as our swords collided, raising my detection to the max. It was hard to get a read on her, however, and her combat skills were equally matched with my own. There were no visible gaps in her defense, and each attack was heavy hitting. I wouldn't be able to keep this up.

'Should I run?' No, I didn't even know if I could escape, much less Mireina. I didn't really like the idea of protecting her, but she wasn't the type to give up and run away just because it was hard. Why should I be? And, more than that, the gaze of this woman before us, looking at us as if we weren't even living creatures in her estimation, annoyed me.

"What do you want?"

"I have nothing to tell you. Die." A huge coffin of ice slammed into me, coming into contact with the flames I barely raised in time. Hot and cold collided, water vapor billowing out. Through the mist of vapor, her rapier flew out once more, blocked by my greatsword. I needed to figure out a way to force through an opponent with such complete defenses, to change this situation entirely.

There was a way, the idea exploding into my mind suddenly. I opened my mouth, activating a familiar skill.

"Kiaaaaaaaaah!" A strange sound emitted from my throat, one that not even monsters could produce with their vocal cords. Just listening to it disturbed the balance of one's body and damaged the mind. It was disastrous for those who couldn't avoid or resist it. Madness noise. It could only mean one thing here.

"You!" I smiled at her as I hurled forward with the greatsword, capitalizing on her confusion. I created several traps in the air with Lunatic Trickster, blocking her magic attacks with explosions.

[Ohhhhhh!]

Monsters were beginning to flock toward us, a large amount proportional to the sound of my Madness noise.

Chapter 80: Qualification 5

Demon King

Qualification – 5

"It's not enough yet?" I continued to let out the loud screech of my Madness Noise as I counted the number of monsters approaching, expanding out my detection range. My skill had grown by the day as I ate the monsters here on the Rookie's shoppingmode Battlefield, and now it was at the end of the advanced level.

[Ahhhhhhhhhhh!]

"This terrible screaming…!" I was losing control of the mana the elf woman sent to attack me, twisting my body to try and avoid it and grinding my teeth. I had to keep this skill up; Madness Noise was the only advantage I had over her that she couldn't stop. I was surprised that she had fallen already, given the difficult nature of training one's resistance to abnormal statuses. Since I had reached the highest level of resistance, I had no issue in letting out this horrible sound. The real issue was Mireina, who had passed out on the spot behind me. I knew that the blow from the noise would be too much for her to withstand.

"You… aren't you two supposed to be allies…?"

"There is nothing more precious to me than my own life." Even though I had said it, the idea of Mireina dying here left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. I went ahead and used some of my mana to place traps below Mireina. The ground fell out from underneath her, but she landed softly on a mat I placed with the trap instead of deadly spears. I fortified the entrance with Lunatic Trickster, ensuring that she would be safe during this battle. Its ability to manipulate and instantly create traps was useful for things like this. The loss of material wasn't great, but it would be enough to keep her safe, at least. Meanwhile, the woman before me once again attempted to use her communication magic, finding it still blocked off by me.

"You're not a Rookie, somethings not quite right."

"By the way, it seems that none of your colleagues are coming. Did you have a backup plan?"

"Urgh…! I don't need reinforcements against you!" She shouted back at me, her expression hardening. I kept my attention on her mana, monitoring when she might try to use her communication magic again.

There had been two reasons why I had summoned the monsters here, and that had been one of them. In case reinforcements from the Knights of Elakatra came, it would be nice to have them here to slow them down. I didn't have to worry too much about that now, blocking her line of communication as I was, but it was better to be on the safe side of things. This woman was able to identify where we were from a long distance away and had shown up suddenly; I could only assume the other knights had equally impressive abilities. Even if the monsters weren't all that effective against them, I could use them to fuel myself if it came down to it, since they posed no issue to my Predation skill. The second was to kill as many monsters as possible before I left the Rookie's shoppingmode Battlefield. They were great sacrifices to grow my own skill.

I still had no way of figuring out what the Knights of Elakatra wanted, however, or what resources they had. All I knew was that by killing large swathes of monsters, I had somehow disrupted their plans in the first place.

[Ohhhhhhh!]

If that were the case, I would kill everything I could before I left.

"Are you insane? Now you can't even run away!"

"I don't intend to run." I have never been the type to run away from a battle; why would I start now? Especially since I realized that this heart had completely become a part of myself; that experience had made me realize my own obsession with fighting and growing stronger. I had no intention of trying to change that. I let my Demon's Claws flow from both of my shoulders like huge wings; now, the skill was at an advanced level.

"I won't let you run either."

"Do you think I fear you?" She talked big, but I could tell her words didn't match her actions or thoughts. I couldn't believe a single thing she said. If she thought she could keep a handle on the situation, she wouldn't have tried to call for reinforcements. I had to expect that she would try to find a chance to escape now that it failed. I could interfere with her magic, though, so I wouldn't let her.

The monsters launched their attacks at us, having completed several fusions by the time they reached us. Many of them were already level 160 or higher, powerful creatures drawn to us by the sound of my Madness Noise.

[Oaaaaahhhh!]

"Let's get started."

"These monsters…!" She attempted to use her communication magic again, but I had been waiting for it. I once more used my power of Predation, combined with the energy of Jinma, to reach out and stop it. If I could keep her reinforcements from arriving, then all I had to do was stop her. Her expression became grim as if she had been reading my thoughts.

"Something this inferior!" I blocked her sword attack that had shot out like lightning but was almost hit by her follow-up kick. A monster with twisted wings fell on us from above, preventing her from hitting me. I moved behind her with Ubiquitous, swinging my sword at her back. She was more focused on the monster than me at that moment.

"Where…!" The monster was deflected off of her shield, but she was unable to stop my sword from tearing into her shoulder, although the wound wasn't as deep as I would have liked. Even though her body was so light, all of her stats were astonishingly high. It felt a bit outrageous.

[Oh-oh-ohhhh!]

Tendrils from the various monsters around us reached out to entangle us. The woman desperately defended herself, focusing on the tendrils rather than my own attacks. I spread my Demon's Claws out wide, piercing through the bodies of the monsters around me and devouring them.

[You have gained 1,537,950 experience.]

[You have received 9 gold…]

These monsters' very existence was a double-edged sword. Their soul-based attacks were undoubtedly fatal, but if they were attacked in the same way, they couldn't withstand it. In order for them to defeat me, they had to hit me with a strong attack that I couldn't stop.

[Oh-ohhhhh!]

[Kiiii!]

{No, not enough!]

The monsters seemed to have reached that same conclusion, focusing their attacks on the knight instead of me. The monsters further away from us continued to merge together, growing stronger. I still stopped to let off more Madness Noise when I could, calling more and more monsters to gather here. Some of the ones arriving looked like they might have fused more than five times, even.

"Crazy! You're too crazy to be a Rookie!"

"Well, kind of." I partially agreed with her, once again blocking her attempts to communicate. She jumped over the monsters towards me, soaring through the air.

"Shit!" I sensed the attack, instinctively raising my sword up to block it. My flames and black lighting spewed out, slamming against her ice magic. Her ice was somehow stronger than my flame magic that had reached the highest level, blowing past it. I quickly readjusted the trajectory of my blade, blocking the ice.

"Freeze!"

Had I been a second later, no doubt my sword arm would have been frozen completed through. But I wasn't safe yet; blocking the ice caused me to lose my center and gravity. I jumped with Ubiquitous before I collided with the ground, landing safely in the midst of the monsters. The monsters around me soared into the air, and I couldn't help but think of how fun this was turning out to be.

[Kiii!]

[That elf is strong!]

[That woman… I remember them!]

The monsters around me continued to focus on her, eager to devour this strong elf's soul and take over their flesh. It was a spectacular sight to behold.

"Huh…!" She activated her defensive magic against the monsters, a huge tornado of freezing air forming from the mana that now overflowed from her body. Most of the monsters around her were caught up in it, fusing in mid-air as her mana attacked them. The monsters won out, however, changing and evolving before they could be ripped apart. This had been exactly what I wanted to see; the evolution brought about as the Wind of Eutinus compelled these monsters to fuse endlessly. I could kill them. I wanted to devour them.

The elf attempted her magic again, exhibiting astonishing control of her mana as she combined her communication magic with her attack and defense magic. It had been hard enough for me to block just the communication magic that she had been skillfully triggering in-between attacks, but this was absurd. Yet, this impressive display would prove to be fatal. She was distracted by her intense focus on managing so many magics at once, unable to stop me as I rushed forward.

"This is the power of those who are named Rookie! Allow me to show you!"

"Try it!" I used Ubiquitous to close the distance between us, surrounding my body in a shield of Jinma's mana to block her sword thrust. The giant monster that had just finished fusion above us began to fall to the ground.

"I am a proud Elakatra knight! I will never kneel to the likes of you!"

[Ahhhhh!]

The monster landed behind her, reaching over and biting through her neck with its massive jaws as I distracted her. The mana flowing from her immediately shut off.

[Kohohohoho!]

The monster raised its head and let out a triumphant roar, the other monsters in the shoppingmode battlefield flocking toward it as if they were cheering. The body of the elf who had lost her head collapsed to the ground, gently consumed by my black smoke. 'Everything's going as planned. Now all I have to do is enjoy this buffet prepared for me.'

[Only one elf is left!]

[Wonderful!]

[Devour him too!]

[There's strange energy coming from him.]

[Can I eat it?]

I double-checked the time I had left until I would leave the Rookie's shoppingmode Battlefield, satisfied with what I found.

"I will enjoy this meal."