Chapter 13 – Dungeon Challenge

[(Cursed Species) Devil Shards – Level 15]

[New quiz has arrived]

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[Quiz : Kill cursed species, Devil Shards]

Completion reward : 2 Knowledge of Magic, one of the high level skills

Failure penalty : Dead

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Griffin looked carefully at the creature in front of his eyes. Its form was indistinct, like a mass of black smoke that formed a human being, but with red eyes burning with a sharp gaze. Just by looking at it, Griffin already knew that this creature was not an easy enemy to defeat.

"Level 15? How can I beat him? And again, what is a cursed species?" Griffin's mind was filled with questions, but his enemy wouldn't wait for Griffin to finish thinking.

Devil shards pointed its hand forward, thick black sap directly aimed at Griffin, as if forming several tentacles towards him.

Griffin quickly dodged and slashed at the black smoke.

Srak

"Eh, no effect?"

Griffin couldn't slash through the smoke, as if all he slashed was empty air. His attack was only able to make the smoke he slashed stop for a second before chasing Griffin again.

Once again, Griffin tried to slash with the flame sword.

Srat srat srat

Still no effect.

"This is crazy, how can I beat him?"

Seeing this, Griffin tried to lunge directly at the devil shards who were in the middle of the room. If this creature dies, then its attacks will of course stop.

When Griffin got very close, he pointed his sword forward ready to cut the devil shards' throat. Without him noticing, a black cloud of smoke shot up from the floor and threw Griffin away, allowing nothing to get near the devil shards.

Griffin balanced his body and landed on the floor. "This is crazy, how can I beat its if I can't even get close to its."

Without waiting, several more attacks aimed at Griffin. Devil shards didn't even give the boy any pause to think.

No matter how much Griffin tried, he couldn't destroy the attacks aimed at him. The increase in strength, agility, stamina, and vitality points he had previously had seemed to be a waste.

Griffin came to the conclusion that this creature was using some trick that could only be countered with magic, but Griffin couldn't use any other magic besides flame sword and healing magic, so now he was equally helpless.

In less than a minute, Griffin was cornered in the corner of the large room. There's nowhere else to run.

"THIS IS BAD!"

A large amount of smoke instantly enveloped Griffin's body.

"Ah!"

Griffin couldn't breathe. His body seemed to be bound from all directions, he could not move and struggled with great difficulty. The sword fell from his grip.

"Congested!" Griffin tried to free himself, but his strength seemed to be slowly disappearing.

The devil shards, on the other hand, stared at Griffin with a wide grin. Its terrifying face looked even more hideous from that look. It was just waiting, if Griffin died, then it would have a new meal.

It didn't take long for Griffin to lose all his strength. He no longer struggled, a sign that he had fainted.

[You lose consciousness]

[You enter the world of the subconscious]

['Unknown Skill' seeks to defend your soul]

Griffin opened his eyes, once again he was in an unknown place. As before, this place was also completely black so that no one could see around.

"This place again." Griffin muttered in annoyance.

"Am I dead? Again?"

"You think you can die that easily?"

Griffin was startled when he heard a voice from behind him.

Again Scarlet startled him and came so casually.

"You've only fainted for a while, but you're not dead yet." Scarlet came flying around.

"What place is this?"

Scarlet looked on with an expression of feigned shock. "You do not know? This is your subconscious."

"Then why are you here?"

Scarlet smiled. "Good question, but I can't answer it now. Now you have other priorities right? If you let it go on like this you will soon die."

Griffin snorted in annoyance. "Then how do I get out of here?"

"Think about it, aren't you the most good at this kind of thing?" Scarlet replied with an annoying smile.

Griffin who felt as if he didn't get an answer could only think according to Scarlet's words. He knew that neither strength, agility, vitality, nor stamina worked on devil shards, so magic was the most reasonable answer. But apart from the unknown 'Unknown Skill' and the ineffective 'Flame Sword', Griffin had no other skills.

Then he remembered, Isabella had said that skills weren't the only way to use magic.

"If I drain a large amount of mana will it work?" Griffin muttered. He thought it was the only way he could do it.

"Wow, you are smarter than you look."

Griffin wore a flat expression in response to those words.

"Stop messing around with me. How can you guarantee I can beat the Devil Shards that way?"

"It seems that you still don't know. You have a very unique magic Griffin. After fighting the Boaren mage before you still don't understand? You are endowed with extraordinary abilities. It hasn't been a day since your arrival and you are already stronger than an ordinary mage. How come?" Scarlet continued to give hints.

Griffin felt that the words just now made sense. Indeed, he was quite strong when compared to the ordinary wizard he had met so far.

While Griffin was still thinking, in the distance a white light was approaching.

"Looks like our time is up. Keep thinking Griffin, you will quickly find the answer you want. Wasn't thinking your specialty when you were in the human world?" Scarlet started walking backwards, as if avoiding the light coming from ahead.

"Wait, you recognized me when I was in the human world?" Griffin asked Scarlet who was getting further and further away.

"That's not important, now just focus on what's in front of you. Remember, that the future you will face will not be easy."

"Wait a moment!"

Griffin called out, but the light quickly enveloped his entire field of vision. The last thing he saw was Scarlet waving casually and smiling an unknown meaning.

Meanwhile, the devil shards started to feel something strange. It had been a while since it had wrapped Griffin's body with its magic, but the boy wasn't dead yet. It approached so that it could kill him directly and eat this boy. But before the devil shard's hand touched Griffin, a light appeared from the man's body.

"Graa!"

Devil shards retreat as far as possible. The black smoke that formed its hand seemed to have been blown away by the wind.

['Unknown Skill' restores your consciousness]

Griffin breathed hard. Luckily he was able to regain consciousness, otherwise something dangerous would have happened.

Grrrr...

Devil shards stared at Griffin, it was annoyed that he couldn't enjoy its food so easily and got attacked instead. Its indistinct teeth became sharper. Its claws are getting longer. The shape of the devil shards looks bigger and fiercer.

Seeing it, Griffin wasn't afraid, he was thinking more and more about how to defeat the creature in front of him.

"Hey ugly creature, let's start the second round."

Griffin took his sword and started using magic again. This time, what came out of his sword was not fire, but pure mana that was bright red in color.