A look of recognition showed itself on the face of the large dog, and the Incarnate knew it was far from being a good sign. Even if the dog didn’t have eyes, it took more than flesh organs to express loyalty, and the Demonling recognized the creature’s subtle emotions. Its master lay dead on the ground, and it… grieved.The Hollow Demonling held his shield tight, feeling the growing tenseness in the atmosphere as the large dog’s focus returned to his figure… and then pounced!Its companion did the same.The Incarnate… also sped forward.It wasn’t exactly bravery that inspired this motion.His esteem and confidence had seen a significant rise after his relatively quick exchange with Tenyen, yes, but the main reason he lunged at the massive dogs without much hesitation, was simply because of his past experiences.When facing a large target, it was better to attack first or to at least make sure you weren’t the one caught without momentum or a steady stance. As warfare with large,
The Incarnate felt his black slam against something hard and dusty… unfortunately.The body of the foul-smelling, shaggy dog falling on top of him right after, made him taste the flavor of dirt before he realized that wherever he had fallen or sunken into, was very, very dark.Panic set into the Incarnate. He blinked furiously.Where was he?How did he get here?This unknown was much more vexing than the pain in his flesh and bones right now.He tried his best to stand, and when he did, he realized that while the Valiant Subject’s Ward was in his hand, Tenyen’s mace was not. It must have fallen from his grip when he slammed on the ground.‘That’s not good.’Just as the Incarnate began sweeping the ground with his legs to see if he could locate the weapon, he heard the growl of the remaining dog once again. It pounced.Determined to not feel the sweet sting of his ribs again, the Incarnate dived to the right only to smash into a wall… somewhere, face first.Perhaps because th
Days slowly passed; three days, to be exact.At first, the Incarnate was shocked when his old, internal clock told him that a full day had passed since he faced and killed Tenyen and the dogs. It was almost inconceivable to him that he would get so much downtime.So, so much of it.For an Incarnate like ^8001, he almost began to prefer his old days at the front lines to this. It was so boring.For him, entertainment had started to get a bloody meaning as he aged. He remained rooted in his own ideals even to death, refusing to house demons of indifference to human lives like his fellow soldiers, but the Incarnate couldn’t deny it.War became the totem of his bones and liquor became the medicine for his soul.Here, in |Prospect For Reincarnation|, he had neither… for days.His body didn’t punish him for this lack as much, as it was new, but his soul did.The former, as he discovered in the past three days, didn’t nag him for food at all. In fact, it was only after the Incarnate
The Incarnate steeled his resolve and took a step forward. There was no other choice. The call of the Spirit Essence from the doorway made him believe that going down the slope instead was a terrible mistake. Maybe other Incarnates who chose something similar were rolling in their supernatural graves right now. ‘Well, I guess I could always come back. Maybe,’ Incarnate ^8001 thought morbidly. He placed his bare foot on the first step. The floor was a lot colder here, maybe because of the Spirit Essence. He continued on the path, feeling the light brush of energy against his skin. Silently, the Incarnate scaled the stairs, finding with each meter he traversed that he had a decently long way to go. That was both a good and a bad thing. Even though he didn’t have much trust in his Equipment when thinking about the horrors to come, he still held them both tight. The Valiant Subject’s Ward had most of the Incarnate’s faith, though, after all, the mace, as the glowing tablet identifie
[You are within range of a Legendary Far Ji (Unique Quality)][Find its source and pay a fitting price to claim it for yourself]The Incarnate was taken by surprise.‘A Legendary Unique Quality?’ he thought.Where?He strained a little and remembered the grading system he had seen for Far Ji. Apparently, there wasn’t much to remember. It simply went from Rare, Legendary to Divine.From the moment it was made known to the Demonling the ranks for Equipment, Acquired Abilities, and Unique Qualities, he became able to comprehend the differences without needing to employ knowledge from his old world. This made all the difference.‘Legendary… That’s nothing to scoff at.’This was especially true when comparing what Legendary meant in the context of the grading system for Acquired Abilities, which went from Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Transcendent all the way to Divine.The Incarnate gulped. He had had worries about whether or not a Far Ji would be useful, given how it was going
The Incarnate screamed.This time, he lost himself for a few seconds, and that ended really badly for him.It seemed the katana had actually missed its desired target on his body when it hit his side. Like the Incarnate, the sword’s master seemingly wasn’t capable of seeing through the dark. Or perhaps, it was the Incarnate’s erratic movements as he fell that prevented the enemy from aiming properly at his vitals?Whichever was true didn’t mean much.After all, once the sword exited from the Incarnate’s back, it turned… and started stabbing at his back brutally, and rapidly!This successive stabbing plus the tumbling down the stairs was torture for the Incarnate and for a moment, he almost lost consciousness!However…“NOT YET!” the Incarnate roared, pushed his feet against the ground with as much strength as he could muster, and leaped up!The force of his jump caused him to rise and slam hard against the ceiling of the narrow corridor and then plummet to the stairs, but his
Despite barely having time to think for the last few minutes, the Incarnate had considered what the glowing tablet had shown him before. Throughout the brutal ordeal, he had to endure against the armoured figure, a great debate had been going on in his head in disjointed segments.The Hermetic Vault, a Legendary Far Ji, Vs. 10 additional units to his physical attributes.Both of these were options at the Incarnate’s disposal despite the former being much, much harder to see through. Regardless, he felt it was a possible way for him to survive instead of the prize for him walking out of this place alive.Incarnate ^8001 had considered assigning the 10 Incarnation Points he had to his attributes in varying distributions. It was great that 1 Incarnation Point could become 1 unit of any attribute, but frankly, the Incarnate wasn’t too optimistic.10 additional units of Strength or Agility or Endurance alone, weren’t going to save him from the current enemy, especially since said enemy
[Your entirety embodies the notion of greed and ambition. Your flesh desires to devour more than its designated portion of gifts in the world. It desires double, and so does your soul. You seek things beyond what you were afforded in your last life][You are a rare case where flesh and soul are in mutual agreement][You, Incarnate ^8001, are a true Hollow Demonling].The Incarnate was taken aback.“What?”He couldn’t quite wrap his mind around these words. As he understood it, they came right after he attained the Hermetic Vault, his first Unique Quality.What exactly did they mean?A true Hollow Demonling?Right then, the collection of the Demonling’s properties appeared in his view.===Name : None (Incarnate ^8001)Privilege : 1Race : Hollow Demonling---Far Ji (Unique Quality) :>Hermetic Vault---STR : 1AGI : 1END : 1---Spirit Essence : 150---Kanva (Acquired Skill) :>Sundering Bunt---SeiJo (Equipment) :>Valiant Subject’s Ward>Bash Brain
Arlosse snorted.“Now’s the right time?” he said, but his thoughts were busy with everything else that the young human warrior had said.A great human Emperor?The mention of another authority figure spurred Arlosse’s mind. This place, the entirety of the ten Floors he was supposed to go through, was called Bahathraden, the Compound Demesne of Fallen Authorities. Did it mean that the nature of each Floor would revolve around an authority figure? A King, a Queen, an Emperor, a Lord, a Prince and whatnot?That seemed to be the theme.But this Triayt the Unbecoming was long dead. Did that mean Arlosse didn’t have to interact with the authority in focus within the Floor? Was he, perhaps, meant to grapple with the ideals left behind by Triayt? The story the young warrior had shared so far, was livid with Triayt’s ideals. The bastard had actually informed the demons about this relic, the Last Shard, which he had hidden away to ‘deliver the world’. What did that even mean?But then…‘I’m a d
A young human soldier had appeared, begging for his life, tears spilling from his eyes which bulged at the sight of Arlosse.He shook and retreated to the wall of the protrusion, looking as though he’d seen a ghost. The degree of terror in his eyes intensified tenfold.Arlosse raised a brow.What had this young man expected to see when he leaped out pleading for his life? Was he, Arlosse, that ugly?The Incarnate looked closely at the trembling mess of a man.The young man had dirty blonde hair, a square-ish face and downturned, brown eyes. He was wearing a surprisingly high-quality armour. It didn’t look as though it had weathered through any conflict at all in the last three hours and however long the battle had been raging on before Arlosse showed up.Curious…The Incarnate didn’t let his guard down at the sight of this human, but he didn’t feel enough of a threat from him to keep his sword pointing at his face.He scoffed and muttered, “You look like you haven’t spent a day on the
The tall demon was adorned in a scale armor that featured bursts of rugged, brown fur at the joints on his steel bracers and just above his greaves. What looked like a scarf of braided blonde human hair was wound around its neck, pairing beautifully with his pale, yellow skin.The demon was rather handsome. He had sharp features on his face that were all nearly human-like except for two small extra eyes on either side of his face. His long, dark hair cast a shadow over his face and as he looked from the hulking warrior to Arlosse, his fury was unmistakable.The great, bloody battle axe in his hand was suddenly suffused by a raging crimson tide of energy the likes of which the Incarnate had yet to see on any demon much less a weapon.“What is going on here, hybrid?” he said in a sharp tone, his blood-red eyes constricting on Arlosse’s figure. “I desperately wish, for your sake, things are not as they appear.”Arlosse stammered.He wanted to speak and quickly explain, but something abou
The moment Arlosse saw the horse and took in its deep desire to protect its master despite being injured, a thought rapidly sprang up in his mind; it was something that he had been introduced to rather recently.The Bond System.After completing the First Floor, he was given a new privilege that allowed him to create bonds with living creatures and have them accompany him on his trials to become the Hateful Demon Tyrant.At once, the Incarnate imagined himself astride the large white horse as its master, having completed the conditions required to earn its loyalty and invoke the Host Guide’s Bond System. It was a fleeting image, but it was wonderful indeed.The Incarnate felt a tug at his heart… hearts. Perhaps, a greater contributing factor to how he was suddenly compelled to charge forth and kill the demons now attempting to breach the tall walls of ice the white horse had created, was that he had also had a loyal horse he had known for a time in his previous life.The horse had bee
Three hours passed on the battlefield, and to the Hollow Demonling’s surprise, the fighting only intensified.The humans had been indeed put at a disadvantage when the great horn sounded, most of them – the weaker ones, Arlosse had noticed – pushed to retreat to safety. However, while rallying around powerful human warriors whom the Demonling heard being called Tenet Commanders, the human forces found their footing once again and charged, ripping the frenzied demons to pieces with clever formations.Arlosse had watched without openly engaging for a while. He needed to learn more about the nature of this conflict. What was the Shard his fellow abomination had referenced? What were the staves issuing the golden beams of light?While trying to figure these things out, Arlosse had used Reform to heal the wound on his back, which, thanks to his ability to not bleed out – which was further reinforced by the recently earned 225 points to his Spirit Essence – hadn’t caused problems too great
The blaring sound of the horn, so mighty it caused the ground to tremble, came to a sudden halt, puzzling Arlosse.What was that sound?Why was the abomination beside him along with the other demons getting so excited because of it?What was the shroud of crimson the Hollow Demonling was seeing, brimming around each and every one of them?Why was he untarnished by this energy?Arlosse didn’t know what to think. Even the mount he and the caterpillar-mantis were riding was coated in this curious energy, and, though it might have been a mistake, the Demonling felt the galloping beast’s muscles toughen up.Eager and curious, Arlosse sought the source of the blaring noise that had prompted everything. With quite some difficulty, he turned and surveyed the battlefield. It took him a few moments, but soon, he spotted it. It indeed was a horn, as far as he could see – a gigantic horn whose details he could hardly see.The horn was far, far away, roughly four kilometers south; its location was
“What did you have to kill many of our own for, you fool?!”“Uhh…” Arlosse murmured, unsure how he was to answer this question if it even required him to give a lengthy explanation.Besides being stunned by the question, the Incarnate was also taken aback by the appearance of his fellow demon.Back in his old days, Arlosse wouldn’t have pegged himself as someone who had any right to judge another individual’s appearance. He didn’t have that luxury and wasn’t exactly a handsome model of a man himself.However, today… right now…Long story short, the poison green half-mantis, half-caterpillar creature packed before him, dressed in leather armor and shawl that somehow fit it perfectly well… was atrociously hideous!It had a thick, black chitinous layer on its back that extended to its small head, which was decorated by dark, beady eyes and sharp mandibles that clacked when it spoke.“Well? How are you going to explain this to the Generals? And come to think of it… How come I’ve never see
When it happened, it took a great portion of the wide battlefield by storm.There had been no prelude – no surge of Spirit Essence, marking its advent known.When Arlosse opened the Hermetic Vault, he didn’t hesitate to send out one of the Immaterial Slashes he had stored from his exchange with King Alabas, the Flying Reaper Sword.To maximize damage, ensuring that he caught the largest body count possible, which would immediately free him from the crowd of assailants, he had the disembodied slash materialize an inch from him, its lethal edge lateral.A loud noise, not too dissimilar to a vicious boom rolled out across the battlefield.Because of the sheer speed the Immaterial Slash charged forth with, it butchered nearly fifty bodies directly in front of the Hollow Demonling at once, creating a sound akin to an explosion. Those who had been struck barely registered that their lives were forfeit, but the attack itself neither waited nor cared.It traveled far and wide, culling human,
[You have arrived on the SECOND FLOOR, the Crucible of Twin-faced Hope]As the Host Guide announced the strange name of the new Floor, Arlosse hardly registered it in his head. His mind was a bit preoccupied trying to reconcile that he was back in a place like this, the home of death, its emissaries and victims, all of whom raged senselessly – recklessly – as though possessed by devils.Blood spilled every which way the Incarnate looked.Bones crunched under the feet of whinnying horses and tamed, canine beasts he didn’t recognise.Flesh squelched, torn open for all to see the unsightly beauty it hid.The scorching orange sun above, merciless and uncompromising, seemed determined to make all the thousands of corpses lying about look as insignificant, shameful and irrelevant as possible by arousing the stink within them, summoning flies and starved critters in the dry, rocky desert.Human men and women with assortments of armour roared, their steel clashing against that of enemies whil