Free Web NovelChapter 176: Chapter 175 - Desert Battle(Part 4)
Point-of-View: Aurora Pretorius
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"What are you trying to do?" Laughed Beelzebub in amusement, as I leapt out of the way of his energy-draining streaks. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
My senses are telling me that those things drain the energy of anything they touch, they’ll probably sap my Aura if they come into contact with me, I can’t afford to let even one of them touch me.
I’ve been trying to unleash the new technique that I discovered, but I haven’t mastered it yet, so it takes a moment to trigger, and requires intense concentration, which is hard to pull off while moving...and he’s attacking relentlessly, denying me both the time and focus that I need.
I need to create an opening for myself, but how? Dark Skill techniques aren’t very effective on Demons to begin with, and even if they were, any attack I throw at him, he’ll just nullify and absorb with those streaks. What can I do to buy myself some time?
"Hey, if you give me a timeout for about ten seconds, I’ll show you something amazing," I remarked, deciding to go for the straightforward approach...he’s the Sin of Gluttony, so it might work.
Or, wait, am I confusing gluttony with greed? Back in Hungary, he mentioned craving knowledge, not just food...but isn’t gluttony only in reference to food? Huh? What’s the difference between greed and gluttony, anyway?
"Hm...? A tempting proposition...but I’m not taking any chances with you. The fact that you can hold your own against a Demon of Sin at all is quite alarming for a Meta-Human...so, I’m gonna have to refuse," He chuckled in response.
Well...it was worth a shot, at least.
"Fine, then, guess I’ll have to kill you the hard way," I shrugged, as several dark spikes suddenly burst out all around him from my Shadow Cat, as I’d plunged my tail into the sand and extended it out towards him while I asked for the timeout.
He quickly flew up in response as they converged in on him, a few of them piercing his legs, before his streaks whipped in towards him and struck my spikes, dissipating them.
"Let’s make things more interesting, shall we?" He suddenly smirked, as dark red streaks extended out from his lower back, sending chills down my spine.
Those are different from the dark purple streaks that he formed from his fingertips...those ones were shaped like narrow whips, but these ones are thicker, and what’s more, they’ve got jaw-like shapes at their ends, while the purple ones have nothing on their ends.
As the streaks with jaws came zipping towards me, I swiftly sprang back as the jaws widened and snapped as they closed in on me, narrowly avoiding them.
The sand where I’d been standing...some of it’s gone. I see...the purple streaks consume energy, but these red streaks consume physically. And he’s using both at the same time...this is really bad!
Suddenly, as several of the purple streaks appeared behind me, I halted and began to spring away to my left, before my eyes widened in alarm as two of the red streaks appeared in that direction, the jaws slide open.
I stopped and jumped to the right, letting out a stifled cry of pain as one of the jaws snapped at me and tore off a bit of the flesh on my left upper arm just below my shoulder, blood streaming out and trickling down past my elbow as I backed away and got some distance.
I then raced across as I tore out the fabric of my top around my midriff, quickly tying it around the wound to stop the bleeding, as I narrowly dodged the incoming streaks.
Not good, I’m completely on the defensive, it’s only a matter of time before he overwhelms me at this rate!
Hm? What the...? Huh!?
As the streaks suddenly stopped, I halted and stared up, my eyes widening in disbelief...is that...one of the pyramids? In the sky? Falling down? What?
Beelzebub was distracted by it too, staring at it in shock...I need to snap out of it, this could be my best chance!
Using my Shadow Cat, I swiftly burst out a hole in the sand beneath me and dived in, burying myself several meters underground as used Shadow Cat to dig out several paths for me, as well as small holes in the surface.
I concentrated my senses as I shot through one of the tunnels I’d carved out inside the sand, before halting as I got to the spot beneath where Beelzebub was hovering up in the air.
I then deactivated my Shadow Cat as I took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled...while poking out the small holes in the surface, I’d used my Shadow Cat to suck in oxygen down here, so that I don’t suffocate.
The tunnels I dug out are already starting to crumble, the sand slowly but surely sinking in on itself...ignore that and focus, this is my only chance of defeating him. No, killing him. I’ll make him pay.
Now, concentrate...the energy I use to form Shadow Cat, compress, intensity and focus it, into my body, instead of around it.
As I focused, I felt my body start to strengthen, as a dark glow emanated across my skin, resembling cheetah spots, as similar spots appeared across my hair and eyebrows, my senses sharpening and heightening to an unreal extent.
"Aberration Skill: Dark Cheetah...successful," I muttered to myself, before bending my knees and springing up, shooting through the sand and bursting out through the surface, the force of my jump shooting me all the way up to where Beelzebub was hovering.
He had a look of confusion on his face, his gaze darting about, before his eyes widened in alarm as he saw me zipping up towards him...I see, he must have been looking for me. Well, here I am!
"What-...!?" He exclaimed in alarm as I closed in on him, forming sharp, slicing shadowy streaks from each dark spot emanating from my skin.
"Now, die," I stated coldly, as I sliced him apart into tiny pieces in an instant.
Where’s the core? I need to find it...I widened my eyes and sharpened my gaze, carefully scanning the falling chunks of meat and gore, before locking on to a slight glint amidst the blood that had burst out.
There it is!
I swiftly grabbed it, before dropping back down and landing on the ground with a sandy thud. I then quickly formed my Dark energy in the shape of a defensive dome, as the pyramid crashed onto the ground, sending a devastating shockwave bursting out upon impact.
As the shockwave washed over my dome, I held up the Demon core...it’s no bigger than an apple seed, and it looks like a small, red crystal. Time to crush it and kill him-...huh? freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"Not so fast," Came a voice to my left, as a hand suddenly appeared and grabbed my wrist, swiftly swiping the core away from me, right as my Dark Cheetah form wore off.
Damn it, I could only hold the form for that short a moment? But more importantly...who is this? My instincts have never gone off like this before, it feels like death incarnate is grabbing onto my wrist right now.
I slowly glanced to my left, to see a portal-...no, more like a rift, but different to the Mirror Dimension rifts. The hand that was clutching my wrist was coming out of it, and inside the rift, I could see a pair of gleaming red eyes staring at me.
"Wh-who are you?" I stuttered, feeling a creeping sense of dread and fear as I used Appraisal.
I-I’ve never seen such a dense Aura before...it’s almost solid, even the Demons of Sin don’t come close to this.
"My apologies, I did not intend to interfere in this battle. But then, I did not expect one of my Demons of Sin to nearly be destroyed. I cannot allow that, so pardon the intervention. You can pretend that this never happened.
I commend you for so easily defeating Beelzebub...now, then, it would appear that this is the limit of how long I can maintain this rift. We shall meet again, human," He remarked, before he withdrew his arm as the rift began to close.
What the hell was that? Who the hell was that? I didn’t have to think hard to figure it out...he said ’my Demons of Sin’...was that Satan?
No, there’s no question of it...that menacing presence, and the sheer intensity of that Aura. I can’t even imagine defeating something like that...I took a deep breath as I dissipated the protective dome that I’d formed around myself, my body breaking out into a cold sweat.
That was terrifying. My instincts had me convinced that I was as good as dead just now. I shook my head to compose myself, letting out a slow exhale to ease my nerves.
Now, then...I think I’m going to go after that woman who was in command of the attack on my old den, I see her fighting some of the back up Metas Neo had brought in. I’ll make her pay for-...hm?
I then perked up as I sensed someone behind me, spinning around and jumping back as they swung their foot down, their heel slamming onto the ground with immense force.
Who’s this? He was with the initial group of Chaos members when we arrived here...he seems to be a Meta-Human, not a Demon or anything. His Aura looks about Category 0 level. That kick was quite powerful, he must have the Physical Skill.
He had longish graying black hair that was parted in the middle, black eyes with a dead look in them, a mustache and medium-length beard, and an average height and build.
"So, who are you?" I inquired with a sigh...I just came face to face with Satan, give me a break already.
"I am known as Grigori Rasputin. I shall be your opponent, young lady," He greeted me.
"Fine, whatever, it’s your funeral, old man," I responded dryly.
"On the contrary, as you will soon find out...you cannot kill me, no one can," He remarked icily, starting to zip towards me, before we both suddenly froze, as a massive Aura burst out across the area...
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