1914 Chapter 1914. Provoking a Reluctant Opponent
Red Deathâs speed was the fastest among the four. She arrived before Belphegor way ahead of the others. She was not an amateur. She knew the devils had advanced mana sense. However, she had something that gave her confidence in laying an ambush on this sleeping devil.
She had also started learning mana concealment from Wong. Her expertise was still below Leavemealone. Considering her legendary-grade set armor exuded an intense aura, her current expertise shouldnât be able to mask her presence. However, she had another factor that boosted her concealment. This factor was the passive ability from her pinnacle class. Death Executor possessed a passive skill that clouded her mana. Those with mana sense wouldnât sense her until she executed a skill.
Aside from clouding her mana, Death Executorâs other passive abilities included increased critical chance to her every attack. She also gained Venom Mastery. This ability gave all her attacks a 30% chance of inflicting Poison Status. Venom Masteryâs effect was stackable with Assassinâs Poison Mastery.
Red Death flew to Belphegorâs back. She was aiming for the back attack bonus in addition to the ambush bonus. She refrained from using any skill while concentrating on concealing her mana. When she was within attacking range, she used her current deadliest skill. Death Executorâs level 90 skill, Deathâs Touch. Her crimson dagger stabbed into the back of Belphegorâs neck.
Death Touch dealt 3000% chaos damage. It had a 50% chance of an instant-kill effect. If the target was killed by this skill, a Death Servant was summoned. The Death Servant joined the battle as an ally and lasted an hour.
While the instant-kill effect was useless against a devil like Belphegor, the skillâs other effect was much more useful for the current fight. The effect was reducing the targetâs max HP by 10% for the remainder of the battle. If used at the beginning of a fight, it was the same as taking out one-tenth of the targetâs total HP, no matter how high the targetâs HP was.
This effect was not stackable, though. If Red Death hit Belphegor with Death Touch again, the max-HP reduction would not be more than 10%. Still, instantly reducing a devilâs HP by one-tenth was an extraordinary feat. Red Death combined the stab with her martial art, Spinning Carnage, while activating Demonize Weapon. Belphegorâs HP dropped more than 10% from that one stab.
âHmâŠ?â Belphegor started opening his eyes.
Red Death didnât plan to stop with just one stab. She planned to land several more attacks before Belphegor fully awakened. However, when she tried to pull her dagger, she couldnât.
âWhat?â She looked at where her dagger had stabbed.
Although the stab inflicted the intended damage, there was no blood. She failed to wound Belphegor. Furthermore, the flesh where her dagger had stabbed seemed to tighten. Belphegorâs flesh was like living fat. It wrapped around the dagger and squeezed, rendering Red Death unable to pull her weapon out. She felt a stinging chill on her hand holding the dagger. Flecks of ice started to form on that hand.
âUghâŠ! Let⊠Let go!!â Red Death exclaimed.
Belphegor turned his head and looked at his ambusher. He didnât say anything. The fat behind his neck became alive. They protruded and were about to swallow Red Deathâs hand that was holding the dagger.
Red Death let go of the dagger and used Vanish before the fat touched her hand. She reappeared a distance away. The dagger that was stuck inside Belphegorâs neck was teleported back to her hand by the world system. Even the iron grip of Belphegorâs flesh couldnât prevent that from happening. frŃewebηovel.cŃłm
Red Death looked at her dagger. A thick layer of ice covered it, but the ice soon melted due to the effect of Demonize Weapon.
Belphegor stared at Red Death before turning to the other three outworlders coming toward him. The three stopped in their tracks when Belphegorâs icy eyes landed on them. The ground near Belphegor started to be covered in ice as the temperature around the devil dropped drastically.
Belphegor finally started speaking, âI think you, outworlders, wandered into the wrong place. The battle is over there. Now, go and stop disturbing my rest.â
He then closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
Grace and the others didnât know what to make of this. They looked at each other with confused expressions.
Red Death was more decisive. If the devil let them land another free strike, she wouldnât let it go. She again focused on concealing her mana and moved silently toward Belphegorâs opened back. She felt the chill again when she got near Belphegor. Her movement slowed, but not enough to hinder her.
She was about to land a second stab using Assassinâs Assassinate Soul when she detected a sudden eruption of mana from under her. Her reaction was fast enough to use Roll when a giant ice blade pierced out of the ground. However, due to the slow effect, the ice blade scraped her. She lost HP, but not much. Her legendary-grade armor soaked up much of the damage. The result would have been very different if she received a clean hit.
âHm⊠You can sense mana?â Belphegor asked. He was just pretending to sleep.
Instead of answering Belphegorâs question, Red Death asked, âHow did you detect me?â
âYou have a way to hide your mana. Thatâs how you managed to ambush me the first time. Now that I have my ice aura on, you wonât be able to approach me again without me knowing.â
âTch!â This meant her mana concealment ability was useless.
âWe are not only relying on ambushes. You will find that soon enough!â Grace exclaimed.
âI meant what I said,â Belphegor said. âIf you people leave now. I wonât trouble you. There are plenty of demons over there for you to fight. Go and kill them all. I donât mind. I just want to rest.â
âYou are one weird devil,â Badass remarked.
â⊠In that case, do you mind going back to the underworld?â Grace asked. âThat way, you can rest as much as you like.â
âHmâŠ,â Belphegor massaged his chin. He seemed to be seriously thinking about the suggestion. âIâm afraid I canât do that. Even I have a superior. You see, Lord Lucifer will be angry if I retreat. So, I canât retreat. But if you defeat the army here, I can use that as an excuse not to advance.â
Grace looked at Nameless and Badass, who looked back. They were thinking they might just take up on Belphegorâs offer.
Someone didnât have the same thought as them, though. Red Death had no intention to play buddy with their opponent. âThis is bullshit! Are you going to trust what he says?â She then pointed at Belphegor and exclaimed, âListen, fat! I have no time for your games. Stop your nonsense and fight properly!â
Belphegor turned to her. His expression was not as friendly as before. âWhat did you just call me?â He asked.
âYou heard me!â Red Death didnât back down.
Belphegor responded by slapping his hand on the ground. Sharp ice jutted out of the ground. They moved like a wave toward Red Death.
Red Death dodged to the side. She was no longer within Belphegorâs aura range, so her speed was back to normal. When she thought she was safe after the ice wave went past beside her, the jutting ice exploded. Uncountable ice darts came her way.
She was surprised but not flustered. Her body spun as her dagger split into two. The shadows of her daggers crisscrossed around her, deflecting the ice darts while she moved back.
âYou have good moves. Too bad your mouth is foul,â Belphegor said. Nine ice orbs materialized on his back. These ice orbs transformed into various melee weapons. âSince you, people, are so intent on conflict. So be it.â
âUh⊠We donât. Itâs all her.â Badass pointed at Red Death.
âForget it. Red Death is right. We canât just trust what this devil says,â Grace said.
âDonât forget they come to invade the upperworld. They are the cause of this conflict,â Nameless added.
Belphegor didnât waste any words on them. He also couldnât talk. Something was filling his mouth to the brim. He vomited that something out. It was a big fleshy ball.
Grace and the others had seen this ball from the projection at Chrisâ secret garden. They knew what came next.
Belphegor was not done. He continued expelling more balls rapidly. Seeing the scene, they were worried Belphegor might go all out from the get-go. They were relieved when Belphegor stopped after spewing out four balls. These balls transformed into mini Belphegors.
âWhat should we do?â Nameless asked in the group chat.
âWe take out his mini clones first,â Grace answered. âWilted said that Belphegor can consume these clones. They greatly heal him when he does that. He needs a great deal of time to reproduce these clones. If he no longer has these clones, it will be easier when we fight his true form later.â
âWill he just stay back and let us do that?â Badass asked.
âLooking at his behavior until now, he should⊠Unless someone provokes him.â
They all turned to Red Death, who sent a message in response.
âI know, I know. We will deal with his clones first.â
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