Chapter 10: Fiend
"Bastards!" Jin shouts out
"Brother?" Lou Ming raised his eyebrow
'…..This wasn't a part of our plan….'
'….however… it is probably better this way.. Now we just need to get rid of the new student and there won't be any witnesses!' Lou Ming smirks
"Brother! Quickly throw the new student inside as well! Hurry, before the rift closes!"
Tou Ming, who was still in a bit of a trance, charged forward like a maniac with arms wide open
Lou Ming followed suit, right behind his elder brother
Tou Ming tries to grab Jin but instead, he receives a lighting fast roundhouse kick to the side of his head
That deadly roundhouse kick knocked Tou Ming out cold
His body dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes
Lou Ming came to a halt when he saw his elder brother fall victim to that dangerous kick
'Fuck! How is he so skilled in close combat?!'
"It looks like you know a thing or two…. "
"So what? You're still just a lowly no-mana! No-manas are trash on this planet!"
Lou Ming tried to intimidate Jin but the latter didn't say a word
Jin's indifferent eyes told Lou Ming that his words were meaningless to him
The look on Jin's face triggered Lou Ming a bit
There was nothing he hated more than when an opponent looks down on him
Jin had the same eyes as them and it pissed him off
Jin fixed his eyes on Lou Ming
Then… all of a sudden..he heard a loud crisp sound chimed out from the rift which diverted Jin's attention toward it
PLIP!PLOP!
It sounded like a raindrop..like the first raindrop of an incoming storm…
The sound resonated inside Jin's mind for a moment
His opponent, Lou Ming didn't hear anything coming from the rift
He glared at Jin who had his eyes fixed on the rift
"Y-You dare?! Do you dare look away from me during a battle?! A lowly no-mana like you?!?"
Lou Ming's eyes filled with rage He would not tolerate this disrespect from Jin any longer
"I will show you the difference between a B-rank Elite like me vs a no-mana loser like you!! I will make you regret that you were born!!" Lou Ming yelled out then he thrusts one hand on to the ground
The ground rumbled for a bit
Then like a plant sprouting, a 3-meter green tentacle made from mana emerged from the ground beneath Jin's feet
Jin returns his attention back to the battle and quickly sidesteps the incoming attack
KRACK!
!!
He wasn't able to fully dodge the tentacle in time and it nicked him on his cheek
Jin wipes the blood off his face with the back of his hand. It has actually been a while since he saw last saw his own blood
"Hahaha! How do you like my cyber-ware?!"
Lou Ming reveals to Jin the palms of his hands
Lou Ming's palms were plated in carbon fiber with green mana lines running in between each finger
"It's a high C-ranked ware and contains a unique skill! A pleasant like you could never get your hands on something like this!" Lou Ming hollered
The tentacle, with no enemies within its range, wiggled a bit before finally dissipating
'First time fighting against a C-ranked ware....Let's see what it can do!'
Jin dashes forward toward Lou Ming and throws out a combination
Jin's ridiculous speed caught Lou Ming off guard for just a moment but he was able to defend himself by spawning a tentacle to block the attack
The punches bounced off the mana tentacles like rubber
Bam! Bam! Ba-
Before Jin was able to complete his combination of punches, another tentacle emerge from his side and tried to grab hold of him
Jin dodges back avoiding the tentacle cleanly this time
'HOW IS HE SO FAST FOR A NO-MANA?!'
Lou Ming was dumbfounded and his anger grew
'I will never be able to catch this fucker like this…he can just keep dodging forever…'
'I need to find an opening to use my skill and trap him!'
PLIP!PLOP!
'There is that sound again!'
Jin thought as he divert his attention to the rift once again
"…." Lou Ming's blood was now boiling
"This…is…the second and last time you will ever look away when facing me!!"
This was the moment Lou Ming was waiting for
He releases most of his mana into the cyber-ware to unleash the skill within
"KRAKEN'S FEELERS!!" He shouted out
Around 15 tentacles emerge from the ground in a circular area below Jin
The tentacles were spaced out really well which made it nearly impossible to dodge unless you were a high ranked mana-user
Jin dodges the initial tentacle that sprouted but another was able to grab hold of him
"Shit.."
Then on Lou Ming's command, the tentacle flung Jin, face first, into the rift
"Y-Yes! YES!! I did it brother he's gone! I can finally get my hands on that cyber-ware!" Lou Ming yelled in excitement
"U…uh y-y-younger b-brother?" Tou Ming replied in confusion. He was still recovering from the kick and didn't know what had happened
"Oh never mind forget what I said…let's get out of here before anyone sees us and the rift turns critical!"
Lou Ming releases his cyber-ware skill and grabs his older brother then scurried off like cockroaches
As the brothers run off, the rift begins sealing itself with an invisible coat of mana
Moment later…
Jacob and his HOA Hunter group arrived inside the stadium
The group watched the B-ranked rift hover there in silence
"Wait…why is the rift so quiet…?" One HOA Hunter asks
"You said the rift was active didn't you Tony?" Alyssa asked
"The rift was active, I saw it with my own eyes!"
Jacob stayed silent at first..then as he got closer to the rift, he spoke
"…..What the hell happened here Tony?! Who the fuck is inside the rift?" Jacob asked in an irritated tone
Tony immediately lowers his head and udders out
"I-I'm so sorry I let a couple of students examine the rift up close…"
"WHAT?!" The group of hunters gasps
"Do you understand what you have done?!…. Once the students in there die, the rift will become critical!" One HOA Hunter remarks
"I'm sorry! I didn't think the rift would become active nor did I think the students were stupid enough to go inside! I shouldn't have left them alone!" Tony apologizes
"No, you should've never allowed anyone but hunters to get near a rift!" Jacob rebuked
"Quickly inform the academy principal to evacuate the students in the academy right now!!" Jacob instructed Tony and he left in a hurry
"….Alyssa..I need you to wake up Cyclone in the West Dormitory…I have a feeling that we might need an S-ranked Slayer…"
"On it sir!"
After Alyssa left in a hurry, there was an eerie silence in the air…
Jacob and the rest of the HOA hunters backed away from the rift and prepared themselves
The hunters knew the rift can turn critical any moment and they each gulped a big breath of air
Jacob glared intensely at the rift
'What monstrosity will we face this time…'
Inside the rift…
Jin landed face-first on the stone hard floor
"Ugh…only the third day of school and you get yourself flung into a dungeon"
Jin picks himself up and looks around
He was standing on a huge stone platform with a huge rift behind him
The platform is located in this huge chamber which is slightly bigger than the training stadium. Lava surrounded the platform like a moat
The large chamber was empty with only Jin in it but the walls of the chamber reeked of blood and there were bones from unknown creatures laying around
There was a 30-meter-long narrow bridge with no railings that had arched itself in between the platform and the other side of the chamber where a giant red velvet door was
Jin tried going back through the rift but it wouldn't allow him
There was an invisible force stopping him from getting any closer to the rift
"…."
'What a shitty situation I found myself in….'
'Also where is Alex? I don't see him anywhere….'
'Unless….'
Jin looks at the nearby bone fragments and a chill ran down his spine
'No..those bones are way too big to be any human bone..'
Different scenarios ran through Jin's mind but he could only arrive at two conclusions
It was either stay here and wait for the bloodthirsty monsters to come back or move forward through those doors
"I guess there is no choice but to move forward…"
As Jin takes a brave step forward toward the bridge, he could hear the sound of a door open
CREEEEK…
Jin squint his eyes and fixed his vision on the red velvet doors
It was hard to see what opened the doors from where he stood
Then he saw it…
One massive blood-red wing… revealed itself and then another….. followed by curved horns from behind one of the doors
The creature slowly steps out from the doors and fully reveals itself
Two blood-red wings attached to a gigantic pale white muscular body with tree trunk-sized limbs. Two twisted horns stained red with blood attach to a demonic head with spikes for teeth
Blood-dripping armor plates covered its legs and arms. The creature also carried a massive Halberd in one hand with a metallic guard on the shoulder
This creature is a Demon Marauder!!
A bloodthirsty demonic fiend capable of cataclysmic destruction (definitely not a B-ranked monster!)
Although Jin was pretty far away from the door, he could tell that the creature was a behemoth and had to be at least 7 meters tall
Cold sweats ran down Jin's back
The fiend stared at Jin from afar and from its gaze alone, it felt like an enormous amount of suffocating pressure was bearing down on him
Jin could not move a muscle he was frozen in fear
Suddenly the creature vanished from Jin's vision and reappeared right in front of his face!
!!!
The demon towered over Jin and cast a shadow covering him
The gigantic creature raised his massive halberd and then swung down
Jin tried to move his legs but he wasn't able to react in time to the fear
SLACCCCC!!!
THUD!
The halberd cleaved right through Jin's right arm and it fell onto the ground
"AAAAUUUUUGHHHHHHH!!!!"
Jin screamed out as an indescribable amount of pain rushed to his brain from where his arm was
Blood sprayed out from the life-threatening wound
The blood flooded the stone floor and covered it in puddles of red
Somehow.. someway.. Jin was able to regain his composure under all that pain and ran back toward the rift while clutching his right side
The Fiend looked at him with a little amusement
Its blood-red eyes were etched into Jin's mind
Jin started to struggle to keep his footing. He had lost too much blood from the brutal attack and his legs had gone a bit limp
"Shit…this demon…fuck"
Jin knew that this was possibly the end for him
His vision began to blur and he could see the Demon slowly make its way toward him
'I'm sorry Yen....for leaving you all alone…'
Then Jin collapses onto the stone floor
…..