Child of Darkness

Being very tough is one thing but being able to recover that quick is cheating. Well, it does live to its title as a mythical beast.

It might be too early for me to battle such a beast.

Just now, the ghoul passes by me, then towards the direction of the dragon. "That was impressive. Now, I'll handle it from here."

I wonder if he has a plan. Well, this dragon is his in the first place so he must know its weakness. I guess I'll have to observe for now.

The ghoul then has his holy sword shine in pure white. It's almost blinding. I wonder if that sword is already made of light.

The ghoul then leaps up and strikes the dragon directly into its heart. The dragon shakes its body in pain causing the ghoul to get blown off, leaving his blade stuck on its chest.

"Now, I'm leaving everything to you! Bring out your strongest attack!" He says.

How does it change things? Seeing his blade didn't even do much damage, it made me wonder.

[Answer. Holy weapons if it hits the vitals of the undead, temporarily deactivates its magic circuits]

I see, in other words, if its magic circuits are down then it can't use its recovery skill. This is my only chance!

[You can now use [Skill Combiner] ]

I smile. Just in time.

I then call out for my remaining clones which are around 3 thousand to gather for a secondary attack. My MP has only nearly 5% left enough for this last skill.

[Skill Combiner] -> [Meteor Doom]!

My remaining clones and I then leap up and surround the dragon once again.

In that instant, all of my clones release the spell, meteor doom. Thousands of meteor attacks bombard the dragon's body.

The ghoul quickly stands. He is worried and activates his skill. "That moron! You are going too far! Holy shield!"

A white barrier dome forms around the dragon and my clones. The blast occurs inside the barrier. Though it is too powerful that even the caverns are affected by the shockwaves.

I got blown away from the impact.

***

[Ren]

"Tsk!" I add 5 more barriers as a precaution. The 1st to the 3rd is breaking. I keep on adding and adding until I can't count how many barriers I added.

It is funny since I don't even think my blade from earlier is necessary seeing how powerful his attack is.

My body is producing steam. My armor is starting to fall apart and melt. Every time I use light magic it will damage my body. I then fall unto my knees.

Regardless, I can't give up now.

It goes on and on and there are no signs of the blast stops, thus I continue adding barriers. Until a few minutes pass by.

I guess this is the 200th barrier that I erected.

Eventually, the explosion subsides. A heavy smoke permeates throughout the area.

At last, I then take down the barriers. I then fall to the ground completely, exhausted. I reach my limit. My mana is almost zero now.

***

[Verni]

Vermil leaps down to check whether I am alive. She then comes close to inspect the area. "Brother, where are you?"

"Here!"

Vermil is glad to see my arm and checks the area buried in rocks. She then digs it up. Seeing me, she hugs me. Though I look battered and my uniform is ruined.

"Ouch, ouch."

Regardless, that was pretty risky. I may indeed have gone too far. I underestimated the damage a meteor can bring.

I have only survived the explosion thanks to the barrier.

Since the dragon is too powerful, I panicked and unleashed my best attack. Even my clones got caught up in that attack and all of them have died.

I may need time to recover their numbers.

Right now, seeing my MP, I'm almost empty.

[MP: 23/76,500]

When the smoke subsides, a very large bottomless hole is seen from where the dragon used to stand. The barrier didn't protect the ground, thus the energy must have been directed to the bottom.

[Level up!

Level up!

....

Level 180]

[New title Acquired!

+Dragon Slayer!

+Child of Darkness!]

[Cool Down Loan has leveled up!

+You can now loan up to 8 Hours worth of cool down]

The rest of the titles look cool, but I wonder about the title, the child of darkness.

[Answer, the following conditions have been met.

•30 dark affinity skills

•15 days duration of dark mana exposure

•Level 100

• 400+ points for all stats ]

[The child of darkness title is acquired. The path to becoming a demon lord has now opened ]

"De-demon lord? Aren't they the bad guys and usually feared by the people? Will I become one of them too?"

"Hahaha, after pulling that off you are still worried that people are gonna become afraid of you? The moment you entered the Mythical Dungeon of Despair, Kurver, you are no longer a human."

I'm no longer a human, huh?

I notice it is the ghoul who is speaking. I guess I have to come close and talk to him.

Looking at him, he is jacked up. He is even in worse condition compared to me. He didn't receive this damage from the dragon?

"Can you introduce yourself?"

The ghoul harrumphs. "I'm no one, but you can call me Ren."

"By the way, who is that dragon?"

"Valkeryun, one of the 7 strongest dragons in Gravilus. I sealed him inside me because he is too much for me to handle. The dragon used to be the partner of... Uh, the hero Dervalin, one of the dragon-borns and the strongest swordsman in history."

I notice he is hesitant in speaking his name. Did they have a history? It is likely. Since this ghoul must have been here for too long. He must be someone important.

"Can you tell me about this dungeon?"

"As I said, this is the Kurver domain, the most sinister domain. The adventurers who can't resist the corrupted mana in the air become a ghoul. I wonder why you are here in the first place. I have been in this dungeon for eternity and it's the first time I saw a human here."

Eh? I didn't realize that this dungeon is that important? I guess I am too lucky that I survived all that. I scratch my head in confusion.

"It's taking into effect isn't it?" Said the ghoul in a serious tone.

"Huh?"

"Child of darkness. If a human or any creature is exposed to a dense dark mana field for too long without turning into a ghoul they can acquire this title. Also, if some conditions are met you can even become a demon lord."

"Will I lose my free will if I become one?"

"Look here. Most demons won't aim to become demon lords if that is the case. Though humans as well are aiming to become one. However, you might incur the wrath of the holy light church."

Well, if there is a church here I kinda expected that.

Vermil is carrying the ghoul's sword. She approaches and gives back the sword to the ghoul.

I stare at it. The design looks clean and gives a holy vibe. Like it's something used to slay ghouls instead of a ghoul wielding it. "Is this sword also a part of the church?"

"This is the holy sword, Exclusion. It used to be mine when I was a human. Right now, I can only use 50% of my holy magic, otherwise, it might kill me."

I then gasp when I realize something. "Then earlier you..."

He sighs. "Yeah, I released 40% of my holy magic on the dragon and 49% on the barrier. Anymore, I would have been extinguished from this world."

I finally understand why he is such in that state. "I'm truly sorry!"

Naturally, ghouls are weak against light magic, so I wonder why he is even using such a spell.

"Don't mind it, I'll stay here for now until I'm fully healed. The dark mana in the air can increase my healing recovery."

I'm slightly hesitant to ask but my curiosity is killing me. "Uh, anyway, can I ask why you are using a holy weapon despite being a ghoul?"

"I used to be an agent of the church of holy light. That is the only thing you need to know."

Ren is hiding something. Most likely a dark past that he wants to bury from anyone else. I feel if I ask another question, he might get mad.

I think it's better if I check the child of darkness title as well as everything else.

[Child of darkness:

+Immunity to dark debuffs

+If exposed in a dark mana field, increases all stats by 5%

+If exposed to a dark mana field, mana and health recovery is increased by 10%

-You can now receive 350% more damage from light magic attacks]

Light magic sounds dangerous. I think I shall be careful of any person from the church from now on. Though, I don't know much about their beliefs or system.

The ghoul is aiming his skeletal hands upon me. "Stay still, I'll heal you."

"Wait, wait--"

"Don't worry, in the end, you still slew that dragon. This is just my gratitude."

"But--"

This ghoul doesn't listen and uses his holy magic. My HP is going up though his arms are releasing steam. The holy magic is hurting him.

Thanks to the child of darkness title, it seems I have recovered some of my MP. I can now use [Clone Betrayal] skill.

After using it one time, a clone emerges and takes the damage for me. Some of my wounds vanish and my HP increases as well.

"See, I can heal myself."

The ghoul strikes my head.

"Hey, that hurts."

The ghoul walks away in a rage. "You should have told me earlier! You had me use my holy magic for nothing."

I rub my head. "It was your fault that you didn't let me finish!"

Geez, what is this ghoul's problem?