Aura

As Dante was amazed by the strange feeling, an explosion happened from the nearby wall where the demonic shark had crashed. Debris flew everywhere.

In the center, he saw the demonic shark back on its feet and it was surrounded by a dark aura.

With bloodshot eyes, it was staring at them as if to devour them at that instance. After an air-piercing roar, it charged towards them. Its intention was clear just by looking at it. It had no intention of letting them go.

Weirdly, Dante didn't feel frightened or nervous this time. His feeling was unusually calm and comfortable.

'What happened?' He was baffled by these strange feelings. 'Also, why does the demonic shark move so slowly this time?' Dante thought in surprise when he noticed the demonic shark's movement.

In reality, the demonic shark did not slow down, but Dante's perception and other senses had multiplied to some extent; it made the demonic shark look unusually slow in his vision.

With the body that was enveloped in a golden aura, he dodged the monster's attack by jumping. But right after doing that, his eyes widened in shock.

Eh?!

He found himself in mid-air. However, how did he end up more than 10 meters above the ground in a single breath? Could normal people jump this high? And he was talking about himself, who has not been good at jumping. Undoubtedly, this wasn't his normal jump.

It seemed the demonic shark was quite puzzled as well. It probably did not expect its prey to dodge its attack.

Dante landed safely a few steps away from the monster's back. Still amazed at how things happened, he pondered for a moment.

'This strange feeling and this supernatural ability must have something to do with this aura,' Dante speculated.

No, in fact, he was sure that after nourishing his Qi channels with Sacred Mana Essence, he was now capable of controlling Qi like those characters in cultivation novels. 

Maybe noticing his disbelief, the shiny orb spoke.

"Which means this aura on me is the byproduct of my mana? And this is the reason why I have this kind of boost?"

"Sheesh, tell me more about this later!"

"….."

Even without saying that, he intended to do it in the first place.

Seeing the demonic shark coming at him once again, Dante narrowed his eyes and asked the shiny orb.

"Do you think I can defeat it?"

Hearing his question, the shiny orb answered right away.  

"I-I see…"

He was a little bit disheartened.

Even though he was this amazing now. However, the shiny orb was right. Well, he was just asking out of curiosity. In his mind, perhaps he had some hidden super strong attack, but never mind, it turns out there wasn't anything like that.

The shiny orb continued saying,

"Ah the Valkyria Suit…" he muttered upon remembering the battle between Agent Black and the demonic tuna.

Evading the monster's attack once again, he started running away. 

Rawr!

He could hear the demonic shark's deafening roar and thunderous footsteps behind him. However, Dante's speed was so fast. Even though he was carrying the girl with him, the monster could not catch up to him.

His body seemed so light and his feet full of strength. It was the first time he felt this way. With such a wonderful feeling, he thought he could do anything. Even running on the wall like those ninjas in movies might be possible in his current condition.

Suddenly, his vision shook and he almost stumbled forward.

What?

Dante was baffled.

And then he noticed the aura's brilliance was waning like a dying lamp.

'What's happening!?'

He asked inwardly.

Said the shiny orb.

"Running out?!" Dante exclaimed in disbelief.

No wonder he suddenly felt nauseous.

"Damn! Why am I running out of mana that quickly?!" He exclaimed in bewilderment.

But he quickly gathered his thoughts and quickly compared his condition to a video game. Like in the video game, a starting player always starts at a low level. Thus, their mana pool always starts very low. This logic seems to also apply to his current condition.

At that moment, he heard siren noises up ahead. It seemed to have come from the crossroads ahead of him.

Dante's expression brightened. Despite growing weaker every second, he used all his remaining strength to run towards it.

With Dante's mana running out, his speed also was slowing down. And due to it, the demonic shark was catching up slowly.

Just as Dante reached the crossroads, his back was hit by an invisible force that sent him flying forward and shattered his remaining aura.

Crashing on the road, he used his remaining strength to shield the girl using his body. A mouthful of blood came out of his mouth at the moment of impact.

Lying on the road, he grimaced just as his vision started disappearing.

Thud!

Thud!

From behind, he heard heavy footsteps coming closer and closer to them.

Forcing his eyes to remain open, he saw the girl a meter ahead of him, lying on the road and seemingly unconscious.

Trying to get up, he found his body so heavy. As though he was carrying tens of tons on his back.

'Damn it! Am I going to die here?'