Chapter 176: The First Floor To The Tenth Floor!
[Abyss Will: First floor Demon Warrior Balkh-1 has been slain! The first trial is complete! You have chosen to recover for 10 minutes!]
Novak let out a long, drawn-out sigh, collapsing onto the cold ground of the abyss.
Although his constitution allowed his physical strength to recover swiftly and the wounds on his body were already healing at a rapid pace, the mental strain from the intense battle left him feeling a rare sense of exhaustion.
Glancing once more at the massive corpse of Balkh, slowly dissolving and fading like a mirage, he felt a sense of speechlessness.
The most frustrating part was that he couldn't fully leverage the greatest advantage of the Blacklight Virus.
Although the Hourglass of Time could rewind fatigue to some extent, it wasn't nearly as invigorating as devouring the cells of a demon lord, allowing his body to thrive and celebrate in a rush of rejuvenation!
The result was impressive, but the abyss's will had no loopholes for Novak to exploit.
It had taken nearly half an hour to bring down the demon lord of the first floor.
Over the next ten minutes, Novak focused on recovering and analyzing Balkh's weaknesses and abilities, considering how he might defeat him more efficiently next time.
Balkh, the demon warrior, possessed two main strengths: overwhelming power and the constant shockwaves of sword energy he unleashed. However, his mental acuity was relatively low, and his agility left much to be desired.
While Balkh was no ordinary foe, he still had exploitable vulnerabilities. By leveraging his superior speed and combining it with his telekinetically controlled flying sword, Novak realized he could bring Balkh down with much greater ease in the following battles.
Once his physical strength had returned, the abyss's issued another reminder:
[Recovery time is complete. Proceed to the second layer of the abyss.]
Darkness descended once more, and the world around him shifted again.
Yet, despite the changes, the blood-red sky remained as shocking and blinding as before.
The abyss, in its core essence, remained unchanged.
But Novak paid no mind to his surroundings, his focus sharp as ever as he read the next trial's notification:
[Current demon lord on the second floor of the abyss: None. Extracting the imprint of a once-existing demon lord to conjure a level 10 phantom. Prepare for the trial!]
None again?
It made sense, though. In the upper levels of the abyss, particularly before the tenth floor, the strength of demons wasn't particularly high.
Those with even the slightest ambition would move downward to the deeper levels of the abyss after breaking through in strength.
The notification continued:
[Conjuring demon lord: Fallen Demon, Fallen Wizard Uba-2 (Level 10). No additional battle conditions!]
Novak's eyes narrowed as a new figure materialized before him. Unlike the brutish demon warrior from before, this fallen wizard was much shorter, its waistline about the height of an average man.
It wore a large, Western-style wizard hat and carried a dark, sinister staff.
"The great will of the abyss, I give you thanks..."
The sharp voice of the fallen wizard was abruptly cut off by the piercing sound of Novak's flying sword, launched with telekinetic power and whizzing through the air toward the wizard!
"How dare a mere human interrupt this lord—do you understand the consequences?!"
The flying sword collided with an invisible barrier, an unseen wall of air halting its advance.
Novak's eyes widened.
Without even needing to concentrate, the fallen wizard waved its staff, and black-red fireballs began to launch toward him—rapid and continuous, like a barrage of cannon fire!
This… this defied all logic!
Mage-like classes, especially those dealing with fireballs of this magnitude, typically require a casting time—even if they forgo chanting!
Damn it!
What could Novak do but focus his mind and take off running again?
The relentless flames chased after him, leaving him with no way out—neither to the heavens nor the earth!
Ten minutes later…
Novak stood atop the short corpse of the fallen wizard, watching as it slowly faded away under the will of the abyss. He shook off his plague-ridden robe, still singed but already recovering, and let out a derisive sneer.
"Damn bastard! Just spamming fireballs, huh? Couldn't keep it up, could you?" Novak sneered, his voice full of disdain.
"A fallen wizard? Ha! If you could still manage something as basic as sneezing, breathing, or even keeping your organs working, maybe you'd still be flinging fireballs at me!"
He thought back to the ridiculous scene—like a dog hopelessly chasing a rabbit. With a satisfied sigh, Novak ground his heel into the vanishing corpse.
Finally, he had managed to vent that pent-up frustration.
That battle felt like fighting off a flu, but thankfully, it ended in his favor.
Taking a deep breath, Novak began to analyze the battle once more.
Luckily, while the demon lords on the first two floors were indeed powerful, even without using his trump cards, Novak could still take them down. His strength was holding steady, and though the process was a bit drawn-out, there was no doubt about the outcome.
As he reflected, Novak considered an adjustment: if he had immediately infected the wizard with the flu virus and combined it with his telekinetic flying sword attack, he could have taken the enemy down much faster—and without the embarrassment of being chased around.
This time, his recovery period was even shorter. After all, unlike the first-floor battle with Balkh, Novak hadn't sustained any injuries while dealing with the fallen wizard lord on the second floor.
Then came the next stage: the third layer of the abyss.
[Currently in the third layer of the abyss: No demon lord present. Extracting the imprint of a former demon lord, a level 10 phantom will be summoned. Prepare for the trial!]
[Summoning demon lord: Farr Demon Death Defender Luo-3 (Level 10). Special conditions: Under the siege of demon knights, defeat Luo-3!]
The world shifted once more...
Novak hardly noticed the changing scenery on the third floor. His attention was on the new opponent—a Death Defender, a rare class compared to the demon warrior or fallen wizard.
Standing over two meters tall, this massive figure had huge, curved horns that dwarfed its own head.
But the most intimidating aspect was the large electric shield it carried, along with the knights on horseback that surrounded it.
'Whoosh'
Novak unleashed the flu virus once again!
However, this time it had a far weaker effect. Both the Death Defender and the demon knights were clad in thick steel helmets, reducing the virus's potency.
Novak didn't back down this time. Instead, he changed tactics, unleashing explosive fireballs—a power he had absorbed from a zombie mutant he'd defeated.
But despite his efforts, his attacks just couldn't damage his target.
The Death Defender and its knights didn't have the raw power of the previous demon lords. But they were like iron fortresses—unyielding, with defenses that were almost impossible to break through!
No matter.
Novak kept up his relentless assault, switching between the Zombie's Claw, psychic attacks, and a flu virus.
It took a full hour, but eventually, the flu virus fully erupted, leaving the knights and their defender weakened. Inflammation and asthma ravaged their bodies, finally causing their resistance to crumble.
There wasn't much in the way of weaknesses to exploit, but Novak still learned plenty about his own skills.
[Third layer of the abyss completed…]
[Proceeding to the fourth layer of the abyss…]
[Proceeding to the fifth layer of the abyss…]
[Proceeding to the seventh layer of the abyss…]
[Proceeding to the ninth layer of the abyss…]
With each layer, a new demon lord appeared—four of them, including Balkh from the first floor, were all demon warriors, the most common class.
Finally, after a series of relentless battles and careful evaluations, Novak arrived at the tenth floor of the abyss.
And this floor… this one was different.
[Current demon lord on the tenth floor of the abyss: Elite Demon Warrior of the Inferior Demon Race, Odu-10. Conjuring a level 10 phantom. Prepare, challenger!]
An elite demon warrior? This was the advanced class of the standard demon warrior!
Novak knew that the demon lord residing on the tenth floor had the true strength of a level 30 demon lord.
Novam muscles tensed all of a sudden!