I faced down the luminous-knight-turned creature, He was even stronger than I could imagined, He instantly pounced in a rage, I could tell by the gleam of the disfigured man's eyes that he had noticed this setback, His knuckles scraped the floor before his punch flew through the air, catching me in the stomach
"Ahhhh…."
I screamed in pain as the punch landed at my stomach, My mind throbbed gray from the impact as I heard Plasma's pleads, I was sent careening back through the air, breaking through the ceiling of the hidden room and the walls of a dozen rooms above, By the time my consciousness started to clarify, I could barely comprehend his sheer strength,
"Damn that luminous knight, I should've known better"
"That creature had a abnormality in strength Roxy, On top of that, if that thing escapes through the castle, we will be in real danger"
"Yeah right, nearby towns will be affected by the virus, I wouldn't let that happen"
To determine my strength easily, I used from the disfigured corpse an inspect
Experiment 001
Skills: Strength Boost (Level 5), Defense Reduction, Decimation (Luminous Knight Technique), Health Regeneration Boost
Vitality: 10000
Strength: 9800
Defense: 7500
Agility: 12000
Mana: 10200
Cold blue skin, Two long horns made entirely of skin jutting through it's head, it was more refined and sophisticated version of the luminous knights of the horror had become, the name of this monstrosity is experiment 001
And I had no idea what level that creature was, it was stronger than a standard luminous knight, even worse, the same level of the spider queen I fought, it was a high-level beasts, and I knew it's stats surpassed my own, Lastly, i knew that all that remained of the luminous knights previous skills, but it's stats were greatly increased
I looked behind while coughing out blood from the impact, but the disfigured man followed me at such blistering speed that I couldn't move in time to avoid him, and his head collided with mine
"Roxy, watch out"
There, I pointed the blood sword at the disfigured man, The force of the blow sent is hurtling back again, through the walls, ceiling and floors, and right out the other side of the facility, As we crashed through the smooth wall after wall, I sliced the man in the stomach over and over, clearing just enough space between us to finish with a solid kick up into his jaw
After I stabbed him multiple times, my injuries suddenly healed, all thanks from the blood sword's special skill, it's lifesteal that automates self-recovery when taking damage,
"Oh shit, I almost passed out" I said to Plasma
"Yeah, that guy surely is tough, you can outmatch him easily"
The kick gave me some freedom to move, so I swung the blood sword and brought it down towards the disfigured man. The blade cut into and through him, and as I waited for sign of movement, a breeze caressed my face
"Is that Defense Reduction?"
"Surely is, the luminous knight attack was imbued by the same skill that destroys armors, even your sword"
I heard a crack from my blood sword, and yet, it began to fracture, As he did so, the fatal wound I'd just delivered seemed to go backward in time, repairing itself until it might as well have never happened, I dropped into a battle stance, my place pointed out the disfigured man,
"Huh, did that wound instantly healed?"
"Indeed, it is correct, he have a health regeneration boost, any fatal wound will instantly heal, it is similar to burse reduction, but it is only used for injuries"
That monster has a health Regen skill, no wonder my attacks never work on the disfigured man, he had the stats of an Luminous Knight, surpassing my stats and gaining an disadvantage, it was more harder than I expected
There, the disfigured man uses one of his skills to conceal himself,
Just as I prepared for the man's next attack, a group of guards arrived on the scene, running toward us both. They have no doubt heard the commotion, They went straight at me, whilst they ignored the monster lurking in the shadows
"Ma'am, raise you hands and drop your weapon, your under arrest"
"What going on?"
As the guards approached at me, carrying their swords and pointed at me, The disfigured man sniffed the air and swiveled toward the men, his eyes glinting like a hungry dog who had just received fresh meat
"No shit, Sherlock"
"Hey have you heard me, your under arrest"
My pleas fell of deaf ears, they are interested in me than they spotted a danger amongst them, I didn't care about the fight towards the disfigured man, I just wanted to escape this castle,
I shouted a warning "Get away, All do you, get out of the facility"
One of the guards faced to me "What are you talking about?, your the intruder who raided this castle, Hold on just who are you exactly?, I never seen you before"
They didn't realized the danger that was happening right now, they ignored and went straight at me, On top of that, the guards here were low ranking, most of them hadn't even been at my audience with the guild,
The only way to make them understand would be to show them, I had to get them to safety before the disfigured man could make his move
However, the man was closer to them, and he was fast, He grabbed hold one of the guards and threw the man straight at me, The guard hurtled forward at a speed that would kill him if I dodged and let him hit at the wall, I bounded up to save him, but that brought the vile creature all the time he needed to make a feast of the others
"No, I told you to run"
Spraying blood and screams of horror filled the air, He licked the bloodstained lips as he reached down and pulled down on one of the swords of the fallen guards, The disfigured man used one of the swords as a weapon
"Huh?, did that man grabbed one of the guards swords and used it as a weapon"
"It seems that experiment 001 still regains his memories on his past life as an luminous knight, he still have swordsmanship, but his stats were far higher"
As I equipped my battle stance, I realized that my blood sword was about to break, all because of the skill used my the monster, The Defense Reduction, there, I morphed my blood sword into a bow, hoping to repair itself using my own blood
I gripped the blood bow tighter and pushed him back, As he stumbled and regained it's footing, the fallen knights and guards slowly rose their feet behind him, They all staggered off in different directions, it was the effect of the virus
Experiment 001 movements were sharper now, and more powerful. Had the blood of the fallen guards boosted his abilities? To be fair, I was barely died during the fight, so my strength has been lowered than they had been recently, but the disfigured man have really grown to defeat me?
And yet, this is not good, the disfigured man will only make more monster if I let them out of sight!, but stopping them would be no simple task, I had my hands full of Experiment 001, and I couldn't kill any of the monsters myself, They were too many, I need some support, I couldn't handle these monsters on my own,
Just as I was losing hope, a figure swooped down and sliced the lumbering monsters into pieces
"White, you're here!" I said
"Sorry I'm late! It took longer than expected to find you on one of these mess, It's far worse than we thought, isn't it?"
White brought her rapier down across the disfigured man's back, his rapier glowing a shining white light, Blood spurted through the air, and the man's oppressive aura awakened slightly, I ducked as the monster swiped at me, using my momentum to shot him open across the stomach, then dove out of the way to regroup with White
"Roxy, what happened to your sword, why do you equipped with a bow?" White said in a confused face
"That man have defense reduction, the same ones that destroy armor into pieces, my sword was destroyed, and I'll stick from this bow from now on"
"Enough chit-chat. Let's fight this thing"
After that, White saw the large wound she made, it instantly healed? Not only that, The luminous knight stood up while bearing the pain from its insides, he clenched the sword tightly this time, the fight is still not over
"Roxy, what happened to that monster?"
"That monster has healing magic, No, an instant regen skill that recovers all wounds from its body"
"Well, what should we do with it, Roxy"
I was planning to slice the man into pieces with White's support, but knowing the instant health recovery blocks in my way, our attacks seemed useless, But suddenly, I heard a manly voice in my head,
"Roxy, drain the monsters mana first by forcing himself by regenerating, this way you can kill the undying monster, it's the same trick you used during the fight of the spider queen, Am I right?"
It was no other than, Plasma, a built-in ai assistant from my blood curse, he told me tips how to defeat that thing, and yet, draining mana is a good strategy for high-based healing, I used this to nullify the healing of an spider queen, the same trick that I used. Then, I told White about this
"White, Hear me out but, we need to drain the mana of that thing, it prevents from further recovery from its body. I know that you not gonna believe but, you still gonna trust me"
"Ah… I see. In that case, I guess we'll have to slice him into pieces, It's been a while since we fought like that, and I'm getting excited just by thinking about it. Are your ready, Roxy?"
"Let's do it."
Then, White and I charged at the same time, simultaneously attacking the monster from the left and right in a pincer formation, Our tag-team attack began with me, I shot a blood arrow in it's vital organs, shifting my stance and blow to a mid-level attack, Reacting to my movement, The disfigured man stopped one of the arrows with its bare hands and brought the other around to counterattack. Except White didn't let him, The shining rapier used her own sword to force the man's weapon upward, opening a gap in his defenses
"Roxy!"
"White, get back!"
I morphed my bow into a blood sword once again, seeing that my durability from my sword recovered and no signs of fracture, I was ready to use it to thrust the blade into the man's heart, Once White darted away to safety, I poured the skill "Defense Reduction" from the blood-stained blade, In the next instant, the skill pulsed with a shockwave that threw me back, rolling along the ground to where White waited,
Glass and chunks of wall from nearby buildings felt like rain from the explosion, it was devastating
"Roxy, are you all right?, Don't do anything rash." White reached a hand down at me with his free hand
"I'm fine, it just a fracture, Injures like this will heal in no time"
With my lifesteal will come in handy, my wounds often healed before I was aware of them, Experiment 001 healing speed was monstrous, and I… wasn't so different, I took White's hand and got to my feet, then looked to where the disfigured man was barely standing from the distance
"That healing ability, it's incredible"
White watched in amazement as the disfigured man writhed in the flames and smoke, The parts and flesh that was scattered on the ground grew in an instant, his body rapidly repaired itself in spite of the continuing damage, But he wasn't just regenerating, The experiment's skin was transforming into a much harder substance
I shook my head, clearing the thoughts inside my head as it is was blurring out through my vision, then I glanced it and view the monster's mana meter using Inspect
Experiment 001
Mana: 2000/ 10200
"Halfway there White, I saw the monsters mana meter easily, it was about to deplete, just keep on stabbing the man's body"
"Yeah right, use you bow this time, I be in the frontline while you in the backline, the monster encased itself into a thick shell, only my shining light rapier can cut through these"
Then, the luminous knight had finally become a monster in the truest sense of the word. Hsi mouth split open to his ears, and ragged fangs grew from that within that wide anew, His body deformed as it developed, sprouting rough, reddish-black patches like hardened scales of fresh blood, A pair of horns burst down his head, symbols of his demonic rebirth
As I stood frozen under the precipice of battle, a voice called me back to my senses
"Roxy, what's wrong?" It was White
"I'm okay, but the man…"
I didn't finished that sentence clearly, He stood silent among the rubble, but the air he gave off had grown heavier, His eyes slowly opened to reveal a crimson glare
"What?!"
"How the…?!"
Before we could blink, the man had moved behind us, Was this the power of his new black horns!? He raised his swords high into the air and brought them down on us with heavy slashes, We parried the attacks in a shower of sparks, but both White and I were sent flying back and through the walls of a nearby facility
I staggered up from the piles of broken rubble and found myself in a strange laboratory, countless cylinders surrounded the room, each one filled with creatures submerged in diluted blood, Stranger still was the fact that the rage-crazed man had not followed me inside
I stared around, and when I spied the crest on the wall, I realized that we were back in the second floor of the facility, the guards that I killed earlier is still visible from the passageway,
I also realized that White has been sent out the second floor as me, she suffered from severe injuries, but her healing abilities managed to save her life, we were standing at the second floor of the passageway, the same area where I was caught
As White and I stared around, we heard footsteps approaching, and in no particular hurry. Then the door to the room opened in great force, and standing in it's doorway was the mastermind all of this, I saw his apperance for the first time, he lend out a heteful grin spread across his face as his eyes fell on White.
"My, oh, my. To what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from the leader of the Yellow Flower Guild herself!?, What are you doing here of all places, Lady White Flower? I must say, I a fan on one of your adventures, White"
Then, White recognized the man Infront of her, blatantly said it's name in anger
"You are… Edrie Collon"