NOVEL NEXT Chapter 911
<911 – Dark Shadow vs Dark Shadow (20)>
Shinigami.
The ancient strong ones bleached of their souls by the God of Death.
These powerful beings, stripped of their memories from their living days, devolve into mere playthings for the God of Death’s amusements and the executions of those who defy death.
Original personalities.
Original memories.
Shinigami who have lost everything become weapons of mass slaughter, instilling fear in both the living and the dead.
“Wow, five Shinigami! Four-Year Upper Class Graduate equivalent combat power!”
But not all Shinigami are equally powerful.
There’s a difference in strength based on function and specialties, with high and low points depending on their expertise.
Gimmick-type bosses require immense ability to break through with force unless one knows the gimmick.
Genius-type bosses demand an extraordinary talent that surpasses regular talent.
Versatile-type bosses turn into a contest of capability, summing up countless experiences accumulated by players.
While their requirements differ, they all share one commonality: they are strong.
Just like how all the seniors who graduated from the Gift Academy, let alone the upper class, are just as strong.
Swish!
The Shinigami came gliding across the ground without a word.
Their approach was the [Ghost Rush] pattern, spewing smoke at their feet.
The moment all five charged at once confirmed the presence of the [Group Tactics] trait.
“Ugh!”
Smoke-type skills usually rely on the same smoke as their power source.
Just as I, who diligently collects the Cooking Handbook, gets excited at the sight of food, Jiang, who excels in shadow manipulation, gets thrilled at the sight of shadows.
So when I scatter [Mana Poison] treated poison balls, it’s like pouring olive oil into a vehicle that runs on gasoline.
It’s the same oil, but it won’t run for long.
Underperformance is a given, along with performance degradation and breakdowns, accompanied by vibrations and noise.
Kaboom!
“Kyieeek!”
The Shinigami enveloped in pure Dark Mana screamed at the subpar and poorly mixed Dark Mana they had never experienced before.
Honestly, if I were in their shoes, I’d probably scream too.
After all, how mad would it be to have your hard-earned mana purity suddenly contaminated with worthless waste mana?
Swish…
The Shinigami whispered as their mouths opened, stirring up emotions.
It seems they believed that just because the God of Death had a little fun with curses, they could perform the same tricks.
They forcibly reconnected the severed lines of the Sadi Chocolate that had fled after cutting off the connection.
“You, you…!”
“Tada! A blind date on the spot! Like it?”
Exposed to the Shinigami’s mental attack, Sadi Chocolate retaliated by unleashing a mental assault to disorient the Shinigami.
Of course, overcoming the Shinigami’s bleached mental state is no easy feat for a psychic adept at targeting humans.
It was merely a shield to buy time for a single turn!
“Kyieeek!”
“Kkaaaak!”
“Gkekek!”
Huh?
What’s going on here?
The Shinigami collectively screamed and caused a ruckus under Sadi Chocolate’s mental attack.
“I told you, I’m a ‘Growth-Type Undead.’ Having seen the excellent textbook of non-humans, there’s no way I’d struggle against some lower god now.”
“Wow, I don’t know who you’ve seen, but you must have trained really hard!”
“…”
Sadi Chocolate grumbled in disbelief at how someone like this exists.
I wondered how a Shinigami’s mental state would be tormented after being subjected to years of torture by the God of Death, and saw that a virus from Sadi Chocolate had forcibly implanted itself in the Shinigami, who should not possess sensations or emotions.
They added senses and emotions that didn’t exist in their original selves, distorting their minds.
Non-human humanization.
No matter how strong they get, Sadi Chocolate, who knows nothing but the human heart, opened up the possibility of not wasting this round.
[Soul Carving]
“!!”
However, Sadi Chocolate’s limits were clear.
Unless they utilized the combat abilities accumulated from controlling the body of the Throne Nod, their own spirit was utterly pathetic in combat power.
Step back and retreat again.
No matter how much they inflicted pain, Shinigami with countless experiences of torture from the God of Death would not crumble easily.
Their mental resilience was so high that even severe bullying wouldn’t lead them to self-destruction.
“When are you going to just stand there watching?”
“Hehe. I’ve already succeeded!”
“Succeeded? At what… huuh?”
Sadi Chocolate, constantly spying inside the Shinigami, was taken aback.
It was the blood flowing through the spirit body of the Shinigami, which should be bloodless.
[Transparent Mosquito]
[Injection]
The Mosquito Master build isn’t just about sucking blood from opponents and utilizing it for blood magic.
Instead, it involves injecting collected blood through a mosquito and creating a situation where chaotic mosquitoes meddle with the internal processes of the enemy. If [Technique Bestowal] succeeds, amusing events unfold.
An artificial blood vessel protected by powerful spells is created inside the Shinigami’s body. Through this vessel, mana flow can be induced or controlled.
“Yah!”
The Shinigami’s body, attempting to avoid the thrust of the sword, suddenly stopped as if it had lagged.
The Shinigami struck by the sword faced the additional destructive spells injected through the blade, forcibly recalling memories of when the God of Death’s chains, which had suppressed its spirit, were loosened in death.
“Are you coming to your senses?”
“God of Death. I can never forgive the one who toyed with me!!”
Infuriated, the Shinigami who regained their memories attacked their fellow Shinigami. They altered the blood technique originally used to suppress the body into a method of buffing their physical enhancement.
Advanced mana techniques increased the gathering, manifestation, and potency of mana, allowing one awakened Shinigami to hold two down.
Only two remained.
One of the remaining detected the presence of the transparent mosquito approaching it and emanated powerful territory.
Smack!
The mosquito, hindered by the blood it contained, failed to display agile movement and died pitifully.
“No, my mosquito!”
“Kyikik.”
The Shinigami spun their scythe in a mocking manner as if to laugh at me.
Gah.
That was somewhat cool.
In response, I quickly pulled out my own scythe and spun it around too.
The Shinigami tilted their head, impressed, then spun both arms elaborately, twirling their scythe from above to below.
Clang!
The scythe raised toward me tilted slightly.
It was a challenge to see if I could follow this!
“Hmph! There’s not a single weapon in this world I don’t know how to handle!”
I effortlessly followed the trajectory and rhythm of the scythe, spinning it flamboyantly.
From above to below, and vice versa.
“Ah!”
Unfortunately, there was a serious difference in height and arm length between the Shinigami and me.
In a reckless attempt to follow perfectly, my trajectory went awry!
In a hurry, I used telekinesis to bring the scythe that flew out of hand back into my grasp as I completed the motion.
Did you see it?
You didn’t, did you?
The Shinigami, watching in tension, split their mouth wide in laughter.
“Kyikikik.”
“I knew it!! You caught me!! I can’t forgive you!!”
As the transparent mosquito emerged from the ground and clung to the foot of the Shinigami, they freaked out and released their territory once again.
However, my territory, fired from exactly 90 degrees, pushed aside the threatening area of the mosquito.
[Blood Injection]
[Blood Vessel Creation]
[Forced Domination]
[Mana Interference]
The Shinigami swung their scythe in a furious rage.
Even spinning it merely created a dazzling black energy that flew along the scythe’s trajectory, making it look five times more impressive.
Of course, I couldn’t just let that pompous Shinigami boast as they laughed at me, so I intervened to throw off their trajectory.
“Uhp! What are you aiming for? You can’t even hit a standing opponent, could it be that you’re too scared to face me?”
Furious, the Shinigami unleashed a dark aura from their entire body, hiding in the shadows before lunging at my feet.
Crash!
Just in time, Sing emerged from outside the territory to intercept the scythe.
“…!”
Not content with a single clash, a whirlwind of exchanges took place in moments. However, interrupted again by my interference, Sing’s sword cut through part of the Shinigami’s spirit body.
As the severed spirit clung back to the body, Sing hurriedly shouted at me.
“Does that OP guy not die even if you cut him?!”
“They can only return to their original state if you change the territory. Mix in [Specialization: Interference Territory] while cutting!”
“That sounds easier said than done.”
Even as they complained, Sing’s precise strike marveled at how effectively it sliced through the spirit body.
The severed spirit, unable to return to one piece due to losing its master, dripped down.
The spirit, now masterless, became a large source of experience, elevating Sing’s abilities.
“Hmm?”
But why are disguise and transformation skills rising even more than swordsmanship?
Sing, invested in perfecting their feminine bearing, was rapidly leveling up various tricks at an alarming rate.
It was because the Shinigami was female, yielding related experience points, and excess attributes passed readily as battle experience without distortion.
Plus, upon closer inspection, the stance was not reminiscent of a male swordsmanship style.
They crafted a proper female sword style considering their transformed female body, Sia, and thus swordsmanship levels up as it represented transformed sword techniques.
I was about to applaud Sing’s growth towards femininity when I noticed the last Shinigami lurking for an ambush.
[Dimension Ball]
I hurled a mass of mana carrying the sword path right in front of the Shinigami, causing space to warp and slamming the Shinigami that wielded the scythe down from behind.
“!!”
Frozen in pain, the Shinigami became a mess from the continuous dark and rainbow sphere bombardment.
The awakened Shinigami had already subdued their share of two Shinigami, and in the meantime, I took control of the remaining two and awakened them.
[Awakened Shinigami]
[Awakened Shinigami]
[Awakened Shinigami]
Three strong entities of Fourth-Year Upper Class Graduate level, subordinates of the God of Death, quickly became my pawns.