I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

[DING!]

[New Passive Skill Acquired: Demonic Frenzy]

[Rank: Legendary]

Jack's eyes widened as he read the notification. A legendary skill.

Those were supposed to be incredibly rare, the kind of abilities that could reshape entire battles or grant powers beyond what one would hope for in life.

His excitement lasted exactly three seconds before he read the full description.

[Trigger: Activates when 25 or more enemies are slain within 90 seconds]

[Effects During Frenzy]

[+25% Damage]

[+25% Agility]

[-5% HP/sec]

[Ends automatically when HP falls to 10%]

[Side effect: Blood Hunger]

[-80% to all Stats]

[–1% Max HP/sec]

[Cure: Only the immediate consumption of a fresh Demon Heart ends Blood Hunger]

The color drained from Jack's face as the description sank in.

This wasn't just a powerful ability with a drawback.

'System, this skill forces me to eat demon hearts just to function after large battles.'

[Legendary skills possess proportional drawbacks to their power. Demonic Frenzy grants overwhelming combat advantages but requires sustenance]

Jack's jaw clenched.

The system wasn't wrong about the power. A 25% boost to damage and agility plus additional lifesteal could turn impossible fights winnable.

But the cost was accepting that he would need to consume demonic essence regularly if he kept killing in large numbers.

'Is there any way to remove this skill?'

[Skills cannot be removed once acquired. However, blocking a skill may exist]

That answer felt like a door being held open without showing what lay beyond it.

Jack filed the information away and forced himself to refocus on immediate concerns.

Around him, the surviving enemies had gone completely still.

The wind harpies circling overhead had ceased their shrieks, their eyes fixed on the crater where thirty-three of their allies had died in under three minutes.

The stone basilisks at the northern approach had frozen mid-step, their usually aggressive postures replaced by something approaching terror.

One of the harpies tried to retreat, her wings beating frantically as she gained altitude. But Corvin was faster.

The great raven descended in a blur of midnight feathers, his increase in levels made him nearly impossible to track.

His talons caught the fleeing harpy across the back, Shadow Strike activated as he pierced her flesh.

[-1,560 HP]

The harpy's scream cut off as Corvin's beak found her throat, ending her flight permanently. The corpse tumbled from the sky, hitting the ground with a wet crunch.

[Blood Frenzy Count: 1/25]

The notification appeared in Jack's peripheral vision, a countdown to something he wasn't sure he wanted to experience.

Permafrost stood at the edge of the battlefield, his crystalline form completely motionless.

The Nightmare-class demon's expression had shifted from shock to something more complex.

Fear mixed with something else, as if he was trying to determine whether fighting or fleeing offered better survival odds.

Jack pointed his Lightning Spear at the demon, blue electricity still crackling along its length.

His white hair, slicked back with demon blood, caught the crimson light of the sky. His eyes, still faintly glowing red from the lingering effects of his equipment, held nothing but cold confidence.

"What's wrong, Permafrost?" Jack called across the scorched earth. "I thought you wanted my head delivered to your brother within the hour. Or did watching your entire force get slaughtered change your schedule?"

The demon's crystalline face contorted with rage, pride warring with survival instinct. "You... you dare mock me? I am a Nightmare-class demon! I have commanded legions! I have razed cities!"

"And yet," Jack said, his voice carrying contempt that made several basilisks flinch, "you're standing there frozen like the element you command, too scared to avenge your fallen subordinates. What would your brother think? What would Cho's memory think, knowing you let a 'flimsy human' insult his death?"

Permafrost's hands clenched into fists, frost spreading from his feet outward that cracked the stone in multiple directions. "I will freeze your bones and shatter them to dust!"

"Then stop talking and do it," Jack said. "Or are you all ice and no fire?"

The demon roared, and the temperature plummeted so fast that moisture in the air crystallized into falling snow. Permafrost raised both hands, and the ground beneath Jack's feet began to glow with malevolent blue light.

"Ice Prison!"

Walls of ice erupted around Jack, but these weren't like the lesser demons' Ice Dome.

These walls were three meters thick, reinforced with dark energy that made them nearly impenetrable.

They rose faster than Jack could react, sealing him in a crystalline box barely large enough to move.

The temperature inside the prison dropped to lethal levels instantly. Jack's breath turned to frost, his exposed skin burning from the cold.

This was Absolute Zero, the complete absence of heat, a void where even molecules stopped moving.

[-200 HP]

[-200 HP]

The damage ticked away steadily as the prison tried to freeze him solid. But Jack's high Vitality meant he could endure longer than any normal human.

He had seconds to act before the cold became overwhelming.

Jack thrust his Lightning Spear into the ice floor with all his strength. Blue electricity erupted from the point of impact, racing through the frozen structure in crackling arcs.

The lightning found every crack and imperfection, superheating the ice from within. The prison shattered in an explosion of crystalline shards that sparkled in the crimson sky.

Jack emerged from the wreckage, his armor covered in frost but his Lightning Spear still crackling with power.

Permafrost's eyes widened as Jack charged forward, covering the distance between them with speed that left trails of blue lightning in his wake.

The demon fired an Ice Beam, a concentrated ray of absolute cold that could freeze targets solid instantly.

Jack dodged left, the beam missing him by centimeters and freezing the ground where he'd been standing.

He closed the distance and thrust with Piercing Strike, aiming for Permafrost's crystalline chest.

The demon twisted aside, his reflexes allowing him to avoid the worst of the attack. But the Lightning Spear still carved a deep line across his shoulder.

[-3,201 HP]

Permafrost hissed in pain, dark blood seeping from the wound before freezing solid. His Demon Regeneration activated immediately, frost gathering around the injury to seal it.

"You're fast," Permafrost admitted, his voice carrying grudging respect. "But speed means nothing if you can't maintain it!"

He activated Fear Aura, and a wave of supernatural terror washed over the battlefield. Lesser creatures would have fled immediately, their minds broken by the concentrated dread.

Jack felt the aura press against his consciousness like a physical weight, Soul Warden blessing provided resistance.

The fear was there, but it was manageable.

An annoyance rather than a crippling debuff. It was like a stupid fly buzzing around his face he couldn't get rid of.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Jack said. "I've eaten a demon's heart. I've bonded with death itself. Your little fear trick is nothing."

Permafrost's confident expression cracked slightly.

This human should be cowering, not taunting him while wreathed in lightning.

Overhead, Corvin engaged three wind harpies simultaneously. The great raven used Shadow Strikes punching through their defenses with brutal efficiency.

[-1,560 HP]

[-1,560 HP]

[Demonic Frenzy Count: 3/25]

The harpies tried to use Sonic Scream, their combined shrieks creating a devastating area attack that should have stunned Corvin.

But the great raven's dark affinity provided resistance to sound-based attacks.

He powered through the assault and caught one harpy's wing in his talons, ripping it clean off.

The harpy spiraled toward the ground, her screams of agony echoing across the battlefield before she hit the stone and stopped moving.

[Demonic Frenzy Count: 4/25]

On the ground, the stone basilisks had broken from their terror-induced paralysis and were attempting to flank Jack while he fought Permafrost.

They moved with the deliberate coordination of pack hunters, their earth affinity allowing them to sense vibrations through the ground.

Jack activated Static Orbs, twenty spheres of compressed lightning materializing in a wide formation around the battlefield. He positioned them carefully, accounting for the basilisks' approach and the harpies' flight patterns.

"You're outnumbered," Permafrost said, gathering frost around his hands for another attack. "Even if you're stronger than expected, you cannot fight on multiple fronts simultaneously."

"Watch me," Jack said.

He teleported five meters to his right, appearing directly behind a basilisk that had been trying to attack from his blind spot. His spear punched through the creature's spine before it could react.

[-1,067 HP]

[Demonic Frenzy Count: 5/25]

Two harpies dove from above, their Wind Blades cutting through the air toward Jack's exposed back. He spun his spear in a defensive arc, the blade intercepting both attacks and dispersing the wind magic with superior elemental force.

But the exchange cost him his guard against Permafrost, who fired another Ice Beam at point-blank range.

The attack caught Jack in the shoulder, instantly freezing his armor and flesh. Pain exploded through his system as ice crystals formed in his blood.

[-500 HP]

Jack gritted his teeth against the agony and activated Arc Blast, firing a sustained stream of lightning directly at Permafrost's face. The demon threw up an ice shield, but the lightning punched through it and caught him in the chest.

[-1,967 HP]

Permafrost staggered backward, smoke rising from the wound. His Demon Regeneration struggled to repair damage from a superior element, frost spreading too slowly to seal the burn.

"How?!" the demon snarled. "Your magic shouldn't be this strong!"

"Blue lightning," Jack said, his frozen shoulder already beginning to thaw as his Crimson Recovery ring activated. "It's a class above your ice tricks. And unlike you, I'm getting stronger with every kill."

[Crimson Recovery Activated: Restoring 5% HP per second for 4 seconds]

[Sanguine Accelerator: Lifesteal converting damage to healing]

Jack's health pool stabilized as the ring worked its magic. The frozen tissue in his shoulder thawed painfully but completely, leaving no lasting damage.

Corvin shrieked from above, and Jack felt triumph through their bond. Another harpy down, her body plummeting to join the growing pile of corpses.

[Demonic Frenzy Count: 6/25]

The notification hung in Jack's vision, a countdown to something he both wanted and feared.

Nineteen more kills would trigger Demonic Frenzy, granting him overwhelming power at a cost he wasn't sure he wanted to pay.

But looking at the assembled enemies, the remaining harpies, the basilisks, and Permafrost himself, Jack realized he might not have a choice.