The Demon Monarch System

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At first, his movements were harsh and unnatural. However, as Apollo acclimated to the saber, he began to utilize it better. A sign of his comprehensive ability and dexterity being substantial. Nevertheless, the Dark Shadow Does were no weak opponent. Not to mention, his state wasn't exactly desirable.

Fortunately, how he was now, Apollo's senses were heightened allowing him to take full advantage of the Krone's saber he picked up. A dangerous violet gleam flowed from his eyes as he used the Partial Shade Silhouette sparsely.

Plus, the black blade blended with this technique, making many of his strikes unavoidable. Of course, he sustained some damage as well despite the beasts being injured. After all, the numbers remained a bit overwhelming. Even then, he never lost sight of his desires.

Splich!

The saber pierced the throat of a thinner foe within the masses, giving Apollo the opportunity to retreat. Fortunately, his increased level and the pendant allowed Apollo to recoup stamina even faster, even if his expenditure became horrendous.

As long as he avoided that strike, then his stamina levels weren't worrisome. Still, there were at least 50 of them remaining. 'Even if I monitor the stamina usage per kill, will I have enough to retreat?'

Throughout the whole spectacle, he had slain upwards of 20 Spirit Beasts. However, in the process, he had used over 100 stamina. Although it wasn't large, it wouldn't sustain him slaying everything here, nor was he certain of his final number.

'If I retreat for too long to recover, it'll also allow time for them to do so as well. It's known that beasts recover faster than humans. The question is, just how do they compare to me,' Apollo thought while holding the saber in a horizontal position.

Suddenly, Apollo was forced to dodge to the side at the appearance of a shadowy ember. According to what he saw, these dark wisps seemed to be some kind of purple flame since they caused faint black marks on the trees that they landed upon.

However, their retaliation didn't stop there. A grey glow emitted from a number of Dark Shadow Does in the group. It was only for a moment, but Apollo felt his consciousness wane for an instant before recovering shortly after.

Outside of when he felt pain, there was an unfamiliar development for him. Until now, all of the beasts he encountered possessed nothing more than physical attacks. When it came to weakening the minds, none of them possessed that specialty. Still, Apollo was fortunate because the Resistance sub-trait birthed from his Juvenile Demon Body dealt with a portion of this attack by reducing the effectiveness.

Regardless, Apollo was still shocked by this ability. 'A mental attack?  Perhaps a trade-off for their sub-par defenses?'

[Correct, those of the Dark Element only have two traits: high agility and disorienting moves. Outside of those two factors, they really aren't anything special. In fact, you should have expected as much by how easily you're slaying them despite being Rank 1 Spirit Beasts.]

"Yeah," Apollo agreed. In this situation, where he was swarmed by enemies, it was best for him to retain absolute control over his actions. Therefore, he exhaled and shook off the aftereffects of the mental attack before closing his eyes.

One thing he noticed was that this catalyst of their ability was looking into their eyes. So, the effective workaround was to remove his sight from the equation, something Apollo didn't mind doing because of this past few months.

Training in absolute darkness and awakening his demon physique honed his senses thoroughly. So even if he closed his eyes, he could see because of his familiarity with darkness and the sensitivity of his other senses.

For the cultivators of this world, they achieved this with a special technique known as Spiritual Vision, but Apollo needed no such thing. He was just stronger. Not to mention he was infinitesimally close to Lv. 90. All that stood in his way was a few kills.

Afterward, he would be introduced to just how difficult fulfilling that stretch of Lv.90 to 100 truly was. Meanwhile, Apollo felt a tingling sensation as he felt the presence of some obscure energy flowing into while stationary.

It produced a burning sensation in an instant, causing Apollo to wonder what this was. But, soon the pain subsided followed by the feeling of reinvigoration.

[Fascinating. I guess that little treat was of use after all. Unfortunately, it has been exhausted until you can form your own.]

'Treat?' Apollo wondered while raising his eyebrow.

[Don't worry, you recognize it when your own opportunity arises.]

Apollo merely shrugged before returning to combat. Now, that his stamina was no longer at a dangerous level, Apollo used some small arcs of Tenebrous Dark Winds to empower his attacks at the expense of his excess stamina.

Unlike the Dark Cutter, Apollo was able to achieve this with the saber. Because, as stated in the description, the Dark Cutter was simply sharp and wasn't conducive to any type of energy.

Nevertheless, the material of the knife still remained stronger, so it was a viable weapon. By the time he slew all of the beasts, the saber in his shattered just before crumbling to dust.

'Is this because of the nature of my energy, or because Krone already used it to the brink of destroying it,' Apollo wondered to himself. However, instead of dwelling over it, he simply sped around the battlefield, collecting all Essence Cores.

Eventually, he collected all of the cores and even sifted through the belongings of the deceased 3 to find a shocking collection of cores.

'That's right, they never got the opportunity to sell off their items,' Apollo chuckled as he counted the total number. In addition to what he collected earlier—ranging from Rank 1 to Rank 2—there were nearly 1,000 cores in total. But what remained in his sights the entire time was the core of the Storm Colossus Lynx.

「Superior Essence Core (Variant)

Element: Wind and Lightning

Rank: III

Purity: Third Cycle (93%)

Experience Source: 49,745 (~83%)

Absorption: Increases your Agility by 4.2 and magnifies the application of your agility minutely. 」

'Hmm? A superior core! And this lightning property seems to have been turned into an addition to my speed. Although it's vague, it surely has its uses,' Apollo excitedly thought before tossing it back into his pouch.

' With the pills, I received from Irauk and the Essence Cores… it should be enough right?'

[It's possible.]

"I see, but…"

Apollo's eyes widened suddenly after taking a peek at the notifications that sat within his system window. At first, he thought the jump would be within reason but challenging. However, he underestimated the ruthlessness of the system.

"Why is the experience pool so huge?!"Apollo complained with a long groan. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Based on the notification from the level up, it increased significantly!

[I did tell you the aftereffects of entering Lv.90 is rather....confounding, no? Now that you've entered it, you should take a look.]

"Ugh…"Apollo groaned, but froze in shock after learning of the dreadful requirements.