Chapter 489: Conversation with the Demon

489. Conversation with the Demon (2)

[Out Cry]

When Oliver uttered the incantation, cracks formed in his mouth. Through those cracks, black energy condensed from his breath and the material at his feet.

This energy covered the ground and even controlled the darkness, emanating infinite power.

Oliver compressed the power to a level his necromancy and body could bear. Then, he unleashed a forceful roar from his cracked mouth once it reached its peak.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━!

A black-tinted roar erupted from Oliver. It was so loud it swallowed everything around him, plunging it into silence.

All that could be felt was the roar splitting the air and a vibration shaking the earth.

The enraged roar swept away everything in front of Oliver.

“Huuu….”

As the dust settled, the torn air regained its color, and the darkness returned to its place, Oliver realized two things.

The first was that this wasn’t a tunnel connected to the abandoned mine.

He already sensed it near the stake, but this space was endless—just an infinite expanse.

He couldn’t understand the principles or reasons, but this was another dimensional space, not connected to the abandoned mine.

However, that was less important compared to the second realization.

Despite being hit by the compressed black roar, ‘The Burned One’ stood completely unscathed.

‘The Burned One’ stood within the black smoke, completely unharmed, remaining in the exact same spot.

Even after getting hit by the Quarterstaff like a typhoon, slashed by the Dagger imbued with countless diseases, drained of warmth by the hands of the dead, and faced with Oliver’s direct attack, he had taken no damage.

Not even a scratch. The only thing Oliver achieved was buying some time for about ten seconds. That’s it.

For the first time since leaving the mine, Oliver felt a sense of defeat.

It was an emotion he hadn’t properly experienced since his orphanage and mining days.

Ironically, it was only after reaching this point that Oliver realized the immense blessings he had received and the severity of his current situation.

[That was decent. Fairly so.]

The demon dusted off his body as he spoke. It wasn’t a bluff or a taunt to make Oliver uncomfortable—it was just that.

[The problem is that it was just fairly decent. Did you truly expect me, one who rules over one of the 72 Hell realms, to be defeated by an attack using the power of hell and sinners?]

The demon asked as if genuinely curious, his question carrying a note of disappointment.

Though his tone wasn’t particularly sharp, Oliver instinctively stepped back.

He recognized this feeling… the orphanage, the mine. It was the same feeling he had before learning necromancy.

A feeling where he had no means to resist and faced an opponent he couldn’t possibly oppose.

Helplessness, fear, terror, the strong desire to survive.

Of course, the orphanage director, the mine supervisor, and strong kids couldn’t be compared to a demon, but fundamentally, there was no difference.

The only difference was in how Oliver perceived these sensations.

Not so long ago, I thought I could calmly manage my helplessness and fear, but maybe due to the influence of the Filgarett, it now felt much more vivid.

Was it because of that? Oliver felt the urge to flee. He wanted to escape.

Because this wasn’t an opponent he could possibly fight.

His body was more honest than his mind. Oliver quickly scanned his surroundings, searching for an escape route.

At that moment, Oliver spotted Templar Joanna.

Finally, his mind, paralyzed by fear and helplessness, remembered why he had been trying so hard.

A voice echoed in his mind.

‘Do you know my sister Joanna? She’s really amazing.’

‘We are all proud of her.’

‘She was truly special. Despite being a discarded child herself, she considered it a blessing to come to this orphanage. She tried to be a source of strength for the other children, as well as for adults like me.’

Those were the stories he heard from the Arc Orphanage.

[Calm]

[Awake]

[Stupor]

[No Pain]

[Lay The Foundation]

[High-Density Bone]

[Steel Bone]

[Muscle Up]

[Muscle Hyperplasia]

[Muscle Compression]

[Burning Life]

[Reflexes Reinforcement]

[Nerve Acceleration]

[Madness Injection]

[Terrible Anger]

[Fury]

[Muscle Anger Proportional]

[Mental Awakening]

Oliver injected disease-enhancing necromancy into his body, surpassing ten different types.

He rarely used this method even after becoming a necromancer. The reason was simple—it put an enormous burden on the body.

However, considering the unreasonable being before him and the flesh-enhanced body from consuming the Flesh Cook, Oliver injected his body with all the disease-enhancing necromancy at his disposal.

Considering that even injecting five was an overdose, this was an astonishing amount.

Yet Oliver didn’t care. He had to do something, right?

First, Oliver used Calm and Awake to regain his composure.

He then used Stupor and No Pain to block out the physical pain.

He laid the foundation for his body to withstand a large amount of necromancy with Lay The Foundation.

Then, he increased his bone density with High-Density Bone and strengthened their stiffness with Steel Bone.

Next, he exponentially increased muscle mass with Muscle Up and Muscle Hyperplasia, and then compressed the muscles with Muscle Compression for optimal efficiency.

Steam emanated from Oliver’s body like that from a steam engine, but that wasn’t the end.

After fortifying his body to the limit, Oliver continuously injected Burning Life to transform life force into physical strength, then Reflexes Reinforcement to enhance reflexes, Nerve Acceleration, Madness Injection, Terrible Anger, Fury, and Muscle Anger Proportional.

Each time necromancy was injected, Oliver’s body temperature doubled, and the steam emitted from his body began to turn red.

His blood was boiling.

Anger seized his body, and nerves overloaded. Using Mental Awakening as an anesthetic, Oliver was barely able to maintain his sanity as he prepared to use his final necromancy.

[Sinner’s Armor]

In response to Oliver’s final incantation, twisted beings, covered in tar, swarmed out and clung to Oliver’s body.

Just as before, they used their bones, flesh, and blood to create armor, covering Oliver from head to toe.

The appearance and aura it exuded were of the same type as ‘The Burned One’—a form that defied reality.

Oliver lightly stepped off the ground.

As he kicked off the ground, he instantly vanished, causing a small explosion where he had stood, accompanied by the sound of wind rushing past.

Then, Oliver suddenly appeared in front of ‘The Burned One’ and began unleashing a relentless assault with all his might.

With a body fortified to its limit and armor formed from the sins of hellish sinners, something like selling his last shred of dignity.

Though a cliché, each of Oliver’s attacks shook the air, quaked the ground, and generated a thunderous sound all around.

A natural disaster in human form. A two-legged calamity, but horrifyingly, even that wasn’t enough against the true catastrophe.

‘The Burned One,’ who rules over one of the realms of Hell, responded to Oliver with just a single finger.

Even the Quarterstaff that stirred up a typhoon and the Blood-Stained Dagger infused with countless diseases.

The only difference from before was that now he took a few steps back.

Oliver continued the relentless assault, even though he wasn’t landing any significant hits.

He swung the Quarterstaff. He slashed with the Blood-Stained Dagger.

He formed a necromantic circle in the air and shot Hate Bullets.

He detonated Rage Bombs as he swung the Quarterstaff.

He released a Rage Scream using his armor’s helmet.

He slashed with the Blood-Stained Dagger.

He used his cloak to create Dead Hands.

He threw spears made of the black material.

He thrust with the Blood-Stained Dagger.

He grabbed hold of him with black tentacles and struck with the Quarterstaff.

He even punched.

[A punch…?]

‘The Burned One’ spoke, surprised by Oliver’s punch.

Out of countless attacks, one managed to touch his abdomen. Although it didn’t deliver any damage, ‘The Burned One’ displayed a startled reaction.

It seemed ‘The Burned One’ hadn’t expected Oliver to create a black hand for swinging the Quarterstaff and simultaneously punch him.

Neither had Oliver.

Having wildly attacked before such a formidable opponent ended up like this… But judging by ‘The Burned One’s’ reaction, it didn’t seem like a bad move.

Whoosh!

‘The Burned One’ retaliated. He swung a finger, and even with heightened reflexes and physical capabilities, Oliver narrowly dodged it.

Still, he couldn’t completely avoid it, and his armor was scraped away.

A chill ran down his spine. Even the strongest armor was but paper against the demon.

Instinctively, Oliver almost staggered back but managed to steady himself and charged forward. After all, retreating wouldn’t solve anything.

Oliver thrust with the Quarterstaff.

‘The Burned One’ deflected it and immediately jabbed, shattering the edge of Oliver’s helmet.

Oliver extended the blade of the Blood-Stained Dagger with necromancy, aiming for the demon’s throat, but it disintegrated into ashes the moment it touched the demon.

With a casual flick of his finger, ‘The Burned One’ created a diagonal gash on Oliver’s armor.

Oliver hurriedly reinforced the damaged armor while letting out a Rage Scream, but ‘The Burned One’ countered with a thrust of his finger, nearly piercing both the scream and his face.

Oliver jerked his head back to dodge and swung his fists.

One fist was intact; the other was burned.

Papang-!

A short and concise sound resonated as Oliver let out a low cry of pain.

Despite using necromancy to block pain, an unbearable amount of it surged from his right arm.

It was almost enough to make him collapse and scream. But he couldn’t.

Because he saw ‘The Burned One’ holding his stomach after getting hit.

It had worked. It was faint, but Oliver’s attack had an effect.

Huff…

‘The Burned One’ exhaled deeply, and an indescribable heat wave surged over Oliver, burning away his armor and sending him flying backward.

Even though the distance between them suddenly increased, Oliver didn’t mind. Instead, he took it as an opportunity to extract and inject his hunger into his shadow.

His shadow, already empowered by the Flesh Cook’s emotions, magical power, and life force, as well as numerous absorbed creatures from Fen.

As Oliver infused his hunger into it, the shadow came to life.

Its form became that of an amorphous creature.

The only discernible body parts it had were a massive mouth solely for quenching hunger and unsettlingly perfect teeth.

[Aaa… Aaa…]

Unintentionally brought to life, Oliver’s shadow, driven by instinct, lunged at ‘The Burned One.’

Disgusted by the appearance, ‘The Burned One’ brought his thumb and index finger together and snapped them.

Snap.

A sound echoed out, accompanied by a blinding light that bleached all nearby colors to white.

In that instant, Oliver’s shadow, without making much of an impact, was burnt away and disintegrated under the immense heat. But it was okay.

Because Oliver had already closed the gap.

As the world returned to its original colors, Oliver concentrated his gloves on his burned hand and aimed a punch at ‘The Burned One,’ who was already throwing an even faster punch at Oliver.

***

The fists collided, and for a moment, Oliver lost consciousness. Just very briefly.

When he opened his eyes, the only thing he remembered was his fist and the demon’s fist colliding… Oh, there was more.

The demon’s fist had reached him first.

Seeing the demon’s fist suddenly grow larger made Oliver flinch, which was his mistake.

As soon as the punch landed, the armor covering Oliver shattered into pieces and flew everywhere.

Pain surged through his entire body. The only things visible were the surrounding darkness, the dissipating black material, and the frightened Joanna.

She was staring at Oliver in terror. She was scared of him. Despite knowing she shouldn’t be, her primal instincts as a living being felt fear.

Joanna, shining with fear, terror, and guilt, tried to speak to Oliver, but ‘The Burned One’ approached, intercepting her intention.

[She seems to be afraid of you.]

A voice echoed from every direction. Hearing it, Oliver pushed himself up. His body felt like it was breaking apart.

“…Yes.”

[You were trying to save her, but it’s understandable, I suppose. After all, as a Templar, she has already forgotten her duty.]

Despite the pain overtaking his body, Oliver shook his head.

“I’m not… that great of a person to save anyone.”

[I agree. After all, you’re just here trying to stop me because of proximity, avoiding the wickedness right in front of you.]

‘The Burned One’ criticized Oliver. The words weren’t sharp, yet their bite was deep, touching something painful within.

Oliver remained silent, appearing to be lost in thought, and ‘The Burned One’ urged him to answer.

[Do you deny it?]

After some contemplation, Oliver finally spoke.

“Before I answer, may I ask you a question?”

[Go ahead.]

“After burning everything down, what do you plan to do next?”