Chương 293: Chapter 288

Finally, my sacrifices, you have come." Delefagus, what in the name of all cursed Monsters is that thing? Astabazos says through the telepathic link. T—that is a pr… eing… efull… run! Something in this room makes the voice come all fragmented and Astabazos clutches his dagger tightly. He turns to look at the portal which, of course, has disappeared." I have waited very long for my meal." The entire place starts rumbling and a gigantic white monster with no face and a mouth full of sharp teeth rises from its tomb.

It's seven feet tall and has long, twisted limbs that have one joint more than what they should have.

"Your meal"? Jacob says angrily.

"What are you?" But the creature breathes heavily with its open mouth and turns toward Jacob, licking its lips, but also… frowning." Why are you not wearing the garments? And where is the other? WHERE IS MY MEAL?!" Astabazos is about to put some distance between him and Jacob Cloud when the creature moves so fast he barely has the time to react. It almost cuts into him and gets so close that Mantle of the Abyss deactivates. The creature suddenly stops in place and licks the air with a long, sharp red tongue."

My meal." Before Astabazos can dodge, he's forced to raise his dagger as the creature swings an arm at him so fast he's forced to parry the blow. The force of the impact is so great that, unlike the black bolts, it shatters his stealth and reveals his presence." My meal! My meal! My meal!" The horrific creature roars. Jacob ignores Astabazos for a moment in order to use the Primordial Grimoire.

[Primordial Grimoire Analysis] [Minor Nightmare of Apocalypse (Imperium)] [Description: a nightmarish creature that thrives on the flesh of other creatures. It's able to grow stronger by eating its foes.] Jacob feels a strong sense of disgust at that.

"You were supposed to eat Thalric and Helena, weren't you?"" My meal!" The thing turns to stare at Jacob who's already activated Diavolo Hypercut a dozen times, with as many Afflictions immediately littering the creature's body.

"Baal's Cage," Jacob says right after as The Devil's Engine starts rumbling in his chest.

"Curse of Fire." The Inferior Nightmare of Apocalypse staggers once hit from the Afflictions and releases a bone-chilling scream. It suddenly releases a large beam of Primordial Mana toward Jacob. But Jacob is using the Grimoire to look at all its weaknesses. Since its evolution, it's possibly even better than Nimirea's precognition.

"Nice try," Jacob says, slashing at the thing's legs and torso, layering more Afflictions. Yet, he can feel that the creature is too strong.

"Astabazos, when you're fucking done staring, help me out!" Jacob shouts at the Dark Champion. Now that the Infernal man has been revealed, there's no point in keeping appearances up anymore. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The Dark Champion frowns for a moment and then snarls, "why should I help you if—" A bunch of twisted yellow eyes appear all over the monster's body right when Astabazos is about to disappear again and get out of the fight, letting Jacob be destroyed by this thing.

"Fuck," Astabazos swears under his breath, feeling Mantle of the Abyss inactive.

"Dammit!"

"Hit this bastard with poison or anything that resembles an Affliction!" Jacob shouts at Astabazos.

"We can settle our own problems later! It's Early Imperium Rank and I can already feel my Afflictions disappearing!"

"I fucking hate you!" Astabazos shouts as he activates a Movement Skill and appears behind the Inferior Nightmare of Apocalypse, slashing at its legs. The thing swings its arms at Astabazos, with all eyes pointed at him, but Astabazos dodges and plunges his dagger deep into the torso, releasing a series of potent toxins that should vaporize—"It's immune to poison!" Astabazos says, retreating before he can be hit. He looks at the wound on that thing's body closing up.

The next moment, as if it just got stronger, the monster manages to slip past Astabazos's guard and inflict a deep wound on his left arm. Astabazos tries to put distance between the monster and himself but the thing is relentless. Its milky white skin, only colored by the black veins, beams with Primordial Mana. And if he has to guess, the monster is getting stronger.

"Cloud, fucking think of something you useless bastard!" Astabazos says, swinging wildly to parry the monster's attacks. Feeling the overwhelming power, he instantly gives up his right arm and left leg, monsterifying them. Now, with the added power, he manages to push the thing back a little and slash at it several times. He doesn't hold back any Skill. He uses Exploding Miasm Wound, which, as the name says, utilizes Miasm Mana to make wounds bubble and explode. And the wound does explode.

He sees the white flesh and the eyes from the collarbone to the right side of the head of this monster bubble up and explode in a shower of gore. But the next moment, the flesh knits itself and the monster looks exactly like it had a moment prior. Astabazos is then hit with a clawed hand—claws that have just now appeared—and tumbles to the ground several times. Only his monsterification allows him to heal from a grievous wound that goes from shoulder to hip.

But before the monster can finish him, Jacob Cloud tackles the thing and spears it. Around Jacob and the monster, a series of skulls erupt from the ground and the air changes completely. It's the Domain of Ruin and Bones.

"Cinder Rot! Ash Fever! Blight of Embers! Smoldering Blood! Armor of Cinders!" Jacob casts one Affliction after the other, barely slowing down the monster.

"Baal's Cage! Curse of Fire!"

"There's a suppression effect!" Astabazos roars. He can feel Jacob's power climb thanks to all the Afflictions he's using but he can also see with his own eyes that the Imperium Rank monster is barely affected by it. Imperium Rank is when the distance between Ranks starts becoming a massive chasm. True Diamond is the point of entrance for the Heroic Veins. Before that, the Heroic Veins are much closer to each other than one would imagine.

One could say that the difference in power between a Diamond Rank Knight and a True Diamond Knight is not huge. It's significant, of course, but not huge. A very powerful Diamond Rank Knight could easily kill one of the less skilled True Diamond Knights. Sometimes, in the case of absolute prodigies, a Platinum Rank like Jacob or the other Champions is able to fight at True Diamond Rank in terms of sheer power. Yet, that's a jump of two Ranks. Among Ranks, there's a natural suppression effect upon Skills.

If one's strong enough, that effect is not significant. It can easily be ignored. Well, it can easily be ignored until Imperium Rank. That's when the difference between each Rank is actually massive. This creature in front of them, in fact, is barely Imperium Rank and has clearly been weakened by its slumber and lack of sustenance. If it was actually at full-power and it had consolidated its Rank, Jacob and Astabazos would have no chance.

In fact, the difference between True Diamond and Imperium is so large that if this thing was a genuine Imperium creature, not all the Champion and Dark Champions working together would have been able to kill it.

"It's also getting stronger," Jacob shouts, starting to fight like a madman. Now, he's not retreating anymore. He can feel the aura of the monster climbing and the only thing that's keeping it from overpowering them are all the Afflictions that he's using. But, the suppression effect just mentioned makes it so that the effect of Skills that are not at Imperium Rank only have so much of an effect on an Imperium Rank creature.

"What the hell is this thing anyway?!" Astabazos shouts, charging another attack on the tip of his dagger and rushing at the monster.

"My miasma attacks can barely leave any damage!"

"It's a Minor Nightmare of Apocalypse!" Jacob shouts.

"And if you have any idea what this is, it'd come really handy in not getting the both of us killed!" Astabazos almost stumbles when he hears those words. Delefagus! Fuck your stupid experiments and find a way to communicate with me! I know you're a capable bastard! Do you know what this thing is?! Astabazos doesn't hear any reply for a moment and his heart starts plunging as Jacob gets more and more wounds on his body while the creature keeps screaming about meals. Here we go.

The Primordial Magic the thing is emitting was interfering with our connection which also relies on Primordial Magic— I'm about to fucking die, Delefagus! Cut this shit short! Alright, hear me out, then. Because in about two minutes that thing is going to be too strong to kill.