The demon strolled toward Julius nonchalantly. Unlike the demons from before, it didn't come off as too haughty or conceited. It felt more assured and came from actual confidence in his own strength. Perhaps that was why it was considered a lord compared to the other demons. Furthermore, he was confused because, from what he was able to gather from the guild, monster lords were normally only called that when they were really strong.

Typically, they were Tier 5 at the very least, which begged the question of why this demon was called a lord by the rift and by the Words of the World.

It was possible that this demon actually existed, and the rift had taken a copy of the demon to incorporate it into the rift. Thus, maybe it had been a Tier 5 before, and it was downgraded as part of the condition. It would also explain why it had gotten so much stronger in such a short period of time.

At the beginning, before the weird energy fluctuation, the demon had appeared to be a decently strong Tier 4. He would have estimated that the demon lord was around the level of the assassins from Clan Genshen. However, the demon felt much stronger now that it had absorbed whatever energy from the rift. Not only that, but the empowerment felt very natural.

Which further supported the idea that the demon had been stronger in the past.

The demon lord stood in front of Julius with relaxed arms. The black halo above its head was spinning gently but Julius didn't stray his attention from it. He had no idea what this halo was, but his instincts were telling him that it was a dangerous object.

There was an enormous amount of profundity coming from it. It was as if the demon's pure Authority had been condensed into it. Just the pressure coming off it would have incapacitated weaker opponents.

He had no idea how other participants would handle a monster like this. It was no wonder nobody had gotten past the eighth floor. The demon commanders would have been a challenge enough as is. They were toward the top of Tier 3, and taking down five of them at the same time would be a feat worthy of an elite fighter.

However, defeating a Tier 4, even if his version of this floor was unique, was not a feat normally accomplishable by anyone at Tier 3.

In the end, it was the demon who made the first move. Julius was barely able to react in time as a lance of pitch black mana pierced the air and headed right toward his face. His body was already completely loaded with mana, aura, and kinetic energy, which gave him enough speed to sidestep the attack.

The energy grazed him, and he felt it as the attack still tore his flesh despite not connecting directly. He didn't bother trying to maintain his distance; he immediately decided to dash closer. The soles of his shoes disintegrated as the force of kinetic energy rippling from his feet tore them apart.

A plate of black mana appeared before Julius, but he didn't care as he continued his charge. He used his shoulder to slam against this barrier, using his aura to destabilize the structure of the barrier. It worked out pretty well because, despite its sturdy nature, he was able to blast through it.

He saw the demon's eyes widen in surprise as Julius broke through without much issue. This surprise allowed Julius to close the distance and slam a fist at the demon's face. However, just before he was able to make contact, the demon moved with alarming speed. He grabbed Julius's wrist tightly and swung him across the room in one fluid motion.

Julius smashed into the wall, creating a Julius-sized indent in the stone.

Julius didn't have any time to recover as a barrage of black lances of mana attacked his position. He evaded most of the attacks, but there were some he wasn't able to and was forced to bring up the aura-woven construct in front of his face to block them.

The aura-woven construct held up pretty well, and he used this time to heal his fractured spine.

As he was healing, the demon stalked toward him with that same assured confidence.

"You have a healing skill, huh?" The demon lord said to him with a light chuckle. "And you say that you aren't talented."

"I'm just lucky," he said with a shrug.

"Sure, if you say so. Still, let's see how far that luck extends, yeah?" The demon responded before disappearing in a blur.

It was only because he had [Absolute Spatial Perception] that he was able to react in time. He used some kinetic energy to blast himself off the wall and could only shake his head in amazement as the demon destroyed the rest of the wall with a single punch.

Julius used this time to send several spikes of mana at the demon. His Sharpness Concept had been infused into these spikes, and the demon must have noticed that because he actually paid attention to them.

Julius could sense the demon using some kind of destabilizing skill to rip apart the spikes before it could reach him. Unfortunately for the demon, it hadn't yet realized that willpower was one of Julius's biggest strengths. That, on top of the natural tendency of his ruinous aura, meant that the demon could not destroy the constructs fast enough.

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Julius watched as the demon quickly formed a barrier in front of his face just in time. The spikes exploded against this barrier. The Sharpness Concept had been quite effective against the barrier, but Julius felt the demon do something before the spikes were able to pierce the protective piece of mana.

The halo around the demon's head acted like a conduit for his Authority and nullified the Concept before it was able to hurt him.

However, this only seemed to be a trigger for the demon to start taking things more seriously. The black halo pulsed a single time and Julius widened his eyes in shock as a wave of Authority rippled outward.

Julius was shocked when he felt his control over his skills flicker for a brief moment. The barriers and spikes he had preemptively created disappeared. Even his kinetic energy he had been keeping hold of slipped away as he struggled to recover it. Only his body enhancement skill and his aura woven construct maintained a level of integrity, but he was still able to feel them affected by whatever skill the demon used.

As this weird black halo disrupted his skills, the demon lord sent another barrage at Julius. This time, the barrages were different. They didn't seem to have the intent to pierce his body; these ones almost seemed to be softer.

His feeling was correct when he felt one of the lances of mana extend out and try to wrap around him like shackles. His hastily deployed barrier was in time to block it, but there was more than one lance of mana.

He tried to evade the rest, but they tracked his position and covered every angle of escape. As he was busy dodging these shackles, he sensed the demon attack him from behind.

Without turning around, he kicked backward and slammed his kinetically charged heel into the stomach of the demon. It had used some type of stealth skill to conceal its location, but that didn't matter to someone like Julius. His perception skill wasn't easily tricked. His attack connected with the demon, forcing it to grunt in pain and surprise. Even staggering him back several feet.

However, this interruption had created a large enough opening that he was hit by one of these mana shackles.

The shackle grew quickly as it tried to wrap him up like a python does to its prey. He attempted to use his ruinous aura to destroy it before it could continue. Still, he felt a pulse from the demon as it simultaneously strengthened its construct and weakened Julius's aura.

The demon's Authority was too strong, and Julius wasn't able to do anything as more shackles of mana wrapped him up. They coiled around his arms and squeezed. He was even able to sense these shackles send disruptive pulses of mana and Authority through them, making it even harder for Julius to get rid of them. He could even feel that these shackles impeded spatial movement as well.

They were truly a skill meant to immobilize an enemy.

The demon, rubbing its stomach where Julius had hit it, stood up tall and sent a blast of pure mana at Julius.

Julius groaned as he was tossed across the room and slammed into another wall. Another blast of mana got him, and he was sent tumbling once more. This was one of Julius's most dreaded situations. He had a healing skill that could heal almost any injury, but if he was pinned down and immobilized, he would be at the mercy of his opponent.

The demon seemed to believe that Julius was done for as well, because Julius felt the demon release some of the tension in their shoulders, walking up to him with a calm gaze. He knelt down next to Julius and looked right into his eyes.

To Julius's surprise, the demon even took the time to examine Julius in depth. He was even able to feel the demon gently probe his aura and soul.

"You might have stood a chance if you were a bit more developed. If it wasn't for my current circumstances, I might have even taken you under my wing to teach you some things. Unfortunately, I am forced to kill you. Such a waste of potential."

Julius scrunched his nose as the demon sounded genuinely remorseful. He didn't expect an enemy to show such empathy. With that being said, he didn't like that he made it seem like Julius was completely done for already.

Julius still had some tricks up his sleeve. Just because the demon was faster, stronger, more experienced, and had an Authority to boot, didn't mean he had zero chance.

He also wasn't as stuck as the demon thought he was. So when the demon leaned over him with a blast of mana charged up, Julius made his move.

[Void Step] was an amazing skill for many reasons. On the surface, it was a more expensive version of [Blink]. However, he knew better than that. The skill was much more powerful and had a higher ceiling than a normal spatial skill. And that value showed itself when he vanished from the demon's sight.

The shackles of mana fell to the floor as they no longer had anything to hold on to. Julius had learned this a while ago. If he didn't specifically make sure that he brought his clothes with him, he would show up naked.

He didn't know if it would work with shackles like these, but he was glad his gamble paid off. He was completely free of them.

Then, before the demon could understand what was going on, he cranked all of his skills to eleven. [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] was fed as much power as it could possibly manage. He always ensured that he used as much power as his body could handle. It was only on rare occasions that he pushed it beyond that.

This was one of those times. This demon was too strong and was as fast or faster than Julius. This called for drastic measures. Luckily, he had a skill that would allow him to survive this.

[Phoenix Renewal] was activated as he felt the extreme pressures of all of this mana rip apart his flesh. However, the skill regenerated his body as fast as it broke down. He made sure to rely on Drasil for this part.

Thankfully, the little glutton had a nice store of life mana, which meant he didn't have to draw from his own storage. Drasil eagerly fed Julius all of his energy. The little guy had always hated it when Julius did dangerous stuff like this, but understood the importance of the moment and, without questioning Julius, pumped his energy through their bond.

Julius looked over at the demon lord, who was staring at him with a weird look that looked like an odd combination of both awe and disgust, as if he didn't know if he was seeing something spectacular or some kind of monstrosity.

Julius slammed his fists together and prepared himself to have another go at this demon.