CHAPTER 68: SYSTEM MISSION

It was a considerably quiet night, and soon I realized the reason why nothing comes to attack this place or why there are no living beings around it’s because I’m here.

Humans no longer notice monsters, they stay away because of my passive abilities, so they fear me.

’This will complicate things.’ I have no way to deactivate these passive abilities, which means common monsters will hardly approach unless they are in a pack. I might be able to hide if I really tried, but it’s very tedious.

So I’m thinking that instead of hiding to attack, I can go to places where the monsters are obligated to fight, like their nests or their territory. I’m also tempted to go kill the boss.

He must be worth a lot, plus I’m learning a sword technique with a katana that I really want to use. I’m also learning a close-combat technique, both are still incomplete because they’re difficult to learn.

But they would be enough for use, although I’d hardly ever really use them, because a mistake could cost me my life.

’5 AM’ I jump out of the tree and land on the ground, going to the structure that is now our "home."

"Hey, wake up, it’s time to go hunting." I won’t be their babysitter if they want food, they’ll have to hunt for it themselves.

"Just 5 more minutes," I hear Kaito say from inside. Hana got up and came out with Yuki.

I transform mana into water and soak the inside of the structure with water, soon dragging him out with the water flowing out the door.

Technically, I can generate attacks of all elements as long as I understand the element when transforming mana into it, but doing this instead of using magic drains a lot of mana.

Just making this amount of water used up enough mana for me to cast 10 ice spells, so this isn’t viable in most fights.

He gets up irritated and soaked.

"Listen, Kaito, if I tell you to wake up, you wake up, and if I tell you to go hunt, you’ll go hunt. Don’t think I’ll be taking care of you monsters aren’t stupid animals, as soon as you’re alone, they’ll hunt you."

Monsters don’t come near because of me, but if he stays here alone, he’ll lose that protection. I doubt he could survive for long on his own.

That’s why Hana saw wolves wandering they were doing two things: first, staying away from the threat, and second, trying to find openings. The monsters in this area are probably all wolf-type, so any gap will be the cue for them to act.

"You’re too bossy. I never accepted you as a leader, so why would I obey you?" Kaito says, looking at me with a certain disdain. Unlike Yuki, who tries a false friendship with me, Kaito doesn’t care about me.

"I wish the monsters would attack you so you’d stop being arrogant," I murmur. It’s true that I can’t force him to obey, and that irritates me.

[Warning. Your authority may evolve.

Title:

Darling of the Abyss - The Abyss appreciates your existence, considering you something valuable.

Passive:

7=Demonic King’s Authority - Demons only obey their King, so the only one qualified to rule them is the Demonic King. Therefore, the one who has this Authority can command demons.

8=Beloved by the Abyss - You are beloved by the Abyss, so malevolent beings feel affinity with you, making them more susceptible to being allies or not attacking you.

You who hold this title along with these two passives can acquire a new passive, in exchange for a suitable sacrifice, thus unlocking a new passive.

New passive [Abyssal Authority] can forcibly give orders to monsters much weaker than you they will be forced to obey any order, although it will only work on monsters that are several times weaker than you.

Mission for unlocking the passive:

Mission Name = Sacrifice for the Abyss.

Description: The Abyss has heard you and offered you an opportunity to acquire a new passive. In exchange for a suitable sacrifice, eliminate the boss of this dungeon within 2 hours.

Mission Failure: You will gain nothing.

Mission Success: You will obtain the Abyssal Authority Passive.]

[Accept] or [Deny]

’The system can do that?’ What an incredible discovery! And this passive seems insane when I have my full power, practically 100% of the monsters will be forced to obey me.

"Aren’t you going to say anything?" Kaito says to me.

"Okay, then, Kaito, you’re in charge. I’ll go out for a while."

"Wh-What?" He says, surprised.

’I don’t care about these trash. This opportunity can’t be wasted.’

"You heard me. I’m going to do something while I’m gone, and you’re in charge."

I confirm the mission and quickly run through the forest. I was planning to hold back a little, but I’ll kill this thing right now, fuck it if anyone sees.

I quickly expand my mana to the maximum, covering an area of miles, while trying to find anything.

’To the north, the monsters are stronger...’ I change my direction and run quickly north. I left some shadow familiars with the heroes in case they’re close to dying they’ll be saved, so no problem.

I didn’t want to have to use the shadow familiars, but I can’t just let the heroes die. I just hope I don’t need the familiars to help them.

’Time is running out.’ I have to be fast. I don’t know if 2 hours is enough time. After half an hour of running, I can feel the boss’s presence. I quickly enter its shadow and emerge at the battle site.

’A clearing.’ The boss is a giant serpent. It quickly reacts to my presence, whipping its tail to attack me. I jump to evade the blow.

’I have 1 hour and 27 minutes left.’ I took longer than I intended because moving through the shadows of each being was more difficult than it seemed. It seems I have certain limitations related to the space I emerge in or the size of the shadow.

So I had to run nearly 80% of the way to this place.

Unfortunately, I don’t have many shadows in the environment because it’s daytime.

"M-Magic circle." I prepare to defend myself as I see the snake form a magic circle.

I was poisoned it seems to be a magic added directly to my status. It’s not too problematic as long as I can adapt, but it slowed me down.

"[Dark Lance]." I create the lance and start shooting in sequence. The snake evades with impressive agility.

’Class B monster, seems stronger than the Class A marionette.’ It seems the monster type also defines its strength, so the classifications are not 100% reliable.

’How did Violet know the marionette’s class?’ A question I don’t know the answer to.

The snake has great agility compared to its body, which seems to be about 30 meters long and 7 meters wide. Its greenish body also blends well with the environment, and its skin seems to have some kind of metallic scale that is super resistant.

I quickly dodge a blow from the tail that came from behind, and from the front, it fires several shots of a purple liquid it seems to be acid. I evade as it hits the ground, melting it.

This broke my concentration, making the lances stop, and it advances with its mouth open. I squeeze my hand hard, making it bleed, and throw the blood into its mouth as I jump to evade.

"[Explosive Life] [Explosive Life]." I didn’t have much blood, but I still hear the explosion happening inside the snake’s mouth. It lets out a strange sound of pain and burrows into the ground.

’Having to say it twice is annoying.’

But there’s no hole, so it must be an ability. Now it’s hard to know its location because it’s fast and underground.

Soon, something emerges from the ground, and I jump up to evade the snake’s mouth. In an instant, I feel danger and block, feeling a strong blow to my back.

’M-Mirage.’ False the snake that came out of the ground was just an illusion, while the real one hit me in the back with its tail, reaching the height where I was.

I regain my position while looking for where the snake is hiding. Its body blends perfectly with the trees around the clearing.

Soon, another one of those mirages comes out of the ground and "bites" me, as I imagined it’s false. It probably can’t even really go into the ground; I was just deceived by this mirage and optical illusion to think it went underground.

Everything falls silent as time passes, strangely quiet.

"DAMN IT, SHOW UP ALREADY!" Another half hour has passed I only have 58 minutes left.

’Poison, is she waiting for that?’ The poison has had no effect for a while, but if she’s waiting for the poison, then I have to force her to attack.

I stagger in a ten-out-of-ten performance, pretending to be weak.

I hear a slight rustling of the leaves.

It would be great to have Violet’s help, but lately she spends about 96% of her time sleeping that’s become a serious problem.

I try to distinguish where the leaf rustling is coming from. As soon as I pretend to fall, she charges quickly, but when she takes a bite, I’ve already disappeared I was falling into my own shadow.

I appear in one of the trees and advance quickly. I generate a sword and apply wind element mana to it, making the blade vibrate to replicate the effect of an electric saw.

I swing the sword, cutting her in half. She lets out a grotesque scream of pain and drags herself into the forest, while the other half writhes. Her vitality is impressive.

She doesn’t seem to be fleeing, as she begins to circle around me, generating several acid magic circles and firing at me. I protect myself with a neutral barrier.

Soon she lunges at me and bites the barrier. Her two fangs pierced through the barrier, and she begins to inject poison, filling the ground of the barrier with venom.

I cut off her teeth with the sword while dispelling the barrier, forcing her to close her mouth due to the force of the bite. I quickly go under her head.

[Time Path] [Dematerialize] [Essence of Creation] [Shadow Sculpture]

I slow down time around us, use Dematerialize to enter her mouth, and with Essence of Creation generate a large metallic "umbrella" where the joints are blades and the tip is a spear. The spear pierces the snake’s skull, and when I open the "umbrella," the blades shred her head.

The blades were reinforced with shadows to ensure cutting and piercing ability. Now a large hole has been opened in the snake’s head, completely deforming its body and soaking me in blood.

Snakes stay alive even after losing their heads, and with little time left, I needed to ensure absolute death. The solution I found was to destroy the head from the inside, and it worked.

But her scales were very resistant, so the answer was to destroy her from the inside.

[Mission Completion Notice New passive unlocked: Abyssal Authority. Activating true mission]

"True mission...?" Suddenly, the ground around me crumbles, and I fall, surprised, into what can be called a pit, completely shocked by this unexpected outcome.