Chapter 260: Flashback
Near the throne room entrance, Rynath turned to Loryn with curiosity evident in her serpentine features.
"You said you’ve seen him use that transformation before. When?"
Loryn’s skeletal fingers tapped against his chains, his hollow eyes looked in the distance. "Shortly after he..."
His voice trailed off, the mory pulling him back to that mont in the tunnels beneath the surface.
---
The experint crashed through the wall with force that sent chunks of ice and stone flying in every direction.
Demons in the pits scattered, screaming, trampling each other in their desperation to escape as the twelve-foot demon erged from the breach.
Four sets of eyes glowed with different colors, each one tracking movent independently. Its body was a nightmare of flesh and tal fused together.
And it moved fast.
As quick as a high-speed bullet train, crossing the distance between itself and Jack in seconds.
Its reaction ti was inhuman, point-fifteen seconds to respond to any movent.
Jack stood in the pit, Oscar gripped tight, blue lightning still crackling across his form from Thunder Mantle.
Blood Frenzy kept his enhanced state active, the ring on his finger pulsing with each demon death that occurred elsewhere in the fortress.
But Infernal Conversion was on cooldown.
[System Alert: Infernal Conversion Cooldown: 60 seconds remaining]
The experint launched itself at Jack with speed that made normal Disaster-class demons look sluggish.
Its multiple limbs reached forward, with its claws extended.
It was programd to do one simple thing.
KILL.
Jack activated Abyssal Steps, teleporting fifteen feet to the left.
The experint’s claws struck empty air where he’d been standing, tearing gouges in the frozen floor.
But it adjusted instantly, shifting its weight and charging forward.
Point-fifteen seconds to react. It had the reaction speed of a death adder.
By the ti you blinked, it would be too late.
Jack brought Oscar up defensively, the spear eting the experint’s strike with a clash that sent shockwaves through the pit.
The force drove him back three steps, his boots scraping across ice as he struggled to hold position.
’Sixty seconds. I just need to survive sixty seconds.’
Through the breach in the wall, a figure slipped into the tunnel.
Loryn.
The general pressed himself against the tunnel wall, shadow magic wrapping around his form to conceal his presence.
His eyes tracked the fight, watching as the Soul Warden struggled against the experint he’d personally been requested to create from Pho.
’My creature will kill him. I just need to wait. Then I will claim credit for the Soul Warden’s death. Pho will reward
greatly.’
The experint’s tail whipped around, catching Jack across the ribs despite his attempt to dodge.
His armor absorbed most of the impact, but the force still sent him sliding backward, blue lightning sparking where the strike connected.
[HP: 2,891/3,375]
Jack recovered quickly, using the montum to create distance. He clapped his hands together.
Thunder Clap!
Blue electricity exploded outward in a sphere, washing over the experint with a crackling discharge.
The demon’s body absorbed the damage, scorch marks appearing across its flesh-tal hybrid surface, but it barely slowed down.
[-2,142 HP]
[Experint HP: 262,858/265,000]
’Wait, did I just control the output?’
[Yes, that was about 61.39% of your total output]
’Haha.... This is great. I didn’t think I’d be able to do that. The mana consumption is the sa, but I can control my strength and determine how much damage I do.’
[System Alert: Infernal Conversion Cooldown: 30 seconds remaining]
’Thirty seconds. I need to keep moving and focus.’
The experint charged again, not caring about anything, but Jack.
Jack activated Abyssal Steps twice in rapid succession, teleporting away from its path, leading it into the tunnel where the narrow space would limit its movent.
Jack thrust forward with Oscar, aiming for one of the glowing eyes. The spear’s four-bladed tip connected, blue lightning discharging directly into the construct’s face.
[-8,547 HP]
[-2,650 HP]
[Experint HP: 251,661/265,000]
The experint’s hand shot out faster than Jack could fully react, catching his shoulder and slamming him into the wall.
The stone cracked from the impact.
His armor dented and pain exploding through his body.
[HP: 2,374/3,375]
Jack rolled away as the experint’s claws tore into the wall where his head had just been.
He ca up in a crouch, Oscar spinning defensively, buying precious seconds.
Loryn watched from his hidden position, a smile forming on his skeletal features.
The Soul Warden was taking damage, his armor cracking in multiple places, and blood was visible through the gaps.
’Just a matter of ti now.’
Jack stomped his foot.
"Thunder Stomp!"
Blue electricity surged through the tunnel floor, racing toward the experint in a crackling wave. The energy gathered beneath the construct and exploded upward in a massive thunderbolt.
[-6,978 HP]
[Experint HP: 244,683/265,000]
The thunderbolt lifted the experint off the ground for a mont, its body suspended by electrical force.
Jack used the opening, closing distance in two quick steps.
But the demon recovered almost instantly, landing and imdiately launching a counterattack.
Multiple limbs struck Jack simultaneously, all targeting him with overwhelming volu.
Jack blocked what he could, dodged what he couldn’t, and took hits when neither option worked.
His armor cracked further, blood flowing from multiple wounds, his movents becoming more desperate.
[HP: 1,847/3,375]
[System Alert: Infernal Conversion Cooldown: 5 seconds remaining]
’Almost there. Just need to...’
The experint’s tail caught him across the chest, the impact driving all air from his lungs.
He crashed into the tunnel wall again, sliding down to one knee, Oscar barely keeping him upright.
[HP: 1,328/3,375]
The expirent qas doing enough damage that his green didn’t even matter at this point.
The construct advanced, its sets of eyes tracking his weakened state.
Multiple limbs raised, preparing for a finishing strike that would tear him apart.
[4 seconds]
Jack’s grip tightened on Oscar.
[3 seconds]
The experint launched forward, moving with that sa terrifying speed.
[2 seconds]
Claws extended, reaching for Jack’s throat.
[1 second]
[Infernal Conversion Available]
Jack’s red eyes blazed brighter.
’Now.’
Scales erupted across Jack’s body, black demonic scales spreading from his chest outward in a wave of transformation.
His fra expanded, his muscles swelled and his height increased.
The experint’s claws, which had been reaching for his throat, struck his scaled chest instead and bounced off harmlessly.
The construct’s eyes widened in what might have been surprise or confusion.
Jack’s hand shot out, faster than the experint could react, and caught the construct’s wrist mid-strike.
His scaled fingers closed around flesh-tal hybrid material and squeezed.
The experint pulled, trying to free itself, but it couldn’t.
Jack’s other hand ca up, grabbing the construct by the throat. His clawed fingers sank into the hybrid material, drawing black blood that stead in the cold air.
"My turn."
He yanked the experint forward and drove his knee into its midsection. The impact sent shockwaves through the tunnel, cracks spreading across the walls. The construct’s body bent around the strike, black blood spraying from its mouth.
[Critical Hit!]
[-13,672]
[Experint HP: 231,010/265,000]
Jack released his grip and thrust forward with Oscar.
The four-bladed tip, wreathed in blue lightning, drove into the experint’s chest and punched completely through.
Blue electricity discharged directly into the wound, spreading through the construct’s body in visible arcs.
Piercing Strike!
[-21,876 HP]
[-2,650 HP]
[Experint HP: 206,484/265,000]
Jack yanked Oscar free, black blood coating the spear’s length.
The experint staggered backward.
Its eyes went wide as it processed a new feeling, pain.
Spear Barrage!
Jack’s enhanced speed made him nearly invisible to Loryn.
Three thrusting attacks in rapid succession, each one targeting a different vital point.
The first struck the experint’s shoulder, punching through and almost severing the limb completely.
The second hit its side, cracking through the armor to reach internal organs.
The third drove into its leg, shattering the joint.
[-36,096 HP]
[-7,950 HP]
[Experint HP: 162,438/265,000]
The construct collapsed to one knee, its programming struggling to process what was happening.
’KILL TARGET.’
But the target was stronger.
’KILL TARGET.’
Its tail whipped around, faster than before, driven by desperation.
Jack saw it coming, reached out with his scaled hand, and caught the tail mid-swing.
The experint’s eyes tracked the movent.
It watched as Jack’s clawed fingers closed around the appendage.
It understood that it was too late.
It could do nothing for what was about to happen.
Jack smiled as he ripped his hand away.
The tail tore free from the experint’s body with a sound like rending tal and tearing flesh.
Black blood sprayed across the tunnel walls, the severed appendage thrashing in Jack’s grip for a mont before going still.
The construct scread.
Not a roar of rage or challenge, but the sound of fear when sothing weaker than you know its going to die.
The sound echoed through the tunnels, a chanical shriek that hurt to hear.
Jack dropped the tail, letting it fall to the ground with a wet thud as it landed in its own blood.
The experint’s programming was fractured.
’SURVIVE.’
For the first ti since its creation, the experint felt sothing its programming hadn’t accounted for.
Fear.
It backed away from Jack, its remaining limbs trembling.
The confidence of an apex predator evaporated, replaced by the terror of prey facing a superior predator.
The construct cowered, pressing itself against the tunnel wall like a child waiting to be beaten.
It hoped daddy wasn’t going to grab his belt.
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