Online Game: I Returned From Death With An Unbeatable Summon Class! Chapter 44: The Incomplete Specimens - Part 2

The specin’s clawed hand caught him across the chest. Corrupted energy erupted on impact, the strike carrying enough force to cave in ribs.

His Devil Loom Coat flared brilliant white.

[DEVIL LOOM COAT: NULLIFY LETHAL DAMAGE — ACTIVATED]

The damage vanished. The force dissipated. Marcus stumbled but stayed on his feet, completely unhard.

The coat’s enchantnt had saved his life.

[ABILITY ON COOLDOWN — WILL NOT ACTIVATE AGAIN THIS ENCOUNTER]

"Looks like I underestimated you." Marcus frowned, analyzing what just happened. "Sohow sothing was off with their damage to activate the Loom Coat’s passive."

A burning sensation spread across Marcus’s chest where the claws had touched. The Devil Loom Coat had stopped the physical damage, but sothing else was working its way into his system. Poison. Corrupted venom.

Marcus materialized a Big HP Potion and drank it fast, feeling the antidote properties fighting against the corruption spreading through his veins. The burning faded to a dull ache, manageable.

The alpha specin tilted its head, studying Marcus with those too-intelligent eyes.

"Interesssting armor." It circled slowly. "But you only ssssurvive oncccce."

It knew. Sohow it knew the enchantnt had a cooldown.

Marcus’s Soul Reading picked up a shift in all four specins’ emotional signatures. The testing phase was over. They’d learned what they wanted to know.

Now they were going to kill him.

The four specins attacked as one, perfectly coordinated, moving with brutal efficiency.

And Marcus realized with cold clarity what was happening.

"They’re not just trying to win." He blocked a strike, dodged another, Dagon moving constantly.

"They’re adapting ,Gathering data."

Malachar cleaved one specin nearly in half. It regenerated and rejoined the fight within seconds.

"Interesting " Malachar muttered, his tone grim.

Marcus went silent. He already knew.

These specins were prototypes. Failed experints. But Duskhollow was using them to test combat effectiveness, learn weaknesses, refine his fusion process.

Every move Marcus and Malachar made was being recorded, analyzed, transmitted back to whatever facility created these things.

They weren’t just fighting specins.

They were fighting a research project.

More reason to end their terror before he escalated furher.

Marcus’s eyes narrowed. "Okay, we’ve wasted enough ti. The others might already be waiting."

He materialized Dagon back into his hand after a quick dodge, his mind shifting from defense to offense. No more playing their ga.

Ti to end this.

"Malachar." Marcus’s voice cut through the chaos. "Focus fire. Alpha first. Don’t let it regenerate."

"As you command, my liege." Malachar’s greatsword began to glow with crimson energy.

The alpha specin sensed the shift in tactics. Its emotional signature spiked with sothing that might have been concern. It tried to retreat, putting the other three specins between itself and Marcus.

Too slow.

Marcus charged forward, using his speed to close the distance. Dagon swept low, forcing one specin to dodge. He pivoted, used the montum to launch himself toward the alpha.

The alpha raised its clawed hands to block

Malachar’s greatsword ca down from above like divine judgnt.

The blade cleaved through the alpha’s defenses, splitting it from shoulder to hip. Black blood erupted. The specin scread, a sound that was more human than beast.

"Again!" Marcus drove Dagon into the creature’s chest while it was staggered. "Don’t let the corruption heal it!"

Malachar struck again. And again. Massive overhead swings that shattered bone and tore corrupted flesh faster than it could regenerate.

The other three specins tried to intervene, but Marcus intercepted them. Not trying to kill just buying Malachar seconds. Precious seconds where the alpha couldn’t recover.

The alpha specin collapsed to its knees, its regeneration finally overwheld by the sustained assault. Its glowing eyes t Marcus’s one final ti.

"You... will... fail..." The words ca out broken, distorted. "Massster... knowsss..."

Malachar’s greatsword took its head off.

The body dissolved into black ash and shadow, leaving behind sothing solid. A core. Roughly the size of a fist, pulsing with corrupted energy.

[CORRUPTION CORE OBTAINED — RARE MATERIAL]

Marcus didn’t have ti to examine it. He materialized the core into his inventory as the three remaining specins scread in rage.

"Malachar!" Marcus backed toward his summon.

"The domain ability. Use it now!"

"Are you certain, my liege?" Malachar’s voice held a warning. "That technique consus significant energy. I will not be able to maintain my manifestation much longer after."

"Do it!"

Malachar planted his greatsword in the ground. Crimson energy exploded outward from the blade, forming a do of raw power that expanded rapidly across the clearing.

[CRIMSON DOMAIN — ACTIVATED]

The three specins were caught inside the do’s radius. The corrupted energy that sustained them imdiately began fighting against Malachar’s domain. Their regeneration slowed. Their movents beca sluggish. The hive-mind connection between them fractured.

"Now they’re vulnerable!" Marcus charged the nearest specin.

Without their regeneration at full strength, the specins fell quickly. Marcus’s Dagon found vital points throat, heart, skull. Each strike dealt damage that actually stayed, weakening them further.

Malachar’s greatsword carved through the second specin, splitting it cleanly in two. This ti, the halves didn’t rejoin. They dissolved into ash.

[CORRUPTION CORE OBTAINED — RARE MATERIAL]

The third and final specin tried to flee, its survival instinct finally overriding whatever command structure Duskhollow had implanted.

Marcus threw Dagon.

The blade spun through the air and took the specin in the back of the neck. It stumbled, fell, tried to crawl away even as its body began dissolving.

Marcus walked up and materialized Dagon back into his hand. One final strike ended it.

[CORRUPTION CORE OBTAINED — RARE MATERIAL]

[VOID HARVEST ACTIVATED][ 120 CURRENCY]

The clearing fell silent except for Marcus’s heavy breathing and the fading glow of Malachar’s Crimson Domain.

"Well fought, my liege." Malachar’s form began to flicker. "But I must return now. That technique... drained more than anticipated."

"You did good." Marcus nodded. "Rest."

Malachar faded into crimson light, returning to wherever summons went when dismissed.

Marcus stood alone among the dissolving remains of four Tier 5 specins. His chest still ached where the poison had spread. His MP was down to 50. His coat’s protection was on cooldown.

But he’d won.