Thud. Roll.
A head falls to the ground and rolls.
Splash-
A fountain of blood splashes around.
Ethan Steele's pupils trembled at the sight of the spurting blood.
It felt too real.
Plus, the blood that splattered on his skin was warm.
'I... killed someone.'
Ethan's mind fell into confusion.
Murder.
A person's life had been lost by his command.
[Immune to confusion due to the effect of exclusive skill 'Soul of the Demon God(P)']
'Huh..!'
With the activation of the Soul of the Demon God, Ethan's mind cleared from confusion.
'Damn it.'
Ethan gritted his teeth.
He needed to regain his composure.
Otherwise, he would die.
The remaining assailants raised their swords with surprised faces and took battle stances.
"Dawson!"
"What is this monster..!"
Caaak-
The shouts of humans and the cry of a monster.
The two sounds mixed together as the battle began.
Clack- Slash-!
Sparks flew as swords and claws collided.
Rip. Slash-!
Caaak..!
But were they quite well-trained after all?
The Shadow Ghoul's wounds increased under the assailants' coordinated attacks.
'This is dangerous.'
Ethan quickly checked the information window.
──────────────
[Character Information]
Name: Undetermined
Level: Lv.2
Trait: Demon God Palace
Strength: 1
Vitality: 1
Magic Power: 10
Agility: 1
Additional Stats: 5
──────────────
Perhaps thanks to the 'Soul of the Demon God' skill?
Despite only gaining one level due to the high experience requirement, he had obtained 5 additional stat points.
[30 seconds remaining for Shadow Ghoul's summon duration.]
[Warning! Vitality is below 60%.]
Hearing the subsequent alerts, Ethan cursed inwardly.
'Tsk.. My magic power and health are the same. So there's no game-like effect of recovery after leveling up.'
His vitality was still dropping from maintaining the 'Summon Shadow Ghoul'.
Ethan hurriedly invested all his additional stat points into magic power.
[Magic Power increases by 5.]
»'Magic Depletion' state has been released.
»Movement speed returns to normal.
»Vitality consumption stops.
»Magic power recovery rate increases slightly.
With the increase in magic power, the vitality depletion stopped.
Clang-
Caaak..!
Eventually, Ethan's Shadow Ghoul vanished with its body and head blown off.
"Huff.. Huff! This monster bastard..! Where the hell did it come from..?"
The panting assailants looked toward one direction with suspicious gazes.
It was where Ethan was.
"Could it be... that baby?"
".. Impossible."
But that moment didn't last long.
The assailants' demeanor quickly turned sharp.
"Kill it!"
Whoosh-
Simultaneously, two sword blades thrust toward Ethan.
'Not going to happen!'
Ethan quickly drew upon his strengthened magic power.
Splash-
Black currents surged from beneath Ethan.
Clang- Clack!
The swords were deflected with sparks.
".....!"
"What in the world is this.."
The assailants backed away, showing their perplexity.
Screech-
Crack-crack!
Three Shadow Ghouls surged from the shadows.
They were tangled together, wrapping around Ethan protectively with their intertwined hands.
An extremely bizarre sight.
The assailants muttered as if in a daze.
"A... demon..."
Ethan partially agreed.
'They really do look like demons.'
Screech-
Crack! Crack!
As if responding to that thought, the Shadow Ghouls struggled to break free from Ethan's control as their numbers increased.
"Da, damn it.. Let's regroup with the main force. Scatter!"
The assailants hurriedly began running toward the forest.
'I can't let that happen..!'
If he let them go, they would surely call for reinforcements and harm him.
'I have no intention whatsoever of dying quietly!'
Ethan commanded the wailing Shadow Ghouls.
'Chase them and take care of them!'
Then the rampaging Shadow Ghouls suddenly stopped,
Screech-
And leaped forward roughly, starting to chase the two men.
"Ugh..! Damn!!"
"Die!! You monsters!!"
Soon the shouts of the assailants could be heard from beyond the forest where the Shadow Ghouls had disappeared.
Crack-! Clang!
The sounds of battle were heard again.
But this time, it didn't last long.
Crunch.
"Gack..!"
Suddenly, a chewing sound followed by a scream came from the forest.
"No..! Hh.. Hwaak!"
Crunch. Slash-
[You have leveled up.]
The level-up message appeared again.
It seemed the Shadow Ghouls had taken care of the assailants.
Ethan immediately invested the gained additional stat points into magic power.
This was because he was at risk of magic depletion again due to summoning three Shadow Ghouls.
[Magic Power increases by 5.]
»Magic power recovery rate increases slightly.
His internal magic power rose sharply again, and the rate of magic depletion decreased significantly.
'Phew. That's done.'
Ethan could loosen his tension.
But perhaps because he was still in a baby's body?
Sleep overcame him from fatigue due to the battle and magic depletion.
'Ah.. not yet... I can't...'
He tried to fight off the drowsiness, but it was too much.
'If I fall asleep in this state...'
There was a high probability that the main force the men had mentioned would come after hearing the battle sounds.
Couldn't drowsiness be covered by the 'Soul of the Demon God' skill?
Ethan's blurry gaze turned to the Shadow Ghouls.
'I need to... give them orders....'
But Ethan's consciousness was rapidly fading.
'Ah... this... damn body...'