novelraw Chapter 201: Playtime’s Over
Chapter 201: Playtime’s Over
***
While Lykos and Merlin were fighting for their lives against Wit, and Ulv and Aur were likely getting battered in their own tunnel, Ignotus was having a great time.
He walked down the dark, heat-choked passage alone.
’It smells even worse here.’
Eris sat on his shoulder, Her red eyes gleaming in the gloom.
"That’s just the smell of the finish line, my dear~."
Ignotus stepped over the skeletal remains of a giant centipede.
"I know it’s tough, but you’d better get used to it."
The tunnel opened up into a large, circular chamber. There, the floor was covered in bubbling pools of acidic sludge, and the air was thick with a greenish-purple miasma.
Eris immediately jumped down and ran to safety.
Ding!
—
[Warning: Concentrated Corruption]
[Status Effect: Poison (Lethal)]
—
"Well, that’s far from great."
Standing in the center of the room, blocking the only way through, was a Demon.
It wasn’t a brutish monster like the one Gaia and Nora fought, nor a human-like Demon like Wit. This one was... shifting. Its body was made of liquid and hardened sludge, constantly dripping and reforming.
It had no face, but rather a single, glowing Rune where its mouth should be.
"Blanc."
Ignotus could read the Arcane on the Rune.
"It seems you’re a sludge-walker of sorts. That’s nasty."
"You..."
The Demon gurgled.
"You reek of Divinity."
"And you reek of poison."
Ignotus retorted.
"But we can’t all be winners."
The Demon raised a dripping arm.
SPLAT.
All the pools of acid on the floor exploded.
As a result, the miasma in the air thickened, turning from a haze into a deadly fog.
It rushed toward Ignotus, intent on melting his skin off.
He, of course, didn’t panic but grinned.
It was time to spin the wheel.
He focused on the Runes etched into his Soul, activating [Fortune’s Wheel.]
A spectral wheel appeared in his left eye, spinning so fast it was a blur.
Colors flashed by—red for Lava, blue for Ice, silver for Metal.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Ignotus felt it slow down.
Tick... Tick...
DING!
—
[Gravity]
—
Ignotus blinked.
’Oh, gravity? That’s nice.’
He thought [Fortune’s Wheel] would give him something useless like Mist or Clay in a time and a fight like this. But Gravity? Gravity was a top-tier pull that he really needed.
’Let’s get heavy.’
Ignotus cracked his neck, activating [Living Ligature].
Purple, Arcane flared to life across his body, glowing bright.
The air around him quickly shimmered and warped.
That was when the poisonous fog crashed into him.
But it didn’t touch his skin.
[Living Ligature] had created a dense gravitational field around his body, and the poison molecules were simply too heavy to enter his personal space. They hit the invisible wall of gravity and were pushed away, leaving him able to breathe like nothing was wrong.
Simply said, he had created something of an oxygen mask.
Ignotus exhaled, feeling the weight of his own bones increase.
His... density seemed to have shot up, making him feel like a giant.
’...that was a bit close.’
He glanced at the sizzling acid near his boots.
Calm had his inky eyes lock back onto Blanc.
"That’s a pity."
Its voice sounded muddy.
"I almost got you there."
The Demon pointed a liquid finger at him.
"Don’t think that I’m just a poison type. I studied your movements as you ran through the tunnels. I know that you rely on speed. But here? In my domain? You’ll have to slow down."
Ignotus tested the air with his hand.
The gravity field was holding, but it was draining his Divinity fast.
"You can’t just rush through this."
Ignotus looked at the path behind the Demon. It was a sludge wall reinforced with heavy Corruption. He couldn’t punch through it without killing its owner first.
"Heh~."
A faint smile touched Ignotus’s lips.
"I won’t deny it; you got me. It’s a good trap."
And it was. If Ignotus hadn’t rolled Gravity—or if he didn’t have the instinct to activate [Fortune’s Wheel] instantly—he would be a puddle of goop right now.
But he did have them.
"I don’t care what you know."
Ignotus stepped forward, the ground cracking under his increased weight.
"I want to be challenged, so come on, ugly... Let me learn."
Blanc smirked or rippled in a way that looked like a smirk.
"Oh, Mother of Rot. Bear witness... as I consume your enemy."
Without another word, the battle began.
Blanc shot forward, turning into a tidal wave of acidic sludge.
Ignotus didn’t dodge; he couldn’t move fast with Gravity.
He was an immovable object, and so...
’Wise Fool.’
He raised his sword.
Ignotus swung his sword in an overhead arc that looked like a novice chopping wood.
It seemed too slow and open, which Blanc noticed, and surged toward Ignotus’s exposed chest.
But just as the sludge was about to hit...
’Spike!’
Ignotus pulsed his Will, and the gravity around his sword increased tenfold in a split second.
The blade accelerated instantly, turning from a slow chop into a blurred guillotine.
SPLAT!
The sword slammed into the rushing sludge, the force so immense that it nearly atomized the liquid.
"SCREEEE!"
Blanc shrieked as half of its mass was blasted apart by the gravitational shockwave.
The sludge splattered against the walls, hissing due to its increased internal heat.
"Heavy, isn’t it?"
Ignotus took another step.
THOOM.
The floor shattered, rock splintering everywhere.
He was slow and heavy, but he hit like a falling asteroid.
Blanc reformed, looking terrified.
"What... what are you?"
Ignotus took a stance.
"Your natural enemy."
After all, he was a Demon Hunter.
Blanc didn’t flinch at the sight of Ignotus’s terrifying expression.
The Demon was made of sludge and hate; fear wasn’t really in its makeup.
Instead, Blanc focused entirely on Ignotus’s movements.
It saw the heavy footsteps... how they changed in a moment.
Ignotus loosened the gravity for a moment, reaching it, and swung his sword, the blade humming with gravitational weight, aiming for the Demon’s head.
Blanc sidestepped easily, flowing around the heavy strike and countering instantly.
It turned its arm into a hardened spike of sludge and stabbed forward like a stake.
A stake that Ignotus wasn’t in a position to dodge.