Chapter 375: The Start (6)
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The underworld of Babylon was now luminous like a lantern night. Two beings who were beyond all lifeforms in this world were currently situated in this place. Facing one another and letting their eyes do the talking.
"You are not going to say anything?"
It was the Creator Goddess who broke the silence. Her eyes flicked to look at the unconscious Neji for a bit before looking back at her, the Director who sat on the molded fabrics of space.
"He's not going to wake up if you just buy time. It's an endless nothingness he is stuck in, there is no way out. I can't remove the system from him, but I can sever his direct consciousness from the System, and only leave his subconscious sticking with it. He has no way out; his direct consciousness is floating in the empty space of the Prime."
"I know."
Her voice was ethereal, more so than the Goddess herself as she replied. Her form was like a blur, a glitch in reality, as she raised a hand near her face to push his hair to the side.
"Are you sure about that, though? You never know, he may not be floating in empty space."
Celestine frowned. "What? Did you do something to his consciousness?"
"Huh? Did I? Maybe someone else did. You never know. Regardless, I am not the only powerhouse this Cube has to offer. No need to be so paranoid about me."
Celestine frowned deeper. She looked at Neji and then used her authority to dive into his other location, to see what was going on. However, she was stopped by the authority of the Director.
"Mhm, how rude. You should focus on your guest, no?"
"What're you trying?" Celestine looked annoyed. "You wicked vermin. He is my prey, leave him be."
The Director's lips, which were a line of ink, stretched further from her 'face'. She smiled and refused to talk.
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Neji knew the trip was a bit too easy. Iraq was a warring zone, so there may have been adversaries he would have had a hard time facing. That was why he had brought Lucille along, as it would have been easier with her by his side.
But now that he is just on the nose of the gate, she didn't need to accompany him to it. Something had to be there to block him from leaving, and he should be able to deal with it all by himself.
He was in his Hybrid Form, with his dragon wings out; silver draconic scales covered parts of his body as he smashed into the mountain and found himself in a cave.
The cave was large. More than a cave, it was as if the mountain was just a shell of an underworld. It was a huge space, with a large purple portal spinning in the middle.
It was the Gate that the news spoke of. The one that suddenly appeared along with Neji. So, it had to be the exit from this world.
However,
Neji wasn't alone in this cave.
As he had expected, he had to face some hurdles. Before the gate, many strong-looking men and women stood as they observed it. They clearly were hunters, with bodies as large as a mountain.
When Neji crashed inside, the others heard and turned their heads at him. Their eyes were shining as they frowned, all taking a battle posture. Neji sighed at that.
[Observe] didn't work, so he couldn't be sure how strong they were. However, they were strong for sure. He wasn't confident in just bursting forward and slipping into the Gate at this rate.
"You there!"
A large bald man yelled, pointing a finger at him. The fabric of his shirt tightened around him as he made that movement, his deep eyes glaring at Neji.
"What are you?"
"Pretty sure that's a human. Seems to me a Transformer type like me."
A man with white skin, fur, and black stripes said, as his nose twitched in Neji's direction.
"Seems like a snake-type, based on the scales. But he has wings and horns too."
"…A dragon? We should have heard of someone like him by now though."
The hunters gossiped, but nobody was showing any signs of attacking. In total, there were nine of them, and if Neji was correct, each of them was at least S-Rank. Perhaps even a few SSS-Rank.
Luckily, perhaps there was no need for a fight. He gently flew down and landed before them, staring at them.
"I'm a newly Awakened. That Dungeon behind you is dangerous and is calling for me. From what I can understand, my power would allow me to clear the dungeon with no hassle whatsoever."
"That's cute,"
Said a large blonde man wearing dark shades. He wore a casual shirt and short pants; his short-sleeved shirt showed the spinning tattoos on his arms. He's the one that gave Neji the impression of 'as large as a mountain' from the group. If he had to guess, that man was the strongest in this group.
"My name is Thomas Gregor. I was the party leader of the raid that cleared the Dragon Dungeon that appeared a year ago. From what I learned, Dragons are very intelligent creatures. You know what that means?"
Lucille said that her father and a few others cleared the Dragon Dungeon. This guy wasn't her father; Neji couldn't spot him here at all actually. That man was most likely waiting in that camp, as his daughter was coming to meet him.
This guy was saying he was the leader of the raid group that Lucille's father was a part of. Thomas Gregor was a new name for Neji, but he could certainly feel the raw strength.
Thomas continued: "It means that imitating humans for their form isn't impossible for them. I have a very sensitive nose. You smell very dragon, and although there's a human smell to you too, it's different. It's as if you tried to imitate the human smell but failed. Too bad, you're caught red-handed. You… are not a human, yes? You are a dragon that came out of this dungeon."
Well, Neji's smell was different from a regular human's because he was a High Human. But sure, he could see how that misunderstanding worked.
Neji didn't see any point in trying to talk things out anymore. If he were to guess, the Creator Goddess probably was antagonizing them. It didn't make sense why she wouldn't directly take action, but whatever the case, Neji was going to take them down.
Neji was in his Level 3700s. So he had 38 Voidmancer Skills. Due to the big and abrupt jump in levels after killing Nawab, he didn't get to check the new skills, but he didn't have to check his status window to know. He could feel it deep down in his soul, the skills and their effects. Voidmancer was too much for Celestine to have stripped him off, at least in her suppressed form.
This meant Neji had more than just his stats. One other thing he had was the Eighth Gates. It was less a system skill, than something he learned directly from Might Guy. So he could use it from his memory.
"The dragon has nothing to say, it seems. Everyone, take formation and attack. Rip it apart."
Being called an "it" was new, but Neji didn't mind it. When Thomas spoke and began to charge his body with mana, Neji tapped his feet and slipped into the 7th Gate. He didn't use the 8th Gate just to be safe.
With a dramatic boost in his already impressive physique, he blasted ahead. He wasn't sure how this much strength would fare against these Hunters, but he didn't have time to think through as they had already taken a formation and were rushing forward.
"I apologize in advance."
Neji didn't have his [Observe] so he didn't know for sure who was the weakest here. He had only his instinct and general experience over the years to determine the weakest member. None of them looked physically weak, but his instincts and senses told him one of the muscular men whose skin had turned into copper, was the weakest.
Neji appeared behind him and slapped him on the back of his head.
That was the end of him, as Neji had activated one of his skills when he did that attack.
[Void Decay: The ability to instantaneously cause decay or deterioration of metals, causing objects or certain living beings made out of metals to wither, crumble, or disintegrate.]
That was it, as the man screamed seeing his decaying body, until that scream vanished too when the decay reached his throat.
Neji had already moved to his second target, the white tiger man. With his eyelids flaring up, he shot a dark beam of void forward, hitting the tiger right in his chest. To his surprise, the tiger swiped his claws and clashed with the beam with them.
That delay was disadvantageous for Neji who was targeted by all the other 7 hunters. This time it was a woman who wielded a saber, with red hair in a long pigtail flying behind her. She moved like lightning and shoved her sword right into Neji's chest, towards his heart.
Neji barely managed to move his body to avoid getting his heart pierced, he coughed out blood as the sword can out the other end of his body.
Neji once again used Void Decay. The woman was about to twist the sword while inside him, but her sword ceased to exist and she blinked, surprised for just a moment.
Neji grabbed her by the throat and shot towards the others, using her body as a shield to tank their attacks.
The other hunters began to back off, afraid of hitting their teammate. Until Thomas Gregor stepped forward, the other hunters took that as confirmation to attack.
Neji slammed them to the ground and opened his mouth wide. With an angry growl, he shot a Dragon's Breath right into her face.
"Gghh!"
To his surprise, an invisible blast hit him right in the face. Nearly sending him flying but he never let go of the women below him..
Neji grabbed her tighter and used her as a mace to hit his enemies, sending them flying. Neji might not be able to see it, but he could feel a powerful invisible blast coming towards him. Before it could hit him he smashed the heroine's face into the blast. For a few tense moments the blast went through her skull.
By the time the blast stopped Neji could tell that the woman was already dead. He snapped her neck just in case and threw her towards the blast's origins.
The corpse hit something, and that's all that Neji needed to use one of his Voidmancer skills: shooting beams of pure Void towards the invisible man. Instead of aiming at a vital point, Neji swung his face and the lasers followed suit, cutting the invisible hunter into pieces.
"You monster!"
A mage yelled. He knew this man was a mage because a grimoire flew by his side as he moved. He was chanting, his eyes wide and furious, as he raised his palms at Neji.
'Is he mad about the invisible one or the women?'' Neji thought, shaking his head and dodging a beam of plasma that rushed at him from the Mage's palm.
It seemed hotter than the sun's surface. If the mountain walls on this side weren't destroyed by his breath, now it was disintegrated as it even took the woman's body with it.
"Grab that monster! Be careful, he is strong and strategic!"
"He is annoying too!"
Like that, more people began joining the fight, and Neji slowly began to get pushed back. Not that he was going to give up now.
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