After Ba'al threatened the guy who tried to enter the withered area, Abby quickly went through the SLC and CSC, clearing out the buildings while Ba'al cleared out the perimeter of the buildings. On the far side of the buildings, there were a few dozen zombies there, which Ba'al had no problem dealing with. Making his way back to group, Ba'al checked his status, since he got a level after he finished.
'Status: Ba'al Callisto
Race: Human
Lvl.15 Stat Points: 12
Health-30
Stamina-64
Mana-75
Strength-34
Agility-18
Magic-26
Perception-15
'1st Order: Basic Mana Manipulation Lvl.1 (Passive)- Gain a greater understanding of the basics of Mana Manipulation:
'Subskill 1- Physique enhancement: Use Mana to increase your physical strength
'Tier 1: Strength+10 Agility+10
'Tier 2:Strength+20 Agility+20
'Tier 3:Strength+30 Agility+30
'Subskill 2- Mana Sense: Spread your Mana out like a web, detecting the Mana of other beings
'Range: 5 meters
'Subskill 3- Spell Conjuration: Learn how to manipulate Mana in order to conjure spells
'Subskill 4- Magus Code: Obtain the basic knowledge of how Magus train and control Mana
Amount Deciphered: 1%
'Unclassified: Mana Core (Black) (Bonus)- A black Mana Core, the most basic foundation of a mage. Allows better storage of Mana and an easier use of magic. Mana+30 Magic+10
'Unclassified: Danger Sense Lvl.3 (Active)- Twice per day, gauge the danger that can be foreseen from a situation or individual. Rating will be given in a way that is easily understandable
'I am hardly getting any bonus stats from zombies anymore, it seems like there is a limit to the free points I can get from them.' Ba'al sighed as he rounded his way around the building. As he turned the corner, he felt a sudden pressure blow past him. Rushing the rest of the way back to the group, he saw everyone running inside the buildings, save for Samantha and Abby, the latter of which had just jumped out a second story window to reach Samantha's side.
"Ba'al! Did you see what happened?" Abby yelled.
"No! I just got back." Looking over at the area of withered grass, Ba'al realized that the reason he didn't recognize it immediately was that it was covered in an obscuring smoke. Protruding from the smoke was a humanoid figure that Ba'al recognized immediately. "Shit, the shade."
"Did you just say shade?" Samantha cursed as she peered into the smoke. "That idiot from before is inside the affected area. How did he get in there without anyone noticing?"
Circling around the area of black smoke, Ba'al couldn't find any way to enter the area safely to get the person out. "I don't think we can stop it anymore, both of you, loop everyone around back to the McHale Center. I'll find out what I can and retreat if I need to. If you see a red flare, that means I can't escape safely, and that I need assistance. Now go!"
As Abby and Samantha ran into the building to help Amana and Luke escort the group back to the gym, Ba'al started taking deep breaths in order to calm himself down. While he was doing this, the shade-like creature seen inside the area with the idiotic man began to approach him. As it made its way forward, a tendril of darkness lifted a blackened wooden stake. Where this stake came from, that is yet unknown. Taking the stake in hand, the darkness caressed the man, who seemed frozen in place before being stabbed in the neck with the stake. After being stabbed, the man started screaming, and pulling on the stake, seemingly unable to remove it. As he pulled on it, the darkness around him began rushing into the stake.
The second that the area of darkness lapsed, as it was entering the stake, Ba'al rushed forward, using a tier 3 Physique Enhancement to move nearly 5 times as fast as the average human. Quickly, he stabbed his knife into the heart of the guy. Pulling the knife out and spinning rapidly, Ba'al struck a second time at the neck, attempting to sever the guy's head right below the stake. Just before his strike landed, the body of the man, who was certainly dead as his heart was pierced, folded over at an insane speed. Just as quickly it straightened back up, almost too fast for Ba'al to react to. Jumping back, Ba'al watched as the last of the darkness was sucked into the stake.
As he watched, the man's face twisted into a distorted smile while his dull eyes stared straight ahead at nothing. A blackened scrawl of rot quickly spread over his body as blackened veins stood out across his skin. Grimacing at the sound, Ba'al realized that the blackened veins that were popping out across the body were flooded with darkness magic. The sheer amount of darkness flowing throughout the body was enough that Ba'al doubted he could produce that much easily with well over a dozen times his Mana capacity.
Seeing this, Ba'al was about ready to send out a red flare of fire magic when he heard something. [Hello, Human.] The voice rang out clearly in his head. Slowly backing from the creature, he heard it again. [There is no need to flee.] Taking another couple steps away, Ba'al was confused by how he could hear it inside his head. [Human, do not make a meaningless struggle. This is now my domain granted to me by my lord. All within my domain shall be terminated so as they do not offend my lord.]
"Why should we be terminated? We were here first, and have done nothing to offend you nor to your lord." Ba'al was trying to think of a way for him to get everyone out of this situation. He had no idea how far this domain as it was called stretched, but he doubted that it would be restricted to the greenway. [You need to be terminated as life itself is an insult to my lord. Although, this body is less than acceptable. I wished for a more powerful host so that I would be less restricted. Should you offer yourself as a host willingly, I may allow those you ushered away to survive.] As it transmitted this thought, its rotten face twisted even further into a much more demented smile.