Rose felt even more anxious seeing how this demon made of skeleton only was acting so confident.
But she then felt that this must be a psychological move to make her afraid. It must have somehow managed to barely survive after Kenny's attack. All she needed to do was land a single attack and get this fucked up quest over with.
"Yaaaa!!" Rose gripped her sword with both her hands as she charged at Hellbringer with a wild cry.
"Why do you fools always attack in the same way?" Asher asked in a jaded tone as he made a yawning gesture.
Rose coldly smirked, seeing that this overconfident demon was still leaving himself open, and smiled in a feverish way as her blade pierced through its robe and came out the other side.
But her expression fell when she realized something, though she didn't have the luxury to think about her next move as Hellbringer grabbed both her arms and said in a derisive tone, "Are you too dumb to know that I do not possess any flesh or blood? Your blade didn't even scratch my bones."
Rose's eyes shook as she also realized this fact only after stabbing it. But before she could react, Hellbringer suddenly brought down his ring blade on her arm!
"Yaaaaarghh!!!" Rose screamed as she saw Hellbringer sawing her forearm with his ring blade as if he was sawing a tree, making blood gush out like a fountain.
[ -40 ]
[ -40 ]
…
Rose's HP was taking considerable hits as she came out of her shock and kicked away Hellbringer, making it lose its footing and crash to the ground.
( 0 )
Asher wasn't surprised that he was knocked down by just a single yet desperate kick from her, considering she was three levels higher than him.
But he wasn't disappointed, especially after seeing that he literally took no damage! This felt surreal to him, and what made it even better was that he felt no pain at all. This was something he had already realized before when Kenny stabbed him. It made sense that he shouldn't feel any pain considering he had no nerves to transmit pain.
If it was any other demon with the same level as him in this situation, they would have been lying half dead from her powerful kick. Now he understood why this quest was 'Not-So-Easy'. Any ordinary demon in his place would have to be very careful to not get hit and wear down Rose bit by bit till she dies, just like one would do against a Boss.
But even though Rose was supposed to be the 'Boss' of this quest for Asher, he didn't feel worried at all.
[ MP : 130 / 150 ]
"Tsk, I really should get used to my new weapon, or things like this would happen," Asher shook his head as he saw Rose's pale face, her back against the wall. Her jaws were clenched tightly as her eyes shivered upon seeing the gory sight on her left forearm.
Her forearm was dangling on her elbow like a branch that was almost cut down from a tree. Blood was still falling down from her almost severed forearm as she was still struggling to overcome her shock.
Her right-hand grip on her sword wasn't even firm anymore as her entire body was trembling from fear!
Asher had put in all his strength to cut off her forearm, and yet he wasn't able to succeed, and she was still breathing. He expected this since her defenses were higher, considering the advantage of three levels.
Any level 1 human would have died already.
But he wasn't concerned since he already knew she was standing on the edge of the cliff. He mused her HP must be plummeting so fast he wouldn't even have to do anything to watch her die, especially since it seemed she neither had the resources nor power to heal herself.
However, Asher noticed something that only made him feel even better about his mysterious ring.
"You reek of fear and hate," Asher said in a chilling tone as he stepped closer to her, making Rose drag her feet backward as her sword fell from her hand, unable to muster any strength to hold on to it any longer. She couldn't even feel any pain as the shock and fear had taken her mind hostage.
"But what's the point of being scared or hating me? You only make me stronger by doing that, heh," Asher truly felt like laughing, especially when he noticed some of his stats going up.
[ Weapon Name : Blade of Damnation || Enhanceable]
[ Grade : ??? ]
[ Status : Linked || STR +0% -> 2% || DEX +0% -> 2% ]
He was gaining strength and dexterity! He remembered the description of the ring he had read before,
[ "Forged from a soul filled with resentment and hatred, it shall feed on any dark emotions of the bearer's enemies to condemn their souls to eternal damnation and bestow strength on the one who deserved to wear this cursed ring" ]
Only because of this, he realized that the more his enemies direct dark emotions at him, the stronger he would get. This ability was absolutely broken! Didn't this mean that to get stronger rapidly, all he would have to do was provoke his enemies and make them fear or direct their resentment towards him?
He found it regretful that his MP wouldn't have any increase, but he was more than satisfied with what he had.
"H-How…" Rose finally coughed out one word as she managed to reel in some of her senses. She knew she was doomed, but she had to know how a level 1 demon was able to throw her into despair.
She had a lot of dreams left to achieve, and never even in her nightmare did she expect her fall to be like this…in the hands of some level 1 skeleton.
Asher scoffed and said in a scornful tone, "The dead don't need to know!" Saying this, Asher slashed her neck with his ring blade, making blood spurt out of her severed neck as she collapsed on the ground with widened eyes.
This was his first time killing Hunters and yet he was feeling a sense of satisfaction that seemed to appease something inside him.
[ Quest successfully completed! ]
[ Rewards received -> 38 Rating Points, 10 Life Crystals, +2 Talent Point, +2 Skill Point ]
[ Difficulty bonus -> +8 Rating Points ]
[ Rating Increased : 15 -> 53 ]
[ Next level up at Rating : 60 ]
"Tsk, I missed a level up by 7 points?" Asher sighed as he felt that at a low level like level 1, even 7 points seemed like a considerable gap. Still, he was satisfied to receive these rewards.
But his eyes lit up as another notification popped up,
[ You have received the title 'Born to Kill' for completing your first quest without taking any damage ]
Title : [ Born to Kill -> +10% Rating Point Gain for every quest ]
"Did I just unlock a hidden title?" Asher was surprised since he didn't remember getting any such title in his past life, even though he had completed his first Hunter quest without taking any damage.
But then he thought that it must be because of the difficulty of the quest and also the fact that he completed this quest alone. He knew some titles could only be earned after certain conditions were satisfied.
And getting any bonus like this was welcome for anyone since who didn't want to get stronger faster?
[ You have 30 seconds to return before lockdown lifts ]
Asher knew in most quests, there would be a lockdown on the entire place whenever demons and hunters fought it out. This lockdown prevented any other humans or demons from joining the quest and interfering. So if he stayed here after lockdown lifts, he might come across powerful Hunters, which wasn't something he wanted to deal with, for now, considering his weak level.
He still had the curiosity to go out and look at how the world had changed without him, especially certain people. But he had no choice but to suppress that curiosity.
He looked around at the three corpses and saw that there was nothing good to loot anyway from these dirt poor fools, "Return!"
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A/N: This novel got contracted so please vote with Golden Tickets and Power Stones if you guys are enjoying it. Reviews would also be appreciated (only 1 so far other than my obligatory one :"/)