The death aura slowly shrouded the forest. Especially, as I kept running straight, passed the corpses of Herman's group, the aura was getting thicker the closer I got to the camp. My body shuddered as the intensity of the death aura pressured me.
"I have a bad feeling about this…"
My heart was beating even faster than usual. As I ran through the forest, cold sweat was produced and flooded my face. Each time my feet stomped on the ground, it cost me a lot of breath, which meant that my breathing got heavier as I kept running toward the camp.
"Ugh–!"
Something hit me so suddenly and I rolled over on the ground while holding my stomach. I was hoping that this all was just an illusion just like before but it wasn't.
It wasn't an illusion, but a reality that threatened my life. Which I have to face for the first time since I arrived in this world. The pain won't wash away so easily, I kept holding onto my stomach as I growled like a wild beast.
Tak–! Tak–!
The sound of footsteps coming from behind me, I didn't know who it was but I was certain they were not friends.
"A human," the voice sounded heavy and deep as if they talked under the earth. "I see that you are coming from the direction of the shrine."
The shrine? I didn't know what they meant by the shrine, but I guess that place with a magical-looking tree and magic formation was the one they referred to.
I mustered up my energy and everything I've got just to spout one meaningless word, "W-who?"
I didn't see it, but I knew that they were smirking right now.
"Do you certainly want to know who I am?"
This motherfvker!
"If you truly want to know, why don't you turn around and face me?"
There was no need for me to turn around as they asked because, after those 'word exchanges' with them, I could guess who they were.
The demon… But, that was impossible for them to appear here right now. So, it was probably a human who made a pact with a demon, the minion.
My curiosity still took over me and I did turn around in agony as he wanted me to do.
I gritted my teeth when I saw the demonic human–the minion's appearance. He was on the verge of becoming a full-fledged demon; those crimson blood eyes were drilling a hole in me, the small horn grew on his forehead's right side, and his skin color had turned a bit darker close to the red.
"So? What do you think?"
"What the fvck do you mean by that?"
He just stood there, staring at me. No. It looked more like he was looking down at me as if he looked at an ant. He gestured with his head to make me stand up.
Even though I hate him, I couldn't disobey him if I want to at least buy some time for now. First, let's make his guard down…
"You almost looked like a demon…" I said.
He raised his eyebrows and then laughed loudly.
"Hahahaha! You! You flatter me!" he said with a high and aggressive tone. "And you seem not that surprised when you saw me, is this not your first time seeing us?"
I stayed silent.
"I mean, I know that there are many minions out there but something that looks like me isn't common, you know? So, I thought that you must have seen the others who also went through this evolution."
He licked his own lips like a wild beast when they were about to feast on its prey. "Tell me, who are they? Or simply tell me their characteristics, like their face or something."
"..."
What's wrong with this guy? Who was he? When did he come here, there was no way someone from the other side of the dungeon could stay here even if they were a demon… Then, has he been with us since the beginning? But, I didn't recognize him because of his current form…
Many questions came into my mind like pouring rain, but the answers to them did not.
I didn't know how much time has passed since I entered the test room. Knowing how much time left I had was a first priority. Since the part of this forest was not too closed like in the inner forest, I could catch a glimpse of the countdown being obscured by the leaves. To make sure, I also used my clairvoyance - pathfinding.
There were 20 minutes left before the countdown was over.
I need to stale for time somehow…
"Why did you keep peeking up? Is there something in the leaves?" he said while following my subtle gaze. "There is nothing there, though?"
His gaze shifted back to me, no, to my sword. He let out a low whistle, "Where did you get that sword? Did you steal it somewhere? Also, your clothes, I want them. I'd look cool wearing them, don't you think?"
"Surely you can just ask your contractor if you want cool clothes?" I smirked.
His expression got serious, and his eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare talk shit about my contractor, human."
"Hehe, of course, of course. I'm sorry if it offends you…" I said while scratching the back of my neck.
My hand slowly reached the sword's hilt on my back. As I tried to pull out my sword, I kept talking to distract him. "But, I'm curious. What's good about selling your soul to the demon?
At the end of my words, the air suddenly felt heavy again, filled with the aura of death coming from him.
"Keuk!"
My breath was heavy. It felt like I was suppressed by the high gravity. It was just so hard to breathe because of the pressure. My heart raced as a pair of crimson blood eyes glared at me.
"You insect! People like you who had good powers don't know how we, the lowly trash Enhanced with a trash talent feel! Selling our soul to the demon is the only way for us, the trashes to become stronger!"
"Trash talent? There is no such thing as trash talent. It all depends on who could hone it to maximum proficiency."
"What?!" The minion shouted.
"You're just looking for excuses. Brought up trash talent when you yourself don't do any effort to get stronger. Looking for a shortcut for power? What bullshit, there's no way such a thing could last forever."
"So what? What use is an effort if, in the end, I am still weak? Selling our soul is cheaper than a bothersome thing such as effort."
I smirked. "I agree with that. But…"
I pulled out my sword and rushed toward the demonic human.
"A pay-to-win play like that cost me all of my money! And it will cost you all of your soul till you're no longer human, dumbass!"
"SHUT UP!!:
Being agitated, claws came out from his fist and blocked my sword.
"You dare attack me, insect?"
"Why not?"
Although my sword was blocked, I still have an advantage in my position. It was unrestricted, I could move freely while he couldn't, so I lifted my leg and landed it on his belly.
His demonic form made his body sturdier than a normal human so my kick didn't do much damage unless being a tickle for him. His face was full of grins now that he got the upper hand.
He grabbed my leg and threw me away. I was just nothing more than a stick when he threw me easily.
Hitting the trees three times was painful for sure, I broke my bones in the process. It hurt as hell, it was then that I realize this was not the same as my fight with the shadow where I couldn't feel pain.
I had truly forgotten about it. The effect of fighting with the shadow without taking any pain made me reckless in this fight. Ah, but it was useless to complain about that now, right?
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stand up. My left hand was gone—I meant broken, my ribs too. I stood unsteadily while looking for comfortable support on a tree.
"It looks like only your mouth is sharp but your skills suck!"
Holding the pain in my ribs and left hand, my grip tightened as I let out a chuckle. "Thanks for the compliment."
I stepped forward with the sword still in my hand. Pointing it toward the demonic human whose expression changed from smug to irritated.
"Again," I said.
The demonic human smiled, and so I was, but nervously.
Then, the aura of death was coming again. It was much heavier and darker than before, I was suffocated because of that.
I felt hurt in my broken bone.
'If this goes on… I could die!'
Without much choice, I gave up on the idea of using the mask, which avatar was already in a pitiful state. But, let's wait for the right moment.
With only one hand left, I fought the demonic human desperately. Attacking when I'd got a chance and all the time I was on the defense.
"If you don't want to die. Give me the artifact you got from the shrine," said the demonic human while attacking me relentlessly.
"Which artifact?"
In fact, there were two artifacts I got from the place he called a 'shrine'. Although I knew which artifact he meant to, I need to stale for time. Let him be desperate as I was.
"Are there any other artifacts besides the plain white mask there?!"
His attack flow was in a mess since I brought up the unexpected second artifact. Since it was written that Jin only got the Avatar Mask and nothing more, it made me surprised the first time I found it too.
"Maybe, I don't know," I smirked.
"You…!!"
The demonic human rushed onto me at a speed my eyes couldn't follow. He choked me and threw me as far as his strength allowed.
I flew like a bullet, hitting the trees relentlessly, blood gushing all over me, but all I could do was grind my teeth. When I'd flown far enough, I forced my freshly broken right hand to move. Tearing off my face which then turned into a mask that gently lie in my palm.
Once the effect of the mask was removed and my body returned to my original appearance. All the pain and broken body left me.
'This is why I called the B-rank mask artifact OPl!'
Another effect of the mask was that the original body and each avatar didn't share each of their body condition. Usually, when people used a disguise skill or item, the damage done to neither was shared because they were using the same body and only changed their body structure or appearance through a transformation skill.
Rather than transformation, the Avatar Mask was more like switching. The use of the Avatar Mask was switching bodies, from the original to the avatar, or from an avatar to an avatar. Each avatar was a different body, so if one body was destroyed, when the user switched to the other bodies, their former body's condition will not be carried away to the switched body.
In my case, my original body wasn't injured before I use the artifact to transform or switch to my avatar [Ian Crow], so when I canceled the artifact effect, my body would transform back to my healthy original body.
I spun to slow down and then dropped to the ground after calculating that I'd at least be slightly injured when I fell.
"Guh…"
It hurt a bit, but this much couldn't even be compared to the pain and damage done to Ian's body. I looked at the mask in my hand, a screen was floating above it saying that it was in a cooldown phase for a day.
Looking around me, it seemed I was thrown towards the entrance of the forest seeing how few trees there were compared to before.
"The countdown!"
It was just 10 minutes left.
"10 minutes… It's enough to get to the camp and see what happened to them…"
I reached for my sword but it was not there.
Panic was about to hit me but I remembered I had dropped my sword before I was thrown.
"Summon: Retro."
Good thing I knew a very convenient secret about a bounded item or artifact. When an item or artifact was already bound, the owner could summon their artifact to their hand simply by saying summon plus the artifact's name. Of course, it was not free to summon a bound artifact, it required mana to summon them.
The amount of mana used to summon artifacts was depend on the distance between the owner and their artifact. Mine was close so the mana being used for summon was not much, but for my F-rank magic stats, it could be considered a large spent of mana.
Feeling the sword in my palm, I gripped it hard and started walking to the camp. My stomach looks bloated because of the Avatar Mask that I hide under my jacket.
But… The death aura was back. It was coming from behind me, from the forest.
I had no time to think about the demonic human, my priority was to see the camp's situation. I wanted to know what happened to them, especially Jin whose this time had no chance of getting the artifact in his hands.
The camp was already ransacked when I arrived. Dozens of people were lying dead on the ground, both civilians and Enhanceds. Only nine Enhanceds were still fighting the monsters including Jin, but I didn't see the rest of the civilians. Looking at the total corpses, I doubted that they all were dead, so they must be hiding somewhere. I was relieved when I know that.
"Hey, Kid!" Someone shouted. It was Jin.
"I see you're not dead yet, that's a relief…" He slashed his sword and killed a monster in one hit and looked back at me. "Surely that sword in your hand isn't just for display, right? Would you mind lending us a hand here?"
I had so many questions I wanted to ask him right away, but I guess it could wait until we killed all of these monsters. And so I gave him a fake smile and said
"Sure."