An explosion louder than the previous one rang out accompanied by a huge tremor, and the three of them were blown away.
'Just as I calculated.' Jerouch smirked as he watched his trap unfold.
'Earth spike.'
Jerouch didn't bother to look at where he was going to land due to the collision force.
Rather, he focused his gaze on Marina before activating the skill.
That wasn't all, marking an ice fragment close to Ratley as a target…
'Swap.'
Space twisted as Jerouch merged with it, and in the next instance, an ice fragment was free-falling from where he originally was.
Jerouch, on the other hand, appeared behind Ratley, who was flying backwards.
By the time Ratley realized that someone was behind him, and he might be in grave danger…
''Checkmate.''
Ratley heard a chilly whisper that sounded as though it was coming from the deepest part of hell.
''Urgh.'' Ratley grunted as he felt an electrifying pain run throughout his body.
Lightning zapped through Jerouch's hand as he activated the skill lightning gloves.
His lightning-coated hand was digging into Ratley's heart from the back.
He watched as the flesh and blood wriggled and burned from the intense, unstable energy of the lightning.
Ratley's ribcage couldn't even withstand it for a few seconds before it crumbled, and Jerouch grabbed the heart immediately, which sizzled as it turned to a charred organ which soon became a black powder.
Both of them were still flying backwards. One was digging his hand into the body of the other, and the other had wide open eyes which were reddened with horror, hate and regret.
A fierce cold wind blew Jerouch's hair, and they eventually landed before a hill a hundred meters from the battle location.
Jerouch removed his hand from Ratley's body, which had long stopped breathing.
Picking his corpse, he used sprint to return to the battle location.
There he saw Marin's unmoving body.
Just as he appeared behind Ratley earlier, he had set a large earth spike for Marin.
From the exchange of battle, Jerouch had come to realize that Marin had the strongest offence. However, her defence was bad.
If he used the earth spike on Ratley, his ice shield might have saved him in the last seconds.
For Marin though, it took a while to activate her mana bullets, and before she could even use the spell, a sharp rocky structure pierced deep from her back rupturing her spinal cord before it ravaged far to her belly.
Jerouch saw her body that hung in mid-air because the rocky spike was still piercing and holding her unmoving figure in place.
Blood dripped from her lifeless body like an open tap, staining the spike blood-red. Blood also trickled down from the two corners of her mouth staining her chin and neck.
'Tch.' Jerouch's lips curved, seeing the scenario.
Tap…
Tap…
Tap…
He walked slowly, reaching Marin's body.
'Earth wall.'
A spherical wall sprouted from the ground, enclosing him and the three corpses.
Even though no one was there, he wasn't willing to take the risk.
'Grimoire.'
As usual, the thick book with purple miasma appeared in his hand.
[Absorption in progress…]
The system notification popped up as soon as he initiated the absorption process.
Jerouch watched as Marin's body began to shrink as time passed.
After what seemed to be twenty minutes or so, the absorption eventually concluded.
[Target- Marin.]
Rank- D
Class- Rangers
[Passive skills]
[Eagle eyes- increased vision.]
[Bull eyes- Increased aim accuracy.]
[Active skills]
[Mana bullets- user is able to shoot compressed mana through a weapon.]
[Cost- 5 mana per bullet. ]
[Rank- D]
[Mana canon- user is able to shoot a large compressed mana that is many times more destructive than the mana bullets.]
[Cost- 20 mana]
[Rank- D]
[Mana bomb- user is able to destabilize the surrounding mana by simultaneous compression and expansion, which initiate an explosive chain reaction.]
[Cost- 50 mana]
[Rank- D]
'It only gets better.' Jerouch grinned and move on to the other body.
[Target- Ratley.]
Rank- D
Class- Mage
[Passive skills.]
[Mana cost reduction- reduces mana consumption by a little amount.]
[ Active skillls.]
[Snow forest- user is able to manipulate the environment and create a region with freezing temperatures.]
[Cost- 25 mana]
[Rank- D]
[Ice shields- user is able to manifest shields made purely of ice.]
[Cost- 10 mana per shield.]
[Rank- D]
[Frost bite- user can target a particular vital organ and freeze it.]
[Cost- 100 mana]
[Rank- C.]
'Oh shit.' Jerouch facepalmed.
'The fuck is this last skill.' He thought with a widened gaze.
'No wonder he didn't use it, the mana cost is outrageous.'
'Hmm, I should count myself lucky.' He turned.
'Another reason to be careful… it seems I'm still understating the powers that warlocks hold.'
Half an hour later, he was done absorbing the three bodies and his status page looked like this…
Status Page
[Stat] [Skills] [Quest] [shop]
Host- Jerouch
Health: 300/300 Mana: 125/150
Race- ???
Level- 3
Exp- 2770/4500
Class-???
Rank- D
Strength - 5
Agility- 4
Mind- 11
Perception- 3
Charm- 1
[Abilities]
Fire arrows, water bullets, earth spikes, earth walls, wind blades, healing, lightning blade, lightning gloves, water barrier, fireballs, wind burst, stealth, mana bullets, mana canon, mana bomb, snow land, ice shields, frost bite, shadow arrow, shadow merge, blind.
[Quests rewards]
[+250 EXP]
[Cold resistance- host physical body can now resist extreme temperatures. Host can not resist temperatures close to the absolute degree.]
[Tensile physique- Host now has a powerful physique that can tank attack better than before.]
'Moree!!' Jerouch screamed like a possessed person.
He then looked around him, and he couldn't stop himself from nodding his head in satisfaction and amazement.
Just a D rank battle had affected a large portion of the terrain.
There were snowflakes almost everywhere and broken and intact spikes projected from the ground.
The mana in the air was still unstable and many burn marks were on the ground.
Most of the shrubs were long destroyed, and even the trees had broken due to the persistent explosion and collision.
When he was an F rank, his blow could barely make a crack on a tree, but here he was, his battle was already influencing terrain.
Jerouch could sense his body reaching there bit by bit, but he wanted more, and even quicker.
'Mmm.' He breathed in and out. 'One at a time.'
He proceeded to leave since he was done here, but that was when a system notification popped up.
[Congratulations.]
[Requirement met- A new grimoire ability has been unlocked.]