The table had completely turned on Levi's head like he had thought…but not to this level. The number of books had decreased, but new foes were walking towards him. He had checked their stats, and both of those slime bodies had no skills, titles, or anything. However, those were the creation of a certain crazy mage that Levi knew nothing about.
'Devaluing their strength will cost me my life.'
As the remaining books surrounded Levi again, he created two mirror daggers ready to tackle those two slimes.
*Swish*
Half of the books fired wind spells at him, while the others used earth magic to shake the whole ground. Levi didn't lose his footing and managed to dodge the wind spells. Now the books needed to take some time to fire another spell, and Levi wouldn't let them. The lesser eyes followed his instinct and quickly flew toward the books.
The books were caught off guard but not the slimes. Without even losing a second, both of those slimes reached out their hands, now shaped like a sword, to cut the floating bombs. They managed to cut them, but it didn't stop the explosion.
*Boom*
'Thank you for getting into the explosion.'
Levi commanded the fire to circle his enemies. The books quickly turned to ashes, and the slime pushed each other out of the flames, with their hands blocking their heads.
'So fire is their weakness.'
Seeing how quickly they reacted, Levi gauged their strength. He didn't stop there. Activating Snipe, he threw the two knives at the slimes.
[
Snipe activated.
Accuracy increased by 15%.
The speed of the projectile increased by 10%.
The strength of the project increased by 5%.
]
The slimes dodged the knives but not perfectly; they managed to clip both on the legs and take out a chunk of their gooey flesh. The synergy of Snipe and [Essence] really worked well with any projectile, especially [Essence]. Without it, Levi wouldn't be able to reach here at all.
The central eye, on the other hand, was trying its best to help Levi. Hallucination, dizziness, and vomiting, three of its debuffs were useless on such mannequin-like beings, but weakness did work. It would slowly make it harder for them to move and function properly…after four hours, that is.
But Levi didn't stop the eye from helping. He needed every assist possible. Those slimes looked at their cut-off legs, which regenerated not at the speed they wanted. By instinct, both knew Levi should get another chance to land a critical hit on them.
The slimes quickly moved, launching themselves at Levi in unison. Both sliced their sword hands in the air, creating a structure similar to a half-crescent moon and strength behind them enough to cleanly slice through Levi.
Forming another pair of mirror knives, Levi momentarily parried those attacks and jumped out of it. Those blades moved through the room, and instead of cutting through the walls, bounced off of them, destroying everything in their path. Except the two human slimes and the table at the end.
The enemies continued a similar pattern of attacks, and Levi managed to dodge a few of them; blocking them proved impossible for him. However, the more he dodged, the more the attacks bounced around the room, creating less space for him to move around.
At first, he only got small cuts, but as the boomerang of attacks went on, the cuts got deeper and deeper.
'Those blades don't even lose their form.'
The first attack from those slimes still bounced around the room, without showing any sign of disappearing soon. There was only one option to stop these attacks.
'Kill them, but done is easier said than done.'
Levi had fought A-ranks before, but one was caught off guard and underestimated him, and the other didn't even treat him as a proper threat until the final attack. However, the enemies now were different. They were created to kill anything that entered the room.
Using his arrows and throwing any projectiles was useless. They would get caught in the web of blades before even getting to launch properly. The left option was close combat, which Levi didn't feel much confident about. Never had he taken any fighting classes, nor did he have the time to practice it now.
He covered his entire body except for the eyes in Silk. The walking Egyptian mummy then formed two mirror knives. He ran towards one of the slimes, blocking the flying blades with the silk, barely. He reached the slime, but his close combat skills weren't good enough. Every punch and kick he threw was easily dodged and blocked. Even if it did, the other slime would immediately help its other half.
Before Levi could perform another set of attacks, one of the slime's pointy hands pierced through his elbow and the other through his knees. He fell on his feet, and both of the slimes kicked him in the face.
Levi managed to block the kicks but hit the wall pretty hard, making him cough blood. Levi didn't get the chance to stand up as the slimes again kicked him. One in the gut and the other in the ribs.
He bounced off the wall to the other wall, and the same thing happened. He could sense the attack, but his body couldn't react in time. The more he got hit, the more he felt his consciousness drifting away. For the first time in both his life, he was getting one-sidedly beaten around this badly.
Those never-disappearing blades added more to his injury, almost cutting off his arm right off from his punctured elbow. Despite all this, fear didn't take over Levi's mind. Instead of letting himself despair, he started to manifest his beliefs.
Shifting his beliefs, Levi tried to use his [Essence] to turn this situation around. If he kept getting beaten more, he knew his healing skill and even [Essence] wouldn't work anymore.
'Will saying this work?… No, believing in it is the key. Believe Levi. I am an S-rank. After all, that is the only rank that can dominate an A-rank.'
'I am an S-rank.'
'I am an S-rank.'
'I am an S-rank.'
[
[Essence activated]
45% chance of a critical hit
45% chance of critical damage
80% increase in agility.
80% increase in damage
Will neglect awakeners's bad luck.
]
Believing in an absolute miracle and some bullshit was the power he had first received and it never let him down. The slimes this time to end it all decided to stab him, but Levi barely dodged it. He quickly stood up with his newly awakened speed. [Essence] had boosted him more than usual, and it manifested at the perfect time.
Levi kept dodging the attacks until Golden Strings perfectly stuck his hand and managed to gape the injury on his knee. Levi took out a health potion and drank it, healing his remaining injuries.
But still, even with this new speed, the number of attacks was too much for him to dodge, as he still kept getting cuts everywhere.
Levi again created new mirror knives and attacked the slimes. They too ran at him head-on. Levi's attack didn't land, and he kept getting beaten. The slimes were superior in strength, speed, and technique. Even after all this healing and buff, Levi couldn't do much.
But he felt something.. Something new, something truly odd, something he didn't understand.
A person who has never tasted an apple cannot truly explain its taste. That applied to Levi as he comprehended something new he was trying to process. He could feel the spot that just got hit, the cut making his body weaken and the blood slowly trickling out. Levi was dying; every hit was killing him, but now he didn't want to stop; he kept wanting to get hit.
'This is a bad time to unlock my masochistic tendencies.'
For some reason, he didn't want to dodge; he didn't want to lose this sensation forever. He kept wanting to feel it. after getting stabbed right in the thigh and punched in the gut, he knew what it was. However, he also realized his body would break down if he took more.
Levi quickly drank his second-last health potion and started moving around. He kept getting cuts, but his body moved like he wanted, without delay when it would get hurt. He felt unified with his body for the first time.
'I am having a lot of my first time cause of the slimes. Is this what gratitude is?'
Levi dodged an incoming face punch and threw a punch back. The slime didn't dodge, hoping its slime-like body to soak the attack, but it flew across the room, getting further cuts from its own bouncing aura blades. *Bam*
It hit the wall, not being able to move properly. It tried standing up, but the strength behind it was just too much for it to stand. At that moment, both slimes realized Levi had changed. Though they didn't understand how they knew they couldn't just punch him around anymore.
The other slime attacked from the back, thrusting its sword hands at Levi's back. The slime could feel two other beings right beside it, and before it could do anything, the lesser eyes exploded, successfully taking out its one hand and lower body.
Levi quickly took his chance. Instead of making a fist, he kept his fingers straight like a knife.
'Snipe only works on projectiles, but what if I consider my own finger as a projectile itself.'
Normally it wouldn't work, but the cheap [Essence] made it possible, making his attack even deadlier. His finger managed to create so much force that it blew off the head and half the body, even destroying some aura blades on the way.
Earlier, the slimes dodged the fire aimed at their heads, which quickly exposed their weakness.
The left slime stood up staggering on its feet and ran at Levi. Once it got near, Levi also threw a punch. The slime's hand being longer was about to reach Levi's head, but its body just melted down. In front of Levi was the mirror magic circle and spear he managed to create for a split second, piercing its head.
Soon the aura blades disappeared. Now the sound of Levi's breathing rang around the empty and almost destroyed room. Golden String started healing him and he felt a sense of relief wash over him.
Just to check, Levi slapped himself hard and felt the same thing he felt a few minutes ago. With a smile, he sighed.
"What a way to unlock the sensation of 'Pain.'"