Watching those tiny, ball-like human shredders with their sharp claws running at Levi, his life started flashing before his eyes. Fun fact: life flashes before one's eyes because the brain is trying to find the solution to the upcoming problem by remembering every experience. However, even the brain couldn't come up with anything.
Technically, the Fleshbolds were agitated from the temperature rising in the tunnel, not attacking Levi, but their senses were a lot more heightened than before. Once they got near Levi, they would immediately find out about his true nature, which is a human, and attack him.
Levi immediately created a mirror sword and waited for the horde of Fleshbolds to get near him. He summoned two of the lesser eyes and ordered the central eye to weaken the coming Fleshbolds as much as it could.
'Time to test the new skill.'
Levi activated his new cursed skill, "Master of Combat." A newfound strength entered his body that he couldn't control. Without even thinking about any moves, his body, on its own, rushed at the Fleshbolds. Levi wanted to stop the skill because his body was head-on going for its demise, but he couldn't do it.
'I need to test its capabilities, though I might get ripped to shreds.'
Instead of being negative, he started activating [Essence].
'I am an S-rank.'
He started using the same mantra he used against the slime. Thinking of being an S-rank didn't immediately make him one, but slowly boosted his power. Once he started his chanting, his status window showed a series of messages.
[
- Master of Combat Activated
- [Essence] activated.
New Synergy:
- Because of [Essence], the rank of Master of Combat will temporarily increase to C rank. This effect will keep on stacking until the user stops believing.
]
Now, that was an overpowered synergy. Usually, he would only gain the strength and agility of a higher rank, the more he believed, and now he could even imitate the movement of someone stronger without any need to train.
'Not bad.'
Once the Fleshbolds were in Levi's vicinity, due to their heightened senses, they realized he was an imposter. Their goal of running from the heat changed to killing Levi. Immediately, thousands of them surrounded the entire tunnel and rushed to rip him apart.
One of the Fleshbolds was now inches away from Levi, and its hand almost touched his nose, but within a blink, its hand was cut off. And in another blink, its whole body got cut in half. Levi's entire body now moved to cut everything in front of him.
*Slash*
As his body moved, Levi himself felt astonished because of how the skill operated. He could feel what he was doing without needing to think about it. This skill made it possible to have the ability to do multiple tasks without overloading his brain.
The sword moved, cutting every Fleshbold that was getting in his way. Each movement felt smoother than butter. The speed and power behind the sword were perfect. No unnecessary movement, every muscle moved to slash everything that stood in his way.
'I take everything back. This is one hell of an overpowered skill even with the curse.'
[Essence] was doing its job as usual, and his power kept on increasing, but the number of Fleshbolds also increased a lot more. So much so that the skill was barely able to handle all of them. Levi's mana was about to run out as well, so he needed to finish this as fast as he could.
Levi started creating silks from his other hand, and those two were C-rank. Levi, as he ran, attached those silks to the walls, cutting off the Fleshbolds that ran into them. But this too still wasn't enough. Levi exploded the two lesser eyes and used the flames it produced to create a path for him.
His one hand slapped the enemy, the other laid the silk traps, and his mind was focused on burning the Fleshbolds. However, all of these were taking too much mana. He quickly chugged his second last mana potion and kept moving. The further he went, the more the number of enemies increased, so much that their attacks were finally landing on him.
The wounds weren't deep, but he couldn't help but stagger a bit because of the new sensation he was feeling—'pain.' Because Levi had never felt it, right now, his every nerve had been heightened to feel the pain on an extra level.
But the pain also motivated him to work even harder, dodging the attacks and taking control of the fight. The psycho felt somewhat human for the first time because every action a human takes is to avoid pain.
Levi kept using everything in his arsenal, but his mana tank wouldn't be able to fuel this much mana usage. He could feel his breath getting heavier because of the lack of oxygen and the smell of the dead Fleshbolds. After thirty minutes of continuously fighting like this, his mirror sword broke, immediately opening a gap in his defence.
Before he could create another one, a single Fleshbold managed to dig its hand right into his left thigh. Levi couldn't help but groan in pain.
"Argh."
The flames killed the Fleshbold, but that single attack stopped his whole momentum. Levi drank his last mana potion, and the Golden String started healing him. He still had a lot to travel, and his mana would run out soon. The Fleshbold he had chopped up would soon start regenerating as the whole mana in this place made them immortal unless he burnt them to ashes. But that too had its own risk.
When walking through the tunnel before, Levi had noticed algae forming on the roof of the tunnel. Algae is highly flammable, and the Fleshbolds hate fire. That is why Levi hadn't summoned the lesser eyes and exploded them. One spark of fire and the whole tunnel would become a fire pit. Not just that, the intensity of flames could blow up the whole ground causing chaos in the city as well.
'Even with the Mask of Ifrit, I definitely won't be able to control that much amount of flames.'
Levi needed a plan and he had one, just didn't know if he would survive it.
'I should have studied rocket science.'
Levi took in a deep breath, and his right hand kept cutting the Fleshbolds, while the silk forming on his left hand moved and collected the algae, making a circle behind him. He didn't move and kept collecting the algae until he successfully cleared out algae fifty meters away from him in a single spot. He collected so much that the structure looked like a portal made with a single small gaping hole.
Levi exploded the eye, lighting only the algae he had collected on fire. Within a second, he created a large mirror with spikes and surrounded himself in it. Once the algae lit on fire, he used the last bit of mana left and used the Mask's power and condensed the flames into a small one.
'Let's not die.'
Levi exploded the ball and the power behind him pushed the ball mirror and Levi inside him at the speed of a bullet train. His plan to use the flames not as the propeller, cause that would burn the whole place but just a force to push him worked maybe just too well.
*Swish*
The ball moved cutting up everything in its path and Levi was barely controlling the ball around those sharp turns.
'So this is what an F1 racer feels like.'
Moving at such speed and turning corners like a madman, made his stomach turn. He tried to hold it in, but in the end, his mouth couldn't hold the force sent by its stomach.
*Blarghhh*
Levi puked…again, and this time, the puke was flying around the ball and getting smeared on his body. Being in a ball of his puke didn't feel good at all.
'What has my life come to?'
Levi after tolerating his fate, finally could sense the hole above the barrier from where he entered. The barrier still had the hole Levi created, but it was slowly regenerating. With the hordes of Fleshbolds chasing, he had no time to start hammering and create a bigger hole so rushing and hoping he would go through was the best bet. Levi dismantled the ball and jumped into the hole.
At first, he held onto the barrier, which cut his hand, making him groan. Levi pulled himself up as fast as he could. He had almost got out of the barrier but his lower body got stuck.
'Shit.'
In a panic, Levi started moving like an earthworm, trying to squeeze himself out. He held his breath and sucked in his stomach. As he pulled himself up, his little brother slightly touched the barrier, cutting his trousers. Fortunately, the cut wasn't that deep.
'I almost lost my gender.'
He stood on the barrier and watched the Fleshbolds trying to get to him but the barrier killed them, even if they slightly touched it. With his remaining bit of mana, Levi used the Cleanse spell and gave a middle finger to the Fleshbolds.
"Never doing this ever again."