One Day Later...
"You're finally awake."
Looking at her surroundings, the woman saw Sebastian sitting down near a fire. Beside him were a few orc corpses and beasts.
"While you were sleeping, I've been gathering information and gauging our enemies." Sebastian said.
"No! It's impossible to escape this place! He's guarding the escape portal!" She replied, remembering their current situation.
"Listen here, woman. I have better things to do other than staying here. There's only so much orcs I can eat before they no longer give me strength."
"Eat? You've been eating the orcs?!"
"Y-"
Crunch!
"Yeah! They don't taste that bad." Sebastian said as he casually took a bite.
Before they could continue chatting, multiple heavy footsteps could be heard nearby. Hearing them closing in, both of them became defensive as they were cornered.
"Boss says they're over here!" An orc shouted.
With his sword equipped by his side and using the enchantment, Sebastian was ready for combat. Stood by his side, the woman's body was shaking subconsciously.
'This damn woman…' Sebastian thought, shaking his head.
"There they are!!!" An orc shouted.
"As much as I want to entertain you orcs! I have a mission to complete back at my academy!"
Before the orcs could do something, they were bisected in half and their top halves fell to the ground. After witnessing Sebastian's power, the woman realized he was stronger than the last time she saw him.
'Just what are you, boy?' She wanted to ask but didn't.
Walking forward, they ran into a few more groups of orcs and quickly dispatched them. Every now and then though, she would see Sebastian pick up a few corpses and eat them. A dim glow would appear around him and disappear as he did this.
"So where is this exit portal? You said it was protected by orcs and that powerful orc we encountered yesterday." Sebastian said.
"It'll take thirty minutes before we arrive there. Though, I doubt you'll be able to do much. He's a beginner D-Rank." She tried to reason.
"So what? I can boost my strength up to Peak E-Rank temporarily and challenge him."
"Why are you acting like this? It's like you want to engage in combat and die."
"Have you heard of the Apostles? They are certain individuals in this world that get selected as a deity's chosen one and receive powerful rewards and skills." Sebastian began to explain.
"You see, I have been selected by two deities. The deity of slaughter and the deity of war. Although I am selected by the Deity of Slaughter, I haven't learned or been given any skills by the deity."
Continuing with his explanation about the Apostles to the woman, it didn't take long before they arrived at the exit portal. Staring at the fortress guarding the exit portal, Sebastian noticed ballistas were along the top of the fortress walls and guard towers.
It amazed him as it wasn't everyday you would run into a few intelligence beings, especially orcs, who only cared about killing.
"Since you've been here longer than me, wanna explain to me what their ranks are? You escaped this place so you must know." Sebastian asked.
"I don't know." She replied.
As soon as he heard those words, he felt his anger increase. Not only did she waste his time by bringing him here, but she didn't even know anything about them. But before he could do anything, she spoke again.
"The exit portal didn't have a fortress guarding it. You see, the boss of this dungeon wasn't meant to be this powerful. Last time I was here, he was only a Beginner E-Rank and they didn't have proper equipment to build a fortress of this size.
It's as if someone from the outside was helping them get stronger. But who would want them to get stronger? If these orcs evolve from Low Orcs to High Orcs, then there's no hope of escaping."
"Great! Just great!" Dissatisfied with her answer, Sebastian started to pout. Her information was outdated and didn't help with their current situation.
"Don't get mad just yet! My ability to create an illusion will be helpful in this situation. These orcs are searching for us, right? Then I could create an illusion of us and lure them out."
Hearing her, an idea appeared in Sebastian's mind as a grin appeared on his face. As she laid eyes on his grin, she didn't feel good about his idea.
-----
"Did you hear? The boss is about to evolve!" An orc shouted with excitement.
"Yes! We iz the best! An' if anywun sayz we ain't, we iz guna stomp on der edz!" Another orc responded with broken words.
As they were talking, a female orc in battle armor appeared. Upon seeing her, the orcs became defensive and shouted at her. After she caught their attention, she started to run.
"We iz guna catch her!"
As they were chasing her, a shadow flickered and their head fell off. As soon as they dropped, the female orc turned into dust and the woman could be seen.
"I don't like this idea. What if they catch up to me and stop me before I can reach this area?" The woman asked.
"Relax. I won't let that happen." Sebastian replied as he walked out of the shadows in his black suit of armor.
"How many times do we have to do this again? Five more?"
"Seven."
Sighing, the woman could help but feel like she would die doing this. She knew Sebastian was strong but there was a limit to how much a single person could do.
Transforming into a female orcs again, they repeated this several more times and the effects of overusing her mana was showing. Her sluggish movement almost got her caught a few times and killed.
"I've done my part, so do yours now." Falling to the ground, sweat dripped down her pale forehead.
Stepping out of the shadows, Sebastian pulled out the green vial and injected it into his neck. While they were busy luring weak orcs, Sebastian was constantly using some of his energy to feel the ranks of all the orcs inside the fortress and noticed that there wasn't a strong orc among them.
This led to Sebastian to speculate they were hiding their presence and waiting for them to make their move. He could barge in and slaughter everyone but he needed to conserve his strength and energy against the stronger opponents.
As he was approaching the gates of the fortress, he felt three strong presences appear out of nowhere.
'Did they notice they were missing a few orcs?' Sebastian questioned.
Before he could speculate more, the gates to the fortress opened and standing opposite of Sebastian was the orc from before.
"Did you really think we wouldn't notice? You underestimate our mage's capabilities." The large orc said.
A large black scythe appeared in Sebastian's hand and a dark purple electricity began to pulsate off of it. Not afraid, Sebastian slowly started to walk forward as the electricity started to go awry and spread throughout his body.
"I see you've gotten stronger! But just how strong have you become? Strong enough to challenge me? Haha!
My name is Ivar the Great! What's your name, boy?" The large orc asked.
"My name? It's Seb… It's Antares, the Demon Heir!" Sebastian replied.
As he was approaching, the electricity disappeared and dark purple flames appeared on his legs. With each step, the ground shattered and a strong force energy was constantly pulsating.
'Those dwarves really outdid themselves with this weapon.'
This was the scythe's other ability: Sinister Descent. By letting his bloodlust fuel his desires, he would gain access to sinister energy and control it. Right now he needed to infuse it with his legs as the orcs in front of him were faster than him.
The enemy orcs even felt threatened by this strange energy. A being that mostly only cared about killing was now wary of a being that far exceeded its own killing intent.
"Was this feeling?" Ivar questioned as he stared at his shaking hands. "Is this happiness?! HAHA! I haven't felt this feeling before!"
Spinning his cleaver in the air, the orc and the cleaver disappeared and reappeared beside Sebastian.
"This is payback!"
Bang!
Before the orc could see through the smoke clouds, a strong kick sent him flying into the fortress walls.
SWOOSH!
Using the ground as a boost, Sebastian had kicked off the ground, shattering it, and pushed himself forward. Doing so, he was fast enough to appear in front of the strong orc and swung his scythe down with all his might.
Slash!
As the dust clouds disappeared, Sebastian saw the orc's hands around the blade of his scythe.
'I can't use this skill much longer!' Sebastian thought, struggling to not give into his desires.
The scythe's enchantment was like a double-edged sword. Although it gave him strength, his bloodlust would amplify and try to control him.
"You bastard! What have you done?!" Ivar shouted before throwing the weapon.
On Ivar's body, a dark purple substance was attacking it and spreading. To Ivar, he couldn't feel anything wrong but he knew the substance must be trying to do something.
"Sinister Strike!"
As the dark purple energy was released, Ivar put his arms up for defense and felt the attack hit his arms. After a few seconds had passed, Ivar noticed his forearms were now covered in the strange purple substance.
"A real warrior would resort to such deceitful tactics!" Ivar shouted again.
"Haha! Do you really think I would be stupid enough to engage in Close-Quarters-Combat with you after what you did yesterday?" Sebastian questioned. "But I suppose I'll entertain you now!"
Grinning, Ivar saw Sebastian rush forward and swing his scythe. Wanting to trade blows, he rushed forward too and swung his cleaver.
Before Ivar's cleaver could make contact, Sebastian disappeared and a painful slash was felt across his abdomen.
"Blurgh!' Coughing up a mouth full of blood, Ivar looked at his abdomen and noticed it was cut open. "You bastard! This substance weakens my body doesn't it?!"
Before he could continue talking, he saw an incoming attack and he quickly jumped back. Quickly looking around, he saw Sebastian standing in front of him, slowly walking forward with his purple flames on his legs.
"Are you okay, boss?" One of his subordinates asked.
Inspecting his body, he noticed it wasn't damaged and he hadn't moved yet up until now..
"What have you done?!" Ivar shouted, confused.
"I've done nothing. What you saw was your future." Sebastian replied.
As he saw Sebastian approach, he felt an uneasy feeling enter his heart. With no choice, Ivar came up with on conclusion and didn't really want to resort to it.
"You two will support me in this battle!" Ivar declared.
"Yes sir!" They responded.
'Is what he said, correct? There's no way he would be able to match my strength.' Ivar thought.
Ivar did overpower Sebastian last time but Sebastian was unprepared. After spending a year in the green liquid, it couldn't be activated unless Sebastian's body was strong enough to handle it or forcefully activated.
'Is this boy really that much of a problem for the boss?' The two orcs thought.
Once Sebastian was a certain distance away from them, he swung his scythe and spoke. "Sinister Strike!"
Wary of this attack, Ivar dodged instead of blocking it. Surprised by their boss' movement, the two orcs barely had time to block the attack.
"Idiot! You should have dodged it!" Ivar shouted but soon was confused. The purple substance wasn't on his subordinates' forearms.
'Was that really my future? Wait! How did he know about my vision?' Ivar was confused. He couldn't tell if he should trust his vision or dismiss it.
"What did you do?!"
Ignoring the uneasiness in his heart, he lunged forward with his cleaver and swung it. Before his cleaver made contact, Sebastian's scythe disappeared and a sword appeared by his side.
Quickly, he pulled the sword halfway out of its sheath and blocked Ivar's attack before sliding backward a few meters. Soon after, a hundred small cuts appeared all over Ivar's body and blood seeped out.
An orc appeared by Ivar's side and lunged forward. Reacting, Sebastian dodged the attack by stepping to the side and pulled out chains before throwing them and wrapping around the orc's body.
He then jumped backwards and equipped a different weapon. Held with both of his hands, he equipped his dane axe.
"Predictable. You orcs are all the same and have many flaws." As Sebastian said these words, he felt an incoming strong presence.
'This isn't good. That must be the boss of this dungeon.' Sebastian thought, not fully analyzing the rank
Staring past Ivar, he saw a portal and could assume it was the exit portal. He then formed an idea in his mind and executed it.
Bang!
Noticing that he was distracted, one of the orc subordinates lunged forward and slugged Sebastian into a nearby.
By becoming distracted, Sebastian was slugged by the other subordinate and sent flying away.
Crack!
Small pieces of his armor shattered and blood seeped out of his mouth. The moment his blood touched the armor, it activated its passive skill and small spikes penetrated Sebastian's body.
With his inability to feel pain with his armor on, Sebastian didn't know how much damage his body actually sustained and only could predict it.