I quickly held up the blue-colored bottle and drank it, a simple taste running down my throat. The liquid, this time, was fluid like water. It was then that I felt my body begin to gain strength. Then, I sat down on the ground and began to absorb mana.
The absorption of mana was going faster than before; mana began to enter my body at great speed as my wounds healed. I opened my eyes and my wounds were completely healed, then I stopped absorbing mana.
I recovered all my mana and my muscles, stamina, wounds and body pains had healed, especially the broken bones I had before.
Then, quickly, a certain amount of mana moved to my tattoo and a thick curtain of dark mana appeared on my hand and began to take the shape of a sword. That's when Encrid, in his sword form, appeared and I held it from the hilt.
"That's a lot of monsters, brat," Encrid spoke.
"That I understand, but I'm fully recovered now, so there won't be any problems."
It was my understanding that grade 8 monsters had just appeared. Even though it's not that many, I decided to participate. I didn't want to see the others fighting while I watched like a coward who can't do anything just because of some injuries.
If I were the me from before I would be disappointed, but.... I'm not the me from before, so these decisions only mean protecting others. I will no longer be that person from before I died.
So, quickly, I stepped out of the tent and looked at my group.
"We will also help."
"But your wounds..."
"We also took the medicine from the blue bottle, so don't worry about us. We are at 100% of our strength," Alicia spoke with a smile.
I looked at the group and then nodded. We looked at the monsters that were about two hundred meters away, then I quickly started to move.
"Swhoosh."
The air hissed once I launched myself. Strangely, my speed was much faster than before. Then, I squeezed the sword tighter and was surprised at the strong grip I made. My strength, not just my strength, everything in me had increased its capabilities.
So I was stronger than before, though I'm not sure how strong I became.
It was just a thought, but my face took on a small smile. For some reason, I felt some joy, an emotion I rarely felt, but this time I could feel it much stronger.
Just as I was standing next to one of the giant craters, I watched as slowly the bodies of the monsters were filling it up. From the amount of monsters that were there it seemed to be more than thousands, but still the crater was not filling up. It didn't even seem to be getting bigger, but there were clearly a lot of monsters lying in the crater.
I finally got to where the new monsters were running around. This time, they had a dark form; their body was black and looked like a human, but they were very skinny and had large fists as they looked out with an ink-black eye and a mouth with teeth protruding from it.
"It's a shadow walker," Alicia spoke. I then looked at the monster that was about twenty yards away from me and he looked at me and started to run, not before giving a loud roar.
"Raaaaagghhh-KKRRRAAAWWW!!!"
He roared so loud that my ears pricked up as I squinted my eyes, but I quickly pulled myself together just as a black colored fist came towards my face as the monster grinned and stared at me without taking his eyes off of me.
"Punch."
Then, using my sword, I quickly blocked the blow, but was pushed back. His blow was definitely very strong. This monster was very strong; I could barely react to its speed and its strength was so great that it surpassed mine. But, even so, I was not intimidated.
"Swhoosh."
Then, quickly, I lifted my foot and pushed it into the monster's abdomen. I managed to push him a meter while he bent down a few inches without taking his gaze off me nor his smile.
Then, quickly, I moved my sword horizontally and managed to wound his arm, but the rest of my attack the monster dodged. Then, quickly, he jumped up and leaned against a nearby tree and, using the strength of his legs, propelled himself towards me with his fist at the ready.
My mana moved as fast as possible and I barely managed to create a shield, but unfortunately the shield broke and I took his blow right in my cheek. I then backed up a few steps and quickly my gaze turned fierce. I glared at the monster as I started to move harder and swung my sword.
"Burst."
The attack missed just as the shadow walker jumped and flipped in the air. Then, with its leg swinging as it spun around, I raised my sword and used it as a shield while grinding my teeth loudly.
"Bam!!!"
I blocked the blow, but the ground cracked and I lowered my legs a little from the monster's big heavy blow. I looked up at it and saw its black eyes that didn't even blink once. That's when I thrust my sword and managed to make the monster move back a few steps. I quickly moved my sword up and down in a straight slash fast enough; the monster didn't even have time to react when one of its arms was cut off.
"Drip."
"Raaaaagghhh-KKRRRAAAWWW!!!"
Then the monster screamed as a thick black liquid came out of the cut on the monster's arm. Then, wasting no time and taking advantage of the moment when it was distracted by the cut, I quickly swung my sword making a moon-shaped swing while creating a small blizzard of air in its wake.
Gritting my teeth, I managed to cut the monster in half.
"Thud."
Then half of the monster's body fell backwards, and the rest of its body fell right in front of me as the strange black liquid slowly flowed out of the monster's body.
"What the hell is that?"
"It looks like blood, maybe monster blood is different."
Was what I muttered as I looked at all that black, viscous liquid coming out of the monster's body.
"Burst."
Then an explosion resounded and other body parts of the same type of monster I had just killed flew out and fell right next to the body of the monster I killed. At that moment, black blood began to move on the ground and dragged the body of both monsters.
"What the hell?"
I couldn't finish the thought when, in an instant, the bodies of the two monsters merged into one. It looked strange, but they were quickly merging into one body. Then two eyes appeared in its head and it was now bigger, with muscles on its body.
"It can merge with the blood of other monsters..."
Then I looked at the fusion of the two monster bodies of the same race. Their shape was the same, but this time with two eyes, a taller body and with muscles. An idea came into my head.
"I think it's stronger, maybe twice as strong," I thought, when suddenly, with incredible speed, the monster appeared standing behind my back as its fist came closer.
"Punch."
"Burst."
I took the blow from the monster as his big fist hit me right in the back of my head. I fell to the ground as the blow was still there and, from one moment to the next, my head was buried in the hard scorched earth floor as the monster still held his fist on the back of my head.
I felt intense pain as blood began to pour out of my nose and mouth.
"You fucking... bastard," was all I said as the monster pulled away for a moment before swinging its fist towards my head again, but....
I quickly activated a spell, "Aura of darkness." I managed to activate the spell fast enough and shielded myself from the monster's fierce blow. A deafening roar resounded.
The monster slowly raised its fist, but I seized the opportunity and took a big leap, managing to get some distance. My hand moved to my head as I felt a sharp pain and blood began to slowly spurt out, as well as from my nose and mouth. It was an intense pain, but I stood my ground and let it pass.
I then grabbed my sword with both hands and stared at the monster while keeping my aura spell activated. My mana came out of my hand and enveloped my arms, legs and my entire sword, making it thicker than before.
[Magic aura]
[Darkness aura]
Both spells I was using at that moment. Veins popped out of my arms and I gnashed my teeth. At that moment, I lunged towards the monster with even more force, with all the strength I could exert.
"Clank."
Claws that seemed to be made of steel came out of the monster's hands, and my sword was blocked by those claws, but....
"Dull sound."
The monster was pushed several meters away as it rolled at high speed. Quickly, I lunged and swung my sword again, slashing one of its legs.
"Raaaaagghhh-KKRRRAAAWWW!!!"
The monster screamed, but I didn't leave it alone and kept attacking. I swung my sword, but the monster reacted fast, blocking with its claws. Some of my veins in my arms began to break, splattering blood in the air as I forced hard and pushed the monster.
"Break."
The monster's claws snapped and my sword managed to pierce it from the chest down, cutting it almost in half. Finally, I looked up at it.
"Raaaaagghhh-KKRRRAAAWWW!!!"
This one roared and moved its hands, but they quickly fell to the ground, motionless. Finally, the monster died. When I looked at my arms, they were bloody and blood was pouring down my face, as well as on the back of my head.
The pain wasn't so much for me, but the blood loss was a problem. That's how I had died in my past life, from fucking bleeding after killing those well-trained bastards.
"Sigh."
I raised my sword and looked briefly at the monster's finally dead body. Then, something icy touched my cheek and I turned to see who it was.
"You did a great job defeating a semi grade 7 monster, Asher."
Oriana congratulated me and handed me a blue colored vial. I held it and drank it, healing my wounds quickly. I looked around and was surprised at what I saw.
"It's... all over now."
Several knights lay on the ground, exhausted but victorious, while the bodies of all the monsters lay on the ground. Finally, we had finished killing all the monsters.
"Wait, a Semi 7 grade monster?"
That even seemed real, but seeing the monster right in front of me, with a large body about four meters tall, big muscles and long, sharp claws, I understood that it had been a mutation of the monster the moment it merged with the other corpse of the same race. A semi grade 7.
I had actually become much stronger, but I was close to collapsing to the ground from my injuries. The monster's strength and speed were too much for me, but thanks to my magic I was able to resist.
"You should rest, you fought that monster for half an hour," I was reminded.
"..."
Half an hour. It seemed like only a few minutes had passed since I started fighting again. I had lost track of time as I fought non-stop against that monster for all that time.
"That's right."
"Yes, it is. Now it's time to go back," Oriana said, stepping into one of the tents, her black armor gleaming in the sunlight.
"So this is it. I feel like I've been fighting for several days," I thought to myself.
I was exhausted. I faced a monster that almost reached grade 7, and in such a short time, as a demon, I have grown tremendously. Just two days ago, I could only face a grade 8 monster with help, and now I'm close to being able to face a grade 7 one.
"Although from grade 5 onwards, monsters are a hundred times stronger."
My strength is just beginning to blossom, and I'm not yet ready to take on a grade 7 monster fully. It makes me think about how powerful grade 6 or 5 monsters could be, and what about grade 2 and 1. What kind of power could they harbor?
"Sigh."
I put my thoughts aside and head towards the tent to rest for a while. I'm exhausted, my clothes soaked with blood and sweat, my head dizzy with fatigue. But at least this day ended with a victory on our side...