Suddenly, the world was monochrome.
It was wary of this phenomenon it had never experienced, but after a while, color returned. And the next moment, it felt a clash of large powers.
They were above No.4 in power. It was not that far away, about a minute away if it walked in the air.
It felt something hot in its chest, but ignored it and thought about running away.
It did not think it would lose, but an accident could happen. After all, there were five that were equal or above in power. If it got in the way, they could gang up on it and kill it before it could even wound them.
It thought it needed to escape, so it floated, and saw a being that looked like the scientists it hated.
Its mind was painted with anger, and it flew out to tear it apart. It suppressed its presence and used the concealment and perception obstruction abilities to get close, the usual.
The man in the air did not seem to have noticed.
It would bite and rip off its leg, and use its claw to curse it with a wound that would not heal.
That was the idea, but a weakling on the ground got in the way.
A beast neighed, leading to No.4’s presence being discovered, and its first attack blocked.
It was irritated, but saw others like the one in front of it on the ground.
“Hey, where are you looking?”
That voice had something close to panic.
It did not understand the words, but felt the emotion behind them, and assumed this being was the others’ protector.
It couldn’t stop laughing.
It thought about how it would react if they were taken from it, and was so amused it was disgusted.
No.4 did not used to enjoy hurting the weak. That came from the dungeon curse, but it could suppress those emotions.
Its original possession ability used magic energy to move the very core of a being, something called a soul, and take over.
The condition was that it had to hurt the target, and that its current body had to cease vital activities.
Because its body and soul were perceived as different things, it could miraculously control the curse, but in The Abyss, it could not control impulses.
In a world where it had to fight and kill its enemy no matter what, those emotions were only a detriment.
As proof of this, the fatal blow that was supposed to strike the child missed, and hit something else. It should’ve finished both at once, but thinking too much made it miss that.
These beings looked like the inhabitants of its previous world, and made it remember things from long ago. It knew that was the problem, so it let its impulses dictate its next actions.
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No.4 had gotten over a hundred kinds of abilities.
Its power alone was enough to end its old world, so there was no way it would lose.
Even if it did, it should be easy to at least cause a wound. It would not be overpowered in a one-on-one.
It used a lot of magic to attack.
It powered up its body to its limit, and attacked with a lethal curse in its claws.
It predicted the very near future, meaning it could use impossible to dodge attacks.
It was all nullified by magic, it was overpowered in physical ability, and the lethal curse was absorbed. It should be able to see the future, but this thing’s actions split into several paths, and were impossible to predict.
Oh no, oh no oh no oh no!?
“Hey, don’t run. We’re just getting started.”
It was pierced by sharp magic, and half of its body was blown away.
It immediately repaired itself with its self recovery ability, but the healed part was cut by an invisible blade.
Still, it fought at first.
It had many abilities, and there were times when it seemed to be overwhelming its enemy, but everything was dealt with. There was also a chance it could not possess this being. When its magic energy was absorbed, it felt the core of itself disappearing.
This was its natural enemy.
No.4’s abilities were not working. This was the enemy it most did not want to meet.
Run run run!
Its destructive impulses were quiet, and it began to run for its life.
It was not hard to run. It knew that in battle, its movements could only be tracked by sight. The abilities such as the one it called perception obstructions meant it could easily escape.
More importantly, it had magic that was perfect to run away.
If it bought some time, it could teleport with spatial magic and hide in the forest as it escaped.
It collected magic energy in its throat, and changed sound into destructive power it released.
It trampled the ground with a shrill sound as it attacked its enemy, but it erased the destructive sound with a smack of its staff to the ground.
Dust was raised, and it tried to use magic to escape, but the dust turned to needles that skewered its whole body.
It was by pure luck that body was still alive.
The self healing ability kicked in right away, and healed before its brain was completely destroyed. If it infused a little more magic energy, its whole body would have been destroyed.
Still, it was alive.
It gave up. It gave up on long distance teleportation.
It could use the short distance one. It would be unable to use it again right after, but it would work out if it got away.
So it did it.
That moment, it saw a future where it was ripped apart by light, but whatever was cut could be regenerated.
It thought that, and everything was severed.
Its body, curses, abilities, life, soul.
It could not process what happened, as only a remnant of soul remained, and the curse called No.4 disappeared.
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No.4 (homunculus) (lion monster)
An homunculus created for the sake of exploring the dungeon further. Its innate ability was Possession. It hurt others, and when it died, its soul was transferred to the one it wounded. It demonified after killing other homunculi. It had over a hundred abilities when it fought Tanaka, and it was all cut by a sword that severed everything, leaving only a piece.
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