Sora was on his knees, his body trembling under an unbearable pressure. Every breath felt like a battle, his lungs barely able to expand. The Demon King loomed above him, his gaze filled with contempt. Without warning, Abbott moved.
A brutal kick struck Sora's stomach, his body tearing through the air like a broken doll before crashing into the ground. Before he could even register the pain, the pressure intensified. An unbearable force pressed down on him, forcing him face down on the ground.
He gritted his teeth.
'I can't move.'
Abbott strolled forward, his steps unhurried. "Did you really think you were the only one?" Sora could hear the amusement in his voice. "That you alone could fight beyond your level?"
Sora struggled to lift his head.
Abbott smiled, crouching slightly as if speaking to a stubborn child. "What you saw before—that was nothing. Don't forget, I've only been here for a few minutes, and I've only used the raw strength of this body." He flexed his fingers, getting used to his new body. "It's still lacking. But once I refine my body using my bloodline…"
His smile widened. "Even my base form will be untouchable."
Sora's eyes turned red as he tried moving. His whole body screamed in protest, but he refused to accept defeat.
Summoning every ounce of energy stored within him, he forced his [White Dwarf] form past its limit.
Heat surged through him, veins swelling, burning. His skin cracked and blood vessels ruptured. But he didn't stop. He couldn't stop.
'If I don't do something now… we're doomed.'
Abbott sighed, shaking his head. "Why struggle?"
He lifted a hand, indifferent to Sora's efforts. "You are an insect before a dragon."
Sora ignored him. A finger twitched. Then another. Little by little, he regained control over his body.
He gritted his teeth, forcing himself up. Resisting the invisible pressure crushing him, he moved little by little.
His vision blurred and every breath felt like fire in his lungs, but soon, he was back on his feet.
Abbott watched, unimpressed. "Persistent."
Then, with a flick of his wrist, he raised a finger.
Sora's instincts screamed at him to run. A wave of dread flooded his mind. He tried to move—to dodge, to react, to do anything. But he was powerless.
Abbott lowered his finger.
Sora was unable to see the energy beam falling from the sky but a force tore through his left side, severing his arm in an instant. A second strike soon followed.
His right arm was gone.
As blood splattered the ground, Sora lost his balance, and wavered. But he didn't scream or fall. He remained silent and stared at his enemy.
His glare burned with pure, undiluted hatred.
'I will remember this.' He swore to himself.
Abbott's muttered, "How amusing," he mused, watching him struggle. "You've got quite the scary look in your eyes."
He lifted his finger once more, and Sora felt his body rising from the ground, before falling on his back.
Sora gritted his teeth, his body trembling from the aftershock of the attack. His [Adaptative Regeneration] should have already begun restoring his lost limbs. But something was wrong.
The lingering energy from Abbott's attack clung to him, crawling beneath his skin like a venomous parasite. His body fought against it, rejecting it, burning through his reserves to purge it.
A notification flickered before his eyes.
[Resistance to Demonic Mana has increased.]
The second effect of his [Eternal Body Craft] skill kicked in and he started building up resistance to the foreign energy.
'It's not enough. Far from enough.' He fumed inwardly.
Soon, Abbott lifted a finger once again.
An invisible force wrapped around Sora. His body lifted from the ground, weightless for a fraction of a second before slamming onto his back. The air was knocked from his lungs, mixed with blood.
But he barely had a second to register what was happening before Abbott stepped forward, placing a foot against his chest.
"Watch," the Demon King ordered.
Sora gasped, struggling against the pressure, but Abbott didn't seem to care. He pressed down harder, his strength making it impossible to move.
Then Sora's gaze was forced upward.
Sora could barely see anything with his naked eye as sand was covering the whole scene.
Using his mental power and [Mana Eyes], he quickly had a better understanding of the situation.
And his eyes widened in horror.
Above them, the battle was unfolding.
Three of Salim's Royal Guard were already dead. Their charred bodies were falling lifelessly from the sky.
Two others were still standing, but barely. One, a lightly armored girl wielding a scepter, was missing part of her left arm. Blood poured from her elbow as she struggled to dodge incoming attacks.
Another woman with a bow in hand, had deep gashes across her body. Sora could feel her life force diminishing, and noticed she was entirely focused on recuperating while her allies protected her.
They were fighting desperately, striking with everything they had, but their enemies were stronger.
Salim floated amidst the chaos. But something surrounded him now—something new.
Sand.
At first, Sora thought it was debris from the battlefield, dust rising from the force of their clashes. But as he watched, he realized it wasn't the case at all.
The grains gravitated around Salim, forming barriers, moving like a living thing in response to his will.
'This… This isn't just elemental control. It's beyond that level...'
Then it clicked.
'A Supreme Skill?'
Sora had fought beside Salim in the tower. He had seen his every ability firsthand. Yet, Salim hadn't used anything like this on the 16th floor.
'He must have unlocked it recently.'
Salim's sand flowed like a storm, forming shields around his remaining guards, intercepting attacks before they could land.
When a spear-wielding dwarf jumped for his injured archer, the sand shot up like a wall, deflecting the strike just in time.
A massive axe swung down toward the scepter-wielding woman, but before it could connect, the sand condensed, forming an armored shield that physically stopped the ax mid-air.
But it wasn't enough.
Salim wasn't fighting one opponent.
'He's facing two opponents... Level 230 dwarves. Damn it!' Sora thought.
They didn't engage Salim directly. They didn't have to.
Every attack they unleashed was aimed at his guards, forcing Salim to defend them instead of himself. If he moved to strike back, they would slip past him, targeting his already weakened men.
Sora understood his friend's struggle, 'If he fights alongside his guards, he gets stronger... But because they're not strong enough, the guards are targeted.'
For every wall of sand he raised, for every attack he deflected, another one slipped through.
Sora watched as one of Salim's guards took an axe strike to the chest, his body split in two halves. The archer was impaled by a spear, her blood staining the golden sands of her king.
Salim gritted his teeth.
'I want to help... I want to fight.' He thought, frustrated.
But he had to watch, powerless, as his friend's guards fell one by one. Unable to watch any longer, Sora's eyes flicked to Kara.
She was locked in battle with three level 230 Orcs.
'What are these bodies?'
Sora barely had time to register the bodies collapsing around her before they began to dissolve. He quickly counted twelve.
Twelve enemies.
His eyes flickered, recognizing their fading figures—level 180 players, but among them, a level 230 werewolf.
'She had actually cut down a high-level player in this chaos?'
He had slain five level 180 players while fighting Abbott, but Kara had killed more than the double.
Above her, the ethereal swordswoman of her [Sword Manifestation] floated, undisturbed, mirroring her every move.
But what caught his attention was the energy surrounding her. Life force.
A torrent of it was being recycled from the enemies she had slain, flooding back into her body.
'Your energy consumption is insane… But you've found a way to replenish it. You really are the best, Kara.' A flicker of pride sparked within him. Even trapped beneath Abbott's foot, even unable to move, he cheered for his loved one.
Kara swung her sword again. The figure above her mirrored her motion, its massive blade cutting through the air.
But the three orcs she faced did not retreat.
Instead, they grabbed each other's wrists, locking arms as their bodies froze.
Light exploded outward, blinding for a brief moment. And when it faded, the trio was gone.
In their place stood a towering figure.
A massive orc, twice their size, its presence overwhelming.
Sora's stomach twisted. He knew this skill. He had seen it in the [Ascension Shop] when he was looking for ways to polish his clones.
The racial trait that made orcs true monsters on the battlefield.
[Fusion]
[Description: A racial skill exclusive to the Orc race, allowing multiple orcs to merge into a single, vastly more powerful entity. This transformation combines their physical attributes, combat experience, and energy reserves, creating a warrior exponentially stronger than the sum of its parts.]
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