"Did I stumble into their nest?" Shido muttered under his breath, taking a small breath to steady himself. Monsters kept appearing one after another, and it was starting to feel like he'd wandered straight into a monster den.
If any adventurer had seen the scene around him, their jaw would have surely dropped. Within a 30-meter radius, the ground was littered with the corpses of goblins and ogres, dozens of them, piled and scattered like fallen leaves.
For the past ten minutes, Shido had been relentlessly cutting them down, forming a gruesome pile of bodies around him.
From the very start, Shido had only been using his Elucidator and his advanced-level swordsmanship. Despite fighting continuously for quite some time, he barely felt any fatigue, thanks to his Spirit Body, which granted him a passive effect that replenished his stamina every second.
Even so, Shido couldn't help but think how much easier things would be if he had a proper sword technique. At the moment, all he could rely on were the basics: slashing, stabbing, and parrying. If he had a refined sword style or technique, he was certain he could dispatch these enemies far more efficient.
As yet another wave of monsters charged toward him, Shido felt a flicker of irritation. They didn't see him as a threat, and that only made them rush at him mindlessly, as if they were throwing themselves into a meat grinder.
"You're really persistent, huh? Do I look like easy prey to you?" Shido muttered, his lips twitching in annoyance as he spotted higher-level ogres and even trolls charging toward him with unrelenting aggression.
"So be it," he said calmly, straightening his posture. "I'll let you all witness my true power… you foolish beings."
In that moment, a radiant white light enveloped his body, followed immediately by a surge of dark, sinister energy. The two opposing forces swirled around him, holy and malevolent, but they didn't wreck chaos inside him, instead they swiftly surround him in harmony.
"Astral Dress of Gods Authority, No. 11 Adonai Tefferet!"
When Shido emerged from the black and white light, he transformed into his original Spirit form which was the very definition of holiness and evilness.
Shido's hair lengthened and turned a luminous white, cascading down his back like a sea of stars. Slowly, he opened his eyes that could enchant and dominate the minds of anyone who met them. His once-brown irises had transformed into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, their swirling patterns exuding both beauty and dread, giving his appearance an ethereal, divine quality.
His armor, a sleek blend of black and white, fit him perfectly, radiating both elegance and might. Behind him, a divine ring floated and rotated slowly, casting a soft glow that seemed to ripple through the air like waves of sacred energy.
The moment the monsters laid eyes on Shido's new form, all of them felt danger. Their instincts screamed for them to run.
One ogre bolted. Then another. And like a collapsing dam, panic spread through the horde like wildfire, triggering a stampede of terrified monsters desperate to escape the being that appeared in front of them.
However, Shido had no intention of letting those free SP and SF go away.
"Abaddon." Shido chanted lowly.
In response, white and black light surged around his arms, interwoven with shimmering strands of gold and sapphire. The energy danced like divine flames, pulsing with ominous intensity. A moment later, the light solidified, and Shido's bare hands were now encased in a pair of majestic white and black gauntlets with eerie and divine patterns on them.
"Ekhad V'Hasheni! (Duality Strike)"
Shido said in a deep low voice but strangely, his voice seemed to be heard miles away. The monsters paused, their heads snapping toward him, sensing the overwhelming surge of energy emanating from his gauntlets. One side radiated sacred light; the other pulsed with ominous darkness.
*BOOOOM!!!*
With a thunderous clap of his hands, Shido unleashed the spell.
A colossal pillar of light and shadow crashed down upon the retreating monsters, splitting the very sky as it descended. It was as if the world itself had been divided in white and black.
Those caught in the pillar of light were instantly purified, their forms dissolving into nothingness. Meanwhile, within the the pillar darkness were swallowed by the abyss, their existence erased, never to return to this world again.
The entire forest shook under the weight of Shido's catastrophic attack. Trees quivered as shockwaves rippled through the earth, sending monsters and animals fleeing in terror.
Not far from the pillar of white and black light, a party of female adventurers doing a quest that was almost caught in the attack. Fortunately, they were all high ranking adventurers so avoided the area of the attack.
"T-That's not the power of a human. That spell... is beyond 9thTier!"
She was small in stature, her frame almost swallowed by a reddish robe that fluttered in the lingering wind. An uncanny mask concealed her face, but even behind it, disbelief was clear in her tone.
"No matter who is the caster of that spell is, we need to leave the area first, before we get targeted." Another female adventurer said.
She stood tall among the group, clearly their leader. Long blonde hair flowed behind her, a single blue rose tucked delicately near her temple. Her eyes scanned the devastated forest, a deep frown creasing her features as she assessed the situation.
Without protest, the others nodded. Wordlessly, the group turned and retreated.
...
When Shido's devastating attack subsided, a part of the dense forest filled with trees were now razed. In its place was a massive crater, at least 30 meters deep and spanning 70 meters in diameter.
Nothing was left, the attack obliterate and devoured everything in its path.
Shido exhaled deeply, his chest rising and falling as he slowly regained his composure. The attack had drained a considerable amount of his mana But when Shido tried to recover, he suddenly felt his Divine Ring revolve a little faster.