CHAPTER 44: EVOLUTION

By the time the explosions had stopped, his entire body was covered in burns. Standing there, he looked like a toasted piece of meat. He took a sharp breath and right there the burns started healing.

"You know, out of all things I’m happy I got from that day, I think the healing is the greatest one. I don’t know how it works, but it saves me," Silva said, then lunged forward again.

The undead was pissed at this. In rage, it swung its hands and a flame arc shot out. Silva slid under, got on his feet, and attacked with a claw strike. The undead moved out of the way fast as the claw strike dug into the wall behind it.

’I don’t have time to drag this fight out. Any moment from now the evolution will begin to take place,’ Silva thought. He gritted his teeth, using Minotaur’s Rage. His speed increased exponentially, so fast that the undead couldn’t keep up.

So rather than try to attack Silva, it created an area-of-effect attack. Flames burst out like a wave, but Silva leaped over it. He landed on his knee and, like a sprinter, dashed forward.

The undead tried to run away, but Silva was too fast. He grabbed it by the skull, putting every ounce of power that he had into one arm. He swung with full force and smashed the head right into the wall.

The body fell to the ground, so did the core and the item that it had been using.

[You have gained 300 EXP, 100 Demonic Energy]

Silva picked up the orb on the ground, wanting to see what it was.

[Flame Orb: increases all fire-based attacks by double for one hour]

He was glad that the system had some information about it, but he wasn’t a flame user, so he would simply sell this to the guild and get some cash.

With that out of the way, he walked to the chair that the undead had been on and sat down. He shut his eyes.

"Any minute now," he muttered, but after a few minutes of waiting and nothing happened, he tried to get up.

"I guess nothing is going to—"

He was suddenly hit with a wave of dizziness. He fell back into the chair, slamming his back into it.

[Evolution has begun]

[User’s body will undergo tremendous change to host new power]

[Ready yourself, you are about to be put to sleep]

"Wait, sleep? I have to be awaaakeee—" His final words dragged out as he fell asleep under the influence of the system.

Silva felt that he was too unprotected as he slept, but unknown to him, the mark on his hand created a barrier around him. Not even the smallest speck of unwanted dust could get close.

His body remained there, getting modified as the minutes went on, turning into an hour, and by the second hour, it ended.

[Evolution complete]

[Waking up user]

Silva felt a force pulling him back. His eyes opened and he was still inside the room, safe and untouched. He heaved a sigh of relief first after that.

[Congratulations on your evolution]

[System Stats]

[Name: Silva Tallon]

[Race: Demon]

[Class: Demon]

[Demonic Energy: 11410]

[Level: 11]

[EXP: 600/2000]

[Strength: 23]

[Speed: 24]

[Defense: 22]

[Intelligence: 28]

[Free stat points: 40]

[Skills]

Sensory (Lv. 2)

Demonic Healing (Lv. 2)

Claw Strike (Lv. 2)

Minotaur’s Rage

[Inventory]

Key of the Minotaur’s Gate (3 uses available)

Silva looked at the stats screen and realized that a lot had changed as well. He gained more free stat points and his skills had all leveled up.

Beyond that was the fact that he was no longer a lesser demon, but rather a real demon now. Silva pushed himself off the chair, but almost fell forward, not realizing that he had changed along the way. He was a few inches taller.

His clothes also felt tighter, around the arm and chest regions. He looked down at his body. "Did I change because of the evolution?"

With no mirror to verify, he decided he would be leaving. But before he did that, he looked at the body of the undead.

"Demonic Forge," he called out, and it scattered into particles, reassembling into a twisted bone staff. He grabbed it.

[Demonic Forge Bone Staff C-ranked: increases all magic-based attacks by twenty percent]

"Nice, if only I was a mage," Silva muttered. He placed the staff into his inventory and walked out of the room.

Now it was time for him to find what was happening here. And to do that, he needed to find someone that seemed like they would get attacked and kidnapped.

He allowed his senses to spread out. He immediately noticed that the distance he could cover was now at least twice as before, and he could see even more details now.

He started walking while it was active. He moved through the hallways until finally, he spotted a group of three that were battling an undead.

’Aren’t those the guys that met me before?’ Silva thought. He felt some presence headed their way—five men—and they weren’t moving in a normal manner, sneaking up with slow steps.

"This is my shot," Silva muttered and headed that way. He got close, but not close enough for him to be seen. He stayed and used his sensing to tell what was happening.

The three kept fighting the undead while the five came closer.

Then one of the men attacked. He threw something that seemed like a shuriken. It spun through the air and was headed for the back of the man with a sword, but the bulky dude was able to react, turning around and using a shield to block it.

"Shit, someone is attacking from behind," he said.

"We can’t back off the undead now. You’ll have to protect us from behind while we try to kill the undead as fast as possible," the leader said.

They all nodded and got into position.

’Hmm, they weren’t even panicked in the slightest. They adapted fast. They are good,’ Silva thought.