CHAPTER 126: YOU... DISGUSTING DEMON

His lips curled into a sharp, predatory smirk.

Swoosh!

He lunged forward again without hesitation, dagger gleaming with another shadow-coated edge.

His steps were relentless, deliberate, calculated to deny his opponent even a second of reprieve.

"Enough!" The demon snarled, his voice echoing harshly through the cavernous chamber.

His hand snapped up, and in a burst of violent speed, he stabbed his dagger directly toward Riley’s chest. The blade’s tip aimed mercilessly for his heart.

For a moment, it seemed the strike would land.

But then—Riley’s shadow aura rippled.

It surged like water disturbed by a suddenly currently, and in a split second, his body sunk into the ground.

All that was left was a thin, dissolving purplish black smoke, which trialed down to a crystal shard on the floor.

The demon’s eyes widened in shock.

The weapon stabbed into empty space, stabbing only the afterimage of shadows left by Riley.

Suddenly, it felt another flicker behind him.

From the faint shadow cast by a small, half-buried crystal on the dungeon floor, Riley rose silently like a phantom.

His daggers were already drawn, his presence sharp and suffocating. With a breath, he whispered into his mind—

[Charge].

Once. His muscles coiled with sudden strength.

Twice. The rush doubled, surging like fire in his veins, his body vibrating with condensed power. His aura darkened, sharper, deadlier.

A grin split Riley’s face. "Surprise, bitch."

He swung his dagger in a deadly arc, aiming straight for the demon’s neck.

The blade hissed through the air, trailing shadows that seemed hungry to sever flesh.

But the strike didn’t land.

The demon suddenly let out a guttural, primal roar that rattled the very ground beneath them.

His eyes flared, their crimson glow burning brighter.

The darkness surrounding his body writhed violently, no longer stable but wild and furious.

In the blink of an eye, that chaos erupted.

BWOOSH!!

A pulse of darkness exploded outward from his body, surging like a shockwave.

It cracked the dungeon tiles beneath him, shattering the crystals into fragments.

Riley’s instincts screamed.

He abandoned his attack immediately, twisting his body and leaping backward with inhuman agility.

His boots slammed into the ground, and he launched himself further, flipping backward through the air.

His figure spun in a graceful arc, distancing himself from the demon’s pulse before it could engulf him.

Fwoosh!

The wave of black energy rolled outward, tearing across the chamber.

Jagged cracks split the floor, spreading outward in all directions, sending sharp pieces of debris flying.

But the dark wave was still coming for him.

In midair, Riley crossed his arms, his daggers forming an X.

He swung them down with all his force, channeling his aura through the edges.

Swoosh!

Twin arcs of shadow burst forth, colliding head-on with the surging pulse.

The clash thundered through the dungeon. Riley’s blades cut into the darkness, splitting and dispersing part of the wave.

The collision rattled his bones, the sheer pressure forcing his body backward even as he tore apart the incoming power.

The remnants of the pulse, still strong despite being cut down, slammed into the dungeon walls behind him.

BOOOOOOM!

The cavern trembled violently. Dust rained from above as cracks webbed across the jagged walls.

The ground shook beneath their feet as if the entire dungeon itself would collapse from the demon’s violent outburst.

Riley landed on the floor, skidding back a few feet, his daggers still raised, his breathing heavy but steady.

His eyes narrowed, sharp and unyielding, never leaving the demon’s form.

The demon, standing at the epicenter of the destruction, glared at him with a mixture of rage and intrigue, his blood still dripping freely, staining the cracked ground beneath him.

Riley’s chest rose and fell, his daggers steady at his sides, his gaze locked firmly on the wounded demon.

Despite the shaking of the dungeon walls and the echo of that devastating pulse still rumbling faintly in the air, a dry chuckle escaped his lips.

"Heh..." He raised one dagger, then lifted his other hand and pointed it directly at the demon, his smirk curling with venom. "That... that expression fits you the most."

The demon froze briefly, his crimson eyes narrowing as if he hadn’t expected mockery from the human who just barely avoided being obliterated.

His lips curled back, his fangs glinting beneath the flicker of dim light.

Riley’s eyes, however, betrayed no amusement. They were filled with disgust—pure, deep, unfiltered disgust.

His brows were drawn together, his jaw tightened, and his face was squeezed into a deep frown as he spat the words.

"You disgusting demon..."

The venom in his tone carried more than hatred—it carried memory, the kind of raw edge sharpened only by trauma and scars left from another life.

Yet, beneath his cold exterior, a current of unease churned within him.

Despite the cocky words, despite the disdain he spat into the demon’s face, Riley’s thoughts were not nearly as confident.

His chest tightened slightly as he felt the tug in his core—the drain that had been gnawing at him ever since the fight began.

His mana. It was already slipping away too quickly.

Maintaining [Shadow Shroud] around his body was draining him at an alarming rate.

The thick aura of shadow coiled around him like armor, each moment eating away at his reserves.

Worse, the way he had been manipulating that same shadow aura—condensing it into slashes, reinforcing his strikes—only accelerated the depletion.

And [Shadow Hop]...

He gritted his teeth slightly.

That skill in particular was a double-edged blade.

It had saved him more than once already, letting him sink through shadows and reappear at his enemy’s blind spot.

But each use cost him dearly, further carving into his dwindling mana pool.

Still, what choice did he have?

Without his class abilities—without the shadow aura boosting his attacks, without the [Shadow Hop] letting him keep up with this monster—he would have been long dead.

Against an opponent like this, bare strength wasn’t even an option. He would have been helpless.

Helpless... The word rang bitter in his mind. He had been helpless once before, lying broken before a demon as it reached for his chest.

That image alone was enough to steel his focus.

He exhaled slowly.

In truth, he had been rather lucky during this fight.

Lucky the demon had chosen to attack after he had absorbed the monster boss. Lucky his mana reserves had been filled to the brim at that moment.

If not... he’d likely already be sprawled across the cold stone floor, another human corpse forgotten in this wretched dungeon.

Two tabs flickered into view before his eyes, the numbers on them glowing softly before his vision.

[H/P: 7516/13664 Vitality X 10]

[M/P: 9124/14302 Mana X 10]

His gaze narrowed slightly, sharp calculation flashing in his expression as he quickly absorbed the numbers.

His health was over half but slipping; his mana reserves were thinning quicker than he’d like.

The margin was narrowing, and with each second, the odds tilted closer toward death.

A sudden roar snapped him out of his thoughts.

The demon’s bellow was filled with rage, shaking the chamber as though the sound alone could split the walls.

"GRRAAAHHHH!" His fangs glistened under the dim light, and his red eyes flared with murderous intent.

"I’ll show you what fits you..." the demon spat, gnashed his teeth, and his voice dropped into a thunderous snarl. "...death!"

He charged forward, his figure blurring as raw darkness trailed in his wake. His words cut through the air like venom.

"An agonizing, painful... DEATH!"

Riley braced himself, shifting into a stance, but before he could move, the demon suddenly slammed both fists into the ground.

BOOM!

The impact shook the entire chamber.

The floor beneath the demon cracked violently, webbing outward like shattered glass. A surge of black energy poured out from the fissures.

From the cracks, thick chains of pure darkness erupted, bursting up with metallic clangs that rattled the air.

They snaked upward, twisting and writhing like living serpents before lunging toward Riley.

SHHHHRRRAAANG!

The sound of chains snapping free echoed as they whipped across the chamber, their jagged links sparking faint black sparks as they tore through stone and air alike.

"You think your power’s stronger than mine?!" the demon’s roar shook the air, his arms trembling with exertion as he forced more chains into existence. "Darkness is the strongest element in the world!!"

The words thundered with conviction, his voice resonating like a proclamation of dominance.

Riley’s jaw tightened.

His daggers twitched in his grip, his eyes narrowing into sharp slits as he prepared himself.

The writhing chains came crashing toward him, each one thick enough to crush a man into paste. Their movements were fast and erratic, seeking to devour him.

Riley’s lips curled upward into a sharp smirk, even as the demon’s chains of darkness howled toward him.

His eyes narrowed, glinting with something fierce, something cold, something resolute.

’Darkness is the strongest power?’ he thought, his voice mocking even within his own mind.

The chains whipped through the air with devastating force, but Riley’s body burst into motion.

[Lunge]

His legs coiled like springs before unleashing him forward, his form blurring as he activated the skill.

A burst of shadow aura exploded from beneath his feet, propelling him with frightening speed as he shot toward the oncoming wave of chains.

SSHHHRAAANG!!

The first chain clashed against his dagger.

He swung with precision, his blade slicing through its thick, jagged links.

But instead of clattering to the ground like ordinary metal, the chain dispersed instantly into a puff of dark smoke, as though it had never existed in the first place.