CHAPTER 67: BUFF AND DEBUFF

"Incredible!" Aurelian breathed, watching his mana-coated fist tear a hole through an acidic slime’s torso before sending it flying back as he marveled at it all.

Coating his attacks with mana roughly doubled his combat power, and now with his infinite mana pathways, he could fight for a far longer time in this state, boosting his strength significantly.

The latent ability to shift the affinity of his mana was also proving extremely useful—compressing mana to be extremely heavy, adding the weight of force behind his attacks. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Truly impeccable. Aurelian clicked his tongue, taking the changes all in.

"I suppose it was nearly worth all the pain I endured for it," he muttered, his body moving like a killing machine as his thoughts spiraled deeper into his infinite mana pathways.

***

Ding! The host has slain a Level 27 Evolved Common Acidic Slime! 7,000 dungeon points awarded!

Ding! The host has slain a Level 26 Evolved Common Acidic Slime! 6,000 dungeon points awarded!

Ding! The host has slain a Level 26 Evolved Uncommon Acidic Slime! 26,000 dungeon points awarded!

[Ding! Congratulations, host has leveled up!]

[Level 27: 60,000/60,000]

[Ding! Congratulations, host has leveled up!]

[Level 28: 6,400/70,000]

***

Streams of notifications popped up before him as he leveled up, but he ignored them, drawn completely into the battle.

His figure flickered across the battlefield like a Grim Reaper, leaving mirages in his wake and blown-apart acidic slimes behind him, giving them no time to even spew their acid, not that it would matter, as his speed far eclipsed theirs, making their attacks obsolete.

Even so, given the large number of enemies, some were bound to land. But even then, his enhanced constitution, coupled with the C-rank [Iron Skin] talent, offered a layer of defense that shielded him from all the stray attacks, making him basically impenetrable across the battlefield.

Still, the pace was a little too slow for his liking. For every monster he slew, another one from the horde took its place, all rushing toward him in mindless slaughter.

Inhaling sharply, he slammed both his mana-coated arms onto the ground, sending shockwaves rippling through the waves of beasts. Then, using the force behind the shock, he propelled himself backward, creating a sizeable distance between him and the charging slime.

Still midair, he extended his arms, summoning the twin blades that had been hovering at the side of the battlefield as per his command. They shot through the air, streaking toward him eagerly before resting softly in the firm embrace of his grasp, buzzing intensely as he sensed their desire to join the battle.

"Okay then, you’ll get your chance. But first, anything new I should know about? Any new skills?" Aurelian mused, staring intently at both blades. He could sync his thoughts and figure it out himself, but this was far more fun. A smile stretched across his lips as he ignored the waves of charging beasts. The distance he’d created should keep them at bay for a while.

"You have?" Aurelian muttered, a smirk spreading across his lips, feeling them buzz some more.

"Good. Then show me what you can do!" he breathed, releasing his grasp over both blades. His eyes gleamed with curiosity as he watched them hover in front of him, before the black blade shot forward, its figure cutting through the air, leaving trails of black wisps of energy in its wake.

Then, as it crossed a hundred-meter radius across the acidic slimes, its figure shifted trajectory. Instead of shooting through them, it hovered above menacingly.

"Huh? What’s it doing?" Aurelian breathed, his brows furrowing. But before he could contemplate further, wisps of dark energy spewed from the blade, and before he could blink, a hundred meters of battlefield was blanketed in pure darkness.

"Woah!" he hissed, taken by surprise. Even with his enhanced attributes, his eyes couldn’t pierce the darkness, giving him a sense of its formidability.

Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, he imbued his eyes with mana. As he squinted, the sight blanketed by the dark wisps of energy became visible, causing his eyes to widen in shock.

Underneath, the charging slimes had been halted, their pace dragged into an incredibly slow crawl. More terrifying was the corrosive property of the wisps as they sizzled the beasts, slowly melting them down, no different than literally frying them.

And as seconds ticked into minutes, the corrosive property only became more prominent as the beasts degenerated into energy that was sucked into the black mist, followed by their souls, then the streams of notifications that flickered in front of him.

"Damn!" Aurelian breathed, trying to process it all. This was some next-level shit.

Syncing his thoughts with the demonic spectral black blade, he plunged himself into it before a notification of the ability blinked in front of him.

[Mist of Doom: Envelop a 100-metre radius with a cursed mist that significantly slows opponents while corroding them. The dead killed within feed the mist.]

"Hahahaha! Good, good, good!" He burst into laughter, reading through the description. This was a great skill.

A perfect addition, especially in dealing with multiple opponents at once. Aurelian mused, lost in thought, before snapping out of his stupor as the blade shot back into his arm, pleased at the praise as it buzzed softly.

"Wait," Aurelian squinted, his breath hitching.

A thought dawned on him as the mist cleared, revealing no bodies left behind. Everything was picked clean, leaving no trace of the wave of beasts, only deep corrosion marks etched into the ground.

"Does the mist consume everything?" Aurelian muttered, his face scrunching. Those were hundreds of potential attributes he could have devoured... gone! Maybe the skill wasn’t as good as expected. "Bad blade!" Aurelian muttered, pinning all the blame on it shamelessly.

The blade squirmed softly under the weight of his reprimand.

"Okay, fine. You’re not very bad. Just remember to leave the bodies behind next time," he relented, feeling the waves of remorse slamming into him from the blade.

"Okay then, your turn now," he breathed, shifting his attention to the radiant blade before him, giving it the go-ahead.

"Wait... your new ability doesn’t happen to devour the bodies of the fallen, right?" he muttered. He couldn’t repeat the same mistake twice.

"Great," he mumbled, feeling the affirmation, before redirecting his full attention to it.

The blade hovered before him, its surface gleaming with an intensely radiant light. Before he could make out what was happening, a beam of light shot out, streaking into him.

The result was instant. Golden energy flared from the blade, seeping into his body and bathing him in warmth. Suddenly, he felt his body grow stronger.

A notification blinked in front of him.

[You have been blessed with the Light of the Blade of Light! +10% to all physical attributes while in combat!]

"A buff skill?" Aurelian breathed, then nodded excitedly. "Very good. A debuff and a buff skill should complement each other just fine." He muttered, feeling the energy wane.

He supposed it was because he wasn’t currently mid-battle. Time to change that.

"Attack!" Aurelian groaned, his figure rocketing forward, before an odd sight unfolded.

A youth, incandescent blade hovering at his side, bathed in radiant energy, blinked through the remaining acidic slimes, obliterating every one of them in his path. A devilishly black blade hovered ahead, trapping beasts within its corrosive mist, leaving them helpless as the youth cut them down.

Before long, a horrific scene came into view. Aurelian stood over the carnage of hundreds of slain slimes, their bodies torn to shreds, before he finally breathed out:

"Vortex of Doom... devour."

All the while, his eyes remained fixed on the dungeon’s deepest chamber, where the aura of a strong foe radiated, the final boss of the slimes.

Once he was done jacking up, he’d be paying it a visit real soon.