Chapter 14: Pomien, Skeletoul
Picking up her pace, Lilith hurriedly made her way to the boss's chamber. Along the way, she killed some skeleton swordsmen and ghouls, and when she reached the end of the corridor, she found a stone double door and two lanterns that were dimly lit with a bright red light shining in front of them.
"…"
As Lilith approached, she felt the atmosphere inside getting stronger and stronger. Without a doubt, the demon that was waiting for them was behind those doors. Lilith stopped before the stone gate, raised her hands, and pushed forward.
Creak~
Slowly and steadily, the door creaked open and revealed the chamber's insides, which weren't any different from the blood and flesh covered, dripping walls. However, she didn't have time to think too much; her narrowed eyes only stared at the nightmarish existence sitting in the secret room; her vision was penetrating.
"Just what are you?"
Slowly, she walked into the room, and the atmosphere began to become tense. Ahead, a true monstrosity sits on a bloodstained throne of skeletons. Its figure was humanoid, like a ghoul, with a thin physique and pale skin; however, what differentiated it from a ghoul was its limbs and chest, where its skeletal structure stuck out.
In its hands were two short daggers, slightly veiled with a devilish, corrosive black-red energy and decorated with a white fang at their hilts, where the blade jutted out. The ghoul-skeleton's eyes were void black, ominous, and pupilless was deathly glaring at Lilith.
[Pomien, Skeletoul]
[Type: Mutation]
[Level: 15]
[Class: Abominable Assassin]
'A six-level difference? That might be a bit more troublesome, but... I can take it.' A grin formed across her face, and she unsheathed her rusty sword.
She could handle it easily now, but it wasn't her preferred weapon—she was only using it until she'd obtained a weapon of a higher grade. Once done, she'd immediately discard it.
Although she couldn't take advantage of her skill and experience as a former assassin, Pomien shared one weakness with the demons in these catacombs: their intelligence is unbelievably low, almost non-existent. Naturally, she'd take advantage of this weakness.
Even so, Pomien was of a higher level, so it'd have a higher level of intelligence compared to the ghoul or skeleton swordsman, and killing it wouldn't be as simple as swinging her sword.
Pomien, determined to slay the prey before its eyes, narrowed them slightly, and its dagger was ready. It rushed toward the opponent.
To be more precise, it teleported towards her.
Lilith, eyes widening, quickly raised her sword in defense and managed to parry the first strike with her agility. This wasn't just incredible speed or experience—this was short-range teleportation that was instant and deadly.
She realized this fight's difficulty had suddenly increased, and she couldn't blatantly waste her strength! or else she'd inevitably die.
Pomien, perhaps not taking to that very kindly, silently disappeared and reappeared behind Lilith before cutting down once more.
"Tch…"
Lilith knew she was unable to twist her body around in time, so instead she swerved her upper body forward, just barely avoiding the fatal slash. The bare edge of the assassin's dagger still managed to scratch her, however, leaving an enormous gash down her back, driving her insane with a burning hot pain.
"Argh…!"
She fell to the floor on one knee, breathing heavily. How desperately she wanted to take back her earlier claim! "I can take it." But... Unfortunately, the likelihood of that was zero, and she did not have the time to consider it. Once a duel began, there were no breaks in between. Quickly, she recomposed herself and readied herself.
Not only that, but a screen appeared before her eyes...
[You have been affected by .]
[You'll lose 2% of your blood and energy per hit your opponent lands.]
"What—?!"
Letting out a gasp of surprise, Lilith raised her sword up to block in a panic, and the dagger's glowing white blade cut into her flesh.
"Gah!"
Faced with Lilith's cry, Pomien emotionlessly vanished yet again and carried out the hit and teleport tactic it's been using up until now. Gritting her teeth, Lilith swung her sword, but it was no novice fighter. Although it was mindless, with its rich combat experience, its instincts made it easy to outwit her. It teleported to another angle and kicked her hard in the stomach.
Boom~
"Ah!"
Letting out a low grunt, her back slammed into the bloodied wall, and she slowly slid to the floor, leaving a small crater where she hit the wall.
'So… its instincts make up for its lack of intelligence.'
Unsurprisingly, the battle was completely one-sided. The level and experience gap were simply too wide for Lilith to handle.
As Pomien teleported before her, towering over her defeated body, Lilith sized up her opponent once again. She was nearly out of strength, out of Eldritch Energy—to make it worse, the curse had drained her blood significantly, and by now her skin had turned deathly pale from lack of blood.
The next strike would come soon, the strike that would end it all...
Was this it? Was this the end of her? A wasted, short-lived journey of revenge! That had just started...
A journey where she gained the opportunity to grow strong and to revenge those who've wronged her! Will it be over before she's done?
No, she wouldn't accept it—she couldn't accept an ending before her revenge was fulfilled, nor would she allow it. But thinking about it is not the same as acting on it. Regardless of how she attacked, in the end, it was thwarted by Pomien.
Recollect… recollect! She repeated it in her head, trying to recollect the battle theory that Ayin taught her to turn the tide.
Suddenly, a realization dawned on her. And despite the grave injuries on her body and the utter hopelessness of the battle, she smiled.
She'd found a weakness!
At that moment, a dagger came, stabbing her way—this dagger's objective was to bring this fight to a conclusion—to end her; yet, Lilith's smile never wavered.
Before the dagger reached her, Lilith, using all of her remaining strength, dashed to the right while simultaneously exploding her eldritch energy in the form of a sphere to her left. This is a simple trick Ayin taught her, the purpose is to distract the target's attention and if used enough could kill it. As long as it explodes in front of it, it can function.
And as expected, sure enough, its dagger didn't deviate from its course but stayed on course, cutting the sphere to pieces.
"Heh." Grinning sadistically, she let out a chuckle.
Her hunch proved to be correct, and now, it was time for the tides of the battle to turn.
Extending her hand out, she exploded several more eldritch energy sphere towards Pomien; in doing so, it left it confused, looking around at all the new eldritch energy signatures that suddenly appeared in its vicinity, and was left at a loss, unable to determine what was real and not. In the end, it did what it does best - kill.
Teleporting from one exploded sphere to another, it slashed the pocket with its daggers, starting with the closest one to it. Also, Lilith exploded sphere in another sphere explosion, which made it have more things to worry about and decreased the chance of teleportation.
To put it simply, Lilith had figured out that Pomien was sensitive to eldritch energy and was naturally attracted to an abundance of it. Earlier, she'd notice it had no eyes, and even so, it could directly teleport and attack her.
Of course, it was a wager, but based on how it reacted to the explosions of eldritch energy, it was a wager she was willing to take.
Once the Skeletoul was overwhelmed by all the explosions around it, that's when Lilith went in for an attack. From behind, she powerfully thrust her rusty sword through where she sensed the abundance of eldritch energy—its core, the demon core. In human terms, it was a demon crystal.
"Damn…"
Her accumulated, untreated wounds had begun to affect her, and she fell to one knee as her vision grew blurry. She felt her life flashing before her eyes and she knew she'd need to end this fast.
With a heavy breath, she thrusted the sword deeper, pouring the last of her eldritch energy into an explosion. Immediately, the core exploded, the core that held Pomien's body together; thus, its body was disfigured, ripping itself apart, and its body shortly later fell to the ground.
However, it wasn't alone; Lilith collapsed to the ground, unconscious. She'd finally succumbed to her injuries. But... Before her closed eyes, a life-saving screen popped up.
[Pomien, Skeletoul (Lv. 15)—Defeated!]
[+75 exp]
[Player level up!]
[Lv. 9 -> 10]
[+2 Skill Points]
Suddenly, several new notifications popped up below the usual defeated and level-up notifications.
[Severe injuries detected!]
[Searching for solutions!]
[Solution found!]
[Player: Lilith has met the requirements to evolve!]
[Bypassing the player restriction]
[Player restrictions bypassed]
[Now commencing the evolution of Lilith into a full-fledged demon]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone