Chapter 178 Casually Wiping Out Wolves Mid-Conversation
"I see."
Evan responded while coating his arms in shadows and grabbing the jaws of a wolf that attempted to attack him. He then tore it in half using his raw power as the creature fell to the ground.
He had just viciously murdered the alpha wolf of the pack, which meant that he was the most powerful of all of the wolves in the pack. The blood and guts that were sprayed everywhere terrified the other wolves.
The young hero threw away the two pieces of the wolf's body without much thought and then turned to face the other wolves who were cowering in fear, his gaze turning cold as he spat out in disgust.
"How pathetic."
Tapping his foot on the floor, the shadows of the wolves wriggled about and dark spears emerged from within.
The spears struck them from underneath, throwing them into the air whilst simultaneously piercing through them.
[Level Up]
Despite his increase in level, Evan frowned as he stared at the wolves' corpses before asking Pride a question.
"So, I'm stuck like this until we reach Level what? 194? 195?"
"Oh, no. This is just temporary; you'd be fine in a day or two. Depending on how strong your mentality is, a few hours might be enough.
The status effect simply induces arrogance in its target, a greatly watered-down version of my ability to manipulate pride, which itself is an emotional manipulation type power."
"And emotional manipulation is a kind of like a sub power of mental manipulation, something that can be resisted with a strong enough mentality.
I get it now."
As he spoke, he used a basic cleaning magic spell on himself to wipe off the blood stains on him, his gaze turning to Eliza who was sitting down on the floor not far from them.
The battle priestess had her elbows propped up on her lap while her face rested in her palms as she stared at the young hero and high demon who casually slaughtered a pack of wolves mid-conversation.
"Are you done?"
"Hmm? Where's the rift mage?"
"It escaped while the both of you were making small talk."
She answered Evan's question as she stood up and dusted her skirt, picking up her staff as she began to walk down the corridor to the right.
"Let's go, it went this way."
Evan and Pride looked at each other, before shrugging their shoulders and following the battle priestess down the corridor.
As they walked, Eliza decided to voice out a question she had concerning Pride.
"Is your name really the word 'Pride'? Or is that just a pseudonym you use because you don't want anyone discovering what your actual name is?"
"And why would you think I don't want that?"
"Well. I know of particular curses and magic that require the name of the target to activate. The closer to the target's true name they have, the more effective it is.
That's the real reason why no one tells others their 'true names', even if more than 99% of the population don't know this."
Eliza turned around to face Pride who was behind her and backstepped as she continued.
"Like me, my real name isn't just 'Eliza'. It's something else.
Oh, just so you know, It's not 'Elizabeth'. A lot of people seem to think that's the case.
Anyway, you get the point, right?"
"Yeah, I do."
The high demon replied as she patted the head of the miniaturized spirit sleeping peacefully on her shoulder.
"But my name is indeed 'Pride', just not in your language, or any language of this world."
"I see."
Eliza nodded to her self as she turned around and kept walking forward. Meanwhile, Evan was coming to terms with a realization that he was actually part of the stronger percentage of beings in Aidos.
'Right now, I can easily defeat the average C-Rank adventurer. Although it doesn't sound like much, when compared to the rest of the population, C-Rank adventurers are actually very small.'
Nevertheless, he also understood that he wasn't strong enough to be considered a 'Powerhouse' on Aidos.
Only beings who were Level 300 and above or those who had reached the Grandmaster level of existence and above were considered powerhouses in Aidos.
He remembered the amount of destruction he caused with his Vortex skill in the boss room and compared it to his original world.
'Considering that even a stone here is significantly stronger than a stone on my home world due to the higher concentration of ambient energy, it's obvious that anything the current me can do here would be enough to be a small disaster over there.
From the previous Second's memories, the weakest boss rooms in Kasteblum are built to withstand the full power attack of a 'peak inferior stage master level existence'.
So, can I assume that since I can turn said boss room to rubble and have energy left over, I am capable of easily defeating these 'peak inferior stage master level existences'?
Beings who, going by the memories I have, can reduce an urban city block to rubble in mere minutes.'
He held out his arm and clenched his fist tightly, a smug grin appearing on his face as his thoughts continued.
'This feeling of power, knowing that I am superior to a great majority of the existences in an entire world, I like it.
Should I forcefully speed things up so I can get stronger faster? That's a good idea. After all, the stronger I am, the higher my level of super-!'
At that point, his thoughts completely came to a halt, as did his steps.
Pride and Eliza noticed this and asked him what was wrong, but Evan could barely hear them. Conflicting thoughts were swirling around in his head, like his normal thoughts were torn apart and twisted around before being mashed together roughly.
Become superior to them!'
'Gain more power!'
'Become stronger for yourself!'
'Just let the UNDEAD kill them all.'
'Why do you want to fight for their sake?'
'You're already superior to them.'
'Just let them die.'
'They're all lower life forms.'
No, he wasn't even sure if these were his 'normal' thoughts.
'But who's 'they'?'
'The inferior ones.'
'The ones beneath you.'
'Let the LIZARDS tear them to shreds.'
'You're more important than them.'
'Don't help them until they grovel at your feet and beg.'
'Allow the BASILISKS turn them to stone.'
'They should worship you.'
Or maybe they were?
'It's your right!'
'You're their saviour.'
'They're all worthless.'
'All of them are.'
'Regardless of their race.'
'Regardless of their gender or class.'
'Let the BARBARIANS kill them all!'
'They're not as good as you are!'
Maybe this was really how he felt?
'Those ingrates don't deserve your attention.'
'Disdain them!'
'You have their lives in your control'
'Choose who lives and who dies.'
'The choice is yours.'
Yes, Indeed, that was the case.
'The WOLF should end them all!'
'It's only natural for you to do that.'
'Because you're strong.'
'And they're weak!'
'Because you're more important!'
'And they're not!'
This was how things were supposed to be.
'Let that DESERT fall!'
'You're a HIGHER lifeform.'
'And they're mere mortals.'
'Because you're better'
'Because you're SUPERIOR!'
He was superior.
|Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |