Chapter 158: Unyielding Possession

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a Rank 2 Lust Demon. Spirit absorbed: +1.8

• Spirit: 85 → 86

• Mind: 70 → 71

Dante grabbed Jessica’s head off the ground. It still showed the fear and sadness in her beautiful face, but her eyes were closed firmly, showing her acceptance of death.

Her body just lay a step behind Dante’s leg, motionless and lifeless, with blood splashing everywhere from her neck.

“Well, your information was useful, at least. Thank you.”

Dante sighed before touching her head with his draconic claws. Then he applied some force, causing his fingers to pierce her head with ease.

Once they touched a solid object with a triangular shape, Dante immediately clenched it and pulled it out of her head.

Afterwards, he casually sat on her dead body and stored her core.

’So… the relic can’t be dismissed.’

From what Jessica had told him, the relic was still owned by the original owner of it. Only he could dismiss and summon it.

It was owned by a man that Dante had heard about only in stories.

That man was Raga, the giant who betrayed the former king and stood with King Valor, or so the stories told.

That was a good chance for Dante. If he found a way to enter the camp where it was hidden, he could shatter that relic and end their secret teleportation weapon.

In addition to the information about the relic, Dante also learned that the giants were ordered to clear as many camps as possible for some reason.

Unfortunately, Jessica had told Dante that no one knew the real reason why they had to do that.

Maybe that was for security, or maybe some people secretly knew, but Dante was sure that the majority were indeed just following orders.

’I can never understand the military. Why would anyone kill people and follow random orders only because someone they had never met commanded them?’

Honestly, Dante couldn’t imagine himself following orders blindly. If he ever did, it’d be because he knew the people ordering him well enough to trust them, not because they had a higher position or more power.

’Well, time to absorb this corpse before it rots.’

Dante sighed and stood up, looking at Jessica’s body and head indifferently. The next moment, he opened his hand and a crimson energy burst out of his palm.

The crimson energy tried to invade Jessica’s body, but suddenly, a dark-pink energy emerged and tried to defend it against the invasion.

Unfortunately for it, Dante’s demonic energy was stronger and overwhelmed it in only a few seconds.

With no more resistance, the crimson energy covered the body and the head and started to absorb their vitality.

Gradually, they lost their beauty, power, and youth, turning into skeletons with some dead flesh and skin covering them.

As for Dante, it was the complete opposite.

When the crimson energy returned to his body, his muscles tensed with strength, his demonic energy became denser, his beauty enhanced, and a part of his body changed.

“5 percent…” Dante whispered as he felt a big change in his right leg.

It was altering slowly, growing an exoskeleton and gaining a segment-like structure!

But Dante felt that something else changed within himself.

’Did I finally get a trait?’ Dante’s eyes sparkled with excitement at that thought.

From what he learned, any being with a bloodline would get an ability or trait every 25% awakening percent. Apparently, Dante finally got one!

Or a second one, to be precise. The Demon of Temptation was supposed to belong to the lust demons, but Greed gave it to Dante somehow.

Silver Ether Spell — Appraisal!

Dante didn’t hesitate to observe his runes and see the changes.

Dragon Bloodline: 20% → 25%

• Vitality: 102 → 103

• Demonic Energy: 93 → 106

❖ Innate Traits:

[Demonic Dragon]

⤷ Your bloodlines clash, slowing each other’s growth, but gradually fusing into something greater.

• Draconic Mutation: Right Eye, Lungs, Left Arm

• Demonic Mutation: Right Arm, Left Eye, Liver, Heart, Right Leg (New!)

• Sub-Trait: Unyielding Possession

⤷ What is yours shall never be lost permanently.

✧ Passive Abilities:

⟨Absolute Possessive Recovery⟩

⤷ Your body clings to its original state. It recovers slowly and steadily from any damage without leaving a scar, and it possesses a small resistance to aging and decay.

✧ Active Abilities:

⟨Reclaim⟩

⤷ Uses demonic energy to reattach any severed body part.

Upon reading the runes, a wide smile spread across his face.

’YES! I got regeneration!’

From what Dante understood, his body got a special kind of regeneration.

It wasn’t the kind that only healed wounds, but also healed scars, regrew limbs, resisted aging, and so on.

In other words, it’d always, no matter what, try to return to its original state.

The only downside might be that it was very slow regeneration. But it was okay!

He also had an ability to reattach any severed part immediately!

If the regeneration wasn’t fast enough to regrow an arm, he could reattach his severed arm.

If the reattached arm was in a bad condition, the regeneration would fix it!

Both abilities completed each other perfectly. If Dante was lucky, considering that he wasn’t affected by a stupid misfortune parasite anymore, he might improve that trait after advancing to Rank 3 or increasing the awakening percentage again.

’I’m not really sure, to be honest. This is just a sub-trait made in another trait due to the awakening of the demon bloodline. It might just become stronger after 25% more, after I advance in rank, or both.’

Dante shook his head and stood up. He quickly infused Jessica’s corpse with chaos energy and summoned the ritual dagger, deciding to test his new trait.

With no hesitation on his face, he brutally cut off one of his fingers, leaving only a simple “ouch” as a sign of pain.

As he held his bleeding finger, he indeed saw the difference.

His hand was slowly stopping the bleeding on its own. It was barely affected by the decay, and although he couldn’t see it yet, he felt that his flesh, skin, and bones were truly regenerating to replace the severed finger.

“Reclaim.”

Just then, crimson energy exploded out of his wound and flew toward his severed finger, pulling it back and reattaching it instantly.

’Not bad.’

He didn’t have to reattach the severed part manually. The demonic energy could do that job on its own and avoid things like attaching it at the wrong angle. It was completely automatic.

Dante felt only some numbness and pain in his finger. Obviously, he needed some time to heal it because of the decaying effect of the dagger, but Dante was okay with that.

’It will take about half an hour at most.’

With nothing else to do, Dante closed his eyes and dove into a nearby shadow.

¢¢¢

“I see… Thank you for your help. I’ll try to report this. Hopefully, they see how suspicious the giants are and decide to send help faster.” The commander bowed respectfully to Dante upon hearing all the information Dante got from Jessica.

Yes, Dante shared everything with the commander. After all, he wouldn’t gain anything from gatekeeping the information.

And of course, the commander knew long ago about what Dante had been doing to the giants. He was not only okay with it but also grateful. Why would he mind that someone was harming his enemies for him?

Though, if he learned about the “black magic”, his opinion might change.

He would think that all the food was a trap and that Dante was slowly turning them into disfigured monsters. He might also decide to use Elizabeth to threaten Dante.

The Holy Kingdom was filled with haters for anything that looked evil, which included black magic and all abyssal races.

That was why Dante did everything secretly. He even told them to be cautious about a “mysterious” black magic user attacking everyone randomly, which was supposed to be information he got from the giants.

After saying farewell to the commander, Dante met Elizabeth and the others for a few minutes before finally leaving, switching places with Fafnir.

“My lord, you’re back!”

The next moment, he immediately saw Ruby in front of him with… a red hand mark on her face.

She was jumping with immense happiness like a little rabbit, her eyes shining like a pair of pure rubies.

And of course, Dante saw what happened to her, but he didn’t interfere.

Fafnir just… hated hearing her call herself Dante’s favourite.

’Man, you should control yourself. You know she is brainwashed by that fucking sigil!’

Fafnir nodded in Elizabeth’s embrace, though Dante knew that he would likely have another fight with Ruby soon. And Ruby now didn’t dare to attack him after knowing that he was literally Dante’s shadow.

“Anyway, it’s nice to see you again.” Dante dismissed his mask and looked at Ruby with a smile: “Any news from your last journey?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Ruby nodded excitedly.

As he waited for her to explain, Dante sat on a chair and opened a book about runes. At the same time, Ruby moved behind him and began massaging his shoulders.

“Have you heard about the competition that might determine the husband for Duchess Morgana’s daughter?”

“I think I heard about that before.” Dante remembered the competition that Jin had promised to win before.

He missed that drunk guy slightly…

“Well, the registration will start in a month, and the competition itself will start in six months.”

Dante nodded calmly.

“I think I might join it.”

“But not for stupid marriage, of course.”

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