Chapter 16: Mental Corruption

Can a simple weapon with a sword technique change a desperate situation?

Although many people would argue that weapons were useless, believing it was pure skill that determined one’s survival.

Dante couldn’t help but disagree with them at this moment.

How could he agree while looking at this?

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a Rank 1 Shadow Fragment. Spirit absorbed: +0.1

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a Rank 1 Shadow Fragment. Spirit absorbed: +0.1

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a Rank 1 Shadow Fragment. Spirit absorbed: +0.1

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a Rank 1 Shadow Fragment. Spirit absorbed: +0.1

Four shadow marks were left on the ground, with four gems emerging from them.

Dante stood among them with a steady breath, looking coldly at the four remaining shadows.

They were the monsters who tortured him alive, the monsters who chewed his flesh as if he was a piece of meat, the monsters who absorbed his vitality until he died.

“Come to me.” Dante roared coldly as he brought his left hand to his back.

The first shadow monster charged at him, but as it extended its claw, a blurry black blade passed three times through its arm.

The monster wanted to roar in pain as its arm was sliced into three pieces, but before it could, a sharp, needle-like tip with two horns pierced its head two twice in a row.

The other three monsters surrounded Dante and lunged at him at the same time. Without hesitation, Dante spun like a wheel, cutting all of them in half.

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a Rank 1 Shadow Fragment. Spirit absorbed: +0.1

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a Rank 1 Shadow Fragment. Spirit absorbed: +0.1

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a Rank 1 Shadow Fragment. Spirit absorbed: +0.1

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a Rank 1 Shadow Fragment. Spirit absorbed: +0.1

For a moment, Dante only stared at the lifeless shadow, his gaze cold and filled with hatred. Then suddenly…

“He he, ahahaha!”

Dante fell on his knees and laughed crazily, tears flowing over his cheeks as he was hit with many complex emotions.

That was his first—the first time he had ever felt this good. To kill the monsters he hated the most, it was indeed a good feeling.

If he was that strong now, what about later? How strong would he be after learning new spells? What about later if he started using his demonic energy freely? How powerful would he be after getting a class?!

’Wait, that’s wrong.’

Dante suddenly stopped laughing as he remembered something.

He still couldn’t be sure he could kill the barbarian. And if he easily got that sword, then why wouldn’t the other people?

This was a magical world—everything was possible now. He couldn’t become arrogant because he killed a few weak monsters that didn’t even use mana.

One of them was a weak skeleton, and the others were called ’fragments’. If those monsters were only fragments, then what about the complete one?

And he didn’t forget that the first one he fought, the shadow that absorbed his vitality, was larger and had four arms. The monsters he killed weren’t in their best condition, but something like newborns.

As the demonic sword returned into a tattoo, Dante rested for a few minutes in the light before moving forward, giving a final glance to the dark room.

The darkness there was really strange. The Shadow fragments would always appear out of nowhere, as if the darkness itself gave birth to them.

He was now far more confident than before, but he didn’t want to wait and witness the birth of a monster that wasn’t a ’fragment’.

The giant skeleton was far stronger than the shadow fragments, yet it didn’t step into the darkness. The monster was terrified!

If that giant monster was scared, then why shouldn’t Dante?

As Dante checked his runes, he couldn’t help but smile.

• Spirit: 19→20

• Mind: 15→16

’Seems like the Mind stat was close to increasing, as well.’

As the link between body and soul, the Mind stat would always receive half the growth of Spirit. The runes didn’t show the exact same number, so it was stuck on 15 even though it was closer to 16.

Thinking about that, Dante remembered an ability he hadn’t used more than one time, always scared of its consequences.

He could see the spirit value.

This ability didn’t seem useful at first glance, but it could have actually saved him two or three times.

If he used it on the skeleton and it really had spirit, he’d have known that it wasn’t actually dead. If he used that ability to see his shadow, he’d have known early that the shadow fragment was hiding there.

’I need to find a way to use it safely someday.’

As Dante was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly felt familiar footsteps.

In an instant, his tattoo turned into a sword. He held it gracefully and waited for the monster.

A moment later, a familiar face emerged from the corner.

It was a giant skeleton with a small, white gem in its skull, holding a giant warhammer on its shoulder.

The skeleton noticed Dante instantly. It stared at him with its hollow eyes for a second, then it held its hammer with two hands and charged at Dante.

Maybe due to Dante’s new trait, he didn’t feel that much fear.

’Let’s see the new active ability.’

His sword shimmered with a crimson-black color, absorbing 20% of his demonic and spiritual energy.

The sword trembled in his grip as he swung horizontally.

Sword Ability — Abyssal Slash!

A thin, crimson-black, abyss-like slash flew toward the skeleton without a sound, silently cutting the air on its path.

The giant skeleton didn’t slow down—it headed toward the slash and swung its hammer.

Boom!

The impact caused a shockwave in the corridor. Dante squinted his eyes to see the result, only to find the skeleton standing in its place without a scratch.

Thankfully, the hammer wasn’t as lucky.

Small cracks spiderwebbed all across the hammer’s head, showing that it might shatter soon.

Dante’s jaw fell in disbelief at his own attack. Previously, his enhanced sword and demonic bullets couldn’t do anything to the skeleton’s body, let alone its weapon!

Without a hint of hesitation, Dante sliced the air again

Sword Ability — Abyssal Slash!

Boom!

The cracks on the hammer increased, even reaching the hammer’s grip.

Sword Ability — Abyssal Slash!

The third slash passed through the hammer without resistance and made a deep cut on the skeleton’s thick neck.

A crazy smile spread across Dante’s face.

’Not enough!’

Sword Ability — Abyssal Slash!

The fourth slash finally cut the skeleton’s head off. The skeleton fell immediately with a loud *thud*. A moment later, runes appeared in front of Dante.

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a Rank 1 Ogre Skeleton. Spirit absorbed: +0

“Wonderful… truly WONDERFUL. HAHAHAHA!”

Dante’s smile widened, revealing his white teeth. He laughed loudly and was ready to slash again, but he suddenly stopped himself as his face returned to normal.

He suddenly got the urge to enhance his body with demonic energy.

The wide smile appeared again.

Before he could do anything, all the emotions disappeared again.

’What the fuck?’

He smiled for a third time.

Then he slapped himself to stop the smile.

’Is this… corruption?!’

When his smile returned for the fourth time, Dante gritted his teeth and punched himself, stopping all the thoughts of using his demonic energy again.

’Mental corruption?’

He understood now why the elder warned him about the corruption. He had used 80% of his demonic energy on those four attacks, consuming more than 16 points of his demonic energy, so it affected him far more than when he used only 9.

The corruption wanted to become more corrupted. If he actually used that skill again, would he have lost his mind?

Dante didn’t want to know the answer. He was reminded of how dangerous the demonic energy was.

’My maximum is 16 for now…’

That was the maximum amount of demonic energy he could use without losing his mind. As for the physical corruption, he wasn’t sure about it. It needed some tests that he wasn’t willing to do.

Immediately, Dante walked to the skeleton and took the gem out of its head before putting it in his pocket: ’Now, I only have to wait.’

Dante sat down and waited patiently to see what the timer would do. He wanted to train, but if the barbarian showed up suddenly, that would cause him to face her in a weakened state.

Feeling bored, Dante could only skim through all the knowledge, memories, and information in his head to pass the time.

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