Chapter 31 – Annihilation

Volume 1: Apocalypse Beginning

"This Ancient Demon, its first ability is…"

"Annihilation (SS-Rank): Imbues its attacks with the purest Demon Qi. For ten seconds, any material touched by its attacks will be directly annihilated under the influence of mysterious power. Ignores level and defensive items."

"This is the entirety of this Ancient Demon's power."

After the childish voice finished speaking, Wen Yu fell into deep thought.

The Ancient Demon before him was strong-or rather, the entire Ancient Demon Clan was strong.

Even without any skill enhancements, their basic attributes could reach the level of Wen Yu's Combat State, and in fact, every Ancient Demon was like this!

In the whole world, how many Hidden Classes like Soul Master exist? Very few.

The most terrifying thing was that the Ancient Demon's skills were too powerful.

With each level up, they gain a skill of Rank A or higher. The higher the level, the stronger the power. This degree of power increase is a mountain pressing down on all of humanity.

The Ancient Demon before him possessed the skill Annihilation, which was unimaginably strong.

Because this was a skill that ignored level differences. Imagine, if this Ancient Demon used this skill and struck a level ten Class Holder, the result would be instant death. There are very few skills capable of such an effect.

"Then, let's begin."

The childish voice sounded again.

At the same time, the Ancient Demon opposite Wen Yu moved.

As if it had been asleep for a long time, the Ancient Demon first stretched its body, producing a series of crackling noises.

Then, a black light slowly flashed across its entire body, gradually merging into its form and then disappearing.

"Be careful, that's Annihilation being activated. As long as you endure for ten seconds, this ability won't be effective for a while."

Before the words had finished, the Ancient Demon charged at Wen Yu with incredible speed. Though it had lost its intelligence, its combat instincts told it that these ten seconds would be the watershed between victory and defeat-every second counted.

The Ancient Demon's physical attributes were not much different from Wen Yu's. In Combat State, Wen Yu could keep up with its speed.

Seeing the Ancient Demon approach, Wen Yu quickly retreated, pushing off with both feet and instantly moving back more than five meters.

This retreat earned Wen Yu an extra 0.5 seconds.

Then, just as Wen Yu steadied himself, the Ancient Demon's figure was already upon him.

A whistling sound came as two left arms of the Ancient Demon attacked: one fist swung at Wen Yu, while the other, fingers spread wide, struck down from above, taking advantage of its height. At the same time, its slender tail stabbed viciously from the right.

It attacked Wen Yu from three directions in an instant, and each was shrouded in black light. In just a split second, Wen Yu felt immense danger rushing toward him.

There was no such thing as defense-if struck, annihilation was certain.

Wen Yu's year of combat experience in the Apocalypse came into play. Although the Ancient Demon's combat instincts were strong, unless those instincts reached their peak, how could they compare to the experience of fighting for one's life?

Wen Yu swiftly dodged the downward claw, then struck the Ancient Demon's left fist with his War Blade, deflecting it with great force. At the same time, his left hand seized the opportunity to grab the lower end of the tail, where the black light hadn't covered, and with a twist of his waist, he flung the Ancient Demon away with all his might.

After that, Wen Yu turned and fled at top speed.

Because Wen Yu had discovered a problem: his Soul Strike was completely ineffective against the Ancient Demon before him.

This was Wen Yu's oversight – as a puppet, he had no soul, so his Soul Strike couldn't affect the Ancient Demon.

Originally, Wen Yu's plan relied on the immense pain and damage caused by Soul Strike. If he seized the opportunity, he wouldn't need many attacks – on the order of dozens of slashes would be enough to finish off the Ancient Demon. Moreover, the pain from Soul Strike was enough to turn anyone with a weak will into a punching bag, unable to fight back. Unfortunately, since the Ancient Demon was immune to Soul Strike, Wen Yu's plan was rendered useless. With only an F-Rank War Blade, inflicting enough damage on the Ancient Demon would take far too long; the scales covering its body were definitely not just for show.

In this situation, Wen Yu's only option was to run – to survive until the Annihilation skill's timer ran out, and then engage the Ancient Demon in close combat. With both sides having similar physical attributes and no skill abilities, the fight would come down to battle experience and willingness to risk it all – Wen Yu was not at a disadvantage in these respects.

The Ancient Demon, thrown to the ground, immediately stood up. Watching Wen Yu flee farther and farther away, its lifeless eyes showed no emotion. It simply stretched its thick legs and quickly chased after Wen Yu.

In terms of speed alone, Wen Yu was actually faster than the Ancient Demon. Unfortunately, the Arena was limited in space, and by the eighth second, the Ancient Demon had managed to close the distance.

The first to attack was the Ancient Demon's tail. Its sharp tail whipped through the air with a piercing shriek, stabbing rapidly toward Wen Yu.

Seeing the attack approach, Wen Yu dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the tail. At the same time, his Steel Blade slashed out swiftly, striking the Ancient Demon's chest. A strong resistance ran up the blade, and Wen Yu saw the Ancient Demon's arm already rising. Not daring to test its defenses any further, he quickly retreated, barely evading the Ancient Demon's follow-up attack.

"The damage is negligible." Wen Yu sighed in frustration as he looked at the wound on the Ancient Demon's body. That last slash had only shattered a row of scales, leaving a small blood mark on its chest – and judging by the wound, it would heal soon.

"Ding – ten seconds have passed! Congratulations, Little One, your chance of victory has increased to twenty percent." The childish voice sounded in Wen Yu's ear once again, and Wen Yu let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." Wen Yu sincerely thanked this mysterious presence. If it hadn't revealed the Ancient Demon's skills, Wen Yu would have definitely tried to test its strength. If he were hit, he'd be seriously injured at best; if struck in a vital spot, he'd be killed instantly, with no chance of surviving the Ancient Demon's attack.

"No need to thank me. Oh, and a friendly reminder: the Ancient Demon's Annihilation skill can only be activated after thirty minutes. Do your best, young man."

Seeing that the greatest obstacle had passed, Wen Yu knew it was time to fight for his life.

Moreover, Wen Yu understood that the twenty percent chance of victory mentioned by the childish voice wasn't far off.

The biggest challenge wasn't that his weapon was weak and couldn't seriously injure the Ancient Demon. The Steel Blade, while not sharp enough, could at least inflict some damage.

The real difficulty lay in the sheer number of attack points the Ancient Demon possessed: four claws, a tail, two legs, and even sharp teeth. And what did Wen Yu have? Just a Steel Blade.