Chapter 43 (1/2)
Chapter 43: Occult Viktor (2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Whatever was happening to Viktor got more and more horrific.
Smoky vapors flowed into his nostrils, and his body began to shake violently. Then, a scarlet gas surged out from his skin’s pores, circulated around his body, and turned into a sturdy blood-red shield.
Within the shield, Viktor’s build and figure visibly became stronger and stronger!
Link was overwhelmed by a looming sense of danger as he witnessed this grotesque event unfold in front of him—he’d seen something like this happen before!
It occurred in the East Cove Magic Academy, probably half a year after the game was launched. It was also the reason behind an infamous accident that happened in the academy.
There was a Level-6 Magician called Bale there who was caught researching dark magic without permission. He was, in fact, working on the most sinister branch of dark magic—demon summoning. Indeed, when he was discovered, it was right at the time when he was performing a ritual to summon the demons!
The dean of the academy, Master Magician Anthony, assembled many Level-6 Master Magicians to stop Bale’s summoning. However, due to the clash of the spells, Bale’s Mage Tower collapsed and the elements pooled together in high quantities until it reached an overload, resulting in a violent eruption that swept these elements across half of the academy.
But it didn’t stop there!
When Bale was killed, a black crystal appeared on his body, which absorbed all of Bale’s blood. He was then resurrected as a horrible undead monster!
This monster not only knew all of Bale’s spells, it also had a very strong anti-magic body. When it was in a battle with the Master Magicians of the academy, the strange monster had crushed the demon Tarviss’s seal barrier, causing the demon to re-emerge and escape.
When Link was participating in this mission in the game, he had seen with his own eyes how the Master Magician Bale had been raised from the dead, and it was a sight he would never forget!
And now, Viktor’s body was transforming in exactly the same way!
“Quick! We have to get out of here!” shouted Link.
The black crystal was called Occultic Runes. It contained countless amounts of prohibited dark magic runes, and when it was stimulated by fresh blood, it could enable the blood’s owner to possess demonic power!
After this occult transformation, the person would lose their humanity and become ruthless and bloodthirsty. In addition, their strength and power would increase at least twofold, and their skin would be endowed with potent anti-magic capacity, becoming a barrier that blocked external elements. In short, the transformation would turn them into a vicious killing machine!
Even though the process of occult transformation could be halted, it required a massive amount of energy, at least as powerful as the runes’ creator. But the creator of these magic runes was an extraordinary demon, while the strength of even the average demon was already insurmountably enormous!
In the game, even the Level-7 Master Magician Anthony was incapable of stopping the occult transformation process. In fact, he couldn’t even destroy Bale’s corpse because the Occultic Runes’ power protected it, just as the blood-colored shield is now protecting Viktor’s body.
This was because the creator of the Occultic Runes was the imprisoned Tarviss—a notorious demon who possessed Legendary power!
Link was cautious. He slowly backed away from Viktor’s corpse while keeping his eyes fixed on the crystal beside it. Then, a notification popped up on the interface.
Occultic Runes
Quality: Legendary
Effects: Corrupts a form of life in the Realm of Light to possess demonic characteristics and power.
(Note: If you are not a Legendary Magician, don’t even think about stopping the occult transformation process. Brace yourself for a fierce battle!)
A Legendary item—that meant that the creator was a Legendary demon. Link would never believe that this black crystal that appeared now in Girvent Forest had nothing to do with the Legendary demon Tarviss.
He thought the Occult Runes crystal’s creator must be the very same Tarviss from the game!
But why would Tarviss’ Occultic Runes be here? Link was stumped for an answer, but he knew that the Occult Viktor would possess an immense power when he got resurrected, a power that even the combined forces of the three mercenaries and himself would not match up. Naturally, for now, retreating was the best and only option.
Still, Link couldn’t resist putting up a fight, so while he was retreating, he waved his wand and a glass orb appeared and shot out towards the Occult Viktor. The orb hit the target easily, but it landed with a soft poof on the blood-red shield, not even disturbing its surface.
That put an end to his hopes of stopping the occult transformation process.
The mercenaries trusted Link’s opinions, so when they saw signs of him beginning to panic, they immediately and quickly fell back. All of them were equipped with Cat’s Agility so they bolted at a high-speed, but as they reached the opening of the cave passageway, Link’s footsteps stopped abruptly.
“Stop running, it’s too late now!” He felt a sudden change and movements coming from the chaos of the dark aura behind him.
Just as he finished his sentence, the occult transformation was complete.
The effects of Occultic Runes were such that the weaker the target, the quicker the occult transformation. In the game, it took 15 seconds to transform the Level-6 Magician Bale, but now with Occult Viktor, it only needed less than five seconds.
Jacker and Lucy stopped immediately, but Gildern followed his instincts and kept on running.
Link bellowed at him, “Come back! Our only chance is to join our forces against the monster and defeat him! Otherwise, even if we escaped the cave, he’d still get us. This monster is out for revenge; it won’t stop until we’re dead!”
Gildern’s body shivered, and he immediately stopped running.
Just at this moment, the four heard a croaky voice coming from behind them, “You think you’re going to kill me? Ha, you fools are optimistic.”