224 Chapter 224: Experimental Duel (1/2)

”How fitting.” The female Assassin giggled, even as Shun Yin quickly stepped in front of Mei to protect her. ”This place is a coliseum to test out the combat ability of summoned spirits in our dimension, did you know? I'm sure the higher-ups wouldn't mind if we carry out an unauthorized experiment. The data would be invaluable.”

Shun Yin struggled to make out the silhouette of the new beast. It seemed impossibly human, just engorged to incredible sizes. A goliath with glowing red eyes and a mane of long, stringy black hair dangling from its crown. It let out a bestial roar as it stomped on the ground with one of its legs, cracking the concrete.

”We've been testing these spirits out against various Assassins, but that's not a fair experiment. After all, pitting these poor things against trained killers is just…imbalanced. We need more accurate data. This is a great chance to see how spirits fare against regular combat mages, the kind of enemies they would be facing more often.”

”So we're basically guinea pigs, huh?” Glen grumbled under his breath. Shun Yin stayed silent as he shielded Mei and observed the newly appeared bellowing enemy.

For some reason, Shun Yin had the impression that a lion had possessed a man, turning him into something that was half-beast and half-human. Towering over three meters, the creature's skin was largely gray, though Shun Yin couldn't tell if the color was from its fur or from its flesh. As he saw previously, the huge mane of stringy hair seemed to crown its head in a majestic manner, marking the dude out as a male. Standing on two legs, the fingers on the beast's two hands curved into razor-sharp claws, and the mouth opened up to reveal two rows of glistening fangs. A dark, cloudy aura seemed to permeate the monster's body, giving off a tyrannical gloom.

”The Crimson Eyed Lion King,” he whispered.

”Oh? That's a pretty apt name.” the female Assassin sounded both amused and impressed. ”You are partially correct. We attempted to possess Subject #47 with a lion spirit. The spirit of a lion king, if I'm not mistaken. We succeeded…only partially, but the spirit seems to burn out the host pretty quickly. Even though Subject #47 obtained unprecedented physical strength and monstrous power, I think he only has less than two weeks left to live before his life force is completely consumed.”

”You bastards!” Glen growled. The female Assassin shrugged nonchalantly.

”Sacrifices are inevitable if we wish to progress.”

”Then why don't you sacrifice yourself instead of others?” Shun Yin snapped, his temper fraying at the sheer hypocrisy.

”Don't be stupid.” The female Assassin giggled. ”If we sacrifice ourselves and die, who's left to continue the research…the project? You should be considering the bigger picture. If we succeed in this project, the human race will obtain an immeasurable strength against monsters. The Global Federation will gain a tactical advantage over the Empires.”

The lion spirit possessed dude couldn't care less about standing around and waiting for the humans to spend half the episode delivering explanations. With a feral bellow, he pounced on Shun Yin and Glen.

”!!!”

The both of them immediately split up, with Shun Yin grabbing hold of Mei and jumping to the side. The impact of the landing was so tremendous that the lion dude smashed a hole into the ground, dropping to all fours with a growl.

Instead of standing up, the lion dude spun around and lashed out with his arm. Shun Yin initially found himself confused by that act – the possessed guy was too far away to reach either him or Glen with his claws.

Then the claws abruptly elongated and streaked toward him like missiles, the keratin stretching endlessly and curving in midair to adjust the trajectory in which it was traveling in, so as to hit the evading Shun Yin and his charge.

”Damn it!”

Cursing, Shun Yin swung his sword and incinerated the incoming claws. All five were burned into a crisp before they could reach him or Mei.

While the lion dude's attention was focused on him, Glen seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack. Raising his hands, he sent several bolts of lightning lancing across the coliseum and struck the possessed guy ferociously.

Boom!

The entire area was immediately filled with static and ozone, the lethal lightning crackling around the area where the lion dude was. Despite the deadly electricity continuing to dance and strike him, the possessed guy merely stood up on both legs, seemingly unaffected.

”No way…he's unscathed even though I landed a direct hit on him?!”

Glen glared at the lion dude in disbelief, and was forced to dodge when the enemy swung his arm in his direction, launching another volley of stretchable claws.

”This fucker…”

While the lion dude was distracted with Glen, Shun Yin put Mei down and made use of the opportunity to launch a wave of fire at him. The lion dude ceased his pursuit of the lightning mage and turned toward the fire mage before he disappeared in a raging inferno.

”Did you get him?” Glen asked as he skidded to a stop, panting heavily and watching in relief as the claws that were chasing him were burned to a crisp.

”How can it be that easy?” Shun Yin retorted, his eyes still on the inferno. He also glanced warily in the Assassins' direction, aware that they could launch a sneak attack on the two high school students while they were busily occupied with the lion dude. ”They wouldn't be weaponizing spirits and locking that possessed person up here if they were so weak.”

”Correct.” The female Assassin chuckled, impressed. ”And you don't have to worry about me or Brad interfering. We need to collect invaluable combat data on how the spirit hosts fare against regular mages in real battle. The two of us joining in would skew the data, and we want to know the limits and maximum capabilities of the spirit vessels. It wouldn't be useful if we end up doing most of the work.”

”I'm so grateful,” Glen muttered sarcastically, only to jump to the side when something burst out of the flames and struck the ground where he had been standing on. His eyes widened. ”What the hell was that?!”

”…”

Shun Yin managed to grab Mei and evade the crimson streaks, weaving through a web of them before he withdrew to a safe distance. Keeping his eyes on the lion spirit vessel, he watched in horror as his inferno was ripped apart.

The lion spirit vessel emerged, crimson lightning bathing his titanic form. He turned to somehow glare at both Shun Yin and Glen with his demonic red eyes, despite the both of them being at opposite sides of the room. Even if he wasn't directly facing them, they could still feel his predatory, murderous gaze upon them.

”What the hell is that thing!?” Glen demanded, fear lacing his trembling voice. ”It's completely different from any monster I've faced before.”

”That's because he's not a monster,” Shun Yin explained softly. ”He's a human who has been possessed by a spirit.”

”What's the difference?!”