The Gamer's System

Chapter 72: Ethereal Form

[Skill Name: The One Who Cheats Death]

[Cost: 40 Skill Points]

[Rank: N/A]

[Skill Type: Passive]

[Information: Upon death, the user of the skill momentarily gains a body that is immune to all kinds of damage. This is in the form of black mana, the same that emanates from the goddess of death and, the goddess of darkness.]

[Information: The skill stacks up all the damage received by the user before death. The damage received is turned into attribute point which will be divided evenly to the skill user's stats.]

[Information: While on this state, all the gamer's skills are automatically upgraded to their highest ranking. And, additional skills only available to this form are added to the ones which can be used.]

[Information: Although seemingly strong, the user of the skill cannot damage those that did not take part in killing him or her. And, upon taking down the murderer, the user will go back to his/her original body. The skill user will then pay the penalty of having his/her level decreased day by day until, he/she goes back to level 1.]

[Information: The skill cannot be used by the same person twice under normal circumstances.]

This is all the data which Zeke considered before buying the skill. The reason why he was reluctant to get it at first is because of the last set of information given by the skill. If he uses it now, he cannot use it again against Gallio and.

Another problem which has now come up is that, he needs to fight Gallio as soon as possible. With his level decreasing day by day, his attribute points will also go down. Hence, after this fight he needs to find a way in order to beat the Elven King within the shortest interval of time.

No matter what monster he defeats and, no matter what strategy he employs, there is no escaping the level subtractor. As soon as the [Dragon Hydra] is defeated, things need to proceed quickly. With all this considered, Zeke still bought the skill.

He knew that the situation demanded that he buys this skill. There isn't much of a choice as the barrier also prevents any means of escape. Adding to this is the issue of having more heads to deal with.

And thus, Zeke bought the skill. He fought the monster using all the health added; as well as all the defensive buffs. Meeting his inevitable demise, Zeke's skill proceeded to activating. And right now, all of them are to witness a creature whose strength cannot be rivaled by any mortal.

Dark flames rose from the part of the magma where Zeke's body was drowned. This stopped Sylph who thought of going in and saving Zeke. The flames grew larger and larger until, the sky swirled with ominous dark clouds once again. This time however, it is much thicker. As if the heavens are not allowed to see what would happen next.

Then, the dark flame became a strong beacon of darkness that connected to the swirling clouds. This created a strong wind that sucked everything nearby. Even some of the [Dragon Hydra's] heads began getting sucked in. This forced the creature to back away as it also felt the danger looming in.

The leaves on the trees rustled and, the branches began cracking one by one, torn due to the force of the winds which became even stronger as the seconds passed. It was almost as if a black hole formed. This thought on the head of the Windsprite siblings' head even got stronger as, they saw the [Dragon Hydra's] skills get absorbed by the dark pillar of flames.

Then, the flame finally bursted outwards. This destroyed all the spells which the [Dragon Hydra] currently used. Nothing was burnt from these ominous flames and, in the middle of the blast is a creature that floated on top of the magma. It has the form of a human being, with eyes that glowed white. Yet, there are no clothes, no armor, no hair, no facial features, only the figure of a mortal human cloaked in black flames that continued ascending upwards.

Everyone felt a cold chill run down their spine and, even the [Dragon Hydra] halted from making any further attacks. There was only silence and, this came from the black shadowy figure that rose from the magma. At this, Allesiah immediately screamed; averting her gaze from the creature as soon as it came out.

"Allesiah what's wrong?" Sylvia said, worried about their sister.

"That thing. It's emitting an even stronger corrupted mana." She said, covering her eyes with her hands and trembling in fear.

"I only looked at it for a second and, it already felt like my heart would instinctively burst from fear." She finished.

They couldn't confirm it but, they already had the idea that this creature is Zeke. Allesiah even added that, the flame looking substance is actual corrupted mana. And, with how immense it is, even Sylvia and Sylph can see it in the form of flames. No logic could explain to them how in the name of Mythos could a human turn into an incarnation of darkness itself. 

Zeke looked at the enemy and, the [Dragon Hydra] instinctively backed away from fear. But then, its pride got the better of it. Not accepting that the tiny creature could possibly be any threat to a hydra such as itself. Hence, it began attacking and, this time, releasing everything it's got unto every spell that mixed together and rained upon Zeke.

Wind. Ice. Fire. Magma. Thunder. Light. Darkness. Explosions. Water. Crystal. Earth. Steel. Snow. Plants. Poison. Corrosion. Decay. Tremor. Barriers. This is everything that the [Dragon Hydra] has in its arsenal. And yet, none of it worked on Zeke. 

With a single slash of his hand, all the skills got nullified. The [Dragon Hydra] prepared to strike again but then, Zeke pointed his finger at the neck of the beast and made a horizontal line. Immediately, the necks of the [Dragon Hydra] got sliced off one by one.

"How is that even possible?" Sylph commented, looking at the shadow-like figure toy with the same creature which cornered them a while ago.

"I'm not sure but, if that thing is really Zeke then I'm sure that there is a large price to pay after that form ends." Allesiah said, refusing to look at the creature as it will only make her feel nauseated and dizzy.

Meanwhile, the ethereal form of Zeke continued toying with the [Dragon Hydra]. He made a single step and, suddenly vanished from everyone's sight. One would think that Zeke disappeared but, this is not the case. 

Zeke used [Perfect Flash Step] with the added skill of [Shadow Movement]. The [Dragon Hydra] felt the corrosion from the dagger again. This weapon is still stuck to its body and, holding on to it is Zeke. He looked up with his glowing circular white eyes and, a mouth suddenly showed as Zeke made a menacing smile.

The [Dragon Hydra] immediately went for a counterattack. Its tail aimed at Zeke without any hesitation but, this is stopped by Zeke's hand without even any effort. He then continued to slicing the blade downward and, as he did, the lower body of the [Dragon Hydra] got sliced in half.

The creature screamed as blood continued flooding out of its body. And this caused it to rampage even more. This time, releasing skills which aimed for the Windsprites. However, this is once again countered by Zeke as, his conjures came out to shield the blow. Something different also happened with his conjures as, they blazed with the same dark mana that covers Zeke. And as his powers grew, so did his conjures.

The battle continued a while longer. By sacrificing two of its heads, the [Dragon Hydra] was able to heal through the fatal wound caused by Zeke. But then, Erio and Lupus stepped up and cornered the monster as they brought a balanced mix of offense and defense.

Erio then planted his sword unto the monster's foot. This is followed by Zeke conjuring the same sword four more times. The blades floated around him as he jumped up. The [Dragon Hydra] wasted no time and used [Hail Storm] on Zeke. Yet, this had no effect once again. Zeke then continued to stretching his left arm and, using his pointing finger to aim at the monster's other feet.

He then made a shooting motion one after the other. And at this, the blades followed through. At first, the [Dragon Hydra] was able to block the blows. But the, Zeke only created more swords continuing the assault on and on until all four feet had swords that dug right through them. Following this right away is a black version of [Poison Cloud] which immediately killed of a lot of heads from the [Dragon Hydra].

The monster did continue regenerating with more heads coming out each and every time. However, this didn't matter as Zeke still overpowered the creature. And, as [The One Who Cheats Death] states, the skill won't end until the target is killed. 

Right now, Zeke isn't fully conscious. But his ethereal form still recognizes the need for materials in order to survive the de-leveling process. Hence, he added the number of [Hydra] heads intentionally. Knowing that, when severed, these will be valuable sources of materials after the fight.

The sisters watched this scene. There isn't anything they could do at the moment. Not with the Hydra having more and more heads as time passed. And, they couldn't possibly aid a creature that felt too dangerous to get close to.

Then, with the [Dragon Hydra] finally reaching a hundred heads, Zeke conjured two new creatures to the battlefield. 

With all his skills getting maxed out during [The One Who Cheats Death] is in duration, it means that his [Conjure] is also at its peak. And, one of the functions of [Conjure] is the automatic animation of any party member or slave which has bee killed in battle. Hence, Zeke summoned Sebastian and Harun, with both servants having the same color and aura as he. 

The [Dragon Hydra] roared, now containing a hundred different spells which it can use. But this didn't matter. Zeke proceeded to stabbing the creature right on its chest one again. 

Sebastian followed this through by creating walls that held down each and every head of the [Dragon Hydra]. Sebastian then proceeded to covering each mouth with a defensive spell that fumed with the same black mana. The [Dragon Hydra] tried its best to fight but, it couldn't do anything with the current situation. And just like this, Harun vaulted up on the sky using her conjured spear and, in a split second, sliced off all the heads of the Dragon Hydra. 

Because of the interval in cutting out the heads, there is a high chance that the [Dragon Hydra] will not resurrect anymore. But then, Zeke made sure to end the creature's life as began mumbling a bunch of ancient and archaic words.

"Reizon!" The ethereal Zeke said, bursting the black flames right through the monster's body. And, finally, the quest window popped up once more.

[The Dragon Hydra has been slain.]