Dual System: Ascension of A Nameless Nobody

Chapter 153 Below Hell

He was taken by surprise that this time, Dae-Mon went on a full-on aggressive front, appearing right in front of him with lightning-like swiftness.

–He's not keeping a distance and using his limbs to attack?! He thought.

"I'll play your game. It seems fun," Dae-Mon grinned before grabbing him directly by his face.

Though the pink-haired devil man spoke with gentle, playful words, his actions were anything but so as he gripped his face tightly, applying an agonizing pressure to his skull before slamming him against the ground.

"Gyah–!" He spat out his own breath.

[Health -100]

Again, he was slammed, knocking his head against the ground harshly, all while Dae-Mon chuckled in frivolous delight.

[Health -100]

Again. He tried to fight against the grip, but the inhuman strength of the Artificial Devil was impossible to resist.

[Health -100]

Again. Opting to try more technical counterattacks rather than ensue a futile contest of strength, he tried wrapping his legs around the devil's arm into an armbar, but he was nothing more than a flea–unable to apply any meaningful pressure.

[Health -100]

Again. He felt his consciousness be tested as his brain rattled around the interior of his skull, trying to stabilize his breathing.

[Health -100 | 1950/3250]

And again. It finally came to an end as he was tossed against the wall, landing against it without much comfort as he coughed out, trying to coax his burning lungs into accepting oxygen once again.

Dae-Mon approached him in a nonchalant march, stretching his neck side-to-side, laughing cheerfully and eerily while doing so.

…He's a monster, no doubt about it. Lesson learned–I have to watch out for in-fighting and out-fighting. This guy is unpredictable, so…keep all avenues opened, at all times, he thought.

"Did I break you? Awh, maybe I was a bit too–" Dae-Mon grinned without any care as he knelt down to check on the young man.

However, amidst his antagonizing words, he received a sharp kick to the chin, delivered as the frizzy-haired martial artist lifted himself with his hands, delivering the blow before jumping to his feet to continue.

Drawing breaths into his sore lungs, feeling them be pressed by his aching ribs, he began his counterattack–utilizing the momentary stun inflicted on the devil to continue the swift barrage.

Many blows were launched; continuously striking the vitals he could only apply from human atony to demon anatomy before breaking off into a series of powerful kicks against the devil man's body.

With so little spirit to spare, he was forced to rely not on System-given skills, but his own techniques developed through the cultivation of taekwondo.

I can do this…! He thought.

After using a roundhouse kick against Dae-Mon's abdomen, forcing the devil to spit up saliva, he watched as something began to bubble up within the inhuman's body–a shift that would likely be bad for him.

"Flinch!"

He snapped his fingers before such an unknown alteration could occur, stunning the devil as he made sure to unleash the concussive skill directly in front of the cruel begin's face.

…I can still use skills that normally cost less than one-hundred spirit since Sage Period reduces the cost of skills by one-hundred flat. I've got to play smart–! At least until the other two find their way back! He thought.

As the Artificial Devil was momentarily stunned, slobbering as his mind was concussed for just a second, it was enough of an opportunity for him to continue his attacks, launching them desperately and sharply.

[Martial Arts Proficiency: Taekwondo: +2 | 35/9999]

[New Technique(s) Acquired: Sound Spear]

After leveling up through the tense situation, he spun around, gathering wind around his body–"Weeping Spira"--building a proper amount of force and launching the potent, air-backed kick just as Dae-Mon came to, raising his arms to block it.

Though the devil blocked it, the kick unleashed enough force to knock him back, but the Artificial Devil immediately went into his own assault the moment he was freed from the prolonged combo.

"--You're not fun," Dae-Mon said with wide, sanity-loss eyes.

The devil altered his arms into giant flails that were attached to black chains, tossing around the boulder-sized, spiky balls towards him with lethal speed.

As they came down towards him, overshadowing him with a dense force, he rolled to the side, but was immediately faced with one of the boulder-like flails hurling towards him from directly in front of him this time.

Before it could reach, he leaped over it, aiming to close the distance between himself and the angered devil as sweat dripped from his strained body.

"Huh–?! Why won't you stay still?!" Dae-Mon angrily let out this time.

He ignored the rage-filled words of the inhuman devil, rushing towards him as he naturally honed in on the new technique acquired, kicking forward as he shot his left leg forward like a bullet.

The technique required an instantaneous, maximum flex of his leg muscles and a release, giving him enough speed and force to shatter the sound barrier and slam his boot against the devil man's abhorrent face.

Distracted by rage and blind to tactics, the maddened devil was unable to react to the sound-breaking kick as it crashed against his chest, landing with a booming impact that resulted in the devil having his torso broken through as the boot pierced him with the thundering force behind it.

…Got you! He thought.

"Gyuh–!" Dae-Mon spit out black blood before being kicked back several meters by the residual force that caught up.

"...Not bad," he commented, landing on his feet after a flip backward, speaking of his new move.

Just as he claimed some little triumph, he winced in pain as the blood vessels on his eyes swelled up, making his eyes turn bloodshot as he quickly held his face.

[Prolonged usage of such enhanced reflexes will result in your eyes being gravely injured, perhaps even destroyed, Jeong-Hui. I'd suggest finishing this battle as quickly as possible.]

"You think I'm not trying that…?" He replied sharply.

He huffed, moving his hands away as he breathed heavily, hardly able to keep his eyes opened as they burned from the strain.

WOOSH.

An unholy swirl of maddening energy birthed itself from the position of the one he kicked back, looking up to witness the pink-haired devil man rise to his feet, swallowed in a swirl of darkness.

Again, Dae-Mon brought himself up as his arms dangled at his sides, looking up as his eyes were wide and unmoving.

"You…you…you…Playtime is over. How troublesome," Dae-Mon said quietly with an eerie seriousness.

He blinked a few times, squinting to look at the devil's chest to see it was still bleeding out profusely without being closed all the way.

His chest…it's not healing all of the way! He realized.

But, even with that single win and dash of hope on his side, it came with its own overwhelming negative:

A pressure unlike any other he had felt before exuded from the Artificial Devil's position in a torrent of abyssal dread.

In the face of such maddening power, a new proficiency birthed itself, simply from his fight thus far and the one ahead.

In the world of gaming, one that the young man himself was much familiar with, there was a concept that was just as important as mechanical skill and game sense–yet, it was almost an intangible factor, invisible to stats and hardly talked about.

[Clutch Factor Proficiency: +5 | 5/100]

He put on a small smile with this revelation, steadying himself as he faced his overwhelming opponent with a second wind afforded to him by miraculous effort.

"I'm just getting started," he said.

–

[Below]

"Yuck…What is this?"

Sol looked down in disgust, surrounded by a crimson swamp that his boots were sunk into; traversing the warm, slimy substance.

He looked up towards the far above ceiling, seeing the hole he fell from completely closed off, taking the repugnant shape of a crimson, fleshy sphincter, which made him shudder.

"...This day just keeps on giving, huh…?" He mumbled wryly.

Each step he took required him to lift his boots as if marching through a parade, though it was only because the slimy, scarlet swamp clung to his shoes each time he tried to take a normal step.

"Where even is this, anyway…?" He muttered to himself.

Looking around, the territory was far too vast to make sense of how it even existed. To him, it still felt as if they should be within the bounds of the hotel, but here he was, in a far-stretching domain that resembled Hell itself.

"Into The Bowels of Hell"...Is this really some sort of special technique that GOETIA users have? The old guy I encountered didn't pull out anything like this, so maybe it's exclusive to higher levels? Hmm…All I know is…He thought.

"I wanna get out of here…" He mumbled in fear and disgust of the crimson swamp.

Lifeless, gray branches sprouted from beneath the murky, shallow liquids, curving in unnatural, jagged ways and supplementing nothing of a comforting scenery.

As far as he could see, this swamp stretched on to the hellish horizon that was overlooked by a ceiling of fleshy walls that pulsated and periodically oozed more of the crimson essence down to the abhorrent lake below.

The other two fell down here, right…? I've got to find them–not because I'm scared or anything…yeah! He thought.

As he put his hands around his mouth, drawing in a breath to prepare to call out for his friends, "Je–"

He stopped, sucking in his words as he realized it might not be that good of an idea to suddenly yell out into the unknown, evil land.

…I really don't feel like attracting demons right to myself…He thought wryly with a sigh.