Chương 22: No Evidence of the Battle
Graah!!
Growl!
Like a berserk animal, the Imps are trying their hardest to reach Samael who already crawled to a safe distance away from the red gate portal. Despite it being clear to them that they can't reach him anymore, at least not if they can't get out of the red gate portal, they are still trying their hardest.
Each of their claws leaves a demonic mark on the ground, the Imps look at him murderously.
It's like their sole purpose is to drag Samael down with them, but there's no point as the portal started to close onto them. While the portal is becoming smaller and smaller, an invisible force pulls the Imps into the hellish plane once again.
Samael watches this with his back against the tree, still cold sweating profusely.
Only when the Imps have finally swallowed again into the ground again, and the portal closes, leaving the entire place surrounded by the darkness of the night again can Samael sighs in relief as he falls flat onto the ground.
Facing the night sky that is filled with fresh air, Samael can't help but smile.
"F-Finally... free at last!"
Inhaling the fresh night air that doesn't smell burnt like the hellish plane he was in earlier, the smile on his face keeps on becoming wider as he let both of his arms lay on either side of his body.
Although he doesn't know how much time has passed, he feels like he was there for an eternity.
Samael feels like he was a prisoner at this very moment who is for the first time stepping outside after years and years of being locked underneath the ground, every sensation that his body has been heightened to the utmost limit.
Even the breeze of the night feels oddly pleasant as he lies on the hard ground.
Just as he steadies his breathing and relax for a bit, a notification from the Anti-System appeared right in front of his eyes, beckoning him to read it. 'Reward breakdown...? What is that' Samael thought.
[Congratulation to the anti-host for managing to exit the Ruin of the Underworld despite the Imps' attempt to stop the anti-host! Does the anti-host wants to view the total rewards breakdown from the visit?]
'Show me the rewards' Samael thought as he might as well see it.
Immediately after he said that inside his mind, the characters inside the purple holographic box changed into an interface similar to when he was viewing his status window earlier. The only difference was the content of this interface.
[Ruin of the Underworld Attempt Rewards]
Demons Killed:
Lesser Imps - 10
Greater Imps - 5
Total Exp Gained: 450
[The anti-host has reached level 2!]
[The anti-host has reached level 3!]
Upon looking at this, Samael frowned as a wave of confusion hits him. 'Level...? What is that?'
[Level represents the growth of the anti-host, the higher the level the stronger the anti-host becomes. The only way to increase your level is through accumulating exp, and exp can be gained through killing other living beings or finishing quests]
'Isn't that just realms? Like Novice, Senior Apprentice, and Mage?' Samael asked again.
[Yes, but consider the level as small realms instead of major realms]
Samael nodded his head as he more or less grasped the level term, he then decided to open his status window again just to see the changes. Since the Anti-System stated that levels would make him stronger, he's curious as to how much stronger he got from reaching level 3.
[Status Window]
Name: Samael Varius Molantar
Race: Greater Being
Level: 3 (125/400)
Anti-Level: 1 (0/100)
Insanity: 46% - (46%)
Strength: 250 -> 254
Agility: 135 -> 139
Endurance: 350 -> 354
Intelligence: 300
Attributable Stats: 0 -> 6
Skill Points: -
Inspecting his new status window, he finds that there are not many changes in it.
Each of his physical stats was increased by 4 points which means each level raised them by an additional 2. He also gained 6 attributable tats, equivalent to 3 per level. Samael then asked inside his head, 'Anti-System, can you explain what Anti-Level, Insanity, and Attributable Stats are?'
Samael has just gotten away from death essentially, and his body is hurting.
As he was taking a moment for himself already, he decided to learn more about the Anti-System and how exactly it can help him become stronger. It's better to learn about it now rather than later.
More importantly, he already swears to himself to not slack off if given the opportunity.
Now that the opportunity is already within his grasp despite not being the opportunity he thought he would have, he can still make use of this to reach his goals in this evil and dark world that he hated.
Responding to the questions, a couple of notifications replaced the status window interface.
[Anti-Level]
Anti-Level is a special level, separate from the general level that would measure the strength of the anti-host's demonic side - and this can only be increased through gaining anti-experience from quests. Increasing the Anti-Level would also provide skill points that can be used to upgrade existing skills to turn them into stronger versions.
[Insanity]
Measure the condition of the anti-host's mind, the higher the Insanity the more unstable the anti-host becomes. It's measured through the difference between the general level and the Anti-Level of the anti-host.
[Attributable Stats]
A free-to-be-allocated stat point, gained from increasing the anti-host's general level.
Upon scanning the answers to his questions earlier, Samael's eyes are fixated on the description of the Anti-Level as he finds out what the thought turns out to be true. 'So I really did turn into a demon...'
But as he thought of that, Samael frowned realizing something.
Reading the description of the Anti-Level all over again trying to see whether he was reading it right, his eyes widened finding that there was something that catches his attention. 'Measure the strength of the anti-host's demonic side...' he repeated the words written in the description box.
It was a subtle hidden message, but he was able to decipher it.
'If Demon is only a side of me, what's the other one? Am I half-human half-demon' Samael thought in confusion. Although he hoped that he still retains some humanity, there's no way in affirming this.
Samael then decided to just shake his head and focus on the situation at hand.
As he blinks his eyes a couple of times, he sits up with a light groan coming out of his mouth. Due to the Imps, his body retains numerous injuries here and there which causes this pain all over his body.
Mostly claw wounds that make his legs keep on bleeding profusely.
Now that he managed to reach outside, he looks around the place to find where is he right now. But it didn't take long before he recognized the place, and a hint of sorrow strikes his heart once again.
Despite it being nighttime, Samael can still clearly tell where he is right now.
Looking at the gate across the open field that is still there as if nothing has happened to it, he realized that he's standing in front of the Canyon of Virtue once again. It's the place where his force and Cyrus' force clash for the last time.
It was the place where the loyalists to his father gave up their lives for him.
Samael glances around the place and finds that the open place was completely empty, he felt guilty remembering those mages who sacrificed their lives for him, and yet he doesn't get the System that is supposed to be his.
Even though he gains the Anti-System now, it still makes him feel very guilty.
While he was gazing across the open field, Samael frowned as he finds there not a hint of the battle that happened here can be seen. Most of the loyalists were outclassed and slaughtered, but there should definitely be some evidence of the fight.
Forcing himself to stand on his feet strugglingly, Samael started to look around.
"I might not look back that much when the fight is commencing, but I swear I hear most of the mages exploding their magic core in a desperate attempt to hold back Cyrus' forces. But I can't see any burn mark or anything, it's as if the battle has never happened..." Samael mutters to himself, clearly finding this very, very weird.
As he was looking around, his eyes then caught a shiny object buried in the ground.
Hovering towards the object, he kneels down to take it and realized that it was a ring. Samael brought the ring under the moonlight and finds that it was family, 'Isn't this Norman's ring...?' he thought.
But he become sure when he saw the letter N engraved on the ring.
Samael asked Norman about this ring long ago, and he replied that this ring is a present given by his late wife who also has a name that starts with N. It reminded him of her, and thus he wears it all the time.
Just then, Samael's expression darkens as he clenched the ring in his hand.
As the ring is lying on the ground unattended, it's safe to assume that Norman is definitely taken by Cyrus. Samael's clenched hand trembles more violently thinking that Norman might be tortured at this very moment.
For a moment, Samael keeps kneeling at the center of the open field alone in the night.
"RAAARGGHHH!!!"
Out of nowhere, Samael shouted at the top of his lungs with a voice filled with anguish as he lets out the pent-up frustration and anger inside of him from thinking the fact that Norman might be tortured right now. It bothers his mind immensely.
Putting both of his hands above the ground, he gripped the dirt hard to channel his anger.
Looking at the ground with bulging eyes, Samael then swears to himself that he would not stop until he's able to save the savior that accompanied and protected him throughout the hard years of being pursued by the Divine Sanctum of Divinity.
'I swear I'll come for you, Norman...'
While he was grieving alone, Samael didn't realize that there was someone watching him.
Gazing at Samael from the cover of the lush green and trees, there was a woman. A slight change happened to the woman's expression when she saw Samael, she was clearly troubled.
Not wasting a single second, the woman turns around and disappears into the forest.
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