Chương 24: :Three-Headed Black Eater

In the borders of a dark alleyway, a red gate had spawned and yellow tapes were placed to separate the demon civilians. Overall, for some reason, the media were gathered here.

Not quite long after, a black limo drove in, the number plate reading "Jack The Reaper."

"He's here," yelled a cameraman, arresting everyone's attention and filling the clear sky with the light and shuttering sound of cameras.

As usual, Jack came out looking all famous and posing for pictures. Meanwhile, Cyrus was still in the car. "Um, sir! Do you want me to drop you off at some place other than this?" asked the limo driver.

Cyrus avoided the man's question, picked up the bag beside him, and unlocked the door before stepping a foot out.

"Uh, Jack only brought one rank user this time... This means he's gonna show us how strong he is by clearing a red dungeon by himself and an... What rank is that other guy?"

Cyrus came off the car completely and with a gesture of his finger going up, all the cameras levitated from the grip of the cameramen.

-{You're Using magic to levitate; Please name this skill}

With all the men shouting for their camera to come down, Cyrus was busy walking past them while thinking of a suitable name for the levitating skill.

"Was that guy the one who did that? I find it hard to believe someone that pretty wouldn't want to be in the headlines," said a cameraman.

Overall, Jack was already at the maximum length of the dungeon. "Hurry up, boy, the media are waiting for my success again."

Cyrus placed his finger at his lips and the other hand supporting the luggage he carried behind his back. "Yup, I've got nothing, just name the skill Levitate and drop it down by deactivate levitate."

Crash... Bam'

Cy stopped walking, he slowly turned around when he heard sounds of cameras falling like dead pieces of chess.

-[Skill Deactivated: Levitate}

"Heh..! Sorry?" said Cyrus with a wide smile and scratching his head, gaining all the hate stares from the ones who were unable to catch their camera.

Eventually, Cyrus and Jack walked inside the red gate, only to be welcomed to a hellish domain. Cyrus was now wondering if this was how all red gates are.

Because this one was similar to the one he fought Baras, filled with flames and burning buildings, a red cloud and not to mention some of the burning buildings were wrapped with black chains.

<<<Blue>>>

-{You have entered a red gate}

-{Rule: You have now been given HP: 100}

-{Rule: If HP runs out equals death}

Cyrus stared at the blue screen, he wasn't the only one who got this notification, since he could also see a similar notification beside Jack.

'Almost forgot, Alpha did mention red gates having rules... But my skill didn't notify me of been unable to use, could it be -'

"Hey, I think we should camp," Jack interrupted Cy, placing his hands on the luggage Cyrus carried along with them.

"Camp?... Wait what? We're supposed to find angels and kill the devil king's dungeon boss."

"Well, guess what smart pants, we camp for a while and then you'll go find them."

"Me?" Cy raised an eyebrow with a plopped face, he asked, "I'm not to interfere, I'm just here to tell Nerd you did your job, I'm a bystander you're the one to hunt and kill."

Successfully landing the luggage on the floor, bam', Jack brought out a little tent, the size of an ant. He placed it on the floor and his hands glowed green.

'He just made that thing bigger, how stupid', thought Cyrus.

"Well since you're a bystander, why don't you go bystand over there, keep watch while I rest, and when I wake up, I'll hunt them."

ZIP...!

That was all Jack said before he zipped the tent. Cyrus was dumbfounded, speechless. He sighed and shrugged before climbing onto a rock.

Minutes counted as thirty passed by and Jack was still inside the tent doing what god knows. Eventually, Cyrus knew this time would come.

"They've picked our sense," muttered Cy.

Our protagonist strolled towards the tent, summoned his dagger, and cut through the damn thing, only to see Jack praying.

"Hey, they're coming, so come on out and do your job."

As Cyrus said that, bam, three angels walked through a furnace of flames, equipping huge blades and muscles.

Cy, on the other hand, was loving where this was going, because Jack's hold on the blade he held was shaking.

'Fake S-rank, he's hiding behind the shadows and pretending to be strong,' thought Cyrus.

Jack glanced at the angels grinning at him. If these guys were able to walk through a furnace of flames unscathed, then what harm can a guy who cares about nothing but fame do?

He gulped, shared glances with them, and ran behind Cyrus. "Okay, I give up, I'll give you any amount of money if you kill them."

"What? Haven't you cleared a red gate before? How did you do all those times?"

Now wasn't the time of pride, Jack felt like his world was going to crash if he tells Cyrus but still, his life was on the line here.

Boom'

Not giving Cyrus and Jack a time to plan, one of the muscular angels dashed forward and the two followed behind simultaneously.

Jack stumbled backward in fear when he saw how the angels smiled at him like he was some meat. 'Freaks,' thought Cyrus.

He dashed forward, and the first angel stabbed his dagger at Cyrus, only for Cyrus to move his neck sideways and drive his dagger inside the angel's gut. Kweuk'

Blood followed his motion, his hands, and dagger covered in blood. The two angels who were dashing before stopped instantly.

After they shared a similar thought, with a thunderous outburst, kaboom, they both zoomed out of sight, almost like instant teleportation and appearing at the sides of Cyrus.

"If you were faster... You might have succeeded," said Cyrus.

Right in front of Jack's eyes, he was unable to fathom how or when Cyrus moved so fast that he left trails of red photo beams behind, diagonal and random slash.

The two angels fell from the air, landed on the floor, and their existence coming to an end.

Barf'

Jack was forced to barf by the gory scene in front of him, while Cyrus was smiling and rotating his dagger. "So start talking."

"Uh?"

Kaboom... Kweuk'

It came like a silent shadow and the fastest movement that left no room for Cyrus to react. All he could do was yell when two razor sharp fangs dug through his shoulder, gushing out blood before he was slammed against a burning building.

It was a black huge three-headed demon beast with no eyes, similar to the black eater but this one was walking on fours.

It had launched its fangs against Cy's shoulder and used the bite to fling him against a burning building.

-{HP: 100-30} -{HP: 70}

Cyrus rose from the crumbled building, his arm was burnt by the flame, and that little attack made his forehead and his shoulder bleed.

"He's the one who caught our sense... Wait a second, where's the fake S-rank user?"

Bam'

Before Cyrus could get a response to his question, the three-headed wolf beast leaped to the sky and came down crashing its humongous paws against Cyrus.

Kabam'

Rocks uprooted from its core and nearby burning buildings vibrated. However, Cyrus was not there. He could be seen some meters far from the huge beast.

"Please don't die," muttered Jack hiding behind a rock. Cyrus just glanced at him and moved his eyes instantly on the beast.

<<<Red>>>

-{King of black eaters has recognized you as an Enemy}

-{The hostility has become too high}

-{Instant Quest: Kill the one who seeks to kill you... He must not escape alive}

Cyrus breathed out hot steam and right in front of him, the three-headed black eater roared ferociously, causing a cascade of wind to blow around the hellish domain.

"He's big, that's the only problem here, he's huge. If only I could get huge like-"

Realization dawned on Cyrus, realizing Jack was able to make the tent bigger, what if he could do the opposite. Instead of making the beast bigger, he could make it smaller.

"I need you to decrease his size, like you did with the tent, but decrease him, can you do that?" asked Cyrus.

"Ye...ye...yes, I can try."

Cyrus gritted his teeth, seeing the three-headed black eater demon was already gaining on them. Before he dashed off, he voiced out.

"Well then try," and then kaboom.

-{Skill Activated: Cloak}

Cyrus vanished and re-materialized behind the demon. He rotated his dagger and was out to get a piece of its outer structure.

However, the demon noticed this, glancing at Cyrus from behind, whoosh, he castigated Cy's ribcage with its tail.

Sending him crashing into another burning building. The sheer force increased the amount of blood output from Cy's whole body.

-{HP: 70-30} -{HP: 40}

"Okay, I'm ready," yelled Jack jovially. Instead of Cyrus, he stole the demon's attention. "Oh shit."

The monster dashed towards him as its paws shook the hellish domain, however, it stopped when its body was covered in green light, stupid Jack. Unknowingly and due to fear.

He just made the situation worse by turning the already huge beast into a humongous Godzilla-size three-headed black eater.

(T/N: At this point, he knew he fucked up)