Chapter 192: Wielding Cross
\'Just need to pass that huge zombie...\' he thought as the corpse of the deformed zombie was placed against the wall, precisely where his next turn was to reach the exit.
Stark frankly didn\'t like that, because somehow, the atmosphere around the zombie was just as dark as before, it was like some sort of aura was still swirling around it even though it was dead.
\'...\' Stark never believed in the "it\'s just my imagination" thing, so he carefully walked toward the monster, with the sole intent of turning around the corner and leaving this hall.
~STEP, STEP~
Stark and his clone got closer to the massive zombie.
\'Oh well, looks like everything was fine,\' and they were able to pass the zombie, now on the verge of turning around the corner, which meant they were closer to it than ever before.
And right at that moment...
"CORPSE EXPLOSION, ACTIVATED!"
The zombie\'s body began to glow with a terrifying crimson aura, almost as if it was... about to explode?
\'Fucking knew it,\' Stark looked at the glowing zombie for a single second before dashing inside the hallway.
But... [Corpse Explosion] was almost instantaneous, so there was no way to truly escape it from there.
And so...
~BOOOOOOOM~
The corpse of the massive zombie completely exploded, sending blood, flesh and organs everywhere, reducing it to nothing but a pile of disgusting green flesh as all its body was scattered everywhere now.
Thankfully enough, Stark\'s quick thinking allowed him to get out of the radius of the explosion.
But...
~SPLASH~
Some of the blood that had been spread out everywhere actually hit him straight on since it emerged from the corpse like a fountain of blood, every wall having traces of blood on it now.
\'...\' Stark stopped in his tracks: his body was covered in zombie blood now, and although it didn\'t do anything, it was still disgusting, and thankfully enough his head had been spared, meaning it was mostly his clothes that had been tainted, "Fucking hell..."
It was indeed unexpected, but it wasn\'t surprising a monster was able to use a skill even after death to possibly take out its opponent when it least expects it.
"Oh well," Stark quickly moved on as he still needed to get to the exit.
But...
~DING, DING, DING~
He heard dozens upon dozens of notifications, and around 80 panels appeared around him, obstructing his view.
[You have slain "Skeleton Warrior lv90", gaining 23272 EXP!]
[You have slain "Undead Ghoul lv93", gaining 25824 EXP!]
[You have slain "Trial Ghost lv92", gaining 24119 EXP!]
.
.
.
[You have slain "Undead Elite Zombie lv110", gaining 2,658,487 EXP!]
And so with all of this...
[Your level has increased to level 53, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]
[Your level has increased to level 54, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]
[Your level has increased to level 55, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]
[Experience: 1122262/1500000]
And so that could only mean one thing...
[Level 55: please pick a card]
And so, just like before, three purple cards appeared in front of him.
"Not five anymore, huh..."
[Note that some cards will now contain skills related to "Exorcist" as it has been merged with "Domination"!]
\'Amazing news...\' Frankly, Stark wanted to stack up on the maximum amount of [Exorcist] skills possible.
The reason?
Not only were they immensely strong against undead and demons, but also...
The major reason why was because of... the [Devil Abyss] rift, which he had the key of.
If the name was true, then it would be filled with demons, so getting [Exorcist] skills for as long as he could was the best choice to dominate it completely, even more so with the possibility of other classifiers being present after he opened it.
\'You know what to do, clone...\' Stark smiled at his clone, and it smiled back, the reversed crimson crosses that now served as its pupils shining brightly.
And so the clone went behind the cards to check out the pictures that were on them.
The clone couldn\'t speak, so Stark just looked at it while it was observing each of the images, trying to discern which one would be better.
And after thirty seconds... the clone pointed at the one in the middle.
~FWISH~
Stark grabbed that card almost instantly then turned it.
And on it was... the picture of a giant crimson cross floating above a stickman figure, at least five times the size of the figure.
\'I knew you wouldn\'t disappoint,\' Stark nodded, almost wanting to tear up because of his clone\'s understanding.
Why? Because it was DEFINITELY an [Exorcist x Domination] skill!
And so Stark immediately read the details.
...
[Skill: Wielding Cross]
[Class: Domination X Exorcist]
[Rank: Epic]
[Description:] Activating this skill allows the wielder to summon a giant crimson cross above them, which emits a powerful aura that is very uncomfortable to undead beings and demons.
But this isn\'t the TRUE power of the cross, the real power is that the user can use that giant cross and swing it toward enemies for THREE attacks (meaning you can swing it three times), afterward it will disappear!
[Note:] Each attack of the cross has a cooldown of five minutes, so use them carefully.
…
\'Incredible...\' Stark almost wanted to hug his clone, this would definitely be a useful skill against demons and undead, making him a killing machine against those types.
But right as he thought that everything was going well...
[A participant has been slain by another player!]
Another kill happened, although everyone had gone in different directions and vowed to meet one another at the exit for Akira to open it...
\'...\' Stark\'s expression did darken slightly, but he didn\'t mind much.
The only thing he needed to know was that among the other four, one of them was dead, killed by another person.
Of course, Stark never TRULY believed in the fact that they would begin to cooperate together in escaping this trial together, it would have been too good to be true, after all, he could sense that ALL of these people were twisted in some way, even Kokoro and the white-haired lady who didn\'t talk.
"Oh well… I guess teamwork was never an option…" although it would have been so much smarter to just fight the monsters together and then the warden since they were all extremely strong, it seems like one or two people among them believed otherwise.
Now, Stark just needed to be more careful and head toward the exit to figure out who died.
If one person had died while each had gone in different directions, it meant that either something else ambushed them by following them right after everyone left… or…
"The duel feature…" Stark mumbled, which would mean that the person who died had actually accepted the duel in the hopes of killing the person who sent the invitation.
Was it the person who sent his invite? He didn\'t know, but for now, he just needed to increase his awareness as none of these people were allies to begin with.
[4 participants remain!]