Dungeon of Pride, Laplace



The intimidated Snowsquall Drakewings did not dare to approach Simon. After a while, the crimson aura radiating out his body was retracted, and his skin returned to its normal colours along with his heartbeat.

At a glance, it did not look like there was any change in Simon. However, only he who had gone through the change, felt how different his body was currently.

At this moment, a crimson black aura that shined with a crystalline radiance enveloped his heart and pumped the mana throughout his body. His mana especially, although 98% per cent of it which was flowing inside his body was still in the liquefied state, if one looked carefully, they could see some small crystalline chunks floating in it.

These chunks were smaller than a speck of dust and represented the solidification of mana. It also meant that Simon was not far away from reaching level 600.

What's more, the colour of his mana had also started to change and mirrored the aura covering his heart. That is to say, the mana flowing inside his body was a vague crimson black in colour.

When he completely goes through the transition and reaches level 600, his mana will also completely turn into crimson black.

Generally, the mystical energy or the mana had a pale blue colour, the more pure the energy, the more brilliant its colour is. All life forms who utilised the mana, generally had pale blue mana flowing within them.

That was the case up until now, once one reaches the level 600 stage, the mana inside them starts displaying and matching their attributes.

For every life from it is different and it was the same for Simon too. The mana inside him was slowly changing to crimson black to match his race. Of course, it represented that his bloodline purity was also getting higher and higher.

Simon clenched and unclenched his hands feeling the changes that occurred inside his body. For some reason, he felt like the mana inside him was oppressive and berserk. It made him feel like he was far stronger than before, and gave him a sensation of invincibility.

He could also do more things than before— for example, he can emit his mana and vaguely turn it into a weapon of his choice— [Mana Armament].

A technique that one can only learn after reaching level 600. Although Simon had yet to reach level 600, his potential had already breached that level. What was restricting him now was only the level and his bloodline. That is to say, the wall of talent holding his progress was breached through and he could finally take a step forward.

"This oppressive and domineering feeling…"

Simon instinctively cast an internal spear magic. To his surprise, the crimson black traces of mana made the flames even hotter and berserk as if it would blow up at any moment.

Simon willed with his fingers and the infernal spear immediately rushed towards a nearby Snowsquall Drakewing. In that very instant when his magic collided with the monster, it seemingly opened a hole through it.

But that was not all, the berserk flames that lingered on its body blew up, causing bits and chunks of gore to rain down everywhere.

What was domineering? This was.

Simon continued to experiment with his magic, Whether it be his lightning magic or tempest magic they all became multiple times more stronger. It was as if all of his magic now held the attributes of berserk in them.

A wicked smile crossed Simon's face as he glanced at the remaining monsters around.

Feeling his gaze and the oppressive aura around him, the Snowsquall Drakewings were all intimidated and turned around to flee. However, how could Simon just let them go away?

They were his precious source of exp, the whetstones for his growth. With a flip of hand, he cast multiple Infernal Spears, Lightning Bolts and Tempest Winds that drowned his enemies.

A bloodbath ensued and the snow around this area was turned crimson.

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An hour later, in the area where the battle had erupted not long ago, a figure appeared out of thin air. The figure had dark eyes, and wore a grey robe that completely covered their appearance.

They were tall and constantly released greyish black aura around them. The figure did not stay in the area for long, after monitoring the place, they quickly disappeared.

A few hours later after they disappeared, the air in one area undulated and Raven walked out.

"Strange, why was the sky around this area crimson?" He muttered. By now, the snow had piled over the area and covered the traces of battle and gore that was there.

Although the remains of the battle couldn't be seen, Raven was quite perceptive. He quickly found some traces and realised that a battle had erupted here not long ago.

"Did Franco and his team do this? No, if he was alive, he would have already reported back. The fact that he didn't means that he already died. Then what caused the phenomenon? Who was fighting here?"

Raven narrowed his eyes and pulled out an intact corpse of a Snowsquall Drakewing from out of the snow. From what he saw, he noticed that the monster died from a powerful single attack that tore a hole through its body.

This told him that whoever was fighting these monsters was far more powerful than them and could easily best them with a single attack. And there were not just one or two corpses that were lying around here, there were many… probably dozens or even hundreds.

Some of them did not even have intact corpses and have been turned into a scorched mincemeat.

This was enough evidence for Raven to realise a few things. To be able to kill hundreds of Snowsquall Drakewings that were each around level 460 and far more powerful than an ordinary elite adventurer, what kind of strength did the other party have?

What's more the other party had killed them while under the suppression effect of the sixth trial.

"They not ordinary at the very least they should be above level 600. There are only a few people in our group who are of this level and some of them have even died during the exploration. Could it be that there is someone else besides us on this trial? I need to inform Godwin about this" Muttering to himself, Raven disappeared from the place.

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Arriving back inside the shelter, Simon drew hurried breaths of air and flopped down on the ground. He was completely exhausted, the level suppression restriction of the sixth trial, put a great strain on his body.

Apart from that, the encounter with the Snowquall Drakewings had delayed him by quite a bit causing the falling snow to chip away at his level even more. By the time he finished dealing with the monsters, his level had already fallen by half.

The journey back was also a drag as he had to avoid monsters constantly on his way.

Huff… Simon downed a couple of potions to quickly recuperate from his injuries. His level also started recovering after a while and before long, he was back at full strength.

Simon did not move out immediately and instead continued to sit in his place and ponder about his changes. The trip this time could be said to have been successful since he had already breached the wall that was stopping him from progressing forward.

Thanks to the trials, he had reached 570. Now all he needed to do was continue with this pace and before long he would be able to rank up once again.

Demon Marquis, the next rank after Demon Earl. They are high born demons possessing immense power and authority. Carrying a bloodline far superior to other Demon Nobles, they were a force that could strike terror into the hearts of countless people.

In the ancient times, they were the nightmares who ran amok in the world, their violence and evil bringing devastating damage. It was said that they were extremely cunning and ambitious. Possessing uncanny wits and intelligence, they manipulated everything and anything and brought doom everywhere they went.

In the present time, they were only second to the Demon Dukes.

'Soon' Simon clenched his hands. He could see it, the path to become strong. The once elusive Demon Marquis rank was right in front of him. Once he reached that rank, he would be one step closer to reaching his goal, the Demon Lord.

Who would have expected that he would reach the rank of Demon Marquis so soon? If any other demon noble knew the rate at which Simon was growing, they would no doubt be stunned until they were mentally unbalanced.

Some of the high ranking Demon Nobles would even feel threatened by his presence and would spare no efforts to suppress him.

That kind of growth was just too uncanny, it was outright absurd. After all, it needs to be mentioned that it hasn't been more than four years since he arrived in this world.

From a measly Level 1 Demon Baron to a pure blooded Demon Earl and now Demon Marquess. Even if he hasn't reached it yet, based on Simon's growth, it was only a matter of time before he reached it.

A growth like that… monstrous, there was no other to put it. Of course, this kind of growth was only possible because it was Simon, the Fragments of Pride allowed him to grow faster than anyone.

If it was someone else, it would be simply impossible to grow at that speed.