Gabriel didn't even have to wonder about eliminating people when they were already coming toward him, ready to kill. He barely dodged the sword coming at him. Another blade came from behind him and stabbed at the back of his arm.
He hissed in pain. His skin already made tender by the burns started bleeding. He hadn't recovered enough to fight. He cast Sanctuary on the ground around him.
The spell gave his magic a massive hit, but everybody stopped attacking him. They tried again once or twice before finally realizing that he was off-limit. They left to try and get someone else.
Gabriel healed himself over and over again until the bleeding stopped.
[ Heal ( lvl 5 ) ]
Gabriel eyed the combat going on around him with interest. Many candidates were already lying dead on the ground. It was a shame that he couldn't take a bit out of the corpses without arousing suspicion.
This quest didn't have a punishment, but it would certainly have a reward that Gabriel just couldn't afford to pass up.
He slowly left the safe zone created by Sanctuary. He cast Magic Missile as quickly as possible before getting back to the Sanctuary like a scaredy cat. There was no point in taking more risks than necessary.
The leveled up version of Magic Missile plus his high magic stat made for a deadly combo. His spell killed three people at once.
[ Level 11 ]
[ + 1 All Stats ]
[ Dove ( lvl 11 ) ]
Only one level gained ..? Well, it's supposed to be harder to level up the higher the level, so he guessed that was reasonable, but still…
The candidates were now giving him a wide margin after seeing the effect of his spell. But Gabriel still had at least two more people he needed to kill. And that was if he wasn't planning on being greedy.
Besides, Sanctuary was already such a great skill, Gabriel was eager to see what skill related to the Angel bloodline he would get when he level up to level 20.
He waited for his magic to regenerate a little before going out of the Sanctuary again. Another Magic Missile was casted.
[ Level 12 ]
[ + 1 All Stats ]
[ Dove ( lvl 12 ) ]
Before he could go back to the Sanctuary. But before he could attain the safe zone, someone planted a dagger deep in his arm.
The dagger was hooked to a chain. The owner was pulling the chain to stop Gabriel from running to the Sanctuary. Gabriel hissed in pain. His strength stat was far from high enough to remove the dagger imbedded in his shoulder.
His burns were made even more painful with the new wound. Gabriel ignored the pain, focusing on the woman pulling the chain.
He tried casting a spell toward her to no avail. He soon understood that the dagger was enchanted to stop him from using spells. He used Lunge and leaped toward the woman. He had no weapons and he couldn't afford to damage his hands even more. He used his teeth instead.
As he lunged toward her, his jaws went to her throat. His teeth closed in on her jugular. Out of surprise, she let go of her chain.
As soon as she let go, Gabriel went back to the Sanctuary zone, letting go of her throat. Trying to kill her wasn't worth losing his life. He nursed his wounds.
His hands dug out the dagger already deep in his shoulder, letting blood flow like a river. Gabriel quickly cast Heal as fast as he could. A numb feeling was already spreading because of the blood loss.
The woman had followed him in the Sanctuary zone. Gabriel's hand was on his wounds, trying to stop the bleeding until Heal could completely close the wound. He glared at the woman.
" You know you can't harm me here. " He taunted with a smirk.
" I have no chance of winning against them, " She pointed towards pretty much everybody outside the zone. " without my weapon. " She continued.
" So you think I'll let you stay here until the end of the fight ? You know you'll have to leave to reach the door. " Gabriel remarked.
" I know. I dont need to stay here I just need you to give me back my weapon. " She hold out her hand, already expecting to be handed back her dagger and chain.
Gabriel had heard that arrogant tone more than once. Everyone around him had talked to him with an arrogant tone while he was still a human. But particularly his second brother, had a very similar way of speaking. They both had the same deadpan, the same arrogance. Both of their attitude annoyed the hell out of him.
" How about no ? " He didn't hide his annoyance.
The woman pulled out a bunch of golden coins from her pockets. She threw it in his general direction. Gabriel looked at her. That was it ? She really thought a few coins would make Gabriel give her back her priceless weapon. How dumb did she think Gabriel was.
Gabriel threw the coins at her face. She dodged.
" No ? " She asked herself thoughtfully. " How about this ? " She handed him something else.
In her hand was a book. It was clearly some kind of technique. Gabriel read the title : ' Netherworld Devil Arts '.
It was clearly a martial skill. Gabriel approached his hand when a message appeared.
[ Martial skill incompatible with a bloodline !!]
Gabriel immediately removed his hand. He shook his head.
" I want another one. Something less demonic." He demanded.
The woman frowned at him, but seeing her dagger so close, she just agreed and reached for another martial technique.
Another book with another title : ' Divine Fire Art '.
[ Martial skill particularly compatible with a bloodline ]
Gabriel swiped the book immediately and threw the weapon in the lady's direction.
[ Divine Fire Art ( lvl 1 ) ]
[ Divine Fire Art is particularly compatible with Angel ]
[ Divine Fire Art ( lvl 2 ) ]
[ Angel ( lvl 3 ) ]
[ Divine Influence ( lvl 1 ) ]
Contrary to normal skills, martial skills were like new memories engraved in him. He saw and felt every movement of the Divine Fire Art like Gabriel himself had done it a hundred times.
The woman had already left, clearly eager to get back into the fight. Although, it wasn't a huge chaos anymore. The majority of the weaklings had already died, only a dozens people were left and were fiercely fighting for their lives.
He still needed to kill one last person to get the quest reward. He looked at the other quest.
[ Quest
Pass the entrance test of the Demonic Sect
Time Limit 9 hours
Punishment Death ]
Gabriel shivered. They wouldn't take more than nine hours right ? No, even if they took less than nine hours, how could he know this was the last test ? How could he know they wouldn't be give, a three hour-long speech and would only really pass the test after the speech ?
Gabriel stepped out of his Sanctuary. He let all his magic flow outward. He cast Magic Missile, putting all of his magic into it.
[ Magic Missile ( lvl 4 ) ]
A massive beam of pure magic decimated everything that meet its path.
[ Level 14 ]
[ Dove ( lvl 14 ) ]
[ + 2 All Stats ]
He saw more than a few bodies fall dead. He eyed the screen and indeed he had gotten the quest reward.
[ + 10 Stat Points ]
[ + 10 Shop Points ]
They weren't even five anymore, but just four survivor. Gabriel felt his muscle twitch, not quite healed. His immediate reaction was to cast Heal, but his magic didn't move. He didn't have any magic left. He cursed. He was too weak. He stumbled back into the Sanctuary. Even if they had no need to kill anymore, Gabriel wouldn't put it past the other candidates to eliminate the competition in advance.
He relaxed once he was back in the zone. Gabriel looked at the massacre around him. Gabriel hadn't searched for any information, but there was no way this was a normal test to become a common disciple of the sect. While Gabriel never had the power of the weakest Demonic Sect member when he was human, he still had an idea of how much power they held, and any of the martial artist here far surpassed that level.
The giant door was slowly opened by two guards. Between the two of them was the same old man from before.
" Congratulations to everyone here for passing Lord Zhou's test. " Ah, thought Gabriel, so this was a specific test. " You are now disciples of the Fifth Lord of the Demonic Sect. "
So Lord Zhou was the name of the Fifth Lord ? Gabriel had heard distant rumors about him, but nothing of any substance. His eyes went to the screen, another quest was,fulfilled.
[ + 20 Shop Points ]
" You will each get a room at the Fifth Lord's palace. " The old man finished his explanation and left.
A servant led them to the Lord Zhou's palace. It didn't quite have the luxurious exterior Gabriel had grown to expect from the Western palaces, but it did seem expensive in its own way.
All four of them had the whole left wing of the palace to themselves. They were left to decide who would get which room. Of course, one room would still be left since they were four instead of five.
Gabriel looked around at his fellow disciples. There were no familiar faces. Well, aside from the dagger girl, but Gabriel would have preferred not knowing her at all.
" So…" Started a guy who looked to be about Gabriel's age. " Who wants which room ? I personally don't care. " He clarified, letting them have first pick.
He seemed surprisingly chill for someone who just murdered a bunch of people back during the test. Gabriel looked at them, all his fellow disciples were his age and none of them were particularly hostile. He realized this might be the first time he was socializing. Kind of. He didn't know if that counted as socializing. Whatever, who cared about socializing he needed to focus on getting stronger.
" Hey ? " Someone lightly tapped him on the shoulder. " Sorry, I'm Xie Ling. I was just asking for your name. " said a timid-looking boy.
[ His bloodline opposes your bloodline ! ]
[ His bloodline is complimentary to your bloodline ! ]
[ Quest
Stick close to an individual with a complementary bloodline for a day]
Hm ? He looked at the man then at the screen. Nice, another quest, he thought. Focus Gabriel, he needed to answer Xie Ling. Gabriel didn't want to stick out even more with his foreigner name. What was the Eastern version of Gabriel again..?
" My name is Jia Bu. " Gabriel answered.
He wasn't sure that was an exact translation but it sounded good enough to him. Either way, Xie Ling didn't call him out.
" Nice to meet you ! I just wanted to say you were great back there ! As in like, you fought great. Not that they are any other interpretations of great in this context but you know, just in case you fought I meant some other kind of great. " Xie Ling chuckled nervously.
" Okay..? " Gabriel didn't really know what to answer to the guy's rambling.
" I'm taking the first room starting from the left. " Announced the dagger-lady.
Gabriel kind of wanted to say he wanted that room just to oppose her, but he didn't have the motivation for that. Gabriel looked at the two men next to him. Xie Ling was shifting from foot to foot and didn't seem intent on deciding anything. The other guy just smiled.
" I'll take the first room counting from the right, if that's okay ? " Gabriel started walking toward the room the furthest from dagger-lady's room.
Neither of them objected so Gabriel entered his new room and closed the door. He sighed in relief, lying down on the bed. It was heaven to his sore skin.
His magic had already came back a bit, so Gabriel started casting Heal again. The pain in his hands had almost completely disappeared, but his shoulder and back now burned more than ever from the wounds of the fight. Gabriel looked at the quest of the tournament.
[ Quest
Win the Tournament of the Three Major Sects
Time Limit 8 Days
Punishment Death ]
Eight days… That was a lot right ? Surely Gabriel could sleep now. He yawned. His eyelids were so heavy. He finally fell asleep.