The Darkness was Comfortable for me
chapter-199-30041322

There was no time to hesitate here.

Even though just the Scylla alone is quite the dangerous opponent, we are in a situation where Lamias are still attacking us at the same time.

We have to do something about one or the other somehow…

I myself don’t know about Chaotic Abilities.

There’s no doubt it is the same as the abilities the Demon Lord Marchosias used, but how much Spirit Energy does it use? Can it differentiate between enemy and ally? I don’t know these things.

For example; Darkness Fog is an ability that creates a space that doesn’t differentiate between enemies and allies.

But the Light Spirit Ability, Light, apparently doesn’t feel dazzling for the user. But when Rifreya uses it, I find it dazzling despite being her ally.

Darkness Fog is still pitch black for me as the user, but it is not as completely dark compared to other people. I can still see the other side, and it doesn’t create any uneasiness with my vision. I thought it was because I have Night Vision, but it might not be that.

There’s the possibility that the user can see from the very beginning.

Will Fear and Dispel ‘only affect enemies’ or will it be ‘everyone in that space aside from the user’? I can’t just try it out in a dire situation like this when I don’t know this.

“Rifreya! Jeanne! Please hang in there for a bit!” (Hikaru)

I shouted that and ran deep into the nest while clad in the Darkness Fog.

Jeanne doesn’t get affected by Spirit Abilities to begin with, so there might be no problems there, but there’s the risk of Rifreya getting caught by it.

The new Lamias that are appearing from deep inside found me inside the darkness, their slitted eyes glinting as they change directions to where I am.

I can’t fight against several Lamias at the same time.

The right way to deal with them is to eliminate them one by one.

But…

“[Fear]!” (Hikaru)

After confirming that I had distanced myself enough to Rifreya and Jeanne, I activated the Chaotic Ability while I was surrounded by 12 Lamias.

A clearly different sensation from Dark Spirit Abilities.

Something important was being taken away from my whole body as if blood was leaving me.

“Guh…! Seriously…?!” (Hikaru)

This is rough.

Far more than Create Undead.

It is different from the Dark Spirit Abilities on a fundamental level.

Chaos refers to Chaotic Spirit Energy. It is not a singular element like darkness. It is an elemental blend of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, and Darkness.

Chaotic Abilities forcefully take out Chaotic Spirit Energy from my body and spread the effect to the surroundings with me as the center.

Chaos.

Fear was invading the body of the swarming monsters.

“Ah…gyaga…ga…”

“Uh…ga…”

Letting out voices like that of a broken machine, all the Lamias around me bend over in fear.

Even I had my legs trembling from just one use of a Chaotic Ability.

But it is not to the point that I can’t move.

“Aaaaaaah!” (Hikaru)

I shouted my lungs out and swung my sword.

In a situation like this, there’s no need to even cut off their Spirit Vein Center.

I sweep the heavy Hellfire Steel blade and sever the head of the Lamias that have their body frozen in fear.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5…!” (Hikaru)

Unmoving targets are no problem.

At the time when I got hit by it, I was rendered powerless for around 30 seconds.

I am dealing with 12. With that much time, I even have time to spare.

“6! 7! 8! 9! 10! 11! 12—!” (Hikaru)

The last Lamia managed to move even if just slightly, but that was all it was.

All Lamias changed to Spirit Stones in the blink of an eye.

Only 12 Spirit Stones remained on the ground.

“This is…a Chaotic Ability, huh.” (Hikaru)

An ability that can create an overwhelming favorable situation.

It exhausts a great deal of Spirit Energy, but the effects are outstanding.

Against enemies that don’t feel fear…like maybe Skeletons, there’s the chance it doesn’t work, but even with that, this is…

“[Dark Sense].” (Hikaru)

I check my surroundings with an ability. It seems like the 12 that I defeated just now were all the remaining Lamias in this nest.

When I look at where Rifreya is, she has defeated the remaining Lamias together with the Dark Knight.

There were more Lamias than I imagined and I was wondering what would happen for a moment there, but with this, only the Scylla remains.

“Sorry for the wait! There’s no Lamias anymore! Only the boss left!” (Hikaru)

The Scylla is a giant and strong monster, but it doesn’t have speed and doesn’t use abilities. In that sense, you could say it is a simple monster.

The Lizardman zombie has come back too, and we also have the Dark Knight-kun.

“Mi—a—ahah.”

The Scylla swung her tentacles like crazy and took distance from us.

It seems like she doesn’t want us getting close to her.

Jeanne is the only one who can deflect the tentacles with her shield, but that’s impossible for the other members.

In a situation like this, it is difficult to get close and deal a hit on her.

In that case, there’s only 1 thing to do.

“We are dropping the tentacles! [Shadow Bind]!” (Hikaru)

The dark tentacles tie up the remaining tentacles of the Scylla.

Bind is a handy ability that properly shows effect even against giant monsters. Against the strength of a Scylla, it truly only lasts for a few seconds, but those few seconds is what we want.

Seeing the Scylla being tied up, we all spring into action.

We surround the giant Scylla and attack.

Rifreya got 2, Jeanne got 1, the Dark Knight and the Lizardman zombie cut off 1 each.

The Scylla losts its tentacles she used to attack and becomes just like a slightly bigger Lamia.

“[Darkness Fog]!” (Hikaru)

Even with her tentacles gone, it still has the big mouth at her stomach and the sharp claws.

According to the walkthrough of the guild, you don’t forcefully aim for the Spirit Vein of big monsters, but continue attacking the parts that you can reach to defeat it.

It is true that aiming for the Spirit Vein would be dangerous, but…

“Dark Knight-kun, counting on you!” (Hikaru)

One in body and mind. My summon understood my intention, and jumped with deftness unlike that of someone with heavy armor towards the back of the Scylla.

An ally that can move in the darkness without any problems.

The Dark Knight is an invaluable ally.

A slash of the jet black sword.

The Spirit Vein of the Scylla was cut off, and that giant body changed into a Spirit Stone filled with color as if an universe were locked up in it.

The rumbling sound of the waterfall resonates.

We are the ones who survived in the Lamia Nest.

“Good work, Rifreya and Jeanne. Any injuries?” (Hikaru)

“I am okay. We did it. I didn’t expect the Scylla to come out all of a sudden, so I was pretty flustered internally, but to think we managed to defeat it…” (Rifreya)

“I am fine too. The number of Lamias was indeed out of expectations, but the Scylla was one straightforward opponent for being a boss. It is great that there’s a weak spot that lets us defeat it in one hit.” (Jeanne)

If they were injured, I was thinking of using Points to buy a healing scroll, but it looks like they don’t have any big injuries.

Small wounds can be healed with store potions. Jeanne has taken Natural Regeneration Up, so she has robust health that doesn’t falter at all from just a few injuries.

After retrieving all the Spirit Stones, we began to withdraw.

Grapefull was waiting for us without having used a Barrier Stone, and in terms of income and expenses, we came out on the plus side.

We obtained an incredible amount of Spirit Stones, but we have also obtained experience points and our Tiers might have increased. I have also learned Chaotic Abilities, and on top of that, we can get promoted to Gold Rank with the subjugation of the Scylla.

We didn’t get badly injured, and we managed to obtain a different kind of experience from experience points.

“It was pretty fun. Wouldn’t it be a tasty place for income? There’s no other place like this one where we can fight as many monsters as this one.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne said this with a pleased face on our way back.

“There were pretty dicey situations there though… I have to get stronger… I was saved by Hikaru countless times there.” (Rifreya)

“Those numbers alone are already a threat in itself. We have to think of this as having been lucky. On the flip side, I think we could defeat a Scylla if it is alone.” (Hikaru)

A Scylla is technically a monster that bulldozes its way, so I am a good match against it.

All the repertoire of darkness works on it, and it is big, so the hard to hit Dark Coffin worked as well.

If I had more leeway in Spirit Energy, there’s the chance that I could defeat it even by myself.

“If we are going to Gran Alismaris, we could earn as much as we can here before we do that. Didn’t we get as much as 10 gold just today alone?” (Jeanne)

Jeanne grins. More than 100 Lamias and the Scylla stone.

We fought the whole time for close to 1 hour, but it was balanced by the earnings.

Especially the Scylla. It apparently can be sold for an incredibly high price. Only a limited number of parties in Meltia can defeat a Scylla after all, so it is natural.

“…More importantly, Kuro, what was that ability? I could only catch a glimpse of it though.” (Jeanne)

“Ah! I was also curious about that! I was worried since you rushed deep inside on your own, you know?!” (Rifreya)

“Aah, sorry. Actually, I can use Chaotic Abilities now.” (Hikaru)

“Eeeeeh?!” (Rifreya)

“Chaotic Abilities, you say?!” (Jeanne)

The two stop their feet and get shocked by it, but even I am still shaking a bit here.

To think I would be able to use what the Demon Lord was using…I didn’t even imagine a day like that would come.

“You can now get Chaotic Abilities with Points, so I thought that it is an ability that can be used by humans as well, but to think it was possible to do so with your own power without using Points… You are a Spirit Ability genius, Kuro.” (Jeanne)

“Rather than genius…I have never heard of anyone being able to use Chaotic Abilities… Do the Great Spirit-samas know something about it…?” (Rifreya)

“There’s the possibility that he can use them now because he is a Chosen. Whichever the case, it would be better to keep this one a secret. Reya and Full-chan, please keep silent on this one, okay?” (Jeanne)

It really would be better not to tell anyone.

Well, I don’t really have anyone to tell this to though.

“Speaking of obtaining with my own power, I got points for doing exactly that. My Spirit Abilities have all gotten to Mid Tier. These 2 together have netted me 8 Points.” (Hikaru)

“8 Points; that’s lucky! Well, you learned Chaotic Abilities so you could say that’s natural. So, what will you use them on? You can use them to strengthen yourself, you know? You could put them into strengthening your Spirit Energy, and your Physical Strength is still level 1, right? With level 1, you can raise it to 2 with 2 Points.” (Jeanne)

“True…” (Hikaru)

The required Points for Physical Strength Up is: 5/7/10/15/20. With level 1, I can raise it all the way to level 3.

And you can tell just by watching Jeanne that the effects are big.

Raising Spirit Energy is also an option.

Because I have learned abilities with hefty cost, even if I have Affection of Spirits, the times when I am on the verge of running out of Spirit Energy have increased.

Spirit Energy Up Level 1 is 5 Points.

Natural Regeneration (Spirit Energy) takes 3 Points for level 1.

Make Physical Strength to level 2?

Or maybe save them and put them into healing items?

There’s a lot of uses for Points, and each one of them is pretty important.

This is hard.

“Well, no need to decide right now. I have said it before, but saving them is important too. I always leave 6 Points myself after all. I think this can create situations that can save your life, but…of course, if you strengthen yourself, you can avoid those kinds of situations from happening altogether. That’s why there’s no absolute correct answer… Well, you should leave at least 3 Points.” (Jeanne)

I had no leeway in Points, so there were cases where I would rely on Jeanne in moments when we needed to use Points. I can’t go using them all here again.

Especially for Barrier Stones and High Heal Scrolls that are like extra lives. You get stronger the higher the Tier. In other words, I shouldn’t prioritize strengthening.

We have already obtained a decent degree of strength, and this is just a guess here, but I think that even if we were to encounter a Flame Orangutan Monstrosity, we would be able to put up a good fight.

We have already obtained extraordinary power as humans.

In the end, we left using the 8 Points for later and exited the dungeon.

We reported the subjugation of a Scylla to the guild.

“We have certainly confirmed the Scylla Spirit Stone. The members of the subjugation are the 3 of the Battle Junkies: Hikaru-san, Jeanne-san, and Rifreya-san. Is that right? Well then, we will be doing the Gold Rank promotion assessment on a later day. Are you available the day after tomorrow?”

That’s how it ended up.

In order to become gold rank, you have to do an exploration in the 4th Floor and show that you really have the skill.

I don’t really like showing my fighting style, but it can’t be helped.