System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 38: Corrosion

Ever since Eve stole the orb, the orc’s previous coolness was gone, replaced by blinding rage.

Damon had no idea why the treasure affected it so much, but he also didn’t care. In his head, he will get his hands on whatever was in that orb, and right now, the monstrous creature before him was standing in the way of that.

Standing a couple of meters away from the battle, Kitsune, in her fox form, watched the whole thing with an unsure expression.

After they left the central station, Damon had given her clear instructions not to interfere in his battles unless he was on the brink of death.

It was her intention in the first place as she wanted him to get stronger and to do so, he had to face his battles without her help. But watching him struggle, battle after battle, she couldn’t help but feel a weight in her chest she had never felt before.

Suddenly, she felt a heavy weight fall across the entire parking lot.

’Corrosion,’ she quickly realised.

After he reached level 25, Damon’s Dark Sorcerer class received a new ability, one that allowed him to weaken everyone and everything in a radius of 15 meters around him.

In an instant, the orc’s attacks turned significantly slower.

Damon, who was now evading its strikes up close, easily found openings that weren’t there before.

He dove under each of the monster’s strikes, using its oversized body to his advantage as the monster couldn’t turn in the narrow underground parking as well as it could have before.

Dark liquid quickly began to pool below the monster as Damon’s sword found its torso with each dodge, and now, after a perfectly timed dodge, he had its back right in front of him.

CRACK!

Just as his blade was inches away from finishing the creature, the concrete below broke with a deafening crack. The entire floor collapsed under the monster’s weight, and the two of them plummeted to the floor below.

Cough! Cough!

Dust filled Damon’s entire vision while countless coughs escaped his mouth, trying to get the dust out of his lungs. He swayed his hand around, trying to see through the thick dust until he suddenly felt something beneath him move.

Looking closely, he saw a piece of green skin protrude between the pile of rubble he was standing on, and after only a handful of seconds, he quickly realised what it was.

He moved higher up the pile until he finally saw the orc’s head. Its crimson eyes looked at him without anger or plea for mercy but with something closer to acknowledgement.

Damon looked at the monster for only a moment before he plunged his sword deep into its skull.

[You have slain a Level 41 Chief Orc.]

[New Monster Index bonus: +16 Strength, +17 Vitality]

[You have reached Level 29. You have received 1 Stat Point.]

[You have reached Level 30. You have received 1 Stat Point.]

[You have reached Level 31. You have received 1 Stat Point.]

Damon paused for a moment, soaking in the notifications and taking a couple of slow breaths to calm his racing heart before he suddenly leapt down from the pile of monster mixed with rubble.

’Let’s go,’ he thought toward Kitsune as he moved toward the way out of the parking.

Kitsune, however, lingered behind for a second, her tails flicking softly, lost in thought. Her gaze followed Damon’s retreating form, noting the way he carried himself now.

’Strong... stronger than I was. Hopefully by then, you will be ready, my dear Damon.’

***

Outside the parking lot, Damon paused for a moment.

The smell of burnt gasoline still lingered in the air, most definitely from Eve’s motorcycle.

Unfortunately, looking around, there was no clue as to which way the girl had gone.

Thinking logically, there were two locations she had to go to. The two citadels floating above the city were everyone’s goal, so naturally, she had to go to either of them eventually.

The question was, which one?

He had already made up his mind as to which one he wanted to go, and he wasn’t exactly one to change his mind often.

"Can’t decide?" Kitsune teased in his head, but Damon was quick to refute.

’No. We’ll head toward the Citadel above the outskirts as planned. But for now, let’s find a place to sit down. There is something I want to do.’ He said as he began to walk down the street.

Unwilling to waste too much time finding a suitable spot to sit down, Damon climbed into the interior of a large lorry that had been left abandoned and surprisingly intact on the side of the street.

Without wasting any more time, he summoned his status window, which had changed greatly over the last week.

***

[Name: Damon]

[Level: 31]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Error-!]

[Attributes: System Breaker, Dark Evolution (Dark Sorcerer)]

[Classes (2/10): Divine Beast Tamer, Dark Sorcerer]

[Abilities: Black Ice Manipulation (Dark Sorcerer), Corrosion (Dark Sorcerer), Absolute Comprehension]

[Stats:

— Strength: 62 (with [Obsydian Jian] equipped)

— Dexterity: 38

— Vitality: 69

— Stamina: 43

— Mana: 54 (Available: 27)

— Luck: 1]

[Stat Points Available: 6]

***

Killing the Level 41 orc gave his stats a huge leap, but even before that, he felt that his stats must have been quite higher than those of others at his level, if there were any.

He consistently took risks and tried his best to spend every day getting stronger, and looking at his stats now, it seemed like it worked.

But even with his risen level, Damon didn’t feel satisfied. Finding monsters whose level was high enough to give him any experience points quickly grew harder with each day.

"Don’t worry..." a voice said suddenly, and with a quick burst of mana, Kitsune shifted into her true form and landed on his lap. She didn’t waste time coiling her slender arms around his neck, quicker than he could react.

Instinctively, he closed his status window, and the first thing he saw was Kitsune’s plum lips, which curved into a smile.

"With the start of the first phase, every monster will evolve, so there will be plenty of higher-level creatures out there." She explained in a soft voice.

"There’s another seat there-" Damon tried to tell her, but she was quick to cut him off.

"Hmm, but I like it here~" She purred, shifting slightly closer toward him.