After two full hours of being confined, the young man respawned in Troy, the city closest to the Agaz Valley. He walked down the streets, feeling frustrated, convinced that he had been deceived into a pointless death by a beast. But as he passed by a mirror, he caught sight of the changes that had taken place in himself.

His once sleek black hair had turned into rough, frizzy red hair, similar to the mane of a manticore. His fingernails and toenails had grown long and sharp, easily tearing through the high-level clothes he was wearing. His previously scrawny body had gained more muscle mass, and his bare chest now bore a faint tattoo of a manticore across it. His cold, black eyes now had a red gleam, and his once pale lips had a reddish tint. But what shocked him the most were the long, white fangs that protruded from his mouth.

"If I fully merge with its soul, I hope I don't end up growing a tail..."

Demos muttered to himself, feeling strange as he looked at the reflection of the young stranger in the mirror—someone who now felt unfamiliar to him.

"You have much to learn, human. Before we can fully merge our souls, I hope you don't end up being consumed by me first,"

a cold voice echoed from deep within his mind, startling the young man. He was even more shocked when he saw the reflection of the manticore in the mirror instead of his own.

"What do you mean, 'consumed by you'?"

Demos asked with a frown, now looking more like a beggar than anything else.

"It means that you must be the one to control me, human. If you let yourself be consumed by darkness and evil beyond your limits, forgetting who you are and losing your sanity, you will be the one who gets consumed by me. That would mean a second painful death, and you would lose the beast whose soul you are trying to merge with,"

the manticore in the mirror explained. Demos knew that he had reached a point of no return—there was no going back. The only option was to move forward and seize power greater than anyone else.

"I understand,"

Demos replied curtly, stepping away from the mirror. As he walked toward the southern part of the city, he found chaos and confusion, the cause of which was still unclear. Players and AI were frantically running towards the northern and eastern city gates. Further south, the city was filled with the sounds of confusion and the deafening roars of a monstrous creature that sounded clearly enormous.

Squawkkk!"

A familiar cry came from behind him. Turning around, he saw Ery, his harpy eagle, flying toward him. Surprisingly, it had not been automatically sealed into his ring. When he checked his status bar, he noticed that there was now a red label next to his name: "Incomplete Soul Merge." His level had not decreased, either.

"Ery, your sharp eyes never fail me. Looks like something exciting is happening outside the city. Let's go check it out,"

he praised his pet, leading the way towards the western gate, where a fierce battle awaited at the harbor.

Chang Long used the Spirit Realm skill once again, causing the spirits of Devi-chan, Hisa-chan, and Alice-chan to manifest and join the battle against the Hydra Beast King. Although both spirits had relatively high levels—especially Hisa-chan, who was five levels higher than the Hydra—they still could not break through the swarm of heads to reach the head that had a crown-like symbol on, which featured a pale green stone with dark green patterns in the center of its body.

"Damn! It's so fast. Every time we cut off one head, another replaces it, and the severed head just regenerates again!"

Devi-chan complained, feeling the struggle of the battle as Hydra's level was higher than him. Despite Hisa-chan being higher in level, even he was not showing much advantage. Both Hisa-chan and the other players faced the same issue as Devi-chan, and when the Hydra exhaled its green mist, they were all afflicted with a poison status.

"Stopp!, Alice-chan. I told you to stay in the backline. Here, take these crystals and give them to Devi-chan, Hisa-chan, Kitsune, and Hulu whenever that giant weed hits them hard. Got it? Now, go stand by Kimhant!"

Chang Long quickly grabbed Alice-chan's arm, preventing her from charging into the fray like the guys, leaving Alice-chan pouting as she reluctantly walked back to stand next to Kimhant.

"But the women in that group are fighting! Why are you holding me back, master?"

 Alice-chan protested, pointing her elegant finger at a female mage who was casting powerful spells while being protected by her comrades.

"That's a mage! And she's casting spells, not charging into the front lines!"

Chang Long replied, feeling a bit exasperated as she glanced at the female mage.

"Hmph, I have magic too. I can summon undead servants! You've, no! Master has seen me do it before!"

Alice-chan argued, unwilling to back down.

"Then use it. Why did you try to charge in headfirst then!"

Chang Long scolded her while ducking to avoid the Hydra's breath.

"Well... I can only summon one per day, and it won't disappear until it's killed,"

Alice-chan admitted, leaving Chang Long agape, before grumbling out in frustration.

"Just go stand by Kimhant,"

she said, resigning herself to the situation.

Chang Long noticed that the smaller heads, each as large as a giant python, were tightly guarding the main head in the center of the Hydra's body. She began to suspect that this central head was the key to defeating the Hydra. Her spirits and the nearly hundred players who had joined the battle seemed to share this realization. However, the number of survivors had already dwindled to less than fifty.

"Ah, if we do it that way… no, never mind. Actually, let Devi-chan handle it; he'll love being in the spotlight, haha,"

Chang Long thought to herself as she planned out a brilliant strategy to deal with the Hydra. But before she could put it into action, Devi-chan suddenly yelled at her to get out of the way.

"Missy, move!!"

Boommm!

Chang Long's body was swatted a distance away, hurling through the air as if caught in zero gravity. She coughed up a large amount of blood, and the muscle pain in her body rapidly intensified. The mana used to maintain the spirits dropped by half in an instant.

"Spread wings!"

Chang Long quickly commanded her wings to spread, preventing her from crashing into the ground and suffering more severe injuries. Thankfully, it worked. Her large wings spread out, helping to slow her descent, allowing her to land safely on the pier without further harm. She hurriedly pulled out crystals and downed the black rose tea to mitigate the side effects ravaging her body. She could not afford to collapse, not while this battle was still ongoing.

"Wow, those wings are pretty impressive,"

a voice called from behind her, making Chang Long quickly turn around. She saw a man with wild, red hair and cold, dark gray eyes that had a strange red gleam in them. His clothes were tattered, making him look oddly like a beggar. Above him in the sky, a black harpy eagle circled overhead.

"Are you planning to fight that thing?"

Chang Long asked with a frown. This man gave off a deeply unsettling vibe.

"Yeah, I like challenges. That thing's way above my level,"

Demos replied.

"Uh-huh. Well, good luck with that,"

Chang Long nodded, understanding, and prepared to rejoin Kimhant and Alice-chan.

Grab!

"Your wings... they're fused, right? You must be pretty high-level too,"

Demos remarked as he grabbed one of Chang Long's wings to inspect it, causing her to stumble slightly. When she turned to scold him, she found his eyes gleaming as if he had discovered something fascinating about her.

"Let go. Aren't you here to fight that thing!"

Chang Long snapped, prompting Demos to release her wing.

"You're really interesting. The aura around you tells me you're different from other players. If you have some free time, how about we spar sometime?" Demos suggested with a smile that seemed genuinely sincere.

"Are you crazy? I'm out of here!"

Chang Long retorted and walked away immediately. She did not like his tone, his demeanor, or even the eerie atmosphere around him, which was entirely different from her own. Her instincts told her that this man was dangerous—dangerous enough that challenging him would undoubtedly put her life at serious risk.

"Are you interested in that kid?"

The cold, eerie voice from Demos' subconscious echoed.

"Oh, I think she's quite fascinating. If possible, I'd like to fight her sometime,"

Demos replied with a smile as he began to follow Chang Long, his gaze fixated on her retreating figure.

While other players struggled against the Hydra, dying like fallen leaves, Demos simply stood and observed the battle. Then, he posed another question to the voice in his mind.

"Hey... What did I gain from the pain of dying?"

"Hmph! Close your eyes and imagine,"

the voice responded.

Without hesitation, Demos closed his eyes and focused on his current state. He envisioned himself as a man with long, wild red hair, tattered clothing, and large leathery wings, tinged with red, sprouting from his back like those of a bat. His hands and feet bore long, curved claws reminiscent of a wild animal's. The red hair covered his neck and shoulders, resembling a lion's mane. His lower lip was pressed by long white fangs, extending over two inches. He felt an immense power surging through his body, a power unlike anything he had ever experienced in this game.

When Demos opened his eyes, he found himself hovering several meters above the ground, still feeling that extraordinary power coursing through him. Though his appearance was now more demonic than human, he did not care much about how he looked.

"Hahaha, I like this. Your power is incredible. If I can reach your master's final resting place, I think I'll become the strongest person in this entire adventure world,"

Demos laughed with satisfaction before diving into battle, attacking the level 125 Hydra Beast King as if it were nothing more than a mere doll, incapable of harming him.

Chang Long and the other players fighting the Hydra watched Demos in stunned silence. His current form was almost indistinguishable from that of a demonic beast. Even Devi-chan was fixated on him, feeling a deep, unsettling sensation in his gut—a terror that was entirely different from what the Grim Reaper King evoked, his body trembling.

Demos effortlessly dodged the Hydra's numerous heads, using only his sharp claws to decapitate them. The Hydra, now under immense pressure from Demos, focused nearly all its heads on attacking him, barely paying attention to the other players. Only Devi-chan and Hisa-chan were left to contend with a couple of the Hydra's heads each.

'Missy, as soon as we kill this thing, we need to get out of here immediately, understand?'

Devi-chan's voice echoed in Chang Long's mind, carrying a tone of urgency.

"Why, Devi-chan? What's going on?"

Chang Long asked, confused.

"That man... the human who fused his soul with a monstrous creature. It seems like he's connected to Beleth's beast,"

Devi-chan replied, swinging his sword to decapitate one of the Hydra's heads as it lunged at him.

"Who's Beleth?"

Chang Long asked, sensing the growing seriousness in Devi-chan's tone.

'One of the Seven Pirate Kings. He's the one who led me to meet the Reaper King. But when I returned from the Land of the Dead, I found out he was already dead. I'm not sure how he died, but rumors say the remaining five Pirate Kings teamed up to take him down."

Chang Long listened intently to Devi-chan's explanation, starting to feel a looming sense of doom. If it took the cooperation of five Pirate Kings to bring him down, how dangerous could he be?

"Understood!"

Chang Long agreed with Devi-chan's plan to flee immediately after the battle. She knew that despite her vast array of high-level skills, she stood no chance against a player with such a higher level, especially one who was experienced in fighting and relished combat with such fervor. If an unexpected confrontation became unavoidable, she would have no choice but to fight with everything she had, even if the path to victory seemed bleak.

'Good. From now on, you should seriously consider training to level up, missy,'

Devi-chan said before returning to battling the Hydra Beast King.

"Cedric,"

Chang Long called out to one of the Reaper Guardians, who resided within the Blood Ruby Sword. In response, Cedric emerged from the hilt of the sword hanging at her waist.

"Why doesn't the Spirit Realm skill work on you?"

Chang Long asked, puzzled. Instead of regaining a physical form within the Spirit Realm, Cedric only appeared as a reflection on the large ruby set in the sword.

"I cannot return to a physical form until my master, the Reaper King, has fully regained his form. This means that no skill, nor any offering of food or items, will affect me. My true state is not that of a spirit, but of a reanimated being, resurrected by the Reaper King,"

Cedric explained.

"I see. Do you see the central head of that water hyacinth?"

Chang Long asked, getting straight to the point. She had summoned Cedric to help deal with the head with green stone.

"What... What water hyacinth, my lord?"

Cedric asked, startled, as he saw no water hyacinth in sight.

"Sorry, I meant the Hydra. Its head looks like a bunch of water hyacinths. Can you cut off the head with the pretty green stone? No one else has managed to get close to it,"

Chang Long clarified. She glanced at the few remaining players still fighting alongside her, realizing that none of them had managed to strike the head adorned with the green stone.

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