The information about the skill Assimilation bloomed in Roy's mind like a raging torrent.

His brain drank the stream of knowledge greedily. Due to his increased intelligence, his mind was already elevated far beyond what it had been when he was just a regular human.

"Thank goodness… I thought assimilating all of them meant they were gone forever," Roy breathed in relief.

The assimilation of all his items and hero summons didn't mean their death.

The skill Assimilation was a temporary fusion skill. Right now, Roy's being was a culmination of all he had assimilated — the amount of abilities at his disposal was vast.

All of Trion's skills, Velra's, the weapons, and items — he could access them all.

He glanced at his hands, plated in familiar rose-gold armor. He could feel two protrusions on his back, and above his head levitated a royal, mystical foggy halo — once Velra's mage staff.

Not only that, he could feel the raging momentum his hands carried. Etched into his now-golden bones were the Legendary Gauntlets of Justice. He could feel the authority and soul-stunning effect in his eyes — definitely from the Legendary Horn.

His eyes closed as he sensed the troves of skills at his beck and call.

He opened his eyes and activated one: Crown of Immortality, a skill of Trion.

The skill's effect was just as its name portrayed — as long as it was active, he couldn't die. Though in return, it drank through his Ether reserves greedily.

He didn't care. After all, he just had to survive five minutes… well, four minutes now.

He turned his gaze to the distant Belzebub. No words needed to be said.

A painful flash of memories ran through Roy's mind — all the pain inflicted on them. Because of the assimilation, not only could he access his own memories, he could access the heroes' too.

His eyes went cold, his bloodlust seeping into the atmosphere as the spine-ripping scene flashed in his mind.

"I will be paying you in full interest!"

His figure blitzed through the air, fists tightly clenched and simmering with gold. Assimilation allowed him to tap into the true abilities and powers of the items assimilated.

And because of that — his shotgun.

Legendary BY15: The Void Annihilator

Its true abilities were laid bare. Only now did he realize he had never been using the true Ether forms of his guns.

Well, now that he had realized — he wasn't making that mistake again.

His arms pulsed forth, carrying the momentum of one of the BY15's abilities: Void Rending Shot.

And indeed, it was a void-rending punch.

Space caved beneath his fists as the punch ruthlessly landed on the armored plate of the Hand.

Cracks ran through the obsidian carapace — but it refused to shatter.

Belzebub's connection to the earth remained steady, channeling the devastating impact of the punch into the ground, which caved beneath his feet.

The crimson gaze of the Hand glinted coldly as a transmission was sent into its soul.

Should it lose, there would be disastrous consequences.

It couldn't lose. Compared to the fear toward the hatchling slime, the fear of its King was more overshadowing.

It stood its ground, reached for Roy's arm, holding it in place, and returned a vicious stab of its own.

The glinting edge of its obsidian jade claws sank straight through the armor, pumping dangerous torrents of corruption into Roy's system.

The Immortal Crown on Roy's head burned furiously as it worked to expel the insidious corruption.

Roy gnashed his teeth from the energy clash going on in his system — but that didn't stop him from delivering another gut-wrenching punch with his free arm.

Void Fold! — another ability of the Legendary BY15.

His left fist phased through the concept of space, pounding directly at the creature's back, insidiously targeting its spine.

Roy's gaze burned with ferocious lust for vengeance.

His elbows retracted and pumped forward even more brutally than the first. This time, the cracks spread around the carapace protecting its lower waist.

He seemed to ignore the frenzied clash of opposing energies going on in his system.

He punched again and again — brutal, heavy, and compact — aiming at the same particular spot.

Slowly, his fists began digging through the shell and mushed meat of the creature. Black, corrosive blood spilled everywhere.

Belzebub trembled, retracting its arm and letting Roy's other fist go. Its transparent wings buzzed in an attempt to take to the skies…

Too bad Roy had wings too.

His released arm snaked forward, clamping tight on the neck of the humanoid fly. His mechanical wings — courtesy of Trion — flapped furiously, keeping up with the beast.

His other hand remained consistent in its pounding.

Screeeeeeeee!

Belzebub let out an inhuman screech, its arms billowing with intense darkness of corruption as it mauled frenziedly at Roy.

Though in pain, a sinister smile graced Roy's lips.

"Ahh… now have a taste of your own poison!"

His pounding fists finally met with the bare bone of the spine.

He gripped the bone tightly — and just as he was about to pull… an intense soul-prickling pain stung his mind.

"W-what the hell!" Roy wailed in pain, losing control of his body. His wings went limp as he plummeted from the skies.

[Warning! Warning! Soul is being corroded by corruption!]

The Immortal Crown on his head flickered weakly.

Roy grasped his head, teeth tightly clenched from the pain, as he remembered what the system once told him:

In the clash between Ether and corruption in the system of a living being — corruption always won.

Belzebub was well aware of this fact and took his time injecting Roy with lethal doses of corruption.

Roy's figure writhed in pain as his veins bulged, slowly turning black.

Arghhh!

He wailed as the pain intensified. In one of his eyes, an ocean of darkness slowly swallowed the whites — his sapphire-blue pupils slowly becoming tainted with crimson.

He was becoming a Variant.

Belzebub's crazed cackle rang out from the skies.

"You fool! You forget yourself! You fight to kill — while I fight to corrupt!

I only goaded you to believe I was after your death, so that you may forget the lethality of corruption!

Hahahahahahaha! Now embrace the encompassing glory of corruption — and you will become my slave. And all your belongings will become mine!"

{A/N} Guys the detail of the Legendary BY15 can be found back in chapter 45, it was among the rewards of clearing the dungeon.

And for the legendary Gauntlets of justice, the aqustion was around 46.

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