Chapter 11: Abyssal mantis
Although all this came naturally, and his military training had a lot to do with it, even Vlad was surprised by his abilities. At first, he thought leveling up gave him power, but now he understood it was more than that. His ability to react and his speed of thought were surprisingly high, much more than the other Level 1 Gifted he saw firing their weapon.
’My Gift?’
That was the only explanation Vlad could come up with. Sadly, there was no explanation for the Gift’s ability in the human interface, and Samsara Typhoon was not exactly self-explanatory.
Vlad did not have time to ponder it as a bear monster appeared and lunged toward him. He had just taken care of a rat demon and could not dodge, so he focused. The next second, his Force exploded, growing two times stronger.
Thanks to the increased Force, Vlad could strike back the bear monster’s claw, pushing the creature before burying his knife into its head.
That increase in Force output surprised the Gifted, yet it shocked the Angels, especially Asmael, whose eyes glowed with even more envy than when he heard about Orland’s Silver Skin.
Vlad couldn’t help but frown as he saw the way those angels were looking at him. Increasing the output of Force was nothing impressive in his eyes, yet it seemed that was not the case. However, he did not have time to distract himself as he kept fighting the abyssal monsters.
Greed began to appear in Asmael’s eyes as he glanced at Vlad, but the next second, his eyes widened as he turned to the crack from where all the abyssal demons were coming out.
Vlad also turned toward it as his instincts began to scream. The next second, he saw what could only be described as a demonic entity nearly three meters tall with the form of a humanoid mantis wielding two imposing metallic scythes. Its aura was exponentially stronger than any other demon’s, and it exuded a brutality and bloodlust that terrified all who looked at it.
"ALL OF YOU; AIM AT THAT THING AND FIRE!"
Asmael shouted with an expression of dread, no longer displaying the calm valor of before. Shocked, the Gifted did as they were told, turned their weapons toward the mantis demon, and fired.