Chapter 205: Got You

"Sacrificing children for the sake of acquiring raw power! How utterly barbaric and vile!!" Kelly yelled out in pure, unfiltered rage, her hands clenching into tight fists.

?"Who gives a damn about how you judge our methods?! Once this city-wide lockdown descends into absolute chaos, we will slaughter everyone and take over this entire territory!" Cobra roared back, his voice cracking as blood began to stream uncontrollably from his burning eyes.

?"You are clearly experiencing immense physical agony from using that forbidden technique," Juliana muttered with a tilt of her head, genuine confusion flickering across her features. She simply could not comprehend why any human being would willingly subject themselves to such grotesque suffering—let alone slaughtering innocent children—just to gain temporary strength.

?Even so...

?"Wait, what did you just mean by ’take over this territory’?" She asked, her eyes narrowing.

?"Hehehe... You don’t need to know the grand design, little girl." He snarled, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white as he gritted his teeth against the searing pain. His skin instantly began to shift, turning a sickly, unnatural crimson hue.

?"AHHHHHHH!!!"

?He shrieked in agony as two jagged, bone-white demonic horns violently erupted from his forehead, curving sharply upward toward the sky:

?"...?!"

?"Hahahaha!! So this is the legendary dark power that person promised us!! It’s magnificent and truly impressive!!!" he bellowed maniacally, lifting his bloodshot gaze to lock onto Viper:

?"Come on! Let’s see if you can still talk down to me now!"

?BOOOOM!!

?He kicked off the earth with explosive force, shattering the stone ground beneath his boots as he shot forward like a literal cannonball.

?"Don’t you dare underestimate me!"

?Viper didn’t flinch. She surged forward to meet him head-on, pulling her arm back and unleashing a devastating, momentum-backed punch.

?"Die!"

?BOOOOM!!

?The two colossal forces collided directly in mid-air. The shockwave violently pulverized the dirt beneath their feet, instantly carving out a deep, smoking crater as the recoil force threw them both sliding backward.

?’His raw physical strength is currently hovering right at the absolute ceiling of the SSS-RANK threshold... but his Assassin class has undergone a terrifying, monstrous mutation.’ Viper thought quickly as she landed lightly on the balls of her feet, staring across the dust at the red-skinned monster:

?’He now possesses the terrifying speed of an elite Assassin, the crushing offensive output of a Warrior, and the unyielding defensive plating of a Knight... Yet, fundamentally, he can never truly ascend into a Mage. Those cursed pills only artificially amplify physical attributes and external energy flow, leaving his internal spiritual core hollow. If I activate my siphoning ability to drain his stats, I can easily grind him down... But.’ She swept her cautious gaze around the perimeter of the mine compound:

?’I keep getting this lingering, deeply unsettling intuition that something else is pulling the strings behind the scenes...’ Viper thought, her instincts flaring.

?"How dare you let your mind wander while locked in combat with me?!"

?Cobra roared, surging forward once more in a crimson blur to throw a vicious right hook. Viper casually deflected the punch to the side with an open palm, spinning on her heel and unleashing a lightning-fast uppercut straight into his jaw.

?BAM!!!

?The force sent Cobra rocketing backward through the air, crashing heavily into the gravel and spitting out another mouthful of dark, contaminated blood.

?"You are still fundamentally no match for me... I don’t even need to go all out to put you down." Viper stated with a cold, dismissive frown, watching as a dense layer of dark spirit energy coiled menacingly around her fist.

?’Damn it all!! That single strike carried her signature darkness element directly into my body... How on earth has she mastered infusing her elemental energy to this devastating level, forcing it deep into my internal organs? If I don’t burn the dark corruption away immediately, it will inflict a stacking combat debuff that will rapidly drain my stats... This woman is a living monster; she hasn’t lost an ounce of her prime lethality.’ Cobra thought with a vicious grimace, forcing his battered body back up to its feet.

?’The person who gave us these pills claimed this transformation form represents the absolute pinnacle of mortal power, but I still lack the learned skill required to utilize advanced skills outside of basic Assassin, Knight, and Warrior skill-sets! The worst part is, without having spent days studying the skill books, I can’t activate those specialized moves... However, there is one inherent ability that came hardwired with this demonic evolution.’ He realized darkly, nodding to himself as he stretched his hand backward toward his own members.

?’I already boosted their strength to the SS-Rank earlier; their remaining life-force should be more than sufficient to bridge the gap.’

?Instantly, thick, pulsing tentacles made of unstable red energy burst forth from his palm, shooting across the clearing like living whips to wrap tightly around the limbs of his nine shivering subordinates.

?"Vice Guild Leader? What are you doing?!"

?The junior assassins shrieked in sudden, terrified confusion as the bindings bit into their skin.

?"Don’t look at me with those shocked expressions—you all knew the risks when you took the pills! Now hand over your remaining life-force and give me your full strength!" He roared furiously.

?"Do you honestly believe I’m going to stand here politely and watch you execute your own men?!"

?"...?!"

?Cobra whipped his head around toward the sharp voice, spotting Viper’s fist already hurtling directly toward his face at point-blank range.

?"...?!"

?BOOOOM!!!

?The heavy impact sent Cobra flying backward like a ragdoll, crashing straight through the side doors of one of their parked off-road vehicles.

?"Hehehehe... You’re still too late to stop the ascension."

?".....?!"

?Everyone watched in stunned horror as Cobra slowly pushed himself back up from the wreckage of the vehicle. They turned their eyes toward the tentacles, watching in sick fascination as it finally retracted, leaving behind nine completely desiccated, mummified corpses of the SS-Rank assassins whose life-force had been entirely vacuumed dry.

?"So this is the true, absolute power he promised us!! Hahahaha!! I finally understand what true ascension feels like!!"

?He screamed up toward the afternoon sky as his outer red skin began to painfully blister and peel away in thick sheets, exposing a glistening, pitch-black layer of armor-like obsidian skin beneath, accompanied by glowing, jet-black eyes that radiated pure malice.

?"Hahahaha!!! I can physically feel the infinite power surging through my veins!! This feeling is absolute ecstasy!!" He roared, and before anyone could blink, his physical form completely vanished from sight, tearing across the distance with movement speeds that defied human comprehension.

?’Damn it all!! He’s moving entirely too fast for a standard SSS-Rank—it seems I no longer have a choice, I have to unleash my full trump card!’ Viper thought, her eyes flashing dangerously as she raised her hand forward, locking her gaze directly onto the incoming black streak.

?SNAP!

?The sharp, echoing sound of a crisp finger-snap rang out across the silent mine compound.

?Instantly, Cobra’s high-speed charge came to an abrupt, violent halt. He stopped dead in his tracks, staring down at his mutated body with a look of sudden, profound surprise.

?Mr. Brook and the estate guards watched in breathless awe as Viper’s overall aura violently spiked upward, while Cobra’s towering combat strength instantly plummeted by a staggering half.

?"Hehehe... She completely fell right into the trap." Cobra muttered, a twisted, victorious smirk spreading across his darkened face as he slowly lifted his head to stare directly up at her.

?"You failed completely, Viper!!! Hahahaha!!" He crowed, throwing his head back and laughing hysterically into the open afternoon air.

?"Huh?"

?Viper and everyone else standing on the sidelines were left utterly lost and bewildered by his bizarre reaction.