Chapter 34: High Human Transformation

"Nero?!"

Serina’s eyes widened when she noticed the demonoid approaching him.

"Dodge!"

She immediately activated her Wind ability, sending a powerful blast toward the creature. However, the demonoid completely ignored her attack and continued moving toward Nero.

Before he could react, it reached him and struck him across the chest.

BANG!

Blood erupted from Nero’s body as he was sent flying backward, crashing onto the stone floor.

"NERO!"

Serina screamed when she saw him fall.

Her powers erupted at full force, sending fire and wind sweeping through the chamber as she desperately tried to stop the creature from reaching him.

Unfortunately, none of her attacks had any effect. The demonoid’s armor remained completely intact as it continued walking toward Nero, seemingly ignoring her existence.

Meanwhile, Nero slowly pushed himself upright.

Blood dripped from his wounds, and his breathing was heavy as he watched the creature approaching him.

Then a familiar notification appeared.

[Choice Detected.]

[Option 1: Run while you still can.]

[Reward: Speedblitz (Rare)]

[Option 2: Fight.]

[Reward: Instant Mastery over Any Weapon (Epic)]

Nero stared at the two options.

He already knew what he wanted to choose, so there was no reason to hesitate.

"Fight."

[Choice Selected.]

[Reward Distributed: Instant Mastery over Any Weapon (Epic)]

The moment the reward was distributed, Nero’s damaged clothes finally fell apart, exposing the strange High-Human inscription on his chest.

The inscription was glowing so brightly that neither Serina nor the demonoid could overlook it.

Nero slowly raised his head.

"Why are you targeting me specifically?"

His gaze shifted toward the enormous upside-down statue before returning to the creature.

Despite his fear, a mocking smile gradually appeared on his face.

"Is it because I already took the Demonic Energy from that statue?"

The demonoid suddenly stopped moving.

Seeing its reaction, Nero’s smile widened.

"Unfortunately for you..."

His voice echoed throughout the chamber.

"It’s already been absorbed."

BOOOOOOM!

An overwhelming storm of energy erupted from Nero’s body, sending Mana and Demonic Energy surging outward simultaneously.

Serina’s eyes widened when she sensed the second energy.

"Is that... Demonic Energy?"

There was no mistaking it.

She could clearly sense the Demonic Energy surrounding Nero, but what shocked her even more was how it was intertwining with Mana.

The two completely different energies were actually beginning to fuse!

Then Nero’s body began changing.

His cells started reconstructing themselves at an impossible rate, with old cells breaking down and immediately being replaced by new ones.

His organs shifted and reformed, his muscles were restructured, and even his bones began changing. The transformation continued into his nervous system, while his old skin peeled away as new tissue replaced it.

His entire body was being rebuilt from head to toe.

But the transformation didn’t end there.

As the changes continued, Nero suddenly sensed a faint light flickering somewhere beyond his physical body.

’What is that?’

He couldn’t understand what he was sensing at first, but his Enlightenment ability soon activated, allowing him to recognize it.

’My soul?’

Nero finally understood what the flickering light represented.

More importantly, he realized that this was the final hurdle of becoming a High-Human.

His physical body had already undergone its reconstruction, but he still needed to establish complete resonance between his body and soul.

His soul needed to catch up with his evolution and awakening!

With this realization, Nero focused his consciousness on the flickering presence and began aligning his physical body with his soul.

Gradually, the two moved closer together until they finally connected.

BOOOOOOM!

An even greater amount of energy erupted from Nero’s body.

At the same time, he felt something break inside his mind, almost as though an invisible restriction had finally been shattered.

A mysterious force began flowing through his consciousness as his soul and body achieved complete resonance.

His transformation accelerated once again, and Nero could feel his strength increasing at an alarming rate as his body continued absorbing the two energies.

The process continued until his evolution finally reached its limit.

Then everything became still.

The storm of energy disappeared, leaving Nero standing alone in the center of the chamber.

Serina could hardly believe what she had just witnessed.

"Nero...?"

Hearing her call, Nero opened his eyes.

They were no longer brown.

His eyes had turned blue, glowing faintly in the darkness with Mana flickering within them.

At the same time, his hair began growing rapidly, extending down his back and front until it reached his waist.

Serina was completely stunned by his new appearance.

The person standing before her looked nothing like the Nero Martinez she had known before.

Nero, meanwhile, turned his attention toward the demonoid.

As he did, he noticed something lying on the ground nearby.

It was Lucas’s sword.

Nero raised his hand and willed the weapon toward himself.

An invisible force wrapped around the sword, lifting it from the ground before pulling it through the air and directly into his grip.

[Ding!]

[You’ve Mastered Swordsmanship.]

Nero examined the blade for a moment before looking toward the demonoid.

"I’ve heard that you can’t destroy a demon’s skin without an enhanced weapon."

The creature responded with a furious screech before lunging toward him with immense speed.

However, Nero had already disappeared from his position.

WHOOSH! BANG!

Before the demonoid could react, Nero appeared above it and stomped its head into the ground.

His long hair whipped through the air as the creature roared and immediately swung its claws toward him.

Nero raised his sword.

CLANG!

He deflected the first attack, parried the second, and easily avoided the third.

His movements were fluid and instinctive, with the Epic reward granting him complete mastery over swordsmanship.

However, as the battle continued, Nero quickly noticed a problem.

He couldn’t properly control his newfound strength.

Although his swordsmanship was flawless, his body was moving with far more power than he was accustomed to. Most of his attacks relied on brute force, and he still lacked the precision needed to make full use of his evolved abilities.

But did it really matter?

He was simply too fast.

His strength, speed, reflexes, durability, and perception had all reached an entirely different level, making it almost impossible for the demonoid to keep up with him.

Meanwhile, Serina watched the battle in utter disbelief.

Just what was she seeing?

She had investigated Nero’s past out of curiosity, so she knew exactly what he had been like before.

He was timid, afraid of fighting, and completely inexperienced in combat.

Yet the Nero standing before her was now fighting a demonoid head-on, wielding his sword as though he had spent years mastering it.

He was moving like he had fought countless battles of life and death.

And he wasn’t showing the slightest hesitation in his movement.

He surged forward like a beast unleashed from it’s cage.

"Just what was that transformation...?"

Serina couldn’t understand what had happened to him, but she was certain of one thing.

’That wasn’t a normal awakening.’

A normal awakening shouldn’t be capable of pushing someone’s Power Index directly to 2.0.

She understood that this demonoid was at that level clearly.

Before she could think about it any further, Nero suddenly tightened his grip on the sword.

He had grown tired of exchanging blows with the creature.

’Let’s finish this.’

Nero unleashed the full extent of his physical strength, pushing his newly evolved body to its limits.

BOOM!

The stone floor cracked beneath his feet as he shot forward, closing the distance between himself and the demonoid in an instant.

The creature tried raising its claws, but Nero was already within striking distance.

He gripped the sword with his right till his veins bulged out and swung with every ounce of strength he possessed.

SLASH!

The blade cut straight through the demonoid’s neck, severing its head in a single strike!

Its head flew through the air before crashing onto the stone floor, while its enormous body remained standing for a brief moment.

Then it collapsed.

THUD!

The demonoid was dead.

Nero slowly lowered his sword, watching the creature’s head roll across the floor before coming to a stop.

After confirming that it was truly dead, he turned toward Serina.

"Let’s go, Miss Serina."