Ex rank talent Awakening: 100\% Dodge rate-Chapter 101 - : TAINTED

"Huff, huff, huff," Cumba breathed heavily, fatigue crippling him. He couldn't even lift a finger.

Nemesis walked towards the battered Cumba. "I gave you a second chance, and yet, you couldn't save yourself."

"This is impossible and unfair! What did you do to Gob?" Cumba asked weakly.

"Nothing much. It's only right I reward my most loyal believer and punish my most disloyal believer—that is, if you even believed in me in the first place," Nemesis replied. "Now, how do you plan to die?" Nemesis asked, staring directly into Cumba's eyes.

Cumba felt fear and bitterness over his foolish actions, but what hurt him even more was the distant gaze of the village he had given his all to protect. It felt like a dagger through his heart.

"I know what you're thinking. Ingrates—that's what you call them all. Now tell me, Cumba, how exactly have you protected them?" Nemesis' question was met with an eagerness to respond, but Cumba went blank, finding it difficult to recall any noteworthy deed.

"Let me guess. You killed the demonic worm that had been taking their families as sacrifices? No? Fine then, but at least you protected them from the orcs? No? Really? Then what exactly did you do? Hunt for them? Because I believe you are not the only one hunting for the whole village. So please, make me understand—what exactly did you do for them that made you see them as ingrates?"

Nemesis struck where it hurt, Cumba unable to refute any of his claims.

"I'll tell you why. You were conceited. You were the strongest, so you felt above them, believing everything you did was for their sake and that they should be grateful. It's fine to think you're above others, but that arrogance is not reserved for weaklings like you, Cumba. I killed the worm that plagued your village. I subdued the orcs. Now, where is the gratitude you owe me? None? You thought I took your place? Trash—you were never on my level."

Nemesis materialized Heaven's Defier, Cumba's death imminent.

"No! I can't accept this! I won't die like this!!" Cumba screamed, the demonic aura in the atmosphere and the red light from the moon concentrating on him.

"Cumba! What are you doing?! Do you plan to kill us all?! How dare you?!" Erisu shouted, panicking. He wasn't the only one—every single demon panicked upon seeing Cumba's actions.

Nemesis, however, remained calm, not even bothering to interrupt Cumba, allowing him to accomplish his goal.

"Roaarr!!" Cumba roared. It was no longer the Cumba they knew.

The being before them was a mindless beast. His body had grown larger, two extra eyes sprouting on his face, along with an additional nose, an extra mouth, and an extra head—featureless and plain. However, the strange thing about it was that the head appeared somewhat human, its shape resembling Nemesis'.

He had also grown extra arms and legs, his lower half now resembling a centaur, except the distance between both pairs of legs was extremely short.

C#-;b& (Seed of Envy)

Bloodline: Envy (99% contamination ?)

Level: ???

Health: 1,000,000

Strength: 188

Speed: 167

Stamina: 363

Intelligence: 142

Constitution: 356

Loyalty: N/A

The status window of Cumba—if he could even still be called that—had taken a massive leap.

"He's been tainted! He's been tainted by envy!!" Jarek, the new orc leader, shouted, sending everyone into a panic.

Tainting—a situation when one succumbs to one of the seven deadly desires embedded in their hearts.

Demons were more susceptible to tainting than any other race, especially in their own realm, where demonic aura intensified their desires.

Demonic creatures were those who had been completely overtaken by a deadly sin. Demons within clans were trained to control their desires, even learning to harness them for strength. But those in the wilderness, untrained, were highly prone to tainting. This was the reason for the high number of demonic creatures roaming the wilds.

Most often, tainting made them weaker, but a rare few—like Cumba—gained extraordinary strength despite lacking control over their desires.

"Everyone, fall back! I will deal with him!" Nemesis commanded. His believers eagerly retreated, their instincts warning them of certain doom if they confronted the beast.

"Envy, huh? The bastard dared to be envious when he was so weak," Nemesis muttered in disgust. He despised such people—those who envied others.

Kyle had been one of them. Though, well, his envy had led to a more complex and complicated situation.

"Time for test two, Defier," Nemesis chuckled softly, activating the Mysterious Box, curious about what effect he would get.

[Mysterious Box (Active): Using this skill grants the user a random buff or debuff, the effect and level being completely random. (Cooldown: 3 hours)]

[Attack Multiplier: Deal five times your damage to the enemy (Time limit: 5 mins)]

Nemesis smiled. It seemed even Defier wanted him to destroy the damn demon.

"Roooar!!!" The beast roared, launching a highly compressed energy ball towards Nemesis.

[Miss]

Nemesis didn't even bother dodging, going straight for the attack. He wouldn't waste time, knowing the beast's HP was absurdly high and his buff had a strict time limit.

Swinging Heaven's Defier, Nemesis made a clean cut, severing one of the beast's arms.

"Roar!!" The beast howled, swinging its remaining arm at Nemesis.

[Miss]

Focused as ever, Nemesis stabbed at the beast, slowly but surely whittling down its HP.

"Tsk. This is too slow," Nemesis cursed under his breath. He had been fighting for three minutes now, yet he had barely reduced the beast's HP by one-third, let alone half.

The orcs and goblins watched the battle unfold with exhilaration. The beast hadn't been able to land a single hit on Nemesis—a super rare feat in their eyes.

"Great god! Invincible! Invincible!!" Erisu shouted in excitement. The others quickly followed, chanting in fervor.

Everyone was enjoying the battle.

Like a dancer, Nemesis weaved around the demonic creature, slashing and stabbing with precision.

The beast swatted at Nemesis, attempting to grab him, but once more, for some unknown reason, it couldn't.

Nemesis seized the opportunity, swinging his blade once again, but unlike before, he failed to sever the limb completely.

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