Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"[Mana Armour]" Simon narrowed when he saw the bluish green aura around his opponent that saved him from being utterly burned by his infernal magic.

'When someone breaches level 500, their mana will start to become more dense and solid and can be used to form a cloak of some sorts giving them increased defensive power' as this was not his first time facing an enemy who is able to use [Mana Armour] Simon wasn't fazed by seeing his enemy surviving an advanced tier attack head on.

However, the Mana Armour he knew off was much more powerful than this which shows that Morgress' Mana Armour wasn't complete. It could be because he had yet to breach level 500.

Whatever the case maybe, the Mana Armour ability of Morgress wasn't something that was impossible to deal with.

"Hehehe… How about that, there is no way I'm weaker than you demon" Morgress drank a few vials of potions and shouted hysterically. He was trying to hide the feeling of uneasiness in his heart with his shout.

The attack earlier was so powerful that it melted [C] tie armour and almost burned him alive. If not for the fact that he had the [Mana Armour] skill he would have been completely done for. But even then, Morgress was more aware of the limitation of this skill that could at most be called a proxy [Mana Armour].

The [Mana Armour] was a technique that can only be utilised by someone who has stepped through the boundary of level 500.

However, Morgress was someone who was stuck at the level 500 barrier for more than a decade unable to progress further because of his bloodline limitations.

He thought that if he could learn some of the techniques such as [Mana Armour], that bottleneck would loosen. To his disappointment, he was still stuck at his current level with a cheap imitation of a higher level technique.

That is why, he coveted the spirit orbs of the forest spring spirit race so much. Not only was it considered one of the greatest treasures in this world, it was also one of the few items in existence that is able to increase the purity of one's bloodline, talent and aptitude thus allowing one to breach their current limits and reach greater heights.

In the end, the sad truth was that not only their guild fail miserably to get their hands on the spirit orbs, they even made an enemy out of the Sea god's trident which led to the events up till here.

Morgress had a bottle full of resentment and frustration that he wanted to take out on somebody. Fortunately for him, the reason and the source of all of his troubles was right in front of him. However, they weren't an opponent that he could take on lightly.

As could be seen from their battle, the demon not only had an army of golems, two calamity class beasts under him, he also had this powerful [A] tier sword that could shock anyone, in his possession.

Not only that, the demon was also constantly studying him, poking for any weakness in his guard. But the most frustrating thing about the demon was his experience in dealing with adventurers.

It wasn't like Morgress was going easy on the demon viscount or something, in fact he had fought with a demon viscount just like the one in front of him many years ago in the snow valley. However, that demon wasn't as annoying as this one to deal with nor did he have these incredible line ups of followers.

But most of all, that demon wasn't as adept at dealing with the adventurers as the one in front of him.

His heart skipped a beat when he heard the demon identify the technique he had used. Nevertheless, when he saw him frowning, his confidence returned back to him.

'That is right, this is an advanced technique only those who have stepped into the realms of true powerhouse can use. There is no way any attacks that a demon viscount who hasn't even reached the peak of his rank could throw that will be able to surpass my [Mana Armour]' Morgress thought internally.

He also believed that the infernal attack like the one earlier should be very taxing and cannot be used consecutively.

He was not wrong, in fact, Simon had to use one third of his entire mana pool to dish an attack as powerful as that. But the thing that Morgress forgot to account was that Simon wasn't going all out from the start unlike him.

"Interesting [Mana Armour] huh. I have quite some history with this technique. No, this is a good opportunity, now I will be able to see if my current abilities are strong enough to get past that [Mana Armour] of yours or not" Simon said flashing a wide wicked smile for the first time since the battle started.

A terrible amount of bloodlust flooded out of him which was so palpable that one could feel their skin tingling. This amount of killing intent and bloodlust wasn't something that could be faked and could only be released by one who have killed thousands of people.

Feeling that powerful amount of bloodlust and hearing those words, Morgress wondered what the demon was talking about when he suddenly realised that the aura around the latter suddenly start to rise; No, skyrocket to whole different realms.

It was not only him that felt the changes, everyone who was observing the demon, felt that change. In front of the astonished eyes of every humans and even his subordinates, Simon's body started buffing and increasing in volume starting from his height to his muscles.

The next change was the weird markings all around his arms and chest that started lighting up and igniting his upper clothes revealing his lean and packed muscles along with the ancient symbols on his body.

With the change in his physical state, his aura and stats also started rising to whole new levels. The skill that Simon used, astonished everyone. After all, a skill on the level of Lost Phantasmal tier was something that only a few individuals including Irene knew that Simon had.

That absurd of a change warranted that incredulous of a look from the observers.

<strong>BOOOM…</strong> the moment the changes finished taking place, Simon flapped his wings and disappeared.

From the start of this fight, Morgress had kept his opponent in his sight; however, after that peculiar change, the demon moved at such an incredulous speed that he practically disappeared for a second or two from his opponent's line of sight.

The next time he appeared he was already behind Morgress and was in mid motion of swinging his sword.

Sensing the demon behind him, Morgress' eyes opened wide, he wanted to turn around and defend but it was already too late.

CLANG… a heavy grating noise echoed out and Morgress was sent flying to the base of the mountain where he crashed ultimately creating a small crater.

<strong>BOOOM… BOOMM… BOOM…</strong> Before he even had the chance to compose himself and get out of the crater, dozens of flame and lightning spears came targeting him from the sky.

A barrage of flame and lightning hit his body that was lying on the ground generating intense reactions from the onlookers. The demon's assault did not stop there, after that intense display of magic, it dropped down onto the crater where Morgress was like a meteor.

<strong>BOOOOM…</strong> the ground in a few meters area trembled and from amidst the dust, a figure could be seen flying out.

The person who just rolled out of there was none other than Morgress who looked quite worn out. He was covered in dust, his hair and skin burnt in many areas and his Blackgold armour was almost but gone.

Looking at that state of his, whether it be his teammates or the people teaming up with him, they weren't able to believe that this person was their guild leader, the man with the highest level in their party.

Before their brain could comprehend what was happening, the figure of the demon appeared out of the pit and released an aura that kept on getting stronger.

'As I thought so, the [Mana Armour] technique this person is using is not complete. In that case..' Simon thought internally and decided to boost his powers even further by activating all of his augmenting skills.

Added with the fact that he was under the effects of his [Ancient Symbol Ignition] skill and the buffs provided by his sword, the power he erupted out with was ridiculous to say no less.

<strong>BOOM…</strong> right after boosting his powers even further, Simon charged towards Morgress not intending to give the latter a single moment of respite.

Thus, a brutal fight started with Morgress being thrown all around the thirty sixth floor like a ragdoll being slammed with all of the magic and skills of his opponent. He was being so utterly overwhelmed that it did not even look like a fight any more and more like a one sided beating.

Morgress was a human who had one foot in the level 500 barrier for many years. Usually, it wouldn't have been this easy for Simon if he wanted to suppress him. However, Morgress failed to account one thing when he challenged Simon on a one on one duel and that was the current state of their bodies.

Compared to Simon who was brimming with energy, Morgress was battle worn from descending so many floors, clearing monsters and fighting so many golems. It was only natural that he would be expended and would be unable to fight like in his peak state.