Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

How was it possible that Simon who hadn't directly killed the ogres was able to get the experience point? That was because the one who had dealt the killing blow to them was not the Andromedas but him.

The Andromedas only brought the ogres to the point where they had a silver of Hp remaining, the rest of the damage was done by the curse energy. This way, not a single kill was wasted and all that experience from the ogre army was channelled into Simon.

"You idiots what are you doing? If you can't outrun miasma, then just blow it away using wind magic" Giz-Mogo directed, even though he got outplayed by Berigard, he was still a crimson horn and the second lieutenant of the black ogre army.

The ogres complied and quickly used their magic, skills or the abilities of their mounts to blow the miasma away from their surroundings. However, it was as if their attacks had no effects, the curse energy spread around unhindered.

The ogres tried again and again using various methods; nevertheless, the outcome remained the same. They were unable to disperse the curse energy.

"It's useless… curse energy is not something that can be pushed back by normal magic" Simon commented shrugging his shoulders and looking at their wasted efforts.

"You… stop that right now" Giz-Bozo was finally forced to move. With a step of his, he quickly disappeared from Simon's line of sight and appeared beside him in an instant. The crimson horn of Giz-Bozo glowed a bright crimson indicating that a powerful attack was coming.

"[Shockwave Blast], [Ability conferment- Greater force]" mana aura enveloped the ogre's hand and quickly formed a gauntlet which was then swung towards Simon.

Realising the incoming danger, Simon's instinct flared and he quickly unfurled his wings to get away from the trajectory of the punch. A decision that was the right option to make.

The skill that Giz-Bozo had employed was the same skill that the black horn ogre used to topple down the wall. However, in the hands of Giz-Bozo, it was multiple times stronger not to mention the skill was altered to have a different effect.

Missing the target, the punch swept through the air causing ripples around the surrounding. These ripples were not any ordinary ripples but shockwaves that travelled through the air.

Seeing this, Simon narrowed his eyes. Of course, he had seen the black ogre activating the same skill; however compared to the one executed by Giz-Bozo, that looked like just a demo.

Simon was not among the ones to underestimate his enemies and surely not one that was this much powerful. There was a difference of more than a hundred levels and an entire rank between them.

Normally, Simon wouldn't have initiated a fight against such an enemy. However, why is it that even though he knew that there was such a huge gap between them, he was very much excited for this battle?

Smile… unknowingly a smile crept up to his face. This was it, this was the battle he needed to find out how much progress he had made in these past few months and where he stood when using the greatest power currently in his arsenal.

The attack from the ogre was strong; however, it was not enough to daunt Simon.

[All basic abilities are strengthened by 500%] looking at the notification that had popped up when using the curse energy, Simon smiled.

Using the Curse energy, made him unable to use his magic and skills but it compensated by boosting his physical powers to far greater heights. That was not all, the curse energy present inside the trial only gave him a boost of 300%.

However, right now his physical power and basic abilities had been boosted by 500%. The reason for that was because unlike the curse energy present inside the trial grounds that had degraded through time, the curse energy that he was currently using, was from the finger of Ozymandias.

The latter was the source of this foreign energy therefore it was only natural for it to produce a dense amount of curse energy that was incomparable to the one that had seeped inside the mausoleum during the cataclysmic fight between Yela and Ozymandias.

His increased understanding of the curse energy might have also played a part in too. In any case, thanks to the buff, Simon was able to react to attacks of a being that was only a step away from reaching calamity class.

"You dodged that huh? Then how about you try and dodge this" Giz-Bozo took out a double from his space ring and enveloped it with his mana. The blades of the axe glowed crimson and blue lightning started discharging out of it.

[Battle Monger's Axe] a [B] rank weapon that had bestowed various skills to its user and Lightning magic was one of them. The weapon was a present gifted to him by the Ogre King Gil-Garna himself and since then it was his prized possession.

Giz-Bozo was someone who was a pure warrior, he did not bother to learn any magic and solely directed all his efforts to skills and stats that would make him a better warrior. To compensate for his lack of magic, he used weapons such as the axe.

"[Lightning Slash], [Ability conferment- Mana Armament]" Giz-Bozo swung the axe that released thick columns of lightning.

The lightning released quickly took the shape of an axe that came flying towards Simon like a bolt of lightning. Simon understood that even if he dodged the attack, he would be hit by the columns of lightning around it. Thus he chose to deflect the attack instead of dodging it.

Simon brandished his Crimson Blazing Flame Sword and clashed with the incoming lightning axe with his own sword swings. He might not be able to use any skills or magic right now, but it wasn't like he had forgotten the essence of [sword mastery] skill that he had learnt by putting his body at the line.

<strong>CLANG… RUMBLE….</strong>

The moment the two weapons collided, clanging noise rang out followed by a discharge of lighting that threatened to devour Simon. The sky brightened up as a result of their collision.

The lightning axe repeatedly erupted with lightning; nevertheless, it was unable to push Simon back who was cloaked with the curse energy. The lighting around the lightning axe was starting to disappear after a while and it seemed like Simon had successfully defended through the attack.

But that was when he realised that something was wrong. The attack instead of getting weaker was actually becoming stronger over time.

The lightning axe that was enveloped in blue lightning, suddenly had a red aura erupt out of it and it quickly became a crimson axe. Simon was taken aback, this was a technique that he had seen Godwin execute when chasing after him.

According to him, it could only be used by those above level 600. Unable to hold the axe back any longer Simon was pushed back and coincidentally saw the smile of victory on his opponent's face.

This immediately annoyed Simon and he exerted even more curse energy on his sword. So what if the ogre was capable of using a technique that was beyond his realm? Hadn't he defeated an opponent who also used a similar technique not too long ago?

Simon recalled his battle with Morgress who used a quasi [Mana Armour]. The ogre in front of him has to be doing the same. Since they had yet to reach that level, they might be using a quasi [Mana Armament].

If that was the case and it was not a complete technique, then there was no reason to think that he can't break through this mana armament.

Simon wasn't far off from the truth, the technique that the ogre used was in fact incomplete. However, unlike Morgress who learned the [mana armour] technique, the technique of [Mana Armament] suddenly appeared to Giz-Bogo one day.

This also indicated that it wouldn't be long before he stepped on the calamity class. Giz-Bozo extended his hand and following his will, the Lightning Axe that had now turned crimson, continued to apply pressure on the demon.

"You overestimated yourself demon… if this is all your strength, then you can forget about closing this war".

Giz-Bogo stated, thinking that he had gauged the strength of the demon. But he realised that he had judged too soon, his assessment came wrong when he saw the peculiar miasma surrounding the demon increase in intensity.

It slowly travelled through the demon's body before enveloping the lightning blade itself. At that moment, Giz-Bogo suddenly felt his connection with the lightning blade weaken. The mana that he was supplying to the quasi-armament was suddenly disrupted until finally, he could no longer send any mana to it.

To his amazement, the crimson lightning axe slowly started becoming purplish black and dissipate into thin air.

<strong>BOOOM…</strong> before the shock from what had transpired could hit him, he saw the demon rushing towards him at an insane speed. He did not even have the time to think when Simon was already upon him.

Simon wrapped in curse energy, channelled it all into his claws whose sharpness was even comparable to a blade made of Mythril.

CLANG… the sound of metal colliding with metal echoed out. Giz-Bozo was forced to use the [Mana Aura] technique to defend themself from Simon's attack. Though if he really was safe, was yet to be seen.

<strong>CHIII…</strong>

Simon smiled, a scorching came from his claws and in front of the horrified eyes of the ogre, his mana armour was slowly being gauged through.

With the increase in his understanding of the curse energy, Simon was able to understand more profundities of the curse energy. He used the decaying attribute of the curse energy and applied it to his claws to slowly pierce through the mana armour of the ogre.