Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

However, Giz-Bozo wasn't among those weak-spirited individuals, no matter how much his mind was corrupted by the curse energy, he still retained a trace of sanity not to fall for that trick.

"You… Grrrruuaaahhh!!" the ogre gave a loud warcry and came charging towards him.

"Hehh… you are quite firm willed I see" to be able to ward off the mind corruption of the curse energy in his state, Simon was a little impressed with the ogre.

A solid punch enveloped by mana aura, came targeting his face followed by a kick and axe slashes from the lightning axe.

The attacks were unending; nevertheless, now that Giz-Bozo's power has dropped by a lot and he was afflicted with the decaying effect of the curse energy, his attacks were much more sluggish than before.

So much so that, Simon was able to easily dodge the attacks with minimal movements. What's more, to speed up the effects of the curse energy, Simon even willingly took a few hits so that more and more miasma will latch onto the ogre.

<strong>BAM…</strong> a crimson horn was a crimson horn, his attacks were still powerful enough to push Simon back dozens of meters and disrupt his internal blood flow.

"Gugh… huff… huff" Giz-Bozo fell on his knees and coughed another mouthful of blood. It was as the demon had said, his core stone was slowly being corrupted and it was very difficult to channel his mana around his body.

What's more, every time he did he suffered a serious backlash.

"Bozo what's going on?" Mogo who had somewhat recovered from his injuries came supporting the former.

"Mogo… that demon, he uses some unknown kind of abilities. I'm afraid in my current state, I'm not his match. I will need your assistance to finish him off". This was the first time Mogo had heard Bozo saying that he was unable to defeat an enemy on his own.

Naturally, he was surprised but more than that he was cautious of this demon who even Bozo couldn't defeat.

Knowing the consequences of their defeat, Mogo unhesitantly agreed to lend his assistance. This would be the first time that they were facing an enemy who was not from the seven king tribes together.

"Be careful of that miasma around him. Do not let it touch you or else your condition would also be like mine" Bozo reminded. The two ogres nodded at each other and started assaulting Simon together.

Needless to say, Simon did not back down and instead welcomed this change. He utilised the full potential of the current limit of the curse energy that he was capable of handling right now and engaged in a fierce close combat battle with the ogres.

Their clash was so intense that they left aftershocks everywhere. Simon used his increased basic abilities and physical power to dominate most of the rounds of the fight.

Thanks to not being able to use his magic in his current state, his battle experience and close combat skills was being honed at a rapid speed.

Simon was the type who was slow at learning new things, most often than he would have to put his body in the line to learn something. He would fail ninety-nine out of hundred times and succeed only once.

However, his most redeeming feature was not his talent nor his cheat like [Main Menu] or the items he has got in his inventory but his perseverance and determination to succeed. Simon would keep on struggling until he achieves the desired result and in this case, it was the battle experience and the mysteries of the curse energy.

He was increasing his understanding of the curse energy during his battle with the ogres and trying to incorporate it into a skill. Yes, Simon was trying to create skill from a whole different system of energy.

For a moment, Simon felt that the curse energy enveloping his sword suddenly sharpen like its blade. The feeling was vague and disappeared as soon as it appeared. However, Simon felt it clearly making him unable to forget that sensation.

In a heated battle with not one ogre but two, Simon was diverting a portion of his mind in creating this skill. How could Giz-Bozo and Giz-Mogo who had plenty of battle experience from waging wars and destruction in the forest, be willing to kiss that opportunity?

They immediately pounced on it and attacked Simon with their most powerful attacks. Mogo used his [Aura Bomb] skill while Bozo used his [Ability conferment] skill to bestow an ability [Greater force] to his skill [Chaotic Shockbolt].

The two powerful attacks as if tearing through space, appeared in front of Simon who had no way of defending himself. the attacks arrived and collided with Simon who at this moment closed his eyes.

"Fall!!" the ogres shouted, a furious explosion erupted out causing the land to rumble and a crater more than fifty meters big and with an unknown depth, to form on the ground.

The might of the two powerful skills of the crimson horns, was on full display in front of everyone. Tiny debris fell from the sky, the orcs and the ogres waited with bated breath to find out what happened of the demon.

The explosion had raised a huge cloud of dust in the air causing their field of vision to get covered by it.

"What happened? Is the demon safe?" Berimond asked.

"Didn't you see what happened? Those two powerful attacks clearly hit that demon, there is no way he would be able to survive that" Berirock commented with an anxious face.

Those attacks from the ogres were so powerful that it raised all of the hair on his body, even though he wasn't the target of the attack and was thousands of meters away.

Berigard did not comment, he simply looked towards the Valkyries who did not seem unfazed by that attack on their master and continued to fight their battles. Narrowing his eyes, he turned to face the miasma that was slowly covering the battlefield and seeing that it had yet to dissipate, a realisation struck him.

Not only did he notice this peculiarity, but even Giz-Bozo and Giz-Mogo, the two parties involved, had an incredulous look on their face.

"It cannot be, why isn't the miasma disappearing?" Mogo spat out in disbelief. He had learned his lesson and did not underestimate his enemy this time. He used his most powerful attack from the get-go when their guard was down the most.

Even if the enemy somehow possessed the [mana aura] skill, they shouldn't be able to endure the might of their combined attacks.

Giz- Bozo's skill was even more powerful than Mogo's which is why the shock that was written on his face was even more apparent. While he was confused about whether the demon was alive after taking on this attack or not, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed a faint purplish miasma wafting off from within the body of Mogo.

"Mogo you…". The latter jolted after being suddenly called like that and turned to face Bozo.

"What's wrong?" Mogo asked.

"Did you get exposed to that miasma…" Bozo couldn't complete his sentence when he realised that the reason why Mogo was affected was because of him. The miasma surrounding him was also capable of spreading to a new target on its own when in close proximity.

"Get away from me" he suddenly shouted and pushed Mogo back.

"What are you doing?" Mogo cried out in indignation.

Only when the former pointed at his body, did he finally realise that his body was also slowly being corroded by that energy. Immediately, he invoked his mana and tried to suppress it only for a cackling voice to sound out from within the dust.

"It's useless… curse energy isn't something that the likes of you can try to suppress. Once afflicted with it, your only salvation is death.... Kfufufu".

Finally, the dust spread apart and the figure of the demon came into view in front of every peering eye. All eyes had something in common and that was the characteristics of shock and disbelief.

No matter if it was the ogre or the orcs, they couldn't believe that the demon who was standing in the air on top of that crater, was unscathed from head to toe even after taking on that attack.

Not a single hair on his head was damaged, the only thing that could be said to be different about him was that a gigantic greyish item was now hanging around him. It was like a pillar or more like a giant finger of a titan-like being.

The finger of Ozymandias was finally out.

The thing that had defended him from the combined attack of the ogres was not any mana armour or anything but the finger of Ozymandias. The finger was so powerful that even after suffering the full blow of their skills, it did not even have a scratch on its skin.

Which also showed how incredible the defence stat of that being that he witnessed in the historia was. Nevertheless, even a being like him was slashed and his arms cut by that woman with angel wings.

There was always a summit above a summit, a sky above that sky. The curse energy that seemed all powerful right now, was not actually so and could be subdued and defeated in some other ways.

However, right now its strength was unparalleled. There was no way the likes of ogre could even hope of contending against the curse energy.

Hearing Simon's words, Giz-Mogo tried to furiously suppress this foreign energy that was wrecking havoc in his body only to suffer a fierce backlash. Just like Giz-Bozo he coughed out a mouthful of blood and the energy that he just recovered, slowly start depleting.