Unlimited Power 03: The Sinful Ruler

When Jake looked in the distance, he saw Arilene sitting on the ground while she was surrounded by fifty ghost archers… she got the power of sloth so that she could recover energy insanely fast, but even so, Jake didn't imagine that she could summon so many ghosts…

"Well, I don't have time for this," Jake said when he saw the shadow sphere stopping from moving.

Around the same time, the enemy fired several dark spears toward the sky, and Jake didn't like that, so he went to stop him. Once he got close enough, the enemy changed his focus to Jake and then tried to punch him with numerous shadow arms, but then they transformed into spears.

"Urgh…" Jake groaned in pain after blocking a few of those, but he still got hit by two from the sides.

The shadow spears pierced quite deeply… but Jake tensed his muscles to stop them in their tracks, and then he swung his sword to the side and then cut one of the shadow spears in two. The enemy flinched while a part of its shadow was falling and then dissipating like dust.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" Jake asked while smirking.

Around that time, the shadow spears that the enemy fired before were finally landing around the others, and that happened so suddenly that some of them were impaled instantly. Arilene used her ghost archers to repel those, but even they barely had enough strength to block those…

Lana enhanced Arilene's magic power, but that wasn't enough, and Louise was also recovering her magic power since she couldn't drain the mana from the shadows for some reason. Still, Karina and Julian solved that problem for them… by a stroke of luck, actually.

Neither of those two knew how to use the traits that they got, thanks to Jake. Still, Greed and Gluttony power suited them rather well… when several shadow spears began to fall in their direction, Julian used greed power to increase the effective range of his Reflection; it created a large Barrier around them thanks to the fact that his sword began to emit a large aura. Still, suddenly using a trait like that made his whole body feel the pressure of the attacks… blood began to leave his pores… with the sheer force of will, he pushed the shadow spears to the side, and then he fell on his knees, exhausted.

"You sure are reckless…" Karina said while moving around, pushing the people away from harm's way and then piercing the back of the spears with her knives.

When Julian was about to ask why she was doing that, he saw the spears suddenly firing countless darts to the sides and hitting several people… making them scream uncontrollably. However, when she attacked the spears, they dissipated.

"... How can you move so fast?" Julian asked.

"This is my best speed. Thanks to Gluttony's power, I can recover all the energy I need after destroying three things," Karina explained. "It seems that they are living things…"

"Your power… that is not fair," Julian said.

"What is not far, moron?" Karina protested.

"Guys… focus on the task ahead," Louise said after sighing. "I can't drain the mana of those things, but Karina can… I guess my natural trait isn't powerful enough. Lana, focus on healing the wounded. We need to recover as fast as possible and attack that guy again."

"I am working on it…" Lana said while looking around and healing those that entered her line of sight. "It would have been easier if these spears weren't made of the same thing that wounded you…"

"Yes, I am aware of it…" Louise said while looking in the distance.

When he wounded the shadow, Jake understood what it was… it was basically a part of the enemy's body. He didn't know if it was his blood or something else, but that would explain why Justin exploded while leaving that shadow sphere behind. It was the juice that the enemy cultivated to make himself stronger without giving him the chance to his enemies come and fight him.

The enemy's response to the pain was to cover the whole area around them in shadows and then try to crush Jake with a massive, powerful, and dark embrace… Jake felt like he was inside the closed fist of a giant while slowly being crushed, and using his brute strength wasn't helping since he could barely move. Without any other choice, Jake unleashed the mana inside his sword…

A large sphere of light suddenly appeared in the sky, and then the enemy was pushed away while a good part of his shadow was devoured by it… the enemy felt like he had lost a few fingers thanks to that attack, so he couldn't help but sweat cold. This is what happens when he uses his powers without thinking…

Still, when the sphere of light disappeared, he saw Jake with his right side heavily wounded…  it was weird that only his right side got hurt like that in that explosion, but that was the least of the enemy's worries. His wounds began to decrease in size, and he could feel Lana's power working.

"As expected… their combined powers leveled up more than a little bit. I suppose going easy on help me in any shape or form. This might give those guys the chance to come and fight me properly, but as long as I finish things here fast enough, it will be fine."

Jake wondered what the enemy was muttering to himself, but he felt thankful that he had some time to recover… it seemed that he got carried away with the sudden boost of power and thought that the fight was already in the bag. The enemy had a lot more experience, so even if their powers were on the same level, he had a lot more experience… he also had a few tricks up his sleeve with that shadow. Still, Jake's instincts were warning him that he didn't have time to rest, and soon they proved themselves to be right…