Becoming an adventurer by copying monster abilities

Chapter 94 The Demon Army

Deep in the forest at sunset, at the Pond of Decaying Leaves.

In the past, this place was a desolate land shrouded in thick miasma.

Apart from those mud creatures that habitually lurk in toxic water and filth.

Most adventurers and forest creatures would avoid this swamp.

However, at this time, this natural wilderness covering several square miles had been completely transformed.

The stagnant water and mud on the surface of the swamp had long since evaporated without a trace.

Instead, the ground was dry, scorched, and cracked into patches of dark red.

The air was filled with the pungent stench of sulfur mixed with rotting flesh.

This is the corrosive effect of the chaotic laws from the bottomless abyss on the material plane after the space overlaps.

In the center of the swamp, a huge black fissure lies silently across the ground.

The air around the rift was boiling and distorting like hot water, filled with extremely unstable magical particles that seemed poised to collapse into a magical storm at any moment.

From the darkness of the rift, one or two cowardly demons, or low-level creatures like imps, would occasionally crawl out.

"puff!"

A cowardly demon that had just poked half its body out was instantly cleaved in two, skin and bones intact.

The poisonous mist that had just erupted from the broken part of the corpse had not yet spread.

They were blown away without a trace by a sudden gust of wind summoned by a spellcaster who casually waved his staff not far away.

"So, this is our objective this time?"

The one who spoke was a burly man with a bare upper body and muscles as hard as granite.

He stood not far from the crevice, holding a short-handled giant axe with an exaggerated shape in one hand.

The massive axe blade was covered in thick, black blood.

He casually waved his arm, flicking away the blood from the axe blade, creating a distinct whooshing sound.

Clearly, the weight of this one-handed axe has reached a terrifying level that is unimaginable to ordinary people.

"If only such rotten fish and shrimp crawl out of the bottomless abyss, would the association have bothered to call so many of us here?"

"That's because the spatial tear isn't too big yet. Although a lot of demonic creatures have been teleported over, they're all just low-level grunts."

The man's teammate provided an explanation: "If we don't deal with it quickly, the cracks will get bigger and bigger as the erosion intensifies, and then who knows what kind of creatures will crawl along the cracks."

"Alright, alright, so what's the next step?"

The barbarian warrior wielding a giant axe scratched his bald head in frustration. "I can't just sit here guarding the gate forever, can I?"

"Let's clean up these annoying things and leave the cracks to the professionals."

The two seemed to be chatting casually, but their hands moved like precise killing machines, without stopping for a moment.

Slaying these endless streams of cowardly demons and lesser demons is a challenge for these battle-hardened high-level professionals.

Indeed, it's not much different from swatting a few disgusting bedbugs.

Meanwhile, several spellcasters were gathered together, embroiled in a heated debate.

In the vast knowledge of the multiverse, there are many ways to reach the material plane from the bottomless abyss.

For example, being summoned by blood sacrifices of fanatical cultists, using interdimensional teleportation arrays, or through fixed spatial nodes left over from ancient times.

However, unstable channels caused by the overlap of two dimensional spaces, as seen in the example before us, are actually quite rare.

This is why it is crucial to safely and completely close the spatial rift when there is absolutely no information about the other side.

This became the focus of the debate among the high-level spellcasters present.

Murphy, a professional with considerable expertise in this field who was invited by the Adventurers' Guild, was naturally among them.

"My suggestion is to decipher the spatial rules of the rift, and then create a reversed spell to slowly close the rift."

"When will we go? This level of spatial folding, especially the laws from the chaotic bottomless abyss, makes it extremely difficult to find the rules for reversing it."

The spellcaster wearing glasses nearby rejected Murphy's offer.

"Instead, we could join forces and use a few high-level destructive spells to create a collision, thereby stirring up the magical particles around the crack and detonating it."

This already fragile and extremely unstable spatial rift has a very high probability of collapsing and closing due to the plane's self-repair mechanism.

"What if the rift gets even bigger from the explosion? Should we just have a few demon lords teleport through the passage?"

Murphy immediately objected, which is why she suggested using a more conservative approach.

"While this possibility exists in theory, it is extremely slim."

"I agree with Oliver's proposal."

"A short, sharp pain is worse than a long, drawn-out one. The longer we drag it out, the more demons will come. We need to finish this quickly."

Most of the spellcasters present agreed with the man wearing glasses' viewpoint.

While Murphy's suggestion was more prudent, it was clearly impractical.

Although many people present had already touched the threshold of the extraordinary.

However, they are not confident that they can find a reliable solution for this level of spatial rules.

More likely, they will spend ten days to half a month without any results, and then choose the second option.

Given this, it might be better to be more aggressive from the start.

They didn't want to stay in this godforsaken place for long.

Seeing that his proposal failed to convince everyone, Murphy fell silent.

One can only hope that this crude approach won't cause any irreparable damage.

Having decided on their direction, these high-level spellcasters possess terrifying execution capabilities.

Under Oliver's command, the spellcasters quickly spread out and took up positions.

A series of low, obscure incantations echoed through the air.

The magical particles that had been floating around began to become highly active.

The raging elemental energy coalesced into a chilling light at the tips of their raised staffs.

Several high-level destructive spells with extremely conflicting properties transformed into beams of destructive energy.

It roared and slammed into the depths of that dark spatial rift with perfect precision.

"boom!"

A terrifying shockwave, visible to the naked eye, exploded violently inside the narrow rift!

The combined attack of multiple high-level spellcasters created a magical storm within the rift powerful enough to destroy a small city.

Before the various low-level demonic creatures could even crawl out from the other end, they came into contact with this violent energy the moment they touched it.

Before he could even utter a scream, he was instantly pulverized by the chaotic magic.

Immediately following this was spatial chaos and a series of collapses and explosions.

After an unknown amount of time, the raging magical particles gradually stabilized.

Everyone held their breath and looked ahead.

Fortunately, Murphy's worst fears did not come true.

The originally menacing black spatial rift, after experiencing a devastating explosion inside,

It is currently twisting violently at a speed visible to the naked eye, collapsing and shrinking inward.

Ten meters...

Five meters...

One meter.

Everyone present breathed a long sigh of relief.

The spellcaster named Oliver pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses with a hint of smugness.

However, just as everyone's tense nerves were about to completely relax, thinking that the crisis was finally coming to an end.

A sudden change has occurred!

At the core of the black spatial rift, which had already shrunk to just a thin line.

Without warning, a thick finger emerged.

Immediately afterwards, a huge hand forcefully emerged from the closing void!

The crack, which was rapidly closing, emitted a piercing friction sound the moment it touched and squeezed the palm.

The irreversible contraction trend was abruptly halted by the mere obstruction of a single hand!

The fingers of that hand were deformed and elongated, and the dark blue skin was covered with thick, long hairs like steel needles.

To everyone's horror, another enormous hand slowly emerged from the crack.

With one hand on each side, they firmly gripped both sides of the spatial rift.

The solid spatial barriers of the material plane appeared surprisingly fragile under the brute force of these two giant hands.

It was forcibly torn open again, leaving a huge gap!

"Stop it! Stop it now!"

Oliver's arrogance vanished instantly, replaced by extreme terror.

Although no one knows the name or level of the terrifying being on the other side of the rift.

But without a doubt, we absolutely must not allow the other side to reopen this rift.

It can completely ignore the spatial rules of the two planes being squeezed together, and use its physical body alone to forcibly withstand the spatial turbulence that is enough to strangle everything.

And it forcibly tore open a closed crack again.

Even if this being is not a vanguard general of a demon lord, it is definitely an ancient creature of terrifyingly high level.

If something of this caliber were to emerge, the chances of the people present defeating it would be virtually zero!

In the face of life and death, this group of battle-hardened elites demonstrated exceptional combat skills and responsiveness.

The barbarian warrior who was closest made the first move.

With a roar, it leaped high into the air, its giant axe unleashing a dazzling battle aura that stretched for dozens of feet, and slashed fiercely at the wrist.

At the same time, there was a chaotic mix of high-level evocation spells and enchanted arrows, as well as various powerful combat techniques.

Like a violent storm, the attack bombarded the giant hands relentlessly from all directions.

But... it was completely useless.

The attacks that filled the sky strangely created spatial ripples upon contact with the giant hands.

Most physical and magical attacks seemed to pass through a holographic illusion, directly piercing through the body and striking the ruins behind.

Occasionally, a few spells with mental attacks or law attributes could barely make contact with those bluish-black hands.

But it only left a faint white mark on it.

The damage caused was negligible.

"Damn it! Why is this happening?! Why can't our attacks hit it?!"

The barbarian warrior roared furiously, his eyes bloodshot, as he watched his giant axe miss its target after piercing through the giant hand.

"Because it hasn't arrived in this dimension yet..."

Murphy, protected behind Hannah's giant shield, gripped his staff tightly.

Even his usually calm face showed a hint of tension: "That magical storm just now not only failed to destroy the spatial rift, but it also provided this thing with precise coordinates of a material plane. It's using the remaining magical particles as anchor points to try and forcibly open a portal from another plane."

Soon, to everyone's disbelief,

The spatial rift, which was already on the verge of collapse, was torn apart by the giant hand.

It expanded outward to an unprecedented and terrifying scale, transforming into a horrific abyss.

The abyss stopped expanding after reaching a certain extent, and the giant hands slowly retracted.

Immediately following was a bloodthirsty, frenzied roar.

The hideous Fear Demon, the tiny Imp, the Shadow Demon shrouded in darkness, the Kashi Demon—a bizarre combination of a human and a fly—and so on...

An army of countless demonic creatures began to pour outwards through the new spatial passage.

At the heart of that deep, dark rift, a pair of enormous, blood-red eyes, like burning stars.

It coldly observes everything deep within the forest through the void connecting the two planes...

Hannah stood in front of Murphy, using her giant shield to block the onslaught of the demonic tide.

Under the blessing of divine magic, his muscles emitted a faint glow.

The dwarf Ajahn twirled the short hammer in his hand; the "Flying Hammer" class trait granted him the ability to fight at mid-range.

He would occasionally throw his warhammer and then spin it around, smashing the skulls of several demonic creatures.

As the elf Dane retreated swiftly, his precise archery skills always managed to provide timely support to tricky positions that his teammates couldn't reach.

Murphy did not waste the safe environment her teammates created for her.

With a wave of his wand, swarms of demonic creatures were torn to shreds by magical particles.

Faced with the surging demon army, the high-level adventurers present did not scatter and flee.

Instead, they demonstrated the professionalism and teamwork honed through countless battles.

After an initial moment of panic, the several teams quickly regrouped.

The group protected the spellcasters in the center of the formation, fighting and retreating simultaneously.

After a brief battle, everyone received two pieces of news, one good and one bad.

The good news is that Murphy made a discovery after careful observation.

That terrifying being from the bottomless abyss who forcibly opened the dimensional connection does not yet have the ability to directly descend into the material world through the rift.

The bad news is that the spatial rift, which was originally within a controllable range, has now become a vast passage!

There are already quite a few mutated demonic creatures that are huge in size and have countless limbs sewn onto their bodies.

It is gradually squeezing its body in.

After a brief moment of deliberation, everyone unanimously decided: "Retreat!"

For Luca, who often has bad luck.

Any unusual occurrence he encounters during his adventures will put him on high alert.

When the terrifying aura swept through the entire Sunset Forest, he didn't even have time to harvest the goblin's left ear.

It had already activated [Imagination Manifestation] to enhance the dire wolf's running ability, and it took off running wildly towards Twilight Town.

There is no other reason.

In all the battles he had ever fought, he had never encountered anything like this.

Without even seeing the enemy's face, just sensing their presence, he had already completely given up the idea of ​​fighting back.

This terrifying pressure gave Luke a sense of powerlessness reminiscent of when he faced the Ash Lord.

Even though he knew that the oppressive aura wasn't directed at him, he didn't intend to stay there any longer.

However, he was clearly not the only creature in the forest with such keen senses.

Soon, Luke encountered someone who was also gripped by panic due to the terrifying aura.

A huge creature that rampages haphazardly through the forest.

The other person's body was as strong as a giant bear, covered with thick fur.

But its head is shaped like an owl, with sharp eyes that carry a hint of mania and panic.

It was a bear owl!