Chapter 299: Battle Begins

Black veins appeared on Samael's face. The rock fragments by his sides started rolling. They were statue fragments from when they cracked.

The rolling rock fragments gathered and formed a huge rock serpent.

The huge rock serpent emitted a booming sound and smashed against Sherlock...

Dragonborn used his shield to fend off a Gnome's body. The Gnome opened his huge, terrifying mouth and spat his forked tongue at Dragonborn's neck, but it was a bit too short.

TakeASpearHit stabbed the Gnome's neck with his Pike and flung him away.

The strange thing was that the killed enemies climbed up as though nothing had happened.

The Gnome, whose neck was stabbed, pounced forward and strangled TakeASpearHit's neck. The Pike pierced through the Gnome's neck, but he seemed alright.

"Attack their heads!" someone shouted before using a Short Sword to decapitate the Gnome. Blood splattered on TakeASpearHit's body, and he was covered with a mixture of grotesque blood and body liquids.

"That's like a zombie... Ooo!"

Before the gamer finished his words, he was stabbed in the heart by the headless zombie. It was a gruesome death, and he had to revive.

"Mince them!" TakeASpearHit shouted loudly. He slung his Pike on his back and fastened it with a rope. He then took out his backup Steel Blade and roared.

Nobody responded to him, they were busy fighting the monsters.

...

"Brother Pants, if we don't fight the monsters in the Plot, there won't be any rewards!"

While most of the gamers were fighting Samael's troops, NotWearingPants had climbed on the roof of a petrified house. He noticed a battle nearby and heard Peasant's shouts. NotWearingPants hollered, "You go ahead first, Peasant. I'll capture some screenshots. Sherlie is participating in the Plot! Look at the vicious fighting!"

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The huge stone serpent used its tail to whip maliciously at Sherlock.

A huge pit appeared at the whipped location. NotWearingPants wasn't able to see inside the pit, but that didn't stop him from capturing screenshots.

The tail of the huge serpent was raised very high. As it was about to smash down, the serpent discovered that there was a huge pit at its tail, as well as fissures that looked like spider webs spreading out.

"Your head is harder than a rock."

Samael advanced closer as Mana accumulated at his palm. He held a black Pike with a spiral-engraved shaft, and poisonous bile was applied at the tip of the Pike. A gray aura of death emanated from Samael as he edged closer.

"Did you support the previous army of the Ancient Gods? Let me guess your reward. They helped you find Michelangelo's relic? Or helped to open the Gates of Hell so that you can enter the Underworld and Surface World?"

Sherlock clenched his fists, speaking calmly.

"After the failed attempt, you started the plague in Winterfell and tempted Andrew into finding Michelangelo's relic?"

"Andrew? Is that the name of the superior Devil? A believer of Satan who was full of Original Sin. Jealousy? Sometimes, jealousy is more sinful than fury. He was a good candidate for manipulation."

Samael flipped the Pike and rested it on his arm. His stride emitted gray ripples that spread on the ground.

"I only need Michelangelo's relic, but you robbed me of it. I had to drain Winterfell's Dungeon Core. It's your fault for causing the downfall of Winterfell."

"It's my honor."

Sherlock smiled and said, "I committed another hateful sin."

"Boom—!"

The stone serpent smashed at Sherlock, but he gave the snake a strong punch.

Time froze as the fist and stone serpent collided. Then there was a violent explosion of blinding light. A series of three-layered Mana Formations appeared at Sherlock's fist and expanded, and a magical vortex wrapped around the stone serpent.

The stone serpent exploded instantly, and the fragments flew in all directions. Samael's Pike shimmered with rays of death.

Samael wielded the Pike and pushed through the fragments of the exploding stone serpent. He aimed the sharp tip of the Pike at Sherlock's heart, but Sherlock dodged. There was a continuous series of Pike afterimages that surrounded Sherlock's body.

Samael's Pike spun out a web of death, and Sherlock looked like a dancer on the web. The dance of death didn't last long, as Sherlock took an opportunity to punch at Samael's face. Samael was distorted, and he flew back with great force, knocking into a petrified building and leaving a long ditch.

"Is he dead, Lord Sherlock?" Bru asked impatiently.

"He's not dead yet."

Sherlock shook his head and raised his fist. A dark liquid was eroding the skin of his fist with a sizzling sound.

"This is tricky, Lord Sherlock. We started our small Dungeon less than half a year ago, but now you're challenging one of the Devil Kings, Samael. This seems like a big jump. Are you going to die?"

Bru was worried.

"Don't exaggerate. He's not the real body of Samael. The power of Winterfell's Dungeon Core isn't sufficient for Samael to pass through the Gates of Hell."

Sherlock said, "But things aren't optimistic. We're waiting for reinforcements."

"Reinforcements! Lord Sherlock, you have a backup plan?"

Samael stood up among the ruins in his tattered clothing. Part of his head was flattened, and his face was grotesquely distorted. His back started to bulge enormously.

Then there was tearing of the flesh. A pair of black-feathered wings tore out and splattered dark liquid on the ground.

The black wings flapped a few times. Then, Samael held onto his wings and shrugged his shoulders. He bared his sharp teeth at Sherlock and smiled.