Chapter 52: Still, Carlos Is the ‘Easier One to Bully’
“It’s quite easy, don’t worry. I avoided vital areas like the heart. If things go smoothly, you might gain even greater power.”
Su Xiao held the sword hilt. A mark on his upper arm flickered with a blood-red light. That was his passive skill [Demon Mark]. Originally, [Demon Mark] was on the back of his hand, but because it was too conspicuous, he had transferred it to his upper arm.
Demon Mark: Lv.7 (Passive Skill)
Skill Effect 1: Adds 28 points of True Damage on melee attacks.
Skill Effect 2: The Demon Mark level can be increased by sacrificing equipment. You have formed a pact with a high-ranking demon.
…
Su Xiao rarely sacrificed equipment for [Demon Mark]. The reason was that this skill consumed a lot of resources. Some low-quality equipment wasn’t even enough to satisfy this skill’s appetite. After all, it was a capability that increased True Damage. Without investing a large amount of resources, it couldn’t be improved much.
However, Su Xiao’s core abilities were already too resource-intensive. He didn’t have extra resources to cultivate [Demon Mark].
Just before, when Su Xiao sensed the demonic power within that tube of blood, [Demon Mark] had a slight reaction. It was precisely because of this that he got involved in this matter and ultimately helped treat Carlos.
What was inside Carlos was a special type of demonic power. This demonic power was extremely pure, even purer than the demonic power within most demons.
Su Xiao’s [Demon Mark] had absorbed demonic power once before, so he immediately thought of using [Demon Mark] to absorb the demonic power within Carlos.
After obtaining Carlos’s blood from Kaiser, Su Xiao immediately purified the demonic power within it. The result was that [Demon Mark] easily absorbed that surge of demonic power. Although the level of [Demon Mark] didn’t increase, he felt that [Demon Mark] had been strengthened.
What Su Xiao needed to do now was to absorb the demonic power within Carlos. The other party didn’t want this demonic power, but Su Xiao was eager to get it. The benefits of True Damage were numerous, such as killing a high-defense contractor in a few slashes.
As for why Su Xiao used Carlos’s own sword to pierce Carlos, it was because the demonic power within Carlos had already formed a symbiotic relationship with him. If all this demonic power were taken away, Carlos would die. If most of it were absorbed, the remaining demonic power would lose balance and begin to destroy Carlos’s body structure.
Demonic power wasn’t like water. You couldn’t just take some out if there was too much. Many troublesome factors were involved.
Since Carlos had already formed a symbiosis with the demonic power within him, Su Xiao couldn’t take all of it away. He had to leave at least about one-tenth behind.
Leaving the remaining demonic power inside Carlos was clearly not an option. So Su Xiao noticed Carlos’s sword. The craftsmanship of the other party’s sword wasn’t very fine, and the sword had a heavy blood aura, with power not inferior to Gold-quality weapons. From these points, it could be deduced that Carlos had been using this sword for a very long time.
When a weapon is used frequently, the user will more or less form some kind of connection with it. For example, with Su Xiao and Dragon-Slaying Flash, even if Dragon-Slaying Flash were accidentally lost, as long as the distance wasn’t too far, he could sense it.
Su Xiao speculated that Carlos must have some connection with this sword. Their auras were beginning to resemble each other. This wasn’t something that could be achieved in just a few years. Carlos might have been using this sword for over a decade.
Su Xiao’s idea was this: since the demonic power already had a symbiotic relationship with Carlos, he would leave a portion of the demonic power within this sword. This way, through his connection with the sword, Carlos wouldn’t be completely isolated from the demonic power. They could coexist, but the demonic power could no longer continue to erode Carlos. This sword would become the transfer point and balance.
This was the best solution Su Xiao could think of. If it didn’t work, he would mount Bubu Wang within 2 seconds. Bubu Wang could rush out of the fortress in at most 10 seconds, and then they would flee. As for whether they could break through the encirclement of over a hundred thousand troops, that was unknown. No risk, no reward, right?
No one in the room noticed Bubu Wang. This guy was ready to act according to the situation at any moment and make a quick getaway with Su Xiao.
Kaiser stood beside Su Xiao, holding a test tube rack in his hand. Su Xiao would occasionally pull a test tube from the rack and pour the potion inside into Carlos’s mouth. After dozens of potions, this legion commander was being force-fed until his eyes rolled back.
This was just a cover. The hand Su Xiao used to hold the sword hilt was the key.
Although [Demon Mark] was a passive skill, it was Su Xiao’s ability. It belonged to him. He could fully control [Demon Mark], just like he controlled the Devouring Core.
The light on the [Demon Mark] on Su Xiao’s arm flickered. After fully activating [Demon Mark], his perception of the demonic power within Carlos became clearer.
A somewhat hazy consciousness was mixed within the demonic power. This consciousness had no clear goal; it just moved aimlessly within Carlos’s body.
There was no imagined great demon parasitizing Carlos’s body, nor was there any ancient consciousness awakening to resist the absorption of [Demon Mark].
On the contrary, after sensing the familiar aura within [Demon Mark], that surge of demonic power actually took the initiative to come forward, even starting to disdain Carlos.
Discovering this, Su Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. Things were simpler than he had imagined.
Under the attraction of [Demon Mark], the demonic power first entered Carlos’s sword. The entire sword gradually turned black-red due to the erosion of the demonic power.
After passing through Carlos’s sword, that surge of demonic power followed Su Xiao’s hand and entered his body.
Inside Su Xiao’s body, however, there was an energy killer like Cyan Steel Shadow Energy. Given the domineering nature of Cyan Steel Shadow, as soon as the demonic power entered Su Xiao’s body, it was ‘severely beaten’ by the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, meaning it was devoured and annihilated.
Even [Demon Mark] only dared to cling to Su Xiao’s body surface. How could this foreign demonic power be any different?
After being ‘brutally beaten’ by the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, the consciousness within the demonic power seemed a bit aggrieved. It wanted to return to Carlos’s body. The outside world was too dangerous. Carlos was still the easier one to bully.
However, would [Demon Mark] easily let go of this demonic power? Of course not.
A suction force erupted from [Demon Mark]. The demonic power, caught off guard, had some of it absorbed.
[Special demonic power detected. Demon Mark is in an activated state. Absorbing demonic power…]
That surge of demonic power immediately realized that whether it was inside Su Xiao’s body or [Demon Mark] itself, both were very dangerous. Carlos’s body was still the safest place. Truly a miserable Carlos.
Once [Demon Mark] started absorbing, as long as Su Xiao didn’t control it, it wouldn’t stop.
The pitch-black demonic power was absorbed into [Demon Mark] along the longsword. The [Demon Mark] on Su Xiao’s arm, originally the size of a fingernail, gradually grew to the size of a walnut. Moreover, as it absorbed demonic power, the volume of [Demon Mark] continued to increase.
[Demon Mark] kept getting stronger, and notifications from Reincarnation Paradise began to appear continuously.
[Demon Mark has been upgraded to Lv.8.]
[Demon Mark has been upgraded to Lv.9.]
[Demon Mark has been upgraded to Lv.10.]
…
The demonic power within Carlos was very pure. The level of [Demon Mark] climbed rapidly, like a rocket.