Chapter 376: Battle of supreme swords... Part-1.


    ?


    Prototype, S16ir112.


    Floor 2, Near the Stairs.


    Walking downstairs with the usual expressionless face, Rio was feeling quite confused at the moment.


    ''The golems were situated only near the stairs of Floor 5, and 6?''


    Rio started from floor 6 and has now made his way down to floor 2 from above in just a few hours.


    Although he had a lot of mana potions at the begining to replinish his mana, he''s nearly running out on them now.


    But the most strangest thing is that he didn''t run into a single Golem after meeting those two golems that were guarding the stairs of Floor 5 and 6.


    ''Weird... this whole ce is eeirly quiet and I haven''t run into any golems after those two...''


    A thought came to Rio''s mind while thinking about all this.


    ''This kind of feels more like a test or something...''


    The first test could be said to be having the power to escape the dark room that was enhanced with powerful materials and strong magic.


    Rio passed right through it by using miasma, sword intent and shadow cloak in harmony. The second test could be considered surviving the golems guarding the staircase.


    Rio remembered that before he set off, there was a message on the wall saying that this was a practice trial of some sort.


    ''Am I the only one who got this practice trail?''


    If others had gotten the same trail, Rio would have met atleast one or two people from the group by now.


    ''It''s been quite a few hours since we teleported and I still haven''t met anyone from the group...''


    Idri and Fenix are both peak SS rankers, the two of them can travel great distances in a matter of seconds, so it''s really very strange that they haven''t yet found him.


    If it was normal, the two of them would have already searched through the whole ce by now and the whole group would have been reunited.


    Yet, up until now there''s no sign of them.


    ''There''s two possibilities... either the people inside can''t see other participants like how the illusion was making participants totally invisible from each other in the evaluation test...''


    ''Or... this building... this strange ce is purposely making it so that different group won''t be able to meet each other...''


    That would mean, that this ce can change it''s internal structure when no one''s paying attention.


    ''The strange thing is that I see no residual signs of the structure changing...''


    If the walls were indeed being relocated from time to time, then the magic circle casted on them would have to be activated and deactivated everytime that happens.


    And that will leave massive amounts of mana fluctuations in the area for a long time.


    Rio could have easily sensed these mana fluctuation by now.


    ''I guess the mana fluctuation are so weak that they can''t be traced by my mana detection...''


    Rio''s mana detection ability is top notch and can even rival some S-ranker''s mana detection capabilities.


    But if the fluctuations are too weak andst for a very short time, then it would be difficult for even SS-rankers to detect them easily.


    ''It would have been so much better if Liam was here to help me out in answering this question...''


    Ever since Liam awakened ''Mana Field'', his mana control has reached the level that can put even SS-rankers to shame.


    With the support of ''Mana Field'', Liam''s mana detection skill would be even better than peak SS-rankers and no one can rival him in that matter.


    If he was here, Rio could have just asked him to figure out this question of whether these walls are moving or not.


    *Step* *Step*


    After walking downstairs, Rio reached the corridor of Floor 2 and unlike other floor the ce was pitch dark.


    All the floors before this were well illuminated and had decently good lighting as the mithril embedded in the walls was glowing and making the ce bright.


    But this floor seems different.


    ''There''s no mithril in the walls here, only adamantine?... No, it''s not just that... there''s something else...''


    Rio observed the walls carefully and noticed a familiar sense.


    He nced at his own hand and then at the walls again before confirming one thing.


    ''It''s... corruption!?''


    What Rio uses as an element is ''Miasma'' and ''corruption'' is basically an extremely condensed form of miasma.


    The reason why Rio was so shocked was because the walls, the floor and even the ceiling of this floor are tainted with dense corruption!


    The appearance of miasma already is a matter of great concern and if there''s corruption present in this massive of a scale, then it only means one thing.


    ''There''s an S-rank or above level demon in this floor...''


    Thinking about demons, Rio remebered his past two fights with Alverto.


    Remembering those times, Rio couldn''t help but feel that he barely survived in those moments.


    In the first battle that was with a clone of Alverto, Rio nearly died and in the second battle he survived because Alverto was pressed on time as Jin was making his way to Oaklum.


    [Hey, all demons are not royal blood demons, don''t fret it, you have got this partner!]


    ''I never said I was nervous though...''


    [W-well I am saying that to reassure myself, not you!]


    [Also, just looking at this ce is giving me chills, let''s make it out of here fast...]


    ''By the way, I have been meaning to ask for a while now, can you also sense that strange feeling of something calling us towards itself?''


    [Huh? What feeling?]


    ''Ah, forget it... it''s nothing.''


    Rio didn''t bother exining too much in details after confirming what he wanted to.


    ''As I thought... not even he''s sensing it... that means it''s aimed at me not at anyone else...''


    Although Shadow and his soul havepletely merged, the two of them have separate consciousnesses for now.


    Moreover, Rio''s consciousness is too strong for Shadow, so Rio is the dominant party.


    He can easily block Shadow''s senses and can choose whether to allow Shadow to read his thoughts and see what happening outside or not.


    Whenever Rio thinks about his past life or about the novel, he usually blocks Shadow''s consciouness making him unable to read his thoughts.


    This is the reason why Shadow is still so clueless about Rio and his origins.


    All he knows is that Rio was a wandering soul that happened to take over his body.


    ''Forget it, if it''s targeted at me... I will solve it myself...''


    Rio continued to head towards the direction where the vague feeling was leading him without


    hesitation.


    He''s already covered head to toe with miasma, so the corruption in the area has no effects on


    him at all.


    Infact the corruption is giving extra boost to his miasma instead.


    ''So this is how demons feel when they are in a ce that ispletely covered in


    corruption...''


    ''This is strangely... warm...''


    Yes! Rio could feel that the miasma and the corruption around him felt warm andfortable


    as if he was being hugged.


    ''No wonder demons are so addicted to this ''stuff''... it''sfortable and soothing once you


    learn to get along with it...''


    For people who have no control over miasma, corruption is a very horrible thing and their bodies get twisted beyond measures if they get corrupted.


    But, for demonized creatures or even demons, Miasma is just like the embrace of a caring


    mother.


    It protects you, gives you power to face the world and embraces you despite your ws. Miasma is the only thing that embraces the demonkind in it''s arms despite them being


    ''Cancer'' to the world itself.


    There''s a saying among the demonkind that it doesn''t matter if they don''t have family or


    someone who cares for them.


    They will always have thepany of the warm embrace of corruption.


    ''To think that something as horrible and twisted as miasma and corruption can also provide ''protection'' and fort''... how ironic...''


    Right now, in the embrace of miasma, Rio was feeling as if he was being hugged by Lia.


    But instead of his face turning to a smile a rare solemn look appeared on his face. ''Even though I am protected by sword intent and my own defensiveyer of miasma... I am still getting affected by corruption?''


    The reason why Rio was feeling solemn was because his ultimate defense ''True Immunity'' only gets triggered when something is trying to actively ''Harm'' him.


    But now that miasma and corruption is being so gentle with him, ''True Immunity'' won''t


    activate at all.


    Rio can deactivate his ''True Immunity'' at will, but he can''t activate it ording to his choices.


    A few conditions must be fulfilled before ''True Immunity'' could be triggered. And the main condition is that it only triggers against things that are harmful for Rio.


    ''My own skill has assumed that miasma and corruption are not harmful for me... how


    laughable...''


    While walking in the dark corridors a thought came to Rio''s mind.


    ''If I didn''t have Lia... would I have had epted this warm embrace of corruption and


    darkness?...''N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Rio couldn''t help but think about this matter. ''Miasma offers power, status, warmth, protection, cure and growth...''


    ''I am not even surprised now why people would actively choose to be demons...''


    ''Maybe if the circumstances of my transmigration were different, I would have chosen this path of darkness too...''


    ''It''s thanks to Lia that I didn''t go astray... sigh, I can''t remember how many favors Lia has


    done for me...''


    ''At this rate I will never be able to pay her back for all that she''s done for me and I will in her constant debt..''


    ...


    Author''s Notes.


    Yo! It''s your beloved Author here!


    Question of the day.


    What are your thoughts on Miamsa and Corruption?


    (Tell me in thements)


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones!!