Tilrogzach tentatively took a step forward—and sure enough, another gash opened on his body, so deep it laid bare the bone.
So just moving causes injury?
The demon understood at once.
As a Deviant of the Path of Corruption, his specialties lay in curses and beast control.
He had no need to fight up close, so this particular spell held little threat to him.
But the second one—that spell which forcefully shifted the target’s faith and inclination—was far more concerning.
Tilrogzach could feel his yearning for light growing stronger and stronger.
He didn’t know if this craving could be treated as a curse and thus dispelled, but one thing was certain: most sustained spells could be broken by killing the caster.
He didn’t understand how Li Wen had survived such a devastating attack, but a curse of that level?
He had far more than one in his arsenal.
The demon raised his skeletal hand—a remnant of his transformation after becoming a Deviant.
This was the extraordinary trait known as “Malice Host.”
With it, he could cast curses without a medium, instead burning his own life force, which also vastly amplified their power.
“Curse of Agony!”
A bolt of red lightning shot from the demon’s hand and, with unnatural speed, struck Li Wen.
Pain surged through her body like wildfire—but aside from that, she felt no further effects.
Not even the Dusk Corruption ticked up more than a single percent.
That’s it?
Naturally, the demon’s strategy didn’t end there.
He would use the Curse of Agony as a conduit, offering up Li Wen’s life as a sacrifice—to summon the Beast of Shadows.
“Azporo, my beloved pet! Come, devour my enemy!”
Tilrogzach’s massive, twisted shadow began to squirm like a living thing, swelling and contorting as though something were struggling to break free from within.
The first thing to emerge was its head—crowned with three crooked horns, lacking both eyes and nostrils.
Its long, narrow mouth was both goat-like and wolfish.
It wasn’t especially large—smaller even than Tilrogzach himself—but when the creature fully crawled out from the shadow, the flames engulfing the church dimmed.
The fire itself shivered, as if ready to die.
The Beast of Shadows lunged straight at Li Wen, but it didn’t bite at her body—it tore at her shadow.
With every piece of her shadow shredded, her Corruption gauge skyrocketed.
The damage was real.
Deadly, even.
Li Wen remained unnervingly calm.
She shaped her hand like a blade, coated it in Arclight, and slashed at the monster.
But the arc merely passed through it, striking the distant wall.
No physical body?
Li Wen didn’t panic.
With a light leap, she lifted off the ground.
It was the new ability unlocked through the Starcloak after entering her Witch Form—Levitation.
By continuously expending mana, the wearer could fly.
But in Witch Form, Li Wen consumed no mana at all; only her Corruption increased.
She tested her control in midair, then made a beeline for the demon.
If I can’t kill the pet, I’ll kill the master instead.
The demon’s expression didn’t change.
He recalled the Beast of Shadows to his side and began chanting, surrounding himself with a dark magical shield.
Li Wen didn’t target the demon directly.
Instead, she dove for the Bone-Eroding Dagger he had tossed aside.
In that brief moment airborne, she had already lifted every curse afflicting her.
Her prayer spell was only strong enough to remove the Curse of Agony—it couldn’t touch the higher-grade spell.
But one of the spoils she had taken from the fire mage—the Ring of Fiery Passion—carried a spell: Flame Healing, powerful enough to dispel even that advanced curse.
With the curses gone, Li Wen snatched up the dagger.
This time, she didn’t waste time coating it in Arclight—she wanted to strike before Tilrogzach could react.
The dagger sliced clean through the black magical shield and pierced straight into the demon’s body.
She figured it out?!
Tilrogzach’s eyes narrowed.
His black shield only defended against magical attacks.
It was useless against direct physical blows.
He had assumed that, disarmed, Li Wen could only rely on magic.
It seemed he had underestimated her.
There was no time for reflection.
Before she could follow up with more attacks, the Beast of Shadows returned to the demon’s side.
It merged with Tilrogzach’s shadow, causing his entire body to become ethereal.
Li Wen, dagger in hand, passed right through him.
With her opening gone, she didn’t linger.
She soared upward again without hesitation.
Barely a minute had passed, and her Corruption gauge had already exceeded 10%.
Clearly, lasting the full ten minutes was going to be anything but easy.
Seeing her fly away, Tilrogzach summoned the Beast of Shadows once more.
He glared at Li Wen, seething. This damned human was more annoying than a swarm of flies.
He could no longer ignore the growing urge to escape the darkness.
Every time he merged with the beast, a nauseating chill crawled up his spine.
He needed to end this—quickly.
The demon pulled out a sheet of paper, white and filled with words written in blood.
Then he summoned flames to ignite it.
A Blood Contract?
Li Wen recognized it immediately.
It was a common item in the Deep Dark lineage, often used for summoning or forging pacts.
But what had Tilrogzach made a contract with?
He placed his skeletal hand on the burning paper.
The flames surged, flaring high and wild, threatening to consume even him.
Tilrogzach gave a cold snort.
The flames instantly weakened, and with the sound of clashing chains, he pulled a long spear from within the fire—jet black, covered in blood-red runes, and wrapped from end to end in iron chains.
“The Spear of the Death Curse…”
The demon murmured its name with reverence.
Since descending into the mortal world, he had not used this weapon in a very long time.
And Li Wen—this damned human—would be the first soul in years to bleed upon its cursed edge.
He gripped the spear with his skeletal hand and hurled it with terrifying precision.
Li Wen’s instincts screamed.
She dodged the spear’s path.
But it wasn’t aimed to hit her directly.
Mid-flight, the spear suddenly halted in place.
The runes carved into it lit with an obsidian glow, and the chains coiled around it began to uncoil and whip outward, seemingly defying gravity.
The chains snaked through the void, wrapping around Li Wen before she could react.
She couldn’t escape.
The moment they touched her, her Corruption gauge spiked—so rapidly it was almost surreal.
Her expression changed.
The spear shifted in the air, its tip now aimed directly at her.
Tilrogzach had already looked away.
He didn’t need to see it.
The outcome was inevitable.
The Spear of the Death Curse lived up to its name.
Inscribed with a spell of pure death, once its chains ensnared a target and the spear struck true, the result was certain.
There would be no survivors.