1698  Accumulated Wealth

'Backstabber! There's a fucking backstabber among us.'

Lilithra came to a dreadful and infuriating conclusion. She came to this conclusion because the assassin who was going on a killing spree into the den was doing it without there being any doubt in his movements.

However, the feeling of fear and panic soon took hold of psyche as she sensed her ally's fate. She had kept tabs on the assassin's actions to some extent with her Spiritual Sense. She wanted to just run away from the scene if she could instead of facing her enemy. Alas, she wasn't given the opportunity to do so.

It became clear to Lilithra that every form of intel regarding the den, demonic ritual, and the demonic entities involved at the scene had reached this assassin. He then used this intel in a way that allowed him to clear the den all by his lonesome.

'This demonic Ranker… do Rankers like these exist in Labh Salem?'

A question popped into her mind as she prepared herself for the inevitable. She was scared for her life. She felt like pleading and begging the assassin to spare her life. However, the fact that she couldn't speak or see her potential killer robbed her of that choice.

'If I can't beg, then I shall fight,' the demoness clenched her fists and sharpened her Spiritual Sense. In the next moment, as she sensed the attacker approaching, she deployed her set of Skills, one that she had tried and tested many times before.

'Ooh. This one feels feisty. I wonder how many seconds it'll take for me to get rid of her.'

The butcher thought to himself as he approached his last target. He had expended a ridiculous amount of mana in a short time due to the deployment of Skills in conjunction with a Greater Skill. As such, he needed to get rid of the opponent as soon as he could, lest things become complicated for him.

Lilithra, hidden within the shadows, attempted to manipulate Eren's perception with [Skill: Veil of Shadows]. However, Eren's mastery over the shadow element allowed him to see through the illusion.

When it came to wielding one's Elemental Attainments, the Elementalists usually had an upper hand against the Rankers. However, for some reason, Lilithra couldn't couldn't make use of these advantages against her unknown attacker.

The most frustrating thing about the situation was the fact that she could not even see the face of her attacker. She could also not decipher the attacker's identity using her Spiritual Force because the opponent had cloaked themselves in their own Spiritual Force as well. All she could do was predict their movements due to proximity and respond accordingly.

Unleashing [Skill: Shadow Devour], the butcher disrupted Lilithra's connection to the shadows. In retaliation, Lilithra conjured [Skill: Twilight Veil], creating an area of fluctuating darkness.

Eren, undeterred, employed [Skill: Shadowmeld], merging seamlessly with the shifting shadows. As Lilithra emerged from her veil, Eren struck with daggers in hand. Soon, Lilithra started losing chunks of flesh off of her body as Eren operated on her.

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

Each strike was so precise that Lilithra couldn't do anything against it despite her wide range of Skill arsenal. The butcher used [Skill: Unlimited Blade Works] in conjunction with the [Skill: Severed Flesh Devour], tearing through the fabric of shadows and sealing her fate.

When he was done with her, only the fresh white skeleton was what was left of her former self. The fresh skeletal remains dropped to the ground as soon as it was left unattended by Eren.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The sounds of something falling and dripping down the ground.

The sounds of residual Skill effects cause harm to the surroundings.

A gory sight that consisted of spilled blood, guts, and everything in between.

All of a sudden, the existence of sounds and light filled the surroundings as Eren's last victim died inside the den. They highlighted something that had already happened but remained in the veil for so long.

It was as if someone had rebooted the playback of the Array Disk containing the audiovisual from the start, bringing the spectral screen back to life. Everything came to life all at once– the sounds and the visuals. It was just that there were not many who could experience the normalcy that was restored with their own eyes at this point.

"Haah!"

Eren dropped to the ground, sitting in the middle of a red pool created from his targets' blood. He sat cross-legged and used his arms as a support to recline. He breathed heavily while trying to analyze the mistakes he had made during the raid.

'That Skill-queuing would have been a bitch to tackle if I didn't have the necessary intel on it,' Eren thought as he replayed the scenes of the battle in his head.

This was not his first battle in Labh Salem. However, he still felt like he was back in his academy days in LA– learning new things. Even after continuously battling with the demonically possessed entities for the last five months, he was amazed by the variety of Skills each one possessed.

Anfang had variations in spells as well. However, in Labh Salem, he couldn't even comprehend the number and type of Skills his enemies could possess. As such, he quickly figured out the fact that In Labh Salem intel on one's opponent was one of the most deciding factors in battles.

Only by understanding opponents' Skills could one prepare a better set of Skills to counter them. Of course, he could use and employ better and higher grade Skills and Greater Skills, which could be effective on almost any type of foe he faced.

However, buying such effective Skills in the Menaka's Market required a lot of corpus in terms of Menaka's Runes. So Eren was forced to accumulate Menaka's Runes the hard way, by doing mercenary work for the Ishgaar's temple.

The butcher also had a substantial amount of passive income that he earned through selling his unique Skill to the Mesh. With two streams of income supporting him over the last five months, he had finally accumulated a satisfactory wealth that could allow him to get the Skills he wanted.

[ Menaka's Runes: 147,889 ] The number Eren saw on his Spectral Screen put a smile on his blood-soaked face.

"Kekeke. It indeed feels good to be rich."