Dekan's Painful Profundity

As if emerging from the shadows, two figures slowly took shape at the corner of the corridor, becoming increasingly distinct.

One of the terrifying, massive figures was none other than the Faceless One, surrounded by four floating masks.

His companion was a short, thin man.

"Hehehe..."

A sinister, strange laugh echoed through the hallway.

They had officially encountered Dekan and Cornelia in the corridor.

Dekan and Cornelia no longer had any intention of running; they prepared to fight them to the end.

"Keep the girl, kill the boy immediately."

"Understood."

After this brief exchange, the Faceless One did not choose to strike first.

Instead, the thin man raised his hand.

Several cards appeared in his palm, and then his other hand swept across them one by one, triggering them all.

Instantly, black mist and shadows permeated the corridor, and the floor seemed to turn into a swamp of toxic sludge.

Accompanied by gusts of eerie wind, Dekan and Cornelia felt their bodies become incredibly sore, and even breathing became significantly heavier.

What followed was a darkening of their vision and a stinging pain from their internal organs to their skin.

These cards were clearly of the poison and curse variety.

They weren't highly aggressive, but they had long range and precise targeting.

Beyond feeling their overall attributes drop, Dekan and Cornelia were also afflicted with continuous damage.

But soon, the caster's expression began to change as well.

He felt an indescribable, sharp pain in his own body, making him unsteady for a moment.

He couldn't understand the logic behind it.

It was as if he had been cursed alongside them.

"I've seen it all now, someone actually dares to curse me!"

Dekan was so angry he laughed, summoning the Ruined Poet without hesitation.

Suddenly, the 6x pain feedback became 60x.

The caster felt as if his body were being pierced by countless sharp swords, his already bulging eyes widening like copper bells.

He opened his mouth wide, his throat emitting a hoarse sound as if it were grinding uncontrollably.

Then, he collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, his life or death unknown.

Confirming the caster was down, Cornelia immediately took out a Tier 3 [Mass Purification] card, dispelling the curse status from herself and Dekan.

Since Dekan, a Tier 2, could not use Tier 3 spell cards, he had specifically purchased a Tier 3 purification card before setting out and given it to Cornelia for emergencies.

Protection against poison, curses, and mental control was common sense when traveling.

The Faceless One narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the summon behind Dekan, paying no attention to his fallen companion.

"Boy, hand over your Epic card voluntarily, and I will spare your lives."

The Faceless One said coldly, his eyes filled with an undisguised obsession.

He wanted Dekan's card too badly.

Unfortunately, Epic cards could not be seized by killing.

Once Epic and Legendary cards were soul-bound, they would not automatically unbind even upon death unless the user voluntarily released them.

If the user were killed, the Epic card would shatter and vanish along with them.

This was the reason why Epic cards were so scarce in the world today.

Not all Epic cards were successfully passed down.

Many were lost in the Shadow World or perished along with their masters.

"Hehehe."

Hearing the Faceless One's proposal, Dekan seemed amused.

That wasn't even how you would trick a three-year-old.

But Dekan still wanted to toy with the Faceless One, so he asked, "If I hand this Epic card over to you, will you really let us go?"

"Hoho, of course..."

"I'll just fast-forward to: But I refuse!"

Before the Faceless One could finish, Dekan shouted.

At the same time, Cornelia charged toward the Faceless One.

They only needed one hammer strike to knock him unconscious with 20x the pain!

"Then you might as well just die."

The tone of the Faceless One carried a heavy sense of vigilance.

Already cautious by nature, he became even more guarded.

Although both Dekan and Cornelia were of a lower rank than him, that Epic card with its unknown effect posed too great a threat.

The Faceless One shielded himself tightly with the Evil Spirit Mask, retreated slightly, and summoned three Tier 5 summons in one breath, ordering them to assault Dekan and Cornelia.

Although Tier 5 summons were far less powerful than a Tier 5 warrior.

A large number of summons would still give a powerhouse of the same rank a headache!

Summoning a pile of Tier 5 creatures to besiege a Tier 4 opponent was nothing short of absolute suppression!

He summoned three [Multi-Faced Aberrations]—their bizarre, twisted beast bodies covered in human faces contorted in agony.

The effect of these Tier 5 summons was immunity to hard crowd control, coupled with high health and high attack.

Unable to be controlled and difficult to kill, they simply didn't give those weaker than him a chance.

"Your mechanics are too obvious. As long as I don't attack that boy, the stun won't fall on me, and you certainly can't deal with my summons."

The Faceless One muttered, his eyes filled with mockery.

However, the next moment.

"Thud!"

Cornelia struck first, hammering one [Multi-Faced Aberration] into a stun.

Then, she began to contend with the other two Multi-Faced Aberrations.

The Multi-Faced Aberration that had fallen to the ground wailed in agony.

Before it could even rise, Cornelia seized the opportunity to land another hammer blow, rendering it nearly completely unconscious.

After a brief exchange, the other two Multi-Faced Aberrations seemed afraid to touch Cornelia as well.

Whenever their attacks landed on Cornelia, they would become excruciatingly painful, their movements turning stiff.

The Faceless One: "???"

What level of stun effect was this?

It could actually control a Multi-Faced Aberration?!

No! It wasn't a stun!

The Faceless One stared at the Ruined Poet behind Dekan, analyzing frantically, and soon guessed the situation.

That Epic card behind Dekan, with its strength that defied common sense, did not provide a simple crowd control bonus, but a pain amplification bonus!

The equipment on Dekan and Cornelia must also have effects that reflected pain or increased pain!

What kind of new cultist build was this?!

Even the Faceless One, a member of the Resurrection Church, couldn't help but want to curse out loud.

However.

He quickly calmed down.

The solution to this alternative system was also very simple.

The opponent's core, the command tower, was too obvious.

Furthermore, pain feedback could not be transmitted to the master through the summons!

As long as the Faceless One didn't use his own body to attack Dekan, he would remain in an invincible position!

Therefore, if he used his summons to attack Dekan and the Ruined Poet, he would at most lose two or three summons, but he would inevitably trade them for Dekan and the Ruined Poet!

Then, without the buffs from the Ruined Poet, Cornelia would be nothing to fear.

"Let's see how long you can hold out."

The Faceless One pulled out two more summon cards originally intended for close-quarters defense and ordered them to bypass Cornelia to attack Dekan.

Although all the summons were now wary of Cornelia's hammer strikes, and Cornelia tried to block them all, holding off four was simply too much of a stretch.

This made Dekan frown as he and the Ruined Poet retreated rapidly, sprinting toward the other end of the corridor.

The weakness of both him and the Ruined Poet was that they were too fragile; they couldn't withstand even a graze from the enemy.

To cover Dekan, Cornelia was forced to hold back the summons, but she was struggling to hold her ground under the concentrated fire.

"Hold, fight!" (I can't hold on anymore, we have to fight him!)

Believing the front line was about to collapse, she shouted to Dekan.

Her plan was to go all-in, abandoning the defense against the incoming summoned beasts to attack the Faceless One's true body and hammer him into a stun.

"No!"

Dekan immediately shouted a command to stop her.

The Faceless One might still have some defensive cards he hadn't used yet.

Rushing in blindly carries too much risk.

If Dekan in the backline collapses first, Cornelia will have no way to successfully reach the Faceless One.

If they want to win, they must take down the Faceless One in one steady strike.

This requires waiting for Dekan to create an opening for Cornelia!

And this opening is something Dekan is already preparing.

He needs just a little more time to fully charge this move, one he has never revealed to anyone before.

"Wait, mask, reflect, force!" (Wait for me to create an opening; also, the masks around him have a reflection effect, so be mindful of your strength when you strike!)

Dekan conveyed the tactics to Cornelia.

Cornelia: "Understood!"

Earlier in the corridor, the damage from Dekan's Hydrogen Explosion was entirely absorbed by the Evil Spirit Mask.

As the caster, Dekan noticed he had received a negligible amount of reflected damage.

From this, he deduced that the mask possessed a damage-reflection property.

As for why Dekan wasn't hit with massive reflected damage, it was due to the unique damage-calculation principle of the Hydrogen Explosion card.

Its damage is divided into two stages: the first is a Tier 1 Fireball, which is not intended to hit the enemy directly but merely to provide ignition.

The second stage is the explosive damage caused by igniting the hydrogen.

The ignition damage from the first stage can be traced back to the caster of the card.

However, the subsequent second-stage explosion has no source of damage.

Therefore, the Hydrogen Explosion card has another use: testing whether an opponent has damage-reflection equipment!

Dekan certainly doesn't want Cornelia to end up critically injured by her own hammer strike later.

It will be enough if he can just make the Faceless One faint from pain.

The Faceless One looked at the disheveled state of Cornelia and Dekan and couldn't help but laugh.

"Hahahaha! And here I thought how impressive you two were?"

"As long as I don't attack you, you're just trash who can't reflect damage or pain!"

"Hand over that Epic card now, and perhaps I'll let you suffer a little less before you die!"

The more the Faceless One learned about the effects of the Ruined Poet, the more he coveted this core card of the new Pain-Reflection Style system.

However, seeing Dekan unmoved, he found his rage had nowhere to vent and could only continue to mock them.

"Even if you specialize in an alternative Pain-Reflection style focused on crowd control, you have no room to maneuver against me!"

"Trying to play with reflection and curses in front of me? You are still too naive!"

The Faceless One spread his arms, the facial muscles beneath his bandages seemingly twitching eerily, occasionally emitting bursts of manic laughter.

"Hehehe."

Dekan's gaze was icy, his eyes as deep and dark as the ten-thousand-meter abyss of the ocean.

He looked at the Faceless One as if looking at a fool.

"Your stupidity is truly laughable."

"If I don't finish you off, I wouldn't be worthy of being the founder of the Pain-Reflection Style."

Dekan muttered to himself in a voice barely audible.

Seemingly having finally prepared something, he shouted to Cornelia: "Wait, strike!" (Wait for me to lock him down, then go and strike him!)

"Got it!"

Cornelia's voice was filled with excitement.

Although she didn't know what kind of stunt Dekan was pulling again, based on her experience, the opponent was usually ready to surrender by this point.

Dekan's ultimate move was finally fully prepared.

It was time to reveal the true essence of the "Pain-Reflection System."

He lowered his head, clutching his chest, seemingly chanting something repeatedly, his voice growing louder and louder.

"Cornelia was hurt trying to block the enemy's attack for me; it's all my fault, my heart aches so much, I feel so guilty..."

Dekan acted as if possessed, frantically self-hypnotizing.

"Why must there be fighting, why must there be plundering, why target us—just because we are kind? ...I am beyond furious!"

Dekan felt increasingly depressed, his negative emotions reaching their peak.

"I can't win, there is no hope, why am I so weak, I hate my own powerlessness!!"

Dekan hunched forward, gripping his collar tightly as if in such agony he couldn't breathe.

"Guilt! Rage! Despair!"

"Pain! It hurts so much!"

"Faceless One, this is all your fault!!!"

"All of my suffering is caused by you!!!"

As Dekan raised his head to look at the Faceless One and shouted those final words.

The Faceless One suddenly felt his heart skip a beat, as if, in an instant, it had been struck and crushed by a thousand-pound stone.

This was followed by an indescribable, agonizing pain that felt as though it were tearing his heart apart.

He clutched his chest in agony.

For a fleeting moment, the Faceless One felt that being born human was a mistake he deeply regretted.

He then collapsed to his knees, unable to control a mouthful of foul blood that sprayed out, staining his veil a rust-like brownish-red.

Although his summoned creatures remained operational, they lost their master's real-time commands and their movements became significantly sluggish.

Meanwhile, Cornelia seized the opportunity to break through the encirclement of the summoned creatures.

"You... how can you reflect damage?! I clearly haven't dealt any damage to you!!"

The Faceless One's voice trembled, and he stared at Dekan in utter disbelief.

"You made me sad!"

Dekan shouted righteously.

Sadness is also a form of injury, and heartache is also pain.

Even if Dekan's heartache was the result of self-hypnosis, magnifying his inner negative emotions infinitely.

The ultimate technique of the Pain-Reflection Style—60x Heartache Attack!

The only drawback of this move was that it required self-hypnosis, making the casting time far too long.

"Pfft!"

Hearing Dekan's words, the Faceless One couldn't help but spit out another mouthful of blood.

This mouthful of blood was spat out from sheer rage.

He had never seen such a shameless person in his life!

Damn it! That's not how the Pain-Reflection Style is supposed to be played!!!

However, at that very moment, Cornelia's heavy hammer had already arrived before him.

The Faceless One looked at the rapidly enlarging hammer head, and before he could even begin to feel fear, his consciousness cut out.

With a "boom," the Faceless One was smashed into the wall and knocked unconscious.

The summoned creatures vanished along with him.

She had followed Dekan's advice and did not use her full strength, using only a quarter of her power to strike the Faceless One's head.

This hammer blow only needed to be enough to knock the Faceless One out.

Therefore, the reflected damage she received was not severe.

"Phew, this time it's really over."

Cornelia clutched her head in pain, unable to stand steady, and sat down on the floor.

In the distance, Dekan also let out a sigh of relief, looking exhausted as he offered a helpless smile.

In the chaotic corridor of the Demon Academy, the two looked at each other from afar, their gazes meeting.

They shared a knowing smile.

It really had to be him/her to have such perfect chemistry.