The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion

The one thousand demons surrounding Damian came at him fast from all directions.

As soon as about three dozen of them entered within three meters of his range, the immense amount of [Holy Essence] he had been channeling into his arm, so condensed that his entire arm was brimming with silvery-white aura, was unleashed.

The moment the demons entered his attack range, Damian let loose.

The enormous amount of [Holy Essence] he had been restraining was suddenly released, erupting in a violent explosion.

In an instant, the condensed [Holy Essence] detonated, transforming into silvery-white flames.

A blinding white shockwave pulsed outward in all directions.

As the explosion erupted, rings of silvery-white flames consumed every lesser demon within range, burning them alive.

"AAAHHHHH..."

"ARRHHGGGGG..."

"IT BURNS... IT BURNS..."

"ARRRRGGGG..."

Their pain-filled screams echoed across the hellish landscape, making the territory of Hell seem even more nightmarish.

Hundreds of demons were engulfed in the holy flames, their flesh disintegrating until only scraps of their bodies remained.

Yet, they had already begun regenerating, the demonic energy known as Miasma wrapping around their figures and enhancing their regenerative abilities.

Meanwhile, the remaining demons stopped in their tracks, witnessing the gruesome fate of those who had charged ahead and realizing their weakness against [Holy Power].

But the explosion had not yet ceased.

A second wave of holy flames followed, accompanied by an intense shockwave.

A dome of silvery-white flames expanded outward, burning even more demons who had failed to escape in time.

Those who had already been reduced to charred remains and had started regenerating were set ablaze once again.

By the time the final wave of silvery-white flames expanded to a radius of one hundred meters, nearly one-third of the demons had fallen victim to its devastating power, leaving nothing but scorched remains in its path.

"Well, that's irritating," Damian muttered, annoyed as he watched the demon regenerate even after being reduced to nothing more than chunks of flesh.

This level of insane regeneration was even more absurd than vampiric regeneration.

Even vampires couldn't regenerate like these demons did.

The common vampires could heal infinitely as long as their heart and head remained intact, while noble vampires could regenerate within seconds as long as their head was still attached.

But these demons, despite being lesser demons, managed to fully restore their bodies from mere chunks of flesh within seconds.

"Hehe, what did you expect, human? You think you can just waltz into hell, fight demons, and even kill them on our own turf?" Marquis Andras snorted.

"This is hell, the realm of demons. This is our home. We are unkillable here."

"As long as even a single piece of our flesh remains, we can regenerate endlessly."

Damian looked at the fallen angel as if he were an idiot.

This so-called ruler of hell had just revealed that demons couldn't be killed in hell as long as a piece of their flesh remained, saving Damian the trouble of figuring it out himself.

Which meant that to truly kill them, he only had to burn them completely until nothing but ashes remained.

But Damian was already thinking of an even easier way to eliminate them.

Marquis Andras' smug smile faltered when he noticed Damian's expression remained unchanged.

That same arrogant smirk, completely unconcerned with what was happening around him.

"Who is this human? How can he be so carefree in the face of hell? Is he not afraid of the torment he will endure, alongside the souls of the damned, alive?"

Anger bubbled up inside Marquis Andras as he felt his hatred for this human grow.

In his millions of years of existence, never had he seen a human unshaken in the presence of hundreds of demons.

They were demons, the physical manifestations of sin from all worlds, malevolent spirits whose sole purpose was to cause chaos and suffering.

Their very presence alone should have driven any human into despair.

And yet, this human didn't seem the least bit fazed, even in hell itself, where the entire atmosphere was saturated with the demonic energy known as [Miasma].

This energy should have corroded and inflicted unbearable pain on any non-demonic being.

And yet, Damian appeared completely unaffected.
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Now that he thought about it, it was strange, no, impossible, that a human could remain sane in the depths of hell, let alone fight an army of a thousand demons and actually hold the upper hand.

All of this was thanks to his talent [Limitless Refinement], an evolved version of [Boundless Refinement], which granted him the ability to adapt to anything.

This talent had allowed Damian to acclimate to the corrosive and agonizing environment of hell within mere minutes of his arrival.

Additionally, his [Unyielding Warrior's Physique] further enhanced his resistance, working in tandem with his talent to develop the [Miasma Resistance] trait.

To develop a trait, one must build a high resistance to something by repeatedly being broken down and healed again.

Every time the miasma in the environment corroded Damian, the healing properties of his [Elemental Essence], his race, his other energies, and his naturally high vitality would instantly restore him.

This process of breakdown and healing occurred thousands of times in an instant.

As a result, Damian naturally developed the [Miasma Resistance] trait.

Even now, the more he is exposed to [Miasma], the stronger his [Miasma Resistance] becomes.

But the poor ruler of Hell, Marquis Andras, knew nothing of this.

He remained helplessly naive, thinking Damian was just an arrogant human who had overestimated his own strength.

He believed Damian had foolishly come to Hell to die, only to return again.

Little did Marquis Andras know that this "human" was anything but a ordinary human.

"Looks like I won't even need to use my swords..." Damian sighed as his twin swords transformed into rings in a flash of light, wrapping around two of his fingers.

He didn't even get the chance of use them.

Damian raised his hand above his head, making the demon wonder what he was planning to do next.

As he poured out a high level of his [Mana], all the information he had learned about the element of lightning, both from his battles against the lightning elemental spirits and from using his own lightning essence, flooded his mind.

His understanding of the lightning element rapidly increased.

[Your understanding of the lightning Element has increased.]

[Your understanding of the lightning Element has increased.]

[Your understanding of the lightning Element has increased.]

[Your understanding of the lightning Element has increased.] × 25

Behind him, as a representation of his cultivation in magic, three yellowish rings appeared one by one.

[You have formed the 3rd Lightning Elemental Magic Ring.]

[You have become a Peak-Stage 3rd Circle Mage.]

Just like with the lightning element, the same phenomenon occurred with the flame and wind elements.

[Your understanding of the Flame Element has increased.] × 5

[Your understanding of the Wind Element has increased.] × 5

Behind him, two [Fire Elemental Magic Rings] and two [Wind Elemental Magic Rings] appeared.

After a couple of seconds, another ring, larger than the previous ones, manifested behind the two sets of rings.

[You have formed the complete 3rd Flame Elemental Magic Ring.]

[You have formed the complete 3rd Wind Elemental Magic Ring.]

[Multicasting: Skill Activated.]

[Rapid Casting: Skill Activated.]

[Elemental Fusion: Skill Activated.]

Then, out of nowhere… 5, 8, 14, 20, 30, 40, 55... hundreds of magic circles appeared, covering the entire area.

Half of them were fire-elemental magic circles, while the other half were lightning-elemental magic circles.

[You have created the Lightning Elemental Spell: Rain of Arc Flash.]

[Rain of Arc Flash: Lightning Spell Activated.]

[Flame Tempest: Wind-Flame Spell Activated.]

In just a couple of seconds, Damian fully comprehended the three elements, including the lightning element, which he gained an affinity for after his [Elementalist] talent evolved into the [Elemental King] talent.

Having reached the peak of the 3rd-circle mage rank, he was already on his way to creating an even more powerful spell that could rival the spells of 4th-circle mages by combining three elements.

Before the demons could react, bolts of lightning and balls of flame, empowered by wind, manifested and shot into the ground, even with Damian standing in the middle of their range.

This was likely the first time in millions of years that a territory of Hell had been illuminated as it was now.

The thick yellow lightning was faster than the demons could react to, descending onto the battlefield like a torrential rain, releasing deafening thunderclaps one after another.

Then, the tempest of fireballs followed the arcs of lightning, creating a dome of fire that expanded continuously, burning everything in its path.

While not as strong as the holy flame attack Damian had used before, they were highly effective, searing the flesh of every demon within range.

Marquis Andras, a ruler of Hell, watched the scene in shock, unable to react.

The attack was so fast that, for you, the readers, it might have seemed like it happened after all the system notifications appeared, but for him, it occurred the moment Damian raised his hand above his head.

To make matters worse, Andras's power level had been severely restricted by the system to match Damian's, as he had chosen to challenge the demon at Hell-level difficulty.

He couldn't react in time, and even if he wanted to save his legion, there was no way to interfere in something of this magnitude.

Besides, as a fallen angel, he saw the demons in his army as nothing more than mere cannon fodder.

Why would he carelessly sacrifice them?

But even if he wanted to, there was simply nothing he could do.

"Who is this human? How can a human be this strong?" he muttered, watching the aftermath.

The rain of spells had stopped, but there was no dust in the air.

Hell's terrain was too hard to allow dirt or dust to rise.

And yet, Damian's attack had carved hundreds of craters into the battlefield.

Hundreds of demons had been completely reduced to ashes, while the survivors were left with missing chunks of flesh.

Some were even lucky enough to escape with only lost limbs, and they were already regenerating.