Epic Of The Demonic Sage

Just as Lucius had thought, Gabriel truly was running out of Aether. Even though he was very proficient with his gift and used his Aether prudently, killing so many men and using his gift had taken a lot of his stamina.

Gabriel took deep breaths as he gazed at the enemies that were still left. They had been thinned down considerably, and he had gotten the chance to take a breather. None of them dared to come close to him now, due to the fact that any that had tried that died.

"So they are what Asher has prepared, the masked legion… Hmm… they are certainly far more stronger than any soldier that I've seen." Gabriel couldn't help but praise.

Just from their build and raw strength that they showed, Gabriel could very well tell that they were not simple. And when that one Lost started to use his gift and threw out the explosive phlegm, it was even more shocking to him.

'A gift like should have been at least at the Epic rank… how did a criminal even get caught by the guards?' Gabriel wondered, not knowing that the lost's original gift was entirely different.

Lucius narrowed his eyes and gazed at the lost as well. He was interested in seeing just what gift he had awakened since the corrupted form of the gift was not unlocked when he sent them out to the battle.

"He certainly ate a few of the soldiers…" Lucius guessed.

Nexus activated as Aether and Hell Aether flowed into it, turning into strings of information that appeared in front of Lucius's eyes.

Gift Name: Repulsive Phlegm 

Description: The owner can cough and spit out thick phlegm that has a springy consistency. The phlegm can bounce back any attack that hits it. It can also be attached to different surfaces.

Rank: Rare

Type: Emission

Other Owners:…(Total owners: 289)

Hell Energy Corruption: Lesser

Info: The creature will have increased physical strength that can be increased further with the use of hell energy. The creature will also have slightly higher intelligence than before and can understand commands.

Corruption level: Lesser

Corrupted Gift: Unlocked

Corrupted Gift: Propulsive Phlegm 

Description: The Phlegm can take on explosive properties and will repel anything that makes contact by exploding. 

Seeing the change in the original gift of the Lost, Lucius was rather surprised. The change was mild and the man property of repulsion was kept the same. The only difference was the way it was achieved.

In the original, it was done by giving elasticity to the phlegm, but in the corrupted form, it was done by making it explode. 'Propulsion' felt a bit accurate too, since it would propel the attack or anything that hit the phlegm… just in an opposite direction.

"The only bad point about the gift is the way it's to be used… the need to cough out makes it awkward to use…" Lucius muttered to himself.

He knew about this Lost and his real identity when he was a human. The Lost was named Thomas and was a common thief. While he did have a rare ranked gift, it wasn't really a pleasant one and cause a lot of awkward situations.

His life wasn't easy and he eventually ended up becoming a thief. He continued his thieving ways and ended up killing several people due to being caught. After a certain point, he was caught by the guards of a different city but escaped by killing them.

This raised the bounty on him by a lot and raised his danger level. An unfortunately during his run, he ended up coming across a small patrol group that was headed by the kingdom's royal army and ended up getting caught.

Unlike normal guards, these were strong soldiers and easily got him under control. And since the patrol was passing by Inanis city, they decided to drop the man off there. That is how Lucius ended up getting the man under his authority and transformed him into a Lost.

"Never expected that this one would be the first to unlock his corrupted gift… but then, it is a relatively weaker rare ranked gift so guess that was the reason behind it being unlocked early." Lucius muttered to himself.

He looked at Gabriel and saw that the man had taken this opportunity to retreat as well and was using Aether crystals to replenish his Aether. Nearly every Rare ranked soldier in the army was given a single Aether crystal so that they could use it in an emergency.

Lucius and Gabriel too carried them, but they had far more than just a single crystal. Gabriel had an Epic ranked gift and needed three of them to replenish his Aether. Normally it would have just taken two, but his gift was one that had a high consumption and thus his natural capacity was also higher.

Not to mention the more one used aether and their gifts, the more their capacity would increase. Lucius himself had over half of his Aether left and thus didn't need to use the Aether Crystals yet on himself.

It was different for the Wind Scar sword, though. It had just a single use left now and he was using an Aether crystal to fill it the moment he had retreated as well. He was on a battlefield and never knew when he would need it.

Thus, it was best for him to be ready to act at any moment.

The Lost spat out another mass of phlegm that exploded on contact, pushing the Ice gifted back even more.

"GAH! DAMN YOU! DISGUSTING SCUM!" The Ice gifted, cursed.

Lucius took note of the man and saw that there were some restrictions on his gift too that were hard to see at first. 

"So the Icy winds cannot just be used without stopping… either it's the backlash that comes with the gift or there is something else that is restricting the man… the only question is… what?" Lucius wondered.

——

"ALL OF YOU DIE!" The Icy Wind gifted got angry and related another gust of wind.

This time though, the Icy wind was far stronger than before and cold as well.

The Lost threw out more Phlegm, and it exploded just like before, but here the difference between the Epic and rare ranked gifts was shown. Despite the explosive effect of the phlegm, the icy winds did not stop.

For a moment, they were interrupted sure, but the winds soon picked up again and the ice started to spread everywhere. This time though, the Ice user disregarded his allies and companions, letting the ice affect them too.

"Interesting… so this is the actual power of the gift… before this, he was reducing the output so that the others were not affected as much." Lucius understood.

The icy winds kept on spreading and soon ice started to settle on the armors of all of the soldiers. The ground was already frozen and an inch thick layer of ice was now present on it.

If anyone stepped on it, they were bound to slip with the slightest imbalance. 

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" The man shouted as his hands kept on producing the icy winds.

His breath was getting frosty and fog could be seen coming out of his mouth.