Reincarnated as the Demon King's Son
Chapter 87: Phantom Claw

"A phantom claw?" Aldred asked.

Mary and everyone else wore their armor and thick clothes. They picked the armor from the pile of treasure, but it didn't make them feel safer than before.

"Phantom claw is the beast from legends and fairy tales. Some say, no one really knows its true appearance, but that thing looks similar to what was drawn in the book. It's also known as Phantoma.

The adventurer and everyone else slowly walked back. Their hands trembled as their eyes stared at the beast in fear.

The beast growled. Its tentacles waving around in the air. It leaped forward and vanished.

Their eyes widened.

"Where did it go?"

"Ahh!"

Suddenly, a group of people was torn to shreds. They did not see it coming.

"Run!"

They all scattered and ran. A man tried to climb down the mountain but fell because someone accidentally knocked him. A man ran on the cliff. He did not know where he would go to. He did not care as the beast could come from anywhere.

And it came, unseen, undetected, silent, and deadly. For a moment, that man saw a transparent, dark-blue claw, and he couldn't react as his body was cut in half. His body was then chomped, thrown into the air before it entered the mouth.

As blood spilled from its lips, the beast growled in satisfaction before setting its eyes upon Aldred and his group.

"What a beast," Maverick said. "Do you think you can handle this?"

"We cannot run away, can't we?" Aldred said, hesitating.

"Running is not a wise idea." Mary raised her sword, taken from the pile of treasures. The soldiers all stood up with their rare quality shields, armor, and weapons.

"I have no choice then. Arise, my minions!"

Maverick frowned as the black mist clumped out of the floor. Hideous creatures that seemed to come from darkness stepped out from the mist and knelt.

"Your command, master."

Maverick was shocked when he saw five Gold Rank undead kneeling in front of the boy, but what kept his attention was the giant velobra. That thing alone could handle multiple Gold Rank at once, and yet it became his undead.

"Kill that thing for me."

"As you command."

The rest of the undead stormed at the beast, but Bella stood still with her undead form. She raised her staff horizontally. Both crystals on both end of the staff shone blue light.

"Icy orb. Dozens of misty ice orbs shot towards the beast, zipping through the ranks of undead.

The beast roared and charged forward. Everyone expected a clash, but something unexpected happened. The beast turned transparent, almost invisible. The spear and swords went through its body like it wasn't there.

For a few seconds, the beast became intangible.0

Its body materialized again after arriving at the rear and then it charged at Aldred.

"Charge!" Bartrem charged with his rare quality shield. The tail of the beast swung at him. Bartrem braced for impact, but shockingly, the tail went through the shield and materialized back when it slammed his stomach.

Bartrem spat out blood as he was thrown a dozen meters away.

"Fire javelin!" Aldred raised his new staff 'Blazing Serpent'

Dozens of fire javelins stormed at the beast. With 300% increase in damage, the fire javelins now seemed much more menacing than before, but the beast did not care. It moved side to side, ducking under the javelin.

Aldred's godly eyes moved at a faster rate, but he still couldn't hit the beast.

"Let me help." Maverick pulled out a blood blade from his waist and rushed at the creature. "Keep attacking it!"

The beast growled at the intruder and decided to remove him first. The tentacle hair on its head rose and squirmed around before it whipped at him.

Maverick stepped to the side, and the air to his right was cut as the attack created a deep, straight trail on the ground.

A strand of his hair fell. Maverick trembled. If he didn't dodge in time, he'd be cut in half. He then moved nimbly like an assassin. Using his short dagger to cut at the limbs whenever he could.

Aldred frowned. His undead army was still running back, but he had to survive against this beast first before they came.

The beast ignored Maverick and charged at the boy.

Sophia pointed with her staff. "Confusion!"

Its legs stumbled, and its sight became dizzy. It looked at the boy, in its vision; the boy became two.

"GRRHH!" It leaped forward and attacked.

Suddenly, Mareona came like a bullet with a gleaming sword. She came from the side, and her sword was pointing at the creature's stomach. The blade went in.

Mareona smiled thinking that she got the creature, but she was wrong. It went through as the creature became intangible. She fell and rolled on the ground before standing up and rushing at the creature again.

Aldred distanced himself. Mary ran at Aldred while Mira went to tend Bartrem's wound.

Mary, Mareona, Sophia, Bella, and Maverick all worked together to fight the beast. Aldred kept on firing his javelin and fire bullets.

"Greater Physique! Greater Strength! High Endurance! Abnormal Dexterity!"

Mary, Mareona, and Maverick became stronger and faster. They dodged the creature's tentacles and claws while attacking its jelly-fish like skin.

Despite its appearance, it was hard to cut because the skin seemed to absorb the damage like water.

"Everyone! Get away from that beast!"

They all jumped back as Aldred pointed at it. "Fire Combustion!"

The beast burst into flame. It roared in pain and turned intangible. When it materialized, Aldred ignited him again.

Maverick took that chance to zip through the air and stabbed at the beast's neck. He pulled and kicked the beast to propel himself away. Black blood poured out of the beast, and then it siphoned in the air before it was sucked by his blade.

Maverick smiled and raised his blade. "Blood Blade of Grakthar!"

Blood burst out of the wound, and it kept pouring out before being sucked on by his blade.

The onlookers were shocked.

"Men!" Maverick called. "Make this monster bleed!"

His vampire subordinates grabbed their own dagger and struck at the beast. Just like him, their speed was fast, and they were agile. Rolling, and jumping to dodge the tentacles.

Aldred saw the beast become weaker as its blood got sucked in while Maverick became faster and faster.

A blood aura covered him. The beast was angered. It ignored the others and struck at Maverick.

The man smiled as the blood thickened around him and blocked the creature's claw. The beast roared right in front of his face. And then the blood transformed into countless needles and stabbed its neck. The needle sucked in the blood before channeling it into the blade.

The beast vanished.

The smile on Maverick's face disappeared. Suddenly, a faint sight of a claw came at his stomach. He blocked with his blade but the impact still threw him away.

Aldred gritted his teeth. "Seems like we have to handle it ourselves again. Thankfully, my undead has arrived."

The Gold Rank undead was angered that this creature dared to trick them. They swarmed the creature from all sides.

Nicky was particularly pissed. He couldn't allow another beast to outwit him. So when he arrived, he shove the other undead away and slammed at the Phantom Claw.

The Phantom Claw attacked with its tentacle, but the velobra bit it, cutting it off. Phantoma turned around and slapped the snake creature in the face, staggering it.

But he wasn't alone. Bella, Brook, Crook, and Milet attacked.

"Icy spikes!"

Dozens of ice spikes jolted from the ground and stabbed the monster's belly.

Aldred kept on attacking as well. He had been throwing fire javelins since the beginning. The soldiers were joining the fray. Though they could die from this ordeal, they did not want to be a burden. They were soldiers.

If they feared death, then they wouldn't be here in the first place.

A soldier grabbed a magical chain and threw it at the creature. The chain wrapped around its neck, then glowed bright red as it locked itself in place.

"PULL!" The others helped the man, pulling the chain. The beast struggled until Crook and Brook leaped high into the air and slammed their large, black axe onto the head of the beast.

SLAM!

The beast's head crashed to the ground. But it roared louder than before, and then ran at Aldred.

Aldred stayed still.

"Aldred! Get out of there!" Mira shouted as she ran towards him.

Aldred did not move, and the beast stared death at the boy. Just as it was about to pounce, the air exploded and engulfed the beast in flame whole.

It rolled around on the floor before it stopped moving.

"This Trap Flare is very useful," Aldred said satisfied with his new staff.

[You have killed 'Phantoma']

[+3,870 EXP]

Something shocking then happened. All the Copper Ranked undead turned to silvers, while the soldiers all turned to Gold Rank.

The people that watched from the distance saw more than 70 people breaking through the Gold Rank and their jaws dropped.

"How could they all break through the Gold Rank at the same time?"

"This is the first time in history. No one has ever seen more than two people breaking through at the same time before."

"And it's 70 people at once! How is this possible. Is this the blessing from Mount Fargon? If we kill the beasts here, can we break through as well?"

"Are you a fool? We're already at Gold Rank. It's probably only the Silver Ranks and under who can get this blessing.

Bartrem limped his way to the creature. His armor was dented. "I never thought I would see this creature. Especially not seeing one dead."

"Are you okay?" Aldred asked.

"I am fine. Mira healed me."

Maverick approached them as well. His blood aura healed his wound at a rapid rate. "If I show this to my father, he would be so proud. Do you guys mind if I take the head?"

They all looked at Aldred. This beast was killed because of his undead so he was the one who could decide.

"We all take part in killing this beast, so don't look at me like I did everything by myself. As for you taking the head. Wait for a moment."

Aldred approached the beast, use his flame to cut a chunk of its skin, and then ate it.

Maverick looked at him weirdly. "Why are you eating it?"

Bartrem laughed. "You'll see."

Aldred chewed even though the taste was so disgusting. It felt like eating a breast transplant. And don't even ask how he knew what that tasted like.

[Analyzing… success. You have obtained the gene for Phantoma. From now on, you can transform into this beast and use its racial attributes]

[Gene: Phantoma (Phantom Claw]

-Intangibility. Turning into astral form for 5 seconds. With 2 seconds cooldown. (User turns into a transparent entity, that cannot be attacked with concrete objects. User can go through walls with this ability as well)

-Invisibility. Turning invisible for 5 seconds with 2 seconds cooldown

-Phantom attack. (Each Attack can go through armor, and directly hit target)

-Tail Whip

-Tentacle attack

Aldred smiled. "Morph." His body ballooned. His skin slowly turned into dark, blue jelly-like texture. His hands became hideous claws.

When he was fully morphed, Maverick and his men took a few steps back as the onlookers stared with widened eyes.

Bartrem and his comrades simply smiled at the sight.

"How does it feel?" Bartrem asked.

"It's lighter than expected. I feel like I can run very fast with this body."

Their mouth dropped to the floor when they saw the beast speak.

"Don't be scared, guys. I am still the old little Aldred."

Mareona laughed. "Let me feel your tentacle."

"…"