Chapter 388: Laws of Time

Vergil, who walked the mortal realm as Dante’s elder brother, arrived at the place where Dante resided. In his pursuit of greater power, he determined to awaken the slumbering might of their father, Sparda. While searching for the forbidden tomes containing knowledge of Sparda, he crossed paths with Arkham, and under the man's instigation, he resolved to rouse the ancient, long-sealed demonic tower that bridged the gateway to the Underworld.

Under the lingering glow of the setting sun, the earth fractured and layers of rock surged up like turbulent waves. Looking down from the heavens, the heart of the sprawling city revealed an endless expanse of diverse architectures.

In the absolute center of those countless structures, the subterranean depths suddenly tore open, and that colossal, magnificent tower ascended slowly from the abyss.

Clad in a blue trench coat, Vergil stood atop the pinnacle of the towering spire. His sharply chiseled features, illuminated by the dying sun, resembled a masterfully crafted demonic statue, while the Grim Reaper itself crouched at his heels like a submissive pet, bowing its head in deference.

A flash of light erupted from Yamato, and then, without so much as a backward glance, he sheathed the blade.

As if merely disposing of a piece of refuse, the upper torso of the Grim Reaper behind him slowly slid off its lower half.

"This guy seems even more badass...!"

"This swordplay is so damn cool!"

"Too handsome!" Song Qingfeng and the others were already shouting. "This young master is definitely playing this game!"

One could easily imagine a future scenario: if someone tried to launch a sneak attack from behind, a flash of light would burst from the blade, and by the time the sword was sheathed, the assailant would have already turned into a bisected corpse, the head and body slowly separating...

It was simply too spectacular!

Over at the Half City shop, a large crowd was also watching.

"Why are the demons in here all fighting in close-quarters combat?!"

"And they don't seem weak at all?!"

Feeling completely unable to comprehend it, they continued to watch.

"Hmm? This one has skills you can learn too?"

Soon, they saw Owner Fang open the upgrade interface, catching a glimpse of Dante's skill tree along the way.

Although he had played it before, it was now a virtual reality experience where everything leaned closer to actual reality, so he naturally needed to familiarize himself with the skills once more.

Dante initially possessed four combat styles, each of which would alter his fighting techniques and exert a massive influence on battle.

They were Trickster, Swordmaster, Gunslinger, and Royalguard.

Trickster primarily enhanced his movement, akin to specialized footwork.

It allowed Dante to swiftly evade many attacks and rapidly close the distance to his enemies, enabling him to dash forward in mid-air, run along walls, and perform short-distance teleportation.

Its initial level was one, upgrading through the accumulation of experience points gained by slaying monsters in battle.

Swordmaster focused on close-range weapon attacks. Utilizing this style allowed Dante to unleash immensely powerful melee techniques, with each melee weapon possessing distinct style-specific attack moves.

Gunslinger focused on long-range weapon attacks. Utilizing this style allowed Dante's firearms to unleash exceptionally gorgeous moves, such as the ricocheting attacks of Spiral, the tracking missiles of Kalina Ann, and the meteor shower of Artemis.

Royalguard focused on defense. This was a style that demanded an exceptionally high mastery of timing.

Simple usage could not completely block the enemy's damage, but if used at the exact millisecond the enemy made contact with Dante, the attack could be completely deflected, knocking back minor grunts (though unable to knock back enemies with immense demonic power) and raising the current style rank. Each successful perfect block absorbed the enemy's attack, and this accumulated damage could be unleashed back onto the foe, dealing colossal damage.

And on the upgrade interface, everyone noticed that the two styles at the bottom were still greyed out, clearly unavailable for activation at this time.

Quicksilver Style (Unactivated), which consumed Dante's demonic energy during use and stopped automatically once the energy was depleted.

When activated, everyone except Dante would be placed in a space-time where time flowed incomparably slow.

During this period, the enemies' attack and movement speeds would drop to about one-tenth of their original rate, while Dante's speed remained unchanged.

Doppelganger Style (Unactivated).

It could not be leveled up, but its activation consumed Dante's demonic energy, shutting down automatically when the energy ran out.

Upon activation, two clones of Dante in his Devil Trigger form would appear (one being a shadow), wielding Dante's current weapon, which would not alter even if Dante switched his own. If the user kept their weapon unchanged, the clone would mirror the user's exact movements (though certain special moves could not be executed by the shadow). The clone existed in an invincible state and possessed the exact same attack power as Dante.

"Holy crap?!" Just watching the combat earlier, everyone only felt that this style of fighting was relatively novel and hot-blooded, as well as highly potent, but if they truly had to face cultivators who could control flying swords from extreme distances and possessed immense mobility, they feared they would fall into the same highly passive dilemma as current martial artists.

In that case, no matter how fierce and mighty the slashes were, they wouldn’t be worth praising.

But when they saw the Quicksilver Style further down, their minds began to short-circuit.

"Could this be..."

"Controlling time?! The Law of Time?!" A great demon who was still drinking milk tea shrieked aloud. "What kind of monstrous things are hidden within this brat's bloodline?! He can actually comprehend the Law of Time?!"

"That is something even this venerable one cannot touch! Only the true sovereigns of our clan are worthy of comprehending it..." The milk tea cup had already dropped onto the table. Fortunately, it had been drained completely, otherwise it would have spilled everywhere. "What has this venerable one just witnessed?! Fake! It must be fake! How could this be possible!"

This was simply too unimaginable. One could foresee that if teleportation and time manipulation were combined, let alone cultivators, even if a demon faced such a martial artist, would there be any way to survive?!

Bringing along a Doppelganger made it even more terrifying; all techniques would be multiplied by two, which was equivalent to facing two terrifying opponents simultaneously, and one of them was completely invincible!

Recalling Dante's explosive and terrifyingly destructive slashes at this moment...

Close-quarters combat was no longer a fighting style that anyone could criticize.

No wonder those demons utilized melee combat; with this kind of close-quarters prowess, they could slay even immortals right before your eyes!

Everyone exchanged glances, seeing a sense of horror reflected in each other's eyes.

They could no longer wait.

Ning Bi: "Owner! I want to play this game too!"

Daoist Master Xi Chi: "Thirty crystals to activate? This seat's money is right here, I'm heading to a machine first!"

Black Demon: "This seat shall try it as well!"

"..."

Mo Xian and Yue Yan, who had previously been whispering about their disdain for this sort of protagonist, stole a glance at their master, then looked at each other, and immediately afterward...

Shui Xianyun put down her crystals: "Junior sister, wait for me! I plan to try it too!"

"How about we..." Mo Xian muttered, "How about we try it too?"

"Isn't this guy the descendant of a demon...? If we play this, we won't suffer a deviation in our cultivation, right?" Yue Yan asked.

"Do you see the owner suffering from cultivation deviation?"

"Go, go, go! Hurry! If we're slow, we won't be able to learn that whatever Law of Time! Didn't you see Master and the others have already gone?!"

"Oh, wait for me!"

When the two rushed to the gaming area and looked, they saw that it was already densely packed with people, leaving them dazed: "Owner, where are the seats?!"