Primordial Awakening: I Can Evolve My Skills Infinitely - Chapter 227

Chapter 227: Demon of Delusion, You Cannot Trick Me!
Ding!

[You have chosen the wrong answer each time, your “delusion” is extremely strong.]

Sam lifted his gaze to the center of the chamber.

The room was silent except for the soft echo of the system message, but in the middle of the vast floor a shifting mass of shadows was rising from the ground.

It moved like a living fog, growing taller and darker with every second until it became a mountain of swirling black.

Sam narrowed his eyes.

This thing wasn’t like the last demon.

The first trial had given him a creature of corruption, something born directly from his own sins.

It hadn’t attacked, because it was a part of him.

But this one… this one was different.

The [Demon of Delusion] wasn’t made from his flesh or his power.

It was made from something deeper and far more dangerous—every wrong answer, every supposed “lie” he had told throughout the trial.

And unlike the first, this one was not here to stay still.

The shadows twisted faster.

A pair of enormous yellow pupils blinked open inside the mass.

A grin filled with jagged teeth stretched across a face that hadn’t been there a second ago.

The grin widened as the body finished forming.

When the last strands of shadow snapped into place, a massive demon stood before Sam.

Its body was lean but monstrous, a shape sculpted from smoke and hatred.

The yellow eyes burned with a light that felt far too real for something made of shadow.

A chill ran through the chamber as the demon finally stepped forward.

Sam held his ground.

He didn’t blink.

The demon tilted its head and smiled wider, almost amused that he wasn’t backing away.

[Here we go!]

[Finally.]

[I swear if this thing doesn’t attack…]

The mocking voices of the three judges echoed through the dark air.

Sam didn’t bother replying.

He simply shifted his stance and summoned his weapon.

Primordial Barrage.

Machine Gun Mode.

The giant machine gun formed above his head, its barrel already glowing as it locked onto the demon’s aura.

It rotated once, humming with power.

The chamber trembled. Panels of information flared across Sam’s vision.

—

[Demon of Delusion (Ultimate Form)]

[Level: 95]

[Skills: Unknown]

[Description: The Demon of Delusion changes forms based on the one who faces it. This is its strongest form.]

[Hell-Mode Analysis: It is not invincible.]

—

Sam exhaled once. Level ninety-five.

That was higher than anything he had fought in this world so far.

The judges were at the same level, but he hadn’t technically fought them.

Even worse, his [Skills Viewer] couldn’t read any of its abilities.

Either the creature had just been created, or it possessed powers that had never appeared before.

Both explanations were bad.

Before he could think any further—

Blitz!

The demon vanished.

A split second later it reappeared behind him, claws flashing through the air.

Sam spun instinctively, but it was too fast.

Clang!

His primordial clone intercepted the strike at the last possible moment, its wide grin unshaken as it blocked the blow.

But the demon didn’t stop.

Claw Assault!

Its arms blurred.

Dozens of slashes struck the clone in less than a heartbeat, the sound of rending energy echoing across the chamber.

The [Primordial Barrier] around the clone flickered violently, losing more than half its durability in an instant.

‘Too fast,’ Sam thought.

‘The more trials I clear, the faster they get. I can’t rely on the barrier forever. If something like this camps my revival point, it could kill me again and again before I even move.’

The machine gun above his head roared to life.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A storm of bullets tore through the air, streaking toward the demon.

Some of them struck home, shredding through the shadowy armor.

The creature flinched slightly, but only slightly.

The damage was real, but small.

‘I need stronger rounds,’ Sam realized.

The barrage stopped with a hiss of overheated metal.

Before he could cool the weapon, the demon blurred forward again.

Slash!

Sam ducked under one strike, deflected another, and brought his sword around in a counter—

But his blade sliced through empty air.

The demon dissolved into smoke.

“Huh.”

A whisper of air stirred behind him.

Claw Assault!

The real body materialized at his back, its claws raking across his barrier with savage precision.

The impact sent Sam flying across the chamber like a rag doll.

He crashed against the far wall, the force cracking the stone beneath his feet.

His barrier flared weakly but held.

Sam pushed himself upright, his expression unchanged.

The demon’s yellow eyes glowed brighter, the grin sharper than before.

[Hell-Mode Analysis: It is the Demon of Deception, so it will use—]

“…Deception to overpower me,” Sam muttered.

“I figured that out already.”

He tightened his grip on the primordial sword.

One clean strike.

That was all he needed.

But first he had to land it, and the demon’s speed made that almost impossible.

Blitz!

The creature appeared in front of his clone and raised one clawed hand.

Deception Clones!

Dozens of shadowy figures erupted across the chamber.

Each one moved with the same deadly speed as the original.

They blurred into motion, rushing across the floor like a storm of blades.

‘It’s hiding among the fakes.’

Ordinarily, this would have been a nightmare.

Every clone carried the same killing intent, each one just as fast as the real thing.

But Sam didn’t panic.

He stepped forward calmly, blade ready.

Slash!

A clone lunged at him.

He blocked, but the shadow passed through his sword like smoke.

Illusion.

The primordial clone fought at his side, deflecting blows from other phantoms, but Sam’s eyes never left the shifting crowd.

[Haha… look at him!]

[Finally under pressure?]

[Idiot~]

The judges laughed, their voices dripping with glee.

Sam ignored them.

He kept moving, blocking attacks that weren’t real, watching the swarm for a single sign of difference.

Minutes passed.

Then—

Blitz!

Another clone lunged straight at him, moving just like the others.

Sam didn’t even raise his sword to block.

Instead, he pivoted sharply and slashed behind him.

SLASH!

His blade cut clean through the neck of the true demon.

The strike was so precise that the shadowy body barely had time to react.

The yellow eyes widened.

The grin vanished.

Its head toppled to the floor and rolled once before dissolving into black smoke.

[Huh?]

[What… but he looked so under pressure.]

[Fucking primordial…]

The judges’ disbelief echoed through the chamber as the clones vanished one by one, fading back into the ground like mist at dawn.

The truth was simple.

Sam’s [Void Watcher] ability made him immune to illusions.

One of its hidden perks allowed him to see through stealth, deception, and every kind of visual trick.

From the start, he had marked the real demon with a faint crimson glow that no one else could see.

All those blocks, all that careful defense, had been nothing more than a trap to make the creature believe it was safe.

One strike was all he needed, and one strike was all it took.

The last wisp of shadow sank into the floor, leaving the chamber silent once more.

No core remained to extract.

The Demon of Delusion was gone.

Sam exhaled softly.

‘Oh well.’

Ding!

[You have completed the second guilty trial!]

[Verdict: Guilty.]

“Damn.”

He didn’t sound surprised.

No matter how perfectly he cleared these towers, the result would always be the same.

Guilty. Always guilty.

A portal of swirling light opened in the middle of the chamber.

Sam stepped toward it without hesitation, his expression as calm as when he had entered.

The primordial clone followed with its ever-present smile.

Fwish! Ding!

[You have completed the second “Judgment Tower.”]

The world folded around him.

A heartbeat later, Sam emerged once again into the [Land of Judgment].

The thick yellow mist swirled at his feet as he stepped through the gate of the second tower.

Above him, the colossal structure groaned.

The second chain that bound the final gate snapped with a deep metallic crack, its fragments vanishing into the mist.

Only one chain remained.

Sam tilted his head back and looked toward the last tower.

Its giant eye glared down at him, a vortex of swirling gold burning within the dark pupil.

The power radiating from it was stronger than either of the previous two.

Sam felt it like a weight pressing against his skin, a silent promise of what awaited inside.

He grinned faintly.

“Here we go.”

Without another word, he began walking toward the final tower.

The primordial clone followed beside him, its smile never fading as the mist curled around their feet.

Sam stepped forward toward the final tower.

The giant eyeball above was still looking down on him, but this time he ignored it.

The second tower’s eyeball had also closed just like the first, meaning that soon enough, this one would close too.

[Judgment is coming.]

[Just deal with this already so we can get rid of you.]

[The “others” are watching, we cannot let them down.]

Sam didn’t care about any of that as he stepped through the third gate.

One more trial. One more chain.

And then the true judgment would begin.