Autophagy

"Here I come!" The robed man giggled. His steps were shaking the ground. If he was any heavier, Song Lei would probably have problems keeping his balance.

Old Wolf stood in front of Damien and Song Lei to keep casting shockwaves.

"Shouldn't we go out to the hallway?" Song Lei asked quickly. Although the shockwaves were slowing down the robed man, he would eventually reach them.

"No. If we want to beat him, we have to fight here," Old Wolf said. "This small environment limits him because of his big body. If we go out to the hallway, we will be giving him space to move."

Song Lei nodded. The man was about to reach them. Song Lei didn't have the chance to hide his abilities anymore as he charged into the robed man.

"Wait!" Damien shouted while trying to stop Song Lei. Old Wolf stopped creating shockwaves as he was scared of hurting Song Lei and watched him pass by. Neither Damien nor Old Wolf had the ability to match the robed man in CQC. Song Lei had to step up if they wanted to beat the man.

The robed man, seeing Song Lei's somewhat small stature compared to him, sneered. He stood in his place without even moving. He was sure that Song Lei couldn't touch him even if he used a knife. His skin had become so thick that no normal human could hurt him.

*Stab

"Blergh..." The robed man puked blood

Song Lei used the cursed knife to stab the robed man. He used all the power in his body to push the knife in and knock the man away. He felt like his wrists were about to break because of the impact. Fortunately, his knife could penetrate the robed man's skin and he was able to knock him away. The robed man stumbled back because of the collision.

'Why didn't this guy block me? Didn't he just see me breaking the door with a single kick?' Song Lei thought. It was clearly weird that the robed man couldn't guess he had some kind of strength buff. 'The potion he just took might've reduced his mental capabilities,' Song Lei guessed while backing away. He had created a much-needed spacing for Old Wolf to keep casting shockwaves. He was even able to stab the man in his abdomen. Although it didn't do that much damage, it was better than nothing.

"Good job!" Old Wolf's eyes shone. He quickly raised his hands to get back to casting shockwaves. This short opportunity Song Lei had created for him made him able to rest for a second.

"You have to locate the protection talisman and destroy it!" Old Wolf said to Song Lei. The robed man was using two types of talismans. One was a stationary reflection talisman and the other was a mobile protection talisman. Unless Song Lei managed to find the protection talisman and destroy it, Old Wolf would deplete his energy before breaking the barrier.

"Damien? Can you help me find the talisman?" Song Lei asked. Damien nodded as his eyes started shining yellow. It was a deeper color than before. It seemed as if that his ability had gotten stronger for some reason.

"It's on his upper body," Damien said. "Probably under the armpit."

Song Lei frowned. It would be very hard to reach such a place. He thought for a second and took action.

"Wait here!" Song Lei said. He ran out to the hallway, leaving Damien and Old Wolf against the robed man. Surprisingly, Old Wolf and Damien didn't flinch. They trusted Song Lei a lot.

Song Lei, who was out in the staircase now, started swinging his cursed knife at the passing by ghosts. His sight would have been filled with system notifications if they didn't stack on top of each other.

After some time, a different notification appeared in front of him.

[Congratulations! You've managed to exorcise a "Wandering Soul". You've leveled up and gained two stat points!]

As he had leveled up, he now had 3 spare points to use. He allocated two of those points into his body stat, raising it up to 8. He felt ripplings in his muscles. Wave after wave, he could feel his body becoming leaner and stronger. Although it wasn't as absurd as before, he was still suddenly raising his body strength by more than 30 percent. This made him a little bit lightheaded for a second. When the after-effects were over, he rushed back to room 1401.

The robed man was about to reach Old Wolf. Sweat was pouring out of Old Wolf's head as his face was flushed because of the lack of energy in his body.

Song Lei, seeing this, arched his body and pushed the ground with his feet.

"Get out of my way!" Song Lei shouted. Hearing his voice, both Damien and Old Wolf threw themselves to the side. Song Lei charged at the robed man as swift as an arrow. The robed man obviously didn't expect such speed from Song Lei. He didn't have time to back away so he opted to cross his arms in front of him. This time, he knew that he couldn't take Song Lei lightly.

Song Lei raised his cursed knife and stabbed it towards the robed man's neck. Unfortunately, the man's arms were so thick that he didn't have an opening to use. His knife was instead stabbed into the man's arm. He was surprised that the cursed knife didn't break.

"AHH!" The man shouted in agony. Song Lei didn't bother with pulling the knife out. He instead passed by the man and went behind him. The man couldn't react because of the pain he was feeling. He wasn't used to feeling this much pain as he had always used the berserk potion to fight.

Song Lei, who was now behind the man, held onto the man's back and held his head. The man felt as if he was being pulled by a bear. He couldn't resist as he was thrown off balance. After throwing the man to the ground, Song Lei used his knee to hit the man's chest. He could feel ribs breaking under him. Finally, when the man was flailing around, trying to break free, Song Lei got an opportunity to pull out the talisman from under the man's armpit. He quickly backed off after ripping the talisman away.

"It's your turn!" He shouted at Old Wolf. Old Wolf ran up and put his hand on the man's head. He took a deep breath and finished him off with a shockwave directly cast inside his head.

"We've done it...!"