CHAPTER 419: SOMETIMES, YOU HANDLE THINGS YOURSELF (1/2)
Still trying to fly my way out of the tunnel, I focused my mana into my right arm and a second later a blackish rope of fire began coiling out from the base of my arm. A flick of my wrist and a long whip spanning at least ten meters lashed out at the dying Fire Dryder like a live snake. The female Fire Dryder was immediately rendered immobile by the fiery binding. This time, no amount of willpower was going to be enough to save her. With a quick tug, I severed her body with my whip like a hot knife through butter and tossed the two halves at her oncoming companions… Finally, after two fireballs and a whip, she’s dead!
Because I aimed the halves along the path that the Dryders had to pass by, one of the Dryders, a greenish Poison Dryder, inadvertently stepped onto the still burning corpse and instantly burst into flames!
“Aooooo!”
Its pained cries echoed throughout the cramped tunnel. It didn’t even have the presence of mind at this point to figure out a plan of action; that was how overwhelming the flames were. Once a being was covered with even a single mote of Nether Flames, they would experience an unbearable burning that seemed to work from the inside out till that being was finally burnt to cinders. The quickest way to deal with these flames was to cut off the part that had touched the Nether Flames. Unfortunately, the Poison Dryder didn’t have the judgement to make such a decision. Their ability to coordinate elements was something trained into them by the Dark Elves. On their own, their intelligence was nothing impressive.
Long story short, that Dryder was a goner.
Silly monsters, that’s what you get for defying me. If you don’t step back now, I’ll use my Nether Flames to burn you all to a crisp. I’ll… Hey, at least let me finish my monologue first!
Just as I was about to make a stirring declaration and raise my own spirits, even more Fire Dryders began rushing out from behind. They swiftly overtook their brethren and used their own bodies to block off every nook and cranny my Nether Flames could possibly use to try and harm their non-fire resistant brethren.
Hah, you think that will be enough to save you all? You wish.
Nether Flames Wall!
A wall of blackish flames rose from the ground out of nothingness. Yet with so many Fire Dryders arrayed before me, even that wasn’t enough to deter them. The gathered Fire Dryders immediately fired off a volley of fireballs at the wall. An explosion of mana later, I felt my mana pool immediately empty out by a significant percentage.
Shashlik, this won’t do at all. At this rate, my mana will be used up before they die out. Faced with such overwhelming numbers, I knew that I couldn’t turn this into an endurance match. That was why I cancelled my Nether Flames Wall while I tried to find another spell to use against them.
With no other choice open to me, I summoned my Shadow Demon back from the frontlines. Upon returning, the Shadow Demon immediately embarked on a massacre of the ten offending Fire Dryders while I took this opportunity to toss out more Nether Flames fireballs. Because of the chaos created, I was able to sneak a few shots at their non-fire resistant brethren, even turning one Metal Dryder into cinders in an instant.
Good job, Shadow Demon. Not only is their formation messed up, they even lost one Metal Dryder -I call that a win. Metal Dryders are a rare strain after… wait, why are there so many appearing all of a sudden?
While my Shadow Demon wasn’t completely immune to all attacks, this usually wasn’t a problem as its agility and sheer deadliness often meant that defense wasn’t a big concern. But these Metal Dryders had the ability to survive a full strike from the Shadow Demon, and in such a desperate fight, this ability was enough to fully counter the strengths of the Shadow Demon.
This soon played out amongst the defensive formation of the Dryders. Just as my Shadow Demon was happily hacking through its sixth kill, its next swing was abruptly stopped by the carapace of a Dryder. Unbeknownst to me, a Metal Dryder had managed to sneak into the frontlines and grouped up with the remaining Fire Dryders.
As an elemental creature, the Shadow Demon’s defenses were basically zero against anything other than the element it was strong against. For example, a fire elemental being was basically a nightmare for fire mages, and free food for any other element… this applied to the Shadow Demon as well.
In the just blink of an eye, the Shadow Demon had suffered numerous injuries as it remained stuck in the carapace of that Metal Dryder. Not only were the Fire Dryders attacking it, so were the Poison Dryders and the Ice Dryders behind it… it’s dead, my second Shadow Demon has died… balls.
Having lost two Shadow Demon in no time at all, my body suffered a shock like none it had ever experienced before. This wasn’t just a simple case of one plus one equals two, the blowback from this second loss reached even my mental state. I could feel a ripping pain in my very soul. For just the briefest of moments, it felt like I had lost all my senses… Thankfully, this side-effect did not last long, else those Dryders would have been able to launch a sneak attack against me.
“Didn’t your big sis tell you already? Just relying on the Shadow Demon isn’t enough.” Seeing that I had recovered somewhat from the mental shock, Ferti’nier took the opportunity to remind me of her existence once more. “If you keep going down this path, how long do you think your body will last?”
Blast…
The damage caused by my Shadow Demon dying wasn’t just a simple addition; they stacked. In short, that second death did not just deal me the damage of one death, but rather also that of the previous death as well. If this were to continue in quick succession, there would come a time when my body would simply cave in, and I would either die or be crippled. My Shadow Demon was basically worthless now in this situation.
What to do… If I can’t use my Shadow Demon, who else can I call for help? Ferti’nier, is it possible for me to summon over some of my subordinates from Purgatory?