Volume 7 Chapter 4 Part 2 (2/2)
”That is a problem. We need you all to die here, after all. Oh, I will be taking Lady Schnee and Lady Filma with me, so please do not worry. Oh?”
As he was talking, Scoruas' sight left s.h.i.+n's party and focused behind them.
”.this presence”
The smile finally left Scoruas' expression. His confidence was no more.
”..Adara, the situation has changed. We must kill her. Cooperate.”
”What? It's weird for you to be this tense.”
”Just look at her and you'll understand.”
Saying this, Scoruas motioned towards Tiera.
”.ah, now I get it. Yeah, can't leave this one alive.”
Apparently understanding without the need for further explanations, Adara muttered these words and raised his speed.
In the same way as Scoruas, he rushed towards Tiera with enough power as to crush the ground beneath his feet, paying no attention to s.h.i.+n or anyone else.
Their acceleration was enough to leave behind afterimages. But s.h.i.+n and the others wouldn't be overcome so easily.
”Hey now, what's the rush? Don't you dare ignore me now.”
”You can't do this after all that bragging, you know.”
Wilhelm stopped Adara, while s.h.i.+n blocked Scoruas.
Then, as if creating multiple walls, Schnee, Filma and s.h.i.+baid stood beside them, ready to a.s.sist at any time.
”.eh? Ah”
On the other hand Tiera, who had been targeted all of a sudden, let out a raucous whisper. She had been swept by a killing intent and crus.h.i.+ng pressure the likes of which she had never felt before.
”Grururu”
”Kufuuuh!”
Tiera's body couldn't move, but Kagerou and Yuzuha, their fur standing up, stood in front of her as to protect her. Looking at their backs, Tiera collapsed to her knees due to the overwhelming pressure.
”Are you okay? Do you recognize me?”
”Aahye..s..”
Milt helped Tiera stand, as she couldn't support herself.
She seemed to have trouble breathing, but had not lost consciousness.
Having enough mental strength not to faint under the effect of the killing intent of Grand Duke-cla.s.s demons was a feat in itself.
”Move.”
”You're in the way”
s.h.i.+n and Wilhelm answered the demons' words with taunting smiles.
”Let's just crush them.”
”Yes, let's do that.”
Deciding that trying to break through would take too much time, Adara and Scoruas decided to return to their true forms.
”As if we'd let you!”
Close to the demons now attempting their transformations, s.h.i.+n materialized an item from the item box. It was the crystal stone he once used in front of Tiera.
”Facing demons underground, you think I didn't make my preparations!?”
s.h.i.+n poured magic power in the crystal, without hesitation.
As the magic skill engraved on the crystal activated, the surrounding scenery warped; the next instant, everyone present in the room was now outside, on a wide open plain.
They were now on the plains connecting the sacred place Kalkia and castle town Balmel, near the woods where s.h.i.+n and Rionne once lit a bonfire.
s.h.i.+n, having heard about the demons from Schnee after being blown to Kalkia, had marked the location, in case they would have to fight demons above a certain rank.
He had already verified that these plains were scarcely visited by humans, as they were often traversed by monsters because of the Flood.
”Where is this?”
”I'll explain later. Sir Konig, please take Lady Hermie away from here. And take this.”
Even if her collar had been removed, s.h.i.+n did not want Hermie to stay in the battlefield.
For added safety, he handed Konig a subst.i.tute-type item that would absorb damage inflicted to them, a monster repellent item and a barrier-creating item. After going a certain distance, they planned to use the ”Cloak of Hiding” to conceal themselves.
”You're always pulling surprising stunts, aren't you.”
”I had heard about the demons from Schnee, you see. It was like an insurance, but now we can fight to our hearts' content, right?”
Wilhelm looked very surprised by the development, but s.h.i.+n answered him casually.
In fact, Grand Duke-cla.s.s demons were not considered exterminated even if their human forms were defeated. There were exceptions, but very few.
Most Grand Duke cla.s.s demons achieved their true form by cutting off the head of their human form.
That was one reason why s.h.i.+n had targeted Scoruas' arm.
Before the party now stood the two demons in their true forms.
”Hey hey, I wasn't expecting this. Where are we anyway?”
”That's not a problem. Our target is still here with us.”
Without paying the slightest attention to Hermie's entourage leaving the scene, Adara and Scoruas looked down at Tiera.
Adara's transformation was a giant human-like figure. It was a type also called ”War G.o.d”: its appearance was human-like but it had 4 arms and 2 faces. It was roughly 25 mels tall and wore armor resembling a Chinese general of old. It wielded two long swords, a battleaxe and a mallet.
As it resembled a human in appearance, it was also relatively easier to think of a way to fight it.
On the other hand, Scoruas was more difficult. It was a Chimera-type, which made it difficult to imagine what it was originally.
Its face was sharp and angular, as if crustacean sh.e.l.ls formed an eel-like head. On both sides of the head there also were horn-like objects pointing forward.
Its upper body was human-like and covered in scales, just like Magnamuc; from where his right arm would be sprouted three octopus-like tentacles, while in place of the left arm he was equipped with two crab-like pincers.
The lower body seemed like a mixture between a horse and a tiger's. It would take some effort, but by imagining the front part as the horse's and the back part as the tiger's, it could almost look like a nightmarish centaur. Counting the horse and tiger limbs, it had 6 legs in all.
”Yuzuha, I leave Tiera to you. Tiera, stay close to Yuzuha and a.s.sist us. They will probably target you, so put enough distance between you and them. And equip this!”
”Kuu!”
”U-understood!”
While giving directions, s.h.i.+n threw a defensive item at Tiera. Among all present, Tiera was the only one at danger of instant death.
”This is getting pretty fun!! s.h.i.+n, who will deal with who?”
Excited at the appearance of such strong opponents, Milt had already put away the twin swords Mirbal and drawn her main weapon, a low rank Ancient-grade poleaxe Breogand, with its blade wrapped in pale blue flames.
Just its handle was as long as Milt was tall; at first glance, no one would think that it was a weapon she could wield.
s.h.i.+n knew, however, that all players who underestimated her that way had been split in two.
”Let's seeScoruas is probably a raid type. Schnee, Kagerou and I will deal with him. Filma, s.h.i.+baid, Wilhelm, Milt, go get Adara. Tiera, Yuzuha, prioritize evasion and give us a.s.sistance. The enemy's strong, never let your guard down!”
As if in unison with s.h.i.+n's commands, the sounds of Scoruas and Adara's approaching footsteps grew louder. The teleportation had put some distance between them, but for the two giants it was a trivial problem. s.h.i.+n and Schnee used stat boost skills on the whole party, which then split into two teams.
”First of all, we'll separate them! Kagerou, stand in front!”
”Gruu!”
If they were close, the two enemies could have helped each other. s.h.i.+n tried to stop that as first priority.
Standing behind Kagerou, who had returned to his original form, s.h.i.+n hid from Scoruas' sight and released all Limit.
At the same time as he ran behind Kagerou, s.h.i.+n cast Hiding to conceal himself and charged towards Scoruas at maximum speed.
”Time to fly!”
s.h.i.+n's unforeseen full-power kick struck Scoruas' human-like part, in what would correspond to the pit of the stomach.
Barehanded and wind combination skill Raging Arrow.
The mercilessly delivered kick was something beyond this world's nature.
Along with the sound of the thunder, the 25 mels tall giant was blasted high in the air.
After a few seconds Scoruas crashed back down into the ground, creating a small crater and raising a large cloud of dust.
The total distance the demon flew before cras.h.i.+ng down was easily over 800 mels.
The part kicked by s.h.i.+n showed an abnormal wound; it wasn't clear if it had been struck or gouged.
The attack's power was so impressive that even Adara, who had not been affected, stopped in his tracks. At the same time, the collapsed Scoruas was still under attack.
”fall.”
A clear voice resounded through the battlefield. Following it, blue lightning bolts poured down from the sky.
Lightning magic skill Blue Judgement.
The storm of lightning strikes which had burned to ashes the swarm of monsters that attacked Balmel, without a shred of pity, doused Scoruas' entire body in flames.
In the game this magic skill couldn't be used in boss battles, but probably because his appearance seemed to be formed mostly by water-element monsters, s.h.i.+n saw Scoruas' HP gauge decrease significantly.
They had already caused damage for 10% of the total, in just 2 blows.
Scoruas was a Raid-type monster. Originally he would be fought by several parties at once, each one shaving his HP little by little. Considering that, this damage was almost unreal.
”Let's crush him right away and go a.s.sist the others.”
”Yes!”
”Gruaah!”
The High Human s.h.i.+n, High Elf Schnee, and divine beast Kagerou headed towards Scoruas.
The difference in fighting power was crystal clear. Thus started the hunt for the Grand Dukes.