The Impure Iranes threw its head back. “Fine, then! It has already been too long since I last tasted an Angel’s blood! The rest of you, this foolish girl is mine, so you go deal with the other humans!”
After barking out that order, it jumped. The Demon flew dozens of feet into the air, before it slowly came to a hover and began to levitate in place. Just a moment after it had leapt upward, the Angel flapped her wings and just as quickly ascended in pursuit of her foe.
Yet just as the Angel and Demon started their battle for real, Jaco quickly tore his gaze away and sent it back downward. At the moment, watching the pair clash would just be a distraction. One that he couldn’t afford with the other enemies still before him, still just around the corner. They would have to fight their own battle against Levi and the Minotaurs.
The Druid glanced back at the two companions who were still standing behind him. Their expressions were already hardened. They had prepared themselves for the fight to come, and they tightly held their weapons. Evelyn and Sam likely already understood the stakes. While it was a three-versus-three, the disparity in total Levels between the two sides was obvious. Even though Jaco was respectably within a Minotaur’s range, the two of them were behind by so much more.
He already understood that the Demon and Angel taking to the air had acted as the starting gun. As such, it would just be a few more seconds before their three opponents charged over and reached them. So if he wanted to say anything substantial to his teammates now, this would be his only chance, and then the chaotic fighting would ensue. It then only took him a split second to think about what needed to be said. He quickly make a decision.
“I’ll try to take them head-on while you guys support me! But if you ever need to run, then just run!” Jaco hurriedly said as he also readied himself.
He didn’t even wait for a response before immediately moving forward. The faster he could intercept the Demidemons midway, the better. While the Druid ran, his body had already begun to shift in shape and size. The deep breath he exhaled on his way turned into a deep, rumbling growl as the most reliable transformation of his Lesser Shapeshift took hold.
Ability Temporarily Restricted:
Lesser Beast Transformation
Temporary Ability Acquired:
Fearsome Roar
Temporary Ability Acquired:
Wrathful Claws
Jaco spared no expense as he went all out, beginning to stack his other Abilities. While the other modifications of Lesser Beast Transformation were restricted, there was still the free slot granted by his Passive Ability. Which was, of course, used to double-dip into the bear aspect and further enhance his current form.
Next he utilized both Primal Ferocity and Manifestation of the Wild Elemental. One to harden and strengthen his body with a stonelike appearance and the latter to more literally turn his outer layer of flesh into stone and toughen it even further. Using both Abilities in tandem like this would drain his Mana like crazy.
Depending on how long the fight dragged out, he wouldn’t be surprised if his reserves would be next to empty after all was said and done. But even though it’d then leave him relatively vulnerable to any new high Level threats, he simply couldn’t afford to do anything less. Heck, it was only due to his investment into Spell Power as his highest Stat that he was able to even pull this off. That being said, his Ability stacking still wasn’t quite done yet.
While he’d already done everything he could with his Druid Abilities while being mindful about his overall Mana usage, there was something else. Jaco still had the powers granted by his Secondary Class. Which relied not on Mana for its resource, but instead used the Devil’s Essence.
I really hope this won’t screw me over, though, Jaco thought. A part of him was still a bit nervous about what happened with the crossbow just earlier. While the near-instant charge had been a major boon, the drawback that came shortly after was practically crippling. If it happened now and caused the same thing to occur while he was still actively channeling Mana, the obvious consequence would speak for itself.
He put all of his focus into it. Into his desire to maintain full regulation of the Devil’s Essence stored within him. To use only that, and not accidently take directly from the environment and get overwhelmed by what’d be too much power for him to handle. As soon as Jaco began to channel the energy, he felt it. The desire for more, and the Devil’s Essence in the air’s own desire to rush into him and be at his beck and all.
—--
In the sky above, the Demon and Angel continued their own battle. But as the Impure Iranes was in the middle of an attack, it suddenly faltered. If the monster had a mouth, it would currently be frowning as it felt a shift. What it sensed now was oddly familiar, but somehow different from what it had sensed before in its life. Yet more importantly, it was wholly unexpected and momentarily broke its concentration.
That opening was a chance the Guardian Angel immediately saw and just as quickly capitalized on. For allowing itself to get distracted, the Demon was punished with a thrust of her golden spear.
The Demon quickly snapped back into reality and attempted to dodge at the last second. The speartip aimed for the chest missed its mark, but still pierced into the Inares’ left shoulder. No blood flowed from the wound, but even a Demon felt pain as its mouthless hiss sounded like stone scraping against glass.
What the Impure Iranes sensed before was then thrown to the back of its mind for later consideration. Such things were just distractions that it couldn’t afford at the moment. Its head now fully back in the fight, it was forced to refocus its attention on the old enemy before it.
—-
He’d done it, and just time too. Out of all his Blight Warlock Abilities, he had picked Zone of Blight as his playing card of choice. The Rotting Summon would just get immediately squashed, and the Pestilent Swarm didn’t feel like a good choice while also in a melee brawl. The zone, however, worked passively in the background, making it one of the Passive Abilities in pretty much all but name. As long as he continued to focus and channel energy into it, the Ability would remain ongoing.
But even if he could only reliably use one Secondary Class Ability right now, that had its own advantage. With no other Abilities that required the Devil’s Essence, he could just channel everything into maximizing the zone’s power. The only additional change Jaco consciously made was a restriction on its overall area.
It’d been a fifty-foot sphere when he first obtained it. Between both an increase in Levels to his Secondary Class and Stats, however, that maximum range had grown by quite a bit. Right now, though, that’d just be a potential hindrance if Evelyn got caught in it, with her being a close-range fighter.
It wouldn’t hurt him as the caster, that much he knew from testing as much while dealing the swarm of Spectres. But filtering allies out was something he hadn’t practiced. Heck, Jaco didn’t even currently know for sure if such a thing would even be possible, or if it would be indiscriminate rot for everything besides him.
So for the moment, he heavily restricted the area of effect. As he planned on getting up close and personal with the Minotaurs anyway, keeping it to a melee-ranged bubble should be fine.
The Druid only wished that he had the time to also down his Hell Elixirs. Unfortunately, though, that just wasn’t the case. It was either consume those, or get all his Abilities running at high gear from the start. There wasn’t enough time to do both.
And while Jaco could have just downed the Elixirs during the initial delay and started using his Abilities afterward, it still would have left a potential opening. While his bear form would easily draw their attention out of the gate, any delay might have sent them instead toward Sam and Evelyn. His gut had told him that the risks of preparing with both methods were a bit too high for his liking, so the decision had been an easy one to make.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
As he finished, the Druid turned the corner, now also ready to face those he was about to meet. He had become a bear larger than any that naturally roamed the planet, whose body made him look like a living statue.
His gaze darted around. Jaco spotted two of three enemies in the form of the pair of Minotaurs. The leader of the Chosen Few, however, was nowhere to be seen. Had he actually run off, or was it just a trick? Either way, it didn’t change what had to happen next.
Minotaur (Demidemon)
Level: 47
Minotaur (Demidemon)
Level: 49
Weaker one first, Jaco thought as he identified his target. The sooner he could take it out and not have to worry about it anymore, the better.
His body already pumped full of adrenaline, the Druid rapidly began his strategy to divide and conquer. Step one? Make the first part of that saying a lot more literal at this moment. With a stomp, a thick wall of earth was erected directly between the two Demidemons. The stronger of the two was now forced to the side and put out of sight, while his priority target was now locked into a one-versus-one.
Jaco already understood that this would just be a temporary obstacle. While the earthen barrier was pretty tough, he could only do so much while remaining aware of his current Mana consumption. It would likely only take several seconds for the other Minotaur to get over any initial surprise it was feeling, and then attack the wall. Something that would only likely take a swing or two for it to actually accomplish. But hopefully the time that it would have to waste would be more than enough.
He charged at his foe, throwing his stony flesh forward to go even faster and actively moving the Zone of Blight with him. The Minotaur then entered its range. Unfortunately, the zone didn’t do anything as drastic as immediately deteriorating its body by any noticeable degree. But it didn’t need to have that big of an effect to still be helpful.
If one were to hit a person in the face with a strong punch, they might be able to fracture something. But what about repeating the same strike against an already-rotten corpse? Well, in that case, one’s fist could go straight through the relatively soft body. Even if it was just a bit decomposed, getting the Minotaur’s own flesh and bone closer to that state was all Jaco desired.
With a roar, he barreled toward his opponent. The Minotaur raised its own weapon in turn, and the blade emitted a glint of light. Jaco continued to charge forward, mentally prepared to adapt to any effect the artifact was about to produce. Yet rather than something like a swing to blast him away or growing much larger in size, the only thing that happened was that a dark aura now enveloped the edge.
It wasn’t the flashiest of powers, but Jaco’s gut still warned him of danger through a low thrum. He had the instinctual feeling that if that axe pierced his flesh, the true threat would be clear. But that was only if it managed to do so.
He raised his front paws and stood on his hind legs as the Minotaur swung its artifact. Sparks flew as the bear’s claws met the weapon’s edge. For just a split second, there was invisible war. Like arm wrestlers, they and the power within them pushed against one another.
Then the balance just as quickly broke down, and a grunt escaped Jaco’s mouth as he was knocked backward. He stumbled back several steps before falling onto all four paws. The Minotaur also took a couple steps away, slightly widening the small gap currently between them.
The Druid shook his head, now feeling a bit dizzy. It would take him just a second to recover, however. In the clash just now, he realized, between the two of them, he’d been the one who was ultimately pushed back. Of course, Jaco already knew the reason for the result the moment he pulled away.
Without the boost of his Strength-based Hell Elixir, he simply lost out in the department of physical power. With it, he’d been on the losing side during his fight against the original Minotaur, but had been respectably not too far behind it. Compared to the much wider Level gap back then, this Demidemon being only just a single Level ahead made a massive difference.
He relied on his gut instincts to internalize the estimated difference in might. With just his raw Strength and current Abilities, this Minotaur only had a slight edge over him. If he could have consumed his Hell Elixir, Jaco would have been able to gain a much larger advantage in Strength and overpower it. But even without the time to drink one down, this was already something he could work with.
Because if the goal was to simply get ahead of it in pure Strength, then that could be easily done. The huge bear grinned, revealing the rows of long, sharp teeth that would make a regular grizzly’s look like baby teeth in comparison. In front of him, a golden screen appeared.
With a vicious snarl, Jaco charged toward his Minotaur once again. The Demidemon, having recovered from its own daze after their prior clash, then roared as it raised its weapon for round two. It did so readily, also understanding how it’d come ahead in their last exchange of blows. Once again, the edge of its weapon met his claws as they attacked one another. Hot steam rushed out of the monster’s nostrils as it swung with all its might. Its artifact glinted with light and again became empowered.
But this time, the winner was practically predetermined. Still snarling, the Druid made use of his newly received surge of Strength and smashed his claws into the weapon’s edge. From off to the side, there came the sound of the stone wall being smashed through. But Jaco didn’t even worry about that. His instincts told him to just keep moving forward.
From the unexpected Strength increase behind the impact, the Minotaur was thrown off-balance, stumbling backward. Keeping the momentum, Jaco used his elemental control to throw his stone body forward and into the Demidemon. There was an audible crack as the heavy hit undoubtedly broke several ribs and knocked the Minotaur to the ground.
Hearing the heavy thumps of hoofbeats, he hurried even more and rushed for the fallen monster. Everything considered unnecessary was cast out of his mind as Jaco focused on one task and one task only. Kill his enemy before it even gets the chance to stand back up.
Without any hesitation, the bear pounced on his prey. From the ground, the Minotaur made a desperate swing into his side. The artifact’s power was still in effect, but the awkward positioning made it difficult for the monster to summon the Strength necessary to pierce Jaco’s defenses.
As it harmlessly bounced off his body, his teeth had already sunk into the Demidemon’s neck. The flesh now in his mouth was hot, and only grew hotter as steam billowed out. After taking critical damage, he’d only have a short window before the Minotaur used its natural transformation.
Luckily, Jaco didn’t need that long. While the Minotaur had been stronger than him, Endurance was a different story. For a creature whose Level was equal to his Druid Class’s, it wasn’t nearly resilient enough to resist what was coming.
The bear roughly jerked his head. The Minotaur’s neck went with him to the right as his left paw kept the rest of its body pinned in place. His prey weakly bellowed as it desperately fought back. However, its struggle was in vain. Underneath him, Jaco felt its already-cracked ribs only break further as he pressed his weight down.
A short moment later, there was a sickening pop as Jaco suddenly felt all resistance against his pulling come to an end. With a muffled grunt, he spat out the foreign object in his mouth. A metallic taste filled his mouth as the fur around his maw became dyed with crimson. And directly in front of him, the head of the Minotaur rolled until it came to a stop.
From behind, Jaco then heard a thud as something heavy hit the ground. He turned to see that the other Minotaur was now down on a single knee as blood flowed from behind one kneecap. To its side, Jaco briefly met Evelyn’s gaze as she continued to move, as golden blur, around the second Demidemon.
The Minotaur began to swing its axe in an attempt to catch the one dashing around it. Before it could fully start its swing, however, a bolt of condensed Mana slammed into the back of its shoulder. The arcane strike drained its counterattack of momentum before it could even begin, leaving an opening for Evelyn to get another hit in at its armpit.
Even with her aiming for weak points, her cuts so far were relatively shallow. Sam’s Mana bolt had only done enough damage to draw a thin line of blood from its shoulder. Jaco knew that while the other Minotaur had been facing him, they’d been able to sneak-attack this one from behind and catch it off guard. For now they kept its attention and left it disoriented. However, the fact that they could only damage it so much would have eventually given it a chance to gain its bearings and recover.
But that was only true if they’d been fighting it alone. While they still had the Minotaur distracted, he then charged in and slammed into its kneeling form. If it hadn’t been for them, it would have gotten to Jaco just before he finished the first one off. It would have likely been able to transform, and make it a two-versus-one while in that temporary state.
Jaco didn’t let their help go to waste as he made full use of the opportunity given and barreled into the second Minotaur. The moment he slammed it into the earth, its grip around its weapon went loose. Still close by, Evelyn immediately came by and kicked the axe away before the Demidemon could take it back.
Now that it was weaponless, the following result was a forgone conclusion. Before the Minotaur had the chance to try and push him off with just its own Strength, the bear’s teeth had already found its neck. Then just a few seconds later, its head was the second to be torn off.
The kill notifications were already there at the corner of his vision. But Jaco didn’t pay them any mind as his head snapped around. It was too soon to do any celebrating or relax just yet. One issue was, Levi was still somewhere close by. At no point in the recent fighting had Jaco actually seen the leader of the Chosen Few. Yet the other man was still near, he just knew it.
Now, just where could Levi be? Jaco asked himself.