A month pulls by in which Juniper faced and defeated many demons of increasing higher rank.
Jumping to the right, the demonic moth dodges the giant Warhammer that has been repeatedly dunked into lava and then left to cool down from the looks of it.
Wielding the enormous thing that easily dwarfed Juniper in size is an even bigger, bipedal goat demon with reddish brown fur covering his animal like legs and head.
*ROOOOAAAR!* It bellowed so loud that the air visibly shook from the sound.
"SHUT IT GOAT FUCKER! I AINT DEAF!" Juniper shouts back in annoyance as her ears ring from the roar.
'At least not yet, but I'm getting there if this fight drags on for much longer.' Grinding her teeth while kicking off the ground to close the distance between herself and the giant goat demon, she catches the movement of its free right arm from the corner of her eyes.
Flapping her wings just in time to evade his fist crashing into the ground, Juniper drops and unleashes her mantis blades, ripping into the arm beneath her.
Pulling back his fist with a grunt, he forces Juniper to abandon her frenzied slashing and jump off the limb.
While still in the air, the goat demon swings the monstrosity that is his Warhammer at her.
Instead of doing the sensible thing and use her wings to get out of the way, Juniper adjusts her position and meets the thing feet first.
Quickly letting her legs fold to disperse most of the impact force, she grabs hold of the irregular surface of the hammer and takes a ride over to the goat demon's right shoulder.
Jumping off her ride, the moth attacks with her blades, digging them deep into her foe's shoulder and back where they lodge themselves in its flesh.
Roaring in pain, the demon tries to reach for Juniper with his free hand but quickly changed target when the two additional limbs on juniper's back release their own mantis blades that aim for the giants unprotected head.
She manages to brutalize a side of its face, including gouging out one of its goat-like eyes, before his right hand stopped her from inflicting any more substantial damage.
"COME ON! WHATS THE ISSUE?! NOT SO TOUGH ANYMORE OR WHAT!! HAHAHA!" Gloating at her successful manoeuvre, Juniper rips out one of her main blades and rams it into the palm protecting the goat demon's head.
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A mistake as she immediately realized.
Clenching his palm, the muscles inside tense up and lock Juniper's blade in place right before he pulls it away and the moth along with it.
'Heh, pride comes before the fall.' She ponders before being smashed into the ground which explodes into a cloud of dust from the force of impact.
Pain explodes all across the moth's body, but despite the large force used to smash her onto the ground, the damage caused is rather mild thanks to the massive amount of vitality filling her body after injecting the perfect T-Virus and subdermal armour.
It can be said that the injection and armour gave the supposed moth girl a few perks more fit for a cockroach then a moth.
Pushing the pain aside, Juniper flips off the ground, one blade still locked into the back of the goat demon's hand, and brutally jams her other one into his wrist joint.
With a scream of agony, the goat demon jerks back his arm and involuntary opens his palm, allowing the moth to pull out both her blades and take some distance with the help of her wings.
"Fuck this hurts. My whole body is in pain from that landing." Rolling her shoulder and flinching at the pain that shoots through her, the moth furrows her brows.
"I'm gonna vandalize your corpse after ripping out that soul of yours." Flapping her wings, she charges back in.
The dance between the giant goat demon and the comparable small moth girl went on for another fifteen minutes until it concluded with the sound akin to a boulder crashing to the ground.
Lying in a quickly growing puddle of his own blood, the goat demon laid defeated.
His body ripped open by countless slashes and multiple deep punctures that dot his immense form.
"Ugh, that was one hell of a shit show." Juniper mutters before slumping against the horned head of her fallen foe.
Looking at the small ball of light in her chitin covered hand, she sighs and throws the thing into her system.
"Shame that the reward for killing such opponents is quite frankly an absolute waste. I'd be better off just slaughtering weaker prey than go for beasts like this one…" Her eyes darken at this thought.
"Especially this kind, fuck tanky opponents. They soak up damage like there's no tomorrow and when they finally fall, all you get is about the same you can get by killing two fodder level enemies." Groaning tiredly, Juniper uses the skull of the goat demon to get back on her feet before giving it a kick for good measures and storing the corpse in her inventory.
Spreading her wings, she takes off into the air and beelines for a large cliff side next to one of the larger lava rivers along which she had been traveling for a few days now.
Scanning the rockface for a while, she finds a small cave only three meters deep and half that high.
Landing on the edge, Juniper enters the cave and lies down with her feet dangling over the edge, limbs sprawled out.
'I think it is time to upgrade again. I've gathered many souls in this month or so. Should be enough to get something juicy.' Opening the system and taking a look at her accumulated bounty, the moth feels her mood lift a bit.
[Number of Souls in Possession: 3'284]
"*whistle*, what a beautiful sight. Makes me almost forget about my aching bod- Ow! ...ugh … almost it is…" Grumbling again, Juniper pulls out the design for the Horadric cube that she had tucked aside previously.
'With so many souls in storage, it is time to get this one out of the way, especially as it will unlock more ways to strengthen myself.' Barely sparring the cost-indicator a glance, she presses save and converts 400 souls into an ornamented box.
Looking at the thing that appeared out of thin air in her hands, Juniper's lips stretch into an evil smile.