“Dad?” Exclaimed Albella surprised to see Helvella appear in the cavern.
“Fush!” Ungar took advantage of that carelessness to attack her.
“Watch out!” Arum shouted, pushing Albella and taking her position.
“Splat!”
Ungar's strike was so fast that no one present reacted in time, and so powerful that nothing was left of Arum's body.
“Immobilize him!” Helvella ordered as fast as he could.
Helvella's men immediately began casting different types of abilities and spells. Some buried their roots to launch them from the ground against the demon; while others used ice or earth magic to enclose it.
“He had more energy than I expected,” Ungar said surprised, looking at the hand that ended Arum's life.
Frigglene, Albella, Unullk, and Gush, taking advantage of the fact that Ungar was lost in thought, got as far away from him as they could. At the same time, the soldiers' attacks that Helvella had brought took effect.
Ungar was wrapped in roots and trapped in a prison of ice and rock.
“We have to escape. That demon is too powerful,” warned Helvella using its perception in the strange being.
“Boom!” The objects restricting Ungar's movements exploded.
“I took the trouble to wait for you to meet and do you think I'm going to let you escape?” Ungar turned to look at Helvella taking his shape.
“Finally, someone worthy of my awakening!” Ungar celebrated when he saw that Helvella had a power different from the others.
“Although your energy is as small as that of all these insects, the fire you control is special. Give me a drop of your blood and I'll give you what you desire.”
Helvella smiled.
“What if I desire you to commit suicide?”
“Impertinent!” The demon screamed enraged, throwing himself against Helvella.
Shields of rock and ice began to appear on his way trying to decrease its power and speed.
“Boom!” A huge crater appeared where Helvella was.
The silence was upon the cavern.
A few meters further on, where Albella was, a flare of black fire materialized Helvella.
“I won't be able to dodge his attacks for long. you have to find a way to escape.”
“Don't worry, father. If we resist enough time we can beat him.”
Listening to the father-daughter conversation Ungar frowned. And turning his gaze towards the tower he launched himself against it.
“Shit, don't let him attack the tower!” Albella shouted realizing that her words had given away their plan.
Using her most powerful attack Albella threw six huge petals of fire at the demon, of which 5 failed. But the last one hitting the demon was able to change the course of Ungar's jump by throwing him against a huge pillar of crystal.
“Do as she said,” Helvella said setting his body on black flames.
They all started using their strongest attacks which, while not seriously injuring Ungar, managed to prevent him from successfully attacking the tower.
Inside the building, Darthañan found his face full of sweat. Of the sixty-seven runes, he was missing five. And although he would soon finish extracting the runes, the explosions outside worried him.
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Wiping his forehead, he continued with the arduous task. He had already consumed three of the five energizing potions he had brought. The expensive blue liquid filled his body with synthetic energy. And while the side effects were troublesome this was not the time to think about it.
Although he could use the remaining two potions to extract the runes with greater speed. He needed that energy to be able to activate the runes and seal the crystal demon.
“Damn pests!” roared furiously Ungar. At that time, it had the appearance of an ubax.
“Always meddling in what does not concern you. Everything you seek to protect will disappear with time. All of you are so annoying that it makes me desperate,” he shouted scratching his face.
Blue blood began to emanate from his wounds. So far, of the dozens of attacks, only his scratches had damaged his tough violet crystal skin.
In the two minutes since the fight began more than twenty of Helvella men had perished. The cavern was full of craters and what was once intricate terrain was now flattened.
“Why do you think torturing me in solitude is fair?” Ungar lamented starting to lose control over his breathing.
The fact that the annoying magician was not among the mortals meant that he had found some way to use the runes to reseal him. He had to kill him. He was not willing to endure that torture again.
“It is only okay when you end a life, but when those of my class do it we are evil.”
From the drops of blood that fell on the ground, small crystal imps began to form. As soon as the little creatures gained consciousness they began to launch powerful magical attacks filling the cavern with chaos.
Ungar took advantage of that moment to launch himself against the tower again. But someone hit him and diverted his trajectory. Frigglene was the only one who had completely ignored the imps. She was fully focused on preventing Ungar from interrupting Darthañan.
The battle soon turned into a duel of Ungar against Frigglene, Albella, and Helvella. While everyone else took care of the imps that continued to appear from every drop of blood that fell from the crystal demon's face.
“You who cannot see beyond two hundred years are nothing but dust.”
Helvella would have answered him somewhat ironically, but he was almost at his limit. Every time he got distracted one of his men died. So halfway through the battle, he had fully focused on obstructing Ungar's path.
The crystal demon attacked again, appearing among the three plagues, which dodged it again. Frigglene counterattacking with her right hand was splattered by a drop of Ungar's blood. The blue liquid began to spread through her nails and when the vampire attacked a strong wail made the ears of those present bleed, eliminating several imps in the process.
“Aaaaarg!”
Frigglene's attack had ripped the demon's face apart. However, the vampire had to remove the transformation from her hands. The demon blood had tried to penetrate her body.
Taking advantage of the fact that his scream had disabled all the nuisances, Ungar decided to kill those who had been hindering him all this time. And with his face recovering at a great speed he attacked Helvella, he most powerful of the three.
Just as his fist was going to hit Helvella's side, his body froze in space. The single shock wave from his attack sent Helvella flying through the air, breaking several bones and damaging a large number of his organs.
“No, no, no, no, no ...”
Ungar's body began to levitate. The imps born from his blood began to explode. Darthañan had leaned out of the nearest window he found and without paying attention to the pain in his ears, activated the runes.
The sixty-seven pieces of rock began to fly toward the demon. Forming a kind of coffin around him.
At these times, Ungar's body did not produce any sound no matter how hard he tried to scream or resist.
Darthañan moved his hands as if activating a technomagical machine and the sixty-seven runes began to glow in such a way that they blinded everyone for a moment.
When the lighting disappeared, Darthañan's body fell unconscious from the window. Frigglene reacted as fast as she could by catching him in midair and slamming into the tower.
An electric coffin floated in full view. The mighty Ungar was motionless within it. His pupils moved, pleading to be taken out of there, but no one paid him any attention. The stress to which they were subjected during the battle soon showed its repercussions. Several of Helvella's men fell unconscious as they let their bodies relax. But unlike a few minutes ago the atmosphere inside the cavern was not one of terror but of happiness.
They had survived a battle against a being of the third magnitude. This was a historical fact.
Meanwhile, on the upper levels of the cave system, one of the men Veigar had selected found the bodies of the five little ones, some unconscious and others sleeping.
“Sir, I found the children," he said through his communicator, but the white barrier prevented the transmission from going out.
Determining that the condition of the little ones was not simple, he took Shimu and Mushi in his arms and ran away. From what he saw, Shimu needed urgent medical assistance. When he left the cavern he alerted the others of the location where he had found the children generating great relief among everyone.
Soon, the little ones were rescued and taken to the camp. Destroyer, the animal that had accompanied them stopped breathing as they carried him to the camp the hazasayi poison had overcome him.
Seeing what had happened to the red panda and noticing Shimu's injury the rescuers soon entered a race against the clock to save Helvella's son from the poison.