It was difficult for Frӧst to imagine it.
From his memories Berith has always been like a little mascot that followed Layla around. What had changed from back then? Was Layla’s death enough of a motivator to make it a boss?
It felt like he was missing a key piece of information. There was something that he didn’t know of that had distorted the original storyline. But since things had become this way, he had to roll with it.
Frӧst readied his sword. He never saw the demon fight, but that scale ability of his seemed to be a mechanic. The only problem was to know how to stop it.
The demon looked at him with a relaxed smile. It seemed like his presence didn’t matter to it. Frӧst gritted his teeth in frustration. His character wasn’t as shabbily built as it was in the past. Right now he had a fighting chance.
Frӧst sprinted towards the boss, his sword emitting a weak blue glow. He went for the neck, but a metallic collision stopped his attack. In Berith’s hands was a trasparent thin sword. He could vaguely see its shape thanks to his swords glow clashing with it.
They exchanged a few blows, ending with Frӧst retreating a few steps. He panted while the demon looked as relaxed as ever.
Frӧst frowned. Taking a boss by himself was still a bit much. Before he could go for another round two more people rushed to the scene.
It was the village chief and a woman he recognized as the baker. Seeing the devastation, their pupils shrinked “Ella, don’t rush in recklessly”
Without looking away from the demon the woman responded in a forced voice “Do you think I’m stupid? I didn’t do all of those shitty missions just to die like an idiot”
Berith just looked at them, his thoughts a mystery. Feeling the pressure, Ella brandished her knives and the village chief took out a cross shaped pendant made of electrum.
At the sight of the pentant the demon glared at it, then he let out a low laugh. Hehehe, so it’s like this. I never thought you fuckers would be so bold as to stretch you claws all the way over here. His smile disappeared and only anger remained. Are you so greedy for a power that you can never attain?
The duo had no idea what he was talking about, but it was undeniable that now all of its attention was directed to them. And it wasn’t a good thing.
Ella gritted he teeth “Curse that day we joined the Children of Silence”
The village chief scoffed at her “You think we had any choice?” they were born in it. It was a matter of fact that they would become a part of it.
You think yourselves as the chosen ones, but you’re just a bunch of clowns. So, do your best to dance upon this stage. The golden scale appeared once again behind him. They didn’t tip, but that could change at a moment’s notice.
All over the street various golden will o’ wisps appeared one after another. As if they had intellect they moved in random directions, changing again when they went far enough. It was as if the flames were dancing around in a ballroom.
The players and NPCs looked around warily. Then, after a couple of minutes half of the will o’ wisps stopped in their tracks, changed color to a deep red and increased in size.
On instinct, Brett the village chief, infused his magic power in the necklance, creating a barrier of 10 meters all around him. In the next instant, the red flames exploded, the players all holding their breaths in shock. They had been lucky enough to be all inside the barrier. If not they would’ve kissed their sweet rewards goodbye.
Brett looked sadly upon the crumbling necklace. It wasn’t a one use item, and yet it was already all used up.
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The remaining flames started dancing again and the scale behind the demon tilted slightly to the left. The players not knowing what to do started attacking the will o’ wisps in attempt to secure a safe spot.
And yet all of their efforts ended in vain. The flames changed to a red color and grew bigger in size.
The village chief chanted a few incantations while holding a few magic stones in hand. The flames grew even further and before they reached their max size, a translucent barrier of smaller scale appeared all around them.
In the next moment the flames exploded and the barrier shattered. Those that had low Hp all died in the aftermath.
When the smoke and flames cleared up, only 5 people remained all battered to the ground. Two players had been killed.
Ha! You can’t even entertain me. The scale tipped all the way to the left. It’s time you exited the stage.
Dark red magic gathered in front of him, getting denser and denser. Those players still in a shape to move around rushed to the nearest rubble cover, while the others just looked on in despair.
The village chief clenched his fists. It seemed like it was the end for the two of them. He closed his eyes and smiled bitterly, at least Caius would be able to run off like he wanted all along.
“I won’t let you!” Caius rushed in front of them, holding the shield tightly in front of him. Seeing a new fly getting in the way, Berith furrowed his brows. However, in the end, that didn’t change things. So, he put more strenght into his blow.
The librarian gritted his teeth. The force of the demon was enough to make him slide backwards a few centimeters despite holding fast to the ground. Sweat dripped down and his arms trembled, but he refused to let go. No matter what… no matter what!
He couldn’t abandon them. Not after everything they had already done.
Cracks appeared on the shield, one after another. Caius knew that it wouldn’t last much longer. And yet he didn’t let go.
I- Before he could even think, the upper left part of the shield broke off and hit him in the face. He faltered a few moments before regaining his stance through sheer will. However not even a few seconds later the shield broke down, leaving him only with the handle and a palm-size fragment.
Fortunately for him, the shield had fulfilled its duty and held on for the whole duration of the magic cannon.
Aside from the small area behind Caius, the rest of the zone hit by the magic cannon was devastated. One of the players who was unfortunate enough to not find any cover had long received the resurrection timer countdown.
Brett looked in shock at the librarian. When he refused his proposal he had thought that he had run off alone. He didn’t think that he would come back for him, for the both of them.
The demon looked coldly upon the devastation he had brought. He had taken the first opportunity that had presented itself. Posession was simply a mean to an end, how else was he supposed to go back home? It’s not like those that had sealed him were kind enough to escort him back.
A demon of his caliber wouldn’t deign someone as fleeble as this child as his host. That was just asking for death. Now, he had little time left. He couldn’t waste it all on those weaklings blocking his way.
ᴥᴥᴥ ≈ ° ≈ ᴥᴥᴥ
Granny Tacha rushed outside the store, and the scene outside was comparable to a war zone. Debrits all over the place, some scorched ground here and there, with injured everywhere.
She blinked her eyes a few times, thinking that she had been allucinating. She wasn’t in the store for long, only a couple of minutes at most.
And yet, why did it seem like she had skipped a good few days worth of bitter struggle against the harsh realities of war?
She could see a bunch of people on the ground, some whom she recognized. Frӧst was doing his best to get on his feet, while the librarian was standing in front of the village chief and a woman she hadn’t met yet.
The librarian looked heavily injuried and his glasses were cracked, but he was doing his best to hold on, broken shield in hand.
Those people didn’t even notice her, so focused they were on the enemy that had just dealt a devastating blow on them.
Hearing the noise coming from behind him, the young Kirio, or rather Berith, turned towards her. For a moment he looked surprised, but he soon showed an insincere smile. Granny, I didn’t expect you to be so energetic already.
He waved a finger and three fist-sized fireballs materialized over it. With a flick in her direction the fireballs rushed towards her.
Seeing no cover nearby, Tacha’s first instinct was to go back and hide behind the door. She was however too slow and one of the fireballs entered inside the store, burning the wooden floor. The fire splashed to her pants and she was quick to put it out.
Imediately the granny opened up her status to check upon her Hp, exhaling a sigh of relief upon seeing that it only shoved off 1 Hp. However something else grabbed her attention. All the way down, where the list of active skills was located, she could see that the icon for the Charting Compass was lit up “Huh? Why can I use it so soon…?”
The skill was ready to be activated, and yet she was sure that 30 minutes didn’t pass yet. There was no way.