POV Vespinax

I was growing weary of this research path. Perhaps I should set it aside and revisit some other research I haven't touched in a while. How long have I been trapped here? My usual method of telling time doesn't work. My connection to the outside world is severed; all I have left is my research. Even this has become challenging due to the constraints placed on me. I can only utilize my current abilities for researching new spells.

At that moment, I was informed that a group of delvers was nearby. At least there would be some excitement, and hopefully, I could get some snacks. If other demons consume them before I do, I'll find a way out of this room and consume them, hoping to savor the aftertaste of those delicious adventurers. But that's impossible; I've tried escaping this room for so long. There are openings large enough for me to walk out with my eight legs, but I can't. My captor won't allow it.

It doesn't matter. I retrieved my two most cherished staffs. They've been with me through numerous battles. Their utility is unmatched, but I'm only permitted to use spells up to a certain strength level, lest I become too powerful. My captor doesn't realize the true value of utility. I stood in the center of the room, waiting and hoping the adventurers were strong enough to reach me. My mouth watered in anticipation.

Hours seemed to have passed, but I couldn't be sure how many. I remained vigilant, and my patience paid off. An unexpected attack came, but I quickly conjured a protective bubble around myself. It shielded me from a dangerous arrow and a chilling spell. The hastily erected bubble was already showing cracks, but I didn't need it anymore. Their attack from outside meant my restrictions were lifted, and I could see a bit better beyond the room.

It was a party of five, and they seemed remarkably unbothered by all the fighting they must have undertaken. This might be more dangerous than I initially thought. Looking at my staffs, I hoped that I wouldn’t lose them. What was I even thinking? Being here for so long has started to change my mindset. Curse this enslaver of mine! I am the one who's supposed to enslave or eat any whom I choose. I tapped into that bloodlust of mine, welcoming it like an old friend.

"Come closer. I wish to properly see the snacks that have presented themselves to me," I said, struggling to contain my excitement. But my vision was still a bit hazy as they weren’t inside my room yet. They entered cautiously, and I refrained from launching any surprise attacks. I wanted to observe them in all their glorious deliciousness. When they came in, it was hard to contain myself. "What wonderful tastiness has come to me today," I could hear the excitement in my own voice.

Four of them looked truly delicious, and I bit my lip just from looking at those four. But then there was the bigger one. Oh, how dangerous he seemed! But he was a proper meal, something I hadn’t had in so, so long. I was snapped out of my daydreaming when they began their assault. "Ruining my fun like that, bad snacks!"

I barely managed to get my shield back up in time. This shield was needed to prevent them from truly hurting me as their attacks were strong. With my other staff, I began to cast a chain lightning spell, targeting the mage first, hoping it would then spread to the rest. But I was interrupted.

"Hey, you clumsy-looking, hairless, fat spider. Come and fight me." said the proper meal. Without my control, I couldn’t focus on anything else but him. It was his stupidly effective taunt ability. I knew I couldn’t break through it easily. At that moment, my lower half notified me that it was free.

At least that was something. I could send some artillery spells towards the rest of them, but it would take time to charge them. The mage with them was quite good, but still, it was better than nothing. Now, it was time to focus fully on this proper meal and ensure I didn’t become its meal.

Stolen story; please report.

He charged at me, so I released my lightning chain spell. He dodged most of it, and his defense abilities glowed from the amount of energy he used to defend himself completely from my attack. I started to use more physical spells, like rock creation, hurling large rocks at him. However, he easily cut through them and kept advancing.

At this point, I noticed the weapon he was holding. It was incredibly dangerous to me and definitely had an infusion of dragon essence. It was one of the things we were truly susceptible to. Only fire that can actually burn us is dragon fire.

I used one of my staff to constantly attack him, trying to keep him at bay, while the more defensive staff constantly formed barriers to defend against his attacks and those of the others. Now, I wasn’t thinking about how delicious they were because I needed to concentrate or they would overwhelm me.

Whenever I could attack the others with my lower half, I gained a bit more breathing room, which allowed me to summon stronger spells. But even area effects that should have completely destroyed his energy defenses only dealt a moderate amount of damage.

I was also getting hit by the other attacks, as my first priority was to defend against that sword. I had hoped that their other sword fighter would come closer and help the big one out, but he just stayed with the mages.

I didn’t like that; he would be a completely fresh fighter for later in the battle. So, when I got my next opportunity to breathe a little, I summoned four fiends, transfer their control to my lower half who then attack them. What I didn’t expect was for all four of them to concentrate on the new enemies.

It did give me a little bit of time to focus on my most dangerous opponent, but why didn't he even once look at his party members in concern was a bit weird. This reminded me of one of my oversights. I was just looking with my regular eyes.

I quickly cast one of my proudest spells, which allowed me to see so much more than was normal. For a moment, I was blinded by the stupidly strong soul energy coming from right beside me. Because of that, he was able to inflict a decent wound on me, but I just healed myself, fixing everything they had done to me up until this point.

Then I noticed how their minds were connected, and I was reminded of another party that came here a while ago that needed to communicate by speaking to each other. A simple spell to make the room silent, and I was quite quickly able to dispatch all of them.

Unfortunately, they didn't taste as good as I was hoping. I also saw how much strength the big guy was giving to the rest, and I just had to wonder how much energy this person had to use. I now classified this fight as possibly deadly.

The fighting intensified as soon as my summons were killed. I had barely any time to think, as I needed to constantly defend against multiple attacks that were harrying me. Within seconds, their communication lines brightened, and they began to shift positions. They were planning something significant. As soon as the formidable opponent backed off, I began channeling mana into both of my staffs, hoping to counteract whatever they had in store.

The attacking mage had managed to conceal the weaving of her spell for long enough so they could to something big. I couldn’t identify it precisely, but it felt akin to an icy ray. However, that was easily defended against.

To my surprise, the rest of them pulled out some sort of scroll and began casting as well. Each spell felt chillingly cold, and each was uniquely dangerous. It seemed they were using up their entire supply of cold-type spell scrolls on me. This battle was proving more challenging than I had anticipated.

Two of those spell scrolls were physical attacks. To counter them, I prepared an offensive spell. My defensive staff would have to handle the mage's attack, and I hoped my automatic shield would suffice against the other two.

Moments later, the room was engulfed in a blinding white light from the colliding spells, and I felt the sting of the cold. When the room returned to its normal state, I was moderately wounded. Their combined attack had done damage, but with a quick healing spell, I was back to full health.

But this was incredibly exhausting, and I could see that they were all exhausted as well. Casting spell scrolls when you don't have mana is quite taxing. So, the only one truly still up for fighting was their healer, whom I wouldn’t have to worry about. I could see the big one starting to prepare to attack again, but even he looked wobbly on his feet.

"A truly great showing, but before we continue this, I would like to introduce myself to worthy foes. My name is Vespinax, and I am a glorious demon born in the prime Hell. While you will all still be my snacks, I would like to hear your names as well."

It took a little bit, but one by one, they all said their names. All were glorious except for the one I was most excited about. ‘Rich Dirt’ didn't sound like the name of a great warrior. "I would have expected someone as old and experienced as you, Rich Dirt, to have a more grandiose name," I remarked.

He answered me almost immediately, which was different from my usual experiences; normally, adventurers didn't want to speak with me at all. "Well, that’s because I’m a farmer, and I think that name suits me better," he replied.

It was hard to contain my laughter. "You, a farmer? Well, I suppose all of us need our hobbies. But I guess it’s time we continue this battle." As soon as I finished saying that, everyone moved again, and the battle was restarted.