Hitting the floor reminds me that I have broken ribs, it takes me a couple of seconds before I can take a breath. I look up to see the demon staggering, where he hit the wall is dented and cracked. Despite the extra pain I roll away from the demon a few times before I struggle to my feet.

As I am standing a blue fireball flies past me and slams into the demon. The demon roars in pain and staggers into the wall again, it is still bleeding where I have managed to cut it so we are wearing it down for sure. Now the question is who will run out of stamina first, us or the demon.

The demon turns and faces us as Ruby steps up next to me, I smile at her and she smiles back, then we both turn to face the demon. I really wish I could hit it with a couple of lightning bolts right about now. Guess we do it the hard way, I charge straight at the demon, as it moves to attack me I feint right then dodge left. As I move I turn my dodge into a dive to get under the claws swinging at me, it saw through my feint.

As I thought, this thing is much more experienced in combat than I am. I just barely manage to dodge the attack, but it takes two hits from Ruby who attacked from the other side while it was focused on me. As it turns to go after Ruby I manage to get a hit in on its side before having to dodge away, Ruby and I manage a few more hits by playing tag with it from either side.

Then it gets tired of the game and tries to fry us both with its hellfire breath again. I dive behind what is left of the ice to avoid the flames, the heat is intense, the ice melts quickly but it lasts long enough to protect me from the flames. Once the flames fade away I jump back to my feet, only to see an arrow of fire heading my way. I dive to the side to dodge it but it turns and follows me.

You have suffered a magic fire attack! Damage 104 HP!

HP: 779/1255

Fire Resist +1

"Ow! It can use magic too? Not fair!"

Ruby yells "Stop complaining and figure out how to kill this thing!"

"What do you think I've been trying to do?"

Ruby yells "Try harder!"

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'Try harder, she says, that's helpful.'

I need to figure out a way to get a couple of solid hits on it. Maybe if I can cut it deep enough it will bleed out, or if I can cut an arm or leg off and limit its combat ability. I need to do something to swing the odds in our favor or I am afraid we won't win this fight.

The only way I can see to get a good hit in is to take a hit in return, I'm not fast enough to hit the demon and get away unscathed. I decide to go for an arm, if I can take one of its arms without losing mine that should put the odds in our favor.

So I let Ruby distract him and wait for the right timing, I charge at the demon, it turns its attention to me, but I keep going straight at it. It feints with its right and hits me with the claws of it's left hand, instead of dodging I take the hit straight on.

You have suffered a claw attack! Damage 338 HP!

HP: 441/1255

As its claws are raking across my chest I bring Blitz down on the elbow of the demon's left arm. The demon roars as I go flying backwards and the lower half of it's left arm flies the other way as its blood sprays out.

It proves itself smarter than I expected as it cauterizes the stump to stop the blood loss. It then turns and looks at me, and I can see nothing but pure hatred in its eyes. It is definitely coming after me and I can maybe take one more hit.

"I hope you have a plan! Because I just really pissed it off!"

Ruby doesn't respond, and the demon starts charging at me, a quick look around shows I don't really have anywhere to run. If I can get past it I can either climb the pile of rocks or try diving into the river. First I have to get past it, so I set myself and wait for it to reach me. As it is charging at me I see Ruby dart in from the side and spin, as she spins she hits its back left leg several times as it is passing by her.

The demon stumbles and starts falling towards me, I am moving to jump out of the way when suddenly a large blue kite shield is floating in the air between me and the demon. The demon hits the shield with a thunderous crash, but the shield just barely holds and the demon bounces back and falls to its side.

"Nice work, Ruby!"

Ruby yells "Stop congratulating me and kill it!"

I am moving to do just that even as she says it. I dart in and swing Blitz at the demon's neck with all my might, but it manages to bring what is left of its left arm up and block the killing strike. Then I feel one of its wolf legs connect with my stomach and I go flying.

You have suffered a kick attack! Damage 103 HP!

HP: 338/1255

My back slams into the cave wall shortly followed by my head, my helm keeps me from being knocked out but I am seeing stars for a few seconds. I shake my head a few times to clear it and when I look up the demon is up and charging at Ruby, I drag myself to my feet despite the aches and pains and set off after the demon.

As I am running after it I see Ruby make the same mistake I did, she feints one way then dodges the other. I watch helplessly as the demon's fist catches Ruby in the head, and with an explosion of blue sparks Ruby disappears.

"NO!!! RUBY!!!!!"