“Is this... a ritual circle?” Valerie muttered in disbelief as the ground shook with each oversized crimson glyph appearing.
“Are these mad fuckers using the battlefield to summon the archdemon?” Regis asked with the sudden realization striking him.
He knew that something was wrong from the get-go but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. Now however it all made sense. Sort of. The Exiled Court wasn’t going to use the people in the capital as sacrifices to summon the archdemon. They were sacrificing their own forces and their enemies to achieve their goals. A notion that was far too cruel and practical to be used by anyone besides the most demented.
“We have to get out of here right now!” Quentin yelled as he grabbed Valerie, pulling her back so that she wouldn’t get touched by the crimson flames that seemed to be relentlessly seeking out further sacrifices.
Both the nobility that hid beneath the spider golem’s barrier, as well as any other sane people who were still alive, tried their best to run for their lives. The bloody flames seemed to be alive at that moment, slithering around like demonic snakes, ensnaring people left and right. One such tendril of flame lashed out toward the barrier, turning into smoke as it met its match.
“Protect the princess!” Sir Godfrey yelled as the clerics and paladins tried to use holy magic to stem the tide of the demonic flames in vain.
Regis ordered the spider to retreat, using its barrier to keep the hellish flames away from his people and all of those who managed to seek shelter beneath it. The flames stopped spreading after a couple more seconds as the screams died down. Those who managed to get far enough from it now looked at it with uttered dread.
The once roiling fire that seemed to have consumed the battlefield began to retreat at a rapid pace, solidifying at the very centre of the humongous summoning circle, forming into an eight-meter or so high pillar that was thick enough that you would need five men to surround it with their arms held to the side.
When all of the fire pulled back, the symbols on the charred ground died out one by one until only the ones surrounding the flame pillar remained. While this was happening, Sir Godfrey helped Princess Helena onto a horse, the only one around really and slapped the beast’s rear to make it run. The man then turned around with blade in hand, staring at the burning pillar of hellfire.
A wave of dread filled the hearts of those standing at the edge of the now-empty battlefield as a shape appeared in the flames. It was over five meters tall with a vaguely humanoid figure. As it stepped out of the flames, its true form was revealed. The closest thing Regis could compare it to was Valerie or her brother.
The archdemon looked like your typical infernal, but its size was upscaled to that of a war golem’s. Its body was muscular with coarse red skin that was covered with glowing tattoos and black metal armour. A pair of prominent horns grew from the sides of his forehead, their tip rising toward the sky while glowing red hot as if still on fire.
The archdemon held a sword in its left hand that looked similar to a rapier, although its size was about the same as Regis’ height, its black metal blade glowing red-hot at the top part near the tip. As the creature emerged from the fire it looked disoriented for a moment, but it was soon greeted by members of the Exiled Court who walked closer in orderly lines, lowering themselves to a half-kneeling posture as if they were greeting their king.
The demon looked at them with a satisfied smirk, saying something while giving a slight wave with his right hand. The dark elves stood back up, their leaders stepping forward to speak. Although they were too far for Regis to hear what they were talking about, he knew that it couldn’t be anything good. He wanted to turn around and run. They all wanted to, but for the first time in a long while, they were utterly frozen with fear.
He tried to urge his body to move, but it was as if he was held in place by invisible chains that creaked under his willpower. The archdemon listened to whatever the court was saying for a moment before turning his attention to the survivors and the spider golem. A cruel smirk appeared on his face as he waved the members of the court into silence. It then began to walk toward Regis and his group, its steps becoming faster by the moment.
It broke into a jog, leaving scorched footprints on the ground. Barely five seconds later the oversized demon was in front of them, raising its blade to stab toward Sir Godfrey’s body. The knight commander broke free from whatever held him in place at the last moment, managing to step behind the barrier created by the domain heart.
The giant rapier struck the barrier, emitting a loud screeching sound as it left a glowing scar on the dome. At the same time, some of the force behind the attack bounced back at the archdemon, making it hiss as the arcane backlash seared its fingertips. Regis snapped out of his mental bind when the demon’s aura faltered, prompting him to focus on the threat in front of him.
“Fire!” He commanded and the divine BFG on the spider’s head whirred to life, raining ‘lances of light’ on the archdemon at point-blank range.
An unearthly scream broke free from the demon as it got pushed back by the barrage of ‘divine’ light infused shots, its armour smoking from the hits it tried and failed to fully tank. Sadly, the hollow arcana batteries got almost completely drained during the battle, so the spider could only fire about fifty shots before running out of power for good. The enraged and hurt archdemon sprung towards them with renewed hatred, stabbing at the barrier again and again, slowly breaking it down.
“It won’t hold for long!” Quentin said as the dark elf stepped forward with his staff raised toward the demon.
Regis cast his empowered version of the ‘runic ray of light’ and a thick beam of light magic hit the archdemon straight in the face. It tried to shield its eyes while letting out an angered roar. As the demon covered its eyes, Sir Godfrey ran forward, swinging his sword at its right leg, the enchanted blade skidding off the dark metal armour. He did manage to draw some blood however as the blade made a shallow cut on the demon’s coarse skin after sliding between two metal plates, but it served more as a source of annoyance. Dozens of spells were thrown at the archdemon with the guild masters of several spellcasters’ guilds rejoining the fight once again.
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“This bastard is tanking everything we’re throwing at him!” Valerie said as Quentin tried and failed to push the archdemon’s leg out from beneath it after charging at it with a ‘shield rush’ skill.
“Keep attacking it,” old Felix yelled to encourage his fellow mages as well as the remaining clerics. “This is the best chance we have. Crossing over to our world had temporarily weakened the archdemon, but that won’t last long!”
As if to prove the grandmaster’s point, the demon let out a pained roar as it kicked away Quentin, sending the paladin flying toward the remaining soldiers.
“Quentin!” The infernal woman screamed as she ran over when the paladin’s body crashed into a group of soldiers.
Sir Godfrey didn’t fare better either as the demon stabbed his rapier forward, the tip of the blade piercing the knight’s shield with relative ease before it went through the man’s chest, coming out through his back. Instead of terrifying the surrounding soldiers, however, his demise only made them fall into a maddened frenzy as they rushed toward the demon as one.
It was strange to see so many grown men not even reaching the waist of their enemy as they banged at its legs with their weapons. The oversized rapier stabbed into the crowd to reap lives sometimes two or three at a time. The Exiled Court didn’t sit by idly either as they ran to aid their recently summoned lord. Without a demon army aiding them, the numbers of the court dwindled just as quickly as the allied army’s, however, the archdemon seemed to be tanking the assault quite well, only showing small wounds near the weaker parts of its armour.
“How is he?” Regis asked Valerie as he managed to take a few steps back toward her and the downed paladin.
“He is breathing but half of his ribs have been broken and he’s unconscious.”
“Grego,” the dark elf looked toward his guard captain. “Take Quentin and the others out of here!”
“But...”
“That’s an order!”
“What about you?” Valerie looked up at him with an obvious worry in her eyes.
“I’m going to nuke this bastard.” Regis answered before turning toward the rest of the high-ranked mages.
They too were decreasing in numbers, Cedric barely hanging on as he stood beside his master with his robes covered in blood. Several lower-ranked spellcasters failed to deflect the enemy’s attack, ending up with either acid or blood magic corroding their bodies away.
“I need you to blind it or paralyse it for a few seconds!” He yelled toward old Felix, earning a strained nod from the elderly mage.
Felix and his fellow spellcasters focused their attack on the upper body of the archdemon, mostly aiming at its head. While they were unleashing everything they had to stun the demon, Regis hurriedly activated the self-destruction array on the spider golem, ordering it to make a dash toward their enemy. It scurried forward, jumping at the distracted archdemon, making it fall due to the sheer force created by the weight of the golem. Under Regis’ will, the spider wrapped its legs around the demon’s body as best as it could, grappling it to stop it from moving.
“Everyone run!” The dark elf yelled as loud as he could, turning around to get as far from the golem as possible.
While some people were stunned for a moment, both Felix and some of the other high-ranked mages realised that the dark elf wouldn’t act like that unless he had a plan.
“Run!” They too yelled and the exiled court watched baffled as the soldiers of the allied army turned tail.
The members of the Exiled Court turned toward the momentarily bound archdemon, most of them trying to get the loudly humming spider golem off while some tried to hunt down the closest escaping soldiers. Regis didn’t look back as he ran, however, a few seconds later a wave of searing hot air threw him forward as a loud booming sound deafened him momentarily. Suddenly a flow of golden words appeared in his blurred vision.
{Your act of vanquishing Archdemon Bergaldeen did not go unnoticed. Your deed has been recorded and you have received 25000 renown points.}
{Your caste was changed from ‘true’ lesser noble to ‘true’ intermediate noble.}
{Renown necessary towards next caste elevation: 15972}
“Archdemon Bergaldeen,” the dark elf stared at the name. “Wasn’t it Ulgrath?”
Fighting the pain that ran havoc across his body, Regis managed to crawl up to his feet and turned around, seeing the large crater left behind by the explosion. It was at least 20 meters in diameter and a good five meters deep, reminding him of the craters that comets tend to leave behind. There were no corpses left behind by the explosion. Only an eerie-looking pillar of crimson flames burned at the bottom of the crater.
Regis watched in horror as the pillar trembled while a large figure stepped out from it. It was just as tall as the archdemon they had defeated but looked nothing like it. This one resembled a woman, an alluring aura hanging over her voluptuous figure that was covered in a somewhat revealing armour. She held no weapons, but a sceptre-looking thing. Its purple horns glowed with a soft rhythm as it looked up at him with a sultry smile on her face. Regis felt something tug at his willpower, realizing that it was some sort of charm effect that was somewhat effective on him even from that distance.
“Oh, shi…” He tried to shake it off, but a moment later the sudden pain jolted through his body as he collapsed on the ground.
It felt as if he was struck by a Taser and electrocuted for several seconds before the jolting pain faded, leaving him paralysed. As he collapsed on the ground, the sound of footsteps came from behind him. At first, he believed it to be one of his soldiers’ or maybe Valerie’s but the rhythm of the steps was too calm and measured. From his right side, a familiar figure walked into his field of vision, leaving him more baffled than anything.
“I must admit darling,” a teasing voice resounded in his ears. “I honestly didn’t expect you to deal with that moron of a Bergaldeen so quickly.”
“Natalie?” He muttered in a whisper-like tone.
“Surprised?”