"The way they walk makes it seem like a leisure stroll." Henry whispers to me. I look at him, prompting a grin, "change of plan! How about you give them a taste of frigid sea water?"

"This is… maybe, 1.5 kilometers? So we'll need at least 15 casters." At that, I mirror his grin. "Let's hope they'll catch a cold, eh? I'll reckon we can start with about a 50:50 ratio between water and ice chunks."

Our initial plan was for Henry and the other spellcasters to stall Simon—and if possible, one of the others—with a siege spell while I engage the leftover as fast as possible, but seeing as they're taking their time. I begin casting while Henry coordinates all 15 prepared auxiliary members and himself to assist. A 17 person cast of the Ten Tides of Boreal Sea for 1700 total mana spent… We have plenty of mana potions anyhow.

A 119 meter sphere of water forms above me, it's massive! Imagine a misty swimming pool of frigid water hovering over your head. The trio Devourling hybrids paused at the sight of our amazing waterball, while at the same time, ten equally large icebergs formed within the body of water. I even intuitively know when 50% of the water mass has been solidified into ice.

I aim and willed the Boreal Sea to fall upon them, I feel like a demi-god unleashing devastation upon sinful mortals. Instantly, the body of water and ice seemingly descended very slowly in a diagonal direction, though, it really had actually only spent a little less than two seconds to travel an approximate distance of 1.5 kilometers before colliding with the land surrounding our enemy. Unwittingly I laugh, "Muahahahahaha!"

Drowned in the amazing feeling of casting a spell of such immense size, I failed to notice a dome of fiery red wind that materialized around all three Devourling hybrids within the two seconds span of time our spell required to travel. My eyes, instead, observe the short tiny tsunami caused by the body of water and Ice as it crashes and flows in an expanding sphere from the point of impact, before visibly dissipating into mist. The now grass free ground at the point of impact has a slight dent, while ten smaller, yet—where the icebergs land—varyingly deeper craters litter the dented grounds.

I see a broken dome of orange-green fade with the lingering waters at the same time my ears detect multiple sounds of shattered glass polluting the air, a sound I know to be our spellcaster doing the equivalent of reloading their arsenal. Within the dome, Holly lies on the ground unconscious to the left of Simon. Whilst to the right of him, Barry kneels on the ground looking exhausted and heavily injured. The remains of a fading iceberg lay close by. I notice Simon's mouth moving to speak a few words before he crouches and jumps forward as Barry lets himself fall onto the ground.

Damn!

"Hen, you cast the wind lighting dragon one." I yell before jumping forward to engage an incoming Simon outside of Rumah. At the same time, I mentally command my tower to begin preparing Magico Disks... Should've given it access to more dangerous spells.

One part of my mind controls my body in taking leap-runs on a course to intercept his powerful leap. A second part of my mind begins casting Blink, while the third, Accelerate thoughts.

I make my stand approximately 500 meters from Rumah's walls. With my now hastened mind, one line of thought is sufficient to be responsible for both my movements and for using a prepared Blink, while the other two begin making obstacles through use of Mold Earth and Shape Stone. Mounds, pitfalls, stone walls, mud. You name it.

A fraction of a second later, in a massive eruption of earth and grass, my enemy arrives. And I unhesitantly blink backwards, just in time to dodge a shoulder charge.

"We meet again, as promised." He monologues, "nice place you've got here, very appetizing."

It is to my advantage to delay our battle. "Thanks, I guess. We're still preparing to open for the day, so service will be a little slow. But, I hope you enjoyed our complimentary cold water." Now that it's out of my mouth, that sounds more like a provocation…

"As fellow half-Devourlings, I would like to offer you a chance to join me." He continues, totally ignoring what I said. He opens his hand palm up, and looks to the skies as if offering a prayer. "We shall conquer the world to satisfy our hunger. Everything will be ours to Devour!"

He's nuts, I thought as he maintains his pose while I'm struck with silence at his holier-than-thou personality. "So, what do you think? Ready to submit yourself to our greater cause?"

There are actually people like this in real life… Simon finally breaks his pose and opens his eyes to glance at me, "ah, I see you are left speechless by my grandeur. Perfectly understandable."

"Uh, I'm gonna need to ask you to elaborate. If I join you, can you guarantee the safety of my friends?" At that question I gesture at the general direction of Rumah. Strategy; stall by making him talk. "What about my share of prey, do I get to devour stuff too?"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Good question," he explained how they calculate party shares and rewards, as well as his plans for the immediate future, which is simply moving randomly from one place to another while devouring everything they find. If they happen to catch wind of a human settlement like Rumah, they'll make it their next priority target. Meanwhile, I reapplied Accelerated Thoughts, and prepared VLoS as well as Beam Torrent. Stretching thin the limits of my Parallel Thoughts skill.

Yet, before I could speak to further stall for time, his eyes happened to glance at Rumah and something he sees caused an instant shift in his calm demeanor. On a hunch, I Blink yet again, to the side this time. Immediately, a powerful impact destroyed the ground I was standing upon. Through Mana Sense, I can detect him standing up after the devastating punch, his face the epitome of fury.

"You got me good." He says between clenched teeth while The Lord of Vermillion begin manifesting above him, so I watch the dome form and used up the five blink I have left to retreat further back even as my mana begin flowing into Beam Torrent to prepare a charged shot.

We're going all out!

Five jumps later, I turn to watch a chinese oriental dragon—with majestic whiskers, an elongated noodle-like body and eight small T-rex-like arms—soar forth from atop the walls. The blue themed Eight Storms Lightning Dragon has eight blades of transparent greenish wind blades that follow it on a random high-speed orbit, the path they take gets them flying around and through the dragon itself.

It barely took the magic-replicated Dragon a second to arrive before Simon, who seems to be almost immune—judging from how fast he thaws—to the frozen condition. Fortunately, I had managed to improve the spell, as without The Vermillion Lord shooting ice javelins at him, he would have escaped out of the spell's AoE in mere moments.

The dragon's head, which is approximately the size of a car, opened wide and swallowed him whole. Parallel Thoughts number two began preparing another Blink while number three maintains control of the 900 mana I've invested into Beam Torrent. I watch Simon get tossed and turned around within the conjured beast while once in a while, a blade of wind would rend by him. This went on for about half a minute, where as a finale, the Lightning dragon flew up high before dissipating.

Timing my shot, I release the beam I had charged up just as he nears the ground. Only to see him forcefully take one step and somehow contort his body to dodge most of the beam, which lasts fo r 9 seconds, he easily dodged every single moment of it after that initial step, finishing his move in a crouched position. His body is covered in burns and his clothes left in tatters. With injuries like those, totally not expecting him to be healthy enough to do acrobatics.

I see his leg muscles tense and a fraction of a second later, I am hit by a strong impact that sends me flying. Midair, another smash on my face plates sends me crashing onto a newly made crater roughly the shape of my armor. Was that claws I saw?

I was warned of another incoming attack from the sound of excavated earth. Which is when I Dodge Rolled like my life depended on it, switching to Blinks soon after. In a fit of remembrance, I mentally nudge my Tower to start shooting its prepared Magico disks at it… and to heal me in between every few attacks! Almost forgot it could.

"Running like the vermin you are!" He yelled at me between dodging dozens of Magico Disks. "You're weak! Doubly so for listening to that system of yours, it is no selfless entitiy!" I tune him out and focus on making some distance. So yes, his fingers has retractable claws like felines, and I would bet anyone the jump-strength behind those legs are animalistic. In addition, I can't help notice how his body can contort in a snake-like manner.

"Yeah right?! What makes you think I'll believe you instead of The System?" I yell back, "ohh, look one is trying to kill me right now and the other trying to help me stay alive. Guess which one is you!"

He screams in frustration, maybe at my words or at the disks raining down on him… maybe both. But he began crouching down as if preparing another one of his super high speed jum—

** CRASH **

A bed sized comet smashed on to him from above… then another—I commanded my Tower to replenish its disks—and another… by the time an eight comet smashes on to him. A crater has been formed under and around him and I have in my hands two ethereal scalpel from dual casting Animus Incision, as well as a fresh blink. I figured if he is so monstrous physically, why not target his soul. So, before he recovers I threw both scalpels at him, and continued to cast another two.

I make sure to keep an eye on the unmoving Simon. The quest is silent, so I unhesitantly attack with the next two Animus Incision. Amids casting my next pair, a high pitched scream could be heard from somewhere to my two o'clock. Where a disheveled Holly scurries forth in haste!

She came upon the edges of Simon's crater and began yelling for him to stand up, and fulfill his promise of a sweet future… I'm left awkwardly standing right where I was, the epitome of speechlessness. When, all of a sudden, she looks up at me with death in her eyes! And, to my chagrin, screamed. "It's all your fault!"

"It's all your fault!" Holly screamed at me.

Is it? When your boyfriend devours his parents and is trying to do the same to everyone else… The quest hasn't declared its completion, so I ignore her—an enemy—and Conjure Weapon myself a halberd. Followed by Coat, to enhance its durability.

I slowly and cautiously approach Simon.

But had to Blink away from incoming wind blades. Another Blink brought me to a spot approximately two meters behind Holly. Which, now that I truly look at her, still seems weakened. Mana exhaustion? Mental trauma? I couldn't care less for the conditions of my enemy, so I swung my halberd and easily beheaded her. But, before I could do the same with Simon, I saw Kirana approach…

** DING **

Quest complete

A bitter victory.