They did not come one at a time. They came all at once. Four of them appeared in front of Alaster, their weapons already moving to pierce his flesh.

Alaster parried two with his halberd and deflected the third with a Mana Tendril, shattering the Tendril in the process.

The fourth, a spear, slammed into his chest, launching him into the stone above the broken gate.

It would likely have penetrated his armor, had he not created a film of Mana around the point of the spear.

Before he could even fall to the ground, another three were upon him.

Blocking the first strike, he used it to spin him around, narrowly avoiding the second, and deflecting the third with the shaft of the halberd.

Alaster landed, crouching down to avoid a horizontal swing of an eighth before striking out with a volley of [Necrotic Bolts], causing the Expert to jump back, injured, but barely as he had blocked many with his shield.

Ninth and Tenth came at him from either side, prompting Alaster to jump up, and positioning his body horizontally to the ground. In the same motion, he struck out with his halberd against the Eleventh, breaking the woman’s shield and throwing her away.

Flipping backward on his free hand, his reformed Mana Tendril struck out against the Tenth. Unable to defend himself fast enough, the Tendril cut deep into the underside of his right arm, severing the muscles.

Nine and Seven were upon him immediately, but Alaster was ready. Before he had even landed, he had prepared his strike. Devoted to the attack, Seven was unable to divert his large two handed axe. Nor was he able to avoid the halberd cutting deep into his neck and into his body.

In the same attack, Alaster conjured a [Dead Bomb] point blank in Nine’s face. Augmented by Fire Mana, it exploded, launching her body away, much of her head gone.

Four and Three appeared behind Alaster thrusting their spear and glaive, respectively.

Alaster spun around, forcing One and Two back with his halberd before driving it into the side of Four, nearly severing his chest from his hips.

Six appeared above Alaster while Ten and Five came from the front.

Six landed on Alaster’s shoulders, driving her daggers into Alaster’s neck, piercing the armor with ease, and twisting. Unaffected, Alaster reached up with his free hand, grabbing Six by her neck and throwing her at Ten, breaking her neck in the process.

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Ten instinctively dropped sword to catch his comrade, leaving him open to three full volleys of [Necrotic Bolt].

The last seven jumped back, taking stock of their situation. In just a few short minutes, they had lost five of their elite teammates to a single target, a target they had been told specialized in Magic. Ten had been specialized in Mage hunting with his sword and dagger.

Despite their immense losses, they had achieved their goal. Six had dealt a critical attack, at the cost of her own life. Yet their target did not go down. In fact, he did not seem the least bit affected.

The Monster before them casually reached up with one hand, grabbing one dagger still lodged in his neck, calmly pulling it out, before doing the same to the second. There was no blood, no pain, no faltering, and no death.

Unknown to the Tarian Experts, had Alaster not been under the affect of [Death Embrace], such an attack would have severed his brain stem as well as numerous critical veins, killing him instantly. Even though he had no organs or veins, the attack still drained the vast majority of his health, dropping him to the single digits before both [Regeneration] and [Last Stand] kicked in.

But covered head to toe in the [Death Pact] armor, they were not able to see the skeletal nature of their foe.

They could not believe it; how could a man survive such a blow? Without so much as reacting?

And yet such a man stood before them. No. Man was the wrong way to describe him.

The Monster they had been tasked with killing.

They fought back the fear rising in their hearts, threatening to consume them. They had killed many Monsters before. Monsters much stronger than the one before them. Even if Six’s attack had failed, Twelve’s would not, could not.

With a shout from her, the remaining Experts jumped away and to the side, finally revealing the woman in the back, who had not moved since the battle had begun.

Alaster’s eyes widened.

Encompassing the woman from all angles, Magic circles rotated, spinning as components within changed. Alaster had never seen such a complex circle, and now he saw seven of them, each one more complex than the last. Before he could react, the circles moved in front of the woman, each one slightly behind the next.

‘Oh shit.’

They flashed.

A beam of light several meters wide shot forth from the rear most circle, each Magic circle in front of it focusing it, strengthening it.

The beam ate at the ground, vaporizing it as it sailed towards Alaster with tremendous speed.

Alaster’s halberd morphed into a large thick shield, which Alaster hid behind as best as he could.

It meant nothing before the light.

The shield shattered the moment the light touched it.

Alaster was thrown back like a doll, slamming into the outer wall. His senses, as muted as they were under the affect of [Death Embrace] were overwhelmed. Even pain should have been muted, yet that was all he felt. Searing pain, burning away at his very being.

Stone cracked, before shattering, giving way to light and dust.

And with it, the wall fell.

The beam only lasted a mere second, but it had been enough.

Alaster’s broken body fell, landing limp to the ground before the wall collapsed, burying him.

The battle for Onigas froze. None daring to believe it as a cloud of dust filled the sky.

Several tense moments passed as Wind Mages from both sides attempted to clear the dust. Until finally, they saw the result.

A pile of rubble.

But that was not what most cared about. As they watched, the Undead clawed their way out of the rubble. Cheers broke out from the Onigarians, only to stop in their throats as the first Undead faltered, collapsing to its knees before vanishing into the ether.

One after another, the Undead disappeared.

The Demon of Onigas was no more.

Alaster was dead.