Kirckour Woods,
13 th Banem 1092
Malevolent winds whistled through the quiet forest. An oppressive aura of death settled over the dense trees, blanketing all living beings within its cold grip.
Somewhere within the forest depths, an odd party consisting of two daebens, a human, and a centaur squared off against a creature that could only have been born from the sinister aura surrounding the forest.
Kashi examined the creature with a solemn expression. He recognized the beast as a Marilith, a half-snake half-human demon with a female human torso and a long snake's tail. It also had six arms on its human part. Usually, the upper bodies of mariliths took the form of beautiful women. They would lure prey over with their upper body, then either paralyze them with venom or constrict the mark with its tail before it could escape.
Mariliths were formidable demons to face independently, but the one in front of the party was dangerously unique. To begin with, it was at least ten times larger than a regular marilith. Its human torso alone was twice Kashi's height and large enough to fit three average-sized men standing side by side. From his current view, Kashi could not make out the entire length of its tail, but he estimated it was undoubtedly longer than twenty meters.
Even more striking than its size was the fact there was nothing 'beautiful' about the marilith’s upper body. Its human torso was a mass of seemingly carelessly lumped flesh and scales and a pair of exposed sagging breasts. Its iconic six arms had increased to eight, but where a regular marilith had 'slender' arms, this marilith's arms were muscular and tough, ending in long, clawed fingers.
Kashi quickly concluded that this marilith was either infected by the blight (unlikely as blight only affects plants) or strengthened and evolved through dark magic. The daeben's gaze narrowed as he considered the second possibility. So far, he only knew of one group with the capability to produce something like this.
Kashi glanced at Larsial, but her expression was grim and tight. Even if she knew something about this monster, she fully expected it to attack her too. Kashi let out a sigh. There was no point worrying about it now. Everything would be revealed soon enough.
Kashi looked at the monster, inadvertently meeting its hollow gaze. Just as he had been examining it, it had been analyzing the new prey.
Roughly three seconds had passed since the marilith burst into the clearing. This was more than enough time for both parties to examine the other and quickly come to a decision.
The marilith, having concluded that the other humes were of no consequence, let out a roar and charged at the nearest party, the daeben that had met its gaze.
"Shadow! Larsial!" Kashi shouted as he calmly notched an arrow and jumped back. "Break!"
Shadow and Larsial quickly jumped to their left and right, respectively. To their shock, the marilith appeared at their location just as they jumped out of the way, its claws only managing to swipe air. Both assassins paled as they realized what would have happened if they had been a moment late in evading. They had not expected the marilith to be this fast!
Kashi, meanwhile, glared at the marilith that approached with a speed very similar to his own. The daeben understood this was because he was retreating while it was advancing. Naturally, it would be faster. However, the daeben was not looking to compete in speed.
Boom! Boom!
Two wooden arrows burst out of Kashi's bow, their speeds creating small sonic booms at the bow, as the daeben quickly nocked a metal arrow. The arrows zipped across the clearing, appearing in front of the marilith within the blink of an eye.
Just when it seemed to be a sure hit, the marilith displayed its daunting agility. It sharply curled around the arrows' path and continued the chase without dropping its speed. If anything, it accelerated, eager to close the gap and kill the daeben.
Kashi's gaze remained even as the arrows flew zipped harmlessly through the 'path' created by the marilith's body. He imbued the arrow in his bow with the maximum amount of mana it could hold. Despite its nimble movements, Kashi quickly identified the marilith's path.
"[Drill]" Kashi released the third arrow, and with a boom, it screeched toward the marilith's chest.
The marilith's sunken, gray eyes glared at the incoming arrow in disdain. These arrows might have been a threat to many other creatures, but it excelled in speed. To try again just after failing. This hume had clearly run out of ideas.
The marilith moved to dodge the incoming arrows.
"[Dimension Break]"
Before the marilith could dodge the incoming arrow, it was stunned by the light emitting from a mandala that appeared right in front of it.
A pair of black arrows rushed out of the portal and smashed into the marilith's face.
BOOM!
The arrows smashed to pieces as they hit the marilith's head, in the process, destabilizing the dense mana packed in the arrowheads. The ensuing explosion forced the marilith to an abrupt stop. It was only a moment, but that proved to be all the daeben needed.
The [Drill] enhanced arrow took advantage of the momentary pause to strike the marilith's exposed chest. The marilith cried out as the impact sent it flying several meters back. The spinning arrow burned all the mana stored within it as fuel to carry the beast as far as it could.
The arrow quickly expended its mana, and the marilith crashed to the earth just in front of Shadow, Larsial, and the centaur. There was no way for the trio to know if Kashi planned this or not.
Shadow and Larsial gaped at the marilith in shock. Barely a second had passed since they dodged the marilith's attack, and it was back in front of them. Their feet had barely touched the earth, but both assassins quickly sprung to action. Shadow charged to the monster's left while Larsial took the right.
Their daggers tore up a bloody storm on the beast's body as they quickly unleashed their most offensive skills. There was no need to worry about finesse when fighting monsters as large as this one.
Kashi supported the assassin duo with a rapid hail of arrows from within the forest, eager to take advantage of the brief stun window.
Unfortunately, good things did not last long.
Kashi's sharp eyes caught a twitch in the marilith's middle finger. He unhesitantly commanded. "Retreat!"
Shadow and Larsial readily complied. They swiftly jumped several steps back.
Kashi's decision proved to be the right one.
Roooar!
The marilith roared as it rapidly spun in place. Its long tail whipped around itself in rage, but Larsial and Shadow had bought themselves enough time to read the tail's path and subsequently evade it.
The marilith recognized its failure and let out an even angrier roar. It raised its arms, and eight swords coalesced from dense black lights. It brandished its blades and charged at Larsial. It raised the blades high, eager to rip the daeben to shreds.
Kashi's timely instructions rang out once again. "Centaur-san! Hold it!"
The centaur, who had been watching the fight in shock, only then realized he had done nothing to help. The centaur buried the unease in his heart as he brandished his spear and charged.
"What?" Shadow murmured in shock as the centaur 'disappeared' and appeared in front of Larsial. The assassin's eyes were sharp enough to recognize the centaur did not truly disappear. His insane charging speed just made it seem that way.
Clang!
Sparks flew as the centaur parried the marilith's opening strike with his spear. The centaur glared at the marilith through the sparks, powerful hatred burning in his eyes. "Die! [Slayer's Spear]!" The centaur's spear shone with a golden glow as it rapidly shot out, leaving several afterimages due to its speed.
The marilith roared in pain as sizzling smoke rose from its arms and body wherever the centaur's spear hit. The golden glow around the centaur's spear was divine energy that was highly toxic to demons. Luckily, it was the marilith on the offensive, and the centaur only got in one or two lucky strikes for every twenty he needed to parry the marilith's swords.
The marilith, irritated, moved to circle around the centaur, but the centaur's hooves shuffled in a manner no horse-like creature should be capable of performing. He used a deft combination of hops, slides, and side steps to easily follow the marilith's movements, pirouetting to the side with a skill that even humans would envy.
"Excellent!" Kashi praised as he watched the centaur weave from one side to another. Regardless of if the marilith circled to the centaur's side or behind it, he would always somehow manage to match its movements. In real life, horses just weren't capable of such actions, but this was where higher intelligence proved its worth.
The centaur race had improved their agility to battle freely in the forest where danger could come from any direction. An inability to make swift turns in the woods of Destia would only lead to their deaths.
Kashi struggled to beat down an urge to bring Drixlia out and have it learn from the centaur's movements. As much as this was a prime learning opportunity, he could not risk anything untoward happening. After all, mariliths were no small pushovers.
The centaur continued to hold the marilith's aggro, unleashing multiple skills one after another to draw its attention to himself. His quick judgment and situational awareness proved he was quite used to playing the role of a tank. However, this was undoubtedly one of the most challenging instances of that role in his entire life. Every thrust of his spear was one made with his life on the line.
The centaur's arms trembled each time they clashed with the marilith's claws. Sweat pooled on the spear's shaft as exertion began to take his toll. The centaur had been battling for several hours against multiple enemies, all culminating in this battle. Despite his strong desire to fight, the accumulated fatigue was beginning to take its toll.
The marilith noticed the centaur's struggle and immediately launched a fierce attack, striking down harder and faster than ever. It was only regretful it could not put its full focus on the centaur because of the two assassins flitting about and attacking its side. In true boss monster fashion, it easily multitasked, retaliating against the assassins with its tail.
For their part, Shadow and Larsial dodged and attacked, adopting a patient approach to whittling down the marilith's life. Their daggers did not do much damage against the heavy scales, and a lack of powerful enchantments meant their weapons did not pose any real threat to the marilith. This was in stark contrast to the centaur's blade, which was not only of a higher grade but had a holy enchantment on it.
This was the primary reason why the marilith focused all its attacks on the centaur. It did not dare overlook the holy weapon. If the centaur got in a good hit with that blade, the damage would be imaginable.
Pa!
The marilith roared in excitement as it slapped the spear out of the dead tired centaur's arms. Eight swords swung down in tandem to reap the centaur's life.
Claaang!
A loud, long screech echoed through the forest as eight arrows struck the swords simultaneously. The swords' blades shattered under the extraneous force. The falling pieces caught the stunned reflections of both the marilith and centaur.
Within the blink of an eye, those pieces caught the form of a daeben between the centaur and the marilith. The daeben's blood-red eyes were especially eye-catching under the moonlight. The pieces clattered as they finally struck the earth, the sound especially loud as a cold silence enveloped the clearing.
"Well, now, that's enough fun for one night," Kashi joked with a terrifying smirk. The air grew heavy, and the atmosphere completely changed, turning even more sinister and dark with blood. "You should take a rest, centaur-san. I'll take it from here."
The marilith, for the first time that night, instinctively jerked back. It warily measured up the daeben, hesitation growing in its heart.
Kashi was oblivious to the marilith's thoughts. Not that he would have cared either way. He had already marked the beast for death. Nothing could save it now. "Larsial, Shadow. Prepare yourselves. I'll be taking point from here on out."
Kashi looked over his shoulder at the centaur. "Centaur-san. You'll deal the finishing blow with that holy spear. I trust you'll be prepared."
"Darian," The centaur replied.
"What?"
"My name." The centaur stiffly explained as he took a step back. "Darian Alshmeer. You may call me Darian."
"Oh. Pleasure to meet you, Darian," Kashi greeted with a smile. "You can call me Kashi. I'll—"
"Watch out!" Darian shouted as the marilith desperately lunged at Kashi's exposed back with a newly conjured set of swords.
"How rude," Kashi grumbled as he instantly whirled around on the spot. "I am not a villain." His body twisted this way and that, easily dodging the swords. This action, coupled with the marilith's forward momentum, eventually found him centimeters away from its body.
Pow!
"The least you could do is let me finish my monologue," Kashi grumbled as he buried his fist in the marilith's midriff. The marilith stooped over and coughed up blood, just missing the daeben. Kashi ignored the beast hanging over his head and instead, looked over to Darian with a grin. "Get your spear ready. It's about time you saw how Maggots fight. You may consider this our ‘job interview'."
Boom!
Kashi unleashed another strong punch that sent the marilith tumbling several meters back. Kashi's fingers clenched and unclenched as he equipped four quivers on his back and waist. He gripped two metal arrows in his arms as a devilish grin spread on his face. Walking toward the recovering marilith, he said, "Shadow, Larsial. Try to keep up!"
Whoosh!
Kashi's figure blurred as he instantaneously covered the distance between himself and the marilith. Similar to [Charge] , Kashi slid across the ground in one deft motion, the arrows in his hand emitting a dark aura as he shot them at the raging beast.
Kashi accomplished a similar effect as [Charge] by exploding mana beneath the soles of his feet. This was a feat ninety-five percent of the summoned would not be able to accomplish. However, the real elite knew that personal manipulation of mana was the most efficient method of combat.
The marilith quickly took advantage of Kashi's punch that sent it sprawling close to the edges of the forest. It quickly curled up the tree behind it, barely dodging the arrows that smashed into the tree's bark. Luckily, these were all Lv. 180 trees. While Kashi’s arrows blasted off a significant portion of the tree's trunk, enough remained intact for it to remain standing.
The marilith instantly counterattacked. Its rapid climb up the tree trunk built up enough momentum for the quick jump that followed. The enraged demon's angry eyes lit up in delight as it shot toward the charging daeben. Its momentum, coupled with Kashi's charge, guaranteed it would smash into the daeben. Excitement boiled in its blood as it imagined the daeben's panicked expression before it destroyed him.
Kashi raised his head to meet the marilith's glare. Contrary to the demon's expectation, a mocking grin greeted it.
The tale-tell whirs of mechanical gears rang through the clearing as a single arrowhead with a metal wire attached to its end stabbed into the marilith's forehead. The marilith's eyes widened in confusion, but no one bothered to answer its question. It looked over the daeben to meet Shadow's steely gaze.
The assassin's left arm was raised in front of him, sleeves drawn back to reveal a black gauntlet. The arrowheads had shot out of this gauntlet, evident by the rope in Shadow's hand. Shadow grunted as he dropped low to balance his center of gravity. He turned in place and pulled the rope with all the force he could muster. Assassin's lacked strength, so this would have usually been a futile struggle.
Unfortunately for the marilith, it was airborne, flying toward Kashi, who was in front of Shadow. If a line were to be drawn from the marilith to Kashi and then to Shadow, it would be revealed to be a straight line.
As such, Shadow did not have to exert too much strength to pull the marilith a few feet further than it intended as there was no significant change in direction.
The marilith let out a shrill cry as Shadow sent it sailing over Kashi. In desperation, it swung its swords at the daeben, hoping that the increased velocity from pull would catch the daeben off-guard.
Unfortunately, the marilith was fighting Kashi. Such an opportunity would not so easily present itself. Seemingly telepathically, Kashi stuck close to the ground, much like Shadow earlier. The marilith's swords could only harmlessly slash at the air until Kashi's momentum took him past their range.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Kashi instantly equipped Ferulic's Practice Bow, whirled around, and fired three successive arrows at the marilith's exposed midriff. The first arrow smashed its exposed underbelly where the human half met the snake half. This strike launched its midsection upwards and significantly reduced its forward momentum.
The second arrow crashed into the same spot, forcing the monster to fold inwards as its 'waist' was launched a meter into the sky. This also had the bonus effect of ultimately killing off its forward momentum.
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The final arrow carried the most force. Enhanced by [Drill], the arrow burrowed deep into the marilith's waist. Kashi grinned as the arrow sent the marilith spinning into the sky.
Who knew when or how she got there, but Larsial appeared above the marilith's spinning frame. The [Falling Spider] once again made an appearance. The eight-legged spider silhouette repeatedly stabbed down at the monster.
The shocked marilith could not react in time. It roared in pain as the spider's legs mercilessly ripped into its back. Luckily, due to the nature of its ascent, its more vulnerable human part was sloped downward, so Larsial's strikes only struck the slim border between flesh and scales.
Murky, black blood rained down on the earth as the spider's legs alternated between both sides in its indiscriminate attack.
Torrents of arrows peppered the marilith's sloping portions, but it frantically defended its human half with its swords. It could do nothing for its lower half but at this stage, keeping its life was more important than anything else.
[Falling Spider] 's three-second duration soon ended. Dark aura burst out of the enraged marilith's eyes in the split-second the skill ended. A heavy burst of mana blasted out of its body as it let out a desperate, furious roar that forced the sharp-eared daeben to wince in pain.
Kashi's gaze tightened as he detected a dangerous spike in the marilith's mana as it dropped to the earth. It raised its arms as streams of mana surged into its swords and coated them with dense, dark mana. The daeben yelled at Shadow to take cover as he quickly shot an arrow, then charged towards Darian.
With a deafening roar, the marilith's arms blurred as it rapidly swung its blades. Dense mana blades randomly shot out of the blades in all directions, forming massive mana nets that were impossible to dodge.
Or so it should have been.
As a result of Kashi's warning, Shadow copied the marilith's trick and took cover behind a tree. Just like with Kashi, the marilith's mana-infused wind blades were unable to fell the tree in one blow, allowing Shadow to switch to another before the current one fell.
Suspended in the air, Larsial should have been the easiest target of the monster's attack. However, the assassin grabbed onto an arrow that just 'happened' to fly by her. The arrow's force nearly dislocated her shoulder, but she would not have complained even if it had as it carried her into the forest and away from the marilith's attack range.
That left Kashi and Darian.
Kashi knew Darian was already in a critical state. At the centaur’s current health, any little attack would snuff out his life, let alone a rage-filled attack like this one. Luckily, Kashi's experience allowed him to anticipate the attack.
Kashi arrived in front of the centaur before the waves of blades reached it. Kashi returned Ferulic's Practice Bow to his inner world and stomped on the ground three times. Three identical mandalas appeared on the earth from which three Earth-Style [Walls] rose.
Curiously, however, those walls rose behind the daeben rather than at his front.
"Kashi-dono!" Darian shouted in fear as he wondered if Kashi had somehow messed up his spell. It would not be the first time it had happened.
Warriors were prone to errors in tense situations. Only a select few among seasoned combat veterans could keep their cool even in the most unsettling cases.
However, who was Kashi?
If he claimed to be number two in the virtual world in combat experience, no one would dare to claim number one.
Kashi had indeed not made an error in judgment. His eyes shone with excitement and the prospect of facing a new challenge as he took a few steps forward and grinned at the dense mana-blades. Kashi's ridiculous agility exploded as he deftly weaved through the blades. He used the smallest of movements, shifting his feet this way and that, always ensuring he was on either his toes or heels to provide an option to pivot to the next direction.
The clearing went dead quiet as all those present gaped at the magnificent display of insane speed, reaction, judgment, and acrobatics! Not every dodge could be as clean and comfortable as a simple dodge to the left or right. Sometimes the blades approached horizontally, forcing Kashi to either duck or jump. The daebens ability to seamlessly transition between these exceedingly strenuous movements left everyone in shock.
Darian had long forgotten why he was even there in the first place. If it were not for the sound of the wind blades smashing against the walls Kashi put up, he might have left cover altogether for a better view, instead of peeking from the side.
Kashi chuckled as he felt the resentment of the man inside him.
This!
This was the kind of sensation Suzuki sought every time he challenged the platform in the training halls. The pumping adrenaline when he barely dodged an attack by a hair's breadth. The wind whistling past his face when a wind blade whizzed past his nose. The excited elation of timing a jump perfectly between two horizontal wind blades.
Kashi's introspective fun was cut short by six vertical blades that innocuously followed up the horizontal mana blades. Considering the blades had been flying randomly, was this bad luck or…?
Kashi glanced at the marilith and only barely pressed down his laughter as he realized the angry beast had turned all its attention to him, leaving only two hands to keep Shadow pinned down.
Rotating midair, with six rapidly approaching mana blades spread out evenly from his head to his legs, the daeben was in a position most would deem irredeemable. Kashi, however, was just beginning to get into his groove. He dipped into the quivers strapped to his sides and drew out three arrows per hand.
"I-Impossible!" Darian shouted, this time in disbelief as the arrows shot out of Kashi's hands, the daeben's spinning momentum adding even more speed. The mana-infused arrows crashed into the mana blades, resulting in a small outburst of wind and mana as both entities exploded.
"How devious," Kashi, who was about to land, joked as he spotted mana blade heading for where his foot would hit the earth. "How about this then!" The daeben taunted as the toes of his left foot hit the dirt.
The mana blade screeched as if sensing the blood it was about to draw. However, just as it was a meter away from cutting into the daeben's ankle, the daeben's left foot spun in place until it faced away from the incoming mana blade. Then just as the blade was as close as ten centimeters out, Kashi's left knee bunched ever so lightly. His left toes pushed off the earth as his knees sprung upright, catapulting him into a backflip over the blade.
Kashi spun in the air, realigning himself, and landed facing the stunned marilith. The daeben could not help but let out a cheeky grin as he took in the stunned silence in the woods. "Nailed it!"
The marilith stared dumbly at the daeben. It had planned that so carefully! It expected the daeben to fall to the horizontal blades, but in the rare case that Kashi dodged, it had sent the vertical blades to follow. It was sure the daeben would fall to that set, but in the worst-case scenario, the final mana blade was meant to knock him off his feet before he could stabilize himself!
The marilith had only stopped attacking because it did not want to waste its remaining mana. It wanted to track where Kashi would fall after being tripped by the blades. It would then unleash the rest of its mana on the fallen daeben. But what the hell was this!? How did this pathetic hume manage to achieve all of that!?
ROAAARR!
The marilith let out an enraged roar as it threw caution to the wind and slashed wind blade after wind blade at the belligerent daeben. It chose to attack with all its arms, Shadow, Larsial, and Darian thrown to the far corners of its mind. It no longer cared if it died or was forced to flee at the end of the day. It just wanted this daeben dead! It had never hated a hume so much in its life!
"Bring it!" Kashi, for his part, eagerly welcome the frantic blades as he charged ahead. He once again weaved through the condensed bombardment, except this time, he rushed toward the marilith as he dodged.
Arrows flew from their quivers as Kashi shot down the troublesome mana blades, his relentless advance not slowed down in the slightest. As he charged, Kashi's brows rose when he noticed a brief respite in the bombardment. He looked up at marilith, the smile on his face turning even more defiant and terrifying as he saw the demon suck in a deep breath.
It was no ordinary breadth as the marilith's muscles instantly doubled in size afterward. Kashi did not have to wait long to find out what that was about.
An image of a multi-armed goddess with closed eyes appeared behind the demon. Kashi did not have time to ponder on that image's identity before the goddess' eyes snapped open.
Hundreds of arms created by dense mana sprouted from the marilith's back, each holding a blade of their own. The arms blurred as they each slashed ten times in a second and then dissipated, forming mana streams that merged into a single, giant mana blade that hovered in front of the marilith.
The hundreds of slashes turned into a dense net-like structure formed entirely of mana blades.
This was the definition of a final attack.
Everything had been put on the line to end the daeben right there. Unknowingly, the marilith had subconsciously trusted the daeben to continue his charge. It never suspected for a second that the daeben would attempt to dodge to the side. After all, although the net was ten times faster than the previous attacks, it did not doubt that the daeben would still have a method to dodge it if he wanted to.
The marilith's gamble proved to be the right one, as Kashi, faced with the net of compressed mana blades, did not dodge but continued to charge head-on.
Was this confidence, or a stubborn streak that ran in the daeben's blood? Only Kashi himself could answer that question.
Kashi kept his charge constant but spun as he ran, turning himself into a spinning top as he shot arrow after arrow at the net's center. Slowly but surely, cracks began to form at the center of the net, but it was at this time that the situation suddenly changed enough to shock even the daeben.
Boom!
Of the ten layers that formed the net, five suddenly accelerated. Worse yet, the blades also rotated at different speeds as they approached, forcing the daeben to focus his attention on them. The aim here was clear: Bog down the daeben with the outer layer so he would not be able to attack the second layer and break out.
It was an ingenious plan, and taking into account Kashi's speed so far, there was no way he would be able to block it.
Unfortunately, Kashi, much like most of the shonen heroes he'd watched growing up, was the kind of fighter that never started a fight at full gear.
BOOM!
[FERULIC'S TECHNIQUE ACTIVATED]!
[ANGEL STEPS ACTIVATED]!
Swathes of green aura burst out from the daeben and enveloped him within. The daeben let out a hearty laugh and then—
Whoosh!
Kashi flitted through the bombardment, leaving only faint afterimages as testaments to his last known location. It was like everyone else was living in the past, as they could only see where he had been. Meanwhile, the second layer of the blade net came under an even more relentless attack, as dozens of arrows shattered against the center within the short blink of an eye.
The marilith watched all this happen with pure hatred. It could do nothing but charge up the final blade, which had become more solid with each passing second. As much as it hoped Kashi would make commit an error and fall, that increasingly did not seem to be a realistic hope.
What the hell kind of scenario was this? How was it that it was more realistic to expect the daeben to break out of that bombardment!?
Dust clouds rose as the wind blades crashed the earth, gradually covering the area around Kashi. The marilith tensed as the dust rose, dreading the possibility that it would block the daeben. It was at this moment that it heard a shattering sound. Its eyes widened with shock as a small hole appeared at the center of the net.
Once again, the marilith was floored by the daeben's arrogance. Kashi could have easily broken through the sides, but he chose to smash through the center, the core of the net, and the place with the most blades bound tightly together.
Almost instinctively, the marilith once again gambled on the daeben's arrogance and immediately slashed down. The giant mana blade shot at the net, its core aimed at that exact hole.
"Brilliant!" Kashi roared as he finally broke through the net's center, only to come face to face with the thick mana blade. He sensed the power pulsating within the blade and knew his arrows would be completely useless. Rather than dodge like a good little boy, he defiantly raised his right arm to meet the blade. "Bring it!"
BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted as soon as the blade made contact with the daeben, sending dust and earth flying. The blast swallowed up Kashi, causing everyone's hearts in the clearing to jump into their throats.
What happened!? Did he fail or succeed!?
Darian no longer cared about his safety. He stepped out of cover and stared at the dust cloud.
Shadow's gaze narrowed, but he ultimately did not move.
Larsial peeked out from behind a tree, her eyes wide in shock as she stared at the dust cloud. Regardless of the result, she was now confident the daeben had been going easy on Froy.
The marilith was perhaps the tensest one there. It anxiously examined the dust cloud, fearing what the result would be once it cleared.
Whoosh!
It turned out it did not have to wait for the dust cloud to disperse.
"That was awesome!" Kashi shouted as he dashed out of the dust cloud.
"WHAT!?"
"!!!"
"HOW!?"
The peanut gallery expressed their shock as they stared at the object firmly clasped in Kashi's dragonified right hand.
"Here, have this back!" Kashi laughed as he whipped the mana blade in his right arm back at the stunned marilith.
Due to its shock, the marilith failed to dodge in time.
Sqshh!
The marilith screamed out in pain as the three arms on its left side were shorn clean off.
"Fuck!" Larsial cursed as she dove to the earth to dodge the blade as it slashed its way through the forest, slicing many trees in half before finally dissipating.
Oblivious to Larsial's close shave with death, Kashi had an enormous grin on his face as he finally arrived right before the marilith. The daeben's grin somehow widened even further as he regarded the marilith's pained expression.
"As thanks for the thrilling experience, I'll show you what it means to be a true Asura!" Kashi roared as he jumped, so he was abreast with the marilith's human part.
"Earth-Shattering Technique: Fifth Form, [ASURA] !"
A gigantic Asuran image formed behind the daeben. Unlike the marilith's image, Kashi's Asura was a full image, depicting the entire Asura from head to toe. Furthermore, the Asuran image was so vivid that it was like they could reach out and touch it. Nothing compared to the marilith's translucent image.
But the most significant difference of all lay in the Asuran image itself.
While marilith's was a summon of some sort, Kashi's Asuran image greatly resembled himself if he gained pounds of muscles and grew horns. It was, for all intents and purposes, a demonified Kashi, and not a random image.
Asurans were known as harbingers of chaos and destruction. Their unquenchable rage often left numerous landscapes destroyed beyond recognition. Was the world trying to send a sort of message by having the daeben's Asuran image be a demonized version of himself?
Who knew?
Kashi had his back to the image, so he was the last person to ask such a question. With an excited shout, the Asuran image merged into Kashi's body. Where the marilith's image formed a mass of hands behind the demon, Kashi's entire body somehow transformed to match his Asuran image.
Kashi once again displayed his uncanny ability to adapt to any situation. Anyone else would have been disoriented by gaining two extra pairs of arms, but the daeben simply took it in his stride and battered the poor marilith with an endless flood of punches way too fast for the human eyes to follow. The relentless blows soon formed countless images, creating an effect of seemingly a thousand hands delivering the blows.
Blood splattered all around the earth as the marilith suffered under the relentless blows, but it could not retaliate as Kashi completed the battering. The daeben hammered one final blow to its jaw as his Asuran form dissipated, sending the marilith flying to the sky.
If the marilith hoped this would be a brief respite, it was sorely mistaken. Ferulic's Practice Bow appeared in Kashi's hand as he dropped to the ground, and then fired twin arrows filled to the max with Dragon Ki. The arrows rotated around each other and morphed into a single giant dragon.
The dragon chased after the airborne marilith.
The marilith used the last of its strength to rotate to the side, allowing the dragon to pass by it in mid-air.
Unfortunately, Kashi had planned for that eventuality and added the rarely used but effective [Homing Arrow] . The effects of [Homing Arrow] activated, causing the dragon to turn mid-air.
The marilith could only cry out as the dragon swallowed its human half and exploded. The heavily battered and slightly unconscious marilith coughed up large amounts of blood as its body weakened even more.
"Darian-san," Kashi suddenly prompted. "Prepare Yourself!"
Darian readied his spear. Ever since Kashi asked him to, he had been charging the spear with divine energy, just waiting for the time to strike. Kashi's call was all Darius needed to flex his tired muscles and raise the spear.
Darius gritted his teeth, wondering if Kashi wanted him to throw his spear. He doubted he had enough energy to do even that, but if that were what it took to down this monster, he would not mind shortening his lifespan with a forbidden technique to achieve the throw.
Luckily, Kashi had no intention of forcing the heavily injured centaur to overexert himself. "It's coming!" The daeben shouted as he raised his arm to the sky. "Realm Piercing Technique, Fifth Form: [GILGAMESH]!"
Who knew what had possessed the daeben?
Kashi had managed to use up all his high-level skills in this fight! He was so excited that he even regularly called out their full names. This could only be attributed to the daeben lacking a proper fight in ages.
Grinding monsters could never satisfy the excitement that came with fighting an intelligent humanoid enemy. Kashi used this fight to vent all the unease he had been suffering silently.
Working towards the guild's progress was fun and exciting in its own way, but nothing could ever match the sheer excitement of an actual battle where he needed to bring out 100%. The daeben sighed as he watched one thousand-five hundred arrows shoot out of a portal that appeared above the marilith.
Who could understand his pain?
"That was fun." Kashi turned his back to the conclusive result as the arrows pierced through the marilith at the same time.
The marilith's tenacious life force saved it from instant death, but the power from the arrows sent it crashing to the earth, kicking up a large cloud of dust. The marilith weakly rose, all thoughts of fighting gone from despair-filled eyes. It warily examined the dust cloud around it, hoping it could correctly pinpoint the daeben's location and successfully run away in the other direction.
It did not hold much optimism due to its near-fatal injuries, but hey, you never know, right? The daeben might have assumed it had already died, and it could use that opportunity to escape. It would heal itself then return with reinforcements.
The marilith began to fantasize about its eventual revenge when a golden blade sliced through the dust cloud.
The marilith scoffed at the slow spear and made to dodge, only to realize with fear it could not even move its body. Kashi's arrows had pinned the entire length of its tail portion to the earth. There was no way for it to dodge that slow blade!
The marilith cried out as the blade grew larger until it consumed the entirety of its vision.
Puchi!
The dust cloud cleared to reveal the blood-soaked Darian, holding the handle of the spear that had buried itself in the marilith's head. Tears streamed down the centaur warrior's eyes as he withdrew watched life dissipate from the marilith's eyes. "This is for my brothers…"