Shin sprinted through the forest, eyes flashing iridescent every so often. He glanced to the side and suddenly jolted up a tree, jumping and swinging up its branches as easily as he ran. Prismatic color filled his irises as he scanned the region in detail. With his Perception doubled, so had the range of his vision, and with increased clarity. But still, he could not see another goblin tree.
Shin tumbled back down and broke into a sprint as soon as his feet hit the ground. His speed had risen to an adequate minimum but now his stamina was lacking to take full advantage of it over long distance. Push come to shove he could force his body to move anyway but that was an ability best saved for a difficult fight, which by experience could happen at any moment.
Shin glanced to the left and came to a hard stop. The sound of stomping on leaves and hard soil came soon after and two humans with blackened eyes and bulbous dark veins rushed out. Demonic Humans with classes he hadn’t seen before, one intermediate the other greater. Shin drew a sword and axe and the greater rank vanished, the clang of his metal gauntlets on a sword rang out before his perception caught up.
Shin leap back as the demonic human unleashed a flurry of punches against Inari’s slashes. She moved faster and with more urgency than Shin had seen for such a length. Her rear foot slide back and the front followed. She was being overwhelmed.
“Keep the other one alive.”
An orange blur appeared at Shin’s command and sliced through the greater demonic human’s ankle. As he fell off balance, Inari ran her sword through his neck. Shin turned to the pained grunt as an arm of the intermediate rank flew through the air, weapon in hand. A short pause was all there was before the man lunged towards Shin and collapse on the ground, a slash robbing him of his legs.
“It is done.” Nor announced as he disappeared.
Shin walked closer to the downed enemy, struggling in pain and confusion. “Why are you attacking me?”
The demonic human pushed off the ground straight at Shin with a roar, and a sword passed cleanly through his skull. Inari pulled out her weapon and flourished the dark blood off her blade with a frown of disgust. Shin looked at the severed head of the other man.
[Demonic Human Fighter (uncommon) - Greater Peasant]
Strength - 84
Agility - 118
Constitution - 54
Vitality - 95
Dexterity - 81
Perception - 30
Force - 21
Spirit - 52
Control - 29
Willpower - 22
His hair and beard was grown out, unkempt and wild, but Shin recognized the monk leader of the party he left Grace with. Agility barely half of Inari’s yet he was clearly faster. He knew which clan this illegitimate hailed from now but that was only a passing thought. Without hesitation he sped off in the direction they had come from. Inari waved holy fire on the bodies before following after.
---
A demonic human carried a black haired woman over his shoulder to Giuseppe and dumped her on the ground before him. Giuseppe’s expression twisted in anger and struck the thrall across the face with a closed palm.
“I said alive! What use is a dead body?!”
Giuseppe suppressed an urge to strike the thrall again. They were obedient, but lacked the intelligence to handle situations with anything other than the simplest application of their orders. This was not the first time to happen, nor did he expect it to be the last. But with each failed capture, he felt the chill of the gruesome hell that awaited him if he failed.
“Go! Bring me living players!”
The demonic human turned back the way he came and an arrow pierced his skull. Giuseppe had scarcely comprehended what just happened before he was slammed to the ground with a sword pointed at his neck. His panic only heightened upon identifying the masked woman standing over him.
Two demonic humans rushed out of the forest towards her and were dropped before they could even draw close, an arrow through each of their heads. Shin jumped down from his tree and walked towards the summoner. He recognized him too, the fat priest of her party.
[Human Summoner (uncommon) - Greater Peasant]
“Where is she?” The slight smile and neutral expression did not budge from his face, but an air of cold intent gleaned from his eyes.
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“W-who?”
“I left her with you.”
Realization struck Giuseppe’s face as he recognized the unsettling child from all those days ago. “Ah, Grace?! I haven’t laid a hand on her, I swear!”
“Where is she?”
“We split up! The party. I don’t know where she is.” Giuseppe blabbered. “Help me. Please. You don’t know. These people, you don’t know…”
A red blur charged from the cave. Inari jumped back from the swipe of its clawed hand and slashed away at its strikes as they took to the sky.
Giuseppe’s pitiful expression twisted into mockery as an arrow bounced off a barrier that formed in front of him, rising to his feet with an orb in hand. “How much I’m going to make you suffer!” Three devilish creatures appeared, their purple bodies covered in bony spikes and thorns.
[Spiccan (uncommon) - Greater Peasant]
Shin shot an arrow at one and it bounced off the demon’s rock like skin, leaving a mere crack. Nor appeared and charged without needing a command as Shin jumped back, throwing two talismans. Fire burst over two spiccans as they charged right towards it and then straight through the flames as if they weren’t there.
Two maces appeared in Shin’s hands as he delved into the cover of the forest. A flash of steel took the arm of one along with its attention, the other followed Shin into the trees. The blaring sound of a horn stole Shin’s focus for a moment before dodging a swipe of the spiccan’s claws and bashing the side of its head with a mace on the way. The spiccan stumbled for a moment before resuming its charge.
Another swipe earned it the same fate. Shin sidestepped a lunge and crashed the mace down on its skull and the second into its face as it rose. Shin continued this dance for more exchanges. The spiccan was slower than him but his strikes didn’t seem to be having much of an effect. The purple rock like skin fractured where struck but nothing more. Shin aimed for the head whenever he could but the creature showed no signs of concussion.
The spiccan hissed at Shin then spat a ball of dark flames. The infernal fireball crashed against a thin yellow screen and broke it, though the flames fell to the ground themselves. The demon strained and spat out another. An arrow crossed its path and struck into the top of the demons mouth as second holy screen neutralized the fire. Two more arrows pierced into the demon’s mouth as it staggered back, and a spear from below pierced to the top of its skull. It struggled at the end of the spear before falling limp and its body turning to ash.
Shin rushed back into the clearing to the sound of Nor’s scythe clashing against the barrier of the demon priest, two piles of ash lying nearby along with the bodies of several demonic humans. He glanced up at the fierce battle in the sky which seemed to be about equal, before checking his surroundings.
“More enemies coming!”
Nor ceased his attacks and ran to Shin’s side. Shin took cover by a tree between him and the fat priest, aiming his bow through spirit vision. The first arrow took out its target but the second struck something faint in his sight. A third arrow found its mark but in that time the rest had drawn close. Shin switched his vision and nocked another arrow. But the approaching humans rushed over to the demon priest, forming a guard around him.
“This wretched forest will be your grave, boy!” Giuseppe laughed. “I’ll make you scream just as I did your whore!”
“Archers.” Shin told Nor, showing no reaction to the priest’s taunts.
“At once!”
Nor raced off as Shin shot covering arrows from behind the tree, slipping back as the demonic archers own nearly pierced through. Like the wind Nor soared between the crowd. A slash of his tail severed an archer from head to groin and a whirling lunge sliced through the head of the others as Nor vanished into thin air.
Shin rushed out from the tree, sword and axe in hand. He carved through the motley band of corrupted players. Most had uncommon tier classes and some were greater tier, but the various abilities they had were wasted on their lacking skill and intelligence, no better than goblins. An axe beheaded the last of them as Shin stared down the demon priest behind the barrier. Giuseppe’s expression was bitter but held no fear.
“You can’t win. My lord will dispose of your pet and then your mind. I’ll make you pay dearly.”
Above them sword clashed against claw. Inari darted around, faster than the leathan but it was stronger and its strikes dangerous. The few wounds she managed to inflict healed by themselves quickly. She spat out golden tinted fire and the demon responded with blackish flame. The two clashed, each trying to devour the other before extinguishing to nothing.
“I will feast upon you, cur.” The leathan spoke with grim intensity.
Inari held still for a moment, standing down her foe. Holy flame shone within her swords as she spat grayish blue flames. The demon swiped out dark flames again, but the trickfire snaked around it and wrapped around its face. The leathan tore at the unburning flame as he soared to the sky. But a white flash followed like lightning, and with a golden slash, severed its arm and another cutting deep across its torso.
The leathan tore off the blue fire and leapt back, celestial fire lingering on its bloodless injuries. It glared at Inari before the space around it distorted and the demon vanished.
“No…” Giuseppe stared in disbelief as his patron lord fled.
The crystal orb shattered along with the barrier and Shin slammed a mace into the stomach of the priest. The demon priest vomited blood, squirming into a grovel on the ground. Inari appeared by Shin’s side and raised her sword but paused and looked at Shin who stored his weapons.
“W-wait… I didn’t kill her… truly…” Giuseppe pleading between spats of blood. His injury wouldn’t kill him quickly but it was debilitating to say the least.
Shin looked at the man. “Can you do the black fire skill?”
“Infernal Fire… yes….”
“Tier and level.”
“...uncommon… 8.”
Shin lingers then walks at a distance in front of the priest, equipping a wooden shield and casting a holy screen in front. “Cast it at the yellow square.”
Giuseppe hesitated for a few moments, before raising a hand and shooting dark flames as Shin commanded. The flames were stronger than the spiccan’s, breaking through the screen and crashing against the shield. Shin discarded it immediately, avoiding even a single ember reaching his body.
[Holy Screen has reached lvl. 6]
He equipped another wooden shield and cast another holy screen. “Again.” Giuseppe coughed and did has told, to the same result.
“I’m… I’m out of mana.” The priest said after the second, and then froze upon looking at Shin’s eyes.
“I-I can recover! I have a skill!” He groaned, his desperate urgency worsening his wounds. “Steal mana from targets…”
“Wait here.” Shin told Inari and sprinted off.
He returned within minutes, dumping amputated monsters in front of Giuseppe. The demon priest did not need to be told, grabbing the skull of a goblin, blue mana swirling up from his hand and into his arm. He did the same for the rest, sweat and tired eyes his reward along with the mana. Shin cast a holy screen and Giuseppe did not need to be told for that either.
[Holy Screen has reached lvl. 7]
Shin walked over to Giuseppe without warning, and pulled him over to a tree, tying up his arms and legs to it. He drew a talisman and activated it for Giuseppe to see the flames and stuck a half dozen onto his face and body, then clenched open the priests mouth and poured a healing potion in before walking over to the opposite side of the clearing and taking a seat facing him, falling into meditation. Giuseppe stared at the madman and then the white masked summon before falling himself into desperate contemplation.