Pom’s clumsily executed distraction seemed to work, and the demon dashed forward aggressively to chase after the young girl. Anthony seized the opportunity to help Elara by leaning her injured body against a nearby tree before rushing forward to grab the unbroken potion from the ground as he followed after Pom and the demon.

The tiny redhead girl was doomed to lose the foot race—her short legs could never hope to carry her as fast as the demon’s multitude of sharp, insectile spiked feet—but she cleverly used the forest to her advantage, weaving in and out between large trees as she continued to escape.

CRACK!

With an angry hiss escaping its mouth, the demon began hacking its bone axe into the surrounding foliage in an awkward attempt to kill Pom before she could dodge. For a few moments, the small girl managed to stay one step ahead of the demon; however, her luck soon ran out as a thick root caught her left foot, and she ended up sprawled out flat on her back, with the giant demon’s sharp blade raised up high above her.

“EEK!”

Pom crossed her hands above her head as the deadly axe blade crashed down on her body, instantly splitting her chest in two. The demon looked down in morbid satisfaction for a second until uncertainty replaced its expression when, instead of blood, pink slime began to drip from the girl—pooling back together into a single slime as her body reformed.

Anthony tried to take advantage of the demon’s momentary hesitation to hurl the potion bottle at the creature’s face. Unfortunately, the demon reacted in time, nimbly swatting the potion out of the air with its axe blade, breaking the vial and causing its contents to splash over the head of the weapon.

The young man looked on in horror as he realized that all he had managed to do was grant his enemy a flaming weapon. A sinister grin spread across the demon’s face as it began lowering the flaming blade toward Pom’s slimy pink form.

“NO!”

Anthony immediately dashed forward, but not before the flaming weapon pressed into the rubbery pink substance with a terrible hissing sound. A muffled scream escaped from the slime as a tremor of pain coursed through it.

Anthony began to panic, his face going pale as the image of Pom was instantly replaced in his mind by that of his dying mother, while the demon assumed the form of a monstrous ogre. The flashback caused the spinning light in Anthony’s mind to suddenly release an explosion of power, sending a terrible burning pain shooting through his entire body.

“S-Shit!”

Anthony stumbled forward holding one hand over his burning chest, he was forced to immediately focus all his attention on channeling energy into his new sword to prevent his insides from getting cooked—a task barely within the young man’s capabilities.

Thankfully he had experience with this before, and an instant later, the sleek black blade in his hand began to emit a radiant red glow, and a soft humming sound could be heard emanating from it, almost as if the sword were singing.

“Ah—Anthony! HELP!”

Pom tried to resume her human form and crawl away, but the vicious creature smashed down on her with its meaty fist, scattering her flesh once again before pressing the burning blade against her pink form with a cruel grin across it’s ugly face. The demon was obviously enjoying the prolonged torture of the young girl.

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Anthony’s eyes turned bloodshot as he let out an angry scream, rushing forward without sparing a thought for his own defense, he charged directly toward the demon with his blade held high. The creature finally turned its attention away from Pom, granting the tortured girl a brief reprieve as it glanced warily toward the menacing glowing blade in Anthony’s hand, just about to be swung toward it.

The demon leaned backward, raising its large bone axe to parry the incoming blow.

FWOOM!

The humming sound intensified as the two weapons collided, but the bone axe was no match for the empowered blade. The demon’s eyes shot open in disbelief, the creature was forced to watch helplessly while the glowing blade sliced directly through the heavy bone handle of his war axe.

“AAGHH!”

The sword did not stop there, biting deep into the demon’s shoulder with a bubbling, hissing cry—like hot metal being squelched in water. As the blade sank deeper into the creature’s flesh, its magical enhancement was quickly drained away. The glowing hum dissipated from the sword as its cutting power vanished, but the attack had done its job.

The demon was left with a nearly destroyed right arm and shoulder, screams of agony and spittle flying from his mouth as he stared at Anthony with blood red eyes. In a blind rage, the creature lunged forward with its remaining arm, catching Anthony by the neck and lifting the young man’s entire body off the ground.

Anthony nearly blacked out from the pressure on his neck, his feet kicking impotently in the empty air below him as he tried desperately to pull his sword from the demon's body. The demon ignored the pitiful struggle, opening its massive maw as it moved forward to bite into Anthony’s neck.

Fwooosh! THUNK!

Anthony’s eyes shot open in relief at the last moment when an arrow came crashing down from the nearby leafy canopy, piercing through the demon's skull and sinking deep into the creature's brain, killing it immediately.

As the demon’s large body went limp, Anthony was dropped to the ground, gripping his sore neck with a pained grimace covering his face, he looked up and saw Belle’s figure falling out of the tree beside him. The elf hit the ground before quickly dashing forward with great haste to assist Edgar.

The mercenary leader had been enduring the non-stop onslaught of the powerful Refined realm demon matriarch this entire time. Edgar’s pristine leather armor was now thoroughly marked with the evidence of every strike that passed within centimeters of his skin—many lacerations in the leather leading right down into his flesh, as trickles of red blood tripped down from inside them.

A knowing grin tugged at the corner of Edgar’s lips as he saw Belle falling into position behind him. The mercenary leader quickly wiped his sleeve across his sweaty forehead and took a deep breath before he finally began his counterattack.

A second blast of power radiated from Edgar’s form as he began to almost dance forward with each swirling strike of his blade. The demon matriarch attempted to interrupt his combo, but she was forced back by one glowing red arrow after another.

“Belle!”

At Edgar’s shout, Belle’s face took on a strained expression as the string of her bow seemed to suddenly grow heavier. With a burst of effort, Belle forced the string back fully as she released a final arrow that split the air with tremendous speed and force. The arrow carried so much power that, even though it was blocked, it caused the demon matriarch to stumble backward half a step from the force, breaking her stance for just a moment.

Belle’s attack lined up perfectly with the final strike of Edgar’s combo. At the exact instant the arrow knocked the demon off guard, Edgar stabbed forward with his most potent killing blow.

The mercenary leader's body seemed to ripple with waves of invisible energy as his speed suddenly increased. He flickered forward, passed the demon's broken guard, and sunk his sword deep into Katukla’s beating heart.

The powerful demon looked down in disbelief at the sword sticking out of her chest, her arms dropping weakly to her sides as a wave of black blood flooded out from her mouth.

“Go and tell your gods to stay the hell away from my people!”

As he spoke those words, Edgar ripped his blade out of Katukla’s chest, spinning around nimbly as the demon began collapsing toward the floor. Edgar's backswing perfectly caught the falling neck of Katukla, removing the demon's head from her body in one swift motion.