“WHY. WON’T. YOU. BURN!?” Ice met fire once more, but the ice held strong and even pushed the fire back.
“RAH!!!” Brawn face brain, and it was led around by the nose by a graceful flowing dance.
“Die already!”
“I should be the one saying that, you multi-sectioned fucker!”
And while my two [Party Members] showed off by clowning on the adversary that was meant to have the upper hand on them, I was left fumbling with the insect-dog hybrid, who would have pinched me in half by its scary mandibles already if I couldn’t summon poor [Aurumons] to stand in its way for me.
Thankfully, I had dull awareness at all times of my [World Within] even when I wasn’t concentrating on it, so I could summon the correct form every time on the fly. Unfortunately, I had to use a couple of sacrificial pawns to learn that even a [Tier 3] wasn’t safe from those pincers, and agility combined with crushing force was the way to go.
I don’t even want to mention how this fucker is using its long body as mobile protection from my [Turrets] for the other two, putting itself in the way of their projectiles.
An explosion of steam came from one side of the cave, and I used it as a distraction to regain a bit of distance after the last luge from the [Centipug]. The steam, of course, was the [Cupernal] trying to breathe fire at Sheeno again, who responded again by erecting a wall of ice between them to take the brunt of the attack.
I didn’t even have the time to complain about the humidity before the steam was taken over by Undine, who pressurized and then launched it at her hairy pursuer, and by the resulting screams I think the steam must have been boiling hot. It was a shame that the brute had the forethought to shield itself with a [Kinetic Shield], which protected it from most of it bar the heat.
The distraction of observing my companions almost cost me when my [Demon] lunged once more, using most of its body like a spring to propel its front half in any desired direction, its mouth already drooling poison.
Thankfully, a lightly armored [Aurumon] with an oversized hammer dashed from the side and smashed it in the side of the head, earning itself a pain-filled screech and a new crack in the stupidly sturdy carapace.
Long story short, we were being pushed, but not beyond our limits.
I say that while fleeing for my life.
I throw out a bunch more of these new [Bouncing Mana Sphere] with a touch of homing. They predictably harmlessly bounce off the hard exoskeleton, but then successfully rebound against the other two [Demons], without enough strength to really harm them, but still with enough oomph to at least make them stumble. Since they’re both physical fighters, that moment of error creates chances for Sheeno and Undine to capitulate on.
A sweep of the leg quickly followed by a Sparta-kick to the still airborne red-dude sends him flying against my armored pursuer, who flinches at the contact with the hot body. At the same time the hairy dude gets flung backwards by a sudden stream of silvery water, and it too bunches off the ugly one, although to a lesser effect than the other one.
Still, the effect compounds, and the [Centipug] takes its time to turn around and hiss at its companions, which is when I capitulate on my own chance: Every [Turret] on the ceiling gets overcharged and shoots at the same time, some even overloading beyond the breaking point and breaking down soon after.
The attacks are both sudden and stronger than anything we had thrown at them up until now, which finally manages to catch them off-guard and harm them all significantly.
The red guy gets an entire arm cut off, the hairy one loses a foot, and mine loses a few meters of length. Overall, this puts us finally in an advantageous position, and both my companions didn’t stay put during it all, so the enemy sported multiple cuts and frozen patches beyond what my [Turrets] did to them. Of, course, they didn’t stay still and take it, but there was little they could do to defend themselves from a 360 attack, especially since none of them seemed to be particularly versed in defense and the like.
Then it was the [Aurumon]’s turn to jump, but as soon as their hammers, fists, and other weapons, started to reach the [Demons], another black portal materialized above us, the spatial distortion it caused strong enough to destroy most of the [constructs] on the ceiling and force me to unsummon my golden dudes before they got torn apart.
Out of the new portal walked a weird quadruped- ah, it’s some kind of Chimera. But instead of being a mix of lion, goat, and snake, this one was a mix of puma, raven, and scorpion, specifically with the head of the black feline, the wings and claws of the bird, and the tail of the insect.
“You’re all so useless. You couldn’t even take care of the three mortals that intruded on our farm, only a day before it was ready to burst. The master will not be happy”, it said while nonchalantly stepping over its still-prone comrades, its tone uncaring and with a surprisingly heavy cadence.
It observed us briefly before scoffing, its cat-like face perfectly suited to display the smug look of superiority it threw us.
“So, these are the child, the woman, and the barbarian we were meant to be on the lookout for? I must say they look utterly unimpressive, which makes your defeat all the more shameful, really.”
What was up with this bastard and its continuous demeaning of everyone else around it?
But before addressing that I had something more important that I felt the need to address.
“Hey, who are you calling a ‘child’, you creep! You come out only when the fight is almost over and you have the audacity to talk down those that were actually doing a damn. You’re the only useless, furball!”
The new [Demon] shot me a glare and curled its upper lip in a snarl.
“Courting death, worm?” It sarcastically asked with barely contained fury, and I wasn’t sure if it was more angry that I was pointing out something that stung, or the simple audacity of me talking smack back.
Not that I cared, since I used the distraction to use my gaze on him.
Name:
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Gara’aq
Classification:
High Demon
Affinity:
Void; Dark; Poison; Air
Danger:
Extremely High
Behavior:
Territorial; Haughty; Leader; Hostile
Info:
A natural-born gryphonic creature of the [Void], it’s mostly known for its deadly poison and slicing claws. Gifted with a natural agility in both air and land, it uses quick in-and-out tactics to tire its opponent until they open up to a deadly blow.
It hunts exclusively at night, given that its flesh is weakened by strong lights, and prioritizes snuffing out sources of light in its proximity to enhance its stealth.
And it was my turn to grin viciously at him.
“Maybe, but I definitely won’t die by the hand- or claw, rather- of an anorexic, mangy cat with an identity crisis”, time to turn my battiness to 100 and enrage him as much as possible.
All for the purpose of making time for someone else to charge up.
“How dare you describe my graceful form, gifted from the [Void], with such inaccurate ridicule? You, flesh-bag?” It started hissing when talking, telling me that my actions were having an effect.
Though… it was almost too eager to talk, meaning that he also needed the time for something. [Gaze of the Abyss] clued me in when it made me notice a weird mana pattern around it legs, and only then I noticed that the claws that I had just mentioned had slightly sunk into the darkness beneath them.
It thought it was sneaky by readying something like a ‘shadow-jump’, but, unfortunately for it, that would only aid me in harming him further if I timed things right.
Also, there was the troubling implication that the [Void] was possibly conscious, so I should probably look a bit more closely at that cut-off tentacle that was left behind in my [World Within] by [Incongruous Sources].
No worries.
“Strong words, flea-bag, but your subordinates barely put a scratch on us, so I think that you joining in only when we were about to deal the last hit displays a lack of tactical acumen and courage”, for emphasis I made the remaining [turrets] on the ceiling cock their disks, even though they didn’t have to, only to have it listen to the sound as a reminder that I could theoretically attack him faster than he could me.
“You dare question me-!?” That almost did it, the [Demon] finally shouting in open fury, but I knew I could do better.
“I’m straight up saying that you’re a dumbass and got no balls, bucko!” For something without reproductive organs, it probably shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, but my words were enough to make it roar and charge at me, with its lackeys picking themselves from their cramped pile to chase after his attack.
The panther-crow-scorpion hybrid took its second step, only for to plunge through the shaded stone at its feet without a ripple.
With a smile almost painfully wide I snipped the finger of my free hand for pure scenic purpose, and [Kenny] materialized above us all.
Dark became light and black became white; the moment my [lantern familiar] was summoned it blasted a 360 light so strong that it could work as an artificial sun.
Thank forethought for making us make a discreet hand signal for what I had dubbed the ‘flashbang strat’, because, otherwise, I wouldn’t have had time to signal my companions at a time when my full focus was on springing this trap with the right timing and without blinding them.
Not that it ended up being strictly necessary, since I discovered that we didn’t seem to be affected negatively by [Kenny]’s light, despite the intensity.
For once, everything went according to plan: The lesser [Demons] stumbled over each other once blinded, making them easy picking for both Sheeno and Undine at range, while the prissy panther got catapulted out of the missing shadow at impressive speed, all while yowling and with most of its fur replaced with nasty burn-scars that were visibly expanding as it remained exposed to the light.
“May the [Void] consume you, accursed bringer of light!” Gara-something roared at some point, but the only response it got was the rays targeting it increasing in intensity.
“Seems [Kenny] didn’t like that comment very much.”
Mentally, it sent over a quick confirmation, before it started blasting the griffin/chimera even harder.
Meanwhile I kept summoning [Turrets] that immediately started shooting at our 4 defenseless enemies, together with my allies that kept the ranged pressure going.
The flame dude threw fire a couple of times, but it was among the most reliant on sight, so its attacks always went wide, the furball and the insect ended up being the first to fall, mostly due to previous injuries, but also because we weren’t holding back any aces anymore, and the humbled haughty freak di get some hits in, but nothing that actually could get past my [barriers], mostly rays of darkness that were pitifully weak once they got in range to strike us, wind blades that I had no problem defending against, and a few shots of poison from its tail that were only good at putting holes in the walls and ground.
And… so we killed them.
Pretty anticlimactic, if you asked me, but I could take an easy win once in a while.
Then it was time for the long-awaited screens-
You defeated 3 [Demons] and 1 [High Demon]
You [Leveled Up]
[Theomancer] can now be promoted
You cleared [Nefarious Hole] during a [Dungeon Break]: You can now close the [Dungeon], if you so wish
+2 [Level Up] awaiting promotion
+ [Kenny the lantern] evolved into [Kenny the light-bringer]
Kenny, the light-bringer
(Spell; familiar; Overflowing Adaptability)
Summon a magical lantern familiar, armed with two resizable claws, capable of emitting a controllable amount of many forms of light from any of its faces, and able to sustain itself on ambient Mana.
Durability of its body, and potency of its light, depend on the maximum quantity of [MPs] of the summoner and can be actively boosted by feeding it Mana beyond the passive consumption it needs.
Affinity of the emitted light can be chosen at will.
All was well and good.
But what the fuck is a [promotion]?