Chapter 112 - Shoe Drop

As soon as Xinnolath raised his decrepit head and smiled, Jack instinctively launched himself backwards. Black spikes began erupting out of the ground forcing Jack even further back. Everyone stumbled as the demon’s assault continued with dangerous volley’s of black spikes shooting upwards from the ground.

They were quickly pushed off the main battleground and away from Xinnolath’s body, standing back in the bloody pool that filled the cavern.

Screams filled the entire room as Jack looked back to find new demons erupting from the ground with reckless abandon and latching on to unwitting and unprepared soldiers. Some were able to fend off the surprise attack, others were dragged into the bloody waters below, a dark cloud of blood punctuating their death.

Jack launched himself at one of the marbled demons that had risen from the black and bloody waters. His daggers ripped it to shreds, only for the demon to collapse into a pool of blood, rejoining the waters it formed from.

Everyone quickly fell into action as they rebuilt a counteroffensive. Gideon’s flames had all but encased his body, hardening into golden scales and clawed hands. He slammed a foot into the ground and consecrated flames burned away at the lake of blood enveloping the army.

“On Gideon” Devin commanded over the chaos and the soldiers of the U.F.E. all collapsed onto the spot of relative safety Gideon had created.

Sarah quickly followed suit, sending a spell into the air that formed clouds at the cavern's peak which poured down refreshing rains on everyone below. As the drops of water fell into the blood it created a satisfying sizzle, pushing it further away as her healing rains contended with the corrupted blood.

The U.F.E. quickly fell into step, forming a large circle around Gideon’s consecrated grounds and creating a defensive perimeter of warriors at the front with a range of combatants including mages, archers, and healers, a core of combatants at the center lobbing out spells at the now surrounding demons.

Once the initial panic had settled, the tides turned rather quickly. Jack was launching in and out of formation, eviscerating multiple demons every time he pushed into the bloody waters. Flaming arrows rained down all around him as Hannah kept a close eye on his flank. Jack was determined - there were no two ways about it, he was going to catch up to Xinnolath.

The demon king would appear outside of the circle, launch a barrage of black spikes that erupted out of the ground, lash out with his claws, and then quickly sink back into the blood only to reappear at the other side of the circle with the same attack.

Jack bit down in elated frustration as he finally landed an attack on the demon, landing two daggers in its back as it launched another volley of attacks on the defensive line. The demon simply collapsed into the blood, disappearing completely.

Jack pushed back into the defensive line, moving towards the center of the circle where Devin and Gideon stood, closely studying the battlefield and sending out support troops or commands for retreat where necessary.

“This isn’t working. I’m not sure if we are winning or losing here.” Jack complained, stepping up to the group. He noticed Rodeo also standing beside the two, a curious look in his eyes as he watched the battle unfold. He looked as though he had no intention of helping one way or another.

“I agree,” Devin nodded, “any ideas Gideon?”

The dragon had his eyes trained on the outskirts of the battle, tracking Xinnolath as he disappeared and reappeared. Gauging the pattern and interval of attacks, Gideon could now send a volley of fire perfectly timed to interrupt any attack that might follow.

“The main body,” Gideon said between blasts of golden flames. Everyone turned to look at where the demon had been sitting on his throne. It was now surrounded by a bamboo forest of black iron spikes jutting out of the ground.

“He seemed awfully defensive of his body, I say destroying that should be our first priority,” he finished.

Devins’ blade immediately started glowing as he readied an attack, his eyes trained on cutting a path through the spikes.

At the same time Xinnolath reappeared, erupting out of the bloody waters twice as large as before and lashing out with his claws, gouging out a hole in the defensive line of soldiers. The giant demon collapsed into a pool of blood that spilled out into the circle, drowning out Gideon’s consecration and rolling out the red carpet for yet another horror.

The UFE had sustained heavy losses now, several soldiers who had succumbed to the initial volley of attacks from the demon resurfaced from the depths with a vengeance. Corpses rose from the murky depths, their bodies warped and broken into a demonic shape. Blood red horns erupted from their skulls and their jaws unhinged and tore at their cheeks as they let out screams of terror. The corrupted corpses of the U.F.E. soldiers quickly ran into the opening Xinnolath had created in the defensive line, throwing themselves into the middle of the circle with reckless abandon.

The U.F.E. were quick on the uptake, quickly reforming the defensive line and raining down their own turn of attacks that ensured the corrupted corpses posed no threat—but none of that mattered. As soon as the bodies of the corrupted corpses were brought down, they exploded, unleashing a torrent of blood, bone, and black spikes on anyone unlucky enough to be standing near them.

“Get to Xinolath, I’ll stay here!” Gideon screamed, slamming his fist into the ground once more and reapplying the consecrated grounds, purging any of the blood that had seeped past the defensive lines.

“Soldiers! Open a path!” Devin roared among the chaos. The defensive line in front of him opened up, giving him a clear shot of the isle of blackened spikes that Xinnolath nested inside of. His blade was glowing with a white-hot energy and he launched forward with a powerful thrust. Magic energy shot out of his blade as a giant sword materialized and stabbed into the forest of black spikes, cutting through them with ease.

Following the attack, two large soldiers immediately pushed forward. One Jack recognized as Hank, the large soldier that Sam had been working with. He carried a sword and tower shield nearly as big as himself. Next to him was a soldier just as big, one Jack didn’t recognize. The shield he carried was much the same as Hank’s, but he favored a hammer over a sword. Together the two of them formed an unstoppable force that charged forward, trampling over any demons that spawned on the now cleared path.

“Hannah!” Jack yelled, pointing towards the path Devin had carved out for them. She quickly put two and two together, launching shots of her own down the path, over the shoulders of the charging warriors and biting out chunks of the black iron spikes as each of her arrows found explosive purchase.

Jack, Devin, and Hannah pushed their way towards Xinnolath’s body. Jack was loading shots into his flintlock and shooting out blasts of Gideon's golden flame into the spikes, blowing them away. Devin continued with his powerful slashes and Hannah kept up an endless parade of charged shots. Jack didn’t realize she had so much mana.

The two soldiers protecting them blocked, deflected, and trampled anything that dared impede their path. More spikes began jutting out of the ground in response to their aggressive assault, so much so that the path behind them had been cut off completely.

It didn’t matter though. Xinnolath’s defense seemed to grow more and more frantic the closer they pushed towards his throne. Demons soon joined the assault of black spikes, popping up from the ground and lashing out at the group in a kamikaze style attack. This only served to push the group harder. Collectively they knew the demon dispensing with strategy and falling into a frantic frenzy meant they had the momentum and the right target. Xinnolath did not want them to reach his throne. Jack grinned fueled by that conviction.

“We're getting close! Jericho, break through!” Devin screamed.

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Jericho, the aptly named massive warrior adjacent Hank, immediately dawned a red hue as he let his mana envelop his entire body. He held his shield steadfast in front of him and let loose a powerful roar that sent out a small shockwave. As the shockwave hit Jack he immediately became renewed with energy that rampaged excitedly inside of him. He barely held on to the drops of mana in his core as even they seemed excited by the sudden surge.

Jericho wasn’t done yet. The red mana that enveloped his body coalesced at the front of his shield, taking the shape of a giant bull’s head. Jericho let loose another powerful roar and then stepped forward, launching himself into the field of black spikes, obliterating anything that stood in his path. The ground behind him was charred black and smoldering as the unstoppable force crashed forward. Jack watched as Jericho not only cleared a path, but slammed into the body of Xinnolath, shattering the throne he sat upon into a thousand tiny pieces, and slamming the demon between him and the cavern wall behind. He quickly moved aside, leaving the demon’s body smashed into the wall. Several arrows quickly came sailing in from behind, all Hannah’s, and all charged to max capacity. The demon’s body was peppered with an unyielding volley of explosive arrows as Devin charged up his next attack.

Devin’s sword glowed white hot as he pumped an impressive amount of power into the attack, veins strained in his forehead as he struggled against the power building up in his blade. Jack watched as the man poured everything he had into this final attack. As soon as Hannah’s volley relented, he thrust his forward. Much as before a giant sword appeared slamming into Xinnolath’s body and stabbing into the cave wall. The cavern rumbled, sending rocks and debris flying down from above as the whole room threatened to collapse.

The room rumbled for a moment longer, and then grew quiet. The constant assault of demons and black spikes had stopped. Jack watched as the surrounding forest of black spikes that had erupted from the ground cracked and shattered, falling to the ground in a million tiny pieces. He looked back at the defensive circle, unmolested by demonic attack. The soldiers held formation, but nothing rose out of the bloody waters to attack them anymore.

Jack looked back at where they had launched their own assault on Xinnolath. He stepped closer, focusing on a drop of mana as he prepared to launch his own attack on whatever remained. He had been careful not to immediately blow his load, expecting some sort of dumbass Tower bullshit to happen. Hank’s sword and shield were glowing a dangerous blue as he joined Jack to poke through the rubble.

“Please tell me one of you got a kill notification,” he asked the group. No one responded.

He quickly opened his quest log and checked his quests. It was still incomplete.

“Let’s regroup with the others,” Devin said, polishing off a mana potion as he moved back towards the group.

“I don’t like this,” Hannah mumbled from behind Jack. He couldn’t help but agree with her. Despite a third of their army being killed, this was obviously far easier than it should’ve been.

As the strike team made their way back, they were quickly halted by bodies falling out of the sky.

Heaps of the shining silver U.F.E. armor crashed into the waters in front of them, the bodies inside looking more like mummies than actual bodies. Everyone looked up to the top of the cavern.

A blood red demon floated above them, exsanguinating one body after another, and casually throwing the corpses to the ground.

Jack stared at what he could only assume was a fully restored Xinnolath. The demon was no longer the emaciated corpse that sat on the throne, drained of its power. This was the great demon Xinnolath, deadly power emanating around him.

His skin was much like the bloody, crimson waters they had been fighting in. It was marbled with a pitch-black void that seemed to move throughout his body, constantly changing patterns. The crown of horns that erupted out of his head was double in size, and a blood red orb floated in between them. His wings were fully restored, easily spanning dozens of feet in either direction. He had a linked tail that whipped back and forth behind him. His cloven feet dangled lazily in the air, and he continued digging through another corpse with taloned fingers, a dispassionate look on his face.

“Surely you didn’t think it would be so simple?” The demon spoke.

Several soldiers fell to their knees, covering their ears as the demon’s voice echoed loudly in their heads. Xinnolath’s voice had a chaotic melody to it that cut through the room like a knife. Each word sent a shiver of dread down even Jacks spine. He grit his teeth in defiance and tightened his grip on his daggers.

“Allow me to show you what I’m truly capable of.”

As Xinnolath spoke, the crimson waters began to boil and move, splashing back and forth as violent waves formed, crashing into each other with reckless abandon. More demons began to form out of the substance, but this time they felt more solid, more real than what previously attacked them. If the demons before were made out of watery blood, these demons were more gelatinous, lIke blood tainted with snake venom.

Jack watched as one demon turned into ten, then a hundred. Then the entirety of the room was packed. Several of the soldiers launched attacks, sending arrows and magic at the demons, but it did little good as they crashed to the ground only to reform again. Soon, none of the bloodied waters remained.

An army of demons surrounded the group.

“Now we can have ourselves a proper battle,” the demon chuckled in the air above. In response, all the demons below began to cackle and howl and scream, letting loose their own bloodlust as they started to swipe at the soldiers, eager to shed more blood.

Gideon made the first move.

He launched from the group of soldiers below, golden wings of flame batting hard as he flew towards Xinnolath, his giant scimitar in hand. He unleashed a devastating slash that launched a crescent flame towards the demon who quickly erected a barrier of blood. It easily fell to Gideon’s assault as he opened his mouth and let loose a roar of his own, a torrent of golden flames shooting out of his mouth directly at Xinnolath.

That was the only signal anyone needed as both sides threw themselves into the frenzy of battle. Jack still held firm on not using any of his mana drops. He would let Gideon figure out how to actually kill the asshole before he started storm-stepping people into the afterlife. Instead, he let loose the three mana drops in his core and let them crash around inside as he fell deep into storm stance. He cut through the surrounding demons in seconds, sending them crashing to the ground to reform elsewhere. He tried to get a sense on where their core was only to decide that they didn’t have one. Xinnolath seemed to be controlling them as puppets.

The fact that the demon was battling out with Gideon in the skies above while also manipulating an entire army was concerning, but Jack buried it down as he continued his onslaught, carving out his own path for the group to rejoin the surrounding soldiers.

One small mercy was this wasn’t the entirety of the U.F.E. forces. They were the forward party of elites. As Jack and his party rejoined the group, he noticed another front of the battle opening up. The entrance to the dungeon was being pushed in by the rest of the U.F.E. army and any other volunteers who had been waiting in the wings. Jack couldn’t decide if they were reinforcements or more lambs to slaughter.

“Make for the entrance! Retreat and regroup!” Devin commanded, mana empowering his voice to boom over the chaos of the battlefield.

Jack quickly worked his way to the center of the group where he found Sarah. She was leaning on her staff for support and panting heavily, her eyes focused intently on the battle above. Occasionally she would send a healing spell up into the fray towards Gideon, only to curse angrily as Xinnolath would either force the dragon out of the way or intercept it entirely.

“We’re retreating. Drink this.” Jack handed her a mana potion but she just knocked it away.

“Already had one. We can’t leave Gideon to fight that thing alone. You need to help him Jack,” she pleaded.

“I’m a land-dwelling mammal. Unless Gideon can bring that bird to the ground he’s shit out of luck,” Jack shrugged. Sarah gave him a frustrated look but nodded.

“I’ll start helping with the retreat. Promise me you’ll keep an eye on him?”

“The second I get a chance I’m joining that fight,” Jack grinned. That seemed to be enough to get Sarah moving, and she changed gears in an instant, urging people to move towards the gate as the battle pushed forward in attempts at a retreat. Jack helped defend the backlines, launching back out into the fray of demons and relieving pressure wherever he could by dropping half a dozen demons with every attack. He couldn’t help but hold back a smile as he loosened up. Under different circumstances he would be enjoying himself.

Hell. He was enjoying himself.

As the drops of mana rampaged inside his core, he moved like a storm and lashed out like lightning to anything and everything in sight. His grin only grew wider as the demons stopped approaching him, opting for easier targets. That wouldn’t be enough though. He hunted them down, launching himself deeper into the fray in an attempt to pull more attention to himself and away from the retreating group of soldiers.

He pushed so deep that he was surrounded on all sides by demons. He was unconcerned. One storm step and he would be gone from their sights. Until then, he would get his fill. Jack let the frenzy of the storm build to a crescendo inside of him as he lashed out like lightning at everything in sight.

And then he saw something that froze him in his steps.

Deep in the throws of the demonic army he came head-to-head with Rodeo.

The man stood there in his menacing black armor, arms crossed, an amused grin on his face as he met Jack's gaze. The surrounding demons were ignoring… no… protecting him.

“How about we stop this nonsense?” Rodeo’s gravely voice grated on Jack’s very soul. Finally, the other shoe had dropped.