“How can something be so gross. It wasn’t attractive in its human form, but now it looks like J**ba the H*t in mucus form or something.” Alex criticised.
“I would agree with you there,” Zeltis answered Alex’s thoughts with telepathy. “I’m surprised something this ugly is actually a knight class demon.”
“Wow, really, but it doesn’t seem to move much,” Alex said.
Zeltis had taken over as soon as Alex had gone to sleep and they had left on the motorcycle, arriving at a landfill. The fat caretaker had come out soon after and Zeltis had started throwing spells at him. The spells either bounced off or fizzled out when they hit the man. With a gurgle the man had then transformed into the greenish slug-like form they saw now.
“If he is resistant to spells I’ll have to use more physical means,” Zeltis said. And with a flick of his wrist, an ice sword formed in his hand.
Zeltis rushed toward the slow moving glob and hit the thing on the head. Like jello the blob jiggled and shook as the sword bounced off.
“I want to hurl, that thing smells worse than it looks,” Alex complained.
Suddenly a whip-like tentacle slashed out from the demonic slime and slammed into Zeltis’ side. Zeltis flew and crashed into a nearby car breaking through the windshield.
Zeltis sucked in air as he hissed and Alex cringed as the jagged bits of glass sliced bits of skin. Zeltis gingerly got back up, glaring at the blob who now looked looked like some kind of slime octopus with many waving tentacles.
“It doesn’t seem to have a long range attack but it’s defense is no joke,” Zeltis commented.
“It also isn’t talking like the others, is it not sentient, or is it unable to talk in that form?” Alex wondered.
Zeltis took a moment to observe the enemy who wiggled around without moving forward.
“Ha, who knows, it could be either or both. I don’t care. I do care that my attacks don't seem to be doing much to it,” Zeltis said.
Zeltis jumped forward, to stab the creature in hopes that a piercing attack would work better than a slash. As soon as he got close he had to block the incoming tentacles that came at him from all sides.
Growling in frustration, Zeltis lunged and ducked under and over the waving bits of slime. But had to jump back when the mucus-like substance landed on him, burning through his clothing and skin like acid.
“Well, dammit. It’s more troublesome than it should be at knight level,” Zeltis said. He jumped back out of reach of the slimy tentacles.
Zeltis turned suddenly.
“What’s up?” Alex asked.
Zeltis had sensed a presence and now the exorcist from before landed not far away..
“You have got to be kidding me!” Zeltis yelled.
“That hurt! I know you're frustrated, but take it easy on me. The smell alone is giving me a headache.” Alex whined.
Without a word the exorcist drew his sword and jumped into the waving tentacles. He managed to get in close enough to stab it once and jump back before the tentacles could hit him.
“Wow he managed to hit that thing, maybe he will ignore us?” Alex asked.
“I doubt he will ignore us and you sounded way too impressed that he hit it once. I’m sure I can do that much as well,” Zeltis said, a little petulant.
The exorcist, Lei Ling, jumped back after missing his second attempt. He turned toward Zeltis and his eyes widened a moment. He moved closer and pointed his sword at Zeltis.
“You must be a demon as well. No human has such strange red eyes,” the young man said in a heavy accent.
“Why didn’t you change your eyes when you disguised my face?” Alex butted in.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“The red eyes refuse to be hidden so it was the only thing I couldn’t change. Please don’t interrupt.”
“Indeed I’m a demon, but we obviously share an enemy,” Zeltis said. He leaned on the ice sword like a cane, appearing nonchalant as he pointed at the tentacled slime with a finger.
The young man’s eyed narrowed and he put the sword to Zeltis’ neck. “Are you suggesting we defeat that demon together? How could I trust another demon? The moment I’m distracted you could stab me in the back.”
Zeltis leaned back and used his hand to push the sword to the side. “If we attack while flanking you’ll always be able to keep me in sight and we’ll be able to quickly finish the demon.”
“I see, but do you expect me to let you go afterwards; you still haven’t told me who you are.”
“You haven’t told me your name either,” Zeltis pointed out.
“Don’t we already know his name?”
“Of course but he doesn’t need to know that,” Zeltis growled.
“I’m Zeltis and after we defeat that demon, then we can battle. If I win you let me go, if you win you’ll have a victory over a demon.”
“I’m Lei ling,” the young man answered.
“It started moving toward you two!” Alex interrupted.
Zeltis immediately turned to face the slime demon that was sliding forward. It would be in range in a few moments despite its slow progress.
Seeing Zeltis move back, Lei Ling also moved back, still looking a little unsure.
They landed on stacks of garbage out of range of the demon, but close enough they could still engage each other. Lei Ling stared back and forth between Zeltis and the slime demon before nodding.
“That thing is the larger danger at the moment so I’ll agree to fight together for now. But the moment it’s down we’ll fight,” Lei Ling said in his stilted accent.
Zeltis nodded and they both jumped down toward the slime with swords drawn. Zeltis took the right side and Lei Ling took the left. With them attacking together it split the creature’s focus. They both landed a solid stab on the creature, jumping back before the tentacles could overwhelm them.
They jumped in and both got a few hits, but the tentacles were getting faster. The two got hit several times before they could jump out again.
After struggling against the slime for more than an hour Zeltis was sweating and covered in blood stains. At least his wounds healed quickly.
The exorcist wasn’t so lucky. Lei Ling was gasping. His wounds, continued to bleed, mixing with the sweat that streamed down his body.
With the next attack Zeltis focused on one of the tentacles, slicing it repeatedly.
The slimy tentacle fell with a splat on the ground, continuing to wiggle even after it was cut off. Zeltis frowned and noticed Alex cringe in disgust.
Lei ling saw Zeltis’ success and on the next run they both managed to cut off a tentacle each.
The disgusting sounds the slime made were a strange background to the battle. The two hunters heavy breathing added to the noise as they cut off tentacles one after another.
Finally they had sliced off all the tentacles and the slime demon glared at them balefully. With a nod the two jumped in together and continued to slash and stab at the creature.
It began to blubber and gurgle at them in obvious pain, its eyes rolling and jumping between them.
Every time a small protrusion started to pop out the two hunters would slice it off, and continue stabbing and slashing.
The demon was becoming weaker and Lei Ling was keeping it busy, so Zeltis reached out with his hand.
The slippery green goo burned as soon as his hand made contact but he grit his teeth and concentrated. Soon the yoki was flowing into him.
Lei Ling was too busy fending off the growing tentacles to be able to do anything. Despite the distraction the slime continued to attack Zeltis. Zeltis had to use one hand covered in ice to keep the tentacles away as he absorbed the yoki.
The growths slowed down until they stopped altogether, and the slime disintegrated. With a thud the limp human fell to the ground.
Lei ling immediately turned toward Zeltis.
Zeltis grinned as he gripped his burned hand that was slowly healing. He jumped back atop one of the piles of garbage.
“Wait, you agreed to battle me!” Lei ling said breathlessly, his legs shaking a bit.
“Do you think you could beat me in your condition?” Zeltis gave a little salute and jumped away as Lei Ling tried to follow, but collapsed.
“Didn't you say demon's can't lie?"
Zeltis shrugged, "I said we can fight not that we would, so I didn't actually lie."
"That wasn’t exactly sporting to run away like that. But I’m glad you didn’t kill him,” Alex said.
Zeltis ran towards the bike they had left not too far away. “Despite my healing I’m probably more exhausted than him. He might have been able to defeat me if I stuck around. It actually takes a lot of my energy to heal.”
“Really? I had no idea. I’m also surprised you would admit your weakness like that.”
Zeltis grinned sardonically and started the bike before zooming away.
Zeltis didn’t know either why he revealed that. The boy was growing on him. He couldn’t believe he could become so fond of a human. He had to laugh at that and he could feel Alex’s curiosity through their bond.
Zeltis couldn’t let himself be distracted. He needed a lot of Yoki if he wanted to get revenge. He was still a long way away from his father’s level of power. Playing it safe with these weaker demon’s wasn’t going to give him the power he needed fast enough.
While he was here, his father most likely continued to gather power as well. It was faster and easier to gather it here since the demon’s powers were so limited in this realm. But at this rate he would never even catch up, nevertheless surpass his father. He had to start battling stronger opponents. Still, if a Knight could give him so much trouble; he wondered whether he could fight a duke, count, or even a baron.