"Fucking gross." I muttered as I wiped myself down as best I could. I was covered in blood and guts, so there wasn't really a whole lot I could do to clean up.
The part of the cave system we had recently entered opened up quite a bit. There were narrow tunnels connected to the more rounded and open area we now found ourselves in. There were even more creatures of different varieties than I cared to see coming out of the tunnel ahead of us.
I was up front, happily slaughtering more wolves, as well as a couple of these weird bipedal goat like creatures, when a giant fucking black and red spider the size of a medium sized dog leapt at me from the shadows. I hated spiders with a burning passion, and I hated this one even more as I didn't even sense nor hear it near me until it had leapt at me. I had punched out at it, and when my electric coated fist met the fucker, its body just exploded from the impact, and green and black fluids shot out.
Liz looked like she was going to throw up.
"I hate spiders. I hate spiders. I hate spiders." She mumbled, repeating herself and shivering.
I did not disagree with her there. Spiders were fucking disgusting, and being covered in their insides was definitely not a great feeling either. I sent comforting feelings through our bond, but since I was also not comfortable with spiders myself, let alone these super sized fuckers, it was not as effective as it could have been. I was currently facing off against more demons, so I wasn't able to physically comfort her like I wanted to.
In front of me were more of the bipedal goat demons, about 6 of them, and they looked exactly like I described them, perhaps more ram like in terms of their heads and horns. The horns were thick, massive fucking things coming out of the sides of their heads. They had the same black fur that seemed to be the theme with these demons, complete with glowing red eyes filled with madness. They stood about as tall as I did, perhaps even taller. The fuckers were drooling, and plumes of flames came out of their noses with each huff of breath.
Then, in a matter of moments, I was terrified, relieved, and damn near laughing all in the span of a few seconds. Some fucking how, Nadia was right behind the ugly bastards.
"You all smell like shit." She said from behind them, plugging her nose and fanning the air around her face with her hand.
Obviously, I was terrified for my kitsune's safety, until I realized that what I was looking at was an illusion. The mana coming off of it was barely visible. I looked back, and my heart started beating again when I saw her safe and sound a little bit behind me. She was definitely distracting them all right, even at the cost of my cardiac health. She actually had a cheeky grin on her face, which was fucking adorable, by the way.
The goat demons turned around as one, and snarled as they rushed at the illusion. Here's where the funny part comes in, as these dumb motherfuckers pretty much ran into each other and became entangled in each other's limbs. One of them even got gored through the arm as a result of their crash. Okay, I actually did chuckle. Of course my beautiful fox would fuck with literal demons. The distraction wasn't exactly needed, but I wasn't going to complain about the results. Nadia was helping in her own way just like she said she would.
I concentrated power into both of my hands. I wanted to try something a little new here, and when I imagined what I wanted to do, my power got to work in making it happen. The power gathering in my hands elongated in two separate directions, almost to about a yard in length. In only a second or two, I was now wielding two long ass lightning spears, and that made me grin. Again, I just knew I could do stuff like this, even though I didn't truly understand how. Still...
"Fucking neat." I said in an excited tone.
I felt like motherfucking Zeus as I brought my right arm back before chucking the spear at great speed. It flew like a missle, and when it hit the first of my targets, the demon exploded like dropping a watermelon off of a hotel roof. Another spear formed in that hand almost instantly as I repeated the process with my other arm. I felt like an elemental ballista as I threw each spear with pinpoint accuracy, and each throw ended with an admittedly cool explosion of electricity, blood, and guts.
Rya had decided to forego her fire, as she had tried it, and yeah, it didn't do a whole lot. Her fists were a different story entirely though, and each punch she threw at a beast ended in shattered bones and a gruesome death. The fact that I took one of those punches directly to the face at one point actually gave me the shivers. She must have been holding back, or I was just that damn strong, because good fucking god that looks like a horrible way to go.
Liz was doing her job well. Rya was taking small scratches here and there, but she was being healed immediately afterwards. Liz's magic had gotten much stronger ever since our bond was established, and from that bond I could feel how much stronger it was. Her capabilities had increased dramatically, as well as how effective her healing was at range.
"SHIT!" Nadia yelled from out of sight, and when I snapped my gaze to her, I saw her shoot an orange and red stream of fire out of her left palm at a spider that had snuck up on her.
I was about to rush over to her, but then I noticed that the spider actually melted into a gooey mess almost immediately.
"Wow... Note to self. Never upset my fox. Got it." I muttered to myself, and then gave Nadia a thumbs up. She smiled sweetly at me.
I turned back around as I felt a stronger presence drawing near. A pair of glowing red eyes approached from the darkness, but from how high up they were, I could see that whatever it was had to be at least 10 feet tall. Once it began visible only a few moments later, I blinked.
It was another one of these goat looking bastards, only much taller, and much more muscular. Not only that, but its eyes were different. There was madness in them for sure, but there was also some cunning and intelligence in those evil looking orbs. Looking at it made me nauseous. Strangely though, I was also getting mad. The King inside of me was furious that a beast like this would dare show itself to me.
"I'm pretty sure that's a lesser demon! Watch yourselves!" Rya shouted, and that seemed to get the thing's attention.
Just then, a noise above got my attention. I looked up to see two more large fucking spiders falling from the ceiling of the cave towards me. I threw both of my spears with such force and so quickly that the air distorted from their passage. They both struck each spider, and this time, they creatures were split down the middle from head to abdomen. Blood and guts spilled down from above, and I darted out of the way to avoid getting more of that nasty shit on myself.
My eyes went back to Rya and the tall goat demon, and I saw that they were already engaging each other. They had met about halfway to each other, and Rya had just dodged a punch from the big asshole and threw one of her own out. This thing didn't even so much as grunt when her fist met its stomach, but she wasn't even phased by it, and threw out another punch. She was tenacious all right. Her second punch did made the creature grunt this time, and an intense rage entered its eyes at that point.
This fucking this lashed out with a punch so fast that I couldn't believe it. Something that large and bulky shouldn't be that quick. It struck Rya in the gut, or at least it tried to. A translucent barrier shimmered into being around her. I ran forward to help hed regardless. Then, the force of the demon's blow actually bent the barrier inwards before it punched again in quick succession. The barrier shattered and Rya cried out in pain as the force of the blow sent her flying backwards.
"MOM!" Liz shouted, and immediately sent healing her way.
"RYA!" I yelled, changing course and adding power to my legs to speed up my running speed.
I was behind her path immediately. She barreled through the air towards me as I held my arms out. She slammed into me with such force that it sent me skidding backwards seveal feet despite me having my feet firmly planted. We skidded to a stop, and I gently shook the dillerious woman in my arms.
"Shit! Rya, can you hear me?" I shouted.
While I could see Liz's healing magic flowing into her body, that was still one hell of a strike she took. I heard her take several deep breaths, and I let out a relieved sigh. She groaned.
"Ow. Big ugly bastard." She said, letting out deep breaths between words, "Thank you."
"Are you okay?" I asked her, lowering her to her feet, and helping her steady herself.
"Sid, my dear boy, I just got punched and subsequently launched several dozen yards by a huge goat demon." She deadpanned, and my face turned red from that.
"Well, yeah, I guess that's kinda fuckin' stupid to ask." I muttered, and she let out a soft chuckle, and then winced and grabbed her stomach.
"Don't worry, I'll live. That thing hits hard though. If my husband hadn't made these defensive enchantments for us, that would have been really bad." She said, but already she was able to stand on her own, so I let go of her.
Liz's healing was honestly kind of ridiculous now. Rya had a surprised look on her face as she was able to breathe normally again in only a matter of moments. She looked at her daughter fondly after a moment.
"Sid, it pains me to say this, but I'm going to need you to take care of that thing for me. It's a bad match up for me it would seem." She said, sighing at the end.
"You got it. I'll teach it a lesson." I told her, and gathered mana to cover my arms and legs.
I could feel that my girls weren't in any danger throughout this whole ordeal. The bond my power gave us was really fucking convenient. Still, I glanced their way anyways. They were thankfully sticking very close together at this point, and were staying out of the way as much as possible.
They weren't super far behind us currently, and Rya was now backing away towards them for even more added safety, although it looks like they have that covered too. I actually saw a few more charred bodies of the wolves and spiders nearby where they were. Nadia had her fox fire at the ready burning in both hands, eyes darting from left to right as she stood protectively in front of Liz. Goddamn, they looked like a pair of Goddesses with the way they were standing their ground.
I brought my attention back to what was in front of me. This big ugly piece of shit. I had felt its eyes on me the whole time, and my senses told me that it was just continuing to stand there, like it was observing us. It was weird, but my skills in fighting were improving rapidly as I fought on. I could sense this thing's intent in particular, so I knew it wasn't going to attack us for the time being.
It was honestly as ridiculous as it sounds, and I think being inside this narrow ass space was helping me improve faster than I normally would. It had to be part of the magic inside of me that I didn't understand. It was actually some anime level shit. Auras, killing intent, the whole nine yards. Again, I didn't understand how I was able to do this, but fuck if I wasn't going to use it to my full advantage.
Now though, I was gonna go test my hand to hand skills out, because I really wanted to punch this thing in its ugly fucking face. I was mad at this thing for hurting Rya. I began to walk towards it, letting my own intent be felt clear as day. My anger, my power, my intent to kill. The emotions that drove me were being felt through my aura, which would explain the weird feeling I also got from the demons. They felt wrong on all levels. Is this what evil feels like?
The demon seemed actually hesitant now that I was walking towards it. Arks of electricity surged outwards from my body as I let it know exactly how I fucking felt about it.
"You scared, asshole?" I asked, unsure if it could really understand me, but I felt like taunting the fucker.
I actually think it did understand me, because it snarled at me, and I did the same right back.
"COME ON THEN!" I yelled, and charged forward.
The demon also ran forward, its black and red aura flowing in a disturbing form as it did so. We met in the middle, and it sent out a flaming fist that sailed right past my face. It followed up with a low shot with its other fist at my ribs, and I skidded to the side, letting its attack just barely miss me. Yeah, it was fast for being such a big boy, but it wasn't as fast as me. The final punch it sent out was an uppercut sent right to my jaw, and I arched my back to bend backwards, the punch narrowly missing my chin by only a few a centimeters.
I couldn't help the fucking grin that split my lips.
●●●
The girls were pretty flabbergasted at what they were seeing. Even the demons that were left had stopped moving, and stared at Sid like he was the end of their race. Thanks to his power, both Liz and Nadia were slowly becoming more aware of the feelings that were being released through their auras. The demon Sid was fighting was angry, and was trying to prove its dominance, no question about that. But these smaller demons?
"They're terrified." Liz said, watching as the wolf demons wimpered with their heads low to the ground.
"Yeah, these nasty things aren't even interested in us anymore." Nadia said, looking on as the spider demons' bodies trembled and shook.
"This is incredible.." Rya said, seeing how the smaller goat demons backed away with unsteady steps. She then looked at Sid, "This boy is on another level entirely. You think he's strong enough, and then he goes and does stuff like this. I feel his power, yet it feels... almost comforting to me. Yet these demons are practically ready to turn tail and run."
Nadia laughed.
"That's our Sid for ya. He's gonna kick that things ass, and anything else that's in here." She said with pride.
"He's also really upset with that thing for hurting you." Liz said to her mother.
The corners of Rya's lips tugged upwards. She remembered how they talked about the bond they shared, how Sid could basically sense how the girls felt, and they could sense how he felt...or something like that. However, to hear that warmed her heart, as that must have been a pretty strong feeling for them to be able to feel it too.
All 3 of the women watched as Sid and the demon rushed each other. Liz and Nadia could barely keep up with the fight as both fighters covered the distance, and the demon threw out 3 punches in quick succession. Rya had to strain just to keep up, and even then, the 3rd punch from the demon just seemed to blur into motion. Sid still seemed to have dodged them all, and Rya couldn't help but let out a little laugh at the smile on Sid's face.
"He seems to be enjoying himself. I know the feeling all too well." Rya said, remembering some of her fights that she looked back upon fondly.
The demon continued to throw punch after punch at Sid, growing increasingly frustrated that it couldn't hit him. Liz and Nadia practically had stars in their eyes, as it was literally like a fight of good against evil. Rya heard Nadia mutter something about "aura farming," but she didn't understand that reference. She was honestly too transfixed by this young man, who was barely an adult in her eyes, yet not even seeming to struggle against this foe. Then a little worry took over her as Sid stopped moving, and a blow landed square in his chest that sent reverberations through the cave.
"What is he doing??" Rya asked.
"Oh, he's fine." Liz said, the lack of worry in her daughter's tone making her take a closer look.
It was true. He didn't even flinch. Hell, he didn't even grunt. He just stood there like a rock, unmoved, and he looked thoroughly unimpressed.
"I think the fight's over. " Nadia said, her tone letting on that she was grinning.
●●●
"Well, you kinda fuckin' suck." I said, staring the demon in its glowing red eyes.
The demon stared in disbelief as its blow had no effect at all on me. I could tell from the force of its blows that it wasn't a match for me, and after taking the hit... yeah, it was pretty fucked. It just kinda stared at its own fist, contemplating how it was possible that I also wasn't sent flying by the blow. Just that thought alone irritated me. I leaned in closer.
"How does it feel to be on the receiving end?" I asked, still unsure if it understood English, but I was enjoying the look it was giving me right now, so I was gonna keep at it.
The demon roared in face, spittle flying from its mouth and landing on my face.
"Holy fuck dude, ever heard of mouthwash?" I asked, causing the demon to reel back with another strike.
It was a straight jab towards me face, filled with pure anger, and pure recklessness. I reached up and caught the blow like it was a toddler. It stared in shock, and I gave it my own interpretation of a devilish smirk.
"Yeah, how about no." I said, and I used my other hand to send a similar punch into its chest.
Bones cracked, skin split, and blood gushed as my fist traveled cleanly through its chest, a wet squelch accompanying it as my fist exited out of its back. It was... a lot more fucking disgusting than I had planned, but it got the job done I supposed. The beast gurgled and coughed out several mouthfuls of blood. I wasn't sure if these things could heal from something like this or not, but I wasn't about to take any chances. Hell, I was already this far, so why not go the extra mile?
I pulled my arm back, and the demon spasmed as I did so. It was so weak that its attempts to beat and claw itself away from me were ineffectual. About halfway out, my hand firmly seated in the demon's chest, I let my power run wild. The demon screamed and I winced from the noise, but kept pouring power into its chest. Errant sparks of lightning tore from its body and shot to the cave floor and ceiling, and it's hot firey breath soon turned blue from my power cooking it from the inside.
Once the demon resembled a pastry that I left in the toaster for far too long, I withdrew my hand. Pieces of skin and fur fell off of the now dead demon, and I stepped back, allowing the body to hit the cave floor with a loud thud. I looked around the cave, noticing for the first time that the rest of the demons had stopped in their tracks, and were looking at me like I was the fucking boogyman or something. Coming from these ugly assholes, it was something I could definitely get used to.
"Anyone else wanna play?" I asked, shaking blood and viscera off of my arm, to very little success.
Every single demon in sight screeched, and the fear coming off of them was clear as day. As one, they all sprinted, crawled, and skittered back, before all converging into one singular tunnel, and they fucked right off. I stood there proud of myself for a bit, before I felt my girls approaching me. I turned around to see all of them and Rya looking at me with shocked awe on their faces.
"Sid, you're a fucking monster. A big, sexy monster, but holy shit." Nadia said, a twinkle in her eyes. That caused me to chuckle and scratch my cheek.
"It was really... wow. I... am kinda at a loss for words. You're incredible, although... you're really messy." Liz added, causing me to grimace as I looked down at my gore caked body.
"Yeah... I think I'm gonna need to shower for at least 3 days straight after this." I said, causing my girls to giggle.
"Sid... in my 97 years of life, I have never once seen anything like that. You're outstanding. God, I am so glad Liz found you." Rya said, looking like a proud mother.
"He wasn't all that tou.... wait, 97???" I replied, and then what she said caught up to me, and I blurted the last part out.
A chorus of laughter echoed throughout the cave, which I thought was a little too relaxed given the demonic fucking circumstances, but hey, whatever. Still, 97? Really?
"Sid, I'm an elf. We are pretty much immortal as long as something doesn't kill us. Thad is 133 this year." She said evenly, and I just gaped even more.
"Goddamn Thad..." I muttered, causing Rya to laugh again.
She was about to explain more to me, but that's when the cave began to rumble, and the unsettling feeling in the cave increased by an insane degree. It was actually so intense, that it gave me pause, and actually sent a chill down my spine. Everyone else felt it too, and the aura being exuded by whatever was causing this feeling was coming from deeper into the cave. Coincidentally, it was coming from the path that all of the demons had just ran towards.
"That's... not good." Liz whispered.
The rumble happened again.
"Definitely not good." Nadia said, and I had to fucking agree.
"It's not... and yet, we can't ignore it. Not now." Rya said in a resigned tone.
She was absolutely correct, and as much as I hated it, we had to follow this thing through to the end. Telling my girls to leave at this junction was not going to do any good, as I could feel their stubborn determination to see it through with me. Still, that bad feeling I had towards the beginning only got stronger, and again, I worried for my girls as that feeling centered around their safety. I clenched my fists.
"Anything trying to hurt them will have to go through me, and I'll fucking die before that happens."
I looked at both of the women I loved with all of my heart, and sent my assurances to them. I would protect them until my last breath. They smiled at me, although they were lopsided as the implications sunk into them. Something here had even myself worried.
"Well, no time like the present, right?" Rya said, and began walking towards the aforementioned path.
My girls stuck my side, and grabbed both of their hands and squeezes reassuringly, and tried to project as much confidence as I could despite the uneasy feeling.
"Lets get this over with, and lets get back home. I'm getting hungry." I said, trying to lighten the mood, and they both leaned into me.
"I'm more interested in what comes afterwards." Nadia said with a lacivious smirk.
I laughed, as did Liz. Nadia never failed to make us smile.
"Yeah, I could go for some of that too. We can do this." Liz replied with even more confidence, as well as many lewd thoughts sent my way, and god damn, now I was really fucking determinated to get out of here as soon as possible.
That feeling of unease was still there, although with Rya and my girls having my back, we could do this. I'd handle whatever was uphead, we'd kill the remaining demons, and we'd head back home for some well deserved rest and relaxation. The assurance we all shared sorta pinballed back and forth, bolstering all of us, and the doubt I had slowly began fading into the background, replaced with an iron will to see this through and come out on top. The King doesn't back down, and especially not to some stupid fucking demons.
"Even these demons will learn to kneel before me." I thought, and for once, I didn't banish it. It was exactly the kind of confidence booster I needed right now, fucking weird as it was.
So, it was with determined steps, that we all processed deeper into the cave.