That's…a lot of demons.
My eyes glued to our bright crimson portal at the center built into the gigantic stone tower standing at the center of the canyon as the world finally stopped shaking. Out poured dozens of hulking, pale skinned demons with way too many teeth for never evolving to grow lips. Rather than running barehanded in their casual wear however, this time they charged forth adorning full metal armor. They were very well armed too, the lipless demons brandishing red glowing steel greatswords and battle axes. Meanwhile the winged, much littler one-eyed demons clutched onto small amulets that glowed a bright red in their hands as they flew through the portal.
Every instinct in me screamed to push ahead, and cut off the rapidly growing force of demons' path to our Pillar. Peering over my shoulder however, Derrick's slow jog to catch up to me put the full range of how fucked up this situation just got. True, a body I didn't recognize lay in his wake indicating he was still able to handle himself. All the same he was running on fumes, and there's no way I can give him shit for letting Lonni die if I did that same to him.
"Derrick!" I hollered over my shoulder, waving for him to hurry up and get over here. Lonni's limping jog slowly improved to an upright light jog, his heavy metal boots clapping on the dirt behind me as he approached.
"That's way too many." Derrick said, leaning on his halberd and breathing heavily.
"Maybe if we just charged into the crowd of incoming demons with reckless abandon like a certain someone." I said, making sure to get my licks in now in case Derrick drops. The collection of charging and flying demons' guttural roars and shrieks crescendoed as they quickly made ground toward us. I smiled, closing my eyes and drawing in a long, deep breath.
"Tom…what's the plan?" Derrick said, shifting around behind me making his armor clack together. With my focus elsewhere, I held my breath while extending my mana strings around my blade hilts.
"Come on man,talk to me!" Derrick urged, talking right in my fucking ear. Luckily I've had a little practice with focusing through distractions, keeping my mind locked onto latching my mana strings around my blade hilts. The demons stampeding our way shook underfoot as I felt the internally soothing connection of energies was sufficient enough.
"TOM!" Derrick yelled, dirt sliding behind indicating he intended to leap in front of me. My eyes shot open, a smile stretched across my face spotting a barrage of fireballs volleying toward me from above. Raising my leg and donkey kicking Derrick out of harm's way, air blew across my face activating Water Step the moment my kicking foot hit the dirt. My momentum carried my direction towards the mob of armed demons heading our way. Using the puffs of dust clouds from detonating fireballs as guardrails, a distant familiar calmness began blossoming in my chest serpentining through the barrage.
With only 10 feet separating myself from the mob of hulking pale demons, my feet slid across the canyon floor to slow down. A line of winged, one eyed demons flew over the pale demons heads, funneling towards Derrick and the pillar.
Not so fast, little guys.
Seeing an opportunity to sew some chaos, my forearm lurched up before firing my grappling hook toward the infestation of swarming demons overhead. One of my hook's edges pierced into the demon's face, hooking into its eye socket as I pulled it taut. With a jerking twisting motion and a dash, I slung the nasty little creature around my body. Spotting a second flying demon from my periphery, my feet glided towards the winged monster. The demon at the end of my grapple hook smashed into the second in a single evolution, brutally cracking skulls with one another.
Several pale, towering demons in heavy armor appeared in my vision as I spun back toward the crowd. Between their bellowing roars and reckless charging, a lane opened up. One I'd seen and taken full advantage of countless times, typically leading to a rapid fire assault of Lightning skills and destruction. With Derrick in his current condition so early in the event however, there's no way I can get away with that this time. Not unless I want to hear that damn mage's voice again after this…
Besides, nothing felt more befitting than countering demon's, assuredly forged in the fires of whatever hell truly exists, than with water techniques. Mana and Flow washed through my legs shuffling in retreat, leaning back and narrowly avoiding the first place demon's horizontal slash with its crimson glowing greatsword. The weight of its swing caused the monster to stumble forward, leaving its jaw exposed for an upward stab that pierced through its skull and halted clanking off its metal helm.
Dropping my momentum and ripping my blade free from the demon's head, Water Step propelled my body back horizontally, evading another slashing greatsword as well as a fireball that hit the pale monster instead. Seeing this space being created is both temporary and probably the last opportunity to do so, Identify activated twice, snapping my vision onto one of the pale monsters and the smaller, red demons flying overhead.
[Frenzied Belpheili (Level 10)]
[Frenzied Adolescent Cherub (Level 8)]
Quickly internalizing their names, Water Step activated almost instinctively in response to several bright orange flashes from above. A cool breeze brushed against me as I dashed back towards Derrick, evading several fireballs that blasted cacophonously onto the dry Canyon dirt. Peering back, Derrick was in the middle of tossing away a blue potion bottle when one of the one eyed Cherub's swarming overhead began descending towards him with a fireball in its ugly maw.
Not having enough time to unleash a Lighting Bolt before that Cherub reaches Derrick, sheer will demanded my Water Step triggered immediately after the prior had ended. An unnatural amount of wholeness that accompanied my mana pool suddenly drained away, my speed doubling in concert. Still, I needed to close a 6 foot gap while the demon was practically right on Derrick's head.
No, not again.
Disregarding the high cost, my focus locked into the rhythm of my steps and the Flow it carried. The moment it felt natura, a rush of momentum surged behind my steps as I channeled my mana from head to toe into layering a third Water Step. As my body propelled forward, the mana strings connected to my twinblades tingled before a surge of energy rushed through them. The energy funneled directly into my legs, creating an unfamiliar wet sensation in what felt like a millisecond. The hard stone surface of our red glowing pillar smacking into my shoulder knocked me off my feet before I could refocus onto the Cherub attacking Derrick, kipping up to my feet frantically in search of my comrade.
*ding*
I didn't have to look long, finding him standing in the exact same spot he had been a moment before. Only I was behind him now.
Shit.
Realizing the Cherub was still loose, my head whipped around before shoving Derrick out of the way of another fireball.
"Watch your back, these things are sneaky." I instructed Derrick, firing my grappling hook up and smashing the prongs off the Cherub's one-eyed skull and assuming Derrick heard me. The Cherub spiraled in the air, spitting out its fireball mid-twist and hitting one of the numerous Belpheili in the chest plate. Realizing two other towering pale demons were encroaching striking distance, my feet shuffled, activating Water Step to dash into their path. Mana dispersed through my leg as I prepared to time my introductory strike in hopes to knock them off gu-
WOAH!
A second higher speed kicked in behind the mana dispersing having used Water Step, accompanied by a brief sensation of being soaked from the knees, down. Realizing the unexpected burst of speeds throwing off my timing, my wrists curved inward to prepare a parry. Instead however, the pair of Belpheili now in arms reach swung their blades a full foot offline from my entire body.
Seeing no reason to complain and thoroughly enjoying the subtle warmth the small stream of water mana linked to my blades was feeding me, my first blade pierced through the nearest hulking pale demon's swollen ear hole. A sickening squelch prefaced the monster's dark, sludge-like brain matter spilling onto the dirt as I ripped my blade free, punching the second Belpheili in the face with the back of my fist interrupting his overhead slash. A blur of jagged dark armor and glowing red steel consumed the corner of my vision, indicating it was time for a quick retreat and check in on Derrick.
A cold, splashing sensation sprayed across my legs stomping down and Water Stepping backwards. Several fiery longswords cut through the air, gliding past my body before I even wrapped my head around. Derrick was finally fully involved, teleporting past a ground of angry Belpheili just to make an entire section of a low flying Cherub's skull disappear in a single violet flash. An idea flashed across my mind spotting his 4 total demons compared to my group that was easily over a dozen hellish beasts giving me chase.
He can handle that, I've got enough issues to deal with.
The image of Lonni's near featureless corpse, and that mage invaded my vision and…a surge of water mana fired through my legs as I Water Stepped directly behind the 3 Belpheili relentlessly attempting to surround Derrick. Their arms and blades wobbled for just a second as I arrived, causing their following attacks to come out awkwardly. Realizing I'm sure to be pelted with fireballs by another flock of Cherubs at any moment, I made note not to linger after I strike this time.
My eyes locked onto a gap in the towering pale demons armor where their knee joints bent, sliding onto my knee and firing my grappling hook around the edge of our pillar just past the group of demons. Pulling hard, my body slid faster between two Belpheili. After slashing one demon's knee releasing a spurt of dark viscous blood on my entrance, I began recalling my hook to my arm. Using the new slack, my arm snagged the second Belpheili's leg between my twinblade's chains.
Digging my heel into the dirt and lurching upright as I ripped the chain up, yanking the Belpheili's leg over my ear sending them crashing head first to the dirt. With a dash, Water Step pulled me away from a barrage of Fireballs pelting my previous location a moment later. The heavy footfalls of another Belpheili thumping behind alerted me to turn around, lifting my blades up preemptively to parry another heavy longsword strike. Instead, Derrick appeared beside the flanking demon with his Rune-covered Halberd in hand. A violet pulse flared at the edge of his weapon as it tore through the Belpheili's dark, hellish chest plate. The monster screeched in agony while lifting its claws to slash Derrick. My void-mage friend evaporated from existence in a blip of violet dust, appearing a second later 3 feet away and avoiding the demon's swipe.
Knowing both that Derrick would be at least okay enough behind me and we had little time to waste, my boots slid across the dirt turning back to face the mob of demons that had finally reached our Pillar. Realizing there were too many to count, I shuffled forward to create a larger gap between them and Derrick. Not to leave him to his own devices, but to give us room.
Multiple fiery blades whooshed around my body, exercising my very clear agility advantage to retreat step and counter strike. Some of the Belpheili brandished smaller swords, one even going so far as picking one up off their comrades corpse to dual wield. Even still, the weight behind every missed slash and stab was incredibly heavy, the bassy gust of their weapons cutting through the air and cracking dry dirt paying homage to their strength. One of the towering demons lunged too far forward trying to chase me through a crowd of its fellow monsters. Not willing to change direction so abruptly, my hips twisted with my momentum to pierce a blade through its eye socket. The blade tinked off the back of its skull as I finished my spin and continued toward the gap in red steel and bodies.
The flock of Cherab's fireballs weren't exactly impressive individually, often missing entirely and notifying me of their location above me. The dozens of them blasting all around however is quickly beginning to limit my wiggle room, my ocean to operate in slowly drying among a sea of dark jagged armor and flame.
"Water needs its ocean…so make one."
A Korbin-lesson during a training session long-past echoed through my mind while evading another pair of slashes. Heat billowing from the balls of flame and burning sun filled my eyelids, unblinkingly analyzing each of my attackers body language. The vast majority of these demons continue to slash with their massive fiery swords only when I'm in close proximity. If I leave that space rapidly however, most of them convert their slashes into clumsy lunging stabs rather than resetting their stances.
A guttural grunt behind me gave all the alert I needed to Water Step to the side, darting past the Belpheili in my path and looping my chain around its arm at the elbow. My foot slammed into the dirt Water Stepping again to the side, pulling the off balance demon by the arm and spinning them around. One of Belpheili I'd initially evaded stumbled into the demon in hand, further knocking him off balance. The demon's Flow flared in his shoulder, indicating he would attempt to grab my chain.
Dropping my blade and pulling it through, the hulking demon finally crashed to the dirt not having me to leverage itself on. Two others quickly stumbled over his prone body, creating a small domino effect of Belpheili shoving one another to keep from falling over them. A smile crept across my face seeing the oblong lane of metallic stepping stones lying before me. The many angry demons encircled quickly while charging at me. Feeling this opportunity as good as any to strike a major blow, Water mana jetted across my twinblade activating Tidal Flurry.
Fiery steel clashed with my own as I glided over the downed Belpheili, embracing the momentum of Water mana carrying me over their armored bodies. Steel eclipsed steel as the demons' heavy, fiery weapons extinguished upon being parried away by my water soaked blades. Each demon to challenge me along my 8 foot path left gaps in their defenses even their thick armor could protect, receiving counter slashes to the throat, wrists, and lower stomach between gaps in their dark steel. A cherub darted through the air, hovering in front of me with its mouth glowing a bright orange. The one eyed little monster's Flow in its chest accumulated nearly all at once, releasing a fireball from its mouth.
My arm swiped vertically on instinct, slicing the fireball in two in a flash of steam before both halves popped on the dirt like small scale fireworks. Realizing I began drifting too far from the pylon, I launched my grapple hook towards one of the Belipheili still standing. The prongs latched onto the demon's helm where its putrid pale face was revealed as I pulled myself free from Tidal Flurry's perpetual wave. The demon slashed its massive flaming sword overhead as it stumbled towards me, ending in a rather clumsy but heavy attack. A rush of fatigue threatened my focus for just a moment before pulling my chains taut.
Gliding my watery chains around the demon's heavy sword covered in the flames, a portion extinguished from its steel as I glided around its slash landing back to back with the Belpheili. Extending up, my blade flew over my shoulder and slid between the gap in its helm and armor causing a spray of dark blood to spurt out. With most of my demons now either injured or actively succumbing to their wounds, I activated Water Step to dash back toward Derrick and our Pillar. Along the way, that damned wet sensation manifested across my legs up to my knee yet again.
Avoiding several more Belpheili's charging strikes and a few Chareb fireballs with surprising ease, my boot blasted into one of the prone demons' skulls before they could clamber to their unnaturally bent feet. Ahead, Derrick was in the middle of piercing his violet halberd into one of the Belpheili surrounding the Pillars neck, teleporting in a blink from view in the next second. Not feeling content with him out of sight too long, my mindset flipped back to defensive countering and evasion heading his way.
By now, our pillar had taken heavy damage from the culmination of fireballs blasting along the upper half and flaming steel slashing at its base. Entire chunks lay crumbled around the pillar, allowing even more crimson energy to flair out from within its apparently hollow interior. Meaning we needed to remove the rest of these demonic warriors as soon as possible. My blades danced through the air, dicing through the gaps of unsuspecting Belpheili occupied with attacking the pillar.
Why the fuck are they so dead-set on breaking this?
As much as I'd love to brush off their existence as a mere system clone, it didn't mean they acted too…hive mind-like. Glancing behind at the demons in my wake, they retreated when wounded and writhed in panicked agony like any other sentient being with a sense of self value. So what's compelling them to focus so heavily on this fucking slab of artsy glowing stone?
"Look out!" Derrick yelled, sprinting within a foot of me before disappearing into a puff of void smoke. The ear-piercing shriek of a Cherub drew attention above, spotting the faint glimpse of Derrick's violet energy removing a section of the demon's wing. Derrick slammed his halberds into the pillar beside him, ripping through it like drywall, leaving a red glowing gash flickering with heavy clumps of crimson energy. Shuffling metal alerted me to the pair of Belpheili, forcing me to Water Step and evade their strikes rather than chastise Derrick for damaging our pillar.
Digging my heel into the dirt and launching myself back toward the demons, I once again found myself underestimating my speed for some reason, dashing back before either of the towering Belpheili could swing their initial strikes. What's more, both of them appeared to be regaining their balance. The cause of their teetering was lost on me, but not enough to refrain my blade piercing through the nearest demon's pale gullet under his armor. The seconds lunging blade forced me to kick off their limp comrade, freeing my blade and evading its flaming strike.
*RUMBLE*
A flash of deep red energy flashed from the pillar, as the ground whirred, vibrating more and more underfoot. The remaining Beloheili stumbled collectively toward the pillar, as energy billowed and crackled in the air. Seeing only half a dozen towering monsters remaining, my breathing slowed attempting to find my balance. The ground continuously shook, but that didn't mean I couldn't acclimate to its rhythm. Or…try at least.
The beasts tripped and stumbled over one another, a few managing a slash or two with their long fiery blades before collapsing. Derrick continued teleporting further from the pillar, leaping up and slashing his halberd through the Cherubs swarming him overhead. Amidst stumbling side to side hoping to find my Flow, a jolt of pressure from the persistent earthquake shot a rush of familiar sensation up my leg. One I'd felt quite often, with far more intent. In fact, its force was so powerful it knocked me out of my own; Flow.
Thick streams of Flow coursed through my body from the ground up, my intent locked into interpolating it into my own. In theory, I can borrow this Flow if I can learn to harn-
*BOOM*
The insanely large stone tower harboring our demon's crimson portal erupted, a beam of white light firing into the sky while massive stone fragments hurtled to the dirt below. My knees nearly slammed into my chest from the shockwave that rippled underfoot, lifting me off my feet for a brief second. Then, the world abruptly settled. A low, electric hum echoed on the wind before the metal clanking of rising demons tarnished the serenity. The annoying prickling within the depths of the gut indicates I might be running a little low on mana, meaning I had to be careful with my skills for the time being.
Resolving movement to be my exception, Water Step launched my body toward the few Belpheili remaining. My blade slashed the back of the nearest demon's knee before they could clamber back up, spinning in my palm before sliding under its metal helm and through its windpipe. Blistering heat wafted off the second demon's flaming sword, grazing off my second blade as I slid under its slash. Seeing the demon lift its leg to turn and face me, a quick leg kick knocked it's falling foot behind the other. My blade clanked off its chest armor attempting to slash the demon's throat before it even hit the dirt, twisting my shoulders to evade its comrades' downward strike.
With a jabbing thrust, black sludge spewed from the Belpheili's ugly maw onto the length of my blade. The gargling demon raised its sword defiantly, earning a slash across its throat before kicking off its chest. Arching over another demon's corpse, my blade curved out showing a slash to the Belpheili ahead. Its blade rose quickly to its side, preparing to deflect my wild strike. Flaring my elbow out, the edge of my blade looped back into a stab that grazed across the unearthly monster's jugular.
*THUMP*
A heavy pressure was all that registered before my face smashed against the dirt. It took a few bounces before I finally rolled to a halt, looking back immediately toward whatever just popped me in the spine. One final towering Belpheili remained, sneering down at his fellow demon squirming and grasping at its leaking neck. It snarled, stomping on its allies skull, denting the metal helm.
"Weak." It growled, bending lower into a ready stance. Before it could take off however, purple glowing steel cut through its chest piece with a hollow thunk. Derrick stood beside the demon, breathing heavily with his weapon in hand. The demon spat a clump of dark ooze before collapsing to its knees, and finally its face. Sighing, I rolled back onto my chest and began pushing up to my feet when a blinding red flash filled my vision in a blink. Ahead, the crackling red portal expanded out wide, shimmering with energy. Jumping to my feet and ignoring the needling tightness in my spine, I began backing away towards our pillar. If there's any more of these things, we have to be sure they don't reach this fucking stone.
A hand softly fell on my back, causing me to raise my blades in defense until Derrick's face came into focus. His whole body rose and fell with his heavy panting, as he too stared uncomfortably at the portal.
"..it's going to be three rounds of this shit, isn't it?" Derrick asked, stumbling over a demon's corpse while shuffling in place. Not a moment later, the ground shook once more. Only it didn't persist, and wasn't nearly as powerful of a quake as before. A long, dark, scaly leg stood protruding from the portal, crackling with the same red energy. Claws the size of my forearm jutted from the toes, only holding my attention until a bone rattling roar rumbled from within the portal. High above, toward the top of the portal sat a mess of wriggling red flesh and teeth. Dozens of dark, short arms waving limply from the sides of a thick, slimy skull slapped off its moist face. Thousands of tiny, piranha-like teeth filled a relatively small jaw that leaked a glowing red ooze.
As three other dark, heavily scaled legs escaped the portal, the 18 foot monster rose to its true height on its hind legs before letting out another terrible roar. My vision twisted in my skull from the sheer volume of its bellowing, though its Komodo shaped body covered in hundreds of smaller appendages refused to escape my focus. Closing my eyes, a large breath filled my lungs as I fought my urge to bitterly resent our predicament. Our pillars fucked, and this beast is even larger than that Wyvern. A sharp pain in my gut triggered an all too common feeling, an internal jab that brought me back to earth as I finally exhaled.
"..Derrick."
"Yeah?"
"..let me borrow a mana potion, would you?"