Chapter 1116: Chapter 1115: Bloodletter (1)
Chapter 1116: Chapter 1115: Bloodletter (1)
The booming echoes of the Fiend's laughter as it bounded towards the center of the square was strong enough to actually shake the dust that had settled over the broken brick road, kicking up even more debris into the air and creating a new layer of haze that slowly wafted into our sight lines.
Standing at nearly a dozen feet tall and waving around muscular trunks of flesh on each side of its barrel like torso, the red skinned Ka Fiend flexed as it grasped the sides of the statue and pulled, yanking it free from its stone base and hoisting it above its head in a primal show of strength.
"HA HA! FINALLY! A worthy foe... One that will be worthy of my incredible bloodletting skills! The worthiest of all in this square! None shall be more worthy than you, little Demoness!"
What it exuded in raw strength and aura, the Fiend clearly lacked in the intelligence department as it grinned at Jahi like a loon, its long, golden fangs scratching against the golden tusks that curled out from beneath its jaw, just like the various metallic trinkets clattered against its skin as the long braided blonde locks acted as yet another visual indicator of this Fiend.
Bulging red muscle and golden accents did little to draw away from its most defining feature though, which was its exuberant voice as it let out a gleeful shout that was followed immediately by the swooshing of the statue as it was hurled at Jahi directly.
With little time to run away from the hurtling tons of stone, Jahi was forced to stand her ground as she began to layer her Light Mana around herself, and she was given the greatest benchmark of all as she raised her new shield and braced herself for this coming attack.
Unlike my strength oriented wife though, I knew of a potential solution - or at least something to make her current solution more probable of succeeding - that wasn't just standing in front of a potential few tons of stone and praying for it to work.
"[Ice Blossom]!"
The runes in front of me flared as I traced them out far faster than I realized I could, and the primary brunt of this spell was placed entirely on my vocal cords as I summoned a gigantic flower bud on the side of the statue, forcing it to bloom before it exploded.
In the process of it 'blooming', the bud expanded across the statue and anchored itself into the cracks and flaws of the stone before erupting at my signal, the Ice Mana being released from my control and told to just go wild as I shattered the statue into smaller, yet still heavy pieces of rock.
Pieces that I knew Jahi was more capable of blocking, and even as the first crashed down against her barrier I followed it up with "[Warding Bubble]!" as I aided her directly once more, overlapping our barriers and allowing us to hold our ground against this incredibly efficient attack from an otherwise idiotic Fiend.
And yet, I knew far better than most how 'smart' someone could be in things that weren't necessarily the most benchmarked and accepted fields of study, and of course the Fiend related to battle and killing was a genius in how to do just that; as the heavy chunks of stone shattered against our barrier and tore chunks of our mana away, the Fiend let out a booming laugh again before rushing forwards, following behind it's opening attack.
Six fists caked in bloody red light were streaking towards us, and after the sudden barrage of the best use of physics I had scene in a long while, I wasn't so sure that we were going to make it out of this one as healthy as I would have liked, but thankfully we weren't alone.
If it had just been us, the rings I had purchased for this exact moment would have cracked upon saving our lives, but undoubtedly we would be left in a damaged state with no hope of surviving even a basic attack from this Fiend, so when a thick pillar of stone crashed against the Fiend's chiseled abdomen and haltered its momentum, I was able to take another breath pain free, for the time being anyways.
With its forwards momentum halted for a second, Jahi and I were able to leap backwards and further increase the distance between us as bolts of blue flame erupted against the Fiend's skin, increasing its laughter as it shielded its torso with its six thick arms.
Anput and Leone rushed out to meet us, with the Jackalkin already weaving together the runes for the all too familiar Torii Gate spell that she made use of to trap things while the Vampire flicked her wrist and sent another barrage of explosive bolts hurtling towards the Fiend, buying Anput the seconds she needed.
The Demoness and I gave Leone a nod to let her know we were alright before we all focused on the Fiend, who was now being subjected to attacks from all sides as the various soldiers of the city and the small contingent of Death Jackals came out to aid us, though like I had observed before this Fiend was entirely entrenched in the idea of battle.
Thick skin that absorbed most of the damage dealt to it, a healing factor that matched a full powered spell from me, and a tenacity to brush those things off and get right back to it made this Fiend extremely dangerous to fight against, especially as the boiling red mana coating its fists began to bubble out and drip down its arms, covering them as well.
"C'mon little Demoness! Fight me! You and me, one on one! C'mon! FIGHT ME!"
Another shout washed across us in an almost physical wave as the Fiend's smile finally broke for a brief moment, its lips curling into a snarl as it glared at Jahi and tried to goad her into certain death, only to growl as a blue flame got dangerously close to its face.
Swatting it away, the Fiend snarled and smashed two of its fists together as it began to combine its mana, all while the remaining four arms worked on defense as it started to create weaponry from that deep, pulsating red energy that was swirling around its arms.
A sword and an axe smashed down onto the ground as it lunged forwards, swinging them towards us and forcing us to relocate lest we be turned to paste, and as we predictably avoided the attack it raised its remaining arms and attacked in all directions.
Gouts of flame erupted from its lowest limbs, the fire a dazzlingly ruby color that instantly scorched the sandstone and started to turn it to glass, which shattered like the plasma had a true, solid weight to it instead of being rather... sporadic.
Its remaining middle limbs simply swung out once more, though where its fists 'sliced' through the air thick blades of that red energy hurtled towards us, looking to cut us in two and leave us bleeding out on the ground.
Of course, no matter how much the Fiend wanted to attack us all at the same time, it was impossible to do so since we had split up, putting space between ourselves and it and forcing it to pick a target, one that it had made clear it was adamant on getting.
The gold tusked Fiend swung itself around towards the Demoness and began to charge towards her, ignoring the rest of us and hefting both of its weapons in the air as it grinned down at her, watching as she planted her feet and raised her shield to meet it.
Even as it was knocked off balance by our spells, the Fiend committed to the attack and swung its weapons down at her shield, crashing them against the ribcage like a hammer to an anvil as it leaned its weight forwards in hopes of crushing her beneath its might.
To further aid that desire, the Fiend oriented itself in a way that made use of its six limbs entirely for the goal of killing the Demoness, but it was that single mindedness that opened its guard up to me as I rushed forwards and reached deep within myself.
The amount of Lust Mana that I had corralled earlier and made my own responded to my 'touch' instantly and allowed itself to be wielded freely as I sent it spiraling into the Fiend, wrapping it around the Fiend's mind and causing it to slacken somewhat.
With its mind now under attack as well, it's control over its body lessened enough that Jahi could begin to push back, the Demoness straining herself hard as she empowered her entire body with Light Mana and exerted as much of her power as she could to push those fists away.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
The barrage of other spells made it easier for her as well, and as she pushed the Fiend back and freed herself from its overwhelming pressure, she raised her own blade and tried to strike back and get her own attack in.