Dungeon Heart 03 - Hell Gate, page 35
One down, Arturus thought, feeling tired but accomplished. Blood trickled down from his neck and back where the demon had bitten, and his ribs hurt with every step he took, but he had been victorious. He allowed himself a second to revel in the victory and catch his breath, and then turned to look for his siblings.
Echo and Ziggurd were the closest, engulfed in what appeared to be a thick fog that only allowed dim shadows to be seen. He could very clearly hear the sounds of battle though. He would go to them next. He howled loudly, his voice much deeper than that of any regular wolf, and with a distinct rumble like that of a bear.
From the petrified woods, he heard them now. The sound of creatures rushing towards him. Soon, his allies showed up. Bears, Oni, wolves, and kobold runners were the first to appear, along with some kobolds that had taken to riding the largest of wolves and the bears. Arturus couldn’t help but think this was Smit’s idea to help move more troops faster.
Clever as always, Arturus thought to himself for a moment in wonder. Sadly he had no control over anything other than wolves and bears, but that would suffice. Father would surely be giving instructions to the others; he simply had to focus on what he could control. Taking in a deep breath, Arturus cleared his head and then howled again.
The hunt had begun.
Echo had to admit, Ziggurd’s plan was good. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but leveled the playing field somewhat. Ziggurd’s mist made it harder for the enemy to judge Echo’s and Ziggurd’s precise location, while Ziggurd could tell exactly where they were. On top of that, Ziggurd was constantly creating shadows for their enemies, confusing them, making them attack or retreat, further limiting them. Maintaining the fog while casting illusions consumed all of Ziggurd’s attention, but it allowed Echo to position herself better to attack in the midst of all the mist.
Even so it had proven difficult to deal with the demons, as even when she managed to reach them with her weapon, their absurd reflexes allowed them to mitigate the damage by dodging away. As a result, she had landed several glancing blows, but none had done nearly as much damage as she needed to deal. On top of that, the demons seemed to be growing used to the illusions and were starting to differentiate her from the fakes more frequently.
Fight my children, Echo heard Smit say in her mind. Reinforcements have arrived.
Echo felt briefly a form of relief, but almost instantly regretted letting her guard down as one of the creatures closed in on her again. She spun the weapon towards the enemy, forcing the demon to duck under it as it launched itself forwards. Echo, for her part, pulled back the halberd and took a step to the side rather than diving away.
It was a risky maneuver, as it meant that she could not fully avoid the blow, but she had learnt that large unnecessary movements would be detrimental in a fight with these creatures. If she made a large dodging movement right away, the creatures would be able to track her more easily, rendering the fog less effective. If this occurred, the creatures would leap at her while she recovered her position, prolonging the engagement. It was far better to move only as much as was needed before retreating into the fog while the creatures disengaged.
As she expected, the blades of the gauntlet scrapped her ribs, rending part of the gorgeous armor her father had made her, and cutting slightly into the hard stone of her body. She made a mental note to apologize to her father later about the armor. Surely he would be sad to see the wonderful armor damaged.
As she prepared to roll away into the mist, large shadows appeared around the demon to distract it. The creature didn’t try to dodge them this time though, its eyes still on Echo as it smiled with its unsettlingly large mouth. The demon turned on its heel, preparing to leap onto her, when a massive brown paw slammed into the back of its ugly head. The blow sent the demon tumbling face down onto the ground, rolling away.
“Arturus is here with reinforcements,” Ziggurd’s voice whispered into her ear. “I’ll have to dispel the fog soon; there are too many creatures in it. We are liable to start hitting each other by accident.”
“Fine by me,” Echo replied briefly, giving chase to her enemy in the direction she had seen him roll. Now that she had allies, she could be more aggressive, and Ziggurd would be more protected. She could finally switch from such a defensive role into something more aggressive.
The fog started to dissipate just as Echo reached her enemy, whose spidery limbs seemed to be in a tangle from the blow. It started to stand, looking dazed from the surprise assault. It turned its head to look in the direction of Echo, hearing her heavy steps crunch the ground beneath her, but it was too late. By the time his eyes focused on her, Echo’s halberd was already swinging down towards him.
The demon released a gargling yelp, throwing itself to the side, but it could not entirely avoid Echo’s strike. Blood splattered as it left one of its arms behind, severed cleanly by Echo’s halberd. Hissing, and writhing in pain, the demon scrambled to its feet, screeching at her in anger. It didn’t realize that the fog was clearing, nor that there seemed to be an awful lot more shadows of many different sizes and shapes than before.
A shadow leapt at it, a wolf with a kobold warrior on its back. The wolf struck the back of the demon’s foot, tearing at the Achilles tendon, while the mounted kobold struck the back of its knee. The demon screeched again, turning quickly with a sweeping strike, but the pair had already retreated. His leg buckled slightly, and a second pair of wolf and kobold tried to repeat the strike on the other leg. The demon, now more wary, retreated from the wolf-riding kobold, leaping back with some difficulty.
Looking back where it had once stood, the demon saw them, a half dozen pairs of kobold and wolf emerging threateningly from the fog. It screeched at them, taking a couple of steps back. Its clawed gauntlet glowed, fury reflecting in its eyes, promising death with just a glance. How could these little morsels dare try to devour it? He was the devourer, not them.
He took another step back, crouching slowly, his muscles flexed as he prepared to spring onto his new enemies. Then the world spun. The world twisted and turned around him, the wind whistling through the air.
He was confused. He had not leapt at the enemy. He had not dodged either. Why was he in the air?
The ground rushed to meet him, and he tried to adjust his legs to land properly, but they would not move. No, it wasn’t that they wouldn’t move, it was that he couldn’t feel them. His head smacked the ground heavily, and he tried to grunt in pain, but once again he found he could not. Instead, his head rolled slowly, until he saw a headless body. His headless body, he realized.
Standing above it was the blue golem, scarred, dirtied, and damaged. But her halberd was stained with his blood. That’s when he understood what had happened, but he refused to believe it. As his eyes closed, he cursed the heavens, and cursed the golem. He should have devoured her faster.
Pala had never encountered such a difficult opponent as the demoness before him. She was more skilled with her weapon than any other that he had ever met, her technique refined, her speed not far from his own, not to mention her ability to cast magic. Those fireballs were not her only trick, he discovered, but they were the most painful. Even while blocking with his [Aspect of the Dragon: Arms], the fiery explosion had been quite painful, managing to burn his scales and knock him back.
“Hmph,” the demoness had scoffed with contempt. “Just a cheap imitation of the real thing after all. To think that you share blood with those things… Any real dragon would have been mortified to be hurt by such a spell.”
“Any real demon would have been mortified to not be able to kill me by now,” Pala countered. He had no idea if this was true, but he was tired of her attitude. She was the most egotistical enemy he had ever had the displeasure of meeting.
Regardless of whether it was true or not, the statement seemed to strike a chord in the demoness, her face contorting with anger. She didn’t reply, instead firing more fireballs at him, forcing him to retreat further to avoid the damage. She leapt back too, and started to chant in a low voice. Alarmed, Pala rushed towards her, trying to cover the distance as quickly as possible as he felt her gather mana.
He had nearly reached her when she released her magic. Pointing her sword at the ground, a wave of ice arose from the ground, rushing to meet Pala. With little time to think, Pala had no choice but to abort the charge, and throw himself to the side, tumbling to the ground. He dodged the ice, but now he was scrambling to regain his footing as the demoness rushed him.
He was forced to duck, roll, jump, and run as he pushed his abilities to the limit to simply escape the skilled swordsmanship of the demoness. She managed to cut and nick him on several occasions, but was unable to get a solid hit on him. Nonetheless, every cut brought with it a burning pain, a pain that was beyond that of just flesh. It pained him to his very bones, like claws tearing at his mind.
He threw himself to the side to avoid a cut to his neck, landing on his back. The demoness didn’t skip a beat and jumped towards him, sword raised and ready to strike. Pala activated his skill again, [Aspect of the Dragon: Breath]. Arguably his most powerful ability in terms of attack, Pala opened his maw and breathed fire onto the oncoming demoness, coating her in flames.
The purple demoness screeched, but continued her attack, forcing Pala to hastily leap to the side. He turned his face to her as he dodged, his maw snapping open again, bathing her in the cone of fire and forcing her to jump out of the way. Only then did he deactivate the skill, feeling more fatigued from using it. On the other hand, the demoness was looking the worse for wear: Her once polished chitin armor was charred in several places, her face was more flushed, and parts of her hair had been burned. Smoking, and looking both indignant and angry, she glared daggers at Pala.
“You’ll pay for that, lizard,” she growled, focusing on him as if she could kill him with her glare alone. How dare a mere reptile hurt her so?
Good, keep her attention on you, Smit’s voice came to Pala’s mind. The Oni are almost there.
Pala acknowledged with his mind, his eyes on the enemy. He couldn’t afford to look away even for a moment. “You talk a lot for someone struggling with a lizard.”
The demoness narrowed his eyes at him, lifting her sword again.
“Just look at yourself. Can’t even fly anymore. A mere lizard sure did a lot of damage,” Pala continued to taunt. He wasn’t sure how effective it was, but it seemed to keep her focused on him at least.
“I’ll make boots out of you,” she hissed, gathering mana on her sword again. Pala rushed in, seeing the figures of three large Oni running up to them. He couldn’t let her see them or hear them.
“Try me,” Pala said coldly, closing the distance in mere seconds. Oddly enough, this time she didn’t release a fireball, or ice wave. Perhaps it was because Pala had reached her in time, forcing her to defend against his attacks as he went on the offensive. It was almost like a dance really, the way that the two of them moved back and forth, blades meeting as they engaged and disengaged.
It took Pala all of his skill and speed to keep up with her, but it paid off. The Oni were close, and her attention was still on him. He didn’t like the idea of attacking an enemy as a group, but he prioritized the safety of Father far above his own desire to defeat an opponent on his own. This opponent in particular was very dangerous. He would have other chances to prove himself in single combat, but he may not have another chance if the demon got to his father, after all.
He activated his skill [Piercing Thrust]. The demon’s eyes narrowed as she leaped back, avoiding the glowing edge of the thrust. She smirked as Pala’s attack missed, as if to mock him. That expression soon collapsed as she saw Pala grin right back at her, her instincts blaring out that something was wrong.
She turned her head quickly, but it was too late, as a club slammed into her ribs. The heavy blow sent her tumbling sideways, and the Oni gave chase. Soon, they were on her, and the demoness struggled to find her balance again as the strong monsters struck at her with force. They were not as fast as Pala by any means, but they were fast enough, and strong enough, that between the three of them they could always guarantee that at least one of their clubs would hit the demoness while she fended off the other two.
The demoness screeched with rage, slashing, stabbing, and dodging, forced to let her armor take blows as she defended herself. Pala meantime had finally a second to breathe. He shook his head and gripped his spear firmly again. Now was the time to press the advantage.
Charging in, Pala rushed to join the Oni in the attack. He closed in, activating once more his skill [Piercing Thrust]. Using the reach from his spear, and the large bodies of the Oni to hide himself from direct view, Pala struck at the demoness’s chest with a powerful blow, knocking her back into one of the Oni’s strikes. Bounced between the two strikes like a ragdoll, the demoness was launched to the side, where another blow met her.
The demon was off balance, and without a chance to regain her footing properly, her armor began to crack. Back and forth the three Oni struck the demoness for a half dozen blows, until her chest piece was riddled with cracks. She wasn’t sure how many enemies there were now, but her rage reached its peak when she felt her armor starting to crumble.
“Enough!” her voice shouted powerfully, making Pala’s ears ring as he instinctively leapt back. The demoness’s shout was more than just a mere shout, as she slammed her sword down into the ground viciously, and in that fraction of a second, all her enemies hesitated.
The moment that the tip of the sword pierced the ground, she shouted a word that Pala could not comprehend. In that instant, the accumulated magic in the sword was released all at once, and ice spread out away from the sword like ripples of water spread away from a stone dropped into a lake. The Oni found their entire lower body frozen in place, and before they could do more than holler, the demoness’s sword was already piercing their necks.
“I’ve had it with you and this filthy place,” she hissed dangerously. “Die for me!”
She launched herself at Pala with unrivalled fury. She seemed unhinged, her attacks less polished now, but constant and aggressive. This made it easier for Pala to predict and block them, but the sheer number of attacks kept him on the backpedal. That was fine though, for without her refined technique, it was only a matter of time before she left herself wide open for a counterattack.
Then she overextended, her arm reaching too far. He saw this, and stepped back slightly, his foot coming up and kicking her solidly in the stomach. Her armor crumbled beneath his foot. But the demon grinned and jumped back at the same time his kick reached her, using the impact of his blow to gain some distance. She flew through the air in a graceful arc, her sword aimed at Pala, and launched a fireball at him.
His eyes went wide, and he barely had time to cross his arms before the fire struck him and blew him back to the edge of the waterfall. His ears rang with the sound of the explosion, his arms and face stinging, blood dripping from his wounds. He didn’t have time to wonder how it had happened. His vision blurred as he saw the demoness land neatly before him as he tried to stand.
“Fool. Did you really think I would suddenly go fully mad over a little trick?” she barked a laugh, mockingly. “I have my pride. Clever of you to use those monsters. But not clever enough. Now die and let me reap your soul.”
She started to chant again, gathering magic into her sword, raised high above her head. Pala cursed himself as his vision slowly returned to normal. He felt unbalanced, his ears ringing, the ground beneath him feeling unstable. He wasn’t sure what was happening, and had to use the butt of the spear to remain standing. He knew he didn’t have much time.
Pala, you must move! Smit spoke into his mind urgently. Move for God’s sakes, move! There is a lot of mana going into that sword!
Pala heard him, but his feet were not completely steady. Any complex maneuver would only be met with failure. Nonetheless, he couldn’t wait until the ground felt stable again. Pala did the only thing he could think of: He kicked off the ground with all his strength. There was no trickery, no secret move, no plan. Just a desperate struggle for victory.
The demoness’s eyes went wide, her chant almost complete. Quickly trying to act in defense, she tried to bring down her sword on his head, but she was half a second too late. As the sword came down and started to cut into his forehead, he opened his maw and activated one last time his skill [Aspect of the Dragon: Breath]. Her eyes went wide as her upper body was engulfed in flames, and her last words of the chant transformed into a scream as she reflexively stepped back from the flames.
The magic she was just about to release went haywire as her sword finally started to slip from her hand. A fireball three times the size of any of the previous ones emanated from the tip of the sword, but instead of launching itself, it simply detonated. With a brilliant flash of light and a thunderous sound, the ball of fire expanded as it exploded, launching both demon and dragonewt into opposite directions as it incinerated and scorched everything within a five-meter radius of the epicenter.
The demoness was catapulted away as if kicked by a giant, her hair entirely scorched off, her body smoking as she slammed into a tree. Pala’s body shot off in the opposite direction, bouncing off the edge of the waterfall and falling down into the pool of water below. His smoking body hit the water heavily, and he began to sink. His head felt like it was on fire despite the cooling water engulfing him. He felt so tired.
“Pala!” Smit shouted, leaping to his feet and running to the waterfall. He didn’t even bother opening it like a curtain this time, simply bursting through it, and leaping into the pool of water below. There, in the depth of the pool he felt Pala’s presence. What worried him, however, was that he felt his presence weakening.
