<~> Chapter 241Now that a majority of the smaller demons had been killed we could afford to fight the rger demon up close. Judging from its spells, the demon was a caster, but looking at its size and bulk I wouldn't bet that it couldn't protect itself up close too.

  I refreshed my armor of light and turan. " you recast their armor?" I asked.

  She nodded. "I gee enough terra magic for that with my staff. Unless you think fire would be better?"

  "If we're going in up close, I would rather them have more physical prote," I replied.

  "Okay, I got it." Her staff of manaflow began to exude terra magic which she then collected a on Silva and Kal'daeryn.

  I turned around and looked over the group of former sves. Bel and the two hyenakin had killed a few of the smaller demons that had gotten through, as well as one of the blood threshers that had snuck up from behind us while I was distracted. The talkative hyenakin didn't seem to be having issues with the sword I lent her yet and the quiet sister had picked up a sword that had been dropped by that guard we had rescued initially. It seemed they would be fine back there for now, they weren't having any trouble proteg the others. We didn't have much time before the bowister cast another fireball at us so we couldn't relocate them to somewhere safer yet.

  I hopped down from the icy wall I had created and nded o Silva and Kal'daeryn. "We o attack it from up close, she wasn't able to kill it on her own," I said nodding in the dire of Lorriene who was still rec on the wall.

  Kal'daeryn gnced back at Nelly who was f the other former sves. Her eyes trailed over the corpses of the demons we hadn't caught ourselves. They had been tangled and poisoned by Bel's magid thhly sshed up by the two Hyenakin.

  "Fine," she grumbled. "But your nature mage better be able to protect everyone."

  "She will." I turo Torien who had followed me from the wall. "Tell her," I said nodding to Lorrieo rest, but ask her to be ready to jump in if our nature mage he support. You and our primary mage will e with us to fight the demon after the ime she interrupts its fireball."

  "Got it," she aowledged. I caught the fai hint of a smile as she followed the order.

  I tapped Mimi through the bond to get her attention. "I want you to stay with these guys while we fight the demon."

  "Okay! I'll make sure to protect them!" she said enthusiastically before heading back to the group of former sves.

  Silva took a step towards me. "I hear some of the guards approag from the west. I think we should block off that road so they 't interfere with our friends," she said pointing to a spot oreet.

  "You think they're a threat?" I asked as I made my way to the pce she indicated.

  "I don't know. They may have an issue with the sves we freed, or they might help us against the demon, but I would rather face the demon without their help than risk fighting the guards at the same time," Silva replied.

  "Okay." I stepped toward the street and cast the water f spell again. A rge expanse of ice cut through the street where I pointed my sword, walling off the path to the bazaar from the west. The exertio me panting when I fihe spell. "I'm not going to be able to do that again for a while. This magic is pretty mana-effit for a ritual, but it still eats up a lot."

  Silva nodded. "This should be fi'll slow them down if nothing else."

  I stepped up to the gate that Kal'daeryn had been holding alone while waiting for us. She had picked up a spear from the ground that had been abandoned by someohat resumably turned into a demon. I stood o her and Silva joined me oher side. There were still some of the smaller bone demon thralls around but they weren't mobbing our chokepoint anymore. The remaining ones were spread out through the bazaar so they weren't as much of an immediate threat anymore. Each of the bone demon corpses represented a dead person and from looking around I could see the husks of flesh they had been spawned from. The only thi of the people was skin and fur after their skeletons had ripped themselves out of their remains. It was a grotesque sight, the only thing that tempered it was that there were fewer of them than the people that were here normally, which led me to believe a majority of the people had escaped.

  The husks of ski behind on the ground were from priests and padins of the Tamin church, sves, and the poor from the southern quarter who were outside when the demon turned ohese sves akin must have been the ones cheering as the demon assaulted the sver's guild, not knowing that it would turn and kill them as soon as it was finished.

  The bowister unched another fireball at us and Man's spell cshed with it in the air once again. The demo right back to eling another one as Man and Torien joined us after climbing down from the wall I had built.

  "Go!" I called out before running at the demon with my friends by my side.

  After notig our charge, the demon released the spell it was eling and roared. The remaining nearby thralls rushed at us. Torien started firing at them as they approached and Man redirected the fire mana the demon released into firebolts that struck at the thralls charging us. The smaller thralls didn't have the same fire resistahe rger demon did so they were quickly dispatched by the two twins before any of them reached melee range.

  Silva was the first oo csh with the huge demon. Up close it was easier to gauge how big it actually was. It was more than twice Silva's height, around one and a half stories tall. The idea that it would be slow and lumbering because of that was unfortunately proven not to be true, as it roared and threw a fist at Silva. She dodged out of the way and smmed her spear into its arm, lightning crackled out of it when it hit. The monster seized up for long enough to give Kal'daeryn a shot at the monster's a she wasn't able to get the spear in deep enough to sever anything important.

  I cast [Bde Waltz] on myself knowing that the increased finesse would be necessary to dodge all of its melee attacks. One bad hit could cripple me or worse. It attempted another punch at Kal'daeryn this time but missed before attempting to throw a faster firebolt at Silva. The firebolt spshed across Silva and singed her fur from the ued attack. She just grit her teeth a in for another ssh that forced the moo seize up again.

  The moment it was vulnerable I dashed in and tried to stab it with my thin mithril sword. I had expected more resistahan I got when I reached it, the mithril sword turned out to be able to pierce more deeply into the demon than the mundane spears had. Unfortunately, despite the deeper stab, I still wasn't able to get it deep enough to strike anything important from this angle. But I was able to activate my true goal with that attabsp;[Melee Hex].

  I felt the magic take and the hex e over the demon. It was one of those abilities that's effects were difficult to measure directly but I had seen how helpful the debuff to the monster's luck could be in the past. The hex would make it stumble and miss attacks at every possible opportunity, its usefulness couldn't be uated.

  I leapt backward as soon as the monster was hexed and rao Kal'daeryn. "Hold o me touch your spear!"

  She was fused by the request but did as she was told. I ed my hand around the on and wild cast [Ice Imbue] to wreathe her borrowed spear in icy rime using all the ambient ice mana floating in the area. "This should help you get better hits on the demon."

  "Thanks," she grunted before dashing in for atack.

  At around the same time lightning sparked and coated Silva's spear as well. She apparently had a simir ability of her own that I hadn't ever seen before. She was already panting and tired from the fight though, so I suspect that her mana pool wasn't very deep.

  Icicles and arrows started pelting the monster's face, unbang it and making it fil to avoid the attacks. One of the icicles deflected off the demon's fad knocked a barrel behind the demon's foot just as it was stepping back, making it nd on its ass. The three of us instantly took the opportunity to push forward and attempt to gut the monster. I mao get a few stabs in before a giant foot coiled ba into me. I barely saw the attaing in time to throw a [Light Ward] up in front of me to soften the blow. I tumbled backward but mao avoid any serious injuries before quickly getting bay feet. I was feeling a little unsteady but I didn't feel too worse for wear.

  When the monster mao rise to his feet agaiire front part of his torso was covered in blood from the stab wounds we had managed on it. None of them were deep enough to hit anything vital but all of them were dripping blood onto the stone ground. The demon roared in anguish as the bones underh its skin began to reshape themselves even as icicles and arrows tio pelt him. Long spears of bone pushed through the skin on his arms giving him neons to defend himself with. Ptes of bone grew from his shoulders to better block his face from the magid arrows that had been threatening to blind him sihe start of the fight.

  He sshed at Kal'daeryn with one of his bone spears. Her reflexes were strong enough to catch the spear with her own, but the shaft buckled and snapped in half, barely holding together enough to block the attack. It spun away and sshed at Silva again, but she mao sidestep away without risking her owo the attack. Kal'daeryn roared and threw the broken spear away befetting even closer and trying to attack the monster with her cws. While it wasn't as effective irating the demon's skin, she did draw a lot more of the demon's attention that way.

  I flipped open my book of recolles with my left hand so that I could recall a specifigeon trap that I had copied down without any ges. [Light Scribing] resolved the ritual and I pced it down behind the demon. With a quick use of [Light Signal], I drew a ring of light around the trap on the ground to indicate it to my teammates.

  "Push the demon into the circle!" I called out. A moment ter I cast [Light Burst] and popped a bright fre right in front of its eyes to daze and fuse it. The monster roared and covered its eyes with one hand while filing with the other. A loud crack sounded over my right shoulder and an arrow smmed heavily into the demon, making it stumble backwards. A split sed afterward, a rge k of ice was hurled at the demon too, making it trip backward and nd onto the trap I created.

  Spikes of ice shot up from the circle pierg the demon through in several pces and ks of ice fsh froze its limbs ihe demon screamed and struggled in its frozen bonds. The ice cracked and broke in pces but for the moment the ice held it still. Silva pnted her feet and started charging something big. Her spear started crag energy as electricity arced off of it and along the ground as the magic pressure built. Kal'daeryn took advantage of the moment to gouge the demon's eyes out with her cws and jumped away as soon as she was finished.

  There ause for a moment as the only thing that could be heard was the crag of ice as the demon struggled and Silva's spear as it tio gather energy. I was worried for a moment that whatever Silva was doing would e too te, the demon looked almost free of the trap, but those fears were unfounded. Silva's magially released.

  Ihan the blink of an eye, Silva had shot forward and her spear sunk deeply into the monster's torso before violently exploding into arcs of lightning. The monster blew up from the i, spraying blood and viscera into a e in front of her. The demon had been obliterated and only its head and a few pieces of its legs had bee after the attack. Silva took a few steps back from what was left of the demon's corpse before falling ba her ass exhausted.

  [Your party has coordio defeat a horde of Bohrall Demons][Your party has defeated a Bowister Demon][Your Level has increased from level 51 to level 52][Novice Magian has increased from level 12 to level 14][Luck Magic has increased from level 6 to level 10][Mana Sense has increased from level 8 to level 9][Ritual Magic has increased from level 16 to level 17][Light Magic has increased from level 12 to level 15][Enha Magic has increased from level 9 to level 10][Swordsmanship has increased from level 38 to level 39][Learned Luck Magic Spell Wager][Learned Luck Magic Spell Carousel][Improved Luck Magic Spell Bckjack][Learned Light Magic Spell Light Siphon][Improved Light Magic Spell Light Signal][Learned Enha Spell Augment Strength][Learned Enha Spell Augment Speed]

  Woah, that's a lot of notifications.

  Saine

  Hello! I hope the fight se was enjoyable! I tried to give everyone some oments over the course of the fight and I think I did a pretty good job. In a way there have been so many bombs dropped in this story arc that the actual bat at the end seems a little bit anti-climactic if I'm entirely ho. That's not to say that this demon wasn't a challenge, but with everything else going on it turned out to not be a major plot point. There's some up and resolution ing up but we're quickly approag the end of this book! I hope you've enjoyed reading!

  Chey other story here: Umbral Feast

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