Chapter 168: Surprise Guest
🕑 Added 2024-07-11 21:04:24 +0000 UTC...
Behind the mangled corpses of all the demonic boar monsters, a scream of wrath and sadness emerged, making the ground quake and turning the already red air darker. With every audible step, the monstrous mansion-sized being came from behind the horizon with grievance and tears in its eyes.
His appearances were similar to those of his slaughtered family but much more musculous and darker in shade. He had much greater tusks, scarred from battle after battle, and a mane that stood up like steel needles.
Staundering toward his slaughtered family, he became visibly sadder, not believing what happened, ignoring the apparent invaders who were watching this tragic moment and the whimpers and cries.
However, all those invaders watching the scene weren't sad but disgusted by the demonic monster's appearance. Everybody knew of stories of them killing other sapients. Thus, nobody had the slightest sliver of empathy.
Ocilia raised her lip, disgusted, "Well, how about a forewarning that we would also need to fight a Tier 3 being?"
Makol shrugged, smiling slightly at her as if challenging, "I have at least another two greater shots in me, and Algol is still fully ready, so how about a try? I will back you up should something happen."
Ocilia sighed, knowing why he did it. First, it was to show her the problems the camp was dealing with, like those monsters. Second, it was probably to show his prowess should she fail, trying to win even a sliver of more good faith and recognition. She was okay with it since she learned very early from her Master that failing wasn't anything tragic, as long one worked on their mistakes.
"Fine, but there is a difference between killing one big hunk of demon monster at the size of a mountain and a group of weaklings, but that should work, too."
Her five smaller canons weren't ideal for that, but it was great to test them. Mana and energy surged without much waiting, with the five tubes she created moving before her.
'Urgh, Master was right, the logistical aspect still sucks.'
Her threaded canons were long and hanging on threads from small portals as she moved them like a puppeteer, something she got a skill for. They were too unwieldy and swinging from side to side, annoying her.
However, after some seconds, she pulled all the strings in her hands, tightened the canons, and pointed them toward the demonic beast.
"Now... what did Master call it? Right, machine gun and brute-forcing a result..." She smirked, pulling out a high-grade mana potion and holding it with her teeth as a reserve, mumbling, "...Let's try that."
The metal bullets she created through a complicated formula of alchemy and magic were bound loosely to a belt-like accessory made out of her threads, with it being pushed through a slit in the pipes.
Inside the pipes, right behind the bullets, was a small and much weaker construct of the propulsion spell, specially tweaked to make rapid shooting happen. They were much weaker but less mana-intensive and worked great in quick bursts. Sometimes, they exploded, but it only happened one in a thousandth time after the last test.
'I love his inventions.'
Every time she went to her Master, she was presented with a new spell and some exciting modifications, which gave her the flexibility she needed for all sorts of battlefields.
The one she used was part of the gun modifications, which were easy to use and could create destruction. She loved the simplicity. Why make more complicated constructs if one can work with an easier one for the same effect? It was perfect.
BANG!
With the ending of her chant, the first shot was fired, and what followed were dozens more, interrupting the grievance of the demonic beast as it directly hit him in his roughed-out and scarred pig nose.
'What the... ?!'
While the spell hit, it also didn't penetrate well. Even with Ocilia trying to strengthen the propulsion construct, it only caused some scratches and superficial penetrations.
However, she suddenly worsened their situation. The demonic boar mostly found it annoying but suddenly became enraged, probably putting two and two together now that he knew who killed his family.
'I know this spell can instantly kill Tier 1!'
Testwise, she tried to shoot at normal monsters when another minor clearing operation close to Furri started. She could immediately kill dozens of them and even Tier 2 beings after at least dozens of shots, but she barely did any damage here.
'Well, I fucked up my try.'
Seeing how the giant demonic beast was about to prepare a [Charge], a skill one would accelerate rapidly toward its target, with them able to become sometimes faster with enough time than someone flashing, Ocilia decided to let someone else handle him.
"Why would you attack its body where it is the least vulnerable? Always go for the weak points, sugar."
However, while she expected Makol to shoot another arrow, she saw dozens of knives flying toward its legs, surrounded by dense mana and energy.
After they bumped into the boar's legs, everyone looking confused at what should've happened, Ocilia turned toward Quill, snarking at him.
"See? You are great in melee, but let range be our problem. What were you even trying to..."
BOOM!
Ocilia's rant was interrupted when they exploded in full force around the boar's legs, making him buckle slightly. She turned immediately back, seeing how even the demonic monster was surprised, crumpling to the side but becoming far angrier than before, now also taking them seriously.
"Well, Papa is Tier 3 for sure, and a robust one at that. Can'cha believe the explosion spell is that fuckin' weak, man."
Ocilia was always astounded by how great Quill's constructs were, bringing out all the potential a spell had. Still, her admiring him was now a little inappropriate, with the demonic beast squatting and running toward them, using the skill. One could identify it because of the very slow starting phase.
'Better be prepared than dead.'
As she learned, she needed a plan B, which she immediately started to prepare. She began to disassemble the threads of the five canons, creating a giant one with the earth under her moving, conjuring a stand to put it on. She needed something much more powerful, but it would cost a little time, which someone needed to buy her.
"Hey! How about buying us a little more..."
Passed her, flew an arrow, and stood again in mid-air, rotating much faster and with the energy becoming more volatile while condensing it into a solid, which fluctuated like sparks. It was mesmerizing, but her instinct told her it was also dangerous.
"Demonic beasts are much more resilient than normal monsters. The reason they are alive in the first place makes them much more powerful for their Tier, like with the honorable Lord and Lady, and of course, to a lesser extent, our strongest warriors like me who can overcome this land of pure ruin."
Ocilia knew this since demonic energy was destructive to the mind and body. There was a reason many animals needed to be bred into monstrous versions of themselves to survive here first. The same was true for Moorgrelians, especially the Guard Households, but to a much lesser extent.
Her girlfriend was a great example since she constantly needed to take potions and visit the Temple grounds to relax from the miasma. This helped her to endure it until her skills became strong enough. At the same time, Ocilia was fine since her family had lived for generations here, having their blood adapted.
"Thanks for the lesson, but kill it, or this thing will kill us."
"Gotcha!"
After Makol's cocky response, the arrow accelerated again, only to shoot forward rapidly, rotating now with twice the speed as before, which created an immense whirlwind, scratching the ground underneath it.
In her opinion, there was no way the boar could survive since he was already using all his stamina to charge toward them, but her instinct screamed that something was wrong. As such, she didn't stop, putting all her mana and energy into the new canon, which would still act as plan B.
'Huh?'
The arrow went directly toward the massive boar, but something weird happened when it was about to touch it. It flew right through him without creating the same gory and disgusting devastation it did with its family.
'It couldn't evaporate it, right?'
Sometimes, energy attacks could be so powerful that something would make puff, evaporate, basically. At least, this was what she read once, but after the dust settled, it seemed not to be the case here.
'A Rarity... fucking great.'
Ocilia saw how a barely visible phantom slowly disappeared, and the boar appeared again as if nothing had happened, still running toward them and accelerating, becoming faster and faster.
Many monsters had skills like [Charge], and the ones with more than their common ones were called Rarity, which were more dangerous and usually had a much larger monster core that looked like a mana gem.
Instead of sapient energy and mana veins, monsters and wild demons had cores, which various professions, such as alchemists and artificers, could use for their products.
She could only guess what the skill was, but it appeared to be something like [Doppelgänger], something that would create a false image of oneself.
'Well, that bought me some time for sure.'
While the demonic being avoided sudden death, it also appeared much further behind, which gave Ocilia enough time to finish her immense canon. It was four meters (13ft) in length and one meter (3ft) in diameter, a massive endeavor that she used only once to blow a hole through a cave.
The cannonball-sized bullet was made of steel and even hollowed out. Ocilia tried to follow her Master's advice regarding shooting, but she could barely remember this lesson. She hoped it was what he meant.
After letting the third mana flask fall to the ground, she conjured a massive construct so dense and perfectly efficient that Quill wouldn't even be able to criticize it.
"Target and..."
The mansion-sized demonic monster charged toward them and even started to push its energy to the front, making a deathly spiral. This demonic being would reach them in less than ten seconds.
Ocilia could also feel everyone around her readying their attacks, but she wanted to go first, as it was an excellent test for something she could barely use otherwise.
"...and freeze!"
BANG!
"Urgh!"
After repeating her Master's words, which he had said once when playing around, she activated it, and the enormous bullet flew rapidly toward the monster. Unfortunately, she couldn't observe it very well since she flew in the opposite direction.
'Note to me, don't stand behind the canon and create a greater sound suppressive spell!'
The propulsion spell created an airflow backward, which hit her, making her fly a couple of meters away as if Maurice had hit her. Other than that, she heard a ringing, but it quickly subsided.
'I broke my ribs, fuck...'
Landing in front of Aurum's feet, he only smiled at her when looking at her, holding her stomach and wriggling in pain.
"Good job, dear disciple. Our Master would be proud that you didn't even learn basic physics."
Standing slowly up, Ocilia wasn't too embarrassed since she saw what other mages and alchemists could do—she was leagues ahead for her age. Sure, she sometimes forgot basic safety protocols, but she deemed it normal.
She couldn't repeat and remember everything since she had dozens of other things to take care of, while others only lived to learn and still couldn't build a construct as good as her ass could.
"Shut up, so, did it..."
Interrupting her, the boar screeched a cry of wrath and pain. Barely able to stand up with the help of Aurum and impossible to straighten up because of the pain, she didn't need an answer anymore.
"Tsk, so close."
Ocilia clicked her tongue when looking at the demonic monster's wound for which she was responsible. It penetrated it wholly, but sadly, it went too much to the side, with her now regretting not using a targeting spell. Sadly, the more potent a spell was, the more costly were those. So, for such an attack, she would at least need another mana potion.
Her spell entered around the shoulder, and looking at the trail of blood and sensing her mana, it exited behind it. The monster wobbled around, so she guessed that she had damaged some vital organs, which was also seen since it tilted heavily to one side and was stopped in its charge.
"At least it's almost dead..." She looked around, "...who wants the honors of a last hit?"
Suddenly, she saw multiple daggers flying toward it, now not casually anymore but as fast as an earthen bullet, surrounded with far more mana and energy than before, making them even crack as they barely could hold so much.
BOOM!
They all got stuck approximately along where her bullet went through, and shortly after, exploding like before, only a little stronger.
The dust flew up since some daggers malfunctioned, fell to the ground, and exploded. Quill was still amateurish regarding spells but on the level of a genius if taking into account how long he learned.
However, for some reason, she missed something, and looking at Quill and Makol drinking potions while Algol walked forward with his spear ready, something was up.
"What's going on?"
Before the smoke dispersed, Makol was already shooting another arrow toward the demonic beast, which confused Ocilia since it should be barely alive, making it look like overkill. The arrow, spiraling fast, dispersed the dust, clearing the view.
The entire side of the monster was blown away, and it was a wonder that it could even stay, so she couldn't understand what the big deal was until a squiggly black mass suddenly began to escape the monster's innards.
'It's like Bartholomew's?!'
The mass made her remember the fight between her Master and the Silver-Tail Lord, with him able to regenerate similarly, only that it was much faster and less chaotic than now.
'I get it.'
The arrow, which Makol barely powered, hit the head, blowing part of it away, but it didn't matter. The black inkish mash immediately encased the whole body and even half the brain, most likely why it was still alive.
'Well, whatever the fuck it is, it needs to die.'
She pulled two more mana potions out, drinking them while something akin to a metamorphosis happened. A black and inkish layer of skin started to envelop its whole body, even its eyes, making it look hideous while it began to shrink to the size of ~two meters (~6.4ft).
'Great, I feel now like shit.'
Her whole body ached as the wound was still there, and the poisoning slowly began to act up from chugging too many mana potions. However, it was necessary since everyone readied themselves, even the monster.
'Two shots, at most three, but... fuck, it looks really sturdy now.'
Another layer of multicolored scales appeared and lay over it, like stacking roof tiles. From one moment to another, it stood straight again, with all its aura gone, and slowly walked toward them, emitting an aura of dominance.
"It's an Unique, so stay behind."
Behind her came the scavenger Algol, standing in front of them, taking his stance, looking serious like everyone else. She felt like an inexperienced bookworm, barely knowing what he meant and could only copy their mood.
The boar, now bizarrely beautiful because of its colorful scales, emitted an eery aura that increased with every step. It strolled toward them, making Ocilia now worry.
'For what do I have my crazy high [Luck] attributes?!'
In very rare circumstances, monsters could undergo a metamorphosis. In this state, the monster was basically dead but immediately revived, much stronger and trickier to deal with. Nobody knew why this happened, but it did. Fortunately, it was so rare that those monsters were called Unique's.
"Don't worry. It's very much doable but very annoying to deal with those."
Makol talked through his teeth, holding two flasks in them and readying another powerful attack while nodding at Algol. However, when he turned back to the monster, which strolled toward them, he couldn't help but look to the side, like the monster.
"Oh, I think it's..."
He immediately dispersed his energy while sounding massively nervous. Ocilia felt it, too. It was an aura much more frightening and terrorizing than whatever the boar could show, even tinting the miasma a shade darker.
"It's the most terrifying demon of all, and hopefully, she will be as friendly as Mr. Narsiz."
Ocilia smiled nervously when a more substantial wave of aura made her neck hair stand up. A cloaked and hooded figure was walking toward the monster, who started to ignore her group entirely and concentrated only on the person.
"So, what should we do? Is it really safe, or should we run? I..." Makol bit his lip, "...I would rather run and try a week later than let this ruin our plan."
Makol looked nervously and anxious at Aurum, who led the journey. He came forward, rubbed his chin, and sounded relatively optimistic, not stressed in the slightest.
"I think we will be fine."
Ocilia agreed with him and looked back at the boar and the cloaked person, who started to emit an almost unimaginable amount of energy, all leaking as if it was about to break through, cracking the ground underneath her.
"Yeah, if it's her, then we are fine, but we have much explaining to do."
Before further talks could ensue, the ground shook, and the boar charged unexpectedly, like a black thunder. His energy was darkish but still demonic, emitting an aura like a nightmare had descended on the world.
'Too weak.'
It surrounded the monster, creating something akin to a spiral again, but while the charge before was slow, this time, it was as if it flashed immediately, reaching the cloaked person in but an instant.
'Not gonna work.'
The cloaked person only emitted her energy, making Ocilia feel like a dam had been destroyed. The energy became uncontrolled, trying to get into every nook and cranny, exploding.
"Guhahaha! That's right! Come at me bitch!"
Ocilia raised an eyebrow, 'She comes after the Lord.'
She jumped into the monster, screaming profanities and laughing like a madman. Her energy exploded, creating an avatar-like woman holding a sword at least multiple meters large. She stabbed into the boar, making it screech in agony and stopping its charge.
'This is some insane amount.'
Ocilia knew the [Divinity Line]s of the Guard Households too well. All demonic energies could absorb [Experience] and strengthen themselves, increasing their level and Rarity.
'She got too strong, damn.'
However, while others could do it with everything, others, like the cloaked person, could only do it with other demonic beings. While it sounded weaker, the increase would be much faster and more substantial.
'It's incredibly. She is like a fish in water.'
The cloaked person dispersed the avatar made out of energy, creating dozens of spears, targeting the boar, which was barely persisting and heavily bleeding from the immense destructiveness of the first attack.
"Guahaha! Now, tell me who is your mama!"
The only reason she used so much energy for those artistic depictions against monsters was that she knew someone was watching, and depending on her sense of smell, she knew exactly who they were.
Ocilia sighed with a tiring smile, 'No need to show off, honestly.'
Otherwise, the cloaked person would probably be done with the demonic beast in seconds. It was still impressive that she had so much energy. With someone having such a specific [Divinity Line], one could quickly absorb and use the dense miasma around them, having a nearly limitless amount of energy.
However, the Lord and Lady were right. It was tough not to crack when using so much energy, as seen in everyone who went through Kratikal, being a nerve wreck. As such, if she hadn't stayed for so long at the estate and trained her mental fortitude that much, she would immediately snap into insanity as the energy corrupted too quickly.
"Now die! I hope a Unique has a better fucking demon core! Witness my glory!"
BOOM!
The spears made out of energy rammed into the half-dead boar, while a tap on the head would be enough, and after another second, it exploded into many tiny pieces, with them flying all around.
'What... is she doing?'
After the explosion, she looked proudly but suddenly became confused. She ran around for a good minute, looking between the chunks of flesh, until she found what she was looking for.
'Is... this safe?!'
The cloaked person took the demonic core, which was a version of a wild demon but still like a monster core, threw it into her mouth, and ate it while acting as if it were a too-hot piece of meat. Not a second later, everyone could see how immense demonic energy surrounded her when she stayed still and absorbed it.
'This will be funny.'
Ocilia peeked between the cloaked person's nonsensical theatrics at the camp's nervous representatives since they looked anxiously around. After what happened with Narsiz, they were much more cautious, understanding that it was strictly secretive, but in this case, it was fine.
Ocilia spoke joyfully, "She is a great person; don't worry."
Makol gulped audibly, "I... really hope so."
Seeing that she was done, she slowly walked toward them, pulling her cloak away. The usual cocky smile grazed her youthful face, and she had the same scarlet red hair as the Lady but as messy as ever—she now looked more mature but had the same hatchling charm.
"Yo..." She smiled widely, "An elf, scavenger, and beast-kin walk into a forbidden territory. If that isn't the beginning of one of Alex's really bad jokes."
Comments
Wyatt Hilbert
Thanks for the chapter
