Chapter 27 – A Thorough Thrashing
Two Demon Lords stood before her. They had to be Demon Lords. Vyrdrun didn't sense any illusion on them. In fact, he didn't sense any weird magic at all, or he surely would have said something.
"SCREEE!" The Wave boss let out a horrid cry. Reina looked back and saw it free itself from Vyrdrun's grip. He was able to jump back before it could slam its spiked limb down.
Due to the distraction, Reina wasn't able to complete her spirit's attack. It was a drawback of directing its moves in the moment rather than giving it orders. Directed moves could be more precise, which is what they needed in that moment.
With his hammer back in his hands from its place on the ground, Vyrdrun took up a defensive stance. Maria flew over to Reina, taking up position just behind her.
"What now, Boss?" Worry filled Maria's voice at the development.
"I don't…cast magic at the Demon Lords." Reina quickly decided. Maria's magic wasn't that effective against the heavily armored boss, but these two were untested. "Vyrdrun, can you hold back the boss?"
Free from his grip, the boss swung its spiked arm at Reina's spirit. She was able to pull it away from the strike, but still close enough to fight if need be.
"I can try." Vyrdrun said, keeping his eyes on the Wave monster.
"Gau!" Kuromo gave a flap of his wings as he stared down the boss from Vyrdrun's shoulder.
She didn't want to leave him to fight alone, even if he had Kuromo. Sure, he handled himself well against the monsters they fought so far, but all of them were far weaker than him. The Wave boss was not weaker. Vyrdrun himself admitted he had little training in combat, which is why he used simpler weapons like the spear or hammer. Something intuitive to use or required brute strength would be good for someone with little training.
He might be able to keep the boss occupied long enough for Reina and Maria to deal with these two.
There was another reason the boss wasn't going to be their first priority. It happened when the last Demon Lord attacked them at the last Wave. After the Wave had ended, the Wave monsters that remained were much weaker. Reina assumed they drew power from the Wave itself, and it ending made them hardly worth mentioning.
As things stood, this was a three-way fight.
"Hmph!" That said, the gnarls didn't have much of an impact as is against Brent. He easily tore through them with his talons and crushed one with his pincer. The Wave monsters weren't very smart, their tactics more in line with rushing to the nearest enemy, but at least they were strong enough to not be completely ignored.
"Haha! This is nothing!" Will had just as easy a time killing the Wave monsters that attacked him. His whole upper body had doubled in size, making him look like a misshapen gorilla. The gnarls were easily swatted away, their chests being crushed by his strength.
Neither one seemed better to take out over the other. However, since the monsters attacking Will were dispatched first, Maria found her first target.
"Twin Fireball!" She let loose her spell at the man, forcing him to bring up his arms in defense.
The two Fireballs exploded on contact with his arms, singeing his fur. There seemed to be a light burn here and there, but the damage wasn't too severe.
"Hah! You know fire is the most common attack magic, right?" Will lowered his arms, a crazed look on his face. "Of course our bodies are made resistant to that!"
"We'll see about that." Reina remarked. Her spirit flew forward to attack Brent. Since he was still occupied with the gnarls, it gave her spirit an advantage.
"Twin Fireball!" Maria shot out her spell again. This time, Will avoided the spell, jutting to the side. He ran toward the pair.
Once her spirit was close enough, Reina activated Immolation and had it swing at Brent. He was only barely able to bring up his pincer to deflect the blow, but not without it leaving a heavy burn on him and cracking the pincer's shell. Fire resistance or not, her forged spirit had Flaming Fists and Immolation, plus Enchanted Fist on it and herself. Combined with the attack buff her spirit got from all the corpse chaser tokens attached to her Crimson Blade Ceremonial Sword and that weapon's own attack stat, plus a gacha bonus for attack, taking a hit head on simply wasn't an option.
Both Demon Lords seemed to realize this. Brent slashed at her forged spirit with his talons before jumping back, taking a few claw swipes from the remaining gnarls around him. Likewise, Reina pulled her spirit back to block Will's path, who immediately stopped in place. After all, he didn't look to have a particularly defensive nature about him. He was, inexplicably, much faster than Brent.
"Finish off the gnarls." Brent told him, cutting apart the ones attacking him. More were approaching, but their numbers weren't high. "I'll keep the Spirit Forger busy."
"Yeah, fine." Will waved him off before flexing his arms. "This shouldn't take long."
As Brent moved closer, Reina deactivated Immolation and had it start using Healing Touch on itself. It was still damaged from fighting the boss.
"Healing Burst!" Brent had the same idea, quickly healing his wounds. The cracked shell of his pincer repaired itself immediately.
With his recovery already done, Brent ran forward.
"Twin Fireball!" Maria let out another spell, slamming the glowing beads into Brent's body. He took the hit without much issue, receiving less damage than Will did.
Just as Brent reached her spirit, she dropped Healing Touch for Immolation and had it swing at him. He was able to duck under it and pierce her spirit's chest with his talons. Healing Touch was able to bring its HP barely up to three-quarters, but now it was back down to half. This build on it was very much a glass cannon. If the Zombie Template didn't increase defense, it probably would have been down to about a quarter HP.
"Force Darts!" Maria's spell curved around the forged spirit and struck Brent, doing minimal damage.
"Web!" The skill wrapped around Brent, keeping him in place, at least for a moment. It was enough time to direct her spirit to swipe at him again.
The claws of her spirit made contact with the tough shell of the pincer he used to block it. Sure enough, his defense wasn't up to the task. The claws cut through the thick shell and tore into Brent's chest.
"Jaunt!" It seemed Karth wasn't the only Demon Lord to contract that spirit. Brent teleported a short distance away. "Healing Burst!"
It also seemed like this would be a battle of attrition. His spell completely recovered his wounds. So long as he was still alive, he could keep healing himself.
"Healing Hands!" Maria cast her next spell. The same was true for them, but Maria's healing was less effective. It required her to touch the target, though healing Reina applied the same effect to her forged spirit. Reina used Healing Touch as well, speeding up the process.
If the situation persisted, it would come down to who had more MP to use. Reina could channel MP into her armor, increasing the dispersion effect to deal more damage to Brent as he did less damage to her spirit. That would force him to heal himself more often and them less, though their MP usage might not change much. Even then, all it would take was a few good hits and Reina's spirit would get destroyed. She had another, though its loadout was more geared toward poison and agility, losing out on defense. Her current one was equipped with Death Pact, so its loss could allow them to finish off Brent.
That would just leave Will. However, he wouldn't be the only opponent.
"Spikes!" Vyrdrun called out.
The boss gave off a loud screech as it flung its arms forward, throwing its spikes in his direction. He was able to dodge the majority of them, though a few embedded in his left shoulder.
The remaining spikes spread out. Some came for Maria and Reina, who hid behind the spirit. It took the hits, cutting away a chunk of the HP it just regained. A few more went Brent's way, who was able to teleport out of the way in time.
The Wave boss made a battle of attrition impossible, even more so with Vyrdrun's injury. It had ranged attacks from its three spiked limbs.
"Gau!" Kuromo spat out another beam of acid, corroding the boss's armor even more. It gave Vyrdrun enough time to pull the spikes from his shoulder, but he wasn't looking too good.
"Done!" With Will's proclamation, the situation only got worse. The rest of the gnarls were killed and no more were in the area.
"Let's kill them and be done with it!" Brent happily called out. The two of them ran together, closing in.
"Wall of Fire!" Maria threw up a barrier of flames, which the two Demon Lords passed through without a care. From their positions, Brent would meet the forged spirit while Will would come to Reina.
Dividing her attention like that wouldn't be good. Having two sets of eyes was very different from fighting two battles at once. The more she focused on herself, the less she could focus on her spirit. At worst, her spirit could only do basic attacks without much thought of defense or evasion. Good for numerous weak enemies, bad for fights that needed strategy.
But that implied the strategy was a difficult one.
"Hah!" Brent's talons went for her spirit, poised to pierce its chest yet again. Will leapt through the air, aiming to slam his massive arms on Reina.
The forged spirit crossed its arms in defense. Likewise, Reina held up her weapon, its forming changing to something more suitable.
"Argh!" Once they made contact with their targets, the counter effect activated.
"Damn—!" Will was able to back off after a moment of convulsion. Brent wasn't so lucky, becoming trapped against Reina's spirit with its arms wrapped around him. His body was assaulted by fire and electricity.
While the Crimson Blade Ceremonial Sword was used for offense, the Thunderstruck Doll Totem was the defensive weapon. It was a good general use form, but it also had one of the highest defense stats and a good ability to ward off attackers. Plus, she loaded all her muck crab tokens into it to increase her defense, which increased her spirit's defense as well. She had plenty of them. Those ridiculous pirate dolls weren't the only thing on the island with the Levitation spirit.
In truth, she could have used this weapon and let her spirit take attacks from the swarming monsters, but she wanted it to be more proactive. Besides, it wouldn't have looked good if she just strode forward and had her spirit do little actual fighting. It might have been able to tank the spikes launched from the boss, but then they wouldn't be able to deal meaningful damage. It still took a couple seconds to switch weapons, so it'd be hard to swap back and forth at appropriate times.
Even with her heightened defense, she wasn't going to personally tank attacks either. She blocked Will's slam with her totem, and she was glad she did. Her HP still went down and her arm felt a little numb.
"Tricky little…gah!" Brent writhed against her forged spirit as his body was assaulted. Its HP was slowly going down, Brent's talons cutting into its stomach with his pincer gripping its side. If it was something that could feel pain, that would be a good tactic.
Since that wasn't the case, Brent would be held until either he died or he destroyed her forged spirit. By then, he'd be so weakened that she and Maria would stand a good chance at killing him.
"Let's finish off Will quickly." Reina told Maria. Since her spirit didn't require her direction to continue its hold, she was free to focus on the other Demon Lord.
"You got it, Boss!" Maria nodded, pointing her staff at him.
"Hmmm." Will looked between the two of them, and then toward Brent and the forged spirit. "This situation…requires a different approach!"
With a yell, Will ran forward. He slammed his fists on the ground, launching himself over the group and continued on.
"Hey! Don't—gah—leave me here like this!" Brent called out desperately.
"You're on your own, pal! You knew this was coming!" Will yelled over his shoulder.
It seemed like they weren't all that close.
"Hey!" Reina ran after him with Maria a step behind, seeing exactly where he was going. "Vyrdrun!"
The warning came out just in time. Will launched himself at the Gromnar, who was barely able to bring up his hammer in defense. Two arms slammed down on the shaft of the hammer, snapping it in two. His fists collided with Vyrdrun's chest, knocking him down. Kuromo slid across the ground, righting himself after a few seconds.
"SCREEE!" The boss made its move. Fortunately, Will placed himself right in its line of sight, sparing Vyrdrun for the moment.
"Twin Fire Bolt!" As the boss clipped Will with its barely grown spiked limbs, Maria's weaker spell burned his backside. Vyrdrun was too close for an area spell.
"Web!" The second it came off cooldown, Reina trapped Will with her skill. Like Brent, it wouldn't last long, but the boss was able to get another strike on him.
"Grah!" He tore the webbing off of him just as Vyrdrun stood back up. "Fine! Your turn!"
Will leapt past Vyrdrun, leaving him to fight against the boss again. This time, Reina and Maria were with him, as well as Kuromo. Vyrdrun, however, was without a proper weapon.
As Will ran back to Brent and the forged spirit, he picked up the spear Vyrdrun tossed aside earlier. If he planned to help Brent, there wasn't much they could do at the moment.
The boss swung its tail around again, launching spikes in all directions. Vyrdrun was able to cover for Kuromo, who hopped onto his back. Reina stood in front of Maria, using her higher defense to protect the woman. It still hurt considerably, lowering her HP by a large amount.
But now the boss was out of its main source of damage. The armor plating it had on its human torso was completely dissolved.
"Twin Fire Bolt!" Maria sent her spell at it, but the damage still wasn't that significant.
"Gau!" Kuromo likewise spewed acid at the boss once he reached Vyrdrun's shoulder again. It had done great against the armor, but the defense of the boss was still enough to withstand most of the attack.
Reina couldn't switch out her weapon. Her spirit needed a high defense to continue holding Brent. Plus, without the spirit with them, she was the one who needed to fend off attacks. She had some weapons in her item drops, but none suitable for Vyrdrun to use with any ease.
Fortunately, he still had something to use.
Vyrdrun pulled the magic metal he used before and reshaped it into a spear. From what Reina gathered, it was a great multi-tool and was the equivalent of a good quality tool for potion making. As a weapon, there was much to be desired. Still, it might be enough.
"Maria, enchant it!" Reina called, blocking a strike from the boss with her totem. Pouring her MP into her armor, she was able to reflect some damage back to the boss, in addition to the damage dealt by the Static Field effect.
"Flaming Weapon!" Maria did as she was told. The end of the makeshift spear alighted with a blazing fire. However, it started to recede.
"Your magic won't last long on this!" Vyrdrun said, stepping forward.
In retrospect, it should have been obvious. That metal was used to handle violet rain. If normal magic couldn't be used to heal someone afflicted with the sickness from that, then there was a chance something regularly coated with it would have similar properties.
"Let's end this quick!" Reina yelled.
Even with the difference in height, Reina managed to block another strike from the boss. She kept her focus on it, rather than Will who was approaching her second pair of eyes through her forged spirit.
Vyrdrun stabbed with all his might at the boss, piercing its chest. It cried out in pain, trying to swing again at him.
Reina rammed into it with everything she had. It barely moved back, but it was enough to throw its attack off course.
Vyrdrun pulled his spear back, ready to make another strike against the boss. It pulled its arm back, aiming at Reina. She was ready for the hit. It was nearly done. The boss couldn't have much left in it. With her totem raised, she prepared for the attack.
Then, she jerked forward. Pain coursed through her chest, if only temporarily. Her forged spirit was just destroyed. The distraction was enough for her to lower her guard, allowing the Wave boss to slam into her and throw her far to the side.
"Boss!" Maria cried out.
Reina was dazed from her spot on the ground, but she saw what happened next. With a final thrust, Vyrdrun ran his spear through the boss's head. It let out a guttural cry as its body collapsed beneath its own weight.
With the boss dead, the sky slowly began to lose its red color and return to its natural blue.
Now they only had to deal with the Demon Lords.
"Healing Bur—" The sound of Brent's spell being interrupted caused Reina to look over.
The man with the pincer and talons stood there, covered in burns and blood. From his face down to his chest, blood coated his front. It was clear he had finished off the forged spirit and suffered from the Death Pact. But that wasn't what cut off his casting.
Will stood in front of him, holding Vyrdrun's spear. Half of it was visible, but the other half was hidden behind Brent's back. He had stabbed Brent in the chest with it.
"You…bastard…" Brent's voice barely made it to Reina's ears.
"We both knew it would end like this. I was just the one to strike first." Will said, the smugness clear in his voice despite facing the other way.
Just like that, one of the Demon Lords was dead.
Will yanked the spear out of Brent's chest and turned back to the party. He had a satisfied smirk on his face.
"Now then," he said, slowly walking toward them, "time to finish you off."
"Forge Spirit!" Reina brought out her second spirit and had it charge. With two bite abilities and the Insect Template, it had the range and ability to strike out at him. Even Immolation was added, as well as Flaming Fists.
But the spirit wasn't Will's first target.
"Hah!" With a yell, he hurled the spear past the approaching spirit and struck Maria in her shoulder. With a cry, she fell back to the ground.
"Maria!" Reina tried to stand, but her body wouldn't respond. She was hit hard, but not hard enough to keep her down. Quickly looking over her stats, she thought she found the reason. Her MP was depleted.
She never used so much of it before. The constant use of Immolation with the occasional Healing Touch had drained her, as well as the very slow drain from sustaining her spells. The Enchanted Fist spells she'd cast were thus removed.
All that combined meant that her second spirit stood no chance at defeating Will. Even with her defensive totem out, this spirit had only a little more defense as her first with the Crimson Blade Ceremonial Sword equipped. It also didn't have as much HP, leaving it to get decimated.
Reina fiddled with her belt, trying to pull an MP potion from it. Once it was free, she dropped it next to her before she could open it. Her second spirit was just destroyed, taking another bite out of her HP.
Desperately, she pulled at the bottle, uncorking it and downing its contents. Relief filled her, allowing her body to more easily move. Had she known depleting her MP was so dangerous, she would have taken care to replenish it earlier.
As she scrambled to her feet, Will was already running back to her party. With so few injuries before, the Death Pact wasn't enough to stop him. The only sign of his injury was a bit of blood around his mouth.
"Web!" Reina launched her skill at him, though he was easily able to dodge it from that distance.
Vyrdrun had pulled the spear from Maria's shoulder and helped her to her feet, standing in front of her with the weapon at the ready.
"Twin Fireball!" Maria's signature spell fired at the approaching Demon Lord, who slammed his fists into the ground to vault above the exploding flames.
With his good weapon back, Vyrdrun lunged at Will, but his movements weren't as sharp. His wounds were taking a toll on him. Will easily evaded the attack, grabbing the spear and snapping it with his other fist.
Stumbling back, Vyrdrun was caught defenseless as Will rammed into him. With a shift in momentum, he grabbed Vyrdrun's arm pulled him over his shoulder. Will gave a loud yell as he flung Vyrdrun away, slamming him into the ground.
"Gau!" Kuromo was able to jump off before the throw and spit more acid, but Will expertly ducked under it. With his fist pulled back, he punched the young dragon, sending him after Vyrdrun.
"Force Darts!" Maria hastily cast her spell, letting the projectiles zip up and strike Will. Unfortunately, they did little to deter him.
Using the strength he'd shown repeatedly, he thrust his large fist forward. Maria held up her staff in defense, but it broke easily, the momentum from the attack sending her to the ground.
Time seemed to slow down.
Will stood above Maria.
Reina ran as fast as she could. What else could she do? Both of her forged spirits were destroyed. Web was on cooldown, Blur wouldn't do anything meaningful if Maria couldn't move, and Deft Strike was close-range and wouldn't even work without her spirit ready. There were other skills from other weapons, but they wouldn't be helpful at this range. There might be one from a recently allowed form due to her level gains, but there wasn't time check for any.
There wasn't enough time.
Will raised his thick arm, fist clenched and ready to crush Maria, to end her in an instant.
"Stop!" All Reina could do was cry out futilely.
The arm came down.
Reina stopped in her tracks.
Maria sat there, looking up at her attacker. His arm was held back by the figure that appeared behind him. A black claw gripped his wrist.
"You?" There was only a single moment of confusion before Will swung his arm free. He brought down the other one, trying to grab his attacker.
The attempt was easily parried, his hand swatted to the side. His fist swung wide, deflected by black scales with equal ease as before. Will rapidly attacked as he was forced to back up, his opponent invading his space.
His retreat wasn't fast enough. A clawed hand swung up, slamming into his chin and staggering him. While he tried to regain his footing, his attacker stopped and breathed in deeply. With a shout, acid spewed forth and struck Will in his chest.
"Aaaahh—" He screamed before his voice quickly cut off, his torso having been melted thoroughly enough to destroy some of his innards. With a heavy thud, he fell back to the ground.
Reina watched as the second Demon Lord lay on the ground, unmoving. He was too much for them to handle, only to die so easily now. She looked to their savior, not quite believing her eyes.
The outfit she wore previously was in tatters. Black wings spread from her back, as well as claws with scales that extended past her forearms. Where there should have been human feet were the legs of a dragon, somewhat similar to Kuromo's hind legs. Scales went up to her thighs, before what remained of her pants concealed the rest. A long tail lazily swished through the air before resting on the ground. Two horns protruded from her forehead, curving up in front of her black hair.
But more than her draconic appearance, it was the face of the woman that surprised Reina the most.
"Matilda?" She asked in a quiet voice.
The monk woman who was launched away at the start of the fight stood before them. She gazed at Reina, her eyes now the familiar golden hue Reina came to expect from Derdir and his family.
Author's Notes:
Well, that doesn't look too good.
I'm not really great at writing them, but I think this battle scene turned out pretty well. Let me know what you think.
I was able to write a bit ahead for next chapter, though that was on accident. It wouldn't really fit in with this chapter, but the scene I was working on came much more easily, so here I am. I'll be able to get a proper safety net of chapters before long!