NOVEL NEXT CCXLII – Taking Care of the Leftovers
As Esperanza, Dali, and Gordy joined the battle to handle the rest of the demon fourth tiers, the tables turned almost immediately.
Esperanza herself helped Nalihimatu’s group in dealing with the [Unforeseeable Executioner]. The demon was a nimble, elusive spearman, whose agility meant that Ilavakide, Dai’Vasy, and Legisvula had a hard time trying to land a blow on him. On the other hand, the demon would have taken them down in short order had Nalihimatu not always covered them with his shield.
It was the battle where the balance was the most precarious, which was why Esperanza chose to intercede in person. Another reason was because a piercing weapon like a spear relied heavily on hitting something vital in its attacks, something her amorphous form lacked. Because of that, she could simply charge at the fourth tier demon without fear of retaliation, relying on her unnatural physique to carry the day.
Not that it would have mattered much even if he could hurt her, since she could just [Respawn] at the worst case.
The [Unforeseeable Executioner] reacted by reflex when he noticed Esperanza attacking him openly from the side, and his spear pierced through her body. She had purposely returned to her human-looking guise to bait him to do exactly that, and instead of piercing through vital organs like the demon expected, his spear was instead caught within Esperanza’s body as she grabbed onto the shaft embedded within her form.
While the demon realized that something was very wrong with the situation the moment he tried to retract his spear and met with far more resistance than what should be possible, even going as far as releasing his weapon a moment later, that temporary delay cost him. Legisvula took the presented opportunity to sink his short blade into the demon’s back, right through one of his kidneys, before pulling back to avoid the demon’s pained retaliatory swing.
Before the demon could regain control over the situation, Nalihimatu bodily slammed into him, shield-first. The impact staggered the demon long enough that a spear of ice and an arrow landed on him, further worsening his predicaments. He could only watch as Esperanza nonchalantly pulled his spear out of her body and walked over to finish him off.
Near another corner of the ritual area, the [Soul-Reaping Jester] was even worse off, as the demon in question was already hard-pressed to deal with the opponents he faced. Val-Kas’j, Tiesya, and Resitia were arguably the three strongest and most aggressive members amongst the [Progenies of Yore], and the three working together was enough to make up for the difference in power and experience with the demon they faced.
The
[Soul-Reaping Jester] was kept frustrated as it would often see an opportunity to punish one of their attacks only to be forced away by an attack from another of the three, with Mel-Ivas and Iryl occasionally also pitching in to help as well. The demon in question lacked the brute power to force the situation, however, nor was it nimble enough to get away from them.
When Dali suddenly appeared out of thin air and bit down on one of the demon’s calves, it sealed his movements long enough for Gordy to capitalize on the pause and ram the demon’s knees with her entire bulk from behind, causing the demon to fall on his back helplessly. Val-Kas’j and Tiesya immediately moved in and stepped on the demon’s hands to prevent him from using his weapons, while Resitia rushed in spear-first to finish him off.
As a result, the [Soul-Reaping Jester] perished anticlimactically under their hands, with Resitia’s spear piercing the demon’s head right between his eyebrows, through his brain, and into the stone floor below. Val-Kas’j, Tiesya, Iryl, and Mel-Ivas had also further mauled the demon’s body just to be certain that he was truly dead and gone before they stepped away.
From there both groups came to help Ani’s team to handle the last of the fourth tier demon, the one whose unassuming [Return to Simplicity] class gave an impression of a simple opponent but proved to be the toughest of the four. The demon in question had skills that focused on strengthening her offense and defense, which made her a dire threat that was difficult to put down.
Simply because Ani’s group lacked the sort of brute force needed to overcome the demon’s defenses.
Once everyone gathered together though, there were simply too many of them for the demon to fend off, and while they might not be able to inflict heavy injuries upon the tough demoness, the small cuts and nick added up. Before long, practically every exposed inch of the demoness’ body was scoured with bleeding wounds, and she had visibly started to weaken, her movements slowing down.
Some teamwork allowed the group to disarm the demoness, causing her to lose her grip on her vicious maul, while repeated strikes to the same spots eventually bit deep enough to hit something important, as one of Tiesya’s cut to the back of the demoness’ ankle finally made her topple to her knees. From there, it was just a matter of finishing off the wounded demoness.
It still took them a while to do that just because of how tough the demoness was, but it was a foregone conclusion.
As such, a few of the group headed over to the resting area in the temple complex to help out those who were dealing with the remaining third tier demon guards. Since that group had some fourth tier warriors from Ani’s group with them, they were not having a hard time. In fact, they held back so the five from Zikeal – especially the youngsters – could get the lion’s share of the experience instead.
After the fighting was finally over, Esperanza finally had a chance to look over the notifications from the system that she had been ignoring throughout the fighting. Most of the were what she expected, kill notifications starting from the [Grand Shaman of Wiles and Guile] – where she amusedly noted that the experience for the kill was reduced because it was done as a team effort, meaning that the demons who had accidentally hit the shaman also got rewarded for it – and ending with the [Return to Simplicity].
She had not taken any part in helping out with the third tier demons and as such had no share of the experience, but it did not matter, because at the end of the notifications was one that had been long in the waiting.
You have leveled to level 20! +4 Free Major stat points gained! +5 Intelligence gained! +5 Wisdom gained! +15 Willpower gained! +10 Intuition gained! -5 Sanity gained!
You have gained access to the class [Ultimate Devourer of Existence]!
You have gained access to the class [Creeping Chaos, Undefineable]!
You have gained access to the class [Living Embodiment of Elements]!
You have gained access to the class [Herald of the Old Ones]!
You have gained access to the class [Speaker for the Voiceless]!
