Chapter 39: Chapter. 39: Despicable

A demon bellowed, then another, and another. An elf grunted, one scoffed, and in unison about half of them turned towards me. In an instant, I was the center of attention, but I didn’t care anymore. That said, some demons did not miss the opportunity to pounce on distracted elves. Mayhem descended.

The demon commander glanced in my direction and simply nodded, as if giving his approval. It was odd to say the least. And then, as soon as that brief period of respite ended, a demon bellowed almost next to me and charged in a frenzy, his stance wide open as he swung down a sword. I slung the bow between my arm to make space for the spear, and attempted to meet the demon head on, pouring mana into the shaft between my hands. Sharp. Unwavering.

The spear collided against the sword, but contrary to my expectations it only briefly dented before the demon’s overwhelming strength sent a shock through my arms. All I could hear was heavy breathing underneath his helmet. My arms trembled under the strength, and smoke billowed from the sword as it quickly corroded away. In less than a second, the sword was broken, and I brutally swung the spear once more as if it were a sword. It slid through its armor, but there was no grunt of pain or blood. I snorted and brought the mana to the tip of the spear, shifting my stance as I poked towards the demon with utmost strength.

The spear hit its shoulder, rebounding and throwing him off balance. The armor was tougher than I had originally expected. But there was no regret in my mind, I hadn’t done it out of impulsiveness, but rather I was testing my limits⁠—by extension their limits. How did I compare? Of course, I wanted experience points too, but I would have no qualms running away.

Another demon came for my head, swinging the same type of sword. I didn’t make the same mistake as before and used the spear shaft to parry it, letting the sword slide off. The warmth coursing through it⁠—the mana⁠—shifted to the shaft once more, and this time I aimed for its calves. I smacked the spear straight into one of its legs, this time it cleaved onto it and a shriek of pain came from its helmet as it rattled ever so slightly. Like an ax, I brought back the spear in the same swing motion. The demon was inacapacitated. That said, things were perilous.

Dozens of eyes on me, wary of the skill I had used. At first I thought I could get away without learning a movement skill, but now it was coming back to bite me. I carefully reached for my quiver at my hip underneath my cloak, pinching the spear with my thumb, I grabbed five arrows doing some reconsidering in the process. As I did so, at the corner of my eye I saw an elf raise her bow. I was unable to tell if its voice was hatred or tense.

“I thought we wiped all of you!” The arrow was fired, but it was slow, it lacked the destructive power of mana enhancement, and it did not have the explosiveness of Power Shot.

I snorted, and parried using the shaft of my bow, the arrow did nothing but leave a small nick on the metal frame. I wanted to use the spear but given the roundness of it, there was a high likelihood it would just change its course and still injure me. As if the arrow was a cue, the elves looked at me once more, mixed emotions in their eyes, and at the center of the initial commotion, a figure rose.

It was the elder, his face was bloody and parts of his beard were missing.

“I never expected someone to survive,” he coughed. “Tell me young one, what do you seek by interfering with the demons as well?”

The miasma on the ground remained, and the lines of danger remained from Penumbral Sense ⁠— the skill I had found to be progressively more useless the more chaotic the battlefield was ⁠— but everything seemed to come to a standstill waiting for my reply.

“Girl,” the demon commander called, hoarse. “How about you come under our wing? Under Arkaram’s will? The emperor would surely receive you with open arms, with a strength like yours.”

I shook my head in reply to the commander, and then faced the elf. “If I don’t interfere, and you people were killed, I would surely regret it.” Though it was partly a lie, it wasn’t totally untrue.

The elder smiled with spite meeting my eyes. “I surely regret not using more fire to burn the forest deeper that time, small parts of the Deep Dark remained⁠—something that should have been erased.”

I snorted. “I regret not blowing your head off with a single shot instead of trying to kill everyone.”

The elder frowned, gnashing his teeth. “Get her!” He commanded in an instant, at the same time the demon commander called to me.

“Girl, I’ll cut you a deal, we get rid of the elves and my troops stay off of you. Then we can negotiate, deal?” I smiled hearing the demon.

“Then let us do that!”

The demon nodded and the miasma within his feet expanded once more.

“Siege!” He bellowed, and at that instant I felt warmth within my very being. I felt a small amount of relief at that moment.

[You are being empowered by the Immaterial, +15% to all your attributes.]

A smile formed in my face as the demons that were about to rush me instantly turned towards the elves. They were unfeeling and calculating, well trained soldiers that would simply listen to the will of the commander. A minute part of me felt a slight sense of worry about the demons, but that could wait. Right now, it was elf slaughtering time.

An elf tried to fire an arrow at me that was quickly blocked by a demon’s sword. Another tried sprinting towards me but was tackled. The entire battlefield felt closer to a skirmish than an actual fight ⁠— shoot what you can and make the best of it ⁠— I decided against trying to stay by the side of the demons, and instead backed off towards a tree. I didn’t want to be near the elves or the demons, the high-ground of the trees seemed like my only option. It was a bit nostalgic considering I hadn’t climbed a tree for quite some time.

I managed to dodge the stray arrows shot my way, and soon I used the tree trunk to block line of sight for the side of the elves. I quickly poised myself, stowing my spear away and bow through my arm, I began to climb. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for me to reach the lowest branch as I looked down at the battlefield. The effects of Penumbral Sense much more apparent with the black ground.

It was like a spiderweb of red with brief gaps of gray, at the same time there was a line of red coming from the forest on the other side, but it never moved. I took in the sight for a few seconds before making my choice, the elder had begun using his prophecy once more empowering the elves too. I couldn’t allow that. I attempted to nock an arrow only to realize I had thrown away all the arrows I had in hand, I sighed while grabbing more, quickly lining it up and pulling the string.

I took a quick breath to stabilize my aim and powered the string with Power Draw. The elder instantly snapped his gaze in my direction as if he had a sixth sense for danger. I smiled at him and transferred mana into the arrow, this time only aimed at the tip⁠—sharper⁠—the warmth transferred from my hand once more. With a grin I let go of the arrow. His eyes momentarily widened seeing the speed of the arrow, but he janked an elf by the collar. The arrow hit its neck and passed right through, the elder grunted as his shoulder was painted red, the arrow impaled on it. The elf on the other hand gasped and fell on the ground, grabbing his neck as he tried to breathe desperately.

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The elder was despicable. I nocked another arrow, and the elder empowered the elves once more. He brought the fallen elf by the scrub, using it as a shield to cover himself from me. Did it expect it to work when it didn’t the first time? I snorted and fired the same thing once more, the arrow went through the elf’s chest and missed the elder. I repeated once more, this time the arrow passed through its shoulder and hit the elder on the arm. Gritting his teeth, he used his skill to coat the elf in even more light aura.

I fired, but this time the arrow did not go through its body. Self satisfied with himself, he ignored me once more and turned to barking orders to keep the demons at bay while drinking a health potion. A frown instantly formed on my face. The Old man was ignoring me thinking it was over?

Have it your way then. I nocked two arrows simultaneously. Don’t regret it. I enhanced the bow with my left hand, and turned both arrows into explosive arrows.

The elder seemed dead set on ignoring me as he held the now dead elf with one hand. The sight was repulsive to me ⁠— even amongst their people they would kill each other like that? ⁠— once more I felt anger, a repulsive feeling that told me I needed to erase this old man from the planet. The shocked expression of the elf told me everything, near death and his eyes constantly shaking.

With a grunt I let the two arrows go towards the old man that safely hid on the backline. Like twin snakes they coiled mid air, brilliant and full of power. The elf on his grip was raised to stop the impact, but not a second later it exploded. An explosion way bigger than the last engulfed the old man, the nearby elves getting caught up in it, notifications resounded in my head once more.

But this time I prepared myself to shoot once more, drawing the string back. I waited as the smoke settled. The demons themselves had paused from the shock but quickly went onto jump on the remaining elves. Not more than a few seconds later, the remaining elves died and the smoke cleared. At the center stood the old man, bleeding profusely and wobbly. He looked at me with hatred and pointed his finger on me.

“I will remember you⁠—”

The arrow pierced his skull.

“Shut up,” I scoffed as the kill notification resounded in my head.

Silence descended upon the forest once more, as the demons tried to recover their breath. I remained on my vantage point overlooking the battlefield, simply waiting. I wanted to loot things, but the demons were here, at the same time our temporary alliance was over. The small boost of the skill disappeared and footsteps came near me.

The demon commander stepped a few meters away from the tree, looking up at me. I could see nothing but a pitch black abyss within the holes of his helmet as he spoke.

“Elf, two options. Submit or die, what will it be?”

I snorted, I could fire about one more Explosive Shot before I started to puke, needless to say it was best to avoid everything.

“How about we just go our separate ways?” I asked with a frown.

He shook his head, his armor rattling as the dark miasma converged back onto him. “Unfortunately even though I appreciate your help, I also am in awe of your power. The empire needs you.”

I stopped myself from telling him how stupid that was. And simply stared with a frown.

“No other way?” I asked, stopping myself from sighing.

“No.”

I knew I could try to run away, but the situation was less than ideal and the likelihood of dying was high. A quick feel through my quiver told me I had at most seven arrows left, I couldn’t exactly look. My mana was in no condition to try to create more arrows either. Lamenting my fate, I nocked another arrow and overcharged it with Explosive Shot and Power Draw. The demon audibly exhaled, but it was too late, the arrow was shot, howling through the air. His body froze stiff, and he grunted, a metallic ring reached my ears, with a ding the arrow exploded in a verdant bloom, encompassed, and enveloped. I felt dizziness overtake me and the demons turned to me. He seemed fixated on chasing me around, if that was the case then I was going to kill him first.

“INSOLENCE!” he bellowed from the smoke, his voice was gruff, and he was bleeding profusely from the gaps on his armor.

I snorted, nocking another arrow with shaky hands, this time I was going to run away; using the weakened version of the Explosive Shot was doable. The commander was going to die any second now, the demons rose their weapons and were about to go after me when a deep voice spoke from the forest, interrupting whatever was happening. It was almost enchanting, but rather⁠— it was smooth and deep, steady.

“That won’t be necessary.”

Footsteps approached from what I thought was the north-east. Before I knew it the demon commander instantly knelt on the ground as if a weight was dropped atop of him. As the footsteps got closer I saw a demon with blue skin and golden eyes, his horns were different; wrapping around its head like some sort of crown. And then, he turned to me with a deep smile of satisfaction.

“You must be that Great Warrior the human spoke of.”

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