Eredar and the Destroyer Demon

"Azresok, is that damned poison of yours actually effective? It's already been five minutes. That bull should be close to breathing her last by now, shouldn't she?"

Sandresa said irritably. She had just stomped an entire nest of marmots to death and was now frantically tugging at her hair.

Besides, she felt that if she didn't find something else to torment, her bloodthirsty hunger would devour what little composure she had left!

"Be patient, Sandresa. My poison is nothing like the inferior junk used by amateurs. It won't kill prey instantly, but it destroys their nervous system at a terrifying rate, dissolving their ability to resist."

Her companion's indifferent attitude sent Sandresa into a furious rage. She cursed loudly:

"Then isn't it completely useless?! You incompetent idiot! Open your damned eyes and look—the cow is a healer!"

"If you want to rely on bottles and jars, you might as well become an alchemist."

A cold voice drifted through the air. "You wouldn't understand. A mature assassin master never relies on poison."

"For a true rogue, relying on convenient tools only dulls the body's reactions. Eventually, they forget who their true partner is."

Sandresa spat viciously, making her profound contempt for her companion's words clear.

Unlike Azresok, Sandresa was a thorough pragmatist. She could find pleasure in poisoning, passion in dismemberment, and even excitement in a meaningless accident.

She was a devil born to find happiness in the misfortune of others.

"Did you find what that idiot master was looking for? The other two animals, one big and one small, one male and one female. Don't tell me you've been busy all this time and found nothing!"

It seemed Azresok had run into a problem. After a long silence, he said uncertainly:

"This is truly strange. Very few prey can escape my eyes, but I searched this entire area from top to bottom and still found nothing."

"How exactly did they hide? It really makes one curious."

The voice sounded somewhat regretful. "What a pity I wasn't there at the time. Otherwise, I might have noticed something."

"What a useless piece of trash! Only incompetent idiots are always making excuses for themselves!"

Sandresa cursed viciously. Sulfurous flames burned fiercely in her palm before she hurled them hard behind her!

She turned around, revealing a bloodthirsty, crazed smile.

"You pitiful trash! Do you think you can slip away beneath the eyes of a Destroyer Demon Queen?"

The fireball was cleaved in two by a battle axe and exploded not far behind her.

Carl raised her battle axe with one hand, its sharp edge pointed straight at the Destroyer Demon's head.

"Retreating in the face of battle is never the act of the righteous. You deceitful wretch, face me openly!"

"Ancestors, bless me! I swear in the name of the Earth Mother that you will fall beneath my axe!"

The powerful cow let out a thunderous roar. It set her companion's blood boiling and filled her enemies with dread. She leaped high into the air and brought her axe down fiercely upon the Destroyer Demon.

Sandresa sneered and summoned a torrent of frost. Frost Nova, the mage's signature skill, became even more powerful under the enhancement of fel energy. Carl raised her left arm to shield her eyes, Purification gleaming faintly over her body as she charged straight into the frost.

She quickly burst through the freezing current. The Shaman's Purification had worked. A thin layer of ice clung to Carl's fur, but her movements were not hindered in the slightest.

The Destroyer Demon frowned slightly. Fel energy surged as she used Blink to leave her original position. The ground was smashed apart by the axe, but when she reappeared, a crimson mass of magic struck her head-on and sent her flying with tremendous force.

Carl immediately rushed after her and engaged her in close combat. Sandresa barely dodged several blasts of energy, then raised Mana Shield and clumsily blocked several of Carl's sweeping strikes. Her curses rang out from afar.

"Damn it! Azresok, how long are you going to stand by and watch?"

At the same time, Tally's body was rapidly changing. Before long, a translucent pale-red wolf spirit began running circles around the two combatants.

Watching Carl charge toward her, Sandresa's lips curled upward in disdain.

From the shadows, the Eredar assassin named Azresok drew two coldly gleaming daggers.

With a dull thud, the running wolf spirit was forced to halt. The assassin gathered shadow energy into a Sap, plunging Tally's soul into a stunned state.

Having succeeded with one blow, Azresok did not linger. He immediately activated Sprint and raced toward Carl.

Sandresa chanted an incantation ahead of them, vaguely forming a pincer attack.

Carl did not turn back to help. She even gathered strength in her legs, as if she intended to charge the mage.

Sandresa sneered as she completed her spell, summoning a massive Ring of Frost that froze the ground. Carl was bound in place and could no longer move forward.

A fiery red magic circle unfolded beneath the demon's feet. As she chanted, the temperature gradually rose. Sandresa was intently channeling a powerful spell—she intended to summon a meteor to bombard the area.

In these brief dozen seconds, even if Carl broke free from the Ring of Frost, her assassin companion would arrive.

So this was an absolutely safe window to cast her spell!

Carl gathered her rage and stomped down, shattering the solid ice and freeing her legs.

Tally, positioned on the outskirts, also regained consciousness from the impact of Sap. Seeing that the pressure was no longer on her side, she began gathering mana to support Carl.

Azresok glanced back at the Shaman's movements and decisively pulled out two smoke bombs, throwing them at Carl's feet. The bombs exploded and released billowing smoke. He charged straight into it to fight Carl.

Tally's vision was blocked by the smoke, forcing her to stop casting her water spell and instead summon the power of wild winds.

The rogue's daggers flashed up and down, carving numerous cuts across the Tauren's broad body. However, Carl caught an opening and chopped him in the shoulder with her axe, leaving him even more seriously wounded.

Azresok leaped back a step, his expression grave as he stared at the vigorous Carl.

The poison had completely stopped working!

He had no idea what had happened in those short five minutes, but his poison seemed to have been completely neutralized. She had even developed a new immunity.

Had he known, he would have reapplied poison to his weapons before the fight. But as he had said, an assassin master focused on technique did not carry spare varieties of wounding ointment.

Azresok shook his head. Still, in an assassin-and-mage combination, he would never be the main attacker.

And Sandresa's meteor was almost ready.

But at that moment, a savage whirlwind erupted from the center of the smoke. Carl unleashed Bladestorm. The sharp axe blades spun at high speed, like a terrifying tornado formed from countless overlapping blades.

The tornado's primary target was the assassin.

Azresok's face changed drastically. He crossed his daggers and attempted to Disarm her. With his keen eyesight, he could barely see the trajectory of the massive axe, but the instant his daggers touched its blade, they were knocked away.

Sprint had already been used. Left with no choice, Azresok vanished to avoid the edge of the attack.

The Disarm failed. Bladestorm burst free of the smoke and ice, slashing toward the Destroyer Demon.

Sandresa cursed and interrupted her spell. She hastily threw several fireballs, but even they were shattered by the wind pressure. As the whirlwind closed in, she could only Blink out of Carl's attack range.

The battlefield instantly fell silent. Carl stopped Bladestorm, caught sight of the Destroyer Demon vanishing again in the light of Blink, and immediately leaped back to help Tally.

The warrior's body crossed dozens of meters in a perfect arc. With a deafening boom, she landed solidly on the ground and shielded Tally.

Facing the Destroyer Demon at close range, Tally immediately retreated several steps to put some distance between them. However, she remained within Carl's line of sight the entire time.

Carl roared and charged the Destroyer Demon, as if trying to stop her from pursuing Tally.

Sandresa revealed a sinister smile, pleased that her scheme had succeeded. She met Carl head-on with Dragon's Breath. Carl took the attack full force, and the frontal blast of sulfurous smoke and dust left her dizzy and disoriented.

At the same time, the assassin sprang from the shadows. His poison-coated dagger successfully ambushed Tally. It only lightly cut open a wound, yet it left her briefly paralyzed.

Immediately afterward, the rogue leaped back into the shadows and used Shadowstep to quickly move behind Carl. Attacked from both sides, she had nowhere to dodge.

Kidney Shot! Azresok cruelly drove his dagger into the Tauren's back. A surge of shadow energy flowed through the hilt and into her body, stunning Carl as well.

At the same time, the Destroyer Demon rapidly chanted another spell, targeting the Shaman, who had also fallen unconscious!

Their brief loss of resistance instantly turned the situation critical!

The assassin raised his knife and brought it down, launching a rapid series of Shadowstrikes. Flesh and blood splattered from Carl's back in an instant.