The Demon's Last Stand

"Everyone, listen to my command—"

Klauna soared above the Giant Dead's head to draw its attention. "All demons hit by stray attacks, enter the Blood Barrier to recover. Melee and defensive demons, attack it from below. All ranged demons, increase your firepower and target its head..."

"Roar—" A stream of black evil miasma spewed from the Giant Dead's mouth.

"A miasma attack?"

Clawna gathered water-element energy in her hand and hurled it into the miasma. Before long, the undead's throat and the miasma it had expelled froze into an ice pillar. Through that miasma, Clawna realized that this giant undead possessed no intelligence at all. It was merely a simple aggregate.

"Using miasma poison against high-ranking demons is definitely not a wise choice. Leaving aside the fact that miasma poison cannot harm demons, all high-ranking demons are third-tier elemental mages. Using miasma against them is no different from seeking death—" Clawna activated the magic within her body and transformed the interior of the ice pillar into flames.

The flames began burning from within the miasma. Then, the sudden temperature difference between the inside and outside caused the ice lodged in the Giant Dead's throat to explode instantly. Corpses shot into the Blood Barrier, and the Giant Dead's remaining head was blasted away. The densely packed undead monsters, like swarming ants, were crushed by the ranged demons' evil arrows before they could fill the gap in its head.

"It's time for those below to make your move—" Clawna shouted.

"Understood—" Imira fluttered her thin wings and took the lead, striking at the Giant Dead's ankle like lightning. The other large melee siege demons and melee assassin demons followed close behind.

The Giant Dead's lower body began to collapse. The assassin demons wielded their twin war blades and elemental blades, severing the fragile links between the undead, while the large melee siege demons charged toward the densely packed areas formed by countless undead monsters.

"Roar—"

Energy blasts erupted from the undead and flew toward the large melee siege demons.

"You think you can use the same move more than once?" Imira commanded the defensive demons to cast the Wall of Lamentation.

The Wall of Lamentation, formed from undead beings, could absorb most negative magic. With its protection, the siege demons easily blocked the attacks unleashed by the undead monsters.

Boom—

Boom—

The Giant Dead's ankle was shattered, pinning its entire lower body to the ground. The crushing weight of its upper body gradually ground its lower half into scattered fragments.

Boom—

Boom—

The impact of the giant undead's fall shook the entire ground of Canfor. Its arms braced against the earth, struggling to support its body. Then Clawna fired a purple-black beam of energy from her mouth, pouring it through the gap in the undead's neck. Unable to withstand the enormous power, the corpse-made undead collapsed completely.

"This thing... is finally beyond saving..." Klauna said, panting. "The rest... depends on Samara's Blood Barrier..."

The blood walls on all sides continually closed inward. The corpse fragments scattered by the Giant Dead gradually dissolved as well, and all the demons sank into the foul blood to recover.

"Finally... finally... it's about to end..." Yetara stood atop a tall building, remotely controlling the Blood Barrier through his magic. "I can finally catch my breath... Just... hold on a little longer..."

"Yetara, you demon—" A dagger stabbed into his back.

"D-Damn... the Blood Barrier..."

Yetara turned to look behind him. A battered Forest Elf girl with disheveled clothes stood there, her eyes filled with rage and hatred. Her dress was soaked in blood. A mother's fury had made this frail girl strong.

"How are you not dead...?"

"You demon!" The girl pulled out the dagger and stabbed him again. She continued for nearly thirty seconds, refusing to stop even after Yetara had stopped breathing.

"For... for me and my child..." the girl kept murmuring, until she bled to death.

Bang—

The entire Blood Barrier suddenly collapsed when its caster lost focus. At that moment, the many demons had yet to realize the severity of the situation and began blaming Yetara for failing them. Only Clawna, a high-ranking greater demon, sensed that something was wrong.

"Something happened to Samara..."

Bang—Bang—Bang—

The ground began to tremble. The Giant Dead, which had nearly vanished, rose again. Hundreds of corpses rapidly gathered together, while the undead wailed without end.

"This... this thing just... won't die..." Imira collapsed to the ground. "Why is it even bigger than before...?"

The north wind blew from the peaks beyond the mountains. Pervi and Lanta were traveling toward Elrina Forest. After learning that a dragon lived on the high mountains of Elrina Forest, the two brothers decided to hunt it. Their plan had been delayed considerably because of the Holy Wall.

"Lanta, did you bring everything?" Pervi asked.

"I brought it all. The Dragon-Tendon Lock, dragon armor, dragon-bone blade, dragon-tooth sword, healing scrolls, purification scrolls, talismans... everything. But..." Lanta looked back toward Canfor. "Are we really going to hunt the dragon now? It feels like the people in that city need our help..."

"Lanta—" Pervi patted his brother on the shoulder. "If we help them, then... who will help us? This world does not always reward those who give, and not everyone knows gratitude. Even if we help them, what happens afterward? A dragon's wealth is so tempting. Once they learn that we are dragon hunters from the Dragon Tooth Tribe, who knows what they might do."

"Brother..."

"Remember this, Lanta—wealth can easily change a person, especially wealth that is within reach." Pervi shouldered his pack and headed into the mountains.

"Brother..." Lanta no longer looked back and followed his brother onward.

"Damn it—damn it—"

Klauna spread her wings and launched an attack against the mass of undead. Black energy filled her entire body as she hurled all kinds of negative magic at the Giant Dead.

"If it weren't for the Undead Contract, I would never fight a monster like this—" Clawna swung her arm, throwing negative energy at the giant undead in an attempt to draw its attention.

"When will you people finish drawing that magic circle? I don't have much magic left. If this drags on, I won't be able to—"

Whoosh—

The force of decay from within the giant undead swept past Clawna, nearly striking her. As one of the strongest high-ranking demons, Clawna possessed magical energy far beyond that of lower demons.

Even with her magic nearly depleted, her combat strength did not diminish in the slightest. A longsword materialized in her hand as she flew diagonally toward the giant undead. With a single slash, she severed the monster's left arm. The falling undead fragments were quickly reassembled by an unseen force and transformed into a cannonball that shot toward Clawna.

"You really are troublesome—" Clawna infused her remaining dark energy into her longsword and slashed the undead fragments into the void with a backhand strike.

"Terrifying..." Imira said, leaning on her Demon Spear. "Even this creation of an evil god is this difficult to deal with. It's hard to imagine how, four hundred years ago, those allied forces sealed Rosa Kevin in Altoris without the help of the Holy Sword..."

"Imira, you still have time to stand around watching? Hurry up and make them finish that magic circle! I can barely hold on anymore—"

Klauna shouted as she broke free from the Giant Dead's arm.

"It's ready..." a ranged demon said weakly. "Magic capable of banishing this monster into the void..."

"Finally..." Klauna flew forward, luring the Giant Dead into the magic circle the demons had set up.

"In the name of the Fourteen Witches—" the demons chanted in unison. "Born of existence, drifting through nothingness, devouring all things and stirring causality; annihilate the world of this moment, separate those of the other shore; connect, construct, corrode, and let dissolution begin here—"

The moment the Giant Dead stepped into the magic circle, one foot sank into the realm of nothingness. That place was deeper than Hell itself. No matter how bards described it, no matter what words the world used, they could not explain even a fraction of its darkness. Even the hour before dawn was nowhere near as remote as a tiny piece of that realm of nothingness.

"Roar—" Giant Dead braced itself with both hands, trying to escape from the nothingness. But how could a mere creation possibly flee such a realm?

As the demons watched Giant Dead slowly fall into it, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Bang—

Bang—

Bang— The undead's arms stopped struggling. Instead, it tore off its own head and threw it aside. Moments later, the giant undead was consumed by the realm of nothingness, but its head took its place and became a new undead.

"This is bad..."

"Our strength..."

"...is already exhausted..." the demons said in despair.

Only Imira cursed, "Will you ever be done—?"

It seemed the heavens heard Imira's words. A beam of white light descended from the sky and wiped out the new undead born from the head.

Imira: "What... is going on...?"

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