Demon's Last Stand

"Everyone, listen to my commands—"

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 defense demons, attack it from below. All ranged demons, concentrate your firepower on its head..."

"Awooo—" The Giant Dead spewed a stream of black miasma from its mouth.

"A miasma attack?"

Klauna gathered water-element energy in her hand and hurled it into the miasma. Before long, the dead creature's throat and the miasma it was spewing froze into an ice pillar. Through that miasma, Klauna realized that this Giant Dead had no intelligence to speak of. It was merely a simple aggregate.

"Using miasma poison against high-ranking demons is definitely not a wise choice. Not only can miasma poison not harm demons, but all high-ranking demons are third-tier elemental mages. Using miasma is no different from seeking death—" Klauna 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 difference in temperature 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. Before the dense, ant-like undead creatures could fill the gap in its head, they were pulverized by the ranged demons' arrows of dark magic.

"It's your turn now, those below—" Klauna shouted.

"Understood—" Imira flapped her thin wings and took the lead, striking at the Giant Dead's ankle like a bolt of lightning. Other large melee siege demons and melee assassin demons followed behind her.

The Giant Dead's lower body began to collapse. Assassin demons manipulated their twin battle blades and elemental war blades, severing the fragile links between the dead bodies, while the large melee siege demons charged toward the densely packed areas made up of countless undead creatures.

"Awooo—"

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

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

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

"Boom—"

"Boom—"

The Giant Dead's ankles were shattered, pinning its entire lower body to the ground. The crushing weight of its upper body ground its lower half into fragments bit by bit.

"Boom—"

"Boom—"

The tremors caused by the Giant Dead's fall shook the ground across all of Canfor. Its arms braced against the ground as it desperately supported its body. Then Klauna spat out a purple-black beam of energy, pouring it through the gap in the dead creature's neck. Unable to withstand the tremendous force of that energy, the corpse-aggregate collapsed in an explosion.

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

The walls of blood on all sides steadily moved inward. The corpse fragments scattered by the Giant Dead gradually dissolved along with them, and all the demons submerged themselves in the foul blood to recover.

"Finally... finally... it's about to end..." Yetara stood atop a high-rise 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.

"Damn... damn it... the Blood Barrier..."

Yetara turned to look behind him. A disheveled Forest Elf girl, covered in wounds, stood there. Her eyes brimmed with fury and hatred, and her dress was soaked in blood. The anger of a mother had made this fragile girl strong.

"How are you not dead..."

"You demon!" The girl pulled out the dagger and stabbed it in 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 Blood Barrier collapsed with a thunderous crash as its caster lost focus. The many demons had yet to realize the severity of the situation and began blaming Yetara for letting them down. Only Klauna, a high-ranking upper 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 to its feet once more. Hundreds of corpses rapidly gathered together, and the dead creatures 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 mountain peaks beyond. At that moment, Pervi and Lanta had set out on the road to Elrina Forest. After learning that dragons lived in the mountains of Elrina Forest, the two brothers had decided to hunt the mountain dragons. Their plan had been delayed considerably because of the Holy Wall.

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

"I brought it all. Dragon-Tendon Lock, dragon armor, dragonbone knife, dragonfang sword, healing scrolls, purification scrolls, talismans... everything. But..." Lanta looked back toward Canfor. "Are we really going to hunt dragons 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 reward every sacrifice, and not everyone knows gratitude. Even if we help them, what then? A dragon's treasure is so tempting. Once they learn that we are dragon hunters from the Dragon Tooth Tribe, who knows what they might do?"

"Brother..."

"Lanta, remember this—wealth can change a person at will, especially wealth that is within reach." Pervi hoisted his pack onto his back and headed into the mountains.

"Brother..." Lanta no longer looked back and followed in his brother's footsteps.

"Damn it—damn it—"

Klauna spread her wings and launched an assault on the mass of dead creatures. Black energy filled her entire body as she hurled all kinds of negative magic at the Giant Dead.

"If it weren't for the dead contract, I would never fight a monster like this—" Klauna swung her arm and cast negative energy at the Giant Dead, trying 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 power of decay within the Giant Dead flew past Klauna, nearly striking her. As one of the finest high-ranking demons, Klauna possessed magical energy that lower demons could never match.

Even though her magic was nearly exhausted, her combat strength had not diminished in the slightest. A longsword materialized in Klauna's hand as she flew diagonally toward the Giant Dead. With a single slash, she severed the monster's left arm. The falling fragments of the dead creature quickly reassembled under an unseen force and transformed into a cannonball that shot toward Klauna.

"You really are troublesome—" Klauna poured her remaining dark energy into the longsword and, with a backhanded slash, cut the dead fragments into the void.

"How terrifying..." Imira said, leaning on her Demon Spear. "Just this creation of the evil god is already so difficult to deal with. It is hard to imagine how the allied forces sealed Rosa Kevin in Altolis four hundred years ago without the help of the Holy Sword..."

"Imira, you still have time to watch the show? Hurry up and make them finish the magic circle! I can barely hold on any longer—"

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

"It's ready..." a ranged demon said weakly. "Magic that can banish this monster into the void..."

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

"In the name of the Fourteen Witches—" the demons chanted in unison. "Born from existence, wandering through nothingness; devouring all things, stirring causality; annihilating the world of this moment, separating those beyond the shore; connect, construct, corrode, and begin to dematerialize here—"

The Giant Dead stepped into the magic circle and immediately fell into the realm of nothingness. That place was deeper than hell. No bard's song, no words in the world could explain even a fraction of its darkness. Even this moment before dawn was not as distant as a mere fragment of that realm of nothingness.

"Awooo—" The Giant Dead planted its hands and tried to escape from the nothingness. But how could a mere creation escape such a realm?

As the many demons watched the Giant Dead slowly fall into it, they finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"Bang—"

"Bang—"

"Bang—" The dead creature's arms stopped struggling. Instead, it tore off its own head and threw it aside. Moments later, the Giant Dead was swallowed by the realm of nothingness, but its head took its place and became a new dead creature.

"Damn it..."

"Our strength..."

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

Only Imira cursed, "Does this thing ever end—"

It seemed the heavens had heard Imira's words. A beam of white light descended from the sky and erased the new dead creature born from the head.

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