1.4 - Demons
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The moment those black slime demons started getting close to us, I began looking for opportunities to move.
These things move very slowly, and they only move towards one direction. And thanks to this, the right and left side of the entire first floor is clear of them.
"Follow me!"
I shouted as I ran to the right side of the room, and Nico followed behind me. As we ran, I kept an eye on both the demons and Nico's location, so that I won't lose him in case something happens.
The area I'm aiming for is an open space by the other entrance, which I assume is the back entrance of the building. The two of us ran there and decided that this area should be good to hold for now. Now that we are in a rather clear position, I can start thinking of a way to get us safe.
The entrances were not the only exit. The entire first floor has multiple entrances and windows, but every single one of them was covered by this invisible green wall. And thanks to Nico bumping his face, we now know that it is impossible for us to go through them.
Which means… we are trapped here. And there is just no way for us to leave unless we find a way to take down that green wall.
"What are we doing, Elizabeth?"
Nico asked anxiously, and I shook my head at him.
"Survive... Stay right here."
I commanded him to stay put as I ran forward, leaving him behind me by the green wall. I lifted the toy water gun high, and I aimed dead straight at the closest black slime demon from me. I noticed the distance that the holy water can reach when Nico shot his water gun, so I made sure that I am at that distance from the black slime demons.
I hope with all my heart that this will work. I begged, for once, to god so that this can work. Because if it doesn't…
And so, I fired away the water gun.
The holy water flies rapidly from the tip of the gun all the way towards the closest humanoid black slime demon. And right when the holy water reaches the slime body…
HSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!
The black slime demon that got shot in the head immediately melted to the ground and disappeared. The moment the holy water touches its head, it completely melts from top to bottom while popping a small amount of smoke. Finally, the concrete ground absorbed the melted black slime until there was nothing left.
It works!!
Weird… but, I won't complain if it works.
"The holy water worked! For now, let's keep ourselves away from them by shooting them."
I shouted as I ran back to Nico, but right when I was turning my face to him, I saw a lump of black slime slowly rising right next to him.
The ground next to Nico has turned dark completely, and now a single black slime demon is growing right next to him. I panicked when the hand of the black slime demon was lifted, and I quickly opened my mouth.
"Dodge!!!"
I loudly shouted, not thinking about Nico's situation at all. As a result, Nico dodged indeed, but he dodged the wrong way.
He moved towards where the demon was at, and his body collided with the demon. Nico noticed that his body had somehow touched the demon, so he quickly backed away from it. But, the demon was still fast enough to launch the strike.
The demon clawed forward and managed to graze Nico's right arm, and now Nico's hand is bleeding.
"Nico!! Move to the left!"
I shouted as I ran towards the demon that hurt Nico, and I lifted my water gun at him. Without a second thought, I fired away the holy water and killed the demon.
"Nico! Are you…"
I turned to see how he was doing, but I immediately bit my lips.
His entire right hand was bleeding. Three large and long scratch marks can be seen on his upper arm, and it will continuously spit out blood until it is closed.
That claw just now… it managed to do such a big damage…?
"Your commands were really good, huh…? I mean, 'Dodge'? Like, dodge where?"
Nico softly complained at me while holding back the pain, and I knew what happened just now was truly my fault. The guilt of allowing my friend to get hurt like that suddenly froze me, and I couldn't think straight anymore.
"I… I'm sorry--"
"Forget it for now! There's still more, right??"
Nico reminded me, and I was able to realize the situation once again. I turned around and noticed that the demons were getting closer once more. There are over fifty of them still, and the only way to defeat them is by using the holy water that is inside this toy water gun.
But, Nico… is hurt. I shouldn't go any further from him, and I should stick with him until the end.
"All right… We can do this. Nico, can you still shoot the holy water?"
"No problem, ma'am! This pain is nothing!"
Seeing the wound, it is actually very bad. But, hearing Nico's positivity made me see that it was his way of coping with the pain. I'm sure the wound is actually very painful, which is why Nico is using his bright attitude to placebo his mind around the pain.
I nodded at him and turned back towards the demons. They are now close enough for us to shoot.
"Now, shoot forward!"
I said to Nico loudly while shooting the holy water. Nico followed the direction where I'm shooting and fired away as well, and he managed to take down two from his gun. But, he kept on firing even though there's nothing left.
"Turn to the left slightly! The ones in front of you are gone."
"How much is 'slightly'??"
"11 o'clock!!"
I shouted while shooting even more demons, and Nico followed my direction. He shot away towards his 11 o'clock and managed to take down another two demons that were behind one another. Seeing that he had taken down the ones in that direction, I quickly redirected him to another direction.
"Now, 10 o'clock!!"
Nico followed my direction again and took out even more demons. Meanwhile, the demons from my side were already taken out. More are coming, but they are still quite scattered.
It was fortunate for us that these demons are moving very slowly. I couldn't imagine it if they could move as fast as humans. We definitely wouldn't be able to survive it.
I continued directing Nico with his side, and finally he too has taken out all the closest demons. Now, we just need to wait as more demons get closer.
I turned my gaze around, and I quickly noticed something had gone rather wrong around us.
The floor has… turned pitch black.
The demons are going to appear from below us.
"Nico, follow me!"
Quickly, I began running away towards the right. Nico noticed that I knew something was going wrong, so he followed obediently. I can see that the right side of the area has been emptied from all demons, so going there should be safe for us.
But, as soon as we arrived on that side of the room, the floor immediately turned black.
"This damn floor demon…"
I mumbled as I looked around, trying to find another empty spot. I noticed that the demons have been popping out all over the entire floor now, so there are no more empty spaces in this room aside from the spot we are standing on. The entire floor has also turned pitch black, which means the demons can pop out from anywhere now.
Shit… things have gotten even more difficult.
"Listen, Nico… Now, the demons can pop out anywhere around us. I'm entrusting my left side to you, so you will be shooting every direction that is on my left. Got it? Our left."
I commanded Nico, and he understood it nicely.
"Understood. My only working arm is my left hand, anyway."
Right.…he has been shooting with his left hand. It's a great thing that he is handling the left side, because he can only shoot things from his left side. Meanwhile, I will be taking care of the right side.
"All right… They might be popping out around us any time, now--"
As soon as I muttered those words, the ground began to shake. I turned my attention back to the center of the demons and noticed that a massive lump of black slime can be seen bubbling at the ceilings on this first floor.
The black bubbles on the concrete ceilings were very large, about three times larger than the bubbles that popped out those demons. Seeing how large the bubbles were, I can only guess that something large is going to come out from it.
And I was right. Not long after I saw the bubble, it pops and drops a single large amount black slime. The black slime slowly took form, and it finally showed its final appearance. It's humanoid, with a flat face and dripping black slime, the same form as the smaller demons just three times larger.
Shit. Now, the boss has appeared?
"Their leader has shown himself... In the center of the room, across us."
I explained to Nico, and he looked so confused.
"There's a leader!?"
"It's three times larger, almost six meters tall. Its arms and legs were so long, so we might need to watch out for that."
I described how the boss looks as short as possible, and Nico understood the gist of it.
"And the normal demons?"
"Still around it, very slowly going towards us."
"Then, let's take care of the minions first, yeah?"
"Agreed."
I pointed my water gun forward because the first batch of smaller demons has already gotten quite close to us. I was about to shoot them and give some directions to Nico, but something else has moved from my peripheral vision.
I turned my focus far behind the smaller demons, and I noticed the boss is now running towards us.
Yes. Running.
Shit!!!--
Very quickly, I moved to Nico and grabbed his right arm. I didn't care for his wounds and just slithered my arm around his, then I quickly pulled him away from our location.
VWOOSSHHH!!!!!!!!
And just in time, the boss arrived and missed us by a little bit. I fired the water gun multiple times to shoot the boss with holy water, and it successfully harmed the boss.
But, it didn't take those damages without fighting back.
'AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!'
All of a sudden, my ears were deafened due to the boss's insanely loud scream. I couldn't think straight, and I didn't realize the pitch black claws that were already right in front of me.
The boss quickly lifted its arm right after getting shot with holy water, and the arm formed multiple sharp claws with each of its fingers. Thanks to its long arm, it can reach our position very quickly.
Damn it… I can't dodge this…
Very quickly, I pushed Nico away from me. At the very least, he won't be harmed by the massive claws from the boss. Those claws are just as long as my height. Not only will they kill me, but they can also kill Nico in a single hack. So, at least I'll be able to get Nico out of the way.
Nico looked so confused when I pushed him away, but I could only smile at him as he got thrown. I turned my gaze back to the claw and realized that this is definitely the end for me. I closed my eyes, awaiting for it to come.
Now… I just have to accept my fate.
CLANG!!!!!!
Suddenly, a loud sound of metals hitting one another could be heard. I reopened my eyes and noticed the situation that I am currently in.
Someone… suddenly appeared in front of me and grabbed my body away from the claw. Not just that, they are also holding a long thin sword that has fully stopped the claws from reaching us.
I turned my eyes towards the person, and I found her beautiful face staring back at mine. The person has short black hair and beautiful green eyes. Her slender body is holding mine tightly as she protects me from the incoming claws, and I can't help but guess what her age was. She seemed to be around her early twenties.
Who… is she?
She was just staring sternly at me, all in complete silence. Without saying a word, she let me go and allowed me to fall butt first to the floor. I could only stare at her blankly as she turned her eyes away from me and faced the boss of the black slime demons.
Her hand is holding a bright white sword that seemed to be quite thin. She held them sideways while preparing to challenge the black slime boss.
I turned my gaze around me and found that all the black slime demons had disappeared. The concrete floor is no longer pitch black, and only the black slime boss was left. I also noticed that Nico is sitting by the wall on my left, but apparently he fell unconscious.
D-Did I throw him to the wall…?
I turned my gaze back to the lady and looked like she was about to have a face off with the big demon. I quickly stood up and moved out of the way to let her fight freely, and I ran towards the unconscious Nico to see how his condition was.
Fortunately, his head is okay. It's probably the impact of when his head hit the wall that rendered him unconscious. All in all, only the wound on his right arm seemed really bad. I have to move him out of here, but I don't know where we can go.
I turned my eyes back to the lady and realized that the battle is finally starting. The black slime demon boss began running forward with two massive claws on both hands. It moves so fast that I can only imagine getting hacked to pieces by those claws if it were to get close to me.
But, somehow, the short haired lady only stood by silently.
"Watch out!!"
Panicking, I shouted at her. I was scared of the idea that she might not be able to see the demon, that I ended up shouting. But, to my surprise, she didn't move not because she couldn't see them.
She was simply looking down on the demon boss.
ZRING!!!!!!
Faster than a second, she moved very quickly and sliced the incoming demon boss to pieces. The massive black slime demon immediately got turned into pieces, and all of its parts were then absorbed by the floor.
All done... in less than a second.
As the demon gradually disappeared, the short haired lady placed her sword inside the scabbard on her hip. All of a sudden, the invisible green walls that were covering the exits disappear. As soon as I saw that, I quickly grabbed Nico up and began carrying him on my back to get out of the building.
I turned my eyes back to the lady to thank her, but…
Huh?? Where did she go??
By the time I returned my eyes to the lady, she already disappeared. Just like how she appeared and saved me, she disappeared in the same fashion. Without anyone knowing.
How mysterious… Who was she? And why did she help us?
I kept those thoughts to myself and continued carrying the unconscious Nico out of the building. But before we even left the building, Nico suddenly woke up.