novelraw Chapter 162: What Happened To The Rule Of Three?
Chapter 162: What Happened To The Rule Of Three?
’Damn, it’s huge.’
That was Ignotus’s first thought as the Demon’s shadow swallowed him whole, its bulk blotting out the broken treeline behind it.
Now, it no longer had anything to do with humanity. Its Corruption reached a new level. Its body had twisted into something far more than grotesque, with half-swollen muscles, all of it pulsing like it was trying to escape its own skin.
’We have to finish this quickly.’
Ignotus gave Gaia and Lykos a quick glance over his shoulder.
"Stay behind me at all times. Focus on surviving."
Gaia and Lykos nodded seriously while he pulled on his dark gloves.
The Runes on each knuckle of his Hands of Lethe lit softly.
’I need to go all out.’
Ignotus walked straight toward the thing.
"GGGGGRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The Demon screamed, its remaining face splitting open in an uneven line.
It was such a grotesque display, yet he didn’t blink and just pointed his sword up at it.
"Alright, come on. Let’s get this over with."
The Demon charged.
Ignotus met it halfway, [Wise Fool] activating as his body loosened.
He ducked under a massive claw and slashed upward. Despite all its muscle-like flesh, his sword cut through, a critical hit that had the Demon stagger.
Roaring in surprise and fury, it lifted one giant arm to smash him flat.
Ignotus didn’t bother blocking.
Gaia’s stone wall burst from the ground between them.
The punch hit the wall instead of Ignotus, shattering it completely.
Yet that was the plan as he came through the side, attacking from where it couldn’t see.
At the same time, Lykos lifted a hand, spinning his floating frostblades outward.
"Covering!"
Ignotus’s sword pierced through while ice arrows rained down, peppering the Demon’s right flank.
The thing jerked around instinctively, lashing out at everything around it.
Forced to dodge, Ignotus darted out and back in, aiming for its ribs.
Yet the Demon suddenly spun faster than it should’ve been able to, its elbow slamming into the ground where Ignotus had been standing a moment ago.
CRACK!
A shockwave blasted out, lifting dirt and stones everywhere.
Ignotus, barely protecting himself from the blast, struck back.
His blood flew alongside the rubble, peppering the Demon from top to bottom.
Shrugging off the attack, the Demon’s right arm shot out, sweeping the area around it.
Before it could reach Ignotus, Gaia’s earth melted beneath him, dropping him out of reach.
He resurfaced a heartbeat later behind the monster and immediately attacked.
"Keep up the support!"
Gaia and Lykos huffed.
"Earth spikes!"
"Ice arrows!"
They did just that, aiming where Ignotus wasn’t.
Something that the Demon, with its limited mental capacity, seemed to have picked up.
After a lot of whittling down, it managed to force Ignotus behind it, away from his cohort.
And though it was still being bombarded by spells, it tanked through them and rushed at Lykos, instinctively sensing that his ice was building dangerously.
"Curses..."
Lykos pointed a finger at the sky.
An ice wall materialized. An ice spike came after. And a massive ice arrow ended his barrage.
But the Demon tore through all of it.
"LYKOS MOVE!"
Ignotus shouted, his attacks slowing it down just enough so that Lykos could jump away in time while the Demon plowed through Gaia’s walls, its claws inches from ripping him apart.
"RISE!"
Gaia didn’t panic, summoning stone arms from below to catch the Demon’s legs.
They snapped a second later, but it was enough for Ignotus.
He’d lunged, aiming straight for the Demon’s neck—
"GRAAAAAAAH!"
The monster threw its shoulder back, smashing him in mid-air.
"Ugh..."
Blasted off, Ignotus crashed hard into a nearby tree.
"That was my spine."
As if he weren’t feeling incredible pain, he quickly stood.
The Demon, much the same, snarled and charged Lykos again.
Though this time, Ignotus reached first and grabbed Lykos by the collar.
"Aah!"
He threw the surprised wolf aside, away from danger, and rushed at the Demon.
KRRRRACK!
His sword and its fist locked together.
"Please keep it there!"
An opportunity that Gaia grabbed, slamming her staff down.
Earth spikes formed a ring around the Demon, stabbing its every limb.
Lykos, not to be outdone, raised both hands, calling a swirl of frost above them.
As Ignotus moved back, a rain of ice arrows came down, tearing through the Demon.
"Lykos, left side! Gaia, hold the ground!"
"I hear you!"
"I will!"
The three moved together, but the Demon moved faster.
It ripped up a chunk of earth while tearing off the spikes from its limbs.
And then, as if forming an actual thought, it used it as a weapon and threw it!
"What—?!"
Ignotus, though surprised at its improvisation and learning capability, moved fast to protect his cohort, slicing through the boulder; the shock of impact sent him skidding back.
Lykos was nearly crushed if not for his floating frostblades intercepting the debris.
Gaia shielded herself by turning the ground soft, sinking the impact.
"GRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
They regrouped, and the Demon roared, its body swelling again, muscles tearing and regenerating in the same breath.
"Okay..."
Ignotus exhaled slowly.
"This is getting ridiculous."
Blood wrapped around his legs, giving him insane muscle pressure.
"Gaia... keep trying to trap it."
With those words, he pushed off, launching forward so fast he left cracks beneath his feet.
Ignotus collided with the Demon in a blur, his sword flashing, using the blood to let him twist and torque with ridiculous leverage.
"Now!"
"Earth Melt!"
The ground liquefied beneath the Demon.
It lurched, sinking waist-deep.
Lykos seized the opening.
He pointed upward, frost spiraling high above.
"Glacial—!"
"No!"
Ignotus roared.
"Save the attack!"
Lykos froze mid-cast, figuratively and almost literally.
Gaia looked confused while struggling to keep the Demon in her earth.
"W-Why stop him?!"
Ignotus stabbed the Demon in the side, then dodged another swipe.
"Because it’s still too strong, I need to weaken it a lot more."
The Demon roared louder, thrashing harder.
"Yeah, like that."
Using his blood as springs allowed him to pivot and shoot around near-impossible angles.
Ignotus kept dancing around the monster like one annoying mosquito, ensuring its attention was always on him, never on getting out of the sinking earth it found itself in.
Every hit he landed was small but enraging.
Lykos’s breath fogged further, his arms trembling from strengthening a spell for so long. Gaia, meanwhile, kept herself braced, her hands buried in the ground, struggling hard to keep the Demon in her trap.
Ignotus kept slashing, drawing blood, pulling the monster’s attention until finally—
"GGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
It snapped and blasted upward, tearing free of Gaia’s liquefied ground.
’Wise Fool.’
A bright golden light shone from Ignotus’s sword.
"GAIA NOW!"
He jumped high, matching the Demon’s height, and swung his sword.
His blade sliced through its attacking arms, reaching its head, and blasting it down.
Gaia threw both hands up before the Demon could reach the ground and screamed:
"Bedrock Embrace!"
A single massive stone arm shot from the earth, this one much thicker and denser.
Following the falling Demon’s momentum, it slammed it down, squashing much of it to mush.
The Demon roared in pain, Gaia screamed from the strain, yet the loudest was Lykos.
He’d taken a deep breath before it all, frost completely filling the air around him.
His staff was shining a very bright blue, and he thrust it at the Demon.
"GLACIAL FALL!"
The sky answered.
A storm of ice arrows crashed down from the heavens, absolutely shredding the Demon.
It was cut, squashed, and frozen, absolutely crushed under the barrage.
The impact shook the entire clearing, and when it was over...
It still lived.
"No."
Ignotus appeared beside it and stabbed his sword.
"Die."
It pierced through what remained and stood for its skull. All of the living blood at his disposal traveled through the blade and attacked its body from the inside, making it shake to Hell and back.
A moment later, the Demon went still.
Finally, they had killed it.
They really did.
"Haaa..."
Ignotus let out a breath and sheathed his sword.
"We’ve got the dad."
That wasn’t too bad. Messy, sure, but good enough.
"Let’s go help the others."
He turned toward Gaia and Lykos, only to freeze.
Both were collapsed on the ground.
Gaia was on her knees, her face down, unconscious.
Lykos was sprawled on his back, frost fading from his skin, also knocked out.
"...why?"
Ignotus muttered.
He rushed towards them—
Snap...
A twig was stepped on.
"Make yourself known!"
Ignotus turned sharply, his hand tightening on his hilt.
A figure stepped out of the trees.
Tall, calm, and smiling faintly.
A man, or rather, a Demon, for its eyes...
They were spade-shaped pupils.
Ignotus felt his skin prickle.
He felt it at first glance... this Demon, though still a Lesser Demon, was strong.
No doubt it was on the cusp of becoming a Greater Demon.
Ignotus tilted his head and asked:
"Tell me... what happened to the Rule of Three?"
The Demon didn’t answer.
It just raised a hand slowly.