novelraw Chapter 205: The Human Cannon
Chapter 205: The Human Cannon
With the Fire Demon reduced to ash, the six of them didn’t waste a second celebrating. They pushed deeper into the beating heart of this dungeon.
Corruption pressed heavier against their skin, and slowly, sound began to fade.
Footsteps became muffled thuds; clanking armor became dull vibrations.
It felt like they were walking underwater, submerged in a dark, pressurized ocean.
That was when Ignotus’s voice cut through the silence, cracking from the Whispering Snail Lykos was still holding.
"Prepare your strongest attack!"
The signal was garbled and loud.
Was that through the snail? Or did he just scream so loud it broke laws?
Anyhow, the cohort didn’t ask questions. They did exactly what they were told.
They burst into the final cavern, their Divinity flaring and their weapons raised.
And then they saw him.
Ignotus stood in the center of the chamber.
He looked like he’d been through a meat grinder.
His Synaxis was fully active. His eyes glowed a bleeding red, obvious even through his mask, and his white hair shone like a beacon.
But terrifying as he looked, the thing he was pointing his sword towards was worse.
It was a nightmare stitched together by a mad God.
A monstrous giant, its torso was human, both muscular and towering, but below the waist, it dissolved into a writhing mass of coiled serpents.
Its upper body was even worse, adorned with one hundred heads. The central one was human, screaming in rage, while the other ninety-nine were fierce, snapping beasts—lions, wolves, bulls, and just whatever animal that lived.
Even its fingers were wrong.
They ended in hissing viper heads, their eyes fiery, dripping magma onto the floor.
This was a Greater Demon.
A supposedly weak one.
Typhon.
"I bet Aur already figured this out, but the Greater Demon is already awakened! It’s weak right now. We simply need to kill it before it regains a proper percentage of strength. Do you understand?!"
Lykos, Ulv, Merlin, Gaia, Nora, and Aurelia skid to a halt behind him.
Their Synaxis forms revealed themselves without hesitation, despite their lack of Divinity.
Lykos drew back his hand, mimicking a bowstring’s movement, forming a massive Ice Arrow.
Ulv condensed his orbiting lances into one singular, heavy [Ice Lance]. Merlin held a Purple [Fireball] that hummed with the incredible heat. Gaia stomped, raising an obsidian Earth Spear. Aurelia whipped the air, condensing a vacuum blade for a strong [Wind Slash].
"Yes!"
Ignotus slowly tilted his sword forward.
"Then let’s kill it."
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Their attacks went forth.
It was a bombardment of unadulterated violence.
The ice arrow pierced the giant’s shoulder.
The fireball exploded against its chest.
The earth spear shattered its ribs.
The Greater Demon roared, a hundred throats screaming at once, shooting jets of flame everywhere.
Ignotus, meanwhile, had moved.
Using his Gravity he launched himself upward, cutting through the air.
He slashed through the wall of fire, his sword carving a purple line across the Giant’s chest.
The rest of the cohort swarmed, hacking at the serpent’s legs, dodging the viper-fingers, and tearing the beast apart piece by piece.
It was working.
The monster was sluggish, and it was bleeding magma.
They raised their weapons for the killing blow.
This was their victor—
"CALAMITY!"
A high-pitched scream tore through the battle.
Ignotus froze mid-swing, and his eyes went wide.
He stepped back from the giant, landing heavily, and looked towards the entrance.
There, standing in the shadows, was a very large man. Extremely muscular and bald, he wore a black cloak that covered everything but his smug, scarring face.
His red eyes locked onto Ignotus, and he smiled.
"LETUM!"
Ignotus’s blood went cold.
Indeed, it was that bastard.
The one who had tried to assassinate him with the Death Demon weeks ago. Ignotus had wondered when the rat would crawl out of the sewer to try his luck again, but he didn’t expect it to be here.
And he certainly didn’t expect what was in Letum’s hand.
He was holding Eris.
The small black cat was being squeezed in his massive grip, biting him uselessly.
"Cease the fight if you want this cat to live!"
He’d taken Eris hostage.
Everyone stopped immediately.
The Giant Demon, confused by the sudden pause, wheezed and tried to recover, but no one looked at it.
’Ignotus, I... I can’t die; I’ll lose much of my...’
Eris’s frantic voice echoed in Ignotus’s head.
’I know, don’t worry. You won’t.’
Ignotus replied instantly.
Some might ask why Eris was even there.
They’d be right to question. Why bring a cat to such a fight?
Well, if Fate had come to pass—if Ignotus hadn’t arrived in time—Dante would have had to deal with this. And Dante would have to fight it, with it being fully awakened.
But Eris?
Eris could do something Dante couldn’t.
She was a Goddess; She spoke the language of Demons, the Arcane, much better than Ignotus did. The plan was for Her to make a deal with the Greater Demon.
An Oath to put it back to sleep or bind it.
It would have saved them the effort of fighting a waking nightmare.
That was Ignotus’s and Eris’s plan in case everything went wrong.
Who knew she’d get snatched by a bald giant out of nowhere?
Ignotus glanced down at his wrist, his Hands of Lethe.
Only one Rune was gone, one spell stolen.
His Synaxis was still activated, pumping power through his veins. Maybe that was enough?
But Letum was too far, and his grip was too tight. If Ignotus moved, Letum would crush Eris before Ignotus crossed half the distance.
"Letum..."
This was risky.
"Healing the Demon will help no one."
Talking was a luxury he didn’t have but was forced to do.
"It will only guarantee mutual destruction. You gain nothing from it."
The Demon behind him was regenerating, but there was no room for hesitation.
"You know what will happen if it truly awakens."
Ignotus slowly stepped forward with his hands raised.
"Everything will be destroyed. Not just us, but you as well. C’mon, don’t be chicken-brained and think. Or will you flap your little wings out of here like you did last time?"
Letum stared at him unblinkingly, showing no reaction to his insults.
Instead, he tightened his grip on the cat, smiling that same cruel smile.
That was enough for Ignotus to know that he wasn’t budging on this.
Ignotus never believed he’d make the man see reason.
One couldn’t ’reason’ with a fanatic.
No.
He only wanted to let Aur know what he wanted to do.
Ignotus’s eyes had flicked to the side for a moment while he talked.
Aur had caught the look and silently nodded.
Click!
Ignotus jumped up.
"NOW!"
From behind him, two forces exploded.
Aur detonated an air pocket directly at Ignotus’s back.
Mer, realizing the plan a split-second later, fired a blast at the same spot.
BOOM.
It was a human cannon.
The combined force of the wind and fire hit Ignotus midair.
It didn’t hurt him—his gravity armor absorbed the impact—but it transferred the kinetic energy, launching him fast.
He became a blur of white hair and purple gravity, closing the distance faster than the eye could track.
Letum’s eyes widened.
He didn’t even have time to squeeze.
Ignotus was already there, his fist pulled back, his face twisted in a snarl of protective rage.
"Get your hands off Her!"