"Line up the cannons… Fire!"
Explosions filled the air as many bat-like creatures filled the sky. They all came from the fog and were now trying to bring down the shields from the flying ships.
"Ghouls and Vampires, it must be the Lord of Blood!"
Someone from the elven race called out while defending the ship. Most of the members from the elven race that were here were proficient barrier mages. They were placed in certain strategic locations on the ship and fueling the mana shields with their magic.
The Ghouls looked somewhat like giant bats while the Vampires had a more humanoid shape and could float without the use of wings. The so-called Lord of Blood was slowly hovering in the background.
He looked like a cross between the two. His all-around shape was humanoid with giant bat-like wings attached to his back. His arms were elongated and his hands looked like giant claws. His skin was grayish-white which made him look like a living corpse.
His face was a mix of human and batlike features, when he opened his mouth a clear view of dagger-like teeth greeted anyone dumb enough to fight this being.
This was not the only monster that the heroes needed to face off against. The demon Lord of Blood wasn't the only archdemon that was here. Below him, a massive being was slowly treading towards the group of flying ships.
It was the Lord of Destruction and the last archdemon that still remained. Somehow two of the mighty demons had gathered here and were waiting for them all along.
This being was truly humongous, each time one of its large elongated appendages descended on the ground, massive tremors spread throughout this dark forest. It trampled everything that blocked its way.
Its appearance was more grotesque than that of the vampire-like being. The shape that this monster took was similar to that of a spider. The biggest difference were the eight legs that instead of being fully arachnid-like had large humanoid hands.
The creature looked like three massive humans fused with each other. The front consisted of just the chest part with its arms extended. It had three heads that consisted of only mouths and no eyes. The eyes were instead embedded in its strange fused torso and were constantly blinking while looking for new enemies to attack.
Above this massive creature and the Lord of Blood Leigong the Lightning Emperor was floating. He was now glaring at the vampiric lord before him, his body already covered in golden radiant holy energies that caused the lesser vampires to flee.
"I don't think you will let me through?"
"You shall not pass filthy astral being, this will be your grave. I will absorb your might and the king will descend to cover these lands in the blood of the filthy mortals!"
The demonic lord entered the monologue stage. Zhang Dong was familiar with this defect that these demons had. Thanks to this he had ample time to power up and think about a good plan of attack.
While this monster that he was facing looked to be the more speedy arial type, the one below was clearly a slow tank. With it being stuck on the ground it was safe to leave his flying army to take care of it. He had already passed on the order to engage it from afar with a kiting strategy. If everything failed the dwarves were to utilize their golems and try to stall it till he was done with this monster. The heroes were also going to help but only with range support.
After being cooped up in the elven and dwarven countries Zhang Dong hadn't had the opportunity to let loose. This overgrown vampire lord looked like the perfect sparring partner to release his frustrations and stress.
Even then he waited, the moment the monologue was over the monster charged up and attacked. It was very similar to the one the lord of pain fired off. The monster's mouth opened up and a beam of crimson energy flew forward.
Zhang Dong didn't dodge but instead extended his hand forward. His finger started glowing in blue light. A set of pentagram-like magic circles extended from the spot his finger was pointing at. There were ten circles and each one was larger than the previous.
The red beam of dark light collided with the outermost ring and shattered it into many tiny lights. It continued forward while causing all of the rings to evaporate into nothingness. When it passed the sixth one it stopped, unable to travel further before blinking out of existence.
'These magic spells are the real thing.'
This was actually one of the spells that he learned from this world. Together with his own cultivation knowledge, he was now able to utilize some of the magical skills the elves used. Due to being in this magical world, using mana attacks was more efficient than sticking to his spiritual energy-based attacks.
'They also lower the strain on the girls…'
He pointed out with his finger once again. Behind him, magical circles of similar shapes and sizes started to appear. To non-mages this wouldn't look like anything special but to the experts, this was something mind-boggling.
"Take this, mass elemental arrows!"
With a twitch of the same finger, a surge of arrows made from various elements descended on the large vampire monster. There were thousands of them, their colorful lights filled the sky and rained down on the flying archdemon.
The demonic lord covered his whole body in its giant webbed wings and surrounded himself in dark red energy. He was quick to notice that he would be unable to dodge this attack, instead, he decided to enforce his defenses and block it.
With a more stationary target, the many magic arrows had a point of focus. From rain, they turned into a flood of magical energy that descended on the encased demon. The black sphere that formed around the demon became bathed in rainbow-like light and vanished within.
'I don't think it will be that easy?'
Zhang Dong thought while his attack continued and finally subsided. He was greeted by the Demon Lord of Blood, or at least half of him. His wings were damaged and half of his body seemed to have melted away during the magical downpour.
It might have looked like he was done for but in a matter of seconds, his whole body started glowing red. From the damaged parts of his body blood started gushing out. This blood quickly reformed into his lost body parts and formed a complete form again.
'He is a bit stronger than the other demon lords…'
It was clear after the exchange that this monster's main forte was the regenerative ability. The other demon lords could regenerate fast but not this fast. He didn't worry though as he didn't quite use his usual trump card against the demon. This trump card made going against these beings easy from the start.
"Foolish Astral being, my body can not be seriously damaged by the likes of you! Now die!"
"Is that so? How about this though?"
Zhang Dong clutched his fist together and a bolt of golden lightning appeared in his hand. Without giving the monster much time to feel this new spell out he threw it at him. The attack produced a thunderclap while descending on its foe.
This time around the monster's black pearl-like eyes bulged out in fright and he quickly propelled itself to the side as it attempted to evade this attack. This bolt of energy was not something easily dodged and it connected with the demon's leg.
This appendage was then quickly sliced off by the monster itself. It knew that this attack carried holy energies in itself, the cut of leg crumbled into dust almost instantly while the cut of wound regenerated into a fresh leg.
"You're a bit smarter than the other demons… but also less resistant…"
Zhang Dong was a bit surprised at how quickly that leg disintegrated into dust after taking the hit. The other demon lords didn't succumb to the holy energies as fast as this one. He wasn't sure but this monster was a vampire. Vampires seemed to be quite weak against flames and holy energies alike. It seemed that this monster had high regenerative abilities but was also super susceptible to the type of energy that he exudes.
"Well then… try to evade this…"
The same massive amount of magical circles was produced, this time around instead of the various colors of the rainbow the magical arrows were golden.
"You… lower being!"
The Demonic lord of Blood looked to be panicking after seeing the magical arrows again. He didn't bunker up this time but instead spread his wings widely apart. Many dark crimson magical circles of heresy magic appeared behind him. It was a very similar spell to his own with the difference of the different dark coloring.
In a flash, a battle of holy vs evil commenced. The many magical arrows of Zhang Dong connected with the multitude of bolts of crimson. The demon was over his head though as the golden arrows continued on their trajectory even after bumping into the demonic crimson bolts.
Soon the overgrown bat found itself running away from the holy arrow attack. Whenever it got hit it would slice off its body part that was affected. Even with the continued rain of energy, this tactic seemed to be working for it as it was able to survive right till the end. Its body sliced up and regenerating even now.
"I will bathe in your blood, you damn astral creature!"
"Yeah... yeah…"
The demon lord glared at Zhang Dong but was only greeted by his after image. The Lightning Emperor on the other hand appeared behind this creature while holding a massive sword of light in both his hands.
With a practiced swing, he cleaved the monster into two perfectly symmetrical halves. From the spot that he had sliced it the creature's body started cramping and burning apart. He was sure to inject as much holy energy as he could but even then he knew that this might not be enough.
Before the body crumbled into dust a part of it escaped. It looked like a pitch-back heart that was slowly beating and spitting out some dark fumes to mask its trajectory.
"Do you think I was born yesterday?"
He was waiting for this to happen and he pointed down with this finger. A bolt of energy that was hovering above the clouds and out of sight descended onto this very heart. It collided with it while causing a massive explosion.
Zhang Dong had already faced a multitude of demonic beings in this and in other worlds. They always had some underhanded way of playing dead and escaping. So he made a backup plan to strike it down when it was most vulnerable.
'One down one to go…'
After grabbing the cube fragment he turned to the massive demon lord that was to the side. It was in the process of being pelted by the ship's magical cannons and also the people that were inside.
'But maybe I won't even need to act this time around…'
It didn't seem like this demon lord had anything going for itself besides its huge size. It was like a sitting duck against the many flying ships that kept their distance. It could only throw trees and massive boulders while also firing beams of dark energy from its three mouths.
Which were mostly deflected by the elven barrier technology and also with a little aid of the heroes that were using their own ranged spells as support. It seemed like the path forward would be open and they would soon be facing what was on the other side...