Erin and her group could not believe their eyes. What appeared to be Basilisks were attacking their town in great numbers—but that was simply impossible. Basilisks were insanely high-leveled magic beasts that were never found in groups. They were dangerous monsters that could kill a man with a single stare.
If those were all Basilisks, then the fight would be over before it even began. "Wait! Those are Lesser Basilisks. They don't have that ability. There may still be hope," Jarret said after using his Spirit Vision. Erin couldn't help but worry. She knew Albert would most likely be fighting on the front lines and wouldn't retreat unless everyone else had done so first.
Callie looked at the group nervously and asked, "What should we do? Isn't that a dangerous situation? S-should we g-go help?" She was fidgeting a lot, clearly frightened. "We should be careful. We don't want to disrupt their formation and cause them to make a mistake, leading to someone's death."
Just then, though, they saw the Lesser Basilisks break through the formation and slaughter some guards as they destroyed the gate with their poisonous flame breath. The group cringed at the bloody sight. Erin could no longer take it and sprinted straight toward the town. If nothing else, she had to save Albert, no matter what.
This might be selfish to the people in the settlement, who had been incredibly kind to her the entire time she had been there, but she couldn't think about that right now. Albert was the one who had helped her when she had no one. He had even gone as far as marrying her against noble traditions in order to save her life. She would do everything in her power to let him live, even if she had to sacrifice herself for him.
Running at full speed, it was obvious she wasn't a demon. Her physique was almost human. "Water Movement!" Her legs turned slightly translucent as she levitated a few centimeters off the ground. The ground bubbled up, and water emerged from beneath her feet as she glided with the water at great speed toward the town's gate.
The others didn't have a chance to stop her before she had cast her spell. They exchanged strange looks and dashed after her. They all cared about Erin and wouldn't let her charge into danger without backup. They all ran at great speed, only slightly inferior to Erin's Water Movement.
••••••
Albert was breathing heavily as he watched the five Lesser Basilisks surround him. He had messed up his rhythm trying to rush back and defend the town. Rebuilding the town was easy, but he was worried about the kids and non-fighter citizens in the chief's house. Although he had left Kelvin in charge of protection, they had only left a handful of men behind to help him.
Even with Kelvin, they wouldn't be able to stop that many Lesser Basilisks.
He gritted his teeth and used a skill. He didn't have many skills, but the ones he had were lethal. The chief wasn't faring any better than him—in fact, you might say he was faring worse. "Skills: Demon Aura. Vibrating Slash. Chained Strikes." He used three skills in one go and launched his attack.
Using that many skills at once was taxing enough, but although he was running low on stamina, he had enough mana to spare. The Lesser Basilisks were unable to keep up with him. With the skills activated, he dashed at the monster in front of him. The beast was unable to react. Albert's blade sliced through its skin like a hot knife through butter. Using the momentum, he chained his attack to all five monsters around him, with each strike more powerful than the last. He cut them all cleanly in half.
The attack took a lot out of him. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. He saw the chief charge forward as he pushed himself to the limit. Not wanting to be outdone, Albert forced his legs to move out of sheer will. He used the opportunity provided by the chief to dash back to the gate. He wasn't going to let the monsters slaughter the children.
He ran at an incredible speed, but before he could get far, two dark green beams of flame shot in front of him, cutting off his route. "Tsk," he clicked his tongue in annoyance as he saw another five Lesser Basilisks surround him. Using any more secret techniques would certainly be more trouble than it was worth. He was running low on stamina, and although he still had a lot of mana, he was out of useful skills.
One of the Basilisks shot out another dark green flame at him. He only took a step to dodge the attack and sprinted at the beast. Using his Miao Dao, he jumped up and, with the help of gravity, swung the blade down with all his strength. Clang! The blade was deflected by the large scales on the monster. It was evident that without a skill or secret technique, one would never even make a scratch on a Lesser Basilisk. After all, these were all Tier 5 monsters.
The chief was getting exhausted as well. He had used over 25 skills in this fight, which was impressive. He still had a lot of stamina—after all, he was an Ogre Chieftain—but his mana was almost empty. Using even one more skill would send him into a coma, and in a battlefield like this, he would die in an instant.
He turned his head and saw Albert's sword being bounced off the monster's scales. He knew what was on Albert's mind, even though his expression hadn't changed much. After knowing him for almost a century now—back when he was still a lord—he could now pretty much read him like a book.
Albert had tried several times in the past to teach him his secret techniques, but being a brute like himself, he was always unable to fully grasp them. Maybe if he had, with his insane amount of stamina, he would be able to end this fight. Looking back at the town's gate, he saw his people struggling to survive. They were in a miserable state and were just barely hanging on. Many of them had already died, a few were mortally wounded, and the town had already been breached.
At that moment, he knew what he needed to do. Azar Igna, the chief of the Red Ogres, smiled. He may have been a brute, but he was a battle-obsessed brute. He had wanted to wait until this was completed, but he might never get that chance. Now would have to do.
"Special Skill: Thunder Rampage!"
An orange aura wrapped itself around his massive body, including his large sword. He dashed toward Albert with a war cry. As he moved, it felt like a typhoon. Each step shattered the ground, and each swing shattered the bones and scales of any and all monsters they came in contact with. The leap in strength was massive.
He had succeeded in combining the secret technique "Thunderstrike" with the ogre skill "Blood Rage" to form an ultimate skill. Every race possessed a lifesaving skill, and even strong monsters and magic beasts had one. Blood Rage was one of those skills—a rampage skill that didn't require the use of mana. Nature intended it as a last resort whenever one's life was in danger. It was a very dangerous skill that many would avoid using no matter what.
He charged at Albert and destroyed any monsters in his way. The skill had a very short time limit, and he didn't have much time to waste. Before Albert could turn around to look at him, he grabbed his shoulder and, using all his might, threw Albert toward the town. Albert was a little confused when he felt himself being lifted off the ground. He had sensed the spike in Azar's aura and knew he must have been using his rampage skill. He wanted to protest, but he was too far away and had hoped to find an opportunity to help him so he would have time to deactivate the skill before the time limit.
Yet, Azar had run toward him instead and thrown him into the air. Had he lost his mind? No, not possible. This was Azar he was talking about. Looking around, he saw Azar desperately trying to reduce the number of monsters like his life depended on it—well, it did. Albert looked at where he was headed and saw two Lesser Basilisks that had broken past the hunters. They were burning down the houses in the town as they headed for the chief's mansion, where the elderly, kids, and pregnant women in the town were sheltered.
He now understood why Azar had done what he did, and a bitter smile appeared on his face. He quickly controlled his body in the air and held his blade tightly. He didn't have enough stamina to perform a secret technique, but he might be able to use gravity to compensate. He raised his blade in the air and randomly came up with a name for the new technique he had just created.
"Gravity Slash!"
With a crimson glow, the blade descended on the first beast and split it in half. There was a little resistance, as this was the first time using this technique, but he compensated by using the skill "Vibrating Slash." He landed a bit awkwardly but quickly balanced himself. The other Basilisk was almost shocked. It opened its mouth and sent dark green flames spewing out.
Albert wanted to dodge it, but the chief's mansion was directly behind him. If he moved out of the way now, he might have been the one to kill the kids himself. Without much of an option, he raised his blade, using his mana to cover it. He spun the blade at such great speed that it resembled a shield.
The flame came crashing down on him, but he was able to fully block it. With a sigh, he prepared to face the beast in combat. "Cough... cough!" He coughed up a little blood into his palm and staggered a bit, feeling a little dizzy. He had forgotten the flames a Lesser Basilisk spewed were poisonous. With his stamina low, he seemed to be making silly mistakes.
"Demon Aura." Using a skill, he suppressed the poison deep within himself, giving him the ability to fight for a while. He met the beast in combat, parrying all of its claw strikes and launching attacks of his own, but they weren't making any dents.
With the battle intensifying, the settlement had lost more than a hundred fighters. Although the same could be said for the monsters, it was still safe to say the monsters were on the verge of victory. The long-range fighters tried their best to keep the monsters at bay, but the monsters had spread out, attacking from various angles. They had succeeded in breaking through their ranks, entering the town and setting it ablaze.
Albert was successfully repelling a Lesser Basilisk, even though he wasn't dealing any damage, when suddenly two more appeared. Without the use of skills and techniques, he was unable to kill them. All three beasts charged at him, sending claw strikes and spewing flames.
The poison he was accumulating within him was beginning to stack up, and it was affecting his movements, allowing strikes that were easy to dodge to hit him, sending him flying and slamming straight into a wall. He felt his backbone shatter and his ribs break. It was hard to lift a finger, much less fight. The Basilisks could sense this and all came in for the kill.
In the face of death and despair, a rare smile appeared on his face. He had no intention of giving up, nor did he plan on letting low-level monsters like these kill him. He was a demon noble, a being feared as one of the previous 78th Demon Lords. If he was going to die, it would be on his own terms. His skin darkened, and two twisted ram horns slowly started to grow on the sides of his head. His aura skyrocketed, and his eyes glowed with a sinister hue.
"NOOOOO!!!"
Before he could finish, he heard a very familiar voice from a distance. Raising his head, he saw a female figure in the distance heading his way, riding through the wave of what looked like a storm. She raised her hands, and a soft blue aqua aura wrapped around him, restoring his previous calm. The poison in his system disappeared by the second, and his injuries slowly healed. To have such an influence from that distance, he knew there was only one person capable of this: Erin Cronoff, his wife.