"You truly are the lowest scum," Thello seethed, charging forward once again.
I parried the archdemon's overhead strike. Then, I performed a thrust, which he sidestepped.
"Maybe I am scum," I said. "Maybe I'm a terrible person from your point of view. But you'll never break my resolve. I'll end anybody who stands in my way!"
"Gaaah!" Thello screamed, hurling a fireball at me.
I used Angelic Blaze to slice it in half, and once the flames dissipated, I dashed forward to attack, but Thello had disappeared.
Shit. He used Stealth.
I scanned my surroundings for any distorted outlines.
There!
I swung my sword, but it hit thin air. The distortion was just a mirage created by the sun's heat.
Suddenly, a spear impaled me, bringing my health down to eighty-five percent. Luckily, Thello was now visible since Stealth wore off once the user attacked.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the demon announcer yelled. "Thello has drawn the first blood!"
Thello pulled out his spear and attacked with Frigid Edge, which I ducked under, simultaneously performing a sweep kick.
Although Thello managed to jump over my foot, this allowed me to fire a charged Chromius blast.
Unfortunately, Thello cast Absorb. His spear sucked in my spell and spewed back a shower of mana that was twice as powerful, reducing my health to sixty-nine percent.
I see. Thello's spear must be his catalyst as well.
In that case...
I unleashed a relentless assault of slashes, putting my weight behind each attack. Since we were in close quarters, Thello blocked using Frigid Edge, keeping his spear arm to the side.
Taking advantage of this, I performed a feint. Just as Thello tried to defend himself, I shifted my stance to grab the spear's shaft. Then, I kicked Thello's torso with as much force as possible, causing him to fly backward and let go of his weapon.
"This is mine now," I said.
Thello merely scowled; his good mood from before had turned sour.
With a snap of his fingers, Thello commander his spear to return to his hand, dragging me along with it.
I let go of the weapon's shaft, but it was too late. I had lost my balance, giving Thello the opportunity to gouge me with Frigid Edge, inflicting the Slow debuff and reducing my ice resistance.
My lowered speed proved fatal.
Thello cast Mana Infusion, increasing his own attack and agility, becoming almost like a blur. I couldn't comprehend what was going on, except for the fact that Thello was hitting me over and over again.
But once I reached twenty-five percent HP, Latent Power kicked in, allowing me to dodge out of the way in the nick of time. By now, my special attack was fully charged, and I activated it.
"Demonic Terror!" Thello yelled, just before my speed boost activated.
A chilling sensation struck every fiber of my body, and darkness seemed to coat my vision.
The spell had inflicted me with Fear, a debuff that could cause attacks to fail.
While I was left stunned, Thello landed another slash with Frigid Edge, bringing down my health to nine percent.
I fell on my back, glaring at the archdemon who stood over me. This time, Thello wore the smile.
"Finally. After all this effort, I've brought you to the ground, Ares."
No matter how hard I fought, I couldn't even land a single hit. Thello was still at one-hundred percent health, having blocked all of my attacks.
I thought that I could have a chance, but this fight ended in a landslide.
"End him! End him! End him! End him!" the audience chanted.
"Any last words, Ares?"
"Just because you won, Thello, that doesn't mean I'm wrong to fight for the people I love!"
"Prideful till the end. Disgusting. Die like the pig you are!"
Just before Thello could bring down his sword, a demon with pure white eyes pounced on him and bit his neck.
"What the hell?!"
More demons from the audience leaped onto the arena, all of them headed toward us.
Then, I noticed the circle of light that shone on the stands.
Next came the rumbling.
Finally, Thello and I saw the enormous monstrosity that trudged through Zweizen, towering over every building. Its pink flesh tendrils undulated with every step, and it swung its flail arms at anything in sight, obliterating every target they hit.
Fires started all around the city, and deathly screams echoed from all directions. Everywhere the monster gazed, it expanded its army of mindless minions.
"The Fafnerheimlen..." Thello muttered in dread.
In the chaos, I used my last remaining Large Healing Potion, bringing my HP back to eighty-six percent. Unfortunately, with the crowd of minions, I couldn't see Marigold nor Sakimi. I could only hope that they could make it to safety.
Now that the Fafnerheimlen had made it to Zweizen, all of Polsius was basically screwed. This also meant that Typhon had failed in his task to hold it back.
Dammit.
Typhon was probably dead.
And it's all my fault!
There wasn't anything I could do. For every minion that the Fafnerheimlen created, it became more powerful. With a city as large as this, there was no telling how much more difficult it would be to stop the aberration.
It would be like trying to stop a train with one's bare hands.
"Ares," Thello said. "I'm calling off the duel. We've got a more serious matter at hand."
He then cast Ring of Fire, creating a barrier of flames around us that incinerated any approaching minions.
"I thought you didn't care about NPCs," I said.
"I don't. But I'm not looking forward to seeing this game go to shit."
"So, you want my help?"
Thello gritted his teeth. "Yes. You're the second most powerful person in this city."
"How do I know you won't just turn on me?"
"You don't. You can only trust my word. Once we topple the Fafnerheimlen, we'll have another duel, and we'll settle our score once and for all."
I didn't have a choice. If I rejected his offer, the continent of Polsius would be reduced to rubble. Despite not trusting him, I would have to take the risk.
"Fine. Let's go."
Thello nodded. Then, he cast a spell that summoned a small wyvern with dark red scales and menacing horns.
"Get on," Thello said.
I climbed into the wyvern's back, and we took off. During the flight, Thello used his communication mirror, commanding his generals to help fight against the Fafnerheimlen.
Soon, the monster noticed us flying through the air. It shone its spotlight, but Thello managed to steer the wyvern in time, dodging the beam.
"How the hell did this thing get loose?" Thello asked.
"I don't know. Someone must have broken the seal."
"Whoever did that is a goddam fool!"
Once we were close enough, the wyvern blasted fire onto the Fafnerheimlen's light, momentarily shutting it off and causing the monster to flinch. Then, we dismounted, landing next to the gigantic feet.
"Clear out the minions," Thello said. "I'll deal with the legs."
"Got it."
I struck down hordes of humans and demons alike. It pained me to do this, but it had to be done.
It was ironic that killing was the only way to prevent more deaths.
While I fought, the horde only kept getting larger as the Fafnerheimlen gathered its forces around us. It wouldn't be long until Thello and I would be overrun.
Even though Thello had called for his demon generals, they were nowhere to be found.
Have they all run away? Or have they been turned into minions?
My question was soon answered when I stepped on the corpse of a demon wearing an expensive military uniform with dozens of medals on his breast. There was another dead general next to him, and they had both perish from sword wounds. Additionally, dozens of scratches lined their bodies.
"It can't be..." I muttered.
People in this world normally didn't show visible injuries unless they were low on health.
But if somebody died, their corpses would leave a mark of whatever attack had killed them last.
If my suspicions were true, I knew exactly who freed the Fafnerheimlen.
From behind me, Thello yelled out, "Fallen Star Orion!"
A gigantic bow materialized in Thello's hand, and he placed his spear on it, lining up a shot that would hit both ankles. Then, Thello let loose the projectile, unleashing a blast of mana that disintegrated almost half of the Fafnerheimlen's entire lower body.
The monster toppled to the side, directly where I was standing. I ran for my life down the street, barely dodging the giant obelisk head as it impacted the ground and sent rubble flying in every direction.
Since the fight in Gerandum, the Fafnerheimlen had already regenerated to full HP. We were back to square one.
Even though Thello had just used such a powerful attack, any damage done to the Fafnerheimlen's body would barely affect the health bar. You could only hurt it by attacking the head.
"Kill it while it's down!" Thello screamed as he jumped into the fray.
I activated Silent Sting and prayed for the best. Time to kill the Fafnerheimlen once and for all.