Asad held Eoi's particles in one hand before he crushed them on his palms. "See you on the other side."
Both he and Eoi were already determined to deliver the Princess's body into the Demon realm. Whatever it took. Beforehand, they contacted the others for help since their space crystal was missing.
All they had to do was stall for time before the other demons arrived.
Whatever light present was extinguished as [Arrow of Judgment] descended. With Asad's gravity spell, both Cecily and Agatha couldn't move.
"Princess!"
"Princess!"
Outside the restrictive pentagram, Cecily heard the frantic calls of the soldiers and mercenaries.
Is this the end? Cecily bit her lips. Am I going to die here? She could barely open her mouth from the tectonic force hammering against her, much less get up and escape.
Agatha refused to die, but she was trap inside a pentagram that she could neither break with a spell or a skill.
Agatha's eyes shut at Murok's hazy form. If the old man didn't do something about this, they'd be dead.
Shit! They laid traps beforehand, and she fell straight to it. She had gone complacent, staying by the old man's side. Agatha smiled bitterly. She grew weak and dependent.
Outside the influence of the pentagram, Murok sighed, but his face didn't register panic nor fear. It was calm and at peace.
"In the past, I solely dedicated myself to magic. I have no children nor grandchildren. I only have you, Cecily." Murok eyes shook as a small smile appeared on his face. He seemed to be remembering a distant memory.
"I have lived a long life. A long life indeed." Murok rose to the air and saw Cecily and Agatha crunched on the ground and the massive closing arrow.
"I have watched you grow. From a baby into a girl and finally into a fine young woman. I'm so proud of you." Murok drank his last mana potion, and his staff glowed as his whole body was enveloped with the elemental wind.
T-teacher . . . what are you doing? Cecily thought in a panic.
Agatha's dilated pupils turned to slit. This old man! He couldn't be––!
Murok smiled and laughed. "I had reached the end of my path, and I have no regrets. Let this be the final demonstration of my power!"
Teacher! Cecily screamed, but her mouth wouldn't open.
"Grk!" With all her strength, Cecily pushed herself from the ground. Her veins erupted, and the joints in her arms and legs snapped from her flesh. She had to stop Murok!
She had to!
You can't leave me! Not you too!
Seizing the last of his mana, Murok unleashed the most devastating spell in his arsenal.
[Condensed Calamity Air]
Enormous wind gathered at a single point. It didn't produce any sound, but the air rippled, and a dimensional tear appeared around it.
Colliding with the giant arrow, it produced blinding light before it swallowed the arrow and constricted into a single point. Then it disappeared into thin air and what followed was silence.
"Cecily," Murok looked at Cecily with kind eyes and smiling lips, "live a good life."
The gravity spell lifted when Asad was swallowed by the blinding light, and Cecily looked over at Murok. His white hair and long beard. His kind eyes and wrinkly face –– everything was disappearing as he turned into particles and was blown away by the winds.
Cecily opened her mouth, but no words came out. Only her tears wouldn't stop pouring.
"Ah . . . ARGH!" Cecily howled, numbed in grief. Like she forgot that she was still in battle with broken joints and popped vessels. She looked over at where Murok was supposed to be with tear-stained eyes and a dazed face.
"N-No!" Agatha's seal was glowing faintly. She used her mana to stop the seal from breaking. But it could only buy her little time.
"W-Wha . . . what happened?"
The soldiers and mercenaries were disoriented before their eyes settled on Cecily. All of them sighed but not for long as Asad's torn body appeared beside the monster.
"Look out!"
The soldiers and mercenaries became alert. But Asad just looked at them with his bloody face. Half his shoulder down to his leg was missing, and bones were sticking out from the holes on his skin.
"Fuck!" Asad panted. "We should have gone for the old man," he rasped. The fog cleared, and not before long, the others would arrive. He then looked at the monster beside him.
"No matter. This will be my last card." Asad grinned and rumbled vibrated from the monster's throat . . . fogy breath clouded its face.
Asad faced the soldiers and mercenaries. Half his skull was showing as his smile tore his skin. "Weak humans, I will feast on your souls!"
Asad broke the chain from the monster's torso, and it attacked Asad with its enormous jaw.
Crunch!
Everyone took a back. They were stunned as the monster gnawed on Asad's body. Not leaving even the bones and blood. Everything was absorbed.
ROAR!
A loud roar erupted from both its mouth, and its body twisted from side to side. Not before long, Asad's face appeared beside its first head.
"What abomination––!"
Clyde didn't finish his sentence when the monster bit off a chunk of his flesh. It was so fast that none reacted as the monster's clamped Clyde with its claws and its enormous jaws opened, revealing rows and rows of jagged teeth.
"N-NO!" With one bite, Clyde was shredded meat.
"W-Wha––!" Another soldier didn't finish his sentence when he suddenly found himself at the mercy of the monster looming over him. Before he could cry for help, half his body was gnawed, and his severed limbs fell on the ground.
"ARGH!"
"Runaway!"
A Class-B merc was defeated just like that. What's more an ordinary soldier like them? Its speed was too fast. Too fast for their eyes to follow!
"Ran!"
The monster just eyed the scattered soldiers and mercenaries with its three faces smiling. It then leaped and came crushing in the front of three soldiers. Its flesh jiggled, and the ground cracked as it landed.
The three soldiers wet their pants in terror, and the only words came out from their shaking mouth were cries and sobs before the monsters grabbed them with its six hands. They rose on the air, and its enormous jaw chomped them in half.
"R-Roger . . . w-what should we do?" Clemente asked, face white like the undead they battled a while ago.
Roger's eyes were wide in despair, and his limbs were shaking. He gulped and stuttered, "W-We have to . . . we have to protect the Princess."
Clemente gazed at the Princess, crunched on the ground in a daze. Then she looked at the monster who was hunting them one by one. Her breathing turned laborious, and bile laid acid on her throat before she puked.
Clemente shook her head, face twisting in misery. "N-No . . . no . . ." She looked at all the blood and guts, and she clutched her hair and screamed. "NO! I don't want to die!"
Clyde was stronger than her. If that monster decided to went after her, she was definitely going to die a horrible death!
"NO!" Clemente screamed and ran away.
"Clemente!" Roger called, but the following words got stuck in his throat when the monster landed in front of him. Its gigantic mouth was smiling, blood dripping from its jaws. Its two big eyes were circling nonstop, searching for its next prey.
"No . . ." Roger gritted his teeth. He was still a B-Class merc, and if he dies, he will die fighting.
Roger swung his battle-ax imbued with a spell [Fire Force]. Fire blazed under the blade, and the temperature rose enough to melt ores in seconds.
Rrrgh . . . the monster didn't doge at all. Using its claws, he clamped the axe, and the sturdy weapon smashed in pieces.
"I-impossible," Roger muttered. That axe was made from an adamantine ore. It's not orihalcon, but it was one of the sturdiest ore in the entire realm.
"Urk!" Roger spat a mouthful of blood when the monster beast's hands pierce his chest and rip him in half from within.