Nedwern Ramthall chuckled in his bedroom as he read a novel. The story was about a hero fighting a demonic army that came from the crack of a continent. Currently, he was on page 127, where the hero slaughtered the demon army with his legendary staff.
"This is awesome and hilarious. I should tell mother to get Bleassephere University storytellers as subordinates. Their stories are the best."
Nedwern extended his legs on the golden-worm silk bed. He leaned on the headrest that slightly making him sink into it. The headrest moved up and down accordingly to fix his posture and ensure his comfort.
Transparent dark-red energy swirled around the room.
Nedwern frowned. What is that?
The energy glided toward him, burst in midair and a roach landed on his book.
"Ahh!" Nedwern threw his book and jumped out of bed, ran to a table, and climbed on it. He stared at the roach crawling on his bed.
"Mom! Mom!"
Two red golems blasted the door to his room with a punch. And his mother entered the room with the golems on her sides.
"What's wrong, honey."
"Mom! There's a roach on my bed!"
Her mother glared at the roach through the thin veil that couldn't hide her face. "Dark roach." Her mother frowned and bared her teeth. "Find that wretched tribe. Search the entire Bleassephere city and exterminate them!"
She stared at the roach again. "And kill that damn thing."
***
"Don't sweat it," Gomon said. "It's just a bunch of food. Hey, Kalukaga can I have a taste of that meat."
Kalukaga took a small knife from his waist, cut a small piece, and gave it to Gomon.
"It's too small."
"Small food for small men." Kalukaga laughed and chomped the meat in one bite.
Gomon laughed. "Well, this small man can kick you out of this golem right now."
"Don't be like that," Sofiel said. "Here, have some bun."
"Thank you, Sofiel."
Sofiel glanced at Aidan. "Have some more buns."
Aidan took the buns and bit on them. "Thanks, Fi."
"I also bring some cookies with me." She took a small package out of her bag, unwrapped it, and took one of the colorful cookies before handing it to Aidan.
Aidan, who still had food in his mouth, took the cookie from her hand. "Awesome,"
After everyone received buns and cookies from Sofiel, they munched on their food and filled their stomach. Soon, the valley darkened, and the eels changed their lights into small twinkling stars. So that was why people call the night—sparkling eels. What a funny name.
Aidan leaned on the wall, stomach so full of food that he had to reject Sofiel's bun. Satisfied. Now if he got a good sleep, that would be perfect. The rest of the team also seemed to be tired and about to rest. They each took a small pouch out of their bag, blew it, and pop! They turned into a sleeping bag.
Gomon tapped the wall a few times and part of the wall turned into a square-shaped hole. He walked to another side of the wall and did the same thing. "You can have this hole, Aidan."
"Thanks, buddy."
Aidan walked towards the hole and entered it. He fell into a confined space with thick, bouncy leather as his bed coupled with a pillow. The hole sealed itself, and the world turned dark.
"Good night, everyone," Aidan said.
Bang!
The iron igloo shook.
Aidan woke up, the hole opened quickly. "What was that?"
Bang!
Something hit the wall from outside and dented it.
Bang!
Siraye, Kalukaga, and Sofiel stood up and looked at the dented wall. Gomon also came out of his hole.
"Try to look through the small holes," Aidan said.
Aidan ran to a small hole in the wall.
Bang!
The wall that Aidan ran to dented and almost hit him.
"Don't get too close to the wall," Aidan said, looking through the wall from a safe distance.
Two pairs of legs made of stone charged towards the wall.
Bang!
Stones? Are they living stones?
"It's bad," Gomon said.
"What?" Aidan asked. "What are they? Stone golems?"
Gomon frowned. "Worse. They're a pack of stone wolves. And they have two alphas leading them."
"What should we do? Can they break through the wall?"
Kalukaga grabbed his hammer-axe. "We fight."
Siraye took her crossbow, opened a hole in the left side, and loaded it with amethyst-like quarts. Purple energy surged through it before it turned into an icy mist. "Let us out, Gomon."
Sofiel took her book and nodded to Gomon.
Gomon took a deep breath. "Guess we have no other choice."
"Wait," Aidan said. "Why don't we make the entrance small enough for one wolf and bait them to come. That way, we can deal with the stone wolves one by one. Otherwise, we will be surrounded and attacked on all fronts."
"You got a good point," Gomon said.
"Alright, let them in before they destroy the wall."
Gomon nodded, walked to the wall, and tapped it a few times.
Aidan walked near the entrance. Like an igloo, it had a small tunnel where he would need to crawl to get in. But Gomon could enter the igloo even if he'd on his toes.
The entrance slowly opened itself.
"Get in position," Aidan said. Kalukaga stood beside him with his hammer-axe.
The wolves howled and rushed into the entrance, charging their way in despite the cramped space. Aidan didn't even need to bait them. The prey came by itself.
"Attack!"
An icy arrow shot toward the stone wolf. It bit the arrows with its rocky jaw and sped towards them.
When the wolf arrived at the end of the tunnel, Aidan used [Powered Kick] at the stone wolf's face.
-12
It had great defense!
The rocks on its face crumbled slightly. It growled and bit at Aidan's leg.
Kalukaga whipped his hammer-axe towards the stone wolf. The wolf's face cracked. And Aidan used his [Knockout Punch] to shatter its head.
You have dealt a fatal blow!
<
The wolf crumbled and turned into dust, but another wolf wiggled its way from behind to replace it.
"Siraye, Sofiel. Use your long-range attacks to weaken them. We'll destroy them when their heads came near the tunnel. And Gomon, try to use something to make their mouth shut while we attack them."
"Got it!"
Siraye shot another arrow supported by a spinning wind force that shot towards the wolf's head. She kept firing her arrows, but the wolf still continued its way to them.
The wolf's head popped out of the tunnel. It opened its mouth, filled with stone teeth before a chain shot out from Gomon's electric crown and locked its maw shut.
Kalukaga slammed the stone wolf with his hammer. It howled as its head cracked like a jar.
Aidan used [Knockout Punch] and the head exploded into tiny pieces.
You have dealt a fatal blow!
<
Your ability [Knockout Punch] has leveled up
Lv.2 -> lv.3
[Powered Kick (Lv.2)]
Concentrating energy on your fist and striking at the target's head will increase the chance to make the target unconscious by 25% and deal 160% physical damage to the target. Note: The chance of making the target unconscious is relative to the target's defense.
Another level up!
With this, he was confident that he could destroy these stone wolves in a single strike.
"Gomon, make the entrance large enough for 2 wolves."
"Are you sure about that!?"
Aidan shattered a wolf's head. "Yes."
"If you say so."
The entrance widened, and the wolves poured in. They wiggled their way to Aidan like a worm. Aidan used [Knockout Punch] and struck their throat. One wolf after another exploded under Aidan's strike.
You have dealt a fatal blow!
You have dealt a fatal blow!
To the side, Kalukaga used his fate energy and swung his hammer-axe, smashing the wolf's head before its whole body burst apart.
Gomon controlled his chain to shoot at a pair of wolves and slammed them to the ground.
Siraye float with a small tornado under her feet. She condensed her fate energy into the crossbow, and it shone with dazzling purple lights. The tornado spun around her body, went past the crossbow, and an arrow that looked like it was made of amethyst crystal flew and spun along with the tornado before shooting towards the wolves.
The arrow shattered every wolf it touched, and the entrance was clear.
The crossbow sizzled like it was burned. Icy mist flew from its body and a purple crystal popped out.
Sofiel fell and breathe with difficulty. She gave a thumbs up and closed her eyes. Siraye sat and lied down beside her.
"Is it over?" Aidan asked. He also ran out of stamina and fate energy.
"Do you see their alphas when she shot that arrow?"
Aidan shook his head. "The tunnel is full of wolves. I can't see anything behind them. What about you, Kalukaga?"
"No see."
Aidan fell on his butt and leaned on the wall. He breathed like he just finished a marathon. Sweat trickled from his forehead, then down to his nose.
Kalukaga hugged his axe-hammer like a pillow and rest on the ground.
Gomon looked around with both hands on his waist. "You guys need to work out more."
Aidan rolled his eyes. After the adrenaline from the fight passed, his eyes turned sleepy again. He blinked a few times, trying to stay awake. But his body didn't listen, and he lay on the ground, using his hand as a pillow. Aidan closed his eyes.
Bang!
Aidan started. Again? Was it the alpha that attacked?
There was a huge hole in the wall. A few people with spears stared at him through it. They had a red-eye symbol painted on their forehead. Three horizontal lines on both of their cheeks. And earrings of bones the shape of a scimitar dangled in their ears.
One of them stepped forward. He had a makeup of white powder on his eyes, followed by black powder circling around them.
The man in the front raised his spear. "Looka hulu hulu cabay chaya"
"Shouldn't we greet them?" Aidan asked.
He looked to the side and saw Gomon wearing a red mask carved with an image of a demon with sharp, jagged teeth and a long tongue. He had red long hair that extended to the ground.
"Gomon, what happened to you?"
"Cuke cuke lele pupaya." a voice came from the side, and Aidan saw Kalukaga rising from the ground as if someone lifted him. Dark-red energy enveloped him and burst before he appeared again with the same mask and hair as Gomon.
Aidan stepped back. His hands trembled. What the hell is going on?
"Bigi bigi zeke cunaya." two voices at the same time like a pair of devil's voices resonated.
Siraye and Sofiel hovered with dark-red energy enveloping them like a cacoon and burst before they appeared again. Floating above the ground, their hands turned into red demonic claws, their faces were masked by a demon with four eyes, and their red hair spilled to the floor.
The four of them—The demon that came out of hell—crept towards Aidan. Their heads shook uncontrollably like they were possessed.
Aidan took another step back. His knee trembled, and a bead of sweat fell from his forehead.
The four demons grinned and pounced on him.