"It's been like that for at least a week." Noir told me.
"I thought I killed those homunculi? Why are they still taking up camp?"
Noir told me about the tree demon that ruled over the others. "It can regenerate its kin. That canopy of trees is its own flesh."
I swallowed. That's way stronger than most of my summons! How were we supposed to defeat it if it can regenerate instantly?
"The reason I needed you to learn a rare summon is because this demon can not be killed. Many of my sect have tried, but were wiped out. Only one of our scouts returned to tell us of the demon's power."
The earth rumbled.
Is this an earthquake?
"That's been happening for days now. No one knows the cause of the tremors."
"So we're just gonna seal the demon. Then all of this-" I waved a hand at the canopy of devilish branches. "Goes away?"
Noir shrugged. "My masters believe so."
"What do you believe?"
She set her red eye on me. "I can only hope I succeed in my quest."
When she turned to leave, a shadow passed over us. Instantly, Noir readied her wand. Violet wisps of necrotic energy leaked from the tip of her wand.
She struck a pair of demons that had snuck up on us. Instantly, they began to rot.
Overhead, a winged demon circled. It was the winged demon I killed in the town!
Before I could react to the revived demon, my carbuncle was struck by a jet stream of water. It was reverted back to its card form after crying out in pain.
The system notified me that I was in danger in red letters.
"Two rare level demons in the vicinity.
Recommended action: engage in combat."
I swore.
Ducking, I dodged the talons of the winged demon. Rolling to pick up the carbuncle's card, I fired a Bunsen blast at the bird demon as it swooped to attack again.
Its leg corroded, leaving a dripping stump of black flesh. Its bones were made of strong roots and vines.
Placing the carbuncle's card back in its spot, I summoned the Great Winged Demon.
Ripping its petal off the Twig staff, I dropped the card to the floor. The petal floated downward until it touched the grass. Light shot from it, materia activating the summon. From the light, the red demon stood cross-armed. Its wings were folded as it awaited my command.
"Take care if the flying demon!" I shouted. The demon cocked its head at the demon overhead. Devilishly, it smirked.
"As you wish, master!" It roared. Green flames erupted around it as it spread its wings. Taking to the air, I realized how lucky I was to have it on my side.
After body slamming into the other winged demon, it created a torrent of wind that sent the homunculi into the earth.
It dove to finish the black demon off, but instead a fourth demon countered it.
This one was a bird made entirely of water. Splashing water onto the Great Winged demon's face, the bird demon hunched over its ally.
Noir fired a decaying force at it. Instead of staying hunched over its ally to protect it, the bird demon leapt into the air. The winged demon was turned to ash instantly since it was no longer protected.
My winged demon tried to attack the bird. With a great flap of its wings, it sent the water bird scattering into a thousand droplets.
For a moment it thought my summon had defeated the demon. Sadly, I was wrong.
A thousand droplets of water sharpened into spears that pierced my summons wings.
It was reverted into a card after it plummeted to the ground. The card folded and darted to my staff.
When the bird solidified, Noir fired more blasts at it. The first struck it, fizzling half of its body. The second shot missed it by a hair.
Noir cursed.
I was entirely out of options. According to the system, I had to wait an hour to summon the Great Winged Demon again. And my selkie was no match against this bird beast. That only left…
"Damn it!" I shouted.
Plucking the petal from the Twig of Yggdrasil, I called forth the last summon of my line up
As soon as his petal hit the earth, another earthquake shook the ground. Red light shot from the petal. Maroon robes apparated out of the light. Looking at me, my killer smiled at me.