The demon wore a black and red robe that looked to be torn to shreds. It was tall, standing at about 7 feet, with dark, ugly, grey skin, and it had long muscular arms that ended with sharp, thick claws.
Its face was twisted into a terrifying snarl, with veins of black running through it. Sharp, jagged horns protruded from its forehead, curving menacingly backward. Its eyes glowed with an eerie, hellish light, a mix of fiery red and ominous yellow.
The girl, on the other hand, looked to be Xander's height. She looked to be Korean with long, silky, straight black hair, dark brown eyes, and clear skin.
While Xander would admit she looked beautiful, there was something about her in this moment that gave off a rage-filled, ferocious vibe.
She wore light silver armor and wielded a slim silver sword that currently had a thick liquid-like molten golden fire coating the edge of her blade.
She skillfully fought the massive demon that looked twice her size with agility as she weaved through its attacks, constantly attacking and leaving deep, burning cuts all over its body without being hit herself.
Even though it was a half-step G-rank and she was a low G-rank, she was clearly not losing. The only problem was it seemed to be almost toying with her as if the fight was its to win. To Xander, on the outside looking in, it seemed as if the demon was just waiting for the girl to run out of qi.
Xander knew he had to do something for his fellow human in this god-awful place, so while still inside his mirage realm, he charged forward, katana in hand. He went completely unnoticed until he reached 6 meters behind the demon, who, upon sensing him, quickly turned around, ready to face the threat he felt but could not see.
Luckily, though, the girl was quick to notice the opportunity and take action. She ducked down and sliced the back of the knees of the demon that was now facing Xander.
Xander expected this to bring the demon to its knees, but it just scoffed, raised its massive greatsword, and brought it down aimlessly in Xander's direction.
The girl herself didn't know who was attacking the demon, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so she continued her onslaught against the demon, piercing her sword deep into the upper back of the demon.
The demon, for the first time, no longer had a smile on its face; instead, it seemed to be in deep pain, and after a second, it coughed up a mouthful of blood.
The girl then pulled her sword out of the demon's chest, thinking the fight was over with the demon soon to be dead. But after she pulled out her sword, the demon, with agility that didn't match its size, lunged to the left, no longer sandwiched between Xander and the girl.
They then both watched as the large hole made by the girl's sword and molten fire was quickly knitted back together, and the demon's face went from pained to amused.
'Damn, I forgot that demons and devils have a natural healing ability,' Xander thought.
Xander, who was at this point still in his mirage realm, knew it was time to make himself known so he could better cooperate with the girl. So, he phased back into reality and dashed to the left of the demon with 'lightning dash.'
The girl, upon seeing Xander in the flesh make his move, also dashed to the right, once again trying to sandwich the demon.
The demon quickly swung its sword, which was now coated in fire for the first time in the fight, now seeming to take the fight more seriously toward Xander.
Xander used a 'bolt step' to flash backward in a spark of lightning while the girl arrived a moment later, bringing her molten fire-covered sword down on the demon.
The demon, much quicker than one would think, especially with the massive greatsword, narrowly dodged and blocked her strike with a laugh.
Xander took this new opportunity to send two throwing knives, one coated in lightning qi and the other in death qi, into the mirage realm where they didn't exit until they were planted into the demon's back.
This stunned the demon long enough for the girl to dash to the left and plant her blade deep into the demon's gut.
This time she took no chances. Instead of pulling the blade out, she started to send a flood of molten golden fire into the demon's stomach.
Just as Xander was about to further the damage and plant his own blade into the demon's back, the demon's body phased into fire and dodged back out of the girl's and Xander's reach.
"Dammit!" Xander yelled, thinking the demon had narrowly escaped their clutches once again, but a second later, he had a smile on his face.
The demon, who he had thought escaped scot-free once again, was now on its knees in pain, blood pouring out of both its stomach and mouth.
While it was able to phase out of the girl's attack, the damage it took wasn't small in doing so.
Both Xander and the girl took this opportunity to dash forward and finish the demon off before it had time to heal its wounds with its natural recovery.
Just as Xander thought the entire fight was over, he noticed the girl had now taken three steps back and had her sword between him and her.
Xander quickly took a step back and raised his hands in surrender, but he still held on tight to his blade.
"I'm not your enemy," he said, hoping to clear up the misunderstanding.
The girl gave him a deeper stare, then looked him up and down before taking a breath and saying, "Fine, but go on and get out of here. I don't trust you, so we should part here."
Xander thought about it for a moment and came to the decision that he didn't really fully trust her either, especially after his last encounter with the blonde-haired young man, and he could understand why a pretty girl wouldn't trust some random man in a dark cave given the circumstance, so he was ready to take his leave.
"Alright, I just wanted to help, especially after seeing the demons, so I'll leave…" No sooner did the words leave his mouth, he heard.
"Skreeeeech!!!"
"Dammit!" Xander yelled as he turned around toward the noise. He knew exactly what made that noise.
A Titanscarab.
After waiting 5 more seconds, it finally came in sight.
[Common Titanscarab - F-rank - Entry]
"F***!" "F***!" they both said at the same time upon noticing the F-rank status of the dog-sized bug.
"I'll take the right!" Xander said as he phased into the mirage realm.
The girl didn't hesitate and charged left, an aura of golden fire surrounding her body, causing her to run faster.
Xander threw two lightning-coated throwing knives and phased them into reality just before they were set to land, but the bug was surprisingly quick, and its body was quickly coated with armor of earth, blocking the knives.
"Damn!" Xander hadn't seen the bugs use an ability yet, so he was hoping they didn't have one, but this one at least seemed to have the ability to use earth.
Xander charged up a slash of death qi's 'soul rend' and brought his blade down on the side of the beast while the Korean girl did the same, only with her molten golden fire.
The bug tried to block with earth again, but Xander's soul attack bypassed the defense, and the girl's attack ate through the dirt like a hot knife through butter.
"Bang!" The two attacks landed at the same time.
"Skreech!" The bug shrieked in pain, but it wasn't as painful-sounding as Xander had hoped.
The bug, tired of being on the defensive, decided it was time for an attack, so with its shoulder, it bashed forward, hitting the girl and knocking her 10 meters back until she slammed into the cave wall and let out a yelp.
It then planted its feet and sliced its front claw at Xander.
Xander raised his blade and met the beast head-on.
"Boom!" The attack landed with the weight of a freight train, causing Xander's arms to shake while the back of his blade was pressed against his body.
"Damn!" Xander yelled as he swiftly retreated back 10 meters.
'This is going to be harder than I thought.'
Xander looked over at the girl, who was just now getting back to her feet, and yelled, "If we want to make it out of here, we're going to have to work together to kill this thing!"
The girl stood up, looked at Xander, and nodded her head.
The three of them now stood apart, looking at each other.
Xander, while looking at the beast, thought, 'If we're going to fight together, I should introduce myself.'
"My name's Xander!" he yelled.
The girl, without looking away from the beast, nodded, "Na-ri (Korean: Nah-ree)!"