As soon as the teleportation ended, Bruto saw a pot-lid-sized fist coming right at his face.
"Fuck! Why me!"
He raised his shield as fast as he could and took another solid punch, but this time, the mountain crystal on the shield emitted a burst of light. The shield became incredibly heavy the instant it was struck, absorbing most of the impact force, allowing Bruto to only stagger back a few steps before tripping over a rock and falling to the ground.
This was an occasional effect triggered when mountain crystal-embedded equipment was hit by a massive force, in the blink of an impact, converting its contained energy into extremely high mass. When embedded in a weapon, it would inflict tons of damage (literally) upon activation; when in a shield, it could render a potentially fatal blow harmless.
Bruto had no time to feel relieved, as he quickly rolled to the side to avoid the imminent follow-up attack.
However, the anticipated fist didn't materialize. As the dwarf got up with the help of his roll, there was no sign of the Bagula Demon in his line of sight.
"What, it ran away? Could it be that it sprained its hand with that last hit, haha!"
Bruto mumbled to himself, holding up his shield and hammer, anxiously scanning his surroundings, fearing another ambush from the enemy.
Only then did he notice a large pool of blood where Kuka had stood, and it seemed a weapon was discarded there.
He cautiously approached and realized it was his father's creation, Lancelot's Kiss of Deadly Poison.
This less than a foot long sword was now slanted in the soil, with all but the top two inches of the blade drenched in bright red blood.
Clearly, the weapon had plunged deep into some part of Kuka's body, causing severe injury. After knocking Bruto away, the ape demon did not pursue but instead ran off.
"What kind of monstrous burst strength does Lancelot have."
Bruto murmured softly to himself.
Lancelot really had quite a few secrets up his sleeve, Bruto still hadn't forgotten the lord of sandworms gutted and dismembered corpse from last time. It seems this guy's trump card is these sudden outbursts, catching the unprepared enemy completely off guard.
Footsteps approached rapidly; his knight teammate and the succubus rushed over.
"I scared that guy off."
Bruto said with his hands on his hips.
"Since when is bragging one of your dwarves' traits?"
Lancelot replied with a smile, stepping forward to pick up his shortsword.
"After it hit me, it ran off. I misspoke just now," Bruto shrugged his shoulders, "It's too agile, I couldn't hold it down."
Lancelot cast a skeptical glance at Bruto's clean new hammer and decided not to pursue the topic any further.
"While it's heavily injured, we should hurry and catch up to it," suggested Grace.
"Hmm, do you know where its lair is?"
"I could find it with my eyes closed," the succubus licked her lips eagerly, "I can't wait to see this dumb ape die."
"Then let's get going."
Guided by Grais, the three of them quickly set off deeper into the forest.
The trees around them grew thicker and the ground became more rugged and uneven, making it quite a struggle for the two males who couldn't fly.
Finally, the Bagula Demon's lair came into their view.
It was a cleared spot where several large saber-toothed fir trees were broken in half by frightening strength. The Bagula Demon constructed a huge canopy out of tree trunks which was filled with all sorts of items plundered from the outside world, obscuring the view inside.
As soon as Bruto saw this, he rushed towards it, only to be quickly restrained by Lancelot.
"Don't be hasty, something isn't right."
Bruto paused, then also realized.
There were no bloodstains around the shack, so Kuka probably wasn't inside.
Just as the two hesitated for a moment, the ground beneath their feet began to writhe. Weeds and vines surged up from underground, entwining their legs and arms as if they had come to life.
This is another innate casting ability of the Bagula Demon, the Entanglement Technique. But casting it requires concentration, which means...
Lancelot suddenly looked up, a dark shadow was rapidly growing larger.
The True Qi in his Dantian surged into the Meridians throughout his body, and Lancelot burst out with tremendous strength, jumping away from the spot with Bruto in the nick of time.
With a loud boom, the Bagula Demon above missed its strike. Lancelot focused and saw that this one was not Kuka, but another Bagula Demon, visibly smaller than Kuka.
"Sneaky Goblin bastard!"
Bruto roared angrily as he pounced forward.
The young Dwarf had been taking hits all day, thoroughly frustrated, and this new arrival seemed a bit weaker, providing a suitable outlet for his rage.
The large and small figures quickly became entangled in a brawl. Despite how fiercely Bruto roared, he didn't take hits head-on when attacked, instead cleverly rolling around on the ground, utilizing his size advantage, and only using his shield to block a punch when there was no other choice.
He finally got to use his new hammer after narrowly dodging a heavy blow from the Ape Demon, smashing down hard on its fist that was too slow to retract.
The clear sound of bones shattering could be heard as the Ape Demon let out a scream of pain.
This time Bruto had learned his lesson; like Lancelot, after landing a successful strike, he quickly retreated, keeping a safe distance, but his mouth kept taunting:
"Stupid gorilla, sorry about killing your big wife, why don't you spend more time pampering your little wife next, hahaha!"
Lancelot did not join the fray but remained on full alert, watching his surroundings.
The Entanglement Technique just now must have been cast by Kuka, who was certainly hiding somewhere, waiting to deal Lancelot a fatal blow.
"Ah!" Behind him, the Succubus screamed, but Lancelot did not turn his head and instead looked sharply upwards.
The huge figure of Kuka was descending rapidly. The Ape Demon's fists were raised high, ready to smash the detested human below to a pulp. Had Lancelot been distracted by her cry just now, it would have been too late to dodge.
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang in Lancelot's ear:
"Watch out behind you!"
Behind him, Succubus Grais extended her claws that glinted with cold light, but her target was not Kuka, it was Lancelot!
If Lancelot had jumped back as he had previously, he might have landed right into Grais's sneak attack, which could have left him seriously injured or even dead.
But as if he had anticipated this, he had already crouched down before the voice even warned him, rolling forward.
At the same time, the Emblem of Twin Bridges Town fell beside him, its surface splintering inch by inch, emitting a dazzling white light.
Grais looked on in horror as a whip shadow flew out from the white light, binding her tightly in an instant.
"It's you! How is this possible!"
The answer came in the form of a slap from the Lord of Twin Bridges Town, her sharp claws tearing Grais's delicate cheek to a bloody mess.
"How dare you betray me!"
Anger was written all over Tijana's face, but then, a loud thud of a heavy object falling to the ground behind her made her expression change, and she quickly turned her head to look.
Kuka's massive body lay in an odd position on the ground, limbs touching the floor, back arched as if sheltering something underneath.
Tijana then noticed something new on its back.
It was a section of a Sword Blade, protruding like a Bone Spur from the Bagula Demon's broad back, with fresh blood flowing down from the tip of the blade.
Lancelot had seized the deadly flaw of his enemy. With a roll, his 7-foot Great Sword stood erect like a flagpole, and Kuka, falling fast and unable to dodge, was impaled.
The Human Knight, as if having bathed in blood, crawled out from under Kuka, kicked over the massive corpse of the Ape Demon, and pulled out his Longsword.
Turning to the familiar figure, he smiled and greeted Tijana:
"Good day, my lady. I'm so pleased to see you again."