Chapter 9

Demon Slayer

Zero ran through, spitting out Holy fire at every chance he got on the Behemoth’s back. The Behemoth swerved, turning its body as Zero slammed into the cliff wall. He was suddenly thrown off, with the others on his back latched onto him tightly, sticking their body as close as possible to not get thrown off. He twisted and turned in midair like a cat and landed safely on the ground with a loud thud. He was stalling for time, waiting for the magic circle that the magicians were chanting, and he needed every second he could get.

 Jorge, who wasn’t so lucky, was suddenly thrown off when Zero landed like a cat. He moved at the last second in a mad scramble to keep from getting squashed from above by the Behemoth’s looming foot. 

“Look out!” Agnis yelled, she gazed up and saw that the Behemoth was stumbling around as if he was drunk. 

The Behemoth was covered in flames from head to toe. Even still, he didn’t seem to be as affected by the flames as Zero thought. Instead, he was now a walking ball of fire that made fighting against him that much more difficult. 

Another terrifying roar echoed out of the Behemoth’s mouth, but thankfully, the number of status ailments wasn’t as bad as before. Regardless of their strength, their location made such an attack much worse on their overall force. The cave amplified the sound, while when they were outside, it dispersed. The majority of the people were hit with fear and stunning effect, and even Zero was washed with its power. 

With each pounding of its feet, it thrashed in anger. The ground cracked open, making a large number of elven soldiers fall in. Zero scrambled to get a better footing as the ground broke under him. He started to slip into the crevice. 

“Zero!” Zeraph, firing arrows, had to shift his weight and grab onto Zero’s spine. “Jump to the other side!”

Zero saw what Zeraph was telling him to do; pushing off from the falling rock, he sprung forward and latched on the wall. With great difficulties, he pulled himself up as best as he could. With all the extra weight from those on his back, Zero could feel unbalanced. He gritted his teeth as he dug deeper to stop himself from slipping and falling.

“Gah!” Agnis squeaked in alarm, holding on tightly. “Don’t drop us!” 

“I’m trying!” Zero grunted back. “Why don’t you pull me up then?!”

“Are you kidding me?” Agnis asked, baffled. “With what ability?”

Zero claws dug forward, pulling himself back up. It took a lot more out of him than he thought, but anything was better than hanging from the side anymore. “Then stop complaining.” Agnis clicked her teeth. 

Zero had to hop and jump around, not to get pulled back down into the open cracks. It wasn’t easy, especially because Behemoth kept repeatedly smashing its feet into the ground, creating more. 

Half of the elven army and a third of the players were dead. The Behemoth was quickly eradicating everyone without giving anyone a chance to stop it. Then, a blast of powerful earth magic ripped the ground apart further as large tree roots sprouted out from the ground and raced toward the remaining people. 

Agnes and Zeraph were hacking back at the roots as they tried to snap around them and Zero. Undoubtedly, anyone dragged down into that pitch, black darkness that lay just below the roots faced a fate worse than death. Even worse, most of that earth magic was explicitly aimed at Zero, Sekka, and Valiant in the hopes of putting them down.

“Valiant!” Sekka called out, with Leafs holding on tightly against her neck. “Send in your army and direct its attention away!” She quickly jumped down off a protruding rock that was shaking underneath her feet. 

“Save us first, before ordering him around!” Leaf yelled at her, holding on tight so he wouldn’t slip off. 

“I’m working on it!” Sekka jumped, wedging herself into the ground with her claws as she pulled herself up. Then, she scrambled onto her feet and bolted toward the Behemoth to battle against it again. 

Sekka did a fabulous job blinding and hurting the Behemoth with her light magic. Her golden eyes glowed a brilliant gold, and her scales glistened as light energy swarmed around her in full power. She stood proudly in place, facing directly at the Behemoth’s body. 

Leaf quickly got up, his hand waving back and forth as he chanted an elven language. Light magic swirled around him, making him glisten like a star. With a wave of his hand, orbs of light erupted from behind Sekka and Leaf. Sekka roared, sending out a blast of energy as the orbs shot off many beams at Behemoth’s body. It was as if wings of light were sprouting out from their backs from the orbs, while the rays of light were like feathers being shot at the Behemoth. As the beams hit, explosions fell upon impact, causing the ground to tremble from their magic. 

The Behemoth stumbled, catching itself. It roared angrily, twisting its tail around like a whip. Its hammer-like tail thrashed toward Sekka as she jumped out of harm’s way. She then landed on the Behemoth’s tail before scaling up on it like an agile cat. 

Valiant took the initiative to send in rows upon rows of his skeletal army. The Behemoth thrashed around the field, breaking the army into a fine dust. However, even though their attacks weren’t strong enough to cause any real damage, they could draw its attention and annoy the Behemoth with their attacks. Every time Valiant was about to get squashed by the Behemoth’s feet, he was quickly swarmed by the skeletal army that came in waves to protect him. They would cover his entire body with bone-like armor, creating a cage against the Behemoth’s attack. 

“Damn, monster!” Valiant spat annoyed that he was almost squashed alive. The Behemoth couldn’t completely break apart the thickly reinforced cage that his skeletal army created. Every time one broke, another took its place just as quickly, giving him the safety he needed to escape from under the Behemoth’s legs. 

Even then, Valiant attacked when he got the chance. His eyes glowed a menacing green glow, making him look more diabolical than before. Reed was standing up on his back as dark magic swirled around her. She was chanting magic rapidly as dark energy poured out of her body, fueling Valiant’s own. 

Valiant started to glow pitch black as a full adult-sized pair of wings erupted in a brilliant show of black energy. The effects were real enough, even if made purely of that evil-looking energy, and would disappear soon after. He was like a grim reaper who descended on the battlefield, coming to take the lives of many. With a flap of his auric wings, hundreds of magical sigils appeared under and around Behemoth’s body. 

Each magical sigil sent an assortment of dark arrows toward the Behemoth’s body, skewering him on all sides. Sekka and Valiant’s attack was one of their best and most powerful attacks, so much so that it took a good chunk out of Behemoth’s life. 

The Behemoth stumbled onto its knees, blood seeping from its sides, mouth, nose, and even ears. Its eyes darted from Sekka to Valiant, glaring down at them hatefully for harming him. Even with all the magical power that both shot, the Behemoth was still kneeling. 

Valiant and Sekka were winded from using such a large amount of their magical energy in one attack, but that didn’t mean they would give up the fight. They still had teeth and claws to attack, and that was what they did. 

Zero saw the elven army being trampled on by the Behemoth’s feet. He rushed forward before ruthlessly slamming into the Behemoth’s feet to redirect the stomp away from the elven soldiers. The Behemoth stumbled, as it yelled angrily before correcting its fall. And, when Zero got close to the Behemoth’s leg a second time, Zeraph hopped off him with a mad sort of glee and went on his little rampage. 

Zeraph scaled nimbly up the Behemoth’s leg, using his enchanted daggers to pierce through every step of the way. As he continued to scale up, he left a mess of blood. Then, as he reached the top, he drew out his sword before enchanting it with magic. 

His blade flashed forward, cutting into the body with his expert touch. His blade was like lightning, moving at an inhumane speed that only a few on the battlefield could see. Each cut followed expertly right after with a magical attack or enchantment that boosted his body. Only a few could imitate the few techniques that he could, making him almost impossible to copy. 

Zeraph grinned; his blade was dancing in front of him as he sent shockwaves of magical energy into the Behemoth’s back like a jackhammer. With every strike, the Behemoth grunted out in pain. 

While Zeraph attacked the top of the Behemoth’s back, Zero and Agnis raced around the outside, helping the Elven soldiers escape. The devastation that the Behemoth caused had destroyed so many lives, reducing the number of people who could fight against the Behemoth by a wide margin. 

Zero would send out a blast of Holy Fire at the Behemoth’s foot every time it attempted to stomp downwards onto the Elven army underneath him. He would thwart the attack as best as he could, giving time for the Elven army to escape. Sometimes, he was successful, as he pushed the Behemoth’s attack backward and even caused the Behemoth to falter. 

This gave the army and the players time to pull the Behemoth down to its knees and give them a better chance of close-quarter combat near its body. Not only that, some of the players and those of the elven army would personally scale up the Behemoth’s leg and climb up its back in an attempt to bring more harm. 

The longer the battle, the more the players and the elven army could harm Behemoth, but at the same time, they were quickly dying. Already the army had less than two hundred, while the players were under one hundred. 

“Don’t stop!” General Liam yelled; he was on top of the Behemoth’s back, slashing downwards in the hopes of harming Behemoth further. “He’s weakening!”

Zero needed to be more sure about that. Yes, there were times when the Behemoth’s faltered, but there were more times when the Behemoth was using quite a large amount of magic and attacks that would use his whole body to create more devastation. Then, magical eyeballs started to appear around the Behemoth’s body, staring at each player and those in the Elven army in the vicinity. 

Not even a second later, a blast of magical laser beam shot out from its eye and killed half of the unsuspecting people. The army was decimated, and now only a handful was alive. Most of them fell off the Behemoth’s back and smashed into the ground, dead. 

Others barely had enough health to fend off its unexpected attack and died. The rare few people who were alive were Sekka, Leaf, Valiant, Jorge, Zero, Agnis, Reed, Zeraph, and General Liam. 

Jorge was scurrying around underneath the Behemoth’s legs, smashing his hammer-like blade. He was merciless as he swung with every hit, causing a deep incision in the side. The way that Jorge was swinging reminded Zero of a lumberman, with every swing making some impact. At the rate that he was going, I wouldn’t be surprised that he would cut off the Behemoth’s leg by another couple of hours. His cuts weren’t simple small dents, but large and deep. 

“Hahahahaha!” Jorge yelled in pure delight that he was making some impact. “This is what I’m talking about!” The flow of his blade intensified as magic started to swirl around it. Even his sword blazed like fire, cutting deeper and deeper. 

The Behemoth was furious, it lifted its leg to stomp out Jorge, but Jorge just leisurely dodged out of harm’s way and went back to hacking at the Behemoth’s leg. 

Zero slid into the attack, watching where he was aiming. He wasn’t going to blunder in stupidly and get thrown off again. So instead, he looked for weeks of spots to exploit. When he scanned the Behemoth’s body, he could find certain areas he didn’t expect to see. 

They were about five places that Zero could find that the Behemoth was trying to cover. One was under its neck, where he tucked his head close; the other two were its eyes; next was the small opening near the front legs where there was a gash, and the final one was where Jorge was hacking away. The Behemoth was now unable to completely put down its injured leg for weight because of Jorge. 

Zero was quite amazed at Jorge’s strength, especially with his skill to dodge out of harm’s way with his large lumbering body. It was something that only a few Trolls were known for. 

Debating on which one to attack first, Agnis called out toward him from his back. “What are you waiting for? Aren’t we going to attack?!”

“Yes, I was thinking about where to hurt the Behemoth the most.”

“Well, you better hurry because the remaining players and soldiers aren’t going to survive!” 

Agnis shot an arrow toward the Behemoth that was endowed with holy fire. It blazed across the sky as it pierced into one of its sides, causing a small-scale explosion.  

“I know.” Zero bolted forward, jerking Agnes from behind. She had to grab on tightly to his spikes so she wouldn’t fall off. He ran forward towards Jorge and jumped up onto the wounded leg. Zero spat fireball after fireball in front of the gaping wound Jorge had created, causing an ugly hissing sound to erupt. 

The Behemoth screamed as it hopped on the other three feet while trying to keep the one that Zero was on from completely useless. He shook hard to keep Zero off his leg, but Zero didn’t let go. Instead, his claws dug in even deeper, giving him a better grip. Then, with his teeth and claws, he attempted to break through the tough meat, biting through it inch by inch. 

Frustrated that it wasn’t cutting through fast enough, he spat out small, condensed energy fireballs into the wound, repeatedly like a laser beam. It was a lot faster in digging into its skin, but it needed to be faster to get into its bones. 

Even still, the Behemoth didn’t stop shaking Zero off; it wasn’t until the magical circle that the magicians had been cast had finally activated, showering it on its side. Then, with a thunderous roar, the Behemoth landed on its wounded leg, crying out from the pain as the magic arrows fell like rain.  

“Aim for this spot!” Zero yelled, rallying everyone towards him to take out the Behemoth’s leg. He knew he couldn’t do it alone, but with the help of others, he knew that he could feel the monster. 

The remaining players and troops heard his call, some shot arrows, while others rushed over to hack alongside him. The Behemoth attempted to get up, but its wounded leg hampered its weight, causing him to buckle back down. Nevertheless, players and troops alike continued their furious attack. Even Valiant and Sekka came in, showering with everything they got, chipping away at its strength little by little.  

Whenever Zero got the chance, he would rip portions of the leg through with his claws to make the wound even uglier and bloodier. Of course, if anyone watching Zero had a weak heart, they would’ve hurled by now, but Zero wasn’t such a person. So instead, he clawed, bit, and shot condensed fire, and eventually made his way through using what he had until he got through to the bone, his belly glowing an eerie blackish green as he sprayed out a torrent of unholy flames into the wound itself. 

This time the flames didn’t just burn at surface level; they entered into the skin and traveled slowly up its leg, causing it to glow red. Blistering pain began to boil up on the Behemoth’s skin as it started to pop and hiss like an ugly lesion, and still, Zero didn’t stop spitting out his flames. Whenever he got the chance to create new wounds, he would spit out another. 

“That’s more like it!” Jorge shouted and laughed diabolically. “That is how a dragon should be!” He swung his blade, cutting through bones, hacking away as fast as his large body handle. Blood sprayed outwards, dousing him in black. 

Zero gave a triumphant roar, excited that the Behemoth had landed on its knees. This was a big accomplishment, especially for a creature like the Behemoth. Then, with a heavy slam, the ground shook as Behemoth’s head hit the ground. Without a second thought, Zero climbed up quickly towards the back and raced towards the head. 

Zeraph was glued to the Behemoth’s body with his sword plunged into its back. If it weren’t for the sword, he would’ve fallen off and probably died. When he saw Zero racing towards him, he quickly got up, pulled out his sword, and snatched his hand towards Zero’s side. With one graceful pull, he scaled up towards Zero’s back. 

“Where are you heading?!” Zeraph asked, getting himself comfortable on Zero’s back. 

“Towards the head!”

“Are you aiming for its eyes?”

“Yea!” Zero wasn’t as surprised at how quickly Zeraph had caught on. But, honestly, Zeraph would’ve done the same even if Zero hadn’t.

Zero raced over its back, eventually up its spine, before coming onto its head like a proud lion upon its slain kill. He stopped in front of the Behemoth’s eyes, which were closed. When he drew in his breath, he was ready to spit out another short amount of dark flames when the Behemoth opened its monstrous eyes. 

It zoomed in on Zero’s face before giving him an angry growl. Magical power surged from the Behemoth’s body, causing Zero to fumble, trying to get his bearings. Zero felt an instinctual danger, and he hopped to the side as he saw a blast of magic come swarming down upon him like a comet. Zero was thrown backward with an explosive slam as he skidded low to the ground. The explosion didn’t even harm the Behemoth; instead, he absorbed it back into its body as if it were recycling its energy. 

Zero knew that this was becoming a lot more dangerous. The Behemoth’s fury was at its peak, and this was when it would struggle even harder to survive. The magical fiery comet started to form over the Behemoth’s head as more and more fell down from the sky like bullets. He had to hop around, dodge, jump, and even use his tail to smack back at the burning flames. 

It wasn’t straightforward with two of his friends on his back. The extra weight had caused him to slow down by quite a bit, and a few stray comets came hurtling down towards Agnis and Zeraph. Zeraph slashed forward, shouting, “Seven Strikes of the Unholy Flames!” His blade moved at an inhumane speed, cutting down the comet into pieces. 

Agnis fired off her holy arrows to attempt to redirect it, but the power behind it wasn’t enough. She grabbed one of her blades from behind her back and slashed forward, screaming, “Lotus Arts secret style no. 1!”

A blast of wind circled her blade, causing a torrent of wind to circulate her slash. A splash of flowers appeared out of thin air, bringing in a sweet smell of lotus. 

The comets came hurtling down like rain, creating a devastating attack. Even Zero had difficulty maneuvering out of harm’s way to avoid getting hit. They weren’t large comets, but small and many, which was deadly all by itself. 

“Zero! There’s too many!” Agnis called out, slashing the comet aside as best as she could. Then, out of nowhere, Agnes and Zeraph were hit on the side or the back by the meteorite’s attack, causing them to fall off Zero’s back. 

Even Zero wasn’t able to get out of harm’s way in time and was pelted from above, knocking him backward and onto his back. The attack caused a large amount of devastation on land and even killed quite a few people. 

“Watch out!” Zeraph yelled, Behemoth’s body stirred, moving towards Zero in a roll. 

The Behemoth’s body came falling down towards Zero and he saw the Behemoth’s foot heading straight towards him. Zero shakily got up, dazed from the sudden attack. 

Temporarily Confusion status ailment is in effect for thirty seconds. Moving will become difficult.

 Zero braced himself, trying to get away as best as he could, but he was too late. Behemoth’s foot came crashing down upon Zero’s back, crushing him underneath his weight. Blood erupted out of his mouth; his body tightened to push against the Behemoth’s leg. 

Now, Zero was stuck underneath the Behemoth’s foot. He could feel the monster’s weight crushing down his body as he spurted out blood. The thought of being squashed alive wasn’t something that he wanted to ever be in. What was worse was that he could feel the pain of his bones starting to break under the weight of the Behemoth’s body. 

I’m not going to die like this! Aurelius shouted in his head. Even though the pain was significantly reduced in the game, there was still a bit of pain felt. He tightened his body, pushing against the Behemoth’s leg with all his might. 

He then thought of something else while pushing against the Behemoth’s leg. With a large amount of magic he still had, he used his Black Dragon necromancy skills. His energy washed outwards like a pulse, searching for the dead monsters and players on the ground. He noticed that even his sight could find old monsters that had died years past and were buried underneath the ground. 

The surge of energy seeped deeply, drawing out its dark power. Zero could feel his magic experience rising each time a successful dead monster rose. The ground started to pop out skeletal creatures and humans. They slugged and pulled their way out, shaking their large bodies in excitement as their eyes glowed eerily green. He had been pushing off this skill for a while now, mostly because the thought of raising the dead wasn’t always to his liking, especially because of the spirits he would see in real life that put him off on this skill. 

Your necromancy has risen to level one.

Your necromancy has risen to level two.

Your necromancy has risen to level three.

Your necromancy has risen to level four.

Your necromancy has risen to level five.

Hundreds to eventually thousands of skeletal monsters came forth. They weren’t like the skeletal monsters that Valiant pulled out. The skeleton was much more fierce and meaner, looking at Zero’s dark magic. Dark, golden energy swirled around their body like a thick coats, reinforcing them with stray bones that they could find. Some wore thick armor, others had extra appendages, and others grew in size. Some even strangely looked like they had angelic features, feathers on their ears, and growing wings. Most skeletal monsters were creatures rather than humanoid creatures, and the creatures looked more sinister than the monsters they would find out in the field. 

“Come here and help me!” Zero yelled. 

The skeletal army snapped forward quickly in his direction. They were like a synchronized army that moved perfectly in harmony toward Zero. So many rushed forward, slamming into the Behemoth’s leg, pushing it away from Zero as best as possible. 

Others lifted upwards as swirls of dark energy amplified their strength, making them glow even more eerily black. The smell of decay and death wafted through the ground, making anyone near the Behemoth weezy with sickness.

The leftover army and players moved away, letting the swarm of the skeletal army do its job of lifting the Behemoth’s leg. Struggling hard to squish Zero, the Behemoth put its weight into the attack. A handful of skeletons were squashed, but that didn’t stop it from helping it start to stack up and making it difficult for the Behemoth to kill Zero. 

Swarms upon swarms of skeletal creatures rushed forward, attacking and lifting the Behemoth’s leg off of Zero’s body. Then, finally, zero felt the pressure release, allowing him to breathe much 

better. He wiggled at first, eventually squirming his way out. 

When he finally made it out from under the leg, he pulled out quite a few red potions to heal his wounded body. Unfortunately, it wasn’t simple to uncork the top, so he threw it up and crushed it with his mouth. The glass shattered but didn’t even wound his tongue.

Zero roared towards the Behemoth, bellowing out at it in anger. He was infuriated that the Behemoth would try to squash him under his feet. There was no way he would let this go anytime soon; the only thought he had was to see the Behemoth fall to its death. 

“Attack!” Zero roared again, using more power to give out his command. 

The skeletal army pulled back, letting the leg down with a heavy thump. It then started to rush toward the Behemoth’s body, skewering it and attacking it as best as possible. Many used physical attacks to harm the Behemoth, while a handful sent out a torrent of black flames of magic. 

Zero ran in with the skeletal army; he bellowed a war cry, bringing a surge of power to his allies and army. 

Dragon’s War Cry has caused a boost in the morale of allies. The physical attack has risen by 10%, magical abilities have risen by 15%, and the chance of getting Fear status has decreased by 50%.

The players who were left were surprised by the additional status buffs. They were all rained upon throughout the fight with a slew of debuffs. This was the first breakthrough in a long while. This caused a lot of people to surge up with power they never had before, giving them a fighting chance. 

“Follow the Dragon Prince!” General Liam shouted at his army; he rushed behind Zero with the stream of the skeletal army. It was a large mix of living and dead as they fought to overtake the Behemoth’s power. 

With an angry yell, the Behemoth spat out more magical energy downwards toward its prey. Comets the size of a soccer ball fell from the sky, raining down upon them like hail. Explosions went off as the skeletal army flew away into pieces, but that didn’t stop the remaining army. They continued to push through, covering hundreds behind them with more. 

The skeletal army pushed the Behemoth’s body towards one side, causing it to fall crashing down to its side. They scaled on top of it like rapid ants, striking where they could. Even Zero helped push and scale back up onto its body once again. This time, it was heading straight toward its head. He wasn’t going to let the Behemoth have his way again. 

Making his way over, he drew in a deep breath. He didn’t want to waste a second, and when he saw the Behemoth’s eyes, he blew a torrent of black flames. It burned the Behemoth’s eyes, causing the Behemoth to go blind. Unfortunately, zero wasn’t merciful, nor had the power to kill the Behemoth in one go. So he continued to shoot out flames until he scorched the whole head on fire. 

The Behemoth thrashed, digging its head into the ground to quench the fire, but the black flames didn’t disappear, only intensifying as time passed. Zero felt a strange power building up in his stomach, and he felt an influx of energy wanting to burst out. Instead, he raised his head, opening his mouth as a spray of dark fire continually streamed out into the sky, forming a giant ball of flames. 

The flames grew until they finally became three times as big as Behemoth’s head, covering half of its body. 

Players and soldiers alike were alarmed at the growth of fire above their heads as they ran away 

not to get caught up by its flames. The only one standing on top of the Behemoth’s body was Zero; even the skeletal army he created pulled back, feeling the intense danger looming over their heads. 

Zero finally felt he could spew out no more; he closed his mouth, letting the last of the dark flames swirl around itself. He felt danger, knowing full well that if he stayed under the blazing dark flames, he would be caught up in it. The dark fire could even harm the owner, and Zero knew this too well. 

He sprinted off the Behemoth’s body, running as fast as his dragon feet could. Jumping off with a powerful burst of his leg, he landed downwards like a cat. The others were still pulling back, and everyone could feel the blazing fire’s hot heat dropping slowly toward Behemoth. 

Even though the Behemoth was alarmed at the monstrous fire that loomed over its head, he struggled to get up on its broken feet but stumbled. There was no way that the Behemoth was going to escape. While the giant fireball came rushing downwards, inside the Behemoth’s mouth, a blast of energy shot forward. 

Both raging energies came in contact, impacting into a large-scale explosion that blasted everyone backward. Even Zero tumbled backward, rolling on the floor as he reached out with his claws and drugged into the ground so he wouldn’t get pushed away. 

When Zero glanced up, he clicked his teeth in frustration. Swirls of black cloud erupted outwards, covering a large portion of the sky. All that magical energy and fire he conjured up was useless, and he feared the chance of wounding the Behemoth even more. 

Shakily getting up, he shook his body off the dirt that got on him. He could hear his health bar low, warning him that he didn’t have much life left. Fishing out a few health potions, he crushed the potion in his mouth, allowing him to have at least half of his health back. Being in dragon form took five times more health potions than a human, making going through them like water. 

Zero quickly straightened up his body, his claws digging into the ground, getting ready to tackle the Behemoth one last time. Suddenly, he felt the ground tremble; Zero searched around, trying to find the source. 

“Look!” One of the players yelled, pointing upwards in horror. The remaining players and elven soldiers all shouted in fear as they started to burst into a run. 

Zero snapped his head upwards and saw what everyone was shouting about. The blazing inferno that he spat out was three times larger than before. Zero guessed that his fireball ate up the attack the Behemoth had caused, making it even bigger. He knew that if he stayed, he would get swamped by his attack. 

With a burst of speed, he went into a full-out sprint. The muscles in his body were screaming at him to slow down. He could feel the fatigue catching up to him, making this whole experience very difficult to run. His heartbeat was stammering hard, and his muscles burned as his muscles constricted. In the distance, he saw Zeraph, Agnis, and Jorge running away as fast as their legs could carry them; they were busy fighting off a couple of stray monsters that stalled their time. 

He was caught up to them and knew he would be past them in less than a minute. He debated going ahead without them for a split moment but shook off such thoughts. The chance of them getting out fast enough was low; the three of them plus Zero was the closest to the Behemoth’s body compared to the others. 

“Get on!” Zero yelled, running as fast as he could. His breath was harsh, and his chest was burning. 

Zeraph and Agnis smoothly jumped onto Zero’s back while Jorge missed. 

“Damn it!” Jorge grunted, trying his best to grab ahold of Agnis’ hand. “I’m not built for this!” 

“Oh, quit your whining. At least you’re not a dwarf!” Agnis snatched Jorge’s hand, pulling him up. 

“Thanks,” Jorge grunted; he pulled himself up but slipped. Agnis had to reach over his back and grab hold of his belt to help pull him up. Then, with a gasping breath, Jorge was finally up on his back. 

“Hey, Zero!” Zeraph called out, catching Zero’s attention. 

“What?!” Zero was so focused on running away that he didn’t have much time to answer. 

“I got a stamina potion for you,” Zeraph spoke; he could tell that Zero was having difficulties keeping them all on his back while running as fast as he could. 

“Really? I completely ran out of those a while back. Thanks.” Zero caught the throw that Zeraph had tossed. The potion broke in his mouth as he felt his fatigue wash away. It at least made him feel like he could run another 10 miles without stopping, giving him the burst he needed to lurch forward. 

“Zero! There’s General Liam!” Agnis pointed it out toward the direction on the right. Unfortunately, he was surrounded by some stray Fire Hounds that were also trying to run away but were entangled with him. 

Zero narrowed his eyes, leaning his head low to get more speed, and he turned towards General Liam. He was one of the prominent people who needed to stay alive, mainly because he had the Holy Cloak. 

A gurgle of his stomach started to fire up; he could feel the churning of dark fire lick his lips and come out of his nose. When he got close enough, he spat out a torrent of flames, dousing the Fire Hounds in one go. The Fire Hounds yelped, pulling backward in surprise. They couldn’t snap up the dark fire; as usual, they could suction the fire element off their body, but it was one of the rare few that they could barely control as it devoured their flames. They yelped in panic, trying to get away. 

“General Liam!” Agnis leaned over, sticking out her hand for him to grab. “Grab on!” 

General Liam turned and saw Agnes and the others on Zero’s back. He smashed his sword into one of the oncoming Fire Hounds and stomped and kicked it out of the way. Then, snatching onto Agnis’s hand, he slammed into Zero’s side, causing Zero to falter slightly. 

Having so many people on his back while running away wasn’t easy, but that didn’t stop Zero. He ran until he felt his muscles screaming and his heart ready to burst. 

A loud explosion set off, hitting the Behemoth squarely in the chest and head. The fireball doused its whole body, swarming all around him like a rabid dog licking at its heels and burning it into nothingness. A flash of light erupted outwards, blinding everyone, followed by a sickening boom. 

Zero tumbled with the others on his back; he couldn’t stop himself from being thrown around like a lifeless puppet by the sheer force of energy that clashed against the Behemoth and the ground. 

At the last minute, General Liam, thrown off Zero’s back, pulled out the Holy Mantle that glittered and wrapped it tightly around his body. The wind, magic, and flames protected him just in time before he could get killed. 

The others were luckily further away, allowing them to take a bit of cover from rocks that were near them. But then, the Behemoth roared a blood-curdling scream that made Zero tremble in fear. 

Fear Status has been inflicted for thirty seconds, and the slow dying roar of the Behemoth has inflicted a terrifying cry that is freezing one’s body and mind.

With a heavy breath, Zero tried to push through and get up, but he couldn’t. The fear status was strong and made movement almost impossible. All he could feel was the dread and the looming power of the Behemoth. It wasn’t until thirty seconds passed that he could eventually move his body when he saw the others sprawled out on their back. 

The devastation of his attack had cleared away any trees that were once there and even created an ugly black crater on the ground. Agnis, Zeraph, Jorge, and General Liam were bruised and bloodied, the throw left some unwanted marks on their body, but it wasn’t life-threatening. Even Zero had a few of his scales missing as blood dripped down his side, neck, and face. 

He was surprised at how powerful that attack was and wondered where it suddenly came from. From his understanding, he didn’t have a giant fireball attack anywhere in his repertoire. Even still, he was pleased that it caused a devastating attack. 

The Behemoth was barely moving; it groaned on its side with barely any energy but uselessly blinked a couple of times. Finally, all it could do was blink and breathe, and Zero knew instantly that the enemy was close to death. He willed himself to attack.

“The Behemoth’s down!” Zero roared, “Attack!” His words resounded outwards, shaking everybody’s soul. Their willpower skyrocketed when they saw the Behemoth down on the ground, barely even able to lift their head.

Your roar had increased fighting power to all your allies by 10%. All attacks done to your enemy will increase by 10%. The duration of this time is half a day. 

The remaining players and elven soldiers pushed their tattered bodies up; their eyes were lit with fury to kill the legendary Behemoth. They took up arms, and blood and cuts were apparent, some even had dented armor and broken bones, but that didn’t stop them.

“Get up!” Zero continued to chant. “If we don’t kill him now, he will come after your families! Your friends! And your loved ones!” His words were like a sledgehammer that shook everyone’s soul. 

“Fight for their freedom! Fight for their life!” 

 Everyone knew the cost of letting such a monster loose. It was them or their families back home, and they knew that the thought of their loved ones being killed made them seethe with anger. Like a rumbling volcano ready to blow up, the elven soldiers were like a wave of the tsunami, rushing in to challenge the Behemoth one last time. Even the players were pulled in by the enthusiasm of everyone and charged screaming until their throats went hoarse.

When Zeraph and Agnis arrived back on the burning field around the Behemoth, they attacked. First, they shot off powerful enchanted attacks with their swords as they rushed forward, swinging their blades side-to-side in rapid succession. Then, both jumped back up on the Behemoth’s body, trailing their blade into the Behemoth’s skin, cutting while they ran. 

Jorge clumsily ran over, excited at the thrill of the battle. For a troll, he was the most brutal fighter out of them all. His attacks were harsh, landing whenever they were open cuts or weak points.

Sekka and Valiant were so excited at the thought of killing a legendary monster that they rushed 

head first with tooth and claw. Then, Vaillant summoned more skeletons’ armies to back him up as they started to pop up like weeds, mixing in with Zero’s remaining skeletal army. They climbed, hacked, and even sawed off any part of the Behemoth.

“Area Heal!” Sekka shouted, sunlight shining down upon the injured soldiers, healing them. She didn’t do it just once; she went around to heal as many people as possible, giving her a new name as the Holy Dragon of Life on the battlefield.

Zero raced forward; he snarled as his white showed. The magic fire was brewing in his stomach, causing it to turn black. He raced up to the Behemoth’s looming head, staring down at Zero, but couldn’t do anything. Then, with a blast of Dark Fire, he splashed it against its face, burning its eyeballs black and charring the face. 

With every ounce of deadly fire he could muster, he spat out until he could no more. The Behemoth shuddered, and with its last dying breath, it died.

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have done the killing blow! You were given the title Demon Slayer!

All status has been increased by +10.

Fame has increased by 1,467.

Quest of the Holy Mantle has been updated.

Quest of the Holy Mantle

The Elven Hero, Samuel, was the last elf to hold onto the treasured legendary artifact that had been passed down by royalty. This Holy Mantle has the unique property of countering magic and protecting the wielder from prying eyes. The Queen of the Elven Kingdom has set up an extraordinary quest to enter the Dark Continent to retrieve her father’s equipment.  

<Special Seed Shard Side Quest: Behemoth>

A special quest has been accomplished. The death of the demon Behemoth had caused a large part of the Demon’s Prince army to be harmed. 

Quest Level: A- (Increased in difficulty from B+)

Failure: Loss of levels and decrease in affinity with the Elven Queen. Incapable of resurrecting for one week. 

Reward: One high-level piece of equipment of Elven-made armor or Weapon. Increase in affinity with the residents and the Elven Queen.

Zero smiled proudly as his claws reached over and rested on his kill.

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