Although I staggered for a bit, Ember and Igni, following shortly behind me, quickly caught my falling body. With the two’s support, we ran to where Fang was, fighting the leopard-like god-level demon.
As we approached, we could immediately see traces of blood scattered about. Not only on the ground, but even the roof and walls of some nearby structures were painted a deep red. 𝘭𝑖𝓇𝘢𝒹.𝘤ℴ𝘮
“Fang! Are you alright?!”
Unable to see her figure, I quickly shouted in the general direction where I felt her presence. A second later, a small shadow jumped from a hidden corner, approaching us at breakneck speed.
“Leader! Sorry, I let my guard down…”
Fang’s body seemed alright, despite the traces of blood covering her body from her chest to her stomach. It was as if she was bitten across her body, seeing that her clothes were in tatters… Rather, it was no longer functioning as clothes, as I could see everything as she moved.
‘I see… So the tiredness I felt earlier was really from the Guardian Halo activating to heal Fang.’
It was nice to have tested it early, but that was a little bad for my heart. Rather, isn’t it better if there’s an announcement for that? Why is the system so quiet now?
“Igni! Take the front! Ember, provide backup! Fang, do your usual thing; just be careful of surprise attacks.”
After confirming her safety, we quickly addressed the task at hand. After all, the demon before us was still alive. The enemy was powerful, so we couldn’t let our guards down.
Unfortunately, the effect of the energy recovery potion ran out quickly. Now, I don’t have the overflowing amount of energy coming from the potion anymore.
Drawing my sword, I quickly infused it with energy before charging forward, matching Fang’s pace.
Igni, who was a few steps ahead of us, quickly attracted the demon’s attention. The leopard demon charged toward her, aiming to bite her head off, but Igni quickly set the flaming sword in her hands to block the attack.
*CLANG!*
A sound as if two metallic objects clashed echoed around, the impact scattering the dust nearby.
Of course, although the leopard wanted to take distance as soon as its attack was blocked, Igni took hold of its fangs, not letting go. Unable to move, the demon exposed a few weak points here and there. Fang, going ahead, used [Shadow Skip] and appeared at the nape of the enemy.
“Raaaagh!”
With a hearty growl, Fang slashed once using her claws, then another, and another. Not letting up her attack until the target turned bloody.
As Fang was busy targeting its nape, I moved to the back instead. After all, there’s one weakness that should be there. After finding the root of its tail, I quickly found the closed tunnel that was its weakness.
Yes, the chrysanthemum! More commonly known as the assh*le!
“Take this!”
Without hesitation, I plunged the entire sword deep, covering it with as much energy as it could hold, before firing it away like a laser.
*BRRRRRR!*
The leopard monster shivered as if electrocuted before quickly falling down sideways. Froth was coming out of its mouth as the whites of its eyes were showing.
Using my eyes, I quickly checked the demon’s body, but the movement of energy within it quickly ceased. My attack was apparently effective and even crushed its heart at once.
“… But are these really god-level demons?”
Yes, the weakening barrier was working, so it must’ve helped a little. However, even with that, the weakness of these two cannot be explained.
“They’re about as strong as a 9th stage or something from the Otherside.”
I turned to Fang, panting hard as she jumped down where Ember was, and received a change of clothes from her. Fang was now 7th-stage, but with her bonus power-up, she should be more or less around 8th-stage in strength.
Despite that, a single bite from a god-level demon wasn’t able to kill her. I feel bad for Fang, but if it was a true god-level demon, then Fang’s body would’ve been split into two or three pieces by now. The fact that she was only moderately injured was proof enough that the enemy wasn’t as strong as a real god.
“Could it be…”
An idea came to mind, so I rushed back to the ceremonial hall and turned to face one of the displays. However, the battle wasn’t too visible, so I asked the one controlling the crystal display to rotate the view.
After a little tweaking, the display moved to the right a little, exposing a high-speed battle that was unfolding. Flashy sparks were exploding here and there, while beams of light and dark were being exchanged as they rapidly moved about.
“Blanc…”
The one displayed on the screen right now was Blanc and her tamed beasts, fighting against two skeleton generals and two members of the twelve zodiacs, a fat man and a woman covered in a robe from head to toe.
Blanc only had one of her tamed monsters beside her, while the others were busy defending important parts of her zone. So to say, they were fighting a two-on-four battle. They’re definitely outnumbered and should’ve fallen already, honestly.
“As expected, those demons aren’t as powerful as true god-level demons!”
“What?”
As I raised my voice in excitement, Guren turned to me with a quizzical gaze.
“Those demons, who are fighting two-on-one against our god tamers, aren’t POWERFUL? Will, keep your jokes to yourself, it’s not funny.”
He seemed irritated, but it was probably not because of the previous matter—my being late to return. Rather, I feel that he’s admonishing me for the sake of the brave tamers who fell under those demons before the god tamers came.
“Well, don’t be so prickly, my friend. Rather, knowing that they’re not as powerful as a real god-level is a good thing for us!”
Just to make sure, I turned to the ones controlling all the crystals and asked them to display the respective battles.
After making sure that all four battlefields were showing similar results to Blanc’s battle, my suspicion turned into a fact. These demons, at most, are around demigod level!
Their power level varies wildly, but I guess it has a connection with how Noir summoned them.
“And Noir isn’t showing up at all…”
In the scenario in my head, Noir should’ve shown himself already. However, not even his shadow could be found anywhere nearby.
“That means he is currently doing something that requires him to stay in one place.”
I have no idea what that was, but I can’t deny the eerie feeling that I get when imagining the worst that could happen.
“We should go and help the god tamers!”
Although I’m worried about what Noir was cooking, just us going to invade the royal castle doesn’t sound like a good idea. We need at least one or two god-tamers to come with us.
I turned to the girls, who were standing by the side and looking at the screen above with worry. As I looked at them, I started deliberating who could come and who couldn’t.
In the end, because the enemy was still more powerful than a simple 9th-stage demon, those below the 7th-stage were to stay here, where it was safe.
“Ember and I can use teleportation, so we should be on two different teams.”
As Ember reached the 7th stage, I too learned her warp skill. However, I’m not as proficient as her when using it yet. I tried before, and I could only activate it after a full minute of concentrating. It’s not at the level of being battle-ready at all.
Still, for one-way teleportation, it’s still usable.
“Ember, Fang, Igni, and Fatima. You four should go to where Goddess Blanc is. Provide support, prioritizing the elimination of the god-level demons before the zodiacs.”
As I spoke, I moved to Fatima and slowly fixed her arm. Since I already did it once, the entire process went smoothly, finishing in under a minute.
“The other team would be me, Minerva, and Hekate. We would be helping out Zeshion.”
Unfortunately for Goddess Vermeil and God Ajax, they would have to wait a little longer. Freeing Zeshion and Blanc, the most powerful of the four and the only support type, would quickly expand our tactics.
After making sure that Fatima’s arms were already as good as new, I turned to the others who were in the room. The number of priests decreased, though, as they seemed to be tasked with healing the thousands of succubus tamers who were facing extreme muscle pains after the augmentation period ended.
Well, it shouldn’t be anything life-threatening, so they should be fine for a while.
About a minute later, after a little planning, Ember and my team were both completely prepared.
“Alright, everyone, be careful!”
After giving a short reminder and warning, I quickly started activating the warp skill. Ember did the same, but hers was completed in under a second. As expected, she’s extremely proficient at it already.
On the other hand, it took me about thirty seconds—half of the previous one minute—but still too slow.
As soon as the portal stabilized, the three of us jumped in, a flash of white light covering our vision.