Chapter 12
We'd been waiting for a while in the instant.
While I was marginally interested in speeding the process along, it didn't hurt to let the First Garden disciples grind their way through. I had Merlin and Nyx keeping an eye on what was happening outside the instance.
I let those of the First Garden slowly push through the instance, pursuing their own growth.
They were beyond happy for the opportunity; it had been some time since they'd been able to reap the rewards of instances without worry of a demon attack.
Even with my support, they were at the ready, smiles spreading across their faces.
Apparently, not worrying too much about an ambush raised spirits.
"Do we have any idea when the demons will come?" one of them asked, coming back to the instance portal to check on me.
"Not a clue," I answered honestly. At this point, my job was simply to wait by the entrance for their inevitable arrival.
Almeria was ensuring that no one from the First Garden died under our watch.
I had made a promise to Eve, and I wasn't one to go back on my word.
I would ensure they all came back alive and well.
I was practicing my swordwork when the instance portal rippled ever so slightly, a faint warning before something came through. Sure enough, demons quickly began pouring through the instance portal.
First, it was just a single insectoid demon that paused, its head shifting back and forth.
Unfortunately for it, I was ready and waiting; my Bloodiron Blade went straight through it as if it had been made of wet tissue paper.
I didn't have the opportunity to think or even inspect them; I simply acted on pure instinct.
The first two died before they could so much as realize their demise.
But the demons were coming through the portal faster than I could swing my sword, and by the fourth one, they were beginning to roll out of the way, wings springing from their backs as they took flight like a swarm of dog-sized gnats, buzzing around and swaying out of the way with each swing.
"Miserable human!" one of them screamed. "You stand before the demon—"
My blade crushed his skull before he could utter another breath of stupidity. The other demons swarmed, buzzing around me, crying out in indignation. Not that I cared for their being upset.
It was just problematic enough that I needed to deal with them. Sanguine Slashes ripped off my blade, chasing them through the air, even as they did their best to continue to swarm around me. More poured through the portal with each wasted second, and slowly but surely, they became more emboldened.
Many of them had sharp spines on their arms and came swooping in for quick attacks. Each was only about the size of my arm, though they acted like feral chihuahuas attempting to nip at my heels.
I was actually glad for their proximity. When they came in, I dropped my sword into a hard backhanded swing, catching one of the demons against my body, my blade crushing the life from its thick carapace before sending more Sanguine Slashes out into the growing swarm.
That was the problem, though; even with my best efforts, they were still pouring out of the portal faster than I could kill them.
I growled in frustration as they continued to swarm me.
When I crushed several, even more would fly up to my undefended sides, bladed limbs slicing into my skin and grating on bone.
At present, I was so incredibly thankful for my titan physique.
My immortal body was already working overtime to keep the numerous cuts at bay, but the physique made my body far tougher to injure and decreased the severity of each of the many attacks.
The resistance to damage was worth far more against the multitude of attacks than the regeneration, and so far, even with the horribly large swarm around me, I was managing.
Unfortunately, the demons noted my ability to withstand the onslaught as well and were intelligent enough to switch tactics.
Their gaze shifted, and I knew that help had arrived behind me.
"Almeria!" I shouted as a pressurized spray of water flew over my head.
The jet was powerful enough to cleave the insectoid demons in half, though the swarm was too thick, and after a few, the latter were simply knocked out of the air and left very wet for their efforts.
I couldn't help but chuckle as many of them flailed on the ground on their backs, soaking wet. I had enough attention to spare that those who were quickly downed were finished off when a wave of Sanguine Slashes cut them in two.
"Lord Bran!" Almeria shouted, joining the fray now with her sword, the rapier lashing forward with speed I could only admire as it pierced them, spreading their entrails out before her. Then she whipped around for another.
Unlike me, who stood there taking the brunt of a dozen attacks, she swept back and forth, light on her feet.
I could admire the footwork, but I had very little time to give it my attention; I was a little caught up in my own issues, sweeping my blade back and forth as the damned insects refused to fight me straight up.
"It's a trick! We should have never trusted the mantas!" one of them shouted.
I had no clue what was going on, but if one group of demons wanted to trick another, who was I to complain? At the end of the day, as far as I was concerned, it was simply more demons into the grinder. And this swarm was large enough that it was going to be a decent source of experience.
The fighting up front had caused enough commotion that those from the First Garden had either come running back or noticed Almeria's absence. But the reason didn't matter nearly as much as the reality that they had come.
"Stay back," I warned. "And protect each other."
"Humans deserve death. For the Demon Lord!" the insects shouted, and the swarm lifted off of me as if of a single mind, heading for the disciples instead. They seemed to have decided attacking me was futile.
And that meant that I had to pivot my own approach, creating a net of Sanguine Slashes crisscrossing overhead to protect the disciples from being overwhelmed by the swarm.
Thankfully, they were all adventurers and used to instances and fighting amidst the jungle. They had enough sense to protect the healers and stand back-to-back against overwhelming numbers.
Almeria surprised me a moment later when all the water she'd thrown around the battle turned into gargantuan waves that reached up and crashed down upon the swarm, driving a number of them, sopping wet, to the ground.
With so many demons thrown off, having the disciples present was a boon.
There were that many more hands to strike down the demons that were suddenly vulnerable.
Arrows and spears joined my Sanguine Slashes, ripping apart those on the ground, while Almeria continued to circle the battle, her rapier flashing through them.
Through all of this, the swarm entering through the portal hadn't stopped.
If anything, they'd increased in frequency.
And now a large, bulbous insect squeezed through, as ugly as sin.
Much as many insects did, the insectoid demons had queens, and this was most assuredly one of them, by the way her large rear pulsed and oozed.
I’d known that they existed, but I hadn’t expected one to fall into our trap. They were slow and cautious demons, often only coming out when it was safe to level.
The trick the mantas had played on them made me grin.
"My children!" the demon screamed the second she laid eyes on the situation. She reared back, spraying green ichor through the space in front of her.
I was barely able to throw up a Crimson Barrier in time to stop the spray from reaching the disciples of the First Garden.
The ichor quickly burned through my shield, dropping to the ground within seconds where the shield had eroded. Thankfully, it at least stopped the forward momentum and protected the disciples, which then left me to solve the rest of the problem myself.
I barreled forward, smashing the demon aside. She was bulky, but she wasn't nearly as dense as my body. Her bulbous body almost bounced as I crashed into it, sending her ten feet away and at least moderately disoriented, before I came down swinging.
My blade removed a fat section of her rear as a dozen of the other insectoid demons jumped in to push her aside, making themselves far too vulnerable in the process and suffering the attention of Almeria, who swept through.
Water ripped off the tip of her rapier, extending it in a dangerous, pressurized spray that cut through the demons like butter.
The queen shrieked, spinning around as half a dozen more demons practically threw themselves between her and me to protect her. It was a desperate and dangerous effort that left me grinning all the while.
I knew that these queens were not much more than massive stacks of constitution with a touch of strength.
There was one from my past life that was half-decent with spells, but like humans, demons could be grossly incompetent, especially those who rarely stepped outside of comfortable lives.
And that was exactly the kind of life these insectoid queens lived.
As a result, the insects continued to throw themselves at me to protect their queen, losing their lives in a blind frenzy.
I couldn't help but chuckle as they died in droves while I hesitated to finish the queen too quickly. At the moment, I was drawing all of the attention to keep the disciples safe. I needed them all unharmed to stay on Eve’s good side.
Even if she was a rampant narcissist, she was useful enough for me to continue protecting her interests.
"Save me!" the queen shrieked as the swift crush of my blade fell upon her rear section, reigniting all their desire to swarm and use their bodies to protect her.
I stifled the chuckle threatening to bubble up in my throat. The demons were a plague upon this world, and while I didn't necessarily enjoy anything suffering, there was some small satisfaction in removing them and the disease they represented upon Earth.
"Do you have any clue who it is we work for?" the insectoid queen shrieked.
"No, should I?" I asked, cutting down another large swath of demons attempting to protect her.
"The folly of humans, not to understand the power and the presence of the…
Demon Lord," the insectoid queen whispered his name in reverence.
"Perhaps one day you'll understand. However, I can forgive you, given that you did not know who I served.
You simply must relinquish these silly attempts to subdue my kind," she growled out, and I once again found immense humor in the situation.
"It seems you're the one without the understanding. I would love to meet the Demon Lord." I paused for added effect. "And the angrier he is with me when we meet, the better." I ran my blade through the insectoid queen's bulbous body, cleaving her in two. Amazingly, she still clung to life.
Almeria glanced down. "How is she not dead?"
"Disgusting amounts of constitution," I said.
"What do we do with her?"
"That," I said, "is simple enough." I raised my blade and brought it down repeatedly on the insectoid queen, hacking her to pieces and finishing the job.