Chapter 28
Merlin's shadows wrapped around us without hesitation, shuttling our group into the dark void between spaces and spitting us back out in the Amazon, only a few feet from the edge of the brush before it opened up into a hive that was literally buzzing with demon activity.
The hive only went about two stories into the air, with the main entrance appearing to dive down under the soil. It had to be mostly underground.
Dozens of dog-sized insectoids were always around the entrance, buzzing about with various tasks. The hive never stopped moving, digging, and building to expand their numbers.
"Plan?" Merlin asked as we all settled into place.
I cleared my throat. "I don't expect them to offer much resistance, not after they've sent so many out to die, and they're demons that focus more on numbers than anything else.
Merlin, your top priority is making sure no one gets completely surrounded.
If they do, you have my express permission to grab whoever it is and teleport them out of the crowd.
If we keep pressing inward and avoid being surrounded, we reduce the danger to ourselves.
" I looked around the group. It would be a complete failure of the exercise if anything happened to a single one of them.
"Of course, Lord Bran," Merlin said, bowing low. It seemed my reaction to Almeria hadn’t gone unnoticed by the slight quirk of her lips.
"We should have brought Venthra," I said after a moment.
"She would have done a fantastic job poisoning a group this large, but we needed someone to watch the First Garden.
If you need to, feel free to go all-out.
" I mostly meant myself and Almeria. The others didn't have abilities that weakened them after use.
"And if I use my ultimate, please be ready to pull me out, and we all retreat. "
I was slowly running out of more instructions to give. At this point, I was stalling, and a glance around the group told me they all knew it.
"We'll go on three," Merlin suggested, and I nodded.
“One, two, three." I broke from the forest, Nyx's arrows already sailing overhead before I even reached the first demon, plucking them out of the sky one by one. Each demon fell with a hole blown clean through it or turned to fragile stone before shattering like glass when they hit the ground. I glanced back just in time to catch Nyx’s smug smile, which faltered a split second later at being caught. I blew her a kiss and kept moving.
The first demon to block my path was a large beetle-type, roughly the size of a rhinoceros.
I charged forward fearlessly and collided with it, sending it flying into the side of the hive.
The sight of a demon hurtling through the air was certainly attention-getting.
Every demon in the hive turned as one, tracing the trajectory back to me.
I stood with a smirk, my blood pumping. "I suppose that's one way to get everyone's attention."
Four more demons came swarming. These were waspish demons I'd seen plenty of times inside the instance. My blade found two of their waists, cleaving them as two more descended on me.
One managed to land a stinger into my shoulder, pumping me full of venom before it was blown apart by one of Nyx's arrows.
I smiled but didn't have time to praise her. I kept my focus forward, feeling the burn in my shoulder and reminding myself I was simply training my resistances. At least, that's what I'd tell myself as long as the pain lasted. My regeneration was good, but it had yet to kick in and numb the pain.
More of the wasp demons hovered over the battlefield, looking down at me like a delicious snack. Shadows jumped up from around me before the next wave arrived, biting into the demons and ripping through them en masse like a giant shadowy blender.
I supposed, regardless of how I wanted to do this, I was going to end up drawing all the demonic attention while the ladies hung back and cleaned them off me.
Almeria slipped in on my side, her quick blade making short work of anything that lingered. It was incredible to see our group working so smoothly together. Nothing tested your compatibility like fighting back-to-back against overwhelming numbers.
I certainly didn’t require particular combat efficiency for my affections, but it was also easy to love a woman who was good in battle. I was a warrior here to fight a war; someone who didn't fight or train would be almost impossible for me to relate to.
As I mused about my love life, the demons continued to pour out while Sanguine Slashes filled the air, ripping them limb from limb.
Demon guts were scattered across the field, though the system quickly absorbed their bits.
The initial waves were hundreds of low-ranking demons that Nyx's storm of arrows cleared from the air without worry.
Merlin added her own waves of shadow from time to time, but we had the first wave well in hand.
It was during the second wave that I needed Merlin's help the most. Quickly, the mouth of the hive became a never-ending torrent, with no end in sight.
And as time passed, they kept noticeably growing.
The demons now crawling along the sides and ceiling of the tunnel were horse-sized ants that continued without end, as if there were a bottomless supply underground.
Individually, most were weak, around the sixties and seventies.
Compared to our group, they were nothing.
But anything in enough quantity could overwhelm a more powerful opponent.
Sure enough, one managed to reach Almeria and, with its last breath, threw itself forward with its large pincers coming down hard on her leg. The move cracked her greaves, giving me a small jolt of anxiety for what would come next.
But she weathered the pincers far better than I could have hoped.
Once again, I had to remind myself that my women were also tough, even if their regeneration did not match mine.
Demonic generals were their equals. I simply had to give them the opportunity to flourish, and they would fight by my side just as easily as I would by theirs.
I held my chest up proudly, watching each of them fight beside me, and then I charged forward to take the next batch of ants, even as they tried to do to me what they'd done to Almeria.
I stood tall and couldn't help but smirk as they bit into my Primordial Titan Physique and found it too tough to chew.
Their mandibles cracked under the strain, barely drawing a line of blood.
My Bloodiron Blade then cleaved through their heads easily enough, solving the issue as I pushed forward to the opening of the hive, using the bottleneck against them and limiting their numbers, even as shadow magic and arrows poured over my shoulder.
My time slaughtering demons at the front of the hive didn't last long. While I stood there, clearing the way a dozen swings at a time, a bellow sounded from deeper down the tunnel.
"Who dares upset the Demon Lord's righteous order of things?" the voice thundered.
I couldn't help but lift an eyebrow at the wording.
"Knock, knock, motherfucker!" I shouted and stabbed another demon through the head, ignoring the spines that shot out as several smaller demons moved past me.
Any that escaped beyond me were quickly shredded by my women the second they reached open air.
"You're strong enough to disturb us, but nowhere near the strength needed to be more than a nuisance," the bellow continued as a larger demon with an extra joint in its arms, similar to a praying mantis with a massive pair of beetle horns on its head, stepped out from below into the faint light.
It muscled through the other insectoids, its eyes locked on mine. Those long arms were the first thing I noticed; now that it was closer, I could see just how big it was as it hunched down to force its way through the tunnel.
I swung my Bloodiron Blade as bloody ripples shot off it and tore down the tunnel.
The ripples caused the demon to stall, its big arms bracing in front of it and successfully weathering my attack.
It became a shield for the rest, many of whom stopped pushing and instead ducked behind it, letting it lead the charge.
I took a step back and shouted over my shoulder for Merlin, who answered a second later with a wave of darkness that shot down the tunnel, rippling and wrenching apart any demon it touched.
The hit worked for the smaller demons but was ineffective against the larger demon, doing little more than making it pause and slip back a few feet.
"Tough fucker," Nyx commented from behind us, nocking her bow and firing several dozen arrows at a time down the hive’s entrance. But one and all, they bounced off the demon's arms as it tucked its head and sheltered those behind it.
"I bet those arms would make a lovely shield, Merlin," Almeria said casually, and I gave her a small glance out of the corner of my eye.
Turning demons into items wasn't exactly my first instinct, but I could see the appeal, especially if one needed a shield.
I liked to think I did not. I was more like a walking wall of meat between my titan physique and Immortal Body.
There were few items that were going to get through me, at least if I could face them head-on.
At the end of the day, I would stand as a firm bulwark between those who followed me and those who wished them harm.
"Back up," I told the group, taking a step back myself and watching the demon pull itself all the way through, letting out a roar that shook the hive.
"He does not sound happy," Nyx observed helpfully from safely behind me.
"Demons rarely join us for the more positive emotions in life. They're as emotionally stunted as they are disgusting.” Almeria held her sword loosely as our group formed a small semicircle in front of the entrance.
The demons pouring out did little to faze us, and the large insectoid finally pulled itself free. It had a glistening dark carapace covering its form as it rose to its full height of over ten feet tall.
I found myself in the unusual position of staring up as it unfolded, showing it was not only tall but bulky.
It shook its shoulders out as Merlin and Nyx shot without hesitation, looking for weaknesses.
Shadows and arrows stabbed into it, proving that not only its arms were sturdy, but so was the rest of its body.
It flinched under the attacks that both scraped along its hard chitin and failed to penetrate.
The demon boomed with laughter. "Understand your place in this world and bow down now.
It is not your fault that you are pitiful humans with a limited scope of the world.
Demons are simply your betters, and by the time you truly understand how true that is, you'll also know it's best that you humans give up and submit.
If you do so, you may live the life we offer knowing it's truly a blessing, and not at all the burden many would have you believe. "
"In that case, I don't suppose you'd let us just choose the lesser life, rather than going out of your way to give us something better?" I smirked at the way its face fell into a disappointed scowl.
"I had hoped your strength came with a measure of intelligence," the demon said, disappointment dripping from every syllable. "Probably too much to expect from a lesser race such as yours."
I stepped back, lifting my sword in challenge, and activated Blood Boil as my veins bulged, and strength filled my muscles.
The demon huffed. "So shall it be," it said and swung for me.