Chapter 622: Act 365 – Requiem XV
Brendel lifted the sword—
The Horned Demon is one of the few high-level melee demons with remarkable intelligence found in the River of Sulfur. They resemble naked werewolves but are far larger in stature. No one knows the exact origins of the Horned Demon, but the first ones are said to have evolved from lesser demons that endured hundreds of battles in the infernal Bloodfire Lands of the lower River of Sulfur.
Certain features of the Horned Demon indeed carry hints of the Lesser Demon, whether it is the identical purplish-red skin or the sharp teeth and claws. In fact, it looks like an enlarged version of the Lesser Demon, aside from the fact that its wings have regressed and its tail has thickened for balance.
More critically, every Horned Demon has been confirmed to possess extensive combat experience, with virtually no juvenile specimens; every Horned Demon discovered by the Temple of Fire, before and after this moment, is at least an adult, with the strength of an Elemental Rebirth.
This meant that Brendel had to face three monsters at the level of Elemental Rebirth. Before he could even consider his next move, the three Horned Demons had already charged toward him.
Brendel pulled out the Cloak of All Cover from the dimensional rift and handed it to Antinna, who stood beside him. The Cloak of All Cover lasts about four minutes a day; giving it to Antinna at this moment was the best way to ensure she could swiftly find the teleportation node without worry.
Antinna took the cloak, biting her lip as she glanced at Brendel. Since she already knew how to use the cloak, she didn’t need Brendel to repeat himself. After a brief pause, she covered herself with it and disappeared from everyone’s sight in an instant.
Brendel was left alone by the teleportation portal.
“Antinna, hurry!” Brendel shouted into the air.
He didn’t know if Antinna had heard him, but he hoped she had. In the state of Cloak of All Cover, Antinna seemed to have vanished completely, leaving Brendel feeling uneasy, but at this point, he could only choose to trust the noble girl from Bruglas.
A claw strike suddenly interrupted his thoughts—the three Horned Demons had arrived before him. To be precise, the first strike came from their merciless attack—at least one of the three was related to the element of fire, as Brendel could see its snow-white claws dragging three long fiery marks through the air.
This was the power of the elements.
A golden line of law stretched out from the claw’s path in Brendel’s eyes as a wave of heat rushed toward him. But he dared not take it head-on; he stepped back, the scorching air brushing against his forehead, instantly drying and curling his brown hair.
After the claw came the tail.
Brendel instinctively tracked the movement of the Horned Demon’s tail. He saw it angle sideways, as a whiplike tail swept toward him. He had already prepared; he rolled forward under the tail and, as he rose, smoothly slashed at the Horned Demon’s back.
Unfortunately, the sword only left a shallow wound on the Horned Demon.
Its defenses were high, its attacks powerful, yet its movements were slightly slow—just as Brendel remembered. Of course, “slow” was relative; for an ordinary person, its speed would be impossible to discern.
Both attacks missed. The three Horned Demons were taken aback; although they had never faced a human in combat, Brendel’s reactions had clearly surpassed any normal standards. With their intelligence, they sensed something was off—though this was their first encounter, it felt like facing a familiar adversary.
The Horned Demons turned to face Brendel.
He had rolled to the side, now out of their close-range attack range, and immediately mounted a counteroffensive. He stole a glance toward the teleportation portal, unsure of Antinna’s location, but he absolutely couldn’t let these demons go.
After all, the Cloak of All Cover merely provided concealment; it didn’t truly remove one from the material plane. He had to find a way to attract the attention of these monsters—a daunting task, but Brendel quickly devised a plan.
He aimed for the leftmost Horned Demon and charged from the side. This way, the other two demons would take at least some time to surround him. He gripped the Earth Sword tightly and aimed for the demon’s horn—this was the source of its power.
The Horned Demon hurriedly tilted its head to evade Brendel’s sword while reaching out to block. But Brendel let out a roar, the Earth Sword shining like a black light; the blade vanished before the demon’s arm, only to appear an instant later, striking its shoulder.
With a loud bang, the demon was sent flying, crashing into one of its companions.
However, Brendel quickly saw it stand up, its shoulder deeply gashed to the bone, yet seemingly unscathed otherwise. The demon had three hearts and four lung lobes; its bodily functions were not on the same level as humans. Such a wound would be severe for a human but barely registered as a light injury for it.
Brendel frowned and quickly retreated. Just then, the remaining demon swiped its claw at him. At the last moment, he tilted his head to dodge, but the wind pressure from the blade inevitably cut a shallow line across his cheek, causing a painful sting.
He wiped it lightly, finding his face covered in blood.
The smell of blood seemed to fill the air, agitating the three Horned Demons. Brendel bit his lip; he knew the taste of blood would cause even high-level demons like the Horned Demons to become uncontrollably excited.
In a frenzy, demons were harder to deal with than usual, but at least it ensured they would not return their focus to Antinna.
As Brendel retreated, he carefully calculated his situation. Everything was still within his control, but there were unstable factors; he gritted his teeth, deciding to throw more fuel to the fire to eliminate future threats entirely.
“A skinned lizard, is that all you can do?” he taunted, using a dismissive tone.
This phrase was often used by the Dark Elves in the underworld to mock Horned Demons. Since losing the Ashen Spike, the Dark Elves and demons had been irreconcilable enemies for a long time, and their exchanges were never friendly.
If one were to compile a list of the ten most despised insults by the Horned Demons, calling them skinned lizards would undoubtedly make the top. They indeed bore a slight resemblance to a certain food of the Dark Elves.
Upon hearing Brendel’s words, the three Horned Demons immediately cursed venomously. They had originally intended to eliminate Brendel first, but now their wrath had been provoked beyond measure.
The three demons charged at him, and Brendel did not foolishly rush forward to meet them. Instead, he retreated, leveraging the terrain near the teleportation portal. Although the Horned Demons were slightly faster than him, there were times when speed alone wasn’t enough to catch up.
Especially since Brendel had become acutely aware of their turning patterns during their movements. If this were in “Amber Sword,” the impressive kite technique he displayed at this moment would certainly draw attention from many. Of course, that was already the case before the fourth update of the game.
After that, players had long mastered the demons, and high-level infantry like the Horned Demons were no challenge at all. Brendel had even seen videos of players kiting Horned Demons at level ten; he had no idea whose secondary character that was, but everything he was doing now was a culmination of countless players’ wisdom.
However, reality and the game were still somewhat different. Each of those differences manifested in Brendel as bloody wounds. Had he not reacted in time, he would have been torn apart several times over by now.
Truthfully, he didn’t need to rely on a fate card; if he had a Frenzied, the Queen of Winds, or any one of the Stylish Blades, he was confident he could handle one of the Horned Demons without breaking a sweat. Even against all three, he wouldn’t fall behind.
But unfortunately, he had nothing right now, and even his stamina was rapidly dwindling. Thankfully, he had his indomitable talent; otherwise, the negative effects of exhaustion alone would have been enough to end him on the spot.
Brendel was now running in circles around the teleportation portal. He had taken a claw strike on his left arm and a hit on his back; his whole body was stained with blood. Nevertheless, he attempted to retaliate a few times, but the Horned Demon’s hide was simply too thick. According to his game assessment, he had at most taken off less than a third of the demon’s health.
Moreover, the demons’ self-recovery capability was extremely strong, and they had likely healed a significant amount by now.
With this back-and-forth, after just a minute, the pressure on Brendel increased dramatically. He hadn’t received any news from Antinna, and Nicolas probably wasn’t going to arrive anytime soon. He estimated he’d have to hold on for at least another minute.
But that one minute could very well cost him his life.
This couldn’t continue.
Suddenly, Brendel turned and stood by the teleportation portal. The Horned Demons pursuing from behind hurriedly halted; their high intelligence had its downsides—they at least knew which things were off-limits to touch. Although it wasn’t easy to damage the teleportation portal, who could guarantee otherwise?
If it had been a stupid Hellhound, it would have rushed straight at him and knocked him into the portal. But sadly, the Horned Demons lacked that courage.
Were it not for standing by the teleportation portal, Brendel would have probably been torn apart dozens of times by now.
He paused, instinctively reaching into his pocket to see if he could find something to aid him in this dire situation. However, his search only yielded a dagger.
He momentarily froze, recalling that this was one of his practice pieces from when he learned alchemy. Truthfully, it held no usefulness on a battlefield like this.
Yet, Brendel casually pulled it out and tossed it at the demon.
Seeing Brendel make a move, the Horned Demon couldn’t help but flinch, quickly side-stepping. But upon closer inspection, it realized it was just an ordinary dagger. It squealed in irritation, while Brendel laughed heartily, surprised that this stroke of inspiration had unexpectedly helped him out a little.
The demons charged once more.
Brendel retreated and rolled backward again, hurling another dagger at the Horned Demon. This time, the demon wouldn’t be fooled; it raised its hand to block, easily batting the dagger away without even a scratch.
Brendel immediately launched a third dagger.
He had made a considerable number of these daggers while practicing, but the later creations used more ordinary materials, even far inferior in power compared to the first one. As a result, the daggers he threw posed no threat to the demons, merely serving as blatant mockery.
In an instant, the Horned Demons grew furious, closing the distance to Brendel. Two of the Horned Demons had even flanked around to block his escape route, while the last one screeched and charged at him.
Brendel hurled another dagger.
This dagger struck the demon squarely in the chest.
It didn’t even bother to look down and prepared to swat it away, as if it were a child tossing a handful of sand—so long as it didn’t hit its eyes, no matter where it landed, it would bear no value.
But this time, upon merely grazing the dagger, it suddenly felt something was off.
The touch felt somewhat different—
It instinctively lowered its head, surprised to see that what Brendel had thrown was not a dagger at all, but some sort of deformed projectile. Although the Horned Demon possessed remarkable intelligence, it couldn’t immediately discern what it was.
However, it didn’t have to think long.
Because in the next moment, a wave of terror and excruciating pain surged from its chest. The Horned Demon saw its magic collapse, its massive form shattering as dark magic surged forth and formed a gaping void, which shrieked as it dragged the demon back into itself.
Back into the depths of the River of Sulfur.
In an instant, only the fading howl of the demon remained amidst the pouring rain.
Even Brendel was taken aback; what he had thrown was undoubtedly the terrifying God-Slaying Magic Piercer. But he hadn’t expected that for a demon existing in the material plane, this object would not only directly dismantle its powers but even deny its very existence.
Brendel, who had witnessed this unfold, stared wide-eyed, finally understanding why this item was referred to as a nuclear weapon by players at the time.
The one holding it indeed had the potential to become a terrorist.
However, there were still two left, and Brendel instinctively tried to rise from the ground. But every bone in his body ached as if they had shattered. He didn’t even know if the other demons would grant him another chance. Presumably not; Horned Demons were no fools.
…
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