Bab 18: Tricky Demons

Liam could see the crack as clear as daylight, he jumped to the side and swung the bec-de-corbin's beak at it, wedging it inside and swinging around the stone demon. Despite his large size and build, this demon moved as fast as a human but even with that he wasn't as fast as Liam.

With a violent twist, Liam forced the crack to spread, opening the demon's impenetrable armor.

The demon growled in pain as its skin opened and Liam peeled it off with the bec-de-corbin. And when the soft flesh beneath showed up, it was an easy target for the attack. With a single stab of the head of the bec-de-corbin, Liam killed the demon.

The adventurers watched as the bleeding demon slowly lost its soul in agony as it bled to death, all while Liam approached them with a smile on his face and two glowing red eyes. "Hitting hard doesn't always work. You have to use your head." Liam tapped his index on his head.

"Heads that aren't being used are better off dropped. Life would take your souls away," He gave the bec-de-corbin to its owner and retrieved his halberd. "You're skilled for a C-ranker." Jamile stared at him.

"I'm not. What do you think is harder? A G-ranker fighting an acid-less slime or you fighting that stone demon there?" Liam stared at Jamile.

"Me fighting the stone demon." Jamile replied.

"No," Alice said, "It's the G-ranker fighting the acid-less slime."

"See? She's smarter than you." Liam smiled and looked at Alice, "That's what I love about her."

She blushed and looked away, and Liam giggled. "Intelligence is what separates us from monsters, not raw power. Stats matter, but usually, the smarter fighter wins."

"Do not mindlessly swing your sword, is what you're trying to tell me." Jamile sat on the ground and looked at Liam's face with a smile. "I guess I misjudged you. I've learned something new, thank you."

"No need to thank me." Liam approached Alice and Jack, "You must survive until the boss."

"Liam, we gave them the supplies needed. We should head back." Jack said, "Pull your girl, and let's go."

"My girl?" Liam mumbled, looking aside and seeing Alice facing the wall and wiggling in her own dreams. "What is she doing?" He walked and grabbed her by the hand. "Let's move, we have a lot of work to do."

"You aren't tired after that fight?" She gasped with a red face.

"Tired? From that?" He looked at her with a surprised face. "You're the one sitting on my back as I do several sets of hundred pushups a day. Of course, I won't get tired from moving a bit."

Watching Liam and the rest leave, Jamile turned and looked at the stone demon's corpse. He slapped his face and stood, "Damn it! The rookies are showing us what to do, we can't let that slide!" He yelled with two red cheeks.

"What are you on?" The old wizard sighed, staring at him.

"I'll try it as well, hunting a stone demon!" He turned toward the woman that Liam borrowed the bec-de-corbin from. "Can I borrow that?"

"Should I start renting my weapon now?" She sighed, giving him the bec-de-corbin.

"Sara! Come with the light. Let's take another demon down." The two went deeper into the layer and soon managed to kill a stone demon. Even Jamile was surprised at how easy it felt, thinking of the strategy should've been the hardest part.

"This was an ENA upper fiend…" Sara mumbled, looking at Jamile. "We usually a spell as powerful as a cannon to pierce its stony thick skin, but to think it could be taken down like this. Who is Liam?"

"I've heard of him from the guild." Jamile scratched his head. "Till a few weeks ago, he was a runt who couldn't even hunt slime. But suddenly something clicked in his mind, he went and cleared a goblin nest alone and saved the lord's daughters, had a house granted to him. He took the addict Alice and turned her into a decent person, and now he's here teaching us how to fight."

"Seeing us almost give up on fighting that demon must've made him remember his past self." Sara looked down with a sad face.

"I decided. I'll invite him to dinner after we're finished with this quest." He smiled.

"You have a kid to deal with." She sighed. "Shouldn't you be spending time with your wife instead of calling friends home and giving her extra work?"

"She won't mind. I'm already growing old enough to retire; I'll probably keep adventuring only until next year." He turned to head back to the adventurer's group.

"You're in your late thirties." She giggled, "Too old for adventuring."

"You'll understand when you get to my age." He stared at her with a grin, "Your back starts aching and you'll be out of breath, one wrong move and something snaps."

"Girls don't grow old. We always remain nineteen years old." She growled, looking away.

As they were making their way toward the other adventurers, they noticed a crack in the wall. "Sara, light it up." Jamile pointed toward it.

"Wait! I sense demonic magic coming from there." She pulled him back and approached the crack carefully. She expanded it up with earth magic and looked inside with Jamile ready to push her away if a demon showed up.

"Someone… is someone there?" The voice of a little girl came from the darkness, half crying. "Save me…I've got thrown here…I don't know what to do…monsters are everywhere." The voice started crying.

"What?!" Jamile gasped. "Sara, move back. I'll check it out." He growled, "Who could throw a girl here."

Sara rushed forth and pushed Jamile away from the crack, and her hand got sliced in the elbow. Jamile's eyes opened wide as blood splashed everywhere and Sara rolled on the ground crying her eyes out.

The crack opened wide and the little girl emerged wearing a rag, her body floating in the air and her eyes glowing with a disturbing red flame.

"That's an elfen Demon! Don't let her trick you, she's a shape-shifting monster with invisible bladed tentacles sprouting off her back." Sara crawled toward the wall and sat leaning her back on it. She was already panting and won't last long with the severe blood loss.

"Sorry! Can I get a light spell and a water splash on the ground?" Jamile pulled his sword.

"Working my dying ass…" Sara lifted her staff with a single hand. She cast the light spell first as Jamile started trying to attack the elfen demon, only surviving the invisible tentacles thanks to his armor.

The moment Sara managed to cast the water spell on the ground; Jamile kicked the dirt up on the demon, making it stick to the tentacles. "Fighting with wits!" He lunged forward, slashing the tentacles now that he could see them, and cleaved the demon in half.

Naturally, his decision would've been to grab the injured Sara and flee to the others so they could deal with the demon as a group. A monster with invisible blades is a horrifying one, but Liam's advice was right, he could take such monsters down by using his head.

As the demon cried and died, Jamile carried Sara with her severed arm and rushed with her to the others.

"What happened!?" Everyone screamed as they saw them.

"We faced an elfen demon." Jamile growled, "She got injured badly, someone, heal her." He gave the healers her severed arm to try and re-attach.

As the healers healed Sara, the other adventures approached Jamile. "We need to slay that demon. It's dangerous to leave it out there."

"No need, I killed it." He replied.

Everyone gasped, staring at him, "Killed an elfen demon alone?"

"Sara's magic helped me see its tentacles." He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "You don't need to worry about it."

Half an hour later, Sara had her hand attached and sutured in place and was able to move well thanks to healing magic. She approached Jamile, "What's up? You just slayed an elfen demon, why looking so down?"

Jamile stared at her, black bags beneath his eyes. "Her cries keep ringing in my head. I know she was a demon, but she still looked like a kid. Even the tentacles were invisible; I just sliced a little girl in half."

She tapped his shoulder, "Don't think about it. That's how demons invade your brain." She waved her hand to the bards and dancers, "He's down about killing that elfen demon. Give him a song and a dance to cheer him up."

Jamile sighed, looking at the dancer shaking her butt right in front of his face with the bard going crazy with his drums. "Ass doesn't help if it isn't my wife's ass." He looked down.