章 12: C12: Demon Fight
Demons were categorized into five classes of strength.
Lingering Spirits - weak, and likely harmless. Usually, a ghost wanted to do something before his death, but for some reason couldn't. Most of the time fighting isn't needed to eliminate them.
Then after that came:
Low Class Demons
Middle Class Demons
High Class Demons
Ultimate Class Demons.
Each of them with varying degrees of danger. Even the weakest Ultimate Class Demon was considered a national threat. Demons at that stage couldn't be handled by Exorcists.
High Class Demons could only be handled by Elite Exorcists. Though every rule had an exception. Amongst the teachers, only Professor Chain was an Elite Exorcist. All the others were Expert Exorcists, which was a rank below that.
Middle Class Demons were dangerous too. Usually, an Expert Exorcist was required to even have a chance at killing them.
The big red-skinned demon looked strong, and even I could somewhat feel a sense of danger from him. Despite not having the ability to sense demonic energies.
If the rating of demons was power only, this guy would fit in the high class. But demons were rated on danger, not just power.
If it was only Mr Fort or only Professor Rana. There was little doubt that the red-skinned demon could have just rushed at and killed them in some kind of surprise attack.
"ARHGHHHH!!!" The demon charged at Mr Fort. "You human! I will peel your skin raw!"
"Professor! Be careful!" Yelled out one of the students.
"No, no. Don't worry about me," Mr Fort waved his hand. "Sometimes despite possessing human intelligence. Some humans aren't very smart either. Especially ones who're used to solving their problems with only their fists."
As he said that, Mr Fort finally pointed a finger at the charging demon and the small beam hit the demon's chest.
Was Mr Fort's ability to compress Ord and shoot it out like a bullet? Maybe the Ord would expand inside its target and cause an explosion of guts and gore!
But what happened next was even stranger. The small thumb-sized blast of Ord got sucked into the demon's chest, facing no resistance.
Mr Fort didn't move at all even as the demon continued charging at him. Once he was within range of the beast, the demon swung to the side. "You brats! I will kill you!"
It was as if he was fighting against creatures that weren't there.
Was it some kind of hypnosis ability? It must be an illusionary type. The long charging time was likely some kind of self-imposed condition he had to fulfill before activating the ability.
Mr Fort took out a stack of talismans and activated them with his Ord. He threw them the ground around the demon. Which as if on a timer, caused dozens of vines to burst out of the ground and wrap around the demon.
The vines were about to slither down the demon's throat and choke him to death. But at that second, the cloudiness from the demon's eyes cleared up. Only rage was left behind as it broke through the restraints with a harsh tug. Showing that his size wasn't only for looks. "Let's see if you have enough time to charge up your ability now! I will savor eating the children in front of your limbless corpse!"
My heart skipped a beat as the ground under the demon started cracking as he charged. Was this it? Had Mr Fort made a mistake? Did the demon have its own power that canceled illusions?
Maybe this was how this original team was wiped out. The professors died too early.
Any countermeasure that I was thinking of in that split second disappeared from my mind. Mr Fort had a smile on his face. "Who said my ability needed to charge?"
What?!
Mr Fort didn't explain, instead, he showed. In less than a second, a small ball of Ord formed in front of his finger and shot at the demon that he didn't have time to dodge. The demon immediately stopped moving.
Mr Fort walked toward the red-skinned demon. The latter fell to his knees and kept muttering under his breath.
That charging up during the first time had been only to lower the demon's guard and have him rush forward. It was a simple, but brilliant plan.
"But I did say that my ability was dangerous in close combat. It gets stronger, the closer my opponent is. An ability that gets stronger the closer the target is quite bad for a Blaster like me. Dangerous too." Mr Fort had his finger just about to touch the red-skinned demon's forehead. "But as this distance, my measly ability can be quite devastating."
"{Melodic Screaming}"
As soon as Mr Fort called out his ability's name. He shot the demon point blank, and the ability lived up to its name as the demon started screaming. As if he was being cut by a thousand knives.
"aaaaGHHAAAAHHHHH!!!"
The screams grew loud enough to force us all to cover our ears. But even as my ears ached, I couldn't take my eyes off the battle. As Mr Fort crumpled up a talisman and flickered it in the demon's mouth. The screaming stopped almost instantly, as the demon's throat was filled with water. Gurgling sounds came, and the demon fell to the ground. Having suffocated to death.
Its eyes had a terrified look in them as if it had seen the devil itself.
I almost asked Mr Fort what he had shown to the demon. But decided it was better to keep my mouth shut. I didn't know a lot about him from the manga, he might find asking such questions offensive. In this training camp, I would do my best to stay on the good side of my protectors.
His ability seemed to ignore all defenses. It would probably be even more dangerous against humans. With one shot to put them under an illusion, and then just slit their throats. Mr Fort wouldn't have to go through the trouble of choking them to death. Though with how efficiently and calmly he did it to the demon, he was like a pro. How much practice did he have to get so good at something like that?
"Now with this all done. Let's go back to the lesson, shall we?" Mr Fort clapped his hands to get everyone's attention back. As if there hadn't been a fight to the death.
"I'm ready too!" Said Rana as she stored the dead demon's body and had her frog demon turn into its small size.
I just realized something. These two professors' abilities covered each other's weaknesses quite well. If Rana's frog familiar could swallow Ord beams too. Then she and Mr Fort were the perfect team.
Also thankfully, they're on my side. But how the hell did they die in the original story? Was there some drawback to their abilities they were keeping a secret?
…
Just like he said. The usual lesson continued, and we set camp in the middle of the forest. While waiting for some demons to come and find us.
Mr Fort had spilled some kind of potion on the ground. This was probably the reason why not even ten minutes after setting camp, an anaconda with two heads was slithering around the camp. Waiting for one of us to step over the protective circle Professor Rana had made.
It seemed like professor Rana was quite well-versed in rituals and protective barriers. Something that somewhat made up for her lack of fighting power. Despite her silly personality and lack of confidence in herself, she was still an Expert Exorcist.
Because even to qualify for the Expert Exorcist exam, one had to take part in and complete at least ten missions.
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Seems like we have our first demon on the attack. A double-headed snake, this one is a low-class demon. Not too rare either, so those of you who have read up on the books should know its weaknesses." Mr Fort was the opposite of our other teacher. He was full of confidence, both in himself and the students.
Before anyone else could say anything, I raised my hand immediately. "Sir. Can I be the first one to fight it?"
This was a combat exam, and while I was terrified it was still better to handle this now before the situation develops out of control. When things go to shit, the last place I would want to be is fighting a demon for the first time. I could use the experience.
"Well, step out of the circle then. Don't worry, I will be giving you advice throughout the fight. So winning should be easy." Mr Fort gave me a thumbs-up, with what was now his trademark smile.
A smile I wasn't sure was showing confidence or just arrogance. The line separating arrogance and confidence was quite thin. Being arrogant at something you're good at can make you look confident.
Such thoughts quickly washed out of my mind when I left the protective circle. The two-headed snake demon was on the other side. But he noticed me exiting and moved faster than a cheetah.
Shit! Isn't that too fast for someone their size?!
Both heads hissed at me as they attempted to bite. I jumped up, dodging one of the heads. In the split second my feet left the ground, I realized my mistake.
The second head moved and was ready to bite down on me. Being mid-air, I couldn't dodge. I didn't even have time to think. I rotated my body and swung my sword like a torpedo. In my last life, such movement mid-air would have been impossible.
But here my sword gave the demon some cuts in its mouth, and the second snake head backed off. It hissed in pain.
When I landed on the ground, I took a deep breath. Lesson one, don't jump too high when dodging. I could jump higher than any basketball player in my last life. But just because I could, didn't mean it was a good move in a fight.
The two-headed snake was about to attack me again. But the injured head was slower and seemed to stay just outside of my blade's range. Was it scared?
During such a moment, I felt strangely calm. Maybe it was the shock? I don't know. But whatever it was, it wasn't something bad as I felt clear-headed enough to make the right decision.
Before the snake's head could bite at me. I gripped my katana, the sword my family had given me. It wasn't anything special, but it was better than the normal swords out there.
Even though it was a low class demon. It was still way above me in all physical power. Meaning that I wouldn't be able to defeat such a thing without pulling something to my advantage. Normally such a thing for exorcists would be their special ability.
But I wasn't going to do that. Instead, I would steal the move the main character would use against Yamata No Orochi later on.
I jumped up once again, a little too high. The snake opened its mouth and I curled into a ball.
The walls of the creature's throat were sticky and disgusting.
Two-headed demon snakes had poison in them. But only in the fangs, and I had allowed myself to be swallowed. It felt like a surreal experience as if someone else was moving my body. Was this a side effect of my Exorcist Ability?
As soon as I felt my body swallowed up to the middle of the demon's neck. Where two canals from the two heads conjoined into one. I swung my sword, and the screeching hiss of a snake rang out.
My sword cut through their flesh like butter and half-decapitated the demon. As the sword got stuck in the neck of the second snake. But even then, they couldn't do anything as I kept hacking at it like my katana was an axe. Leaving the two heads of the snake on the ground, handing.
I hurriedly entered the protective circle. In case there was another demon about to attack me.
That was when everything caught up to me. The vile smell, and everything else surrounding me. Some of the snake throat flesh and internal juices had entered my nose. It had slid down my throat and there was nothing I could do about it even after sneezing a couple of times. Somehow I could taste the salty juices.
Fucking gross!
"Bluegh!" So I threw up on the grass like there was no tomorrow.
How the hell did Mr Fort make fighting demons somehow look easy and almost elegant
**
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