Chapter 195 Impose Your Will

"Kreeegh–!" The demon reeled.

"Gh-!" He winced.

The impact managed to knock the demon back, giving him ample time as he rolled over, using the momentum to return to his feet as he jumped over–reaching out for his spear.

"Kreeee!" The demon yelled out in anger.

Come on…! He thought.

Lashing out towards him, that grotesque tongue hurled at him as his fingertips neared the black handle of his weapon.

Just in time, with the slipper organ nearing him–just inches away from touching his side, he grabbed hold of his spear, lifting it swirly into a swipe.

"--Back off!" He yelled.

As he repelled the tongue, having left a laceration across its grotesque form, he flipped back onto his feet, wielding his spear carefully now with both hands.

"Kreee…" The demon hissed.

He gathered himself, invoking: "Cast: Reinforce: Self!"

The self-amplification spell was a general buff to his stats–increasing his agility, strength, and defense as a momentary glow surrounded him.

"Kreeee!" The mouth demon roared out before rushing towards him again.

This time instead of solely relying on its tongue, it stomped in his direction with its lanky arms bearing claws and its tongue swirling itself into a drill-like shape, propelling towards him.

"Come and get me, then!"

–The words he spewed from his lips as he sprung forward as well were nothing short of "big talk"--they were merely words used to pump himself up as he produced enough sweat to make one think he was standing in a sauna.

As that drill-shaped tongue launched towards him while spinning unnaturally, he concentrated his strength in preparation to counter it:

All around his body, he flexed his muscles–each and every one–swelling up to his max for a split-second at most as veins pressed against his skin; in his mind, he imagined compressing all of that muscles and releasing it like a spring before–

"Through The Wind: Cyclone of Devastation!"

With that invocation, as he reared his orange-pointed spear back, powerful winds gathered around its end; the swirling air howled out as he stomped down and thrusted that spear forward with all of his might.

"Ngh!"

The impact of the intertwined tongue that attempted to bore through him clashing against his wind-swirled spear created an ear-ringing "BOOM" that blew the surrounding shelves back.

"Kreeee!" The demon yelled out in agony.

–Through the bundled tongue, the spear pierced through the fleshy obstacle, producing its same, potent spiral of air that eviscerated the elastic tongue from within. Black blood flung around the aisle along with chunks of the tongue before the spear began to slide right through its elongated form.

He ran with his spear held forward, carving through the multimeter organ without stopping as with one last explosion of intent within him–

"Through The Wind: Sonic Blitz!"

–He exploded forward, slicing through the tongue as the grinning demon attempted to protect itself with its metallic scales, but the strength of the cyclone-bearing spear was too much.

CRACK.

There was no resistance against the end of the spear as it completely broke through the armor seamlessly, stabbing right between the eyes of the stocky demon.

"--"

Once the spear had entered the demon, the spiraling winds shredded it from within–creating a storm of corrupted chunks of flesh that flung around before finally, the grinning demon fell.

"...Phew…"

As he withdrew his spear, having to tug it a few times to free it, he nearly fell over backward with an uncoordinated stumble.

"...Got my one," he said.

–

Not trying to fall behind, Yeong-Un continued his rush, swiping his blades but being held at bay by the insane swarm of tongues that unleashed from the seemingly endless bowels of the grinning demon.

"--Where the hell does it end, huh?!" He yelled out.

There was no doubt that the grinning demon that the spiky-haired man fought was more imposing than the one Sol had battled; it wasn't as though it possessed greater physical attributes or supernatural abilities, but it was tenfold more aggressive.

It didn't play around with its food; the demon continuously split its tongue into dozens of tendrils, stretching them and splitting into even more, smaller whips that formed a cage of fleshy madness around the dual swordsman.

"Gh–!"

Though to somebody as hot-headed and full of energy as him, this only felt like a direct challenge to his abilities–pushing him to return the favor with even more flashiness to his attacks.

SWISH. SWISH. SWISH.

He was unleashing a dozen slashes a second, engulfing his blades in flames that shifted from the normal hue of orangish red, then to blue, purple, and even black–it was as if small fireworks were popping off in the sector of the store.

With a mighty stomp down, he emitted a shock wave that stunned the tongues, lifting his blades high, "Cutting Storm, Slicing Winds!"

The dual spellblade's skill resulted in a flurry of strikes so fast that it was nearly impossible to keep track of. Its resulting was slashes of wind being emitted outward, splitting all of the tongues into mincemeat as he reared his blades back for one more attack–

But, amidst his attack, the grinning demon rebalanced itself with a heckling laughter, combining all of its tongues into one, mighty limb that shot out towards him.

"Gh-!"

In the position he was in, dedicated to unleashing his final blow, he wasn't able to dodge it,but–

"Cast: Stone Wall!"

Eunji had found her opportunity, not wasting a moment to invoke the mystical invocation right then and there.

From in front of him, a wall of stone emerged from the ground, rising just in time to defend him from the condensed tongue-blast.

"Huh–?"

He was perplexed for a moment, but smirked once realizing what had been done.

"Nice one, Eunji!" He stomped forward, "Beast Slayer: Vorpal Shredder!"

With his muscles momentarily bulkening as he let air flow through each strand of his muscle fiber, he unleashed a slash of his blades that resulted in an unseen effect.

"Geh-?" The Grin-Grin demon let out, unknowing of what just happened.

SQUELCH.

All at once, the space-bypassing slashes cut through the demon from the inside-out, releasing an explosion from within its body as it was turned into mincemeat.

"Boo-yah," he smiled.

—

Meanwhile, the neck-and-neck battle of speed continued between the leader and the reaver demon.

As the demon continued whipping its elastic limbs around in a circular zone to prevent her from coming closer, she encircled it–looking for an opening. It was easier said than done to find such a gap, though–the arms bent like noodles, though packed with such devastating force in their path that the air vibrated and the material flow cracked.

…One misstep, and something like that will deal heavy damage, she thought.

She attempted a faint–going in for a pierce, but stepping back just before getting into range of the swirl of arms.

SWOOSH.

"--!"

–It was as she had hoped: the demon took the bait–stopping its unending swirl of whips as it lashed out towards her.

With a swift sidestep, she evaded the whip-strike, dashing in with a flashing speed, rearing her rapier back and jutting it forward as it pierced through the air.

"March of Light."

The skill unleashed itself in a form of instantaneous bursts of light, causing the demon to halt its strategy and stumble back as the flashes of luminescence approached it.

It wasn't a set of radiant spells seeking it out, but the young woman moving with such ludicrous speed that to the eyes of the reaver demon, it looked as if sparkles of light were closing in on its position.

The assault met its climax as she blitzed by, unleashing a hundred thrusts of her rapier as the light giving off of its steel sizzled the air and the dreadful flesh of the demon.

"Reeegh–!"

The light-infused rapier peeled through the demon, scorching its flesh as the radiance scraped its flesh off, melting it away with the swift, but destructive blows.

It attempted to fight back, but once it had finally being caught by the shining end of her rapier, its actual body didn't hold up well to an unrelenting flurry; its arms were pierced through as it tried to counter, leaving it meeting its fate as she drew her weapon back once more:

"Brave Shine!"

The skill set off in a zig-zag flash forward, catching the demon on her rapier like a kebab–using the torrent of light to disintegrate it fully before stopping. The light carved around, cleaving through the tough exterior of the fiend, piercing it and scooping its flesh.

"--"

On the floor, all that was left was a charred husk of the once tall, imposing demon, exuding steam off of its burned away form while she stood over it, catching her breath. Somehow, the attack worked to its full effect, though she was wary of it for a moment.

After such a close fight, it felt as if it would jump back up at any moment. But, fortunately, that was the end of the demonic fiend.