Hitting the ground reminds me that I have broken ribs. It takes me a couple of seconds to be able to breathe. I look up and see the demon staggering. The place where it hit the wall is dented and cracked. Despite the additional pain, I roll over to get away from the demon a few times before I struggle to my feet.
As I stand, a blue fireball flies past me and crashes into the demon. The demon roars in pain and staggers against the wall again. It's still bleeding from where I've managed to cut it, so we're wearing it down for sure. Now the question is who will run out of energy first, us or the demon.
The demon turns and faces us as Ruby approaches me, I smile at her and she smiles back, then we both turn to face the demon. I really wish I could hit it with a couple of lightning bolts right now. I guess we'll do it the hard way, I charge straight at the demon, as it moves to attack me, I feint to the right and then dodge to the left.
As I move, I turn my dodge into a dive to get underneath the claws swinging at me, it saw through my feint.
As I thought, this thing has a lot more combat experience than I do. I barely manage to dodge the attack, but Ruby, who attacked from the other side while it was focused on me, hits it twice. When he turns to chase Ruby, I manage to hit him in his side before I have to dodge. Ruby and I manage to hit him a few more playing tag from both sides.
Then he tires of the game and goes back to trying to fry both of us with his hellfire breath. I dive behind what's left of the ice to avoid the flames, the heat is intense, the ice melts quickly but lasts long enough to protect me from the flames. Once the flames fade, I jump back on my feet, only to see an arrow of fire heading my way. I dive to the side to dodge it, but it turns and follows me.
- You have suffered a magic fire attack! 104 HP damage!
HP: 779/1255
- Fire resistance +1
"Ouch, it can use magic too? It's not fair!"
Ruby yells, "Stop whining and figure out how to kill this thing!"
Ruby doesn't respond and the demon starts attacking me. A quick look around shows me that I really have nowhere to run. If I can get past it, I can climb the pile of rocks or try to dive into the river. I have to get past him first, so I brace myself and wait for him to catch up. As he attacks me, I see Ruby dart from the side and turn.
As she spins, she swipes her left hind leg several times as she passes him.
The demon stumbles and begins to fall towards me, I am moving to jump out of the way when suddenly a large blue kite shield floats in the air between me and the demon. The demon hits the shield with a thunderous roar, but the shield barely holds and the demon bounces off and falls sideways.
"Good job, Ruby!"
Ruby yells "Stop congratulating me and kill it!"
I set out to do exactly that as she says it. I lunge forward and slam Blitz into the demon's neck with all my might, but it manages to raise what's left of its left arm and block the killing blow. Then I feel one of its wolf paws hit my stomach and I go flying.
- You have suffered a kick attack! 103 HP damage!
HP: 338/1255
My back crashes into the cave wall and then my head. My helmet keeps me from passing out, but I see stars for a few seconds. I shake my head several times to clear my head, and when I look up, the demon is standing and attacking Ruby. I get up despite the pain and set off after the demon.
As I run after it I see Ruby make the same mistake I did, she feints one way and then dodges the other. I watch helplessly as the demon's fist catches Ruby in the head and with an explosion of blue sparks Ruby disappears.
"NO!!!! RUBY!!!!"