Chapter 163: Demons’ Mine (2)  

The amount of times we ran into monsters became more frequent as we went farther into the cave. The difficulty level of each group of monsters went up as well.

Honestly speaking, I was thankful for that. I had used up a lot of Spirit Energy in order to maintain my Guardian Elemental, so the monsters appearing every so often allowed me to refill my Spirit Energy.

However, I did feel burdened by them starting from some point. It was because monsters like the Stone Golems started to pop up.

It would have been fine if they had showed up along with weaker monsters for me to use as stepping stones for combo, but the Stone Golems tended to move on their own.

My level was higher and my weapons were fortified, however, my strength is still low such that there is a limit to the damage I can do without using combo. My current situation was that I could barely leave a scratch on the Stone Golems without using combo.

I stepped back whenever a Stone Golem appeared while Goonto and the Dwarves stepped in to fight.

Dwarves really were strong. This was especially the case for Goonto, who had reached the level of One with the Sword, who was using his personally crafted Solar Blade in order to cause significant amounts of damage.

Because of that, Harrison and the other humans were kind of useless. Only Bernard could do something by using support magic to help Goonto and the Dwarves.

Crumble-

The final Stone Golem broke down.

Goonto wiped some sweat off of his forehead with his sleeve.

“Damn bastard. He kept coming back alive every time we broke him apart.”

That really was the case. They would use strong attacks to destroy it into pieces, but those pieces would just gather together in order to create another Stone Golem.

It revived at least twenty times like that.

“It won’t revive again, right?”

“Let it try. I’ll completely turn it into dust this time.”

The Dwarves continued to swing their swords at the destroyed remains as if they were venting their anger.

The sounds of their swords clanging echoed throughout the cave each time.

But something was weird. I could hear something else along with the clanging noises.

“Hold on! Be quiet for a moment!”

The Dwarves stopped their swords after hearing my shout. The others became tense and looked around as well.

The entire area was filled with silence for a moment.

I could hear the sound more clearly now.

Kuruuuuuruuuuu-

It was the sound of a monster.

However, I was not familiar with this cry. I had faced a significant number of monsters through the Demon Cave clearings, but I had never heard this type of cry before.

Furthermore, it was not just a cry.

Kuruukuuriiit.

Kakuruubaruuruu.

That was definitely monsters talking to each other. Those noises were also quickly approaching us.

I couldn’t help but become nervous. I guess I should say that I could feel the power of darkness?

Anyway, it was a creepy feeling. I was certain that they were monsters that were at a different class than the ones we’ve faced until now.

It could even be those bastards.

“Battle formations!”

The others seemed to have gotten the same feeling.

It made sense since all of them have also spent their lives fighting against monsters. Their survival instincts probably developed even without them noticing it.

Clang!

We picked an area where the cave narrowed to put up a wall. The Dwarves took out large shields from their magic bags in order to create the shield wall while Harrison’s group took out long spears to point between the shields.

The horde of monsters were now visible to us. They were not at a distance where the magic lights could reach them, however, I could clearly see them with the help of the Guardian Elemental.

My heart sank the moment I saw them.

“That......!”

Goonto who was next to me with a shield up urgently asked after hearing me mumble.

“What is it? What kind of monsters are they?”

I didn’t need to tell them. They moved extremely quickly and had gotten much closer in the short duration it took Goonto to ask me those questions.

Now they were at a distance where the magic light could reach, making Goonto and the others able to see the monsters.

But I guess I should answer the question since I was asked.

“Demons!”

In simple terms, they were not monsters. Demons were different than monsters, similar to how humans, Dwarves, and Elves were different than deer, dogs, tigers, etc.

In simple terms, you could say that they were a different race that was supposed to live in the Demon World.

I guess I should have expected them to show up. This cave was called the Demons’ Mine after all. I also met some Demons in the Western District when I played the game.

That was why I knew that I would eventually run into them.

I just never expected to meet them so early like this.

“Demons? Then we need to capture them. What are you doing?”

Goonto raised his voice.

It allowed me to come back to my senses.

Honestly speaking, I was a bit afraid of the Demons. I had died quite a bit hunting Demons in the game. That happened when I was close to level 500.

But my current level was barely over 400. I must have subconsciously thought that it would be impossible to hunt the Demons with my current abilities.

However, it wasn’t something that could be avoided. As Goonto mentioned, we needed to fight and win, or at least go out fighting.

Furthermore, I had reliable party members unlike during the game. I also had Spirit Energy that I did not have in the game.

‘Alright! Let’s do it!’

Thankfully, there were not many Demons. There were only four of them.

I had decent information about the Demons. I knew their strengths and weaknesses. It was because of how many times they killed me in the game.

Their most dangerous trait was their speed!

“They are fast! Be careful!”

I shouted as loud as I could. The Demons seemed to want to prove what I had just said with their bodies as they closed the gap between us at extreme speeds.

Tatat!

However, their movement was even faster than I had expected. They were running on the walls as if they were defying the laws of gravity. Some of them were even walking on the ceiling as if it was the floor. Doing that didn’t slow them down at all either.

Tatat!

“What the! What the fuck are those?!”

“Defend!”

“These bastards!”

Goonto and the Dwarves moved their shields toward the direction of the Demons. Harrison and the humans were attacking with their spears as well.

Bernard was in the back shooting Fire Arrows toward the Demons. For Bernard, who was extremely talented in fire magic, Fire Arrow was the strongest attack in his arsenal.

However, none of the attacks could cause any damage to the Demons. How could they when all of them missed because the Demons were too fast?

But they still had some effects. The Demons could not properly launch attacks as they were trying to dodge our attacks.

The wall made by the Dwarves’ shields was especially sturdy. The Demons would be stabbed by the spears at least twice if they tried to sneak in through the gaps.

Kuruuuuuruuuuu-

The Demons moved away from us as if they were performing a strategic retreat.

However, they did not stop their attacks. They were glaring at us from a distance. They seemed to be talking to each other about how they could effectively attack us.

Kuuruubiiiruukuukii.

Karuukijuujuuch.

Kikuruukuukii.

“What the fuck are those bastards saying?”

How would I know? I had nothing to respond back.

“I have a bad feeling for some reason. Should we just go up and get them?”

The Dwarves seemed a bit nervous. I knew that their personalities were like fire, but this seemed more like wanting to move out of nervousness rather than because of their personalities.

“Wait!”

“Why? Do you have a solution?”

“I’m thinking about it right now.”

I brushed aside Goonto’s question and started to think.

There were not many strengths and weaknesses about the Demons that I knew about. I didn’t face them too many times in the game.

However, I definitely have experience hunting them. That experience alone would allow me to come up with a plan to defeat them.

First of all, Demons have extremely high magic resistance. Spells related to fire, ice, or light cannot cause them any damage. I’m certain that they would have been completely fine even if they were hit by Bernard’s strong Fire Arrows.

But I think I remember that Lighting magic worked on them. However, it was only enough to make them flinch.

‘What were the Demons weak against......’

‘Right! The only thing that worked was overwhelming strength!’

The only successful method to defeat Demons in the game was when my party members and I had suppressed them with overwhelming strength.

And one more thing.

‘Spirit Energy!’

Spirit Energy and Demonic aura were opposing forces, so pure Spirit Energy should be able to cause them damage.

However, there was nobody here who could use Spirit Energy. I could use Spirit Energy to change it into stat points like strength or agility, however, I could not use pure Spirit Energy either.

Those were the only options. I needed to use those two facts to come up with a way to defeat the Demons.

magic Let’s increase the strength of my party members first.

“Kaicher. Take this.”

I took something out of my bag and handed it to Kaicher.

“What is it?”

Kaicher had a confused expression as he received the item. He was so shocked after looking at it that he almost jumped.

“This is......!”

‘We will talk about it later. Put it on for now.”

‘The Warrior’s Ring!”

It was a ring specifically made to fend off darkness. Any abilities related to the Ares Temple would increase by 60 percent as well.

Kaicher would benefit significantly by using the ring.

Kaicher did not ask more questions. He quietly put the ring on as he agreed that dealing with the Demons was the biggest issue right now.

I then felt an odd aura coming out of Kaicher. His divine powers seemed to have been activated to fight against darkness.

I’m sure that the Demons must have felt it as I could feel it. They suddenly stopped talking and started to glare at Kaicher.

‘Kaicher might be in a bit of danger.’

On the other hand, it meant that I could use Kaicher as bait. It was kind of dangerous, but anything we did right now would be dangerous anyway.

“They will aim for Kaicher. Protect him.”

The Demons started to move even before I could finish speaking.

As expected, they were aiming for Kaicher. They were all running toward him. They seemed to have agreed that they needed to get rid of Kaicher first.

But how are they so fast?!

But I at least had a plan.

“Bernard. Other spells will not work. Only use lightning magic. Or just support from the back.”

Bernard responded with his actions. He changed his attack from Fire Arrows to Thunderbolts.

Honestly speaking, support magic would be more helpful, but Thunderbolts were decently helpful as well.

Crackle- crackle-

The Demons had to change directions every time a Thunderbolt charged toward them. It forced them to slow down.

It was my turn now.

I first opened up a Demon Cave scroll. It was a mid-sized Demon Cave under level 100. We shouldn’t feel any pressure from the monsters coming out of a Demon Cave if it is this low level.

Harrison shouted in shock as the Demon Cave opened up.

“What are you doing?!”

I didn’t have time to explain. Every second was important right now.

Now it was time to lower their abilities. This was the case for the Demons as well as the monsters coming out of the Demon Cave.

I put a significant amount of Intelli Points into my magic.

I wanted to put all 3000+ points into magic, but that was impossible. The maximum amount you could use at once was 50 percent of the total. There was also a cap of 1,000 points at once.

But that was not it.

‘Put Spirit Energy into magic as well!’

Thanks to that, my magic stat was raised by close to 2,000 all at once. This should be enough.

I tightened my core and pulled out as much mana as possible.

[Dragon Fear: Intermediate Level 4, 21%]

Rooooooooooooar-

The Demons had made it past the gaps of the shields at some point and were charging toward our formation.

However, they all stumbled after hearing my Dragon Fear that was at least five times stronger than normal. The ones running along the walls and ceiling fell to the ground as well.

The problem was that my party members were affected as well. They weren’t as shocked as the Demons because we were on the same side, but they seemed to have blanked for a moment at the sudden shout.

I needed to hurry. They will only be affected by Dragon Fear for a moment.

There would be no chance of victory if I missed this opening. Dragon Fear’s cooldown time is so long that it would be difficult to get another opportunity like this.

The Demons were already squirming and starting to get back up. They seemed to have already overcome the effects of Dragon Fear.

“Bernard! Thunderbolt!”

Bernard quickly snapped back to his senses. He then raised his staff and launched more Thunderbolts.

Crackle- crackle-

He really is a talented magician. His cooldown time was so short that he launched four Thunderbolts in less than two seconds.

He then continued to launch more Thunderbolts. The Demons who had barely managed to overcome the Dragon Fear buckled once more after being hit by the Thunderbolts.

Is it my turn now?

However, I heard an odd shout coming from next to me.

“Haaaaaah!”

It was Kaicher.

I could not help but smile.

‘It’s finally here! The real Kaicher, the Warrior of Light is finally here!’