What Lurks Under III

The fireball collided with his cyclone, causing both magics to disperse and creating an explosion so large that it completely filled the entire tunnel. Kies held up his arms to protect himself from the flames. The winds pushed him across the floor and he was sent spiraling down into the dark tunnel.

Kies felt his head slam into the hard ground and quickly jumped up to his feet, prepared for a follow-up attack, but nothing came. He cautiously walked over to the ramp and peered up but couldn't see anything. There wasn't a trace of light anymore and everything was practically black. It was difficult to see anything at all.

Kies took a step forward but quickly stumbled back when a pillar of fire flared up from the ground in front of him. "You're still alive? That's a first for me. No one has ever survived that attack before." Footsteps echoed through the narrow tunnels as a man with a small ball of fire in his hand appeared at the top of the tunnel and looked down at Kies.

Kies slashed his arms and shot some wind blades at the man but he blocked them all with the fire in his hand, making them dance around in the air in front of him and parrying all attacks. "How rude. First, you invade my home and attack me, then you strike me while I'm speaking." The man didn't sound pleased about what Kies did. He waved his other hand and a jet of fire erupted from his palms and took the shape of a whip.

The man swung his arm down, bringing the whip down on Kies. It was too fast for him to dodge and he could only raise his arms up to his head to block the attack. He felt the flames seer his arms as they hit him. After taking the attack, Kies retreated into the darkness behind him before the man had the chance to attack again. This would only buy him a few seconds as the man could easily just locate him using the light of the fire in his hands.

But those few seconds were all Kies needed. He hastily chanted Wind Cannon and shot it at the man who was trying to find him. The sudden attack caught him off-guard and he barely managed to tilt his head in time to dodge the attack. His eyes immediately snapped to the location where the attack came from and shot a fireball there without a second thought.

Kies tried to stop the fireball before it reached him by shooting a couple of wind blades at it but found that it didn't work as he thought it would. The winds all dispersed when they collided with the fireball and did nothing at all to stop or even slow it. Kies had to block the attack with his arms again. The fireball exploded when it hit him and pushed him back a little. Once he stopped sliding, he ran further down the tunnel and heard several more fireballs hit the ground behind him as he did.

Surprisingly, the cloak was very effective at blocking magic attacks. Even after taking all those attacks from the man, it was still perfectly fine as if nothing at all happened to it. If it weren't for the cloak, Kies would have probably been dead or very severely injured right now.

"I don't think I need to say this but your wind magic is no match for my fire magic," the man smugly said as he walked down the ramp, searching for Kies. "Why not surrender? I promise I'll give you a quick death. Though, I can't guarantee that it will be painless," he offered.

Who was this person? Why was he so powerful? He was able to take out two demons at once, and even though it was a surprise attack, no human had the power to do that. Of course, there was the chance that he isn't human, but if so, then what is he? From what Kies knew, the only other race that could use fire magic other than humans were dwarves and he was way too tall to be one. He was as tall as a demon.

Kies shook his head. This wasn't the time to be asking this. That person was closing in on him and was still looking around for him. Kies quietly moved a few more steps back, ducked behind a corner, and watched the man walk right past him. The light from the fire barely scraped by his location.

From here, Kies got a better look at the man. He had bright flaming red hair and red eyes to match as well. He was wearing black clothes and had some sort of a horn-shaped object tied to the side of his waist. His footsteps continued to echo the walls as he walked further from Kies. "Where the h*ll did you go?" the man asked out loud. As if he was going to get a response from someone who was hiding from him. Kies felt relief wash over him as the man went away.

Kies waited until the light from his fire completely faded down the tunnel before coming out from his hiding place. He went up the ramp to where the demons had been hit by the fireball and looked around for them. It was too dark to find them and the lantern from earlier had been destroyed in the midst of the crossfire.

Kies was just about to call out their names but stopped himself. He didn't want to attract any more unwanted attention. Furthermore, if the two demons were alive from that attack, they might be unconscious so calling out to them might not work.

Kies continued searching in the dark until his foot bumped into something soft on the ground. Kies bent down and tried feeling what it was with his hand. But before he could, he felt something strike him in the back of his leg. He crumpled to the ground and saw a blur as something moved in front of him.

Without thinking, Kies lashed his arm out at the blur and caught it on what felt like its stomach. "Oof!" The shadow jumped away from Kies and he got back on his feet. He wasn't alone. From all around him, he could hear heavy breathing and grunting. All the fire and explosions had drawn the attention of everyone who was down here.

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