The White Haired Demon Slayer (Part-9)

***Elaina Evreux***

This was the worst.

I couldn't even process what had just happened. Within a few moments, me and Sylvie were the only ones left facing an endless horde of monsters.

Something is REALLY wrong with Liam. The entire night I have been watching him and he is just getting worse. First, it was the boy in the forest, then the girl who died outside the village, and now this. He keeps losing his cool, and frankly, now I'm starting to lose it as well.

And then there was Luca, I wonder if he even thought for a second before going off. As soon as Liam disappeared into the hallway above us, a look of panic spread across Luca's face and he went right after him, leaving us with only the words. "I'll bring him back."

IDIOTS. ABSOLUTE IDIOTS. I CAN'T EVEN...!!!

Sigh... I can't lose my cool now. I must focus. Dynamically changing situations, unexpected developments, and battles you can never predict. This is what it means to be an adventure. As an Adventurer, I cannot let myself be overwhelmed.

Besides, I also have the responsibility of looking after Sylvie. She is the healer of the team and as a combatant, it's my job to keep the fight to myself.

I must focus... on this massive hobgoblin about to swing his axe at my head. Pushing him back with a swift smack of wind, I instantly put an arrow through a chink in his makeshift armor. The arrow shot straight through him, and with a little wind magic, also through the heads of three more right behind him.

Sylvie's magic to reduce my mana consumption was really helping out. I feel like I could fight at least four times longer under ordinary circumstances.

But this was no ordinary circumstance. Even if my mana holds out, it wouldn't take long for me to get physically tired. Things aren't looking good. I need to move as effectively as possible.

Then there it was. As if almost in response to my thought, a new surge of power shot through me, my stamina consumption seemed to suddenly reduce a lot and I felt extremely light on my feet.

This girl... She was giving me the same boosts she had been giving Luca and Liam.

"Sylvie..." I looked back at her as I dodged an arrow.

For some reason, she was still fighting very defensively, but there she was, effectively countering most attacks coming at her. The ones she couldn't counter, she managed to deflect and sidestep with a lethal slash to return. "Elaina. We need to stick together, I am not good at fighting so many at once."

My used arrows flew back to me, as I grabbed one and instantly sent a shot right through the face of a ground goblin pouncing on Sylvie.

Jumping right beside Sylvie, I said. "Don't worry, we'll make it through. Especially since you buffed me so much. Thank you."

Sylvie smiled. "You are welcome."

.

.

.

***Luca Adaleigh***

####: "Why do you have so little magic?"

Luca: It's what I was born with. You here to laugh at me too?

#### : "Hmm? Why would I laugh at you?"

.

.

.

Liam. Why?

Every time you are going off by yourself. You are too pure of heart, aren't you? You can't see the world being defiled by darkness, can you?

Is it your duty as a Descendant of Light? Or is it your curse...?

You are so focused on killing the dark... you blind yourself with the light of your rage...

Will you lose yourself...?

.

.

.

Even back then...

####: "They killed so many... who will kill them all?"

.

.

.

I won't let you... lose yourself.

I need to get him back, in a flash of light he disappeared, dashing into the dark hallway above us with the young lass holding on to him.

The girl had said something to him, I couldn't hear her in the middle of the fighting. Yet no matter what the reason, Liam must not run off like this all by himself in a dangerous monster spawn.

I chased after him to get him back, whatever he needs to do can be done together as a team. But much to my annoyance, even chasing after him was not an easy task at all. Monsters would burst out of every bend and crevice.

Sometimes way too many for me to fight off without breaking my stride. Some were ground goblins, breaking out of the ground to grab my legs or attack from below. Some were massive fully armored hobgoblins larger than even me...

'Heh, I swear Liam would make a 'short' joke at that too...' I thought to myself.

I was more or less sure I was following Liam on the same path he had gone forward on, and as I ran my side was hurting real bad now. A massive hobgoblin had just appeared out of nowhere and smashed his club into my side. Grimacing in the shock and pain of the hit I took, I quickly cut him down and continued the chase after Liam. I can't stop. I must get him back.

Liam...

Swiping the heads off a few more goblins I burst into a massive pearl-white hall with 8 hallways attached to them just like we had seen so many times before. And with that, I came face to face with a Goblin champion 3 times my size.

This is really bad. Just looking at what was standing in front of me, I knew my opponent was no ordinary goblin. I remember hearing from someone that goblin champions are powerful goblins who have achieved feats of victory in combat among the goblin ranks. This was only confirmed by the gold armor piece he wore over his upper body and the spiked metal club he wielded so easily.

Corruption covered the left half of his face, even now actively consuming him in exchange for power. His left eye had already been consumed, leaving just a hollow socket staring at me. I could literally see the corruption pulsing and moving around in his eye socket. Ew.

But even that wasn't the worst. It was as if he was waiting just for me. As soon as he saw me he smirked (can goblins even smirk?) and raising his club he roared loudly. It was the loudest I had ever heard, echoing throughout the hallways surrounding us. I knew exactly what it was, a call for arms. In a few seconds, I would be completely surrounded.

I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!

The Goblin champion instantly brought down the club on me before I could even realize it. All I could do was bring up my knives to hold off the attack as best as I could. The moment his club came in contact with my knives I yelled out in pain as the mere shock of the attack sent shudders throughout my body.

My arms felt like they would shatter any moment, as I instantly rolled out of the way. No. I can't stop. I must get to Liam.

"You can't stop me!" I growled as I turned on the ace up my sleeve.

It's not something fancy as I only had a little magic affinity. It's not like I can produce a great wave of water like most water magic users can.

No, instead when I used my ace magic a massive burst of power surged through my body, my speed quadrupled, my attacks become a lot more lethal and I became far more alert than I ever could in my normal mode. It was as if my perception itself had increased tenfold, everything became slower for me and I could see every single speck of dust around me and I was aware of every small movement around me.

By controlling the water inside me and especially my blood, I was boosting every bodily function inside me. My breathing was far more efficient, allowing me to intake far more oxygen than usually possible and burn through that oxygen over-efficiently too. In fact, a big source of my boost was also the fact that I was making my heart pump blood far more than usual and accelerate the entire blood circulation process. This complete super boost of human ability, I call this magic of mine, God Mode.

All at the cost of rapidly burning through my stamina and strength to fight no longer than a few minutes at a time. And it was considerably painful as well. A kind of pain I can't describe, the kind that happens when you go beyond natural means of bodily function.

It was something that I only use in desperate situations... and this was one of them.

And that was it. In a single moment, I covered my blades with high-speed water and turned the Goblin champion headless.

Taking a second to turn off God Mode and catching my breath as a normal human again, I started to continue chasing after Liam.

Almost... I was too late.

I could no longer get out. They were already here.

As I turned on God Mode again, I turned to look around me... at the hundreds of goblins charging from all directions.

Liam...