Chapter 4: Demon Fight

I'm glad Fina and Elise are clueless about what she meant by close encounters. We just quickly run for the staircase, only for a wall of black smoke to surround us.

"We have found you!" The demon Jack steps out from the mist in front of us. "Time to die, Luke!"

"Damit," Fina mutters as we all turn to face the demonised Jack. "Luke, protect the prince! Elise and I will deal with him!"

"But he's…."

"No but's!" Fina interrupts me. "The king ordered us to protect you, so stay back for now… hey what are you doing? Are you even listening to me?"

"I am, but I can't do nothing," I tell her, stepping forward instead of backwards. "There is nowhere to run, and our chances will be better if we fight together."

It's true. The black mist around us is so thick that I doubt we will be able to see our hands in front of our faces. Besides, even if we could navigate the mist, I have the feeling we would only find ourselves back in front of the demon. Our only chance is to fight. The princess, or should I call her prince? She also joins us on the front line stating she isn't the kind of person to let others fight her battles for her.

"Then the three of you will die by our hands," Jack says as a colourless black flame engulfs his body. "Elise. You will be ours soon. This place will be our domain. We will rule together as king and queen."

Elise doesn't respond despite the look of disgust on her face. Instead, she charges forward with Fina and attacks. Fina moves in, first hacking her sword deep into Jack's right arm while Elise cuts his left. Dark purple blood flies everywhere, boiling and sizzling on the ground wherever it lands as Jack's arms are thrown open. In the blink of an eye, both Elisa and Fina fire off spells, with Fina's Air Cutter taking out both of Jack's eyes while Elise's Holy Light spell causes Jack's body to smoke and the demon to howl in pain.

I have no idea where they learned to work together like that. They must have worked out their differences in the labyrinth and developed some combo moves. As it turns out, I may not have to get involved in the fight after all. Elise and Fina repeat the combo again on the demon's legs causing Jack to fall over.

"It seems we underestimated you pests," The demon laughs as it gets back up. We can only stare as its injuries heal one after the other. "I think it is time we stop holding back!"

The demon lets out a deafening roar as a black wave knocks Fina and Elise back. Even from a distance, the force of that wave still causes me to slide back a meter or two while the prince/princess is knocked over. The demon steps toward me, shaking the ground with every step. It glares at me, letting out breaths of black smoke and leaving behind a trail of deep footprints.

"We are glad you are still standing," The demon smirked, cracking its knuckles. "It won't be as fun beating on your body as it lays helplessly on the ground."

The demon throws its fist aiming for my stomach, but I catch its fist before cutting off its hand with three rapid swings of my sword. It may have knocked me down before, but I had plenty of time to prepare this time. Before, I never got to activate the Overcome ability I obtained after my kiss with Fina. But now it is in full use, giving me a boost to my stats equal to half that of my opponents. Fina had used this ability to beat me in the arena, and now I use it to kick the demon with all my strength. I hear a crunching sound as my foot connects, and black liquid sprays from the demon's mouth as it lands on the ground several feet away.

"Impossible!" The demon glares at me as it picks itself back up. "A human shouldn't beat our strength!"

A lot has changed about me. I was weak and thrown away when I first came to this world. I had obtained power from the monsters I fought and grew stronger than the rest of my class. But it wasn't enough. Laurence, Aria, and Benjamin were cut down in front of me. Despite my strength, I couldn't save them, so I continued to train. Fina, Elise and several other knights helped me train and taught me so many new skills. I wanted to be ready. I wanted to ensure I wouldn't have to watch someone else die the next time I faced a demon.

"We will have to kill you quicker than we planned," The demon says, preparing to charge, but it only sees that I have vanished. "Where did you… AHH!" The demon couldn't even finish before I cut into its back. "How did… AHHH!!!"

I cut him again, forcing the demon to put some distance between them. Thanks to my Overcome ability, I was already much faster and stronger than the demon. Still, now that I silently used the Ability Boost spell, I can move faster than a bullet. If the demon had eyes in the back of its head, it would have noticed a weakness in my last move. There was a reason my last strike was a little delayed. When I sprinted across the room, I misjudged the speed and stopping distance and had to sneak up on the demon further away than I would have liked.

"Dangerous," The demon shakes. "I can see why that failure was defeated by you."

The demon glares at me, stepping back as I step forward. This time its wounds are slower to heal. I also cast the spell Enhance Weapon to boost my sword's damage output. My sword glows slightly because of this and feels slightly heavier, but it is not enough to slow me down. The demon tries to slow me down with another shock wave attack, but I jump over it and try not to look back when I hear it hit the girls. They are going to be okay. I know Fina and Elise will be fine, but what about the prince/princess? While if she is tough enough to be down here by herself, I am sure she can handle being knocked around.

I use the same trick again, but this time appears right in front of the demon, slashing, and opening its chest before I crash into it. We both hit the ground hard, but the demon takes the worse of the fall. I get back to my feet first and cast Holy Light burning the demon's body. It screams and howls as it struggles to escape, but I recast the spell before it can.

"Holy Light!" Elisa is soon stood beside me, casting the spell herself.

"You won't escape me!"

"My prince, please let us handle this!"

Fina and the prince/princess soon launch their attack, hacking away at the demon's body as Elisa and I cast one Holy Light spell after the others. Its body is sliced to pieces and melted away, leaving little behind. The demon cries out, begging for mercy, but we don't stop. Soon all that is left is Jack's own body. His limbs are twisted, and his eyes are darker than black, but he is still breathing.

"W… why?" Jack shakily asks as she fights to stay conscious. "Why… can't I… beat you?"

Finally, his eyes close, and his head falls down to the floor as the mist that trapped us disappears. We stare at Jack's body in silence for a few moments fearing he will transform again. Still, when nothing happens, we finally lower our guards.

"What do we do with him?" Elise asks, stepping forward.

"We will take him back with us," Fina decides. "We will let the king decide what to do with him."

Notification

Battle Ended In Victory

Greater Demons Killed: 1

Level 20 Reached

+80 HP

+80 MP

+40 Strength

+40 Speed

Title Acquired: Demon Slayer.

We find some vine-like plants to bind Jack's arms and legs together. But before we can leave, I find myself cornered by three girls who should have been my allies. They back me against the wall and block off all my escape routes.

"What were you thinking crashing into that demon like that?" Fina yells once they have me trapped. "Some demons have poisonous skins or skins coating in stuff that can melt people!"

"I didn't think about that…."

"We should have attacked it together!" Elise adds. "It would have been a lot safer!"

"I didn't want to give the demon a chance to recover…."

Why didn't you use that strength against those goblins? We wouldn't have had to hide if you hadn't held back!" Even the prince/princess is yelling at me.

"There were too many of them…."

They kept yelling at me for being reckless for a while until they needed to pause to catch their breaths. No matter how I answered them, they were still upset, but at least now, everyone seemed to have calmed down.

"Now, let's got out of here," Fina says as soon as they have finished yelling at me. "Luke, can you carry him?"

"Okay," I nod, picking him up. It's surprising how light he feels.

"Now then, let's get out of here," Elise says as we climb the stairs.

<0>

It has been two hours since we returned from the labyrinth, and I really want to go to bed. The sun had set before we returned, and while everyone else slept, Fina, Elise, and I were repeatedly questioned about everything that had happened. The prince/princess got lucky and returned to her room after only a small scolding by the king. As for Jack, he was taken to a nearby temple to undergo an exorcism.

"So let me just confirm your story," The official sitting opposite me said, fixing his glasses and shuffling the papers in his hands. "You were attacked by your fellow hero who turned into a demon before being teleported into the labyrinth. You found the prince when you woke up and escaped to the staircase together, where you met up with the other two members of your squad. There you defeated the demon and returned, is that correct?"

"Yes,"

"Then that is all you can go now,"

I couldn't have left that room faster if I had tried. I just want to go back to the barracks and sleep. It's already late, and I have an early start in the morning. Somehow I ended up with two dates when the girls were yelling at me. I will be spending the morning with Fina and the afternoon with Elise. They settled the time with rock, paper, scissors and let the winner pick their preferred time. It shouldn't fill me with as much dread as it does. Plenty of guys would kill to be in my position right now. Still, most guys wouldn't have to judge which date was the best.

<0>

AN

Sorry, it took longer than I was expecting to update. The recent heatwave really slowed me down. Still, the next chapter will be a dating scene, so look forward to it, and since Luke levelled up, here are his new stats.

Name: Luke

Level: 20

Health Points: 1903

Magical Points: 1608

Strength: 693

Speed: 686

Titles: Underdog, Knight, Count and Demon Slayer.

Abilities: Limitless, Leaping, Underwater Breathing, Danger Sense, Regeneration, Pain Immunity, Intimidation Resistance, Overcome, and High Command.

Skills: Absorb, Swimming, Fire Starter, Butcher, Cooking, Tracking, Dagger User, Club User, Stealth, Throwing, Intimidate, Sprinting Master, Dodge Master, Riding Master, Mounted Combat Master, Sword Master, Parry, Combat Stance, Punisher, Inflect Fear, Torturer, and Fast Cast.

Spells: Control Water, Fireball, Air Cutter, Ability Boost, Electric Beam, Holy Light, Magical Shield, and Enchant Weapon.