Serpents in the Dark

The position Xaren's fingers were pointing at and the direction Ilya's eyes were looking at overlapped and she pulled the trigger on the crossbow with a thunder-like speed.

Each bolt she fired had a small whirlwind around it, tripling the speed with which it shot through the air and pierced the barks of the Treants.

Xaren twisted his lips after the third, before grabbing onto her hand and redirecting her trajectory just as she pulled the trigger.

He noticed one leader he had missed and changed her trajectory to make her shoot it before it retreated behind the cover of three others; what's more, the arrow she fired didn't just have a whirlwind but a flaming trail.

It didn't diminish in speed, and its piercing power seemed to double, allowing it to easily puncture the bark of the Treant targeted. Then, Xaren's black flames erupted, spread out across the Treant by the last burst of wind on the arrows and covered a section of its body in flames.

"…what did you do?"

Ilya wasn't blind, so she could see that he had added flames. As such, her question was not about the flames, but the reason for the sudden spike in the piercing power of the arrows.

"I doubled its weight. It'd pack an extra punch, and wouldn't fall off easily…"

Redirecting her hand, he made her pull the trigger and fire at one of the leaders who ripped out the arrow she shot in it earlier before finishing his statement.

"…or get ripped out like that guy did."

Ilya nodded in silence before asking him to point out the next one and they continued shooting the leaders while the Fire demon from earlier protected their backs from the elven mages who wanted to stop them.

**PUK! PUK! PUK!

The two emptied all the crossbow bolts on the leaders, and Xaren's flames burst on impact, licking their barks with searing heat.

These Treants were all at least Level 70, and they were all buffed so even with their combo, Xaren and Ilya couldn't take them down in a single strike.

However, their actions still had a meaning. Ilya raised her voice and yelled.

"Demons! Concentrate your attacks on the ones that have arrows and black flames!"

"Ou!!"

"Let's go!!"

The leader Treants didn't look ordinary anymore and now had large signs differentiating them.

Immediately after giving her order, Ilya tossed the empty crossbow aside and dashed towards one of the Treant leaders.

Her speed was even faster than before, and Xaren felt like the air around her shimmered with an almost imperceptible disturbance, though he couldn't discern what exactly was causing it.

As Ilya closed in on her target, the Treants seemed to react in a disjointed manner, their branches and limbs appearing to fragment and splinter in the wake of her approach. It was as if some unseen force was slicing and dicing through them, though Xaren could see nothing but the aftermath.

He was sure it wasn't her as her hand remained on the grip of her sheathed Runeblade, barely moving as she ran forward.

With all the Treants around her mysteriously losing their limbs, Ilya had free passage to the leader who swung its massive limbs with all its might.

Yet, its powerful strikes were met with unseen counters, with Xaren barely catching sight of something 'dark' at the point of impact.

Ilya finally drew her blade with a single motion, cutting through the air in a blur. Each swing was accompanied by a gust of dark, whirling wind that carved out its bark.

The Treant's responses grew erratic as it not only had to watch out for Ilya's sword, but the invisible force slicing at it from all angles.

Ilya stabbed her blade into the hole created by her and Xaren's arrow combo, releasing a focused blast of wind that destroyed a huge chunk of its body.

Then she swung her blade and cleaved through the injured part, slicing it in two.

The surrounding Treants, now without their leader's buffs, faltered and began to crumble under the sustained assault from the other demons.

Xaren, who had ignored Ilya's fight since the moment she drew her blade, darted among the towering Treants with dexterity granted by lightening his weight.

He leveraged his agility and gravity manipulation to perform acrobatic feats, leaping from one Treant to another and with every bound, he drew his sword in fast but heavy slashes that carved through the bark of the creatures.

His attacks were like a series of miniature explosions, causing splinters to scatter in all directions, forcing the Treants to recoil and stagger.

By targeting the Treants closest to the paths the other demons needed to take, Xaren cleared the way for them to reach the leader Treants.

"Carack! We will mobilize a detached force! Take that grey demon!"

Ilya suddenly gave out this order and before Xaren could even figure out who 'Carack' was, the Fire demon from earlier dashed over and grabbed onto him.

"Wait, aren't we the detached force?! Why are we splitting again?!"

"Just go!"

The demoness did little in the way of explaining to Xaren, instead focusing on charging at the newly appearing elves.

They had almost gotten rid of all of the Treants, but it had taken too much time and the elves had sent forces towards this part of the Fortress to combat them.

Carack pulled Xaren over to a broken part of the Fortress wall where eight other demons awaited while giving him the explanation he needed.

"The ten of us would use a stealth skill to sneak in and finish our mission while the others would hold the elves out here."

"Oh, that makes sense!"

Xaren responded and used gravity magic to lighten both their bodies, doubling their speed, much to Carack's surprise.

"You use some strange magic, grey demon."

"It's Xaren. And let's get going before any elves notice us."

Carack spoke no more, instead grabbing a cloak and tossing it onto Xaren's head. At the same moment, Xaren felt darkness magic wash over them, signalling the activation of the stealth skill.

"We Move!"

Normally, any mage elves or very perceptive warriors would be able to detect them, but this was a battlefield; this level of stealth was enough.

"While Captain Ilya is grabbing their attention, we will take over the control room."

Carack repeated this for the sake of the other eight demons and they nodded in understanding. They had fought with Ilya before so they knew that whenever she said 'detached force' she meant them, so they had gathered even though they weren't sure what she wanted them to do.

Even if they were young unranked demons without any proper training and just basic knowledge from their Survival Guides, these guys had garnered months of experience so they didn't fight thoughtlessly.

The Mid-Ranks also didn't pick Ilya as their captain for no reason.

Xaren and the other nine demons moved quickly, slipping through the broken wall and into the fortress.

Their path resembled an old, neglected cave, filled with cobwebs and layers of dust that hinted at its long abandonment. Carack illuminated a small flame to examine their surroundings, meticulously studying the room's structure before falling silent.

Moments later, he took off down the corridor leading them down the path like he had an internal map of the place.

They raced through the dimly lit passage for about five minutes, before rounding a corner and coming face-to-face with an unexpected foe.

"?!"

It was a monster that resembled a serpent, with bark-like scales and gnarled antlers sprouting from its head—an Elderwood Serpent.

It hissed at them and lunged forward and Xaren couldn't help but curse as he jumped to dodge.

"Fuck!"

If a tree-like snake with fangs longer than its mouth came charging towards you, it was impossible to not curse. In addition, the bastard was huge.

As Xaren dodged its bite, Carack engulfed his fist in flames and threw it forward. His fist collided with the monster's side and sent it flying, with two other demons lunging at it and swinging their hammers.

*KRISSSAK!!

The serpent made a noise that was somewhere between a hiss and a yell as it rolled on the floor, its eyes glowing as it lunged at the demons once more.

Xaren infused his blade with flames and jumped at it, stabbing his blade into its side from the spot where the hammers had scattered scales.

'Can I use Attraction to pull out its internal organs?'

A moment after he had that thought, Xaren realized he had no idea what a serpent's insides looked like and doubted he could accurately target them.

Instead, he chose a more straightforward approach: channelling his flames through the blade and triggering an internal explosion.

It went without saying that the serpent screamed agony, its massive body writhing violently in an attempt to dislodge Xaren.

The other demons took advantage and attacked its head, launching a coordinated assault. Arrows flew, spells erupted and swords slashed in a flurry.

The combined onslaught of weapons and magic overwhelmed the Serpent and its thrashing quickly grew weaker.

Xaren then removed his sword and vaulted onto its body. Using gravity attraction, he yanked its head back and, with a fiery infusion, drove his blade deep into the weakened skull.

The sword punctured the serpent's brain and erupted from the other side, leaving no room for a final roar before the beast crumpled to the ground, defeated.

[Level Up]

Without a moment's hesitation, Xaren retrieved the monster's soul while the others simply rushed forward behind Carack's lead.

Not long after, they heard hissing sounds and Xaren glanced back to see half a dozen pairs of green eyes staring at them in the darkness.

'Of course, there are more of them…'