Slaying Groups Of Death

Deja POV 

Deja felt the ground beneath her groan again. She steadied her footing before gently jogging through these vast, obnoxious halls. Her robes were a mess and covered in dirt, sweat and blood. Thankfully, the blood wasn't her own. But she was feeling a little more tired than she might've expected after that exercise. Wiping the snot away from her nostrils, she wore a toothy grin while honing in on her target.

She could smell the scent of someone powerful here. Her senses were never wrong. The Gold Ranked Body must be here. 

"That black-haired man was strong. He was not the strongest but relentless enough to cause me some hassle. And boy, who would've thought this place had dragons? Hehehe-how fun." 

Deja could still feel the tremors of the fight going on outside. The baby titan creature she conjured from her grimoire was still tussling with the dragon outside. She raced up another set of wide stairs covered in a deep red rug with gold fettering. The moment she took another step onto the new floor, an iron arrow whizzed towards her from her peripheral. Deja ducked low and rolled forward. As she rose, her hands locked together before swiftly performing the somatic seal of the ice element. She spun around whilst her fingers drew a sharp ice needle; as she completed the 360 turn, she tossed the ice needle towards the onrushing guard plated in iron. The needle pierced the space between the iron helmet and the worn chainmail.

A muffled ground sounded before the body collapsed. 

Three more guards withdrew their iron swords and charged forward. A coat of white fire covered their limbs, and Deja held out her arm again ceremonially. 

"Book!" Light particles appeared, followed by the trace of her grimoire summoning just above her palm. Her fingers danced across the opened pages, and with a cruel smile, she sang her incantation venomously. 

{Slave Master Vol 6: Arms of the Afflicted Troll King} 

Deja timed the spell perfectly and watched intently as two small grey portals appeared alongside the onrushing guardsmen. Two greyscale fiendish arms emerged beside them and grabbed hold of each one by its head. The two burly guards were raised off their feet like children. They squirmed and fought desperately before they could even figure out a plan. The fiendish hands wrapped firmly around their heads clenched tightly. 

*Crunch* 

A spray of bloody meat paste rained down. Deja jogged between the limp bodies, narrowly avoiding them both as they were dropped from above once she dispelled her incantation. Her mouth made an O shape as she emphatically exhaled a deep breath in unison. Her mental energy needed a short moment to recover.

Deja stopped and climbed the short flight of stairs visually. Then she smiled and ascended to the upper floor two stairs at a time. Her feet landed gracefully on the highest floor, and her body froze. "Oh," her mouth spoke, staring upwards. The walls were covered in murals of warriors dressed in iron. The walls here were beautiful. She almost felt the need to sit down and admire them.

Deja suddenly felt a twitch against her auricle. Her eyes snapped open, and without a second thought, she dashed speedily towards the wall. The sound arrived just before the force, but that movement was faster than Deja might've expected. A surge of heavy wind sliced forward, and a gust of pain laced her trailing fingers. Deja watched the lower bone of her pinky finger spinning away in the air, with splashes of blood almost slowly falling. 

Her eyes darted across the seemingly empty hall like a bug. Just behind her, she saw the telltale shimmer of a shadow behind her. Deja held out her left hand, and her floating grimoire appeared dutifully. Her fingers danced across the pages like a harpist deftly pulling strings. 

{Conjure Troll hands} 

{Conjure crazy door} 

Deja's fingers swiped away off the book and a grey matter carried along with her fingertips. The inky matter wrapped around her two hands and tripled into large, callous-looking grey fists. A golden rune cycled around the wrists, and Deja wore a cruel smile as she beat her two fists together.

She darted to the side, following the swift-moving shadow that was fast approaching. She swung a backhanded closed fist; the shadow ducked low and streaked beneath her arm. The figure draped in shadows wore one of those odd-looking masks she remembered the first three troublemakers wore. 

"Compared to the first three, this one looks stronger." 

A dark bladed weapon practically fused with its arm struck forward. Deja's upper body desperately swayed back to the side. The blade swiftly moved across and just about missed her nose. Deja bent her torso back, and her large fist shot forward awkwardly. The shadow pulled its strike and held its blade flatly. The fist smashed against the blade, and a loud thrum sounded before knocking the shadow back.

Deja pulled her torso upright, pressed her heels firmly against the ground, and shot forward like a leopard. Despite the heavy, large fists, she sent a flurry of heavy punches with ease. Echoes of steel rattling filled the air. Deja wore a manic grin while she pressed her onslaught further. The shadow was forced to retreat a few steps at a time. Deja knew that sword would break in moments. She also knew the fellow was too skilled to allow that to happen. 

A second shadow appeared behind her in the blink of an eye. Deja's expression wore a dazed look, as she finally realized how these slender ghouls moved around. 

"You can hide in people's shadows ey? Kekeke, that's quite a marvellous trick there." 

The second figure rose behind her, with a broad black axe already being pulled from behind. Deja refused to pull away her punches; her large eyes only focused on the cracked webs against the black iron sword. The axe's shadow towered directly above her. Droplets of sweat dotted the side of her brow, but Deja wore a smile all the way. The Axe plummeted down. 

Deja's mouth opened ever so lightly, and a soft whisper cracked. 

{First door} 

A grey portal instantly materialized at the precise point where the axe fell. The large, decayed troll's hand shot out from the portal and caught the axe. 

She heard a heavy breath exhale out of shock. Deja pulled her right fist back and struck forward. The blade shattered into pieces, and her second fist arrived punctually behind the first and slammed right into the masked figure's head. The shadow was sent flying away before crudely bouncing against the ground. Deja took a few steps forward and twisted against her heels. She kicked away from the ground. Falling away in slow motion like an ethereal fairy.

She straightened both her index and middle finger together and creased a cruel smirk. 

{Second door} 

A second portal materialized beside the towering figure's ribs. A second ghoulish hand ripped through the portal and slammed against the death knight. The being groaned in pain. Deja wasted no movements and pressed her large, fiendish palms together. 

{First door move} 

The portal vanished 

{Open} 

*BANG* 

The fist appeared on the other side this time. 

{Second door move} 

{Open} 

{Move} 

{Open} 

She cackled delightfully, watching the tall figure rendered unable to escape the barrage of attacks by the troll's hands.

Deja almost rolled on the floor laughing, watching the barrage of fists catching it off guard each time it thought it worked out the sequence.

Soon enough, as she expected, she felt the first shadow looming against her rear. Another bladed attack darted her way like a python; Deja darted to the side and twisted her body mid-motion. With one of her arms stretched out, she held her giant hand towards the death knight. 

{Fly} 

The giant troll hand twisted and whined, and then the large hand shot out suddenly and latched onto the death knight's face. Deja cackled manically before turning around to find the tall figure deciding to dart her way. 

Deja's brow lifted in surprise. She wondered what took so long to understand how the incantation worked. 

But that didn't mean it had now gained an advantage. In truth... 

"Kekeke, let's end this." 

Deja stepped back and dashed away. The death knight chased her and swung its axe each time it reached her reach. The girl swiftly moved like water, dodging each axe swing with expert precision. The death knight was pressing her towards the wall. Deja already noticed its attention by the marks against the ground, but she played along until she found her back pressed against one of the large murals against the walls. She glanced above her helm, gazing at the tall mural of an old man with a dragon sitting beneath his palm. 

"whoops" 

The death knight was upon her, readying its broad axe to finish her off. Deja stood there and waited. With her free hand, her fingers made somatic hand seals. 

{Troll tooth} 

*GRRR* 

The death knight stepped forward, and a large grey spike shot out from the ground; the figure was swift enough to barely avoid a fatal hit; the spike only managed to tear away half of its mask. But Deja pressed the remaining troll hand against its chest, and a cruel smirk pulled her smile wide. 

{Forward} 

*BOOOM* 

The troll hand accelerated forward relentlessly. Deja blinked, and a gaping dark hole appeared in the death knight's stomach. 

Deja sidestepped away and casually walked past the tall figure, staggering around before collapsing forward. 

As for the second death knight, she casually walked towards the figure writhing around the ground to get the troll's hand off its face. Seeing this Deja placed her dainty hands over her pink lips and chuckled playfully. 

"Alright-alright, stop all that whining." 

She held out her hand and clenched. The troll's hand-copied its caster and clenched, squeezing the head forcefully. Deja watched in silent glee as the head finally burst into a splatter of bloody meat paste. Deja exhaled a deep sigh before stretching her limbs out, allowing her active spells to disable by releasing the mental link. 

Cold sweat dotted the side of her brows. She licked one of the salty droplets trailing beside the corner of her mouth and nodded. 

"Looks like I used a lot of Mana. Hmm, I wonder what might've happened if they sent just a few more guys of that level."

She pondered in deep thought, checking the wound she incurred against her right hand. 

Deja reflected on her performance, noticeably the amount of Mana she used dealing with these fellows since she made contact outside. Since a large portion of her Mana had already been spent conjuring the 'flesh monster' currently fighting with the dragon outside. Deja was curious to test her limits to see how far she could go with a handicap. It was no coincidence she stuck to a few Rank 1 and 2 spells. 

Although she could still deal with a few more silver-ranked fellows in this state, providing none of them could use incantations, of course. In comparison, she had 0 confidence in handling the Gold Ranked body user tucked in the belly of this castle. 

She placed her left hand into her robes and fished out two small vials filled with yellowish liquid trapped inside. Using her teeth to pull the corks aside, Deja sunk the vials down her mouth at the same time.

After draining the vials, she burped loudly with a pinkish hue appearing against her cheeks. The depleted Mana would accelerate restoring the deficit lost. But just to make sure, cycling her Mana in meditation was perhaps the best option. Only Deja understood it would be too risky to start doing that in the open. 

"Hmm, maybe one of these large rooms would accompany me kekeke." 

Deja scanned the vast hall before she decided to retrace her steps. She walked further down until she came across one of the lower floors, where rows of closed doors pressed along the wall.

She arrived at one of the identical lower halls beneath this floor. Deja squared her feet in front of the doors, smoothing her chin in deep thought while deciding which door to try first. 

"Eenie...Minie...ahaha-you,"

she pointed to the door sitting in the middle and approached it. She swiftly closed the distance and checked all directions before she wrapped her hands around the brass doorknob and gently pushed the door aside. 

A group of voices greeted her as she entered. 

"You see, big brother, he didn't die from that hit. Besides... didn't you see what happened to his eyes-they completely changed, and his aura suddenly spiked into a-" 

A short girl with silver hair and a strange blindfold turned slowly towards her. 

Deja's brow lifted. Before she could even blink, another one of those slender shadows appeared right in front of her. She stared blankly at the slender figure wearing a strange purple mask with long silk strands of red hair flowing down. Compared to the others, this one seemed a lot tamer, almost as though it was protecting something. 

"Hmm, who's that?"

She moved her head towards the side, noticing a brown-skinned boy sprawled against the ground. Deja glanced at the youth, and suddenly, her eyes were filled with excitement. 

She sniffed the air a few times to make sure, before her eyes opened wider, dutifully surprised by what she was assured she was now sensing. 

"Hey, what's wrong with him? And why is there so much mental energy gathered around him, ey." 

Deja noticed a slight tremor in the imposingly stranding figure before her. Her sharp eyes bounced between the three of them.

And then a wide smile playfully creased against her round face. Deja suddenly had an amusing idea.