"Lord Zard."
"What is it?" the demon, Zard, asked, his voice laced with annoyance. He didn't appreciate being interrupted. But he knew his subordinates wouldn't dare disturb him unless it was important.
"There's a human outside the facility."
"A human?" Zard was perplexed. Why would a mere human warrant such a panicked report? "Is there something... different about this one?"
It wasn't uncommon for adventurers to wander into his territory. They were usually dispatched with ease by his chimeric creations, their bodies added to his collection of raw materials. For his underlings to be this frightened, this human had to be something else entirely.
"It's stronger than any we've ever faced," the subordinate stammered, sweat beading on his horned brow. "It's already killed most of the chimeras guarding the entrance."
"Hmm," Zard mused, his expression unreadable behind his mask. "And where is it now?" The laboratory was carved deep into the mountain.
Even if the intruder breached the entrance, it would take them at least ten minutes to reach his inner sanctum, and they would have to fight through hundreds of his most powerful creations along the way.
But as he was about to ask for more details...
"The human, it's not—"
A deafening crash from directly above cut him off.
BOOM!
A swath of trees was flattened, the ground scarred with the signs of a fierce battle. A five-meter-tall spider-fiend crashed through the forest, its multifaceted eyes fixed on the small, eight-year-old boy running before it.
Suddenly, the monster leaped into the air. A grotesque tearing sound echoed as its abdomen split open, and two pairs of insectoid wings unfurled.
It could fly.
"Tch. What kind of freakish monster is this?!" Takson cursed, holstering his axe and grabbing the holy book from his belt.
He ran and chanted at the same time. "Spear of the Goddess!"
A lance of golden light materialized and shot towards the flying spider's soft underbelly. But the creature, despite its immense size, was surprisingly agile. It twisted its body, and the spear shot past harmlessly.
"But my spear isn't so easy to dodge," Takson muttered.
The spear of light looped around in a wide arc, coming back to strike the monster from its blind spot. The creature sensed the danger and tried to evade, but it was too late. The spear punched clean through one of its eight legs.
The monster shrieked in rage.
It worked! Takson thought, a surge of confidence flowing through him. If I can hit it with enough of those, I can win!
His initial ambush had failed; his axe had simply bounced off the creature's thick exoskeleton. He had been forced to flee, leading to the current chase. But now he had a plan.
"Ten Spears of the Goddess!" he began to chant.
But as he spoke, a shadow fell over him.
BOOM!
I crashed through the ceiling amidst a shower of rock and chimera parts, landing directly on top of the demon who had come to deliver the report.
My Sandalphon was already in hand, and I drove it through the subordinate's chest. With no pause to recover from the fall, I twisted the blade, and the demon's head, its face still frozen in a look of panicked surprise, flew from its shoulders.
The moment the ceiling had cracked, Zard had bolted. He cast a speed-up spell on himself and sprinted for the exit.
He knew a warrior when he saw one, and a warrior who could carve their way through his entire menagerie was not something he wanted to face in close quarters. He was a mage. He needed distance.
But I had no intention of giving him that luxury.
Crack—hiss—
Ice, thick and unnatural, instantly spread across the exit, the walls, the ceiling. In a heartbeat, the damp, bloody cavern was transformed into a frozen, blue-tinged tomb.
Zard slammed into the wall of ice blocking his escape. He could hear footsteps approaching from behind, each one a death knell echoing in his heart.
What kind of magic is this? He touched the ice. There was no mana signature. And while the cave was damp, there wasn't nearly enough moisture to create this much ice this quickly.
Tap, tap, tap.
The footsteps stopped, about ten meters behind him.
He didn't know what I was planning, and he didn't want to find out.
"Fireball!" he roared, spinning and unleashing a massive wave of flame that filled the corridor.
But the flames passed through empty air. He caught a flicker of violet-blue hair to his right. A surge of danger.
Schlick—
His arm, still outstretched from casting the spell, flew into the air, a fountain of black blood erupting from the stump.
"Guh—!"
Before he could even register the pain, my next attack came. The greatsword sliced effortlessly through his abdomen.
Zard's upper torso flew backward, impaling itself on a sharp spike of ice protruding from the wall. He hung there, like a side of meat on a butcher's hook.
He knew what happened when a mage was caught in close quarters by a superior warrior. This was it. Only a demon's incredible vitality was keeping him conscious.
He looked down at his own severed lower body, lying at the feet of the intruder. He knew he was finished.
Then he looked at me. At my face. The inorganic golden eyes, the strange cracks in my skin, the complete lack of any living aura.
I looked like a doll. As a student of life in all its forms, Zard knew, with a chilling certainty, that I was not a biological creature. And yet, somehow, I was alive.
But it was the halo of light above my head that truly baffled him. What is that? Whatever I was, I was not human. But if not human, then what? A golem? A puppet animated by some powerful spell?
He had so many questions, but no time to ask them. He was about to be unceremoniously executed by some unknown, overwhelmingly powerful entity.
In the demon world, to be killed by a stronger being was no disgrace. But for Zard, there was one regret. He had not yet created his masterpiece.
….
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