Chapter 1038: Enemies from the Abyss
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
"That's..." said Lightning as she slowed down. Her eyes widened open.
Thousands of demonic beasts were swarming on the snowfield. It looked as if a black carpet was laid over the white snow. The moving "carpet" somehow reminded her of ants gnawing at corpses.
This time, however, it was not corpses they were facing, but demons who were equally brutal.
The skyscraper-like skeleton monsters moved slowly among the demonic beasts as they jostled enemies aside. With every step they took, a few demonic beasts would fail to escape and be crushed below. Their four crooked limbs looked as slim as tree branches compared to their huge size, but Lightning believed that they were thicker than Lady Agatha's Spellcaster Tower if she viewed them close-up.
There were numerous Mad Demons clinging to the monster's abdomen, towering over the beasts as they hurled their spears down. The beasts, however, had no choice but to keep pushing forward, even though their counter-attacks took little effect.
"Magic Power Parasite."
These words crossed Lightning's mind.
It was a kind of deformed demon that was between the living and the dead. It had no fixed form and was parasitic on the skeletons and black stone-like blobs. It relied on the magic power to move and launch strikes. The Spider Demons discovered in the battle on the Northbound Slope and the leviathan she was watching now were both very likely to belong to the same species.
Though the demonic beasts' tusks were sharp, they barely did any harm to the stone-like monsters. They had no choice but to bypass the skeleton monsters and attack the main body of the enemies behind these monsters.
Without a wall for the demons to take cover, the battle would be very tough.
Frenzied beasts may have the advantage when facing unarmed humans, but the odds did not favor them this time as Mad Demons were extremely strong and fast. Although they had sent out many demonic hybrid species, the demons had Lords of Hell, Siege Beasts, and Spider Demons at the front line to counter, allowing them to slaughter the demonic hybrid beasts almost as fast as the First Army did. As a result, demonic beasts could not gain an edge over the demons, even though they largely outnumbered their enemies.
Perhaps sensing the speed had slowed down, Maggie poked her head out. She gasped upon seeing such a horrendous scene.
"The demonic beasts and demons... They're fighting?"
"So that's the reason why Neverwinter has such peaceful Months of Demons," said Lightning while pretending to analyze the problem professionally. "But it's a bit weird, didn't the Taquila ancient witches say that the demonic beasts always come after the relics of gods? I'm certain that the demons' king wouldn't bring their relics to this piece of the wastelands... This means the demonic beasts must have gathered here for other reasons. It's too bad that Sylvie didn't come with us, or we could collect more information."
Maggie cocked her head to the side and asked, "Are you still going to surprise them?"
"Of course!" said Lightning decisively. "We're so close to the ruins of Taquila, yet the Devilbeasts haven't come to stop us, so they must be distracted by the battle. What a good chance this is for us."
There was no doubt that both the demons and the demonic beasts are His Majesty's enemies. The more fierce the battle between them became, the more relaxed the army would be during the expedition that was going to start early next spring.
Lightning estimated the magic power in her body was enough for her to maintain flight at supersonic speeds for three to four minutes. In case of any dangers, she would save half of that magic power. This was more than sufficient for escaping. Overall, she was left with only two minutes to shake the demons' defense line. Thus, she had to be very cautious when choosing her flight path.
Her eyes stopped at the giant skeleton monster.
Its deformed body structure looked like an askew bench from far away. The skeleton features were composed of flat long black stones. It looked slightly similar to the glider runway built on the east coast. They seemed to be an ideal place for her to fly over.
According to her ability test results, the lower she flew, the greater the damage she would cause. Therefore if she could fly closely by the monster, the Mad Demons in its abdomen would surely suffer greatly from the impact.
His Majesty had instilled the principles of high-speed flying into her since she had awakened to this higher level. She knew that body size also decided how much energy could be detonated when her speed passed the sound barrier. If it was Maggie flying at supersonic speed over Neverwinter during that night, the whole city might have been ruined.
Hence, Lightning did not plan to crush the demons in one fell swoop.
She just wanted to make the demons suspend their attacks.
The areas under the skeleton monsters were like death zones. The demonic beasts had to avoid this. As a result, their moving speed was significantly slowed. If those brazen skeleton monsters could be pinned down, the demons' back line of defense would become more pressured.
Even if the plan did not work out, she would not be affected anyway.
As soon as she made her decision, Lightning pressed Maggie's head onto her chest and swooped toward the nearest skeleton monster!
At that moment, she had completely forgotten what Roland had warned her about.
No one could grasp sound by the tail. It was time to show them authentic flying skills!
The kilometers between her and battlefield had shrunken in a split second. When she appeared above the battlefield, it was dead silent.
But that was only in her opinion.
In the demons' eyes, it was as if thunder from the sky had all of a sudden crashed down and swooped them over. The result of the collision between the front and rear impact waves were overwhelming. While Lightning leveled off and flew five meters over the monster, the blast of the impact waves had turned the snow into clouds of white mist which almost enveloped the whole monster. The demons were howling in pain from the ear-splitting explosion.
But she had no time to enjoy how big the damage she had made, for she had five similar targets to handle.
Just as she was about to fly over the third skeleton monster, something unexpected happened!
Out of nowhere, a figure suddenly appeared on the bare platform she flying over to. The moment it stood there, it drew all her attention. There were still miles between them, but Lightning felt a sudden chill come over her. Her fingers could not stop shaking.
It was a demon, yet it looked human-like, except for its blue skin. It looked handsome and its golden eyes were deeper than the abyss of hell. They just stared at each other, but Lightning felt as though she was a frog being targeted by a viper. An instinctive dread rose from the bottom of her heart.
"What kind of monster is that?" thought Lightning.
She could feel the strong magic power in the demon's body as it distorted the surrounding air. Even though she was flying at a high speed, the power had oppressed her tangibly. It was as if she was stuck in a viscous mire and was being helplessly dragged towards the demon.
Run!
Now!
A voice was warning she to stop flying and run away immediately.
But she could not move her body at all. She had lost the control of her own body.
She saw the demon slowly raising its right arm towards her.
At this moment, something sharp pricked her chest.
It felt like someone had driven a nail straight into her body.
It was Maggie!
As the pain spread throughout the body, she instantly regained control of her limbs and time had returned to normal.
Lightning suddenly raised her body, flew upwards, and fleed to Neverwinter as fast as she could without glancing back.