Chapter 223 Demon Versus Demons [Pt 2]

"ROOOOOOOOAAAARRRRRR!!!"

Red let out a frightening cry, sending pulses of power flying around him.

He reveled in his power, enjoying the pulsating sensation of electrifying energy as it coursed through his veins. Usually the underdog, he felt like had been reborn.

'YEEEESSSSSSSS!!!' With bloodshot eyes, he stared at his targets--the three demons who would dare defy him.

The shackles of reason eluded him, and so he decided to completely enjoy his fight with the obviously hostile opponents--not caring at all about their similitude in race.

"I'LL KILL YA!"

With a growl, he swiftly began closing the distance between himself and his enemies.

"Adu, teleport Asa and Dustinel somewhere safe. NOW!" He heard one of the demons say.

The demon had a hat atop his head, as well as a cleanly cut beard. He had pale skin, and his attire oozed prestige. Of all three demons, he seemed like their leader.

"GRAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Red directed his fury at him, sending his enormous fist flying in his direction.

"Watch out, Heshu!" The lion-faced demon beside him interfered, suddenly activating a skill that seemed to increase his power.

"Guh!" He breathed heavily, barely able to defend a single blow from Red.

"Hogun!"

"HUHUHUHUH!" The tall, terrifying demon laughed at the foolishness--nay, the weakness--of his adversaries.

The shortest of them all, called Adu, finally returned after supposedly taking the two Elves away from the scene of battle.

He seemed to be a bit short of breath, and Red understood why. Teleportation was a tasking Spell, and a runt like this Adu could not pull two off in quick succession without experiencing some recoil.

That said, these three were Mid-Demons, so they had to at least be competent to an extent.

"Adu... Hogun... AND HESHU!" Red growled, suddenly increasing in size.

He grew to become about twelve meters tall, now more powerful and ferocious than ever. His gleaming red and black eyes could send the fear of death into his opponents, and he could see just how rattled his prey were.

"KILL... I'LL KILL YA!"

At this point, it was him versus them, and he had no intention of sparing any of them.

>BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!<

In a flash, Red leaped in the direction of the gathered three.

The force of his sprint was enough to shatter the surrounding earth, and a shockwave shook the ground from his point of impact. His speed was also remarkable for his size. In mere moments, he had closed the gap.

And then--

>WHOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH<

A surge of wind burst through from his body, swirling and twirling around him.

The three demons--his targets--were well within range, and they were instantly caught in the whirlwind.

"Wha--?!" One of them yelled, feeling his body being hurt by the tremendous force of the whirlwind, which cut through skin like blades.

"HAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!! BE SLICED TO PIECES!" Red gleamed in delight, enjoying the destruction he wrought.

The three demons were sliced from all sides due to the raging force of the tornado, were it not for their regenerative abilities, they would have died a dozen times over.

"Tch! Adu!" Heshu yelled.

The short demon--Adu--swiftly warped from his position, taking his companions with him. They appeared about five meters from the swirling wind, and once again Adu seemed tired. Red observed all of this and gave a bright grin.

Sure, he was currently berserk, but he could still use his basic intelligence. After watching his prey for some time, Red finally arrived at a conclusion.

'That Adu, he has a limit to his teleportation. Hehehe.' More specifically, the burnout period for his teleportation was about two minutes.

How did he know?

'They were all caught in my whirlwind. They were also injured greatly. If he could teleport sooner, he would have done so.'

However, this wasn't the only thing he figured out about his adversaries.

'Adu can only teleport a distance of five, no, let's be generous and say ten meters.' Red remembered how they had traveled far from the explosion when he first appeared.

Perhaps it was because Adu was now weakened, but he couldn't do more than five meters from the whirlwind. Considering their situation, he expected them to increase their distance, but after seeing how exhausted Adu was looking, as well as the condition of the rest of his prey, Red had to admit the inevitability of his victory.

Well, as long as he didn't downplay the abilities of the other two.

"We admit, you're strong." Heshu growled, limping as he approached Red's whirlwind.

Of course, he knew he was strong--stronger than them, at the very least. Unfortunately, when it came to his group, he was pretty much average, even considering his current state.

Demons like these would never stand a chance against the Supervisors. That much was certain.

"WEAK... DEMONS..." Red chuckled even more, staring down at the weakened creatures.

He deactivated his whirlwind and decided to crush them himself.

>VWOOOOSSSHHH<

In another powerful leap, he closed the distance between the three. There was still about a minute left before Adu could use teleportation, so he was guaranteed to catch all of them this time.

"HAHAHAAHAHA!" Swooping his hands to grab them, he caught Adu with his right hand and got Heshu with his left.

He made to crush Hogun, but the lion-face demon escaped just barely, with a barrel roll.

"HAHAHAHAHA! PUNY!" Red laughed in ecstasy.

He understood that Hogun had been strengthening himself, so he was most likely the fastest of the three, but even that luck was going to run out eventually.

"HOW LONG CAN YOUR MIASMA LAST, I WONDER..." Red chased after Hogun, gleaming with delight as he snarled.

Several times he almost crushed the annoyingly fast demon, but missed by a small margin. He had to admit, this Hogun demon was really lucky.

"HAAHAHAHA! RUN! KEEP RUNNING! ENTERTAIN ME!" Red hardly felt tired. He could keep going for a couple more minutes, or long enough to dispose of his opponents at the very least.

'Ah, two minutes are almost up. I better kill the teleporter fast.

Red decided to crush the shortie who was stuck in his grip. However, just before he could do this, he felt a swiftly moving boulder crash into one of his widened eyes.

"ARGH! MY EYES!" He growled, feeling the sting of his naked eyes being crushed by a rock. The particles troubled him, causing irritation.

Still, he couldn't imagine letting go of his captives.

Rather unfortunately for him, though, two minutes were up!

>VWUUUUUMMMMMM<

Red suddenly found himself in a different location/

"U-Uh... I'm falling?" He thought to himself.

His eyes widened as he realized what was going on. He was about a hundred meters above ground, and he was crashing fast!

"What?!"

He looked to his right and left, seeing none of his prisoners present. No, they were also floating in the air--unfortunately, they had a Magic Platform, courtesy of the demon who appeared to be the leader.

Red growled, realizing he never really got to see the old demon's Skill.

"With this, we've won." Heshu huffed, holding an unconscious Adu.

'D-did he use up all his energy to raise me to such a height? Damn bastard!' Red was right, after all!

The more energy he expended, the further he would be able to travel. It seemed doing this much was enough to put a strain on him, though.

Red realized he had underestimated his opponents, causing them to take advantage of him. Or perhaps...

'NO! They used underhanded tactics!' He thought to himself.

Unfortunately for them, he wasn't out of options yet.

>VWUUUUUSSSSSSHHHH<

His destructive whirlwind emerged, softening what should have been a devastating crash. Red, gleamed with joy, as he surmised that he wasn't going to crash-land at his current pace.

"HAHAHAHAA! YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD--!" He stopped mid-sentence after observing the expression of Heshu, who was grinning intensely.

"Got you!"

Instantly, Heshu threw what seemed like a gleaming red crystal. Many would think it was a gem, or perhaps an oddly colored Magic Crystal, but those who were familiar with Magic Items would instantly recognize this thing.

Red instantly knew what it was.

"I-IS THAT A--?!"

>BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!<

The explosion was intensified by Red's whirlwind, causing the sky to be littered in crimson fireworks as the winners glided down on Heshu's platform.

As for Red--now utterly crushed by a roaring explosion--he was forcefully returned back to his little form, crashing to the earth in a flash of violent light.

>BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!<

The earth shook, and he groaned as his little form felt the brunt of his impact.

"G-Gark!" Blood spurted from his mouth, and his entire body writhed in pain.

In his [Critical Point] Stage, he would have healed up, but this form was too weak for such rapid recovery.

'Shit, damage received in [Critical Point] doesn't get translated to power, damnit...' Red groaned internally as he felt himself going unconscious.

His blurry vision picked up the group of three that defeated him, and he could do nothing but curse weakly under his breath.

He cursed their underhanded tactics. He cursed his own weakness.

He just... cursed.

And so, once he had exhausted all the energy from pointlessly cursing, everything went dark.

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[A/N]

I believe this is the first real fight scene of this Arc. Wow. Well... many more to come.

What do you all think? Also, did you sense something sus in the fight just now?