Chapter 253 Unbeatable Tenacity

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We prepared to receive the demon's attacks, the speed of his Hands of the Abyss were too fast, we could only hope to destroy them as they reached us. With Gluttony split in half, it was hard to use my spear techniques, I could launch the spear halves at him, but he would probably intercept them, even with my [Throwing Technique] Skill giving a fixed bonus to accuracy and damage dealt.

"This damn demon, we have been bathing him with attacks yet he's still standing!" Said Ellergest in disbelief and anger, as he seemed desperate. He had a second Spirit somewhere though, Rank 2 Spirit Masters could summon up to two Spirits, but I genuinely had no idea where this second spirit could be.

"Why not summon your second spirit?!" I roared.

"W-Well…" The old man looked around, he seemed concerned.

"Well?!" I asked.

"He doesn't want to help…" Sighed the old man.

"What?!"

CLAAASH!

The demon quickly hit the ground right where we were, we jumped away just in time. I had mostly used a combination of Gust and Fireball to rush outside of his range while Eleanora used her Blood Thread to catch Ellergest and carry him away. The old man hit the ground slightly pathetically, but he was alright.

"What are you talking about…?!" Roared the demon. "Do you think… you got the time to leisurely have a conversation?!" The gargoyle furious roared, his jaws opened wide, as darkness gathered within them, and an enormous ray of darkness was unleashed against us!

FLAAAAASH!

"Holy Light Beam!"

Ellergest hit the ground with authority and might, as he unleashed a beam of holy light against the demon's beam of darkness, both light and darkness clashed against one another, generating shockwaves that broke through everything within our surroundings. I used my Beast Familiar Spirits to aid the troops of humans behind me into slaying Imps and Onis, so I could keep up my Accumulated EXP and hoard the bonus until we could kill the gargoyle, but the damn demon was making himself hard to kill.

BOOOOMMM!!!

The magic fight concluded quickly as a loud explosion of black smoke spread out, clouding our sight from the demon's location. He quickly used this as a way to hide and sneak behind us, but both Eleanora and I used Shadow Sneak, grabbing the old man with us and meddling within the shadows, confusing the demon as he tried to look for us, until we found him and surprised him.

"...You can meddle within shadows?!" He roared angrily; he should had realized this earlier.

CLASH!

Eleanora and I combined our strength, as both of our spears hit the demon's back, piercing his muscles and reaching his wound, causing severe damage that accumulated enough for his demonic core to fully shatter…!

Crack… crack… CRASH!

"GRAAAAHH…!"

The Demon cried in agony, as his demonic energy quickly began to reseed in quantities, his body itself could produce more, but without this vital organ, it wouldn't be enough to sustain the high level of power he was using, especially techniques such as Hands of the Abyss, which quickly stopped emerging from his Soul Aura.

However, that didn't meant he lost his physical strength, and his soul simply changed in shape, fusing into his muscles and bones. He decided to go all out with pure physical strength.

"I won't lose to you, mere humans… And your damned tricks!" He roared angrily, his enormous rage showcased by the gigantic shockwave he generated by combining his vitality with his soul, Eleanora and I hid in the shadows, but this shockwave even shook the shadows, blowing both of us away.

TRUUUUMMM…!

Ellergest managed to keep afoot as he conjured a light barrier, protecting both of us, only for the demon to rush towards us, using his superhuman strength, he started smacking the light barrier with sheer physical and raw strength, cracking it slowly, like grass.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

"What do you mean that you can't bring your second spirit, old man? What do you even have for a second spirit that it's so unreliable?" I asked.

"My second spirit is named Gold Mountain Turtle…" Sighed Ellergest. "He's amazing at shaping the ground, and dive in the dirt, and has great defenses too, he can turn into a giant shield! But… he's lazy, currently sleeping underground after he helped us make pitfall traps."

"Can't you order him?!" Asked Eleanora.

"No, unlike you, my spirits are not as obedient, sometimes they simply ignore me… I am surprised the dragon cares so much to help as he did, even exploding for you…" Sighed Ellergest. "He has never done this much for me, that bastard!"

"You're so weird, sometimes you're reliable and other times, you're useless!" Eleanora barked back at the old man, as I didn't stop her.

"And you're way too insolent to be a spirit!" Ellergest complained.

"Shut up! Look!" I said, as I pointed out at something that was happening, a sudden group of floating dolls attacked the demon, making him stop from hitting the light barrier. It was Erika! Damn it, I told her to not get to the frontlines!

"W-What are these things?!" Asked the Demon, perhaps he had never seen dolls on his entire life. The dolls were all converted into a strange new Class I had not seen before, they were Knights wearing white armor and wielding golden swords and maces, unleashing long-ranged holy element attacks using such weapons. Their attacks dealt minimum damage, but when they swarmed the demon, they began to pester him enough for the gargoyle to distract himself with them, slaying them with his bare hands and crushing them with his foot. This was time for us to strike.

"HYAAA!"

Erika suddenly reached the demon from above, jumping over the light barrier and surprising even me, she spiraled around using [Dance] and the newly acquired [Sword Technique] Skill she got, slashing through the demon with everything she had with the support of her dolls.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

"A-A girl?!"

The demon couldn't help but feel flabbergasted that Erika could stop him and push him away from us!

"I won't let you kill Blake!" Said Erika bravely.

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