Hassan Family

The demon in front of them clearly dominated the Poison affinity. If they were to inhale for more than a few seconds, the poison gas would most likely toxify their organs from the inside out. 

"So, what's the plan, Rokas? Got any bright ideas?" Victor asked. 

"The plan is, Victor, to not die." He replied, smiling. 

"Easy enough!" Victor said as he began to enhance his katana with his lightning magic. 

It was times like this when his dual affinity would shine. In the face of a demon who could send out gasses of poison, Victor's wind magic would work to make sure it never reached them. 

Casting a wind spell, he sent out a stream of wind energy into the gas cloud, cutting a path through directly. 

"Don't try to struggle, ya? I've got all sorts of fun for us to enjoy." The demon's voice echoed from inside the cloud. 

"Let's move to a better position." Rokas said. 

Taking advantage of the path Victor cleared up, the duo made their way through, making sure to stay wary of any surprise attacks from the demon. 

"Graha!" 

Right as the two of them made their way through, a hole in the gas cloud appeared, and the demon shot out. Dagger in hand, he attempted to get a sneaky hit in on Victor. 

Victor was a second too late. He turned his head to react, but realized that the demon's blade was already a few inches away from making contact with his face. 

"Sh-"

Ting! The sound of the dagger meeting a metallic surface could be heard. Rokas had just barely managed to make it in time. Ignoring durability, Rokas trusted in his innate strength to be able to defend against the attack. 

Hearing a dent form in his shield, Rokas grunted. Just that single hit had created a large cut in the shield. 

"Take this, you demon!"

But thanks to Rokas' quick reaction to save Victor, the swordsman was able to counter with his own attack. Lightning-dashing past Rokas' shield, he sent forward a multitude of slashes augmented with Lightning energy. 

"Ya, you've gotta try harder."

But just as easily as he appeared, the demon retreated back into the shadows, continuing his jeers at the duo. 

"We will never get anywhere at this rate, Victor. We have to find a way to permanently remove the gas cloud or prevent the demon from taking advantage of it."

"How're we supposed to go about doing the second one?"

"Just based on our first encounter with it, I can tell that the demon is more suited to assassinations. It will never try to engage in a head on battle. We could use that against it– overwhelm it with attacks such that it is not given time to retreat and prepare."

While the duo were speaking, they were constantly getting interrupted by the demon's impulsive attacks. Multiple times it had attempted to land a sneaky hit on both of them, and more than a few were close calls. 

"Cool, cool. How about the first one then?"

"It's not something I'd suggest you do, since you're bound to run out of mana. You could expend your wind magic and unleash a cyclone in the area, forcibly removing the poisonous gasses. 

"Nah, nope. I'd rather do the second one. I'll get tired from the first too easily."

"I'll ask Navigator for her insights. Perhaps she has come up with something. Focus on defense for now." Rokas ordered. 

Taking his mind off the battle for a short moment, Rokas called on Andrea through the earpiece. 

"Navigator. We're currently engaging in battle with a B- rank demon. I'd like to hear your thoughts."

Taking a second to respond, Andrea replied slowly. "Right… I think I have a hit on the demon. Underground Assassin Guilds have multiple bounties on it."

"Listen very closely. The demon's name is Jormuk, and its affinity is poison. But I'm sure you probably already know that. The bounty states that Jormuk has a wound on the right side of his waist that he sustained from a battle with another demon. It should hurt much more if you can hit it."

"That's what you'll be aiming for. I'll admit, the fact that you're even holding on against a demon 4 or 5 sub-ranks above you is impressive, but that won't last if you can't finish this quickly."

"I see. Then we will be aiming for that. Thank you, Navigator."

Rokas turned back to Victor, who had been constantly slicing at the air, sending back the poisonous clouds to make sure Jormuk wouldn't leap through and attack. 

"I've received data on the demon, Victor. Navigator says that it has a wound somewhere on its right waist. It's supposedly much more vulnerable."

"Remind me to kiss that Navigator's hand whenever I meet them, then! Let's do this, Rokas."

Confident in having known the weakness of the demon, Rokas and Victor charged inside the gas cloud in a display of bravery. 

The both of them shared a single thought. If the demon did not want to face them head on, there was only one other way to face off. It was to invade the enemy's territory and fight them on their own terms. 

On cue, Rokas activated Wrathful Shout, gathering the attention of Jormuk, whose instincts acted against him upon its activation. 

Still, it was not enough to induce a full shift in behaviour. Jormuk could still resist the killing intent pooling up within him. For he knew that the moment he left his plane of advantage, his combat power would drastically reduce. 

The moment Rokas and Victor entered the gas cloud, Jormuk began to work in completely surrounding them in the toxic mist. 

"You'll die here, ya. Cease your resistance and catch a whiff of death's poison."

"Like hell, bastard!" Victor spat back. 

Using his wind magic, he relentlessly began cutting at the gas. His efforts proved to be successful, as it gradually began to retreat. 

"Poison Clones, ya."

Just then, three lifesized versions of Jormuk rushes through the gas cloud. They were purple, indicating thet were made from his poison mana. 

However, that didn't mean they were weak by any means. Rather, they held the same amount of combat prowess the original Jormuk did, just that they were less durable.

Swiftly taking the vanguard, Rokas raised his shield, defending against the three clones' combined attacks. 

Meanwhile, Victor dashed forward, delivering a swift backstab to all three of the clones. 

"Ya, you both are stronger than I thought. Guess it's time to end this, ya. Enroaching Haze."

Just then, the gas cloud suddenly became much more dense. It randomly started moving forward, swallowing a large portion of the area in less than a few seconds. 

At the same time, five Poison Clones dashed through and charged towards the duo. 

Now they were in a dilemma. Two threats were present, and only one person could deal with the matter. It was either Victor focused on delaying the toxic mist's approach or focus on counterattacking, for Rokas was much too slow to do so himself. 

"So, uh, got a plan, Rokas? I can't focus on both problems at the same time." Victor asked. 

The duo gradually retreated into the safer areas, but there wasn't much time before the mist completely held the entire first floor in its grasp. 

"I'm thinking…" Rokas said, at a loss for words. 

"Looks like you two need some help." Suddenly, the duo heard a voice behind them.

They turned around, only to see Jesse standing on top of a railing on the second floor. Behind him, more than fourty members of the Hassan Family had gathered. 

"I was wondering why they were taking so long. Looks like they got caught up in some funky business." Jesse commented. 

"Shut it, man! We had it perfectly under control." Victor replied. 

"Oh, really? Then would you prefer I and the rest of our siblings watch you suffocate to death?"

"Uh…no."

"Then, we're here to help! Hassan Family, raise your weapons."