Was I supposed to wait for you to get up?

Cough

Cough

Cough

Cough

Asme covered her mouth with a shaking hand. Her pupils narrowed to the size of grains of sand, and a scarlet liquid flowed from between her fingers, mixed with microscopic pieces of spleen.

The woman took a solid beating during the last exchange of blows... if a one-sided beating can be called an exchange... despite the protective layer of bloody ice, her internal organs sustained significant damage.

The intestines were ruptured, causing internal bleeding. The spleen was vaporized, and the liver... well, it's better not to mention it. The stomach is the only piece of the puzzle not scattered all over the place. This one survived the ordeal.

A reddish-blue bruise on her beautiful face was occupying half of her cheek. Under the aftermath of the blow, the skin was stripped alive from her right hand. Ragged remnants of creamy tissue made their presence felt in the places from which the woman bounced.

Under the influence of the natural drug secreted by the human body, Asme tried to get up, but the paralyzing pain made her realize her stupidity.

The succubus' vision blurred, and the previously clear figure of the Night Terror resembled a black spot in the middle of a white mist. As if all this wasn't enough, she was gathering vomit. She could tell by the distinctive aftertaste of iron in her mouth that it wouldn't be her dinner from yesterday.

Things were bad with the woman. Despite stopping the internal bleeding with ice, she needed the immediate help of Felix, who was lost somewhere in the depths of the battlefield.

With the remnants of her strength, Asme tried to bury the overgrown monster under a hail of daggers, but unfortunately, she met with bitter disappointment. It used up its remaining mana reserves in a desperate attempt to defend its own life.

She was partially successful, but was it for long?

The black dot representing the Night Terror shortened the distance separating her from the horned beauty with every step.

The woman clasped her hands helplessly. She didn't want to die, and her chances of surviving hell on earth were diminishing with each passing moment.

Asme sighed heavily for the last time. She had lost the remnants of hope she had desperately clung to for the past few hours.

In the back of her mind, the conviction had taken deep root that Ramiel would come to her aid at the moment of greatest crisis... However, the reality turned out to be even worse than her most terrible nightmare...

He cast a flimsy spell instead of appearing in person.

Asme felt betrayed... Even though she knew the man well and knew he would never do such a thing, an insidious whisper was messing with her head, suggesting stupid ideas.

He left us...

You knew... that this would happen one day...

How naive...

Ha Ha Ha Ha...

Perhaps this is the effect of a strong spell, combined with prolonged mental strain, or... maybe something else entirely... The origin of the devil's whisper will remain a sweet mystery for some time.

The Night Terror wanted to get rid of the annoying toothache that was Asme once and for all. It had been interfering with his plans all day.

His tails flicked in the air. There was no need to exert himself against an enemy that had lost the will to fight. Better to conserve strength for the coming clashes.

The monster's mind was still plagued by a riddle... who, or what is strong enough to break its spell. If it's something on his master's level, he can't afford to waste any more energy. Otherwise, he will end up buried several meters underground.

Unfortunately, he fell out of favor with the capricious goddess of fate. Just as the woman was about to be decapitated, a figure clad in a dark robe stood in the way of a blade harder than steel.

The monster could have sworn he saw the creature's face contorted into an agonizing grimace as it moved within the skeleton's garments.

" As with children... "

Dozens of souls left Seraphine's robe, which was their eternal prison.

A chilling screech filled the surroundings as the fading remnants of consciousness of once-living beings issued forth. Tormented souls rejoiced in their regained freedom. The sweet taste of freedom worked better on them than pure heroin.

Their joy didn't last long. By human standards, it didn't exceed the time of two seconds.

Guided by mana, the souls covered the wild beast's tails entirely, stopping them in mid-air.

" Forfeit. "

A single word from Seraphine was enough for the Night Terror to lose what is most precious to him.

Captive remnants of living beings, they had no choice but to follow their mistress' order. Like one man, they penetrated inside the monster's tails.

The necromancer didn't have to wait long for the spell's result; the effect was almost instantaneous. Like bloodthirsty beasts, the corrupted creatures tore apart part of the soul, reflecting the monster's most precious weapon.

Crackle

The tails collapsed under the weight of their existence, leaving behind a fountain of crimson sweat. They resembled a balloon from which the air had been extracted by means of a vacuum pump. 

Bloody tears poured from the eyes of the creature that came to the surface. The pain from the injury to the soul proved to be overwhelming. The Night Terror felt as if someone had forcefully deprived him of part of his existence.

Not even the fact of losing his pride reached his mind.

With a wide smile on their lips, they carried out the murder of a living creature. In the end, the remnants of their existence would be erased from the universe when it was over.

Seraphine based her magic on the souls she managed to capture. The element of necromancy is quite specific. It involves a certain cost. Each spell consumes a certain amount of a creature's former consciousness. The stronger the creature, the stronger the effect of the spell.

This was the main reason why creatures who knew Seraphine when she was alive were panicky about her. The awareness of eternal captivity in case of defeat deterred most aggressors.

A hip bone appeared in Seraphine's hand, transformed into a poor imitation of a rapier. She seized the opportunity and flooded the monster with hail, or at least that was her intention.

After a few stabs, her weapon broke in half... although a better statement would be that it was destroyed by someone.

The rotting blue flames erupted into a fierce blaze for a moment, reflecting the necromancer's irritation.

To save Asme, she sacrificed all the souls she had collected during the battle. She had hoped that they would be able to trap a couple of annoying monsters for more than a dozen seconds. Apparently, she miscalculated. The souls used for the spell were of lesser quality than she had anticipated.

Due to a minor mistake, she now has to face three Fears of the Night... At best, two and a half...

The monsters' tails accounted for more than half of their power. However, that didn't change the fact that she still had to fight three bloodthirsty creatures. Adding the ballast of a barely alive Asme to the equation, an impossible task would come out.

The necromancer's only hope is the help of another goblin or Rascal, who...

Seraphine resigned herself to the help of the leader of the gray creatures. He had his problems to deal with.

Of the positive aspects of the current situation, she could only mention one: Caera's team had killed one of the eight monsters. And here, the good news ends. The elfess lost her right hand, her bow, and all the arrows created from infirnyt.

Although the Goblin Archer saved his skin, without mana or arrows, he was useless. Unlike Caera, his hand-to-hand combat skills were non-existent... Let's start by saying that it's an insult to call them skills.

Seraphine had a tough nut to crack. Even with her experience, she couldn't find a way out of the current situation, which resembled traversing an intricate maze without an ounce of light.

The initial plan was to sacrifice the goblins and escape alone with the two women. However, everything went up in smoke when Asme was beaten into unconsciousness.

Seraphine's idea included actively helping the two women escape. Alone, the task seemed unfeasible.

The only solution she could think of was a miracle in the form of Ramiel's sudden appearance. However, it didn't promise that the man would join them soon. If he was going to do so, he would have done so sooner.

I swear if I ever meet him again, I will tear the remnants of his soul to shreds. - A brief thought ran through the necromancer's mind.

~~~~~~

Buzz

Buzz

Rascal's sword blade danced in the air, drawing sweeping arcs. It sloppily deflected the coordinated attacks of two vicious creatures.

The runes etched on its surface glowed from time to time, absorbing some of the impact's momentum.

Swish

Millimeters separated Rascal from losing his priceless head. At the last moment, he managed to escape from the hands of brazen death.

" Not enough... " A silent sigh left the goblin's tightly clenched lips. Only he could know what those words meant.

A negligible charge formed beneath his feet, but it was enough to send him back several meters. It bought him the few seconds of breath he desperately needed.

The duo he faced made him nauseous. At the very thought of them, his nerves were packing their bags.

One of the monsters was responsible for offense, while the other was responsible for defense. Rascal felt powerless against them.

When he counterattacked, the monster responsible for defense became an insurmountable wall. Its magic relies one hundred percent on barriers and shields of all kinds. It tried literally everything to break through further, but nothing had much effect.

The problem came in after the insistent charge was over. The monster would then swap places with its ally, which showered the goblin with a hail of blows.

Rascal could bet the most valuable thing of any male that the duo he was fighting were siblings. Their chemistry and the cooperation they displayed were beyond common sense.

Goblin couldn't know it, but his manhood was safe. The pair he fought with were baptized as twins of perfect harmony. From an early age, they did everything together: hunting, sleeping, playing, killing.

They were like inseparable parakeets. Thanks to this, brother and sister developed an unwavering synchronicity. This ensured their high position in the herd. Despite their young age, the older and more experienced warriors had to put their heads in ashes before them.

All in all, Rascal hit the worst possible note. Enemies who perfectly complemented each other's shortcomings were the worst type of opponent to fight.

However, there was a way to remedy this. All it took was to get rid of one of them, and the whole thing would collapse like a Swiss watch from which someone had forcefully removed one of the cogs.

" More of you mother didn't have? "

Rascal spat a piece of chipped tooth on the ground.

His mockery passed by the ears of the Fears of the Night. Monsters, they were indifferent to his pathetic taunts. If he wanted to imitate Ramiel in his heyday, he still had a lot to learn.

" Heh... It has to be done the old way... "

The goblin hit the ground with all his might. A crack appeared under the sole of his foot, separating the siblings of the overgrown tigers. Between them, a wall several meters high grew out of the ground.

It was a cover for a larger plan.

Rascal kicked the ground, drastically shortening the distance from the Night Terror, responsible for the offensive. He had a few seconds at best, but it was too much to accomplish his goal.

The monster, without thinking twice, dashed toward the charging goblin. According to him, the creature lost its mind, throwing itself mindlessly into the monster's maw. Since dinner pushes itself onto his plate, it would be a sin not to take advantage of it. Stretching his worked-out muscles, his claws surrounded the darkness.

Swish

The monster swung its front paws, sending waves of dark matter crossing at right angles towards the goblin.

" Wrrrr????? "

His pupils dilated in shock as he realized he had been made a fool of.

Moments before the spell was about to turn Rascal into an evenly sliced cube, he had turned into a gray mist, or to be more accurate, the goblin clone melted into the air.

It was a flimsy imitation designed to distract.

At the same time, Rascal trapped the monster responsible for defense in a stone coffin. In order to make sure that no one would get in his way, he invested almost all of his mana in the spell.

To ensure that The Night Terror doesn't get bored, he provides him with a pleasant surprise in the form of a fireball that heats the rocks red from the inside. For a while, he should have one monster out of the way.