Side Story: The Seventh Index 2

"On my mark... now!" He shouted.

Just as he had given the order, and the magic casters had completed their spells, Famiria released the bow she had already drawn. A dark elf bow, like hers, was a magically crafted bow intended solely for use by a dark elf with exceptional magical power. The bow not only provided enhanced accuracy and power to the wielder but also came with additional benefits. Famiria had skillfully stacked her abilities; one such skill was Target Bleed, allowing her to increase bleeding as long as the arrow remained embedded. Another skill she possessed was Higher Accuracy, favored among those skilled in ranged battles. The arrow whistled quietly through the dense underground air and pierced its way through the left eye of the imp.

"Weakness: piercing the eye," Angrod wrote on a sheet of paper and observed further. This weakness was inherent in any monster with eyes, making it one of the easiest vulnerabilities to exploit.

The imp went into a frenzy and charged toward the adventurers. All the adventurers skillfully positioned themselves, and as planned by Angrod, Fahiri, a nimble Grimalkin (a race of cat-man), distracted the imp by staying within its attack range. To Fahiri, the imp was slow enough to dodge, and he skillfully evaded every attack. He closely inspected and wrote while keeping his eyes up, understanding that missing a second of battle wasn't wise.

On cue, Oangus sneaked from behind and slowly charged an attack aimed at its back. Oangus was a strong brute for an Orc but lacked agility, functioning more as a tank. When his sword struck the imp's skin, it bounced back equally hard. "That's odd, that's some mean skin he has there," he shouted.

Arrows volleyed toward the imp from various places, but none found a weak spot. The imp was intelligent enough to block its face with its arms and use its tough skin to deflect the arrows.

"Mhhh, I see, thick skin on its back? Or his whole body? His movement speed must be reduced from the missing eye; surely it's quicker than that. Kelvin, Gyor, Vigor, Ro! Slash different parts of his body," Angrod proclaimed.

As instructed, they all moved and slashed different parts of the imp's body. Kelvin went for the Achilles tendon, Vigor slashed the kneecap, Gyor the stomach, and Ro slashed the armpit. In that order, determining the size of the slash. Kelvin barely made a scratch, but that could've been due to a lack of strength. Vigor's slash was deep and appeared to hurt it. Gyor's slash was less successful but cut deeper than Vigor's, perhaps because the skin around his stomach was thicker and less prone to getting slashed, Angrod thought. On the other hand, Ro, barely using half of his strength, succeeded in tearing through and disabling the use of the imp's right arm.

"Below the armpit could possibly be an option. Kelvin, aim for the armpit!" Angrod shouted.

Kelvin wasn't the strongest member of the adventuring party, but that disadvantage allowed Angrod to use him as a reference for the average warrior's strength. Kelvin jumped and swung as hard as he could, succeeding in rendering the other arm useless for the imp.

"Alright, test out some weak magic spells!" Angrod shouted at the ranged magic casters.

All elements were hurled at the monster, but surprisingly, none worked. Natural things like salt, throwing spice at sensitive areas, poisons, and any other possible threatening projectiles proved useless. The only successful attacks were enhanced charged arrow shots and the sword. Unfortunately, the other imp had awakened, and Ro, Gyor, and a couple of archers went to deal with him before he could set himself free from the stone imprisonment.

Leaving one eye open was strictly to view the ranges of motion the monster was capable of and other capabilities, but Angrod knew that for some reason, it had to have a healing ability. While he waited and timed every second to see how long his wounds took to heal, the adventurers tried different attacks while avoiding getting stomped or hit. A glow emerged from the imp's throat, but the adventurers knew all too well what that meant and acted accordingly by getting closer to the support mages and using a magic barrier. The glow meant that the imp was capable of using magic or breathing fire. This was common among demonized monsters, something Angrod had been suspicious of based on the imp's black skin and hair color. As predicted, the imp let out a screeching roar and released burning hot raving flames. It breathed the flames for a couple of minutes until finally, it ran out of mana and breath.

The party watched as the imp slowly began to gain mobility from its arms, and they let it gain back its strength to see what it would do next; after all, it was more of a study than a battle. The imp mustered all the strength it had regained and pulled the arrow from its eye. It had lost a considerable amount of blood and stained the armor of several warriors who were near. The arrow was hard to pull out, mostly because it was a special arrow made to stay latched inside a target, but they paid no mind to the pain, for what it would do next justified the pain. The eye quickly healed, and the imp was now fully healed from all the damages it had received.

"15 minutes, that's how long it takes for them to heal," Angrod shouted.

Given orders not to shoot unless given the go-ahead, the archers waited, pointing their arrows at the eyes. Fahiri stepped in, once again, to test its speed. Just as Angrod had expected, it was much quicker—slightly quicker, enough for Fahiri to dodge with ease.

Fahiri lost his step and almost fell victim to a heavy blow, but luckily used a technique he never believed he would use. He unexpectedly grabbed the hair of the imp and pulled to catch himself from falling, causing immense pain for the imp. Angrod simply laughed and wrote down that unexpected act.

Oangus tanked a mighty punch from the imp. He intentionally stood holding a shield up, hoping to measure the power of the imp, and so he did, but at the cost of his shield being bent. The power behind a blow from the imp was devastating enough to possibly kill any average adventurer.

"That would explain why so many adventurers fell victim to these two; imagine facing both and having to dodge both devastating blows," Angrod thought as he continued to write.

"Pierce the back of the neck! Just above the upper back," Ro shouted.

Angrod turned to face Ro and his separate group who had decapitated the imp. He wasn't a fan of sending them to face the other imp, but that was the risk they ran when they had only 10 minutes. One thing that amazed Angrod more was that Ro had talked; it was the first time any of the party members heard him speak, and before, he would only give gestures and point.

"Got it! Finish it," Angrod shouted, ordering whoever to step in and aim for that spot.

Vigor jumped high and prepared a heavy pierce. The imp was focused on Oangus, who was baiting its attention, but for some reason, the imp had a sixth sense. It turned faster than it had ever moved and with a swift movement, killed Vigor by clapping with enough force to crush him between its hands. The hands were big enough to cover the body of Vigor. The sight of watching an old friend get killed was unsettling and painful to Angrod, but neither he nor any other could get distracted and lose focus in the midst of a battle. Kelvin, however, took that sight as something that ripped his will to fight. He got on his knees and watched as Vigor, the man who was like an uncle to him, someone who showed him kindness and gave him a chance to be a part of the Golden Claw, had his life taken.

Fahiri attempted to wake Kelvin up from his shocked state, but inside his head, everything was a blur; his senses clouded, and he fell into a pit of stillness. Fahiri carried him to safety, and the rest of the adventurers that had dealt with the other imp made their way over to the remaining imp, trying to keep him occupied while Fahiri moved Kelvin.

Kelvin opened his eyes slowly and blinked several times. The same smell of dirt and blood was ever present in the air, and his lips were still slightly dry. His legs felt trembly, and his arms felt heavy. His face, hair, and armor were still covered in blood. He couldn't hear well, and his head hurt slightly. He tried to fix himself by raising his body from being laid on the ground. He took a wet rag off his head and looked around. The adventurers were all sitting down, laughing amongst each other and enjoying a post-battle meal still in the battlefield where they had fought. The two imps were both dead, decapitated.

"Decapitation."

"Huh?" Kelvin said and turned his head slightly.

Angrod sat next to him, initially not in his visible sight.

"That seems to be the only way to kill it."

"How did …"

"If you tried to attack the back of its neck, the imp went into a state of heightened reflexes and defended its greatest weakness. Vigor… thanks to his sacrifice, no one will ever have to struggle with these imps, I give you my word."

Kelvin let out a silent tear and looked down.

"How long did you know Vigor?" Angrod asked.

"I met him a long time ago when I was just a small boy. He was friends with my father. He taught me everything I knew about the sword."

"I see… you know, back in my heyday, I used to mentor that thick-headed oaf. Haha, you should've met him when he was younger; he was always hot-headed and eager to fight anything and anyone. You could say I mentored him on the right path, so in a way, that makes me your superior, Kelvin."

"You… mentored him."

"That was probably before you were even born," Angrod laughed.

"Angrod."

"Yes?"

"Could you also mentor me?"

"You?" Angrod replied, surprised.

"I made a promise to Vigor long ago."

"What might that be?" Angrod asked before taking a sip of some wine.

"I, Kelvin Luminous, am going to be the king of my own kingdom."

Angrod spat his wine out in surprise and laughed.

"You've got to be one crazy young man! But for that, you have to be ready and strong for anything… be able to protect those whom you care for," Angrod said while looking down, the thought of losing his friend once again entering his mind.

"Young man? What happened to 'boy'?" Kelvin jokingly stated.

Angrod looked at him and smiled. He put his arm around Kelvin's shoulder.

"I hope one day that promise is fulfilled."

In that same year, 969 of the third era, the much-anticipated book was released. The Seventh Index was finished and had already begun going through circulation all around Grinfall. That year, it was released months after its scheduled date, but thanks to the efforts of Angrod Figmond, the index included 17 more new monsters or demons that had never been documented. The most notable being the Dark Imp, as it was a demonized monster that gained popularity. The name Dark Imp seemed to fit the profile of the horrid creature, but the name was more than just a reference to the nature or skin and hair color of the imp; rather, it was a tribute to a man who was a true warrior: Vigor Dark.

The story of the Seventh Index was written by Takagi himself. However, when he wrote the story, his main focus was on the warrior who took down the Dark Imp and helped piece together small pieces of the Seventh Index. His name was Robertus Greater Briar.