The treasure of the Demonic Beast

"Let me reapply Overheat..." Vincent raised his hands.

Soon a puzzled frown appeared on his face. He noticed how the cracked mutated skin recovered by itself. He saw it crumble and burn more intensively before he blacked out, but now it regenerated as if nothing happened to it.

[We don't have time to test it out, but the fire might be the cause for its regeneration.]

[We need to slow the Demonic Beast's movement somehow. I saw Lupa inflict a deep wound on its chest before I used Soul Visit. She violently swung her arms as if she wanted to end everything then and there, but the Demonic Beast seems to possess hardened flesh as well.]

[Stage ten Devouring might have killed the Demonic Beast in a few days or weeks, so covering the rabbit's horn with numb paste might not work because of this fact.]

[Most of the paste will stay out, but if Ester could freeze the paste... it might be a different story.]

Vincent didn't have time to think, so he trusted her plan. He faced Ester and said while summoning the numb paste pouch and the rabbit's horn, "Apply the numb paste on the horn and then freeze it. We can't escape because such a strong Demonic Beast will not let us easily leave, not after we have already injured it. This might be the key to survival, so I depend on you."

.

[1x Small Pouch (Numb Paste - Uncommon Quality) summoned. x0 remaining.

[1x Horn of Horned Rabbit (Uncommon Quality) summoned. x0 remaining.]

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"Ok..." Ester became terrified by the fact that escape was not possible anymore. However, the trust placed on her to freeze the numb paste made her feel hopeful and courageous instead.

"The female soldier is still breathing, but she injured her head really bad." Ester took the horn and paste, then she continued, "It will take some time, so I will hide and call for you when I finish."

Ester swiftly left with her trembling legs holding from the fate Vincent placed on her. She hid behind one of the few dried trees and began channeling her Frost Sigil to help despite her frail body and weak spell.

[You have five minutes left until Overheat ends. We need this plan to work as soon as possible.]

Kass was defending against a barrage of devastating strikes while this was happening. Each rang with a loud boom, but Vincent's voice soon caught his attention.

"Your niece is unconscious and badly hurt, but she is still alive. My companion confirmed it." Vincent notified as he saw the soldier slowly losing ground. As if his strength was quickly fading and the previous equal balance disappearing, tilting against their favor.

"If anything happens to me, can you take care of her? She's a good girl." Kass said with his frowning vein bulging on his wrinkly old face. He arched his lips, forming an excited grin by this news. One of the two people he wanted to live was still alive.

"It's better if we all live, old man!" Vincent quickly exclaimed. He had already experienced something like this before. People close to him, telling him their last words. Fighting along with Kass made him a bit hopeful of becoming friends after the fight.

Back on Earth, Vincent desired to reintegrate into society and make a friend or two after Kevin slowly melted his frozen heart. He decided to become friends with the few children from the orphanage he stayed at.

Only fellow infected children accepted his friendship, but unlike them, he was later allowed to leave. Regrettably, their frail body could only hold out for a few years. All the friends he acquired passed away a few weeks after Vincent became twenty-two years old.

It caused Vincent to revert back to his depressed state multiple times over many years, forcing him to stop on the idea of making friends altogether as he didn't want to see anyone he knew die.

Two years later, Kevin was next. One day out of the blue, Kevin asked Vincent to take care of his family if anything happened to him after telling him the Book Of Heroes was completed.

Kevin knew his time was getting closer as his condition slowly became worse from coughing and suffering from a few week-long fevers.

Like Kevin, Kass knew something Vincent didn't. He told Vincent his last words filled with the hope of his niece Tula leaving this bloody arena alive.

Kass became engulfed by his burning desire to kill the Demonic Beast before his life extinguished. He parried one of the wild rocky punches interrupting the continuous barrage. Then he swiftly countered with one of his own targeting the injured chest.

The Demonic Beast took a step back from the impact with a fierce frown. It lowered its gaze and noticed blood smeared on the shield that struck it.

However, Kass didn't have time to play it by turns. He didn't wish to give the Demonic Beast a chance for a breather.

*Cl-cl-clang! Ba-ba-bam!

Kass started a furious combo of strikes. Each shield hitting the hardened flesh and rocks reverberated at a fast interval, almost sounding similar to the sound of fireworks.

The swole Kass attacking like a wild beast suddenly felt like a real berserker and the Demonic Beast a punching bag. The shields dented and bent to his large hands, faintly resembling a pair of iron boxing gloves.

Vincent and Lupa stared in surprise by the raw power Kass was displaying. However, such a feat of strength didn't seem it could last longer, and as they presumed, the raging rush of strikes lasted for a minute until Kass gradually slowed down.

They started to notice how his strength quickly waned while the more veins bulged on his body. It suggested Kass had already reached the limit his old body could withstand.

*Roar

The Demonic Beast roared while shoving the tired Kass, creating some distance between them. Then it secretly shoved its tail in the ground, ready for another round.

"Let's join forces. I will help you no matter what you say, so lets quickly kill this monster." Vincent approached the heavily breathing Kass and stood next to him. Both nodded at each and charged at the Demonic Beast.

The Demonic Beast shot both its arms like bullets at the two. Vincent and Kass approached striking distance when this happened.

However, this didn't persuade them to stop. Instead, Kass kept charging with his two bent glove shields, while Vincent surprisingly parried the attack as if he knew beforehand.

*Bang

*Clang

Loud booming sounds echoed around the area once again.

Kass took a few steps back from the force of the impact. On the other hand, Vincent did his best to bend along the arm, ignoring the recoil.

Then he swiftly used the momentum to grab the Demonic Beast arm and force it to lose its balance. Unfortunately, Kazumi didn't notice the tail stuck inside the ground, which ruined this action's working chances to none.

Vincent quickly released his hold and heard the next instructions to follow.

[A punch from your left side is incoming. When I say now, parry, turning your body along its arm and jump.]

[Now! Parry roll jump!]

The Demonic Beast fist collided against his hard flaming guard. Vincent twisted his upper body like a cog and then jumped. The strike missed, and the Demonic Beast twisted its upper body to the side from hitting nothing.

Vincent spun in mid-air with his flaming guard up. Kazumi had the idea that if he can't block an attack. Then he could parry the attack and build enough momentum to counter with.

[Now! It's clobbering time!]

Vincent heard the trigger word to attack. He ended the three-sixty-degree spin by joining both his fists together and using the spinning momentum to deliver a devastating wild hammer-like strike to its head.

Vincent swung his arms down, striking the back of the Demonic Beast's head with tremendous force, causing it to stagger from the impact.

The Demonic Beast ended up momentarily tilting with its tail holding its body from falling forward. The tail was about to unstuck itself, but it quickly slammed its heavy foot and shortly regained its balance.

Kass was taking a few steps backward from the recoil of the clash. Every passing minute felt more challenging to keep up with the Demonic Beast.

When Kass noticed the Demonic Beast tilting forward and barely regaining its balance, he tried his best to stop his body by force. He didn't want to lose this perfect opportunity.

*Crack

Kass forcefully stopped his body from moving while his old worn bones released a few cracking sounds. His old bones seemed to be at their limit. However, he ignored the pain and charged forward with both his arms ready for another shield bash.

The Demonic Beast thought it regained its balance and could attack Vincent, but it was too late. Two shields suddenly rushed to its face at a tremendous speed as Kass delivered a devastating double-boxing glove shield bash.

The hit was strong enough to unstuck its tail from the ground forcing the Demonic Beast to stagger a few steps back.

The Demonic Beast's nose twitched. It raised its head and noticed a figure falling after jumping from the enormous tree. The Demonic Beast angrily frowned after seeing someone touching what it seemed to have been protecting for a long time.

A few minutes ago, Lupa decided to climb the enormous tree and wait for the right moment to ambush. She kept climbing a few meters until she found a branch to rest and look down. The branch she sat on was about ten meters above the ground.

Lupa gazed down after she heard another loud echoing sound. She saw Kass forcing the Demonic Beast to lose balance, and then Vincent delivering an attack to its head.

Lupa knew it was her moment to ambush. Her instinct told her now or never. She prepared to jump before Kass delivered the last staggering attack.

Lupa jumped with her claws fully extended, filled with the intent to slash the Demonic Beast chest once again. Unfortunately, the ambush failed. She got discovered with no idea what she did to attract attention.

The Demonic Beast nose twitched after it could smell a sweet fragrance speedily approaching. It looked up and saw Lupa falling above it. It also noticed something else falling behind the wolf girl, the cause of what grabbed its attention and intensified its anger.

*Roar!

Behind Lupa was a falling yellow fruit releasing a sweet scent, causing the Demonic Beast to lock its vicious glare on Lupa.

The Demonic Beast quickly readied its dangerous rocky arms to attack Lupa, the wolf girl who touched its precious treasure.

[Hurry up, Lupa is in danger. It would be best if you made it lose its balance fast!]

Vincent felt a wave of killing intent different than he was swimming in. It had more intensity, yet it wasn't directed at him.

Kazumi made him understand that Lupa was in critical danger. He had to act post-haste, or she would get gravely injured or worse.