Demonslayers (4)

Sunny had long ago lost track of time and grew desensitized to the tremors running through the great tree each time the two monsters clashed.

Sudden stillness gave him a start.

With a slight shudder, he turned his head and listened, trying to discern what was happening.

In the quiet aftermath of the terrible battle, Isaac's firm voice said.

"We can open our eyes now."

Sunny lingered before following her advice.

He opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times, his vision slowly returning.

The pale light of dawn was creeping from the east, enveloping the island in the dim twilight.

Beneath them, the surface of the island was torn apart and upturned, almost unrecognizable.

It was as though the Ashen Barrow was pummeled by several rounds of heavy artillery fire.

And on that surface...

'Damn it!'

The Carapace Demon was slowly limping back from the edges of the island, leaving a trail of azure blood behind.

He was heavily wounded and in terrible shape, with several limbs missing and a spiderweb of cracks covering his once pristine carapace.

Two of his arms were gone, leaving him with a single scythe and a single pincer.

Most of his rear legs were either broken or severed, forcing the behemoth to walk in a strange, unsteady gait.

However, he was still alive.

More than that, none of the armor plates covering his vital organs were seriously damaged, his metal shell still strong and impenetrable.

Sunny clenched his fists and glanced at Neph, a dark expression on his face.

"What... what do we do?"

Isaac looked down.

There was a cold glint in his mischievous, grey eyes.

Then a devilish smirk appeared on his face.

Stretching his arm to the side, he summoned his sword and said.

"Finish it off."

Sunny and Neph looked at the wounded demon, a grim look of resolve on their face.

At this point, there was no reason to argue.

They had no other choice but to face the guardian of the island themselves.

Sunny's bag of tricks was all empty anyway — in the end, their fates were still going to be decided by sharp blades.

Someone was going to get killed, and someone was going to be the killer.

"How are we going to deal with his armor?"

Nephis weighed the sword in her hand and glanced down.

"I will break through the armor can-?"

"I will do both".

They both turned towards Isaac.

His demeanor was different than before.

Before at the start of the plan he was weirdly weak to the point his movements were like a malnourished person.

But now he was overflowing with vitality.

Sunny and Nephis shared a glance.

Then they both nodded.

They knew even if they wanted to Isaac would jump into battle with or without their consent.

While Nephis was tying the golden rope to the branch, Isaac walked over to Cassie and lightly squeezed her shoulder.

She tried to force a smile.

"I take it that the Carapace Demon is still alive?"

Despite the heavy, cold, dark feeling gripping his heart, Isaac made his voice sound relaxed and carefree.

"Yeah, but just barely. Don't worry too much. This whole thing will be over in no time."

'One way or another'.

He added inwardly.

Cassie's smile weakened.

She was not convinced by his clumsy attempt to reassure her.

But Isaac did not hesitate.

"Hey. Have you ever eaten demon meat?"

The blind girl was surprised by his question.

"What? No."

Isaac grinned.

"How about a demon steak? I'm an excellent cook, I'll have you know. Uh... I think. Neph had sort of monopolized the preparation of food, so I had no chance to put all the knowledge from the Wilderness Survival course to practice."

Isaac regurgitated Sunny's dialogue from the novel.

Teacher Julius had indeed spent a lot of time teaching him how to cook all kinds of seemingly inedible things, as well as meats of all sorts of Nightmare Creatures, in preparation for his journey into the Dream Realm.

Here, hunger was as much of an enemy as the fiercest of monsters.

"As soon as we get our hands on some demon meat, I'll make you a steak. It'll be the most delicious demon steak you have ever eaten... I promise!"

Finally, a real smile appeared on Cassie's face. She gave him a courteous nod.

"Alright. That's a promise then."

Meanwhile, Nephis was done with the rope.

She threw it down without hesitation and glanced at Sunny and then Isaac.

"Are you two ready?"

Isaac nodded in the affirmative.

Sunny sighed and closed his eyes for a second, feeling the strength of his body being enhanced by the shadow.

"Yes. Let's do this."

As soon as their feet touched the ground, Sunny felt a heavy gaze burning a hole in his chest.

Glancing up, he saw the crippled Carapace Demon staring right at him, a dark glint shining in his one remaining eye.

The other one was gone, leaving only a bleeding black gap behind.

At this distance, the damage dealt to the demon's body seemed even more debilitating.

Its carapace was fractured in several places and covered in cracks, each seeping with azure blood... sadly, none of the cracks were near the vital organs.

His horns were shattered, as was one of his front legs — in addition to several rear ones that were either broken or torn off completely.

The stumps of his two severed arms were pressed tightly against his torso to stem the heavy bleeding.

The other two were hanging to the ground, almost brushing against the ashen sand.

The giant monster looked broken and tired. However, it was still terrifying, perhaps even more so than before.

Because, despite the horrible wounds, his gaze was still firm and full of evil intelligence.

It was still radiating madness and bloodlust.

Which was now concentrated on Isaac, Sunny, and Nephis — the architects of his sorry state.

The first beams of the rising sun shone on the spikes covering the demon's once lustrous carapace, painting them in shades of burning crimson.

Sunny summoned the Azure Blade and glanced at Isaac and Nephis.

"Be careful. He's lightning fast."

He was the only one who had seen the terrible creature in action.

As such, only he knew how dangerous the demon was.

Isaac and Nephis nodded, not taking their eyes off the enemy, and stepped forward.

The two of them walked toward the waiting Carapace Demon.