Depthless Hunger

Chapter 244: Fighting a Bone Artisan

The demon lunged straight at Kai, so damn fast that there wasn't even time to fully manifest a Tyrant's Claw. Instead he dodged to the side, buying just enough time to form one. He'd planned to swing it horizontally to catch his opponent, but the demon had already broken away.

He attacked Zae Zin Nim next and she desperately turned aside his swift blows. The demon thrust his hands forward in knife position, confident as if he expected them to pierce any barrier, so her smooth martial arts were a better defense. Kai prepared another Claw but hesitated as he tried to find his moment. What was the demon's fundamental strategy? Perhaps he was trying to take out the weakest members first, before they could use their numbers to their advantage.

And he was buying time: a massive beast formed from bone leapt at Kai from the side, swinging three limbs of different lengths. Instead of trying to deflect the unpredictable attack combo, Kai hit the beast with a Tyrant's Claw that sent it flying backward.

Meanwhile Omilaena had finally acted, launching a series of needles at the demon's back. He managed to ward them off even while fighting Zae Zin Nim, keeping them both at bay simultaneously. Kai couldn't attack without risking one of them, so he took the moment to examine the demon properly.

Name: ???

Total Power: 847

White Demon: Spinel Rank (201)

Bone Artisan: Topaz Rank (410)

Physique: D-0 (200)

Soul Level: 6 (36)

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There were no obvious weaknesses in the demon's spirit, except perhaps a slightly low Soul Level. Perhaps that came with the territory, when you drained your power from others. But that wouldn't matter, given how more beasts were shambling from around the fort toward them. Not beasts... constructs made of bone, presumably created by the demon's Bone Artisan abilities.

Something lightning-fast flickered past Kai and he felt a pain in his leg. It was that speedy little construct and it could have taken out his leg, if not for Behemoth's Heart. As near as he could tell it was already skittering on the opposite side of the fort, so Kai just kept an eye on it and leapt into battle.

Not against the demon, which was already chaotic enough, but instead against the approaching constructs. While in midair he unleashed a thin stream of Baleful Breath that created a cloud of death across one side of the battlefield, and even the bone constructs didn't enter that lightly. Then he crashed down with a Tyrant's Claw, tearing apart one of the weaker constructs. Another swung at him and he managed to kick it in the chest, knocking it away from the melee.

The time he'd bought them nearly paid off. Omilaena closed in, wielding a syringe, and the demon naturally prioritized her as the greater threat. But he underestimated Zae Zin Nim, who finally connected with a palm.

Her qi rang like a bell and a shockwave of blue fire expanded from the point of impact. The demon skidded all the way back across the top of the fortress... his arms crossed in front of him. He looked a little singed, but he lowered his arms and grinned.

"Not as weak as you look," he said in a ghastly voice. "But why are you here?"

"You've killed enough merchants," Omilaena said sharply, as if she was really angry. "Leave the pass alone unless you want to face more of us."

"You don't understand your position. It doesn't matter what you want, I'm going to turn your bones into constructs. But if you tell me who sent you, I'll be merciful and take the bones after you're dead."

They didn't answer that, even as the red eyes shifted between them. When he didn't get a response the demon didn't seem upset, he simply chuckled and prepared to attack again.

Constructs that had been shuffling closer now leapt to attack Omilaena and Zae Zin Nim, who were forced to focus on defending themselves. Before the demon could take advantage of their distraction, Kai leapt in to attack directly.

Instead of beginning with his strongest Tyrant's Claw, Kai gathered power in his right hand while he formed a weaker claw with his left. The first claw impacted the demon's upraised arm and he blocked it, only budging a little. Clearly thinking that Kai was exactly as strong as his human soul looked, the demon only hurled a bone dagger at him while paying more attention to Omilaena.

Then Kai's strongest Tyrant's Claw slammed down, flattening the bone dagger and cutting into the demon himself. And his strongest claw did cut, tearing through the dark uniform and drawing bright purple blood. Kai pulled back for a third claw-

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A fist struck his chest and Kai felt spikes of bone biting deep into him. The pain was far more intense than he'd expected and his next attack faltered. Before he could recover, the demon struck him with another spiked fist.

Kai smashed through a fortress wall and tumbled out the other side. His jaw had been nearly broken and he could feel two lines of blood from the gashes... no, that wasn't the worst of it. Something spiky was growing in his chest, trying to shred him from within...

He realized that the bone fragments had remained in his chest and tore at them. His claw knocked the growing spikes to the ground, but he was bleeding even more now. Even with Behemoth's Heart, he needed a moment to recover.

Trying to attack head on had been reckless and aggressive. Despite all his precautions, he hadn't taken the true powers of Rosemount seriously enough and he could have died if not for his companions. But it didn't change anything: he'd been fighting opponents with superior offensive power ever since he'd first awakened a Class. If his power couldn't take him through this, strategy would have to make up the gap.

His attack had at least bought the others time: Zae Zin Nim had demolished many of the constructs with palm strikes, while Omilaena seemed to have found some sort of reagent that melted them. Most of the weak constructs had been destroyed, but that left one shambling bear-like monster, a four-legged beast with scythes for limbs, and lightning fast constructs lurking around the edges. Even Omilaena seemed to have trouble keeping up with that one.

This would have been a good opportunity to use Void Gaze, but he'd prepared Baleful Breath instead. Kai tried to reach inside himself despite the chaos of the battle and had to dodge a bone knife not long after. Had the demon sensed what he was doing? No, that couldn't be... the demon was simply strong enough to threaten all three of them at once.

Besides, the other two clearly needed his help. There would be no time to shift his soul in a battle this intense, so he'd need to plan based on the abilities he currently had.

Zae Zin Nim was being threatened by the scythe beast, which couldn't be easily defended against with humanoid martial arts, and the bear-like beast was proving resistant to Omilaena's acid. Clearly the demon was figuring out their weaknesses, and if this was allowed to continue they'd lose. Kai took a deep breath, then charged directly at him.

Even though he used a Tyrant's Claw as a feint, he still swung with all he had. The demon deflected it with a plate of bone growing over his wrist and turned on him, grinning with sharp teeth. But Kai's next swing was targeted at their feet.

Half the roof of the fortress was destroyed, which launched him in a different direction. The demon dropped, only irritated and inconvenienced by the fall, but that was enough. Kai's new path made him intersect with Omilaena, who he grabbed around the waist and pulled away from the battle.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"I'm not strong or fast enough to fight the demon in melee." Kai met her gaze and saw her anger vanish against his confession. "Let me take on the big construct. Keep him tied down."

"Fine." They both leapt back toward the roof of the fort.

In their brief absence Zae Zin Nim had managed to get away from the scythe beast and the demon was only just emerging, so it looked like they had a chance. But while Kai was still in the air, the fast construct unleashed a fragment of bone... no, there were several.

Multiple constructs unleashed projectiles against Zae Zin Nim, who needed her full attention just to deflect half of them. The rest slipped past her hands and were caught by her aura of blue flames. For a moment it seemed she'd stopped all of them... until the last bone shard managed to break through and hit her stomach. Zae Zin Nim looked down in surprise and stumbled back.

As much as Kai wanted to run to her, he stuck to the plan. Omilaena was already leaping in to stop the demon's attempt to finish her, so Kai met the largest construct head on.

His first Tyrant's Claw tore off one arm but wasn't enough to take it out. The bear-like construct hit back with shocking force. Kai managed to halt his stagger and struck back, brawling with the beast. He might not be able to fight the construct's master, but he could eliminate this threat to Omilaena.

When he finally got close, he used Isulfr's Bite to tear off its upper half. The result tasted like bone and clearly didn't have any monstrous essence he could use. Just in case, Kai kicked the rest of the body off the side of the fortress.

Meanwhile, it looked like Zae Zin Nim had managed to burn out the shard in her stomach. She was holding the injury and grimacing, but she'd be capable of fighting. Omilaena and the demon were blurring in a storm of projectiles and eventually Omilaena had no choice but to retreat before the onslaught.

"This is more trouble than I thought." The demon frowned and manifested several slivers of bone in his hand. "My brothers and sisters will be interested in this."

He tossed the bone slivers off the side of the fortress. When they hit the ground they began to unfold, more bone forming out of pure chakra. These weren't combat constructs, just small bird-like skeletons. Some of them began to run and others rose into the air. They were all headed south, toward the Commonwealth and presumably the other demons.

"Stop them!" Kai shouted. Zae Zin Nim moved next, unleashing a flurry of qi bolts.

She managed to destroy all the fragile constructs... and the demon grinned as he leapt. Faster than Kai had seen him move before, he grabbed Zae Zin Nim around the neck. Fragments of bone began to pierce her skin and she cried out as her energy began to drain from her body.

Kai couldn't stop himself this time, he was already running. At the last second he realized that the demon was no doubt trying to inspire a wild charge from a greater threat. Instead of aiming for a direct blow or saving Zae Zin Nim, Kai twisted at the last second, dodging a strike and instead hitting the demon's arm holding her.

He thought he just glimpsed Zae Zin Nim tumbling away, then the demon's hand was on his throat. Kai pretended to be drained for just a second, just long enough... uncertainty entered the demon's eyes as he realized that he couldn't drain him. In that second Kai's teeth snapped closed.

His plan had been to take off the demon's head, but it jerked back and his spiritual teeth grated against something too tough to easily eat. In the end Kai was left with a mouthful of flesh unlike anything he'd tasted before, with purple blood running down his teeth. The demon fell back, a major chunk of his arm removed, for the first time truly shocked.

Shock turned to rage and the demon was on him faster than he could react. The first blow smashed him through the fortress wall and against the mountain, but the demon followed up this time. Kai tried to fight back, but the next blow hammered a bone shard into his arm. Shard after shard after shard, Kai was impaled to the rock.

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