Chapter 19. Unholy Dark Beast

Without answering Bo’guth’s question, I looked ahead at the large Unholy Dark Beast. It roared once again, and its eyes locked on to Bo’guth instead of me. These monsters could easily be dispatched with Holy Power, but as it stood, I couldn’t just do what I did before. However, the idea that perhaps with light I could dispel the darkness crossed my mind, so I used a simple light spell as I had been doing to explore the caves to attack the Beast.

The ball of light quickly flew from my left hand in the Unholy Dark Beast’s direction, but as soon as it got in its range, the light orb disappeared, with the Beast unfazed about it, as if nothing had been done to attack it.

“What was the point of doing that?” Bo’guth asked, his tone of voice somewhat incredulous about what I did.

“I… just wanted to see if light would do something to it,” I admitted, somewhat ashamed that I even thought of that.

Bo’guth scoffed. “If a bit of light was enough to take them down, then the flashlight of my phone would be enough. You’re the ‘Hero of the Holy Gods’, with a lifetime of combat experience, you should know how to deal with these better than anyone with your Holy Powers.”

“That is…” I trailed off, not wanting to confess that I didn’t have Holy Powers.

As if feeling left out, the Unholy Dark Beast slammed the ground with its right arm—which was almost two times as big as the other arm—creating an exploding sound that was followed by a roar and its maw opening once again with a Hellfire beam being aimed at us. Not a second later, the beam was already flying straight at us.

Without needing to communicate with each other, we both moved in opposite directions, allowing the beam to pass by us and hitting the floor a short distance away, creating a similar explosion to the one that it did with the cave wall. I turned to look at Bo’guth, to make sure that he was alright, only to notice that he was putting his hammer away into the Magic Pocket, along with the large shield he’d been using so far.

“What are you doing!?” I questioned, worried that perhaps this would be the point where the demon would show its true nature, joining hands with the Unholy Dark Beast to take me down.

“I guess that I shouldn’t leave all the work to you. I’m going to give it my all to take it down!” he exclaimed, and I felt the magic in his body shifting.

He glowed with a red light, and his body started quickly expanding, with every limb growing in size several times until he was about three to four times bigger than what he was before—which was already fairly large to begin with.

The armor that I thought would blow into pieces also grew along with him, and his demonic face turned even more demonic, with the lower half of his face being replaced by a maw full of large fangs, and his eyes being covered by the same material that his large horns were made out of, making it seem as if he had a helmet with no visor, and large horns that then point upwards and backwards.

From the side of his armor—where the Magic Pocket should be—he pulled out a couple of large swords, which under normal circumstances would be nothing more than two metal slabs that people would use for constructions and never for swords.

He took a step forward with his goat-like legs and the ground trembled under his size. He half-turned his head my way. “Let's do this.”

It still felt strange for me to be fighting side by side with a demon, especially such a terrifying looking one, but this moment wouldn’t allow for hesitation or doubts, as the Unholy Dark Beast shot yet another beam; this time directed completely at Bo’guth. He reacted quickly—faster than I’d expect such a large being to react—blocking the beam by crossing the enormous weapons in front of him.

The beam was completely blocked, and Bo’guth was hardly moved from his spot. After a couple of seconds, the attack was over and he stood tall just as before; his blades glowing orange bright from the heat of the Hellfire. I had to admit that those weapons were quite outstanding for them to withstand that power, and I could tell that Bo’guth was glad about it, since he chuckled.

“It’s been years now since the last time I fought like this,” he said, preparing his stance again to rush forward. “Probably since the siege of the border city of Bangur.”

I wasn’t there to know what happened in that city, but I remember that it was completely taken by Salrak’s forces in a short time… which made me frown as I looked at the demon, who was now charging forward, blades ready to attack.

Again, this was not the time to remember and think about the past, so I also picked up my weapon, started circulating mana in my body, and rushed right behind Bo’guth. The Unholy Dark Beast reacted by shooting smaller darkness-covered red beams from his eyes, which Bo’guth easily blocked, hardly losing any momentum in his step.

“I’ll create an opening and you finish it off with your Holy Power!” Bo’guth commanded, his voice booming in the cave.

However, he didn’t know that I couldn’t do such a thing anymore. I didn’t tell him that, but I was still going to do my best to take the opening and use my own mana power to finish off the Beast.

Bo’guth readied himself to slash at the Beast, but it reacted just as fast as him by lifting that same large arm and quickly driving it down on Bo’guth. He was prepared to take it, blocking it with the large sword on his left hand before using the one on his right hand to strike the Unholy Dark Beast’s skull.

It screeched in a painful voice, and its head violently shook to the side. “Now!”

I accumulated as much mana as I could into my left hand before pushing it forward at the Beast’s head. The mana in my hand transformed into lightning, and a powerful bolt that illuminated a large part of the cave fired straight at the monster’s skull. It recoiled just as violently as it had done before, and I followed up my attack by jumping into the air, the greatsword empowered by my own power as I readied myself to slash the middle of the Beast’s head.

“What are you—”

Bo’guth was interrupted as a second later I had slashed the Unholy Dark Beast’s head, which fell down the ground with a loud boom, lifting rocks and dirt everywhere.

“Why—”

Again, Bo’guth couldn’t say what he wanted to say, as the Beast’s head lifted almost as fast as it had fallen, its maw opened and directed at me. Being still mid-air made it so I didn’t have anywhere to go, so the only possible course of action I had was to quickly create a Mana Barrier. It quickly formed right before a powerful Hellfire beam hit me, pushing me backwards and straight into Bo’guth’s chest, who exclaimed painfully from both my impact and the Hellfire that was spreading around him.

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My Barrier started cracking a second later, but it didn’t completely crumple before the beam was over, leaving me to fall down to the ground right after it shattered. Bo’guth had somehow been able to withstand the beam and was still standing, but I could see some parts of his armor glowing red-hot.

“What are you doing?!” he questioned, quickly turning to look down at me. “You should be going all-out, and not take these beings lightly.”

“I-I know! It’s just that…”

I didn’t want to admit to a demon that I didn’t have Holy Power, so instead I prepared myself for combat again, and Bo’guth also did, as the Unholy Dark Beast was changing. From the monster’s darkness, the smaller Dark Beasts that were composing it started to pour out. They were coming out of its mouth as if it was puking them, each one falling on the ground immobile before standing up and turning their eyes on us.

Bo’guth grunted and readied his weapons. “Let's make our way back to it while dealing with these small ones. I’m going to try to give you an opening again—don’t waste it this time.”

“I… I’m not going to,” I replied, and a dangerous idea sprouted in my mind.

To make the most out of it, we had to be closer to the Unholy Dark Beast, and it wasn’t a good idea to give the smaller ones any more room than was necessary, so both me and Bo’guth started rushing the Unholy Dark Beasts and the smaller Dark Beasts that were making their way to us.

It didn’t take long for us to clash with the wave of Dark Beasts, but they weren’t any different than the mindless beast from before, so slashing, cutting them away, and stomping them wasn’t an issue. Doing so would still slow us down slightly, giving time to the Unholy Dark Beast to prepare itself.

It opened its maw once more, seemingly knowing that the wave of Dark Beasts would make it harder for us to dodge it. And it was right, but we weren’t about to grant it to it, so with a small mana shockwave directed at the Dark Beasts surrounding me, I created a path for me to dash into. Bo’guth, on the other hand, only had to kick and the Dark Beasts would be moved aside, allowing the Hellfire beam to land in the middle of the horde of Dark Beasts.

I created another shockwave and started making my way to the Unholy Dark Beast, running on top of the still burning hot ground. Bo’guth did as well, but it appeared that it was harder for him to deal with the smaller Dark Beasts that were now starting to crawl on over his legs.

I half-turned, worried that perhaps I would need to help him, but he was unfazed by them as he still kept on rushing while slapping them off from his armor, dropping them to the ground and leaving them behind or stepping on them. If we kept going like this, it wouldn’t take long for us to reach the Beast once more, and this time, I was hoping we would be able to swiftly take it down.

The Unholy Dark Beast also seemed to notice that his hordes were doing nothing to stop us, so with another deafening roar, the Dark Beasts stopped trying to attack us and made their way back to the large one, quickly being absorbed back into its body. There were still a handful that were in our way, but we easily took them down, closing the gap with the Beast.

“Here I go. Get ready!” Bo’guth shouted, raising both swords up into the air while being a couple of his large steps away from the Beast.

This time, instead of allowing itself to be hit, the Beast raised its large arm and used it to block the strike. Once it made contact, a powerful shockwave was created, and both beings—Bo’guth and the Unholy Dark Beast—were locked in a struggle of strength, where the Beast was trying to push away and Bo’guth was trying to push in.

“Huh?!” Bo’guth exclaimed, since the Beast was now opening its mouth once again, a Hellfire beam ready to fire at his face.

I wasn’t ready to do what I had planned, but I couldn’t allow the Unholy Dark Beast to take this demon down either, so I threw an Explosive Fireball at the Beast’s head. I didn’t like using fire-based magic, since it would make me think of Hellfire, but right now, that was the best thing I could do.

The Explosive Fireball exploded right after it made contact, doing almost no damage to the Beast, but being enough to push its head aside, firing the Hellfire beam just a short distance away from Bo’guth’s head. He reacted almost at the same time, moving his head to the side, but faltering in the struggle with the Unholy Dark Beast, which managed to push his swords away before slashing at his legs with the smaller, deformed arm.

Bo’guth was caught off guard and the tiny arm managed to scratch his leg. Luckily the armor was strong enough to withstand it, allowing him to kick away the arm. Not wasting the slight opening that Bo’guth displayed, the Unholy Dark Beast raised its large arm and went for the horned head of this demon.

He seemed to be caught off-guard again, but his instincts reacted just in time for him to block the arm with his left sword. As if repeating the same thing he did last time, Bo’guth drove the right sword to the Beast’s skull. However, it was prepared this time, as it turned its head to the blade and from its open mouth, a short Hellfire beam fired, pushing the blade down and causing it to land on the ground, lifting a pillar of dirt.

“Khg!” Bo’guth grunted, seemingly not expecting the Unholy Dark Beast to react that way.

I took that opportunity regardless, since the Beast wasn’t paying attention to me, and the dirt in the air would obscure my movements slightly. It wasn’t the right time to use what I was thinking, because I needed to make sure that the Unholy Dark Beast wouldn’t survive after that, so I went ahead and started slashing at the darkness that was covering its smaller arm.

I empowered the blade with Wind Magic, hitting it with the swiftness of that element as many times as I could. The Beast screeched painfully, its arm losing ground with each strike, and causing the being to lose stability. It turned its eyes on me, and I responded by firing another lightning strike straight at its red eyes.

“Good job!” Bo’guth praised, lifting the large blade from the ground and using the opportunity I gave him to strike once again at the skull. “Get ready!”

I knew that he would be able to give me a better opportunity this time, so I focused all my magic into the blade. I was going to reproduce Holy Power, but as this was power from the Holy Gods, I would only be able to create almost nothing of their power while draining most of mine, which meant that once I did this, I would be completely spent. But it was the best thing I could do right now.

Tracing my left hand on the blade, I focused on transforming my mana into the power that I knew best. With each little movement I did, more and more of my mana was spent, and more sweat would drop from the side of my face. Half-way through, Bo’guth’s blade finally hit the Unholy Dark Beast, its head lifting up into the air.

Bo’guth didn’t stop there, bringing the left sword up with the right one while the Beast’s head was lifted into the air, and bringing them down with as much power as he could muster, creating a powerful shockwave as the Blood-red skull violently fell down to the ground once more.

“Now!” he shouted, and I hurried to create as much Holy Power as I could.

The greatsword hardly shone with the distinctive golden light of Holy Power, barely covering the edge of the sword with a glint that could be confused with the blade reflecting another light source, and I could feel how my own magic power was all but spent. However, it would have to be enough, so I picked up the pace and ran straight at the fallen skull.

It reacted to me, raising its head to look at me and opening its maw. I could clearly see the Hellfire being formed in the darkness of its body, but I couldn’t back away now, I had to get as close as I could into it. With determination, I jumped into the open maw, straight at the Hellfire that was almost completely formed.

“Hero!?” Bo’guth shouted in surprise, but I was already inside.

I ignored both his voice and the Hellfire, jumping up and slashing at the skull, going for the top of its head, where I knew a Magic Stone with concentrated power would be located. Taking that down, would take this being down.

My blade cut through the blood-red bones like a hot knife through butter, and the Unholy Dark Beast screeched painfully, with the Hellfire beam misfiring as a smaller beam passed right under feet, burning slightly the leather-like boots. I didn’t stop swinging, and going up and up into the screeching Beast, until finally, among all the blood-red around me, I felt the Magic Stone that moved this being.

Pushing what little remaining mana I had into both the blade and the armor, I slashed with as much strength as I could muster, hitting the stone and feeling how my blade cut it right in half. The Unholy Dark Beast screamed and everything around me started to lose form, with the blood-red bones mixing with the darkness that covered them. I didn’t have much strength left in me, and I felt how my consciousness was starting to leave.

“Hero!” Bo’guth shouted, "Hey!"

But I couldn’t do much anymore besides letting myself fall down and hope that the protections on the armor lessened any damage.

The last thing I saw before I went unconscious was how the Unholy Dark Beast started to crumble down. I hoped that the demon wouldn’t dispose of me now, but there was nothing I could do as everything around me swirled into a vortex of darkness.