Salvos (A Monster Evolution LitRPG)

590. Aftershocks

Demons.

Zack hated Demons. Well— he didn’t hate all Demons. But he had his reasons for that. Very complex reasons alongside a lot of complicated feelings.

However, he hated fighting Demons.

He had plenty of experience fighting against Demons at this point. He was a Diamond Ranked adventurer— a brand new one, so he was barely above Level 100. In fact, the reason he had even reached the advancement was due to joining the United Coalition of the Human Lands during the Demon King’s invasion of the Mortal Realm.

Zack wasn’t a part of an adventuring company— he was an independent adventurer. But he still had a team. They were a team of three: Jaakko, Helen, and himself. Jaakko, their leader, was a Cyclops who had a strong sense of justice. Because of that, when Demons started appearing throughout the Human lands, the trio of adventurers immediately got involved.

And while they had grown a lot because of that, it was still a massive pain in the ass, fighting against Demons. After all, Demons were deadly and strong. Humans, Cyclopes, and even Kobolds were no match for a Demon at the exact same level.

It was said that an average Spirit at Level 10 was equal in strength to an average Human at Level 20. Of course, it was entirely dependent on the Spirit’s Subspecies and the Human’s Class. However, as a general rule of thumb, it worked.

The same applied to a Human and a swarm monster. A single Centinel at Level 20 was supposedly practically harmless to a Human at Level 10. But swarm monsters often made up for their weakness through their sheer numbers.

The same couldn’t be said for Humankind. While they were numerous, a large majority of them were non-combatants. Zack didn’t know how many Demons there were in the Netherworld, but he was more than certain it was at least equal to the number of Humans in the Mortal Realm with combat Classes. In fact, considering that ‘wild Demons’ were a thing, it was most certainly more than equal by a substantial amount.

Nevertheless, it didn’t matter as long as the Demons stayed in the Netherworld. Only a few could ever pass through to the Mortal Realm at a time. As long as the Demon King’s evil plan to merge the plans never came to fruition, Humankind would always triumph through numbers alone. And considering that the United Coalition of the Human Lands had successfully put a halt to the grand ritual to accomplish just that a year ago, everything should have been fine from then on.

Or at least, that was what Zack had hoped. Unfortunately, the aftershocks of the Demon King’s attempted merger remained in the Mortal Realm. A large chunk of land in the former Inoria Empire had been… netherfied. The landscape was replaced by a white rocky surface, and the sky was overcome with a red aura at night.

For a long time, that appeared to be the worst of the effects of netherfication. However, as Zack soon came to learn, that was not true. The ground ripped open as the sky tore. Lava spouted from the earth below as Demons poured from the hole above.

And once again, Zack and his team had no other choice but to fight against Demons. He hated it. Not because he hated helping others— even if he was the least valiant of his team, he was still inclined to help out when the entirety of Humankind was in danger. Still, he hated fighting Demons because of how risky it was to go up against one that was lower-leveled than him. Especially since he was a squishy [Mage] who didn’t have the defensive capabilities of either of his teammates.

Well, Helen was squishy too— she was an [Archer], so that meant she wasn’t a close-combatant either. However, she was still capable of fighting with a dagger, and that was why she was a lot more durable than Zack in battle.

But neither of them compared to Jaakko. He was a [Warrior] who fought with a kusarigama. An unusual weapon for his Class, considering that was normally what [Rogues] used. At least, in the Human lands. Apparently these unconventional arms were commonly used throughout the Cyclopes cities.

Regardless, Jaakko was a [Warrior], and the highest-leveled of the three. So he was the most sturdy of the three. That was why he typically stood at the very front of the team during a battle. Just like right now.

Zack winced as he heard the shriek echo throughout the battlefield. It hurt his ears— it was the effects of sound magic… albeit weak. Still, he raised his head, looking at the source of the sound.

All around him, a battle unfolded. Adventurers faced off against winged Demons of all kinds. They attacked relentlessly— without discrimination. Because they were wild Demons. That meant they were distinct from the collared minions of the Demon King.

Apparently, there was a difference. Zack didn’t really know the full details, and all he knew right now was that he needed to stop that blaring sound magic. It was slowing his movements, weakening his magic, and wearing him down. A kind of an area of effect spell that wasn’t meant to kill them, but only weaken them.

Zack focused his gaze on the source of the magic. Hovering high in the sky, a bat-like creature screeched. It was significantly larger than any bat the [Mage] had seen in his life. It looked rather bestial too— it was built like a bear without fur, but its wingspan was thrice the length of its body.

[Vampyr Chiroptera - Lvl. 108]

It was an Archdemon. And it was fast. It zipped through the sky, diving between [Agarats] and [Vampyr Bats] as it continued screeching. Zack raised a tome as he focused on the ground beneath his feet.

“Take this!”

He screamed, and spears made of the white stone of the Netherworld shot into the sky. The volley of projectiles ripped through the lower-leveled Demons— many of them were above Level 50, but they fell like flies against his spells.

However, the [Vampyr Chiroptera] was fast. It easily flew out of the way of his spell as its eyes flickered his way. It shrieked, homing straight for him. Even though there were a hundred other adventurers present, it ignored them. It bared its fangs his way as the air around its body blurred, before vibrating.

His eyes went wide as it drew closer. Zack quickly tried to conjure up another spell. He created a wall made of stone, and the Archdemon just shredded straight through it. He stumbled back as its maw closed around him—

“[Hail Burst]!”

A voice shouted from the side. Zack blinked, watching as a single icy arrow struck the [Vampyr Chiroptera] from the side. The moment the projectile came into contact with the Archdemon’s skin, it exploded into a dozen ice shards.

The ice shards immediately circled around the Archdemon, assailing it again and again as it backed away. But before it could get away, a pair of chains shot through the air. A kusarigama caught the [Vampyr Chiroptera] before it could flee and yanked it straight to the ground.

The Archdemon crashed against the ground as a towering figure strode forward. Four arms, a single eye. Jaakko pulled his kusarigama back as he watched the dust settle. Helen rushed to Zack’s side, helping steady the [Mage].

“Are you alright, Zack?”

“Y-yeah…”

He rose to his feet, nodding at his teammate. But Jaakko’s sharp voice drew both their attention.

“Eyes up. The Archdemon isn’t done just yet.”

They looked towards the small crater where the [Vampyr Chiroptera] had fallen. Zack’s eyes widened as he caught sight of the Archdemon’s shadow. Its eyes burned, before a crimson aura wisped off its body. He took a step back, gritting his teeth. He readied a spell.

And the Archdemon shrieked. It charged at them as he unleashed the spell he had readied.

“[Mountainfall]!”

Boulders rained from the sky, crashing around the [Vampyr Chiroptera] as Helen unleashed her volley of arrows. Jaakko intercepted the Archdemon whenever it got close as the battle raged on.

They were a team of Diamond Ranked adventurers. And yet, they were struggling to take down a single Archdemon around their level. This was why Zack hated fighting Demons.

“Jaakko!”

The [Mage] cried out, watching as his leader was struck across the chest by the [Vampyr Chiroptera]. He stumbled back, and the Archdemon tried to deal a finishing blow. However, Zack quickly flicked his wrist as the ground opened up beneath the Cyclops.

Jaakko vanished beneath the earth as the Archdemon missed its attack. It snarled, turning to Zack as the Cyclops appeared next to him. But before it could lash out their way, Helen fired a glinting arrow.

The projectile struck the ground right below the [Vampyr Chiroptera] and exploded. But with a single flap of its wings, the Archdemon dismissed the blast. It glared down at the three Diamond Ranked adventurers as it hissed. The blast hadn’t even slowed it in the slightest.

“I don’t know if we can take it…”

Zack took a hesitant step back, and Jaakko forced himself back up. There was a tense moment where the team of adventurers faced down the Archdemon. Then the moment ended, and the [Vampyr Chiroptera] shrieked once more, charging straight at them.

“Shit—”

Zack cursed, only for a flash of blue and red to shoot past him. He blinked as a powerful spell blasted the [Vampyr Chiroptera] before it could reach them.

“[Frostflame Vortex]!”

“That’s…?”

His eyes went wide as he watched the Archdemon fall from the sky, its body charred and frozen. It crashed into the ground, shattering into thousands of burnt pieces as Zack could only look on. And a second later, a golden figure shot through the air, sending a sweeping blast of flames into the sky.

The flying wild Demons fell in an instant, completely wiped from the face of the world in moments. Zack saw the fiery figure, before turning around slowly. He stared at a red-haired woman as she walked up to the trio of adventurers.

Helen exclaimed as she saw who it was.

“Edithe Dawnrise!”

“Hey, need a little help?”

Edithe smiled as she raised her gray staff. And Zack glanced back towards the burning encampment. He pursed his lips, nodding slowly.

“We do… we really do…”

Edithe had watched the Demons pouring out of the crack in the sky. Hundreds of them at a time. So thousands had crossed through, more than she had ever seen before in a single day. And they split off into various groups.

Of course, one of said groups had attacked her encampment. But with the help of the Salvos clone, the Demons were quickly dealt with. After that came the real problem of guarding the Netherfied Lands— hunting down the remaining Demons.

Her encampment was not the only one present in the area for this exact reason. She had communicated with the others via artifacts to determine where the main bulk of the Demons had gone. And she had given chase to it.

She had feared the worst when she realized it was passing over another, smaller encampment composed mainly of independent adventurers. However, her fears were mostly assuaged when only a small group broke off from the main bulk to attack the encampment.

Edithe still rushed ahead with the Salvos clone and a handful of others higher-leveled adventurers to help out. Now, she watched as the small breakaway group of wild Demons were cleared with ease.

“Don’t let them escape!”

She called out, unleashing a blast of frost into the air. The last of the Demons fell from the air as she looked on.

“Not a single one of them should leave this camp alive!”

The Salvos clone gave chase to a handful of [Agarats] trying to flee from the scene. She incinerated them with ease, and Edithe wiped the sweat off her brow.

It was finally finished. The last of the Demons were wiped out. Or at least, the small group that had been assailing this camp. The redhead shook her head as she swept her gaze over the small encampment.

“Who’s in charge here?”

She called out, and a tall Cyclops strode up to her.

“I am. My name is Jaakko, it is a pleasure to meet you once again, Edithe Dawnrise.”

He proffered her one of his four hands as she eyed him. Edithe recognized him, although they had only met briefly in the past. She shook her head, opting to skip the idle chatter.

“Indeed, Jaakko. Did you see where the rest of the Demon swarm went?”

She asked as she glanced towards the horizon. He nodded grimly towards her.

“I did. They were heading further to the north. We were lucky they ignored us— I didn’t get a good look at them, but I was certain they had multiple Archdemons amongst their numbers…”

“That’s… troublesome.”

Edithe pursed her lips, before glancing in the direction where the Demon swarm had gone. She was less alarmed than before knowing that, since that was where the various armies of the neighboring kingdoms to the Netherfied Lands were stationed. So there was less risk of the Demons escaping.

Still, the question remained.

“But where are they going? What could possibly be drawing them to the north?”

“I do not know.”

Jaakko shook his head apologetically. She placed a hand on her chin in thought as she wondered frowned.

“The north…”

“I know!”

A voice exclaimed to the side. Edithe blinked, looking up as the Salvos clone descended from the sky.

“I know!”

The Salvos clone repeated herself as she smiled. The redhead blinked, exchanging a glance with Jaakko.

“What is it?”

Edithe finally asked. And the Salvos clone beamed.

“Lunaris!”

“What?”

The redhead paused as the Salvos clone just continued.

“Where I killed Ira!”