Chapter 199 - Behind the reflection
If there was one aspect of fighting demons that made them a particular pain, even more so than most other enemies, it was the fact that they often simply refused to give up. Scarlett had been prepared to fight through hordes of demons while navigating Anguish’s citadel, yes, but did they really have to be so tenacious?
Maybe it was because they knew that their demise merely meant a return trip to the hellish Blaze they hailed from. That, and having a master likely conjuring unspeakable forms of torture for those who failed, probably served as a decent motivator.
All Scarlett knew for sure was that each and every demon that had obstructed her path until now refused to yield. As long as a single mobile appendage remained on their fiendish frames, they fought on, even if all they had left was a freaking femur.
She had known demons could be resilient, but there had to be limits. She had witnessed a demon resembling a cross between a troll and a wretched, disease-ridden dog drag itself across the floor, desperately—or perhaps maniacally—trying to strike Fynn with the remains of its charred leg. And yet, even such a pathetic attempt posed a threat if ignored, as a demon’s touch could carry a corrosive element.
Scarlett had already lost count of the number of demons she’d had to reduce to literal ashes to finally silence them. Her sense of smell had already succumbed to the acrid fumes left behind by all their bodies, and that was even without counting the effect of the suffocating miasma that hung in the air in some of the citadel’s chambers. Without Fynn’s wind magic to blow away the worst of it, she could scarcely imagine how she would have managed.
These were the realities of combat that never came across when you ran a dungeon while only looking at your characters through a computer screen in the game.
Needless to say, she was not enjoying their journey through Anguish’s citadel. Most of the demons they encountered were manageable in terms of individual strength, and even when they appeared in swarms of dozens, Scarlett’s party of eleven proved a very efficient counter to most threats thrown against them. However, it did drain their resources more than she had anticipated.
Allyssa’s stock of potions and alchemical mixtures was rapidly dwindling, as the Shielder was making good use of her various concoctions to keep the demons in check where possible. Meanwhile, Scarlett, Raimond, and Fynn had been the main damage dealers, finding themselves expending mana in high quantities to sustain their spells and magic. Scarlett’s hope of conserving her supply had been quashed early on.
She had to admit that having Raimond and the knights by her side made things considerably easier. That said, she still believed she could have managed on her own if necessary, both because she could have made use of [Ittar’s Genesis] and could have bypassed more encounters with smaller numbers. The demons, while numerous, were mostly at a level where her pyrokinesis could effectively neutralize them.
Nevertheless, she appreciated the assistance that she was given under these circumstances. If she could ensure that neither Raimond nor the knights got in her way later, this might even be the ideal approach. Although this was assuming Raimond wasn’t plotting something with his presence here, and that the Dawnbringers or some other Followers of Ittar faction weren’t waiting to rush in to make a mess of things.
After nearly two hours of exploring the citadel, Scarlett and her party reached a wide, seemingly empty chamber. They had just emerged from a corridor that could best be described as a twisted fusion of Doom and Castlevania, filled with enough demons to make most holy men shake.
Taking this opportunity to take a brief rest, the group gathered at the center of the chamber as Scarlett considered the paths open to them from here.