Chapter 279: Demir[2]
Demir’s presence dominated the battlefield, as if the air itself had gained weight, pressing down on his opponents’ bodies with a raw, invisible force.
Garon dropped to his knees beneath him, two lines of blood trickling from his mouth down his chin, his left hand resting on the spot Demir’s knee had just struck, and his other hand still trapped in the dark-skinned man’s grip.
Obviously, kneeling in front of your opponent while he’s holding your hand wasn’t the best choice... it was the worst, but for Garon in that moment the world was blurry and silent... the weight of that single blow had scrambled his whole brain.
In his whole life, the proud Garon never imagined he’d go down from a single blow in such a pathetic way... even though he hadn’t fought Elliot or Caius since they disappeared, and he knew the gap between them had become vast now... he thought he could at least take their hits and fight them for a while... and the same went for Demir.
It took Garon a moment to get his vision back, and the first thing he saw was Demir’s face, those rough features and the open contempt in his eyes made his blood boil.
He ground his teeth in anger, trying to stand, only to feel another impact in his stomach, a metallic sound rang out where Demir’s kick casually landed on his gut, as he let out a deep snort. "Pathetic."
The words came muffled to Garon, whose world had turned into a pulse of pain and nausea, even his arm screamed in this giant’s grip.
But luckily for him, or unluckily, Demir only had a few seconds for him... because he soon lifted him by his hand, hanging him in front of him like a living punching bag, the next moment the muscles of his arm tensed under his dark skin, then without delay his punch landed in Garon’s chest.
The effect was instant, the ground cracked from the shock, and dust scattered as Garon was launched like a cannonball, flying off, his back smashing into the big rocks one after another and reducing them to rubble.
As if he’d lost interest in him, Demir’s eyes swept the battlefield for a moment, he saw Caius fighting his companions off to the side, a few dozen meters away.
And in front of him, the dust cloud tore apart and vanished in an instant under a simple wave of Emeris’s hand, revealing the scale of the destruction the thrown spear had caused.
Right in front of the silver-haired girl’s foot his spear was planted in the ground, but the terrain itself had changed.
Instead of forest there was a crater twenty meters across sunk deep into the ground, and at its center was Emeris with the spear in front of her, after taking his full blow she hadn’t gotten a single wound, which made the calm man show some confusion for the first time.
Away from Emeris, Leona was moving across the battlefield, running with stunning lightness, sword in hand, heading to back up Caius on the side, and at the back Sarah was falling back... if it weren’t for Leona’s earlier warning, she’d be somewhere other than here right now.
And on the other side, balls of fire flew too, wiping away the shadows of the night and targeting the group still coming up from the bridge, only for a dark-skinned girl to press her foot to the ground and raise a wall shielding her companions.
The fire struck the rocks and burst into flames that melted those dull walls in a moment, the girl screamed from the searing heat and backed away, summoning new layers.
Ivan followed Izel and backed her up, while the rest spread out to encircle Auerlion, and one of them pulled back to tend to Garon, who’d been thrown far away.
At that moment Demir finished sizing up the situation... it was bad, but not too bad.
He understood who the strongest among them was, who he had to deal with first, and who wouldn’t really be a threat... but those last ones were few, this whole group looked like elites.
Most of his team had left the bridge and formed ranks behind him, their fights flaring at the edges of his vision... or what was left of them.
And some distance ahead of him Emeris was already moving, a thin line of blue light carving through the air toward him, Demir sensed danger from this simple attack, so even before it fully formed, he was moving.
Not toward Emeris... but to the right, a few dozen meters away where Caius and Leona were fighting a small squad... at the same time the spear planted in the ground trembled and rose into the air before flying toward its owner.
But Emeris wasn’t going to allow that, with a wave of her hand a surge of blue ether struck the silver shaft, a blow strong enough to flatten a cluster of trees and hurl the weapon deep into the forest with raw force.
But that was enough for Demir to get out of reach of the thread Emeris had sent, so her attack faded uselessly into the air, and she was already raising her hand again, ready to unleash a wave of destruction at them.
But Demir was smarter than that, because at that moment he was already on Leona and Caius.
...
When Caius took down the two armored fighters, he didn’t even get a chance to catch his breath before someone else came at him... not that resting for a few moments would’ve changed anything.
When a tall man charged at him with a hammer and a war cry, his vision flashed white, for a moment he thought the blow would land right on him, so he braced to take the excruciating pain.
But when his sight came back, blurry and distorted, he caught strands of deep blue hair in front of him... with almost perfect movements Leona blocked the war hammer with her slender sword, and effortlessly redirected the hammer’s momentum to land on the empty ground beside her.
With his hammer pinned under her sword she raised her foot and kicked his ribs, a kick that sent him staggering back a few meters along with his heavy weapon.
Leona threw a worried glance over her shoulder at Caius. "Are you okay?"
’What does it matter... I want to get out of here.’ He opened his mouth to remind her of that fact, but his vocal cords didn’t seem to respond, and at the same time he caught the silhouette of a dark-skinned giant rushing toward him... even with his big body Demir’s speed was staggering, all he could track was his outline.
Seeing that, Leona had no choice but to turn her attention back to the fight, she saw Demir coming at them, a moment away from the inevitable clash... and she knew she was no match for him in raw strength.
But Leona was Leona... she took a single step back.
At that moment Demir was in front of her, his huge fist looming over her and his stern face expressionless... and before his fist came down on her, he took a heavy hit to his side that made even him stumble a few steps.
It was none other than his own teammate, who’d charged with his hammer and blindly hit him instead of Leona, as if his sight had cut out in the last moments... which is exactly what happened.
"Damn it!" the hammer-wielder screamed, swinging wildly, and since he’d hit something solid, he decided it was his enemy and kept going at Demir.
Demir raised his palm and caught the second blow in midair, before reaching his other hand to his teammate’s arm, his deep voice cutting through the noise of battle. "Mark... it’s me, stop—" His words were cut off when Leona reached his side with astonishing agility.
She slashed at the tendons behind his knee, but a layer of essence wrapped his leg, making the blade glance off.
Demir shoved his teammate back, not hard enough to hurt him, just to get him away a little... but Caius was already behind him, panting weakly, he stabbed the hammer man in the back, his sword nearly bursting out through his stomach, but the belt spared him the agony and took him away.
Demir narrowed his eyes at Caius, noticing the weakness in his movements, essence surged into his fist, then came a sideways swing with no martial art or calculated precision in it... just raw, unfiltered strength.
The air whistled, and the shockwave spread in a sonic boom that shook the ground, if Leona hadn’t already pulled back, she’d have taken a lot of fractures from that blow.
Her blue eyes were seeing the possibilities of the near future, analyzing them and turning them in her favor... all she wanted was to spill a drop of his blood, one direct touch on his body and she’d take away one of his senses.
But as if that was still far off, a silver spear flew from somewhere in the forest and landed right in his grip.
At that moment Leona saw what was coming and screamed, "Watch out!"