Demons Among Gods

Lyria shoved Livy aside, then closely observed Eric's condition.

She bit her lips painfully, watching how horrible a mess Eric's chest was in. His skin was ripped forcefully apart, dangling on his sides in multiple slices. Ribs and everything were filled with blood, and everything inside looked injured.

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. After opening them again, with a sharp gaze, she continued to observe in more depth.

After a while, Lyria sat up straight, closed her eyes, and took numerous deep breaths.

Livy, beside Lyria, asked with a deeply worried tone, "H-how is it? I-is everything alright?"

She felt a piercing pain in her heart just by glancing at Eric's terrible condition and couldn't bear to look deeply. She was really glad that Lyria was here. She also regretted hugging Eric tightly earlier while sobbing, unaware of his condition—hopefully, she hadn’t worsened it.

Lyria opened her eyes and, while glancing back at the horrifying mess, reported:

"His heart is completely gone—nothing of it remains. Due to his heart exploding, other organs and nearby bones were also injured. However, perhaps at the last moment, Brother Eric had protected the other organs as much as possible with his mana, which was why they only received minor injuries. If he hadn’t torn open his chest and let the force escape outward as much as possible, then perhaps... all the nearby organs would have also burst."

She herself was struggling to believe just how powerful the explosion must have been.

All organs, nerves, and so on shared their Constitution, though not entirely, and were far weaker compared to their bones and skin. However, their organs were still tough enough to withstand Tier 1 Spells while sustaining minimal injuries. And with Eric’s stats being even higher than theirs, it was easy to imagine just how powerful the force behind his heart’s explosion must have been.

Livy shuddered upon hearing Lyria’s report. She silently wept, imagining how much pain Eric was in.

Noticing Lyria had started applying the potion, Livy glanced around and saw that it was already evening—night would arrive within an hour or so.

She picked up the pocket watch, which had been rolling on the ground like trash. Then, she activated the watch and selected something from its storage list.

The item appeared—a long, soft carpet.

This was a unique artifact called the 'Floating Carpet'. It was another joint creation of all three of them. The carpet could float and be controlled, requiring active use of mana or a mana core. A low-grade mana core was already inserted into it.

Though the carpet could fly, its speed was quite slow, and it couldn’t float much higher than the ground.

Still, it was perfect for moving Eric without touching or shaking him constantly.

After carefully removing his armor, Lyria applied potion to Eric’s chest and made him drink some. She tended to his skin and then bandaged his entire chest.

For now, she was done—she would need to continue this treatment for a week or more. Fortunately, Eric had made enough potions to last them at least a month.

She then turned to Livy and signaled her to proceed.

Livy gently lifted Eric and placed him on the carpet. Only then did both of them release a sigh of relief.

With this, Eric was temporarily out of emergency—he only needed uninterrupted rest now.

Lyria stood up and surveyed their surroundings:

A bloody giant spider corpse. A ruined battlefield thick with the lingering presence of a Rank 3 mana beast.

After observing everything, Lyria frowned gravely. She turned back and asked, "Liv, your Water Jet ability has improved, right? Can you amputate the spider’s limbs from its main body?"

Livy closed her eyes and stayed silent for a few minutes. When she opened them again, she declared confidently, "Yes, it has greatly improved. I think I can increase its length by nearly twice now. Also, the cutting power has improved greatly—previously, it was double my Agility stat, but now I feel it’s thrice..."

Lyria’s mouth twitched.

*Is there no hope of defending against her cutting power?*

For now, she stifled her complaints and nodded. After some thought, she spoke sternly, "Liv, you’ve also reached the peak of mid-stage, like me and Brother Eric... Breakthrough. Now."

Livy startled. "Right now?" she muttered, uncertain and confused.

"That’s right." Lyria gave a short nod. "After you, I’ll also break through. Staying in this place puts us in grave danger—we have very limited time to waste. We need to quickly deal with the spider corpse, collect our lost weapons and belongings, and erase our involvement from the scene as much as possible."

"Why are we in danger?" Livy asked, bewildered. "Isn’t the spider dead? There shouldn’t be another mana beast of this rank nearby, and we can handle lower ranks with our improved abilities."

Lyria shook her head. "The problem isn’t mana beasts—it’s mana wielders."

"Humans?" Livy was even more puzzled. There shouldn’t be humans around—otherwise, the Crimson Tide Spiders would’ve made meals out of them.

Lyria continued, seeing Livy’s confusion:

"Batley City likely has ways to detect a Rank 3 beast’s presence. There’s a high chance one or two Master-rank wielders have already been dispatched to deal with it. No city can allow a Rank 3 beast near its territory—it could cause mass destruction and deaths. You’ve seen how powerful the giant spider was. No number of apprentice-rank wielders could hold it back—they’d only perish. Even a single Master-rank might not be enough to kill it easily."

If not for Eric’s space shield and Livy’s hydro explosion, Lyria doubted they could’ve killed the Rank 3 Crimson Tide Spider—even after crippling two more of its legs. Even without the white armor, the spider had been beyond their ability to kill. In a way, the spider had killed itself in this battle.

Livy was amazed. They had killed a mana beast that even a Master-rank would struggle against? They were only Rank 1...

She wanted to laugh but couldn’t—she listened seriously instead.

"If a Master-rank arrives, the problem will become too severe. Brother Eric will also be in grave danger. They might use underhanded means to take the spider’s corpse and our treasures—even killing us to cover it up. But we also can’t leave the corpse behind for them to claim freely... It’s cost us too much!" Lyria gritted her teeth in frustration.

Livy’s lips twitched, but she didn’t comment. Even her rune inscription work had been wasted—who knew how much?

"Thankfully, Brother Eric’s pocket watch can store the spider. Otherwise, we’d have to abandon the entire corpse—our space rings can’t hold even a fraction of it. But we still don’t have enough mana to store its entire body at once. We’ll have to take it limb by limb. With our breakthrough, we might manage the main body—otherwise, we’ll have to chop that, too. We also need to drain its fluids—water, blood—into containers. Otherwise, its weight will make storage impossible."

"We need to hurry. First Break through, then amputate. I’ll clean the battlefield and gather our scattered belongings. Afterward, you’ll need to Hydro Wash certain areas." She turned toward the spider’s limb and asked thoughtfully, "How long will it take to sever one of its limbs?"

Livy examined the spider’s thick armor and answered uncertainly, "I can cut two limbs simultaneously with two whips from above its body... Probably an hour or two per attempt."

Lyria’s eyes brightened. She nodded approvingly. "Good. Break through first to increase our mana, stamina, and ability stats."

Livy agreed and sat down to break through to the late stage.

After an hour, she felt the familiar sensation of a breakthrough. Her mana veins had thickened, holding nearly twice as much mana as before. She felt stronger, though not drastically—yet her Water Jet ability had grown significantly due to stat increases.

'According to Brother Eric, my base stats should now be at 90, plus 150 from training—240 total.'

Lyria said nothing and sat down immediately after Livy opened her eyes. Livy’s presence had deepened noticeably—clear proof of her success in reaching late-stage Rank 1.

An hour later, Lyria felt her own mana pool expand considerably.

After sensing the improvement in her strength and abilities, she was satisfied—though she still needed to understand how much her abilities had improved after the level-up. That could wait for now.

Lyria glanced at Eric and hesitated for a moment. In the end, she sighed and turned toward Livy.

"Liv, take Brother Eric with you above the spider. Make sure to keep an eye on him while you cut the limbs. I’ll go and collect what I can."

Livy agreed with utmost seriousness.

---

Night had fallen. The bright moon hung high in the clear sky.

Livy sat atop the dead, oversized spider’s back, spreading her two whips onto two different leg joints. She had wrapped her whips around the thick legs of the spider—that was all she needed to do. Her Water Jet Cutting would do the rest.

She turned to check on Eric, who was lying behind her.

Just by looking at his pale face and the bloodied bandages covering his entire torso, a stinging pain struck her.

And for some reason, Eric even wore a light smile on his lips. She didn’t know what he was excited or happy about, but knowing him, he must have been thrilled to face his own death.

She sighed, unsure whether to feel happy for Eric or angry at him. Nonetheless, she had decided to give him a piece of her mind after he woke up.

*I need to keep an eye on the surroundings while drinking stamina potions occasionally.*

Noticing everything was quiet and serene—with no one around—Livy nodded, satisfied, and continued her work.

Unknown to her, two formless figures stood silently on either side of Eric’s body.