Chapter 50: Dreg Trap [5]
"..."
"..."
Gazing at the empty space before them, the two horned figures paused for a moment in silence.
The one without wings finally asked.
"Did...somebody else go in, perhaps?"
The winged demon looked at his partner.
"...no, I’m not asking...he’s already pissed at me. You ask!?"
"It’s your fault for taking so long. Why would I ask!?"
"Oh, yeah, my ten-second delay caused us to miss the fucking portal, righ-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the radio suddenly vibrated, emitting an ominous voice.
"*Why do I still feel a connection to your radio?*"
"..."
The two demons made eye contact in silence.
"*Hah...they must have left it behind.*"
Both their eyes widened simultaneously, as the non-winged demon mouthed.
"We...can’t pretend, right?"
The other yelled back.
"Yes, I think we c-...NO, YOU IDIOT, WE WERE SUPPOSED TO KIDNAP AND KILL A WHOLE CLASS!"
Finally, gazing at the radio as if it were a ticking time bomb, the winged demon pressed a button.
"Ahem...commander, we seem to have run into a problem...the portal is gone."
Just a second later, a hoarse voice sounded.
"*...the portal is gone*"
"Yep..."
"*I’ll alert the town’s count, now. You two look inside the watchtower now. There’s an intruder...I’ll deal with your punishment later.*"
...
...
...
*WAAA~WAAA*
As bangs, imitating a fire alarm back on Earth, constantly echoed throughout the town, I dropped the paraglider on the ground and glanced at the massive temple standing in front of us.
Jumping off my back onto the staircase leading up to the temple, Carissa glanced at me expectantly.
Pointing past the pillars and into the darkness under the roof of the temple, I said.
"Meet you there."
As the alarm blazed through the air, I instantly flew forward, phasing through the pillars of the temple, and glanced downward.
Seeing a large abundance of purple mana particles deep underground and a single crimson particle, I instantly marked the location in my head and rematerialized next to a pillar as an arrow flew above me and past the pillars surrounding the temple.
*WAAA~WAAA*
Swapping places with the arrow, Carissa appeared a few steps away and glanced around for a moment before finding me.
The inside of the temple was completely empty except for a staircase leading downward into the underground.
Thus, the two of us instantly ran down the staircase and into the underground.
*WAAA~WAAA*
As Carissa hesitated, three diverging paths now before us, I ran into the right dirt tunnel, yelling behind me.
"There’s one guarding the array!"
Within a few seconds, the two of us arrived in a large underground room, almost the size of our classroom, where a single portal stood in the middle
However, beside that portal, a Dreg Demon with wings and two bronze horns stood, narrowing his eyes as he spotted us.
Bronze horns meant E-rank...
*WAAA~WAAA*
"Ah...are you the intruders? How have you found this place?"
Standing side-by-side, Carissa and I silently gazed at the Dreg Demon, and momentarily glancing right at Carissa, I mouthed as our eyes met.
"Like last time."
*WAAA~WAAA*
"Well...this alarm is really loud, so I guess I should take care of you two."
In the next moment, with incredible speed, the Demon dashed forward, his clawed hands slashing at the air.
A crimson-red slash materialized and barreled toward us, forcing Carissa and me to dodge in opposite directions to avoid it.
*WHOOSH*
Carissa’s arrow, surrounded by purple electrical sparks, flew toward the Demon’s legs; however, the demon simply flapped its wings once and surged up into the air.
Seeing me standing still and pointing my Dao forward with my left hand, the Demon smiled and instantly flew toward me.
As two crimson-red lines appeared from the Demon’s right and left hands, converging at me, I was forced to sprint forward, in between the slashes.
However, the demon instantly met me at full speed.
Raising its right hand, the Demon plunged its claws at my stomach, as I parried the slash.
However, as his claws, at least as sharp as my blade, met my Dao, I suddenly raised my free right hand and threw it forward.
Ignoring my bare right arm, which in no way could hurt his scales, the Demon simply grabbed my Dao with his right hand and yanked it forward, attempting to knock it out of my hands.
Simultaneously, the Demon threw its left hand behind its back, positioning it right in front of the lightning arrow Carissa had fired.
However, before I could lose my grip, a deathly black hue surrounded my right arm as a matching sphere appeared in my open right palm.
Without any hesitation...I sent the black sphere forward, pushing it right in front of the Demon’s left arm.
In an instant, Carissa’s lightning arrow met my death sphere.
*BANG*
Even though I was shielded from the elemental reaction by the Demon’s body, my entire body instantly surged with pain as an explosion of light blinded my eyes.
As I flew backward and slammed against the stone wall of the underground room, my eyes instinctively flashed open, revealing the body of the winged demon on the ground before me.
His back was charred to a crisp, with a bloody scar running across his shoulder.
*BANG*
*BANG*
However, the roof of the underground...burst open, rocks and dirt dropping from the ceiling as the ground shook as if there was an earthquake.
Feeling blood drip from my mouth, I managed to activate Anubis’s Ferry, escaping from the pain for a moment, and instantly flew forward and past the Demon, ignoring the clumps of dirt phasing through my body.
As I arrived at the center of the room, I found Carissa already standing by the portal, an arrow nocked in her bow and aimed at the Demon.
"...Why didn’t you do that last time?"
Leaping through the portal in the collapsing room as Carissa fired off her arrow, I smiled and answered.
"I needed my swordsmanship to advance."
Different from when I entered the Dreg Realm, I instantly found myself in a new location upon entering the portal, in a stone-brick room with a crimson-red banner lying on the wall before me.
"Hail the Dreg God!"