The Strongest Spellblade

“Vibration Blade!”

I rushed in at the singed demon. He had dodged the worst of the fire blast. The problem with runic circles was aiming them precisely. Against a horde of monsters, it wasn’t a huge issue, but against a demon, it made a huge difference.

The demon Mandaeism, had dodged to the side and had blocked the worst of the attack. The steam was quickly refreezing in the cold air, turning into a jagged ice sculpture between us.

I rushed across that ice, my boots smashing the fragile, twisted, ice aside. The demon swung up his large blade to counter mine. That was a mistake, since his weapon was trash compared to mine and my skill made it even stronger. Since the demon was giving me the opportunity, I committed to the blow. We were both going for an overhead swing.

If I didn’t cut through his blade, I would probably lose an arm or be partially vertically bisected. The demon was slightly larger than me, not super large like the previous one and was using a weapon, a sword.

My Empowered Sword Skills allowed me to understand exactly what I needed to do in this situation. The demon was lacking in this weapon skill. With his oversized blade he had committed to an overhead blow to force me back, using the weight of his weapon.

The Reforged Beginner’s Blade cut through the demon’s oversized sword like a hot knife through butter. There was only a small amount of resistance. I could see the panic on the demon’s face as my blade cut into its armor. The top of his oversized blade broke and lost all force behind it. It struck my heavy armor and bounced off.

“Aura of Repulsion!”

I was forced back even as my blade cut through his armor. I drew a long line of blood and the demon stumbled backwards.

“Lightning Beam!”

“Ward!”

Ozy swooped and unleashed Toxic Breath. The demon quickly moved away from the noxious cloud. Lanner was ready, since I was no longer between him and the demon. He unleashed a barrage from his wands. His speed had really picked up ever since he had joined me in the dungeon.

Despite the relentless barrage for ten seconds, the demon dodged the worst of it, putting more distance between us and escaping to the dungeon entrance. I was already rushing towards it while Ozy was circling.

“GREATER QUAKE!”

The ice and ground heaved. I had to slow down to retain my balance. Even the demon had collapsed to one knee.

“Fireball!”

“Ward.”

Ozy swooped in from behind and bit down on the back of the demon’s head. Ice engulfed the bottom of the demon, pinning him in place once more. I kept moving forward as the ground shook.

“Wait, you kill me, you are dead,” the demon shouted out as I brought up my blade. My Danger Sense had plummeted. Fine, if it wanted to talk, I was going to make sure I had the advantage. I stepped to the side and swung.

The demon tried to dodge, but Ozy kept it locked in place enough for my blow to connect. There was a lot of resistance, but my blade managed to cut through. The demon’s left foot was removed.

I brought my blade up and around and rest it on the demon’s neck, drawing a line of blood. “Speak, quickly,” I said.

“The entrance to the dungeon. I completely collapsed it.” I glanced over and it was completely sealed. I couldn’t sense any Mana from the dungeon. “And the entrance in the beastkin settlement has been sealed as well.”

Rage coursed through me. The blade cut into the demon’s neck a bit more. “And why do I need you?” I asked.

“To find another dungeon entrance and avoid other demons,” Mandaeism stated. “I might be a scorpion, but you need me against the other scorpions.”

I let Vibration Blade stop and withdrew my blade. I stepped back. Lanner hurried over. “Why aren’t you killing it?” he asked.

The demon could have dodged at the end and countered Ozy. But it chose not to. It was tricking me to take it with me. I cursed the demon in my head. I was breathing heavily.

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“It is trying to trick me. It could have dodged, but it was willing to lose a foot and destroy the dungeon entrance, to force me to take it with us,” I said.

“Impressive that you saw through my deception. This continent has no future. I truly desire to leave,” the demon said. I thought it over. The demon was a scorpion. But I could find another dungeon entrance on my own. The annoying part would be getting back to the cursed longsword when I had to return.

It could flatter me and have priceless knowledge, but it was a demon. A monster of the dungeon. There was no trusting it. The moment I brought the demon with me, I would be dooming myself and all the people it would kill on the Eldarin continent.

I had thoughts of taking it prisoner and trying to exploit it, but that was foolishness. The demon was stronger than me. It had chosen to take that injury. The moment we reached the Eldarin continent I would become demon food.

“Ward!”

The demon had whipped out a wand with one hand and ripped off Ozy with his other hand. Fast, too fast as it broke through the ice that had covered it. The explosion sent me stumbling backwards as Lanner went tumbling away.

“Fireball! Fireball!”

My spell skills hit the patch of ice the demon had been on. It had grabbed its foot and stuck it back on. It had focused its healing points to reattach its foot enough. I knew the demon had been sandbagging to trick me. I had fought the other demon. The demon had tossed Ozy away, who had been crushed a bit so it could grab its foot.

Lanner unleashed a blast from his wand. The demon was on the ground and couldn’t dodge while getting back up.

“Ward!”

“Lightning Beam!”

The demon blocked Lanner’s wand spell with Ward, but the defensive skill broke and it was hit with my spell skill. Ozy unleashed another Toxic Breath, hitting the demon. It struggled to get to his feet.

“Lightning Beam! Lightning Beam!”

I couldn’t allow the demon to escape. If it did, then I would have no end of problems. I didn’t want it stalking us and wearing us down. The demon twisted and dodged one of the spell skills, but was hit with another.

“Vibration Blade!”

I rushed forward while reaching with my offhand for my wand. I could play that game as well. The demon pulled out an axe. It intercepted my blow, but twisted his weapon to force my to side the side as his axe was cut apart. My blade was easily deflected since I was only using one hand.

My wand came up in my left hand. Ozy swooped in behind me and unleashed Petrifying Gaze, freezing the demon in place. This was going to suck, but I didn’t hesitate. I unleashed Explosion at point blank range, the wand almost touching the demon’s armor.

Everything spun, as I went tumbling away. I lost my grip on my wand, but I barely managed to keep a grip of my sword. ‘Never drop your main weapon, even if you are dead. To drop your weapon is death.’ Those words from my mother echoed in my head.

Everything felt sore, my hand was scorched. Ozy used Greater Cure on me as I got back to my feet. My hand slowly recovered from its burnt state. I looked over to the demon. Lanner was being smart and not rushing.

The armor of the demon had been partially blown away and there was a large burnt hole in its upper chest. The demon was leaking a tremendous amount of Mana. “Ahhhhh!” It screamed and felt the joy of victory.

I slowly walked over towards the fallen demon, that was trashing on the ground. “The only fate of demon’s is death. This for Supreme Warlady Elena Burnstock and my mother,” I declared.

“Soul Strike!”

It was a risk using the skill, but it was a chance to level the skill along with Soul Shield. I used both in conjunction to attack the demon and protect myself. My blade pierced its head.

The screams got worse. I could feel its soul trashing and my soul cut into it. “No mercy for demons!” I shouted. For a minute the demon continued to trash and scream, but it couldn’t escape pinned through its head to the ground.

Ozy came over and ripped into its chest. Its core had split in two. No wonder why it was in extreme pain. The wand the gnomes had given me had been amazing. Its use was unexpected in close combat and Explosion was incredibly powerful.

As Ozy consumed the broken demon’s core, it slowly stopped struggling. I felt and saw its soul completely collapse. “The only good demon is a dead demon,” I said tiredly withdrawing my blade.

The cold wind blew over the battlefield. I had won.

“Did you see where my wand went?” I asked Lanner.

“I picked it up,” he said and handed it over to me.

“Thanks,” I told him. “Good job.”

“I wasn’t rushing in again against that. Your hand, is it okay?” he asked.

“Ozy used Greater Cure, it will be fine. But the real problem is the dungeon entrance,” I muttered. My Compass of Desire was pointing in the direction of the mountains, not towards the beastkin settlement.

The demon had said the entrance to the dungeon in the beastkin settlement was destroyed. That meant the place was probably wiped out as well, since the entrance had been in the center of the settlement and well protected. Taking a look for any supplies or stuff of use would be worthwhile. And if the beastkin were still around, I could head somewhere else.

Looking back at the demon, I noticed it had a spatial pouch. I had noticed that earlier with my Spatial Sense, but I hadn’t been entirely sure. Now, taking a closer look, it was definitely a spatial pouch and not some skill or different item.

“Let’s get to processing the corpse,” I muttered more for myself. Looking at Ozy, he had passed out again. That wasn’t good. Without him making an igloo or shelter would be incredibly difficult.

“No time. We need to get off these White Wastes,” I said and pulled the spatial pouch off the demon and then put the weapon and corpse into it. I then picked up Ozy.

“Let’s move,” I said. We had to get back to the mountains before night set in and find some way to set up shelter to protect from the wind and the cold. This was going to be a long miserable night.

I was annoyed at Ozy for consuming the demon’s core and passing out, but if he hadn’t then its Mana would have dissipated since it had become cracked.