Chapter 8: Monster

The Demon King’s chambers was calm, the serene environment was only interrupted by the wind as it blew in and out ruffling the hair on his head, the quiet environment continued for quite sometime, there was no living being in the castle not even insects. Tyler slowly got up from the ground as he pat himself down for dust, he walked out of the room to the balcony. It was dark, but he could tell the sun would rise soon, he stared at the moon with a blank expression, all the emotions he felt a moment ago seem to have been replaced by one, but he couldn’t tell what it was.

He took deep breaths to clear his mind and focus his thoughts on what was important. “At least i can finally use magic, all I need now is to learn how to control it.” After taking a second to calm down, he started to think about what had happened in the library.

There must’ve been some kind of restriction in the place that prevented the use of magic or there was a time limit on how long one can stay in the library. He didn’t know how the library remained intact for so long so maybe it had something to do with it. If it was the former, it means it had nothing to do with the orb exploding, the orb didn’t use any magic spell or magic circles, it only absorbed the Mana from the user and reflect them back as light, if it’s the latter it means there is still hope of entering the library again.

With that said he still didn’t know which it was but in the end he was a little hesitant in leaving without trying to get back in, who knew there would come a day he would want to break into a library so badly. He decided to go back to his original plan and search the castle for anything that would be useful to him. He walked back in the room and went to the library doors one more time.

After failing to open it again he walked out of the room as he locked it behind him and took the keys. ‘Hopefully it’ll let me in again soon.’ As he walk down the hallway he decided to head to the other wings of the castle. The castle was very large he had only been moving around in the west wing, there were a lot of places he hadn’t been to.

In other to proceed to another wing he needed to descend back to the ground floor of the West wing “Sigh… what a shitty design, if only I could teleport.” He complained to himself as he walked through the hallway back the way he came, soon he arrived back at the entrance the large doors and the stairs, he knew now that this place probably lead to all wings in the castle.

He walked forward and took one of the stairs, he went straight through the door at the end of the stairs, it was similar design as the rest of the castle, colourful crystals illuminated the way, there were fewer rooms on this wing, none of them looked like resting chambers, he wasn’t sure what they were use for.

The wing only went to the fifth Floor, he came to a large hall as he exited the stairs, there was only a single room on this floor, a large door stood in at the end of the hall in front of him, it was large enough to fit a giant. It’s design was exquisite, the door was made of pure gold and crystals ornamented the carvings on it, even with the thick layer of dust covering it, it exuded a faint glow that made it look majestic.

There were 21 Alcoves on either sides of the hall they contained 20 broken statues of what may be considered holy knights, the last one was a, or what looked like a female angel____ No, fallen angel. The statue was cracked and one of her wings had fallen off, he felt a strange sensation from just staring at it___ at her.

He took his attention off the statue and walked to the door in front of him, on the way he felt the eyes of the knights move to stare at him but in the end it might’ve been his imagination. He arrived at the giant door that made him feel like a dwarf, he gulped, placing his hands on the door he tried to push.

There was no sound. The door slowly open without making a single noice, for a second Tyler thought someone pushed the mute button on a remote, he had even failed to hear his own heartbeat. As the door slowly opened the scene from the rooms interior came into his view.

An immerse pressure the likes of which he had never felt before overwhelmed him for a moment, the room was so large he was sure a few hundred people would fit in it. At the far end of the room was a throne made of a material he had never seen before, it had a metallic yet crystalline look and feel to it, the throne was almost tall enough to reach the insanely high ceiling.

Tyler could only stand there stunned by the sight, he couldn’t figure out why for the life of him such a place would be deserted. Surely there was still some high level demons alive, shouldn’t they have taken over the castle and crown themselves King… Or was there a reason why they did not. He finally took a step forward and walked to the throne at the far end of the room.

Soon he arrived at his destination, the throne looked intimidating up close, he was standing at the base of the short flight of stairs that elevated the throne. Climbing the short stairs he stood in front of the throne and extended an arm to touch it, it felt cold to the touch but strangely soothing… With a strange compelling force telling him to have a sit, he withdrew his arm and proceeded to search the room for anything of importance.

Sigh… He had found nothing, just like the rooms he had searched previously there was nothing of value here as well, with his disappointment he proceeded to leave the room, but had the urge to touch the throne one more time, as he approached the throne he notice something, the throne was not attached or close to the wall behind, he proceeded to check it out.

Walking behind the throne he took a good look at the wall, He knocked on it and to his surprise it sounded hallow. Searching everywhere for a secret button or lever he notice something on the wall, it was a small inverse crest the size of a ring, studying the crest he instantly remembered something, he had seen the crest before, on one of the rings in the Magic Library.

••••••

Growl…

The Rykir was glaring at Rain in agitation, it had been a long time since it had been wounded. Even though it had kept it’s distance in other to vet it’s prey’s capabilities, the prey had somehow managed to wound it, this was an unforgivable offense to a being of his status.

Growl!

Rain was momentary taken aback by the sight of the Rykir’s scales, a Tier 6 being was not supposed to have dive runes on them, this was meant for being of higher Tiers, her situation was worse than she thought. ‘I can’t believe we’re this unlucky, of all the Tier 6 monsters to encounter, why it, Liz is unconscious, this might get even more dangerous soon.’ Rain thought without a change in expression as she tried her best to remain focus and on guard.

As the Rykir kept glaring at it’s prey a little annoyed, it’s claws extended out like small razor sharp blades, as it’s scales ignited into greyish black flames.

°Shadow body. flames of hell.°

The moment it’s entire body was engulfed in flames it bent his knees and disappeared, as it appears behind Rain almost instantly, with it claw extended backwards as it slashed at her exposed back.

Clang!

The sound of metal striking each other echoed throughout the forest, Rain had turned around instinctively and was able to deflect the claw strike with her remaining dagger, albiet barely, the ground under her feet cracked and she was pushed back a few feet, her knees trembling.

Still the Rykir was visibly surprised, not by the fact that she had blocked it’s attack or reacted in time. It had seen her speed before and knew she was only a little slower than it, even with the flames of Hell’s enhancement, but was more surprised over the fact that she was able to withstand it’s strength.

The skill it used was a more strength based skill, it compensated for its weakness. After a momentary confusion it had finally notice her knees and hands were trembling. It snared and proceeded to repeat his previous attack, it disappeared from view, she could barely block it’s strike once she wouldn’t be able to do it again, or so it thought.

Appearing above her head it immediately swung it’s claws at her head with all it’s might.

Boom! Clang!…

The ground shattered like glass but again the sound of metal striking metal was echoed in the forest. ‘What’s this? How is this possible?’ The Rykir was shocked beyond belief by what it had just witness, the wounded prey it had thought would make an easy snack was fighting on par with it, this was ridiculously an insult, it was on the verge of an evolution to the realm of the gods yet a mere mortal was standing toe to toe with it, even while injured, unacceptable, this was an outrage, no longer daring to hold back it let it’s emotions take control and went all out.

‘Again!’ Clang!… ‘Again!’ Clang!… ‘Again!’….

The battle intensified as the Ryrik was repeatedly parried that it forgot it had other attacks and skills, what the beast did not know was his opponent was on the verge of collapsing.

After receiving the full blunt of the Rykir’s attack Rein could no longer feel her arm. She only had one blade remaining and was only able to keep up with the Rykir’s speed, she was basically reacting on instinct by relying on the blessings of the wind and redirecting the attack as much as she could but she was almost at her limit, the beast was getting faster and more random and she was now making little mistakes.

The chance for a counter she was hoping for to come never came, with no Mana and no abilities she was only delaying the inevitable. “Sorry Liz, it seems like i can’t keep my promise anymore.” She whispered under her breath as she continued the fight to the bitter end, she was sure her bones were almost all shattered she could barely raise her arm but she had no intentions of giving up.

Seeing it’s opponent slowing down slowly, the Ryrik was finally regaining it’s dying confidence. ‘This was more trouble than it’s worth, I’ll make sure to eat every single part of your body to honor your strength.’

The Rykir finally regained it’s sanity as it remembered it had other skills than the flames of hell and could attack in a variety of ways than it basic claw strike.

Seeing it’s opponent on death’s door it decided to keep up its current attack pattern as a tribute to a Worthy opponent.

Clang!… BOOM!

The fight had gone on for a few more minutes but in the end Rain was unable to withstand the strength of the Ancient Rykir and was sent flying, slamming in to a giant tree

Gasp! Ack… She gasp in pain as she spat out blood. Still she struggled to stand with the intention of fighting till her last breath. “Sorry Liz… cough… cough…it was my idea to head into the forest… i should have been more aware.” being in such a state it was strange how the only thing she could think of was her friend but it seems to be giving her the strength to keep on fighting in the hopes her friend would be able to escape when she wakes up.

The Rykir seeing it opponent struggle to stay on her feet felt relieved, it really did not expect such an intense battle. Without trying to be careless it quickly shot out one of it’s blade like horns at it’s prey.

Zing… Bang!

Although the horn did not explode this time it impaled Rain in the shoulder to the tree.

The Rykir snare as it had gotten revenge for the blade still stuck to his shoulder. It walk slowly to it’s wounded prey as it prepared it finishing blow.

°Body of the Reaper.°

The flames around its body intensified as it’s eyes glowed brightly with a red hue. It’s claw was covered in reddish yellow flame which was in contrast with the greyish black flames around its body, the Ryrik looked like an hound from hell ready to drag it’s opponent back with it.

It bent it’s legs as it prepared to pounced on his prey, however, at that moment the temperature around him drop dramatically, the air was almost visible to the naked eye, space around it became incredibly dense, it was like time had stopped, but no, the air around was still moving, albiet barely, it could visibly see the flames around him dying out slowly, the sudden change in temperature cause it to lose his train of thought, as it noticed the ground around him was already frozen, the air was thin like it was standing on the peak of the tallest mountain.

“Ice Domain!”