" Run!!, Cyril ! " shouted Master Mayher.
Cyril darted towards the tunnel but the Nightcrawler Lord launched itself at him in a terrifying speed in an attempt to slice his head off from behind, Master Mayher jumped in between them and deflected its attack. " I'll cover for you !, Don't look back and go !, " said Master Mayher struggling against the blow of Nightcrawler Lord.
Although Master Mayher was able to deflect the blow of the Nightcrawler Lord, he could gauged the strength just by the vibrations emanating from the hilt of his sword, it's strength could be considered a classified division varae, anxiety rose in him.
Nightcrawler Lord jumped back after its first attack was stopped, successfully Cyril escaped from the Errtoen cave. " Drao, This may as well be our last fight, Do you have any regrets?, " said Master Mayher.
Drao seemed a bit disagreeable, deep down he knew the chances of surviving this battle was extremely slim but still he didn't want to admit this would very well be the end of his slayer journey, he had dreams and ambitions but he knew such was the risk of slayer's life. However, regrets little he had, he may as well become a martydom to the onset of this calamity, Nightcrawler Lord, huh? he may even become a part of the history.
" Let's fight till our last breath !, " declared Drao fiercely summoning up his every last bit of courage.
" Then I also have no regrets, " said Master Mayher and a kind smile formed on his face, a smile that resonated compassion and embers of farewell.
" Activate Wolf steps, "
" Activate Guardian's Might "
" Activate Bloodlust "
Master Mayher stacked himself with three spells, Guardian's Might was an upper tier spell, it was unfortunate that being a Ren affinity, he had a hard time learning high tier spells but he was only properly capable up to upper tier spells.
" Drao, I'll be the vanguard, you hinder him with traps and if chances arise, use fire spells. Nightcrawlers ought to be weak against fire right?, " said Master Mayher.
" Yes, sir ! " responded Drao.
They looked at each other for the one last time and nodded.
" Lets do this !, " shouted Master Mayher.
Master Mayher blazing his sword, he charged at the Nightcrawler Lord and started attacking it but to his surprise, it dodged all of his strikes easily without breaking a sweat, its feet were fast and its body extremely flexible. " Such agility...." thought Master Mayher.
As Master Mayher continued to push the Nightcrawler Lord to a corner, Drao interrupted the Nightcrawler Lord movements with an upper tier trap spell " Earth Bind! " casted Drao.
And just behind the Nightcrawler Lord, from the earth emerged a formless mass of mud and trapped its feet. Even for a fraction of second, it hindered its movement giving a window of opportunity to Master Mayher. " Got you!, " mumbled Master Mayher and delivered a powerful strike.
What could be worse for a varae other than just pure brute strength and abilities? it's if it actually starts to acquire intelligence and wits like humans and this is what was happening with the beast in the Errtoen cave, by fighting with humans it was learning and studying, evolving as a species. This was highly unusual for a varae but this was also what made the legend of Nightcrawler Lord so terrifying, apart from his unparalleled strength, it could speak human tongue and possessed intelligence. Is this an anomaly or an intended evolution granted by the universe to this particular species ?
Nightcrawler Lord pretended to be trapped and let Master Mayher rushed in, to that opportunity it blocked his strike by letting the sword hit it's left arm which it brought up to block the sword and to their surprise, the sword didn't even slice the arm, instead it only went halfway through the thick muscle of its arm. And with the sword being stuck in its flesh, Master Mayher realised he was being lured in but it was too late, Nightcrawler Lord in response delivered a mighty blow to Master Mayher's stomach, the force of the blow sent him flying to where Drao was standing. He coughed blood and he felt as if the force had obliterated his internal organs, on one knee he struggled to get up.
" Are you all right, Master Mayher ?! , " said Drao panickingly.
" Hit it with a Fire trap, " Master Mayher said with difficulty.
" Activate Blaze Storm, " Drao casted a fire spell at the Nightcrawler who was breaking off from the mud trap.
The flame engulfed its body but the Nightcrawler lord, with one swing from its hand, the flames dissipated in air like it was nothing. It broke free from the mud trap and stood there watching them emotionlessly, by now even the wound from Master Mayher was healing up. It looked at it's arm as the tissues starts to rejoin itself, such terrifying regenerative ability and unlike Alpha red hound, it wasn't using magic energy to heal itself, one could say it was one of the unique abilities Nightcrawler Lord possessed.
" He dispersed the flame with just a swing?!, " signs of despair began to emerge on Drao's face.
" What crazy strength, " whispered Master Mayher.
" What do we do?, " asked Drao.
" Throw every spell , you know in every interval, I'll give you the space, don't worry about me, " said Master Mayher.
Drao looked at him frantically and nodded, it was a suicide mission but he knew they have to throw everything they can at it, even though they would like to win, they knew it was impossible.
" Activate Electrification, "
" Activate strength booster, "
Master Mayher could stack upto three spells at once, since he was of low magic affinity, three was the best he could do. With the Electrification spell, his sword was enveloped in deadly lightning and strength booster enhanced his physical strength twice the amount.
He rushed in once again, this time he was much faster and stronger, he swung a direct horizontal arch at the Nightcrawler Lord, it dodged once again, he was too agile for him to handle even after his enhancements but he kept on swinging his sword and when he finally found a chance, he delivered a powerful kick, it landed good but the Nightcrawler didn't sustained any damage, in fact he was only pushed some distance back, he stood unscathed with its hand in a defensive stance, too strong, thought Master Mayher. Not giving a chance to recover, he leaped at it and stuck down a vertical strike, Nightcrawler Lord responded to it with an equal force by deflecting the strike with its strong claws, Master Mayher was blasted back in the air and he landed back on the ground safely. As Master Mayher flew back from the Nightcrawler Lord, who was at the same time being electrified from the sword it touched, Drao didn't hesitate to cast down another upper tier spell, Lightning strike. It struck down the Nightcrawler Lord fiercely, it was engulfed in lightning, it shrieked in pain and moved in an agitated manner.
" Good one, Drao !, " complimented Master Mayher.
They watched The Nightcrawler Lord being ravaged by lightning, however they knew, it was not enough to kill it, the lightning only did so much damage that the Nightcrawler Lord had no problem standing up after the lightning dissipated, It looked angry that some humans has managed to give him pain, it shrieked loudly in rage, releasing a huge explosion of sound waves. It was so extremely powerful that the force of the soundwaves obliged them to push back Mayher and Drao.
To their surprise, The Nightcrawler Lord was transforming into something, up till now they had no idea what sort of abilities a Nightcrawler Lord possibly possessed. Now, they saw the horror it possessed, suddenly it was starting to accumulate a lot of magical energy from the caves into its body, it was absorbing the magical energy from the surrounding and turning it into its own, using it for its transformation. With enough magical energy, The Nightcrawler Lord's upper layer body metamorphosed into scales, similar to dragon scales, a layer of protection, it was evolving, to counter it's enemy abilities, it underwent evolution during the battle by absorbing magical energy. Now, his whole body was covered in hardened scales that was like putting on armor and who knows it could be immune to electricity and fire.
" Haha, you got to be kidding me... " said Drao and chuckled in despair.
" What a monster, it absorbed magical energy to alternate its skin into scales, this is unheard of! , " commented Master Mayher.
After completing its transformation, without a delay, it leaped towards them in lightning speed, it was too fast for them, they were caught off guard, The Nightcrawler Lord blasted Drao first away with a devastating punch, Drao wasn't unable to cast a protective spell against it, the punch cracked multiple layers of bone in his rib cage and he flew so far that he collided on the cave wall and as he was falling unconscious, he realised his internal organs had been punctured and he knew he was taking his last breaths.
Then following the action, The Nightcrawler Lord presented a powerful blow to Master Mayher in succession, however Master Mayher was able to react and he blocked it with his sword's face. He flew a few yards back in distance, luckily he was still on his feet.
" You, strong " said the Nightcrawler Lord.
Master Mayher had already forgotten it could speak, he replied, " What are you?, "
" King, Jennarqhis, I, King, " responded the varae.
One thing Master Mayher realised is that, it was still learning that means the evolution had been recent, it had become a Nightcrawler Lord not long ago, its speech was still way off, the idea of such calamity varae to let loose in his country terrified him, a new found will power rose in Master Mayher, for the sake of his people, as a proud Monster Slayer, he thought he must put an end to this monster at any cost. He stole a quick glance at Drao, there was no time to mourn, he knew he can't help him at the moment but he wished that he had more time to enjoy life, unfortunately he was fated for this, his sacrifice will be remembered. " I'll soon join you, Drao, " muttered Master Mayher.
Master Mayher didn't know what Jennarqhis meant but the fact that it said ' King ' implies that it was the peak of the Nightcrawler evolution tree.
" Don't go out there, O' Jennarqhis king. There are many strong humans out there, they will hunt you down. " said Master Mayher.
" Jennarqhis, kills humans, and eats, " replied Nightcrawler Lord in a disjointed syllable.
" Lets see, " said Master Mayher.
Quickly, he casted the Earth bind spell, knowing that it still would be useless, after casting it, he rushed towards it once again for the last time. It stood there and broke the mud trap off like it was a paper bind but that provided Master Mayher the opportunity he needed, he was almost at its face, he flashed the Nightcrawler Lord with Quickflash spell, Nightcrawlers were creatures of night that meant, their eyes were bound to be sensitive to bright lights.
The Nightcrawler Lord was undoubtedly flashed and it was reacting fearfully to the explosion of brightlight, seizing the opportunity, Master Mayher attempted to slice off its neck with his electrified sword.
" Claaaaank!! " the sword won't even penetrate its scales, it was a swing at Master Mayher full power, the electricity wasn't also doing any damage, the scales had acquired electricity immunity.
" What a monste...." thought Master Mayher and the Nightcrawler Lord responded in a fiery rage, a backhand slash with its powerful claws powerful enough to lacerate through Master Mayher chest armor and wound his chest. He dropped on the ground on his back with blood dripping out from his chest, the wound was considerably deep, it had reached his lungs and heart, Master Mayher laid on the ground coughing up blood and the veins in his eyes bulging with blood..
He knew this was it, he tried his best to buy some time for Cyril, he looked one more time at Drao, he was motionless, he whispered, sorry, in his mind. He couldn't protect him. With life slowly seeping away, he remembered his wife and daughter for the last time, he won't be able to see them but he was at relief that they would be safe since his brother would take care of them. Everything was beginning to disappearing, his thoughts too, he felt cold, for the last time, he took a final look at his foe, it was still struggling to stand straight from the Quickflash, so it was weak with lights, that was Master Mayher last thoughts before his body ceased to inherit the soul. He laid there on the ground motionless, bleeding from his chest.
" arrrghhh, Humans!!, " uttered Jennarqhis in difficulity.
After some time, he regained his sight and started moving towards the dead body of Master Mayher, it was a natural instinct to devour whom he slayed, he leaned towards the dead body and started devouring its flesh like a beast.
It was a dangerous ability that Jennarqhis possessed, every time he feeds on any creatures, he gains the abilities of that species, when he fed on the first slayer who came in the Errtoen cave, he gained the ability of speech, he could weakly imitate human language and understand their words to some degree, and also his strength increases, the stronger the creature is.
Feeding on Master Mayher corpse had given him enough magical energy to help him acquire new abilities and he used the magical energy to evolve his eyesight like humans but with better perks, he would no longer be weak with bright light that means he can finally leave the cave and venture into the outside world.
Then slowly, he walked towards the tunnel that would lead him outside..
" Jennarqhis, kills every human, " he said to himself.