My Servant System

Chapter 1179: Chapter 1178: Tests of Power (4)

 n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Unlike before I wasn't dodging a simple blade that threatened to slice through my skin, but instead I was dodging a compressed ring of wind that shot through the air like a bullet before exploding outwards, sending a wave of energy rippling through the air and squishing muscle against bone even without a direct impact.

Someone on the other side of us was acting like a humanoid gatling gun as they shot dozens of those rings back to back, smacking them against shields - which threatened to rip the metal to shreds while also chewing through the mana supplied into the enchantment - and sometimes even landing against our troops.

Those unlucky enough to get hit were allowed to experience the wonderful feeling of a projectile exploding beneath their skin and ripping the muscle and tissues off of their bone before shattering the calcium sticks to completely erase that portion of their body.

A poor bastard nearby stumbled backwards a step when a ring pierced his helmet and entered his brain before he simply dropped to the ground with an erratic spasming as his body tried to understand why it was no longer being controlled by his brain, which had been splashed across the ground and his comrades.

Those rings weren't the only threats against us, but it was by far one of the most notable ones thanks to the shrieks they emitted each time they exploded, something that was made worse with the real shrieks of pain coming from those that were unfortunate enough to get hit and live.

Trying to maintain this line as we advanced was beyond difficult, and it only further entrenched the idea in my mind that attacking was almost always going to be a harder job than defending, though that was certainly a debatable topic I didn't want to partake in.

The entire plaza had been turned into an open concept fortress that was riddled with various traps and barricades that created those overlapping kill zones Zahrah had spoken into existence, the buildings or platforms that we could see allowing the cultists to open fire on us from afar with arrows and spells.

Some of the tile ground had even been torn out to reveal the sand below where the cultists pooled large quantities of broken weapons and various mana crystals to create obvious traps that were extremely deadly if you fell into them, and with the barricades and overlapping lines of sight allowing them to funnel us towards these large pits, well...

Their intentions were clear, though it was made even clearer when bellows rang out from behind us, the sudden appearance of various red skinned warriors seemingly dropping out of the sky to land on our flank, instantly rushing towards us with golden weapons raised. All of them looked similar, with bare chests and bulging muscles while their hair was a mixture of gold and black, and almost all of them sported horns of various kinds that made them look like Demons... just without the taller stature and far more contained dangerousness that I had seen from Demons so far.

It was comparable to seeing a roaring grizzly bear against the silent prowling of a polar bear; both were deadly, sure, but when you compared them side by side... well, there was one of those that I was more terrified of on an instinctual level, and it definitely wasn't the smaller, louder bear.

Still a bear though, and as those Fiendish Demon copycats rushed at us from behind with their golden swords and spears they tried to usher us straight into the traps, pressing for those specific areas even in their mindless charge.

Suddenly found between a thoroughly embedded defensive force and a new, loud attacking force, we were sandwiched between them and slowed down immensely, especially since those red skinned lunatics were seemingly hopped up on a similar psychotic drug that made them crazily strong and single minded.

They fought with no care for themselves and willingly threw themselves into suicidal matchups if it meant pushing someone one step closer to the deadly pits, and since more of them were being dropped from seemingly nowhere we were forced to deal with them seriously, even as those various spells continued to rip at the front line.

Things changed at the drop of a hat here, and trying to keep up with it was difficult, even more so when an actual Fiend made it's appearance at the rear; all of those red skinned freaks were clearly mortals given a drug and set loose as mindless beasts that just so happened to have Fiendish features, but the appearance of a tall, lanky Ka Fiend brandishing two equally long and thin blades gave more importance to that battle in the rear.

Death Jackals rushed to intercept, allowing us to refocus on moving forwards slowly but surely as we approached the many clusters of cultists on their platforms or in their small buildings, and we did so by heading to whatever was closest to us at the time.

We were approaching a platform that had a robed figure shrouded in Wind Mana raising their arms unleashing barrages of those rings that just so happened to be surrounded by dozens of archers, our physical or mana shields raised to block both the arrows and the rings as we pressed forwards, leaving the drugged warriors to the soldiers behind us.

Each ring ripped through the air faster than the last, and the closer we got the more of them we had to block as the mage unleashed everything in their Core to keep us at bay, and while we could have attempted to wait out their Core's capacity by simply hunkering down for a half minute or so it was clear they were being supplied even more mana as the rings took on a iridescent, bluish hue.

So we had a Ka Fiend behind us and a Tza Fiend favoring the mage on this platform; a quick glance towards the other platforms and buildings revealed similar things, with the respective hues of various Fiends shining through the sunlight and firelight as we began to meet the main members of the Fingers one by one.