Jung Lee could only use a fraction of their power in order to reinforce his body. If he was to use it all, then his body would start to come apart, unable to contain that power in his mere flesh. All of their power that he was not using he allowed free, forming their individual bodies.
Jung Lee and the Grand Demon Lord continued to fight, smashing against each other over and over again, trading blows at a speed most couldn’t match. Their abilities were many times stronger than their base attributes.
Jung Lee cut in close, attacking the Grand Demon Lord’s stomach.
He jumped backward. As soon as Jung Lee saw the Grand Demon Lord retreat a meter, he flashed back three.
The six Affinities flashed outward to surround the Grand Demon Lord.
The Grand Demon Lord looked toward them but didn’t have time to react as six different elemental energies illuminated the world, pinning him in place.
Jung Lee moved his hands, his eyes closed as he made a seal in midair. Mages could use their hands or their voices in order to help assist in forming magical spells.
Between the six rays of energies, a magical formation appeared. A spell formation appeared in the midst of these different colored streams. As they touched one another, these spell formations combined the power of them all. They transformed from their six colors into gray threads that burned through the Grand Demon Lord’s protection faster and faster.
Jung Lee ran his hand down his blade, pulling on the spirits’ power that was tapped into Emerilia’s different Affinities.
The soul gem appearance of the sword transformed becoming a solid gray that shone in the early dawn sunlight. The gray smoke from before was all sucked into this polished gray sword.
Jung Lee opened his eyes. Red, blue, green, white, gold, and black seemed to swirl in his eyes before they turned solid gray, glowing with power as Dave’s did.
The ground broke under his feet as he charged forward.
“No!” The Grand Demon Lord burned all of the soul energy that it could, inflicting damage on itself as it tried to fight the six Free Affinity spirits.
They increased their power. How could a being that relied on tearing energy from others compare to them that had been born from the energies of Emerilia?
Jung Lee passed the Free Affinity spirits, his face expressionless as his fully gray eyes looked at the Grand Demon Lord as if he were nothing but a pebble in a sea of rocks.
His sword rushed forward, piercing through the struggling Grand Demon’s head and coming back out in a flash.
The six Affinity spirits lowered their hands. The power disappeared as the spell formations faded away.
The Grand Demon Lord dropped to the ground, an expression of disbelief etched on his face for eternity.
Jung Lee waved his sword, sending out a mental command to his Affinity spirits.
They floated forward, doubling themselves, producing lower-class Affinity spirits. As they stepped forward, they doubled again, going from six to twelve to twenty-four and forty-eight and then ninety-six. The main Free Affinity spirits returned to Jung Lee as the ninety copies held out their hands.
“Destroy them.” Jung Lee looked to the Xelur.
Jung Lee might not be a mage but the six Affinity spirits had the innate ability to use the energies within their bodies. They didn’t even need to create spell formations as the natural energies of Emerilia obeyed their commands.
Fire storms ripped out at the Xelur surrounding Deia’s party. Tornadoes carved paths through with their cutting winds. Darklings emerged from the shadows, appearing among the Xelur and cutting them down. Golden light fell upon the Xelur, burning their bodies and tearing the soul energy free from them. The ground revolted against the Xelur, unbalancing them and making them unable to react as grasses and vines attacked them, cracking against their soul auras. Storm clouds formed above with lightning and rain hammering those below.
Jekoni let out a maniacal laugh, he had been using the water from the ground and air in order to augment his abilities. Now, with the surplus of water, he formed a sphere of it that extended outward, creating blades along the surface. He rushed forward, these blades cutting against the off-balance Xelur.
Deia had cleared out the area around the breach and was targeting Demon Lords. Her arrows found an opening as they fell to the ground, no longer a threat.
Dave was among the ranks still. Using his gravitational manipulation, he was able to make any of the Xelur that he was fighting, off-balance, allowing him to plant a weapon in whatever weaknesses he could find.
Now that he didn’t have to try to protect Jung Lee from ranged attacks, his speed only increased. His weapons transformed in a blur: one moment it would be a sword; then next a bow; the next a claymore. As he moved, he left bodies in his wake.
Jung Lee rushed toward the Xelur. Deia, Dave, Jekoni, and now Jung Lee pushed outward in different directions.
The Xelur were stunned by the turn of events.
The Grand Demon Lord had been an all-powerful existence, akin to their gods.
Now that they were gone, they understood the disparity between them and these members of Party Zero.
It was only due to Jung Lee’s high levels and abilities that they had been able to deal with the Grand Demon Lord. His power was a third of Malsour’s; however, when combined with the power of his six Affinity spirits, Jung Lee’s power rose to new heights, making it hard to accurately guess his overall power.
Jung Lee’s hearing was enhanced so that he could easily hear the drums of the War Clans as they entered the castles and advanced toward the area between the castle and the outer walls.
“Esa wants us back in the castle to deal with the last remaining Xelur Grand Demon Lord!” Deia yelled over the party chat.
“Ready when you are,” Dave said, cutting through Xelur.
“I can leave these spirits here. If they consume all of their power, it will take only a few hours for the originals to regain their lost energy,” Jung Lee said after having gained a better understanding of the Free Affinity spirits within his body.
“Okay, let’s go!” Deia shot off into the sky, a ray of fire, conjuring a raging fire storm in the midst of the Xelur.
Dave jumped into the air, dumping a bag of grenades that created a trail behind him. The runes lit up on them as they were hurled out by different fields created by the orbs that circled Dave.
Explosions rippled out of the Xelur ranks, killing and severely wounding many.
Jekoni was the nucleus of the massive water sphere, blades shot out, spinning so fast as to whip up the air around it. Jekoni charged forwards the blades tearing through the Xelur, as the blades were broken here and there the sphere became smaller as new blades emerged. Jung Lee followed in its wake, their efforts serving to free the Dwarves trying to contain the Xelur that had broken through the eastern side.
Their lines started to get reorganized, not letting the time go to waste, knowing that Jung Lee and Jekoni wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever. The two, left destruction in their wake, the Dwarven Veterans felt their hearts pound faster with their faces turning pale. They gripped their swords and shields tighter the war drums sounding out the advance as they moved in behind the duo.
***
Dave looked at the crater holding the remaining members of Party Zero, frowning as he saw no signs of Induca, Suzy, Lu Lu, and Anna.
They altered their course to meet up with Party Zero.
The southeastern wall exploded outwards, the rocks stopped before reaching the crater. Malsour threw them at the Xelur around those in the crater as a Grand Demon Lord let out a roar of victory as they exited the wall, entering the open area between the castles.
Dave, Deia, and Jekoni dropped to the ground.
Steve, Gurren, and Lox were all showing signs of heavy fighting. Their armor was broken in places, with Gurren and Lox conjuring up hands as well as weapons in order to fight. Their chests were slowly reforming where it looked as if a hot poker had been st
abbed into them.
“Where are Suzy, Anna, and Induca?” Dave landed in a run, a claymore in his hands as he smashed into a Xelur Demon Lord, cutting them down and whirling away under another’s attack. His claymore turned into a war hammer as he smashed it into their side and threw them backward.
“They were hit badly by the Grand Demon Lord—they’re in Terra.” Lox savagely punched a Xelur in the face with his shield to vent the anger that he turned in on himself.
“Advance!” The dwarven War Clan leader’s order carried over the castle as the dwarven lines moved forward. Behind them, lines of ranged fighters, from mages to archers, javelin throwers and destruction staff users, unleashed their attacks, tearing into the Xelur Demons’ lines. With the Lox’s group and Deia’s group emerging victorious over their Grand Demon Lords, the dwarven lines were sweeping up the Xelur soldiers and lower-ranked Demon Lords within the castle’s defenses. This allowed their engineers to repair the walls and counterattack the Xelur.
“For now, we need to focus on killing that final Xelur Grand Demon Lord. If we can get rid of him, then the Xelur’s morale will break and we can push them out of the castle and chase them back to the ones that they came from,” Deia said.
Deia was as close to Suzy and Induca as sisters might be but right now she couldn’t let that distract her from her position as leader of Party Zero.
“If Steve, Lox, Gurren, and I are to attack, we can fully suppress the Grand Demon Lord,” Jung Lee said.
“Malsour and I can weaken him,” Dave added.
“Jekoni and I should be enough to support you all and hit him with strong spells. Together we can destroy him,” Deia said.
“Then we will need a path.” Malsour’s voice carried over the open area as he stomped his leg. The black flames that surrounded the crater parted in front of the party, spiked walls appeared from the ground, impaling the Xelur in the way.
The Grand Demon Lord looked down the corridor that connected him and Party Zero.
A circle of stone appeared around them, cutting them and the Xelur within from those outside.
Malsour leaned forward. Black flames rushed forward, the corridor serving to direct the flames. The weaker Xelur couldn’t even defend against the attacks.
Party Zero rushed down the corridor as the Grand Demon Lord took to the sky, his aura becoming more powerful.
“It’s whack-a-mole!” Steve’s whole body glowed with power as he shot upward into the sky. Lox, Gurren, and Jung Lee were beside him as they appeared above the Xelur Grand Demon Lord.
“Come on then, you big bastard!” Gurren yelled. He and Lox attacked together, distracting the Xelur Grand Demon Lord and putting him on the defensive.
“Down. You. GO!” Steve yelled, his armor glowed with runes as his soul gem-constructed body lit up the holes in his armor as he brought his axe downward, glowing with its own runic lines.
The Grand Demon Lord looked like a meteor tearing through the heavens as he rose. His twin swords stabbed out at Steve.
“Didn’t you hear the man?” Jung Lee yelled, his own power ignited. It was less than when he had fought the other Grand Demon Lord but he moved in a flash, his sword expanded until it was ten meters long and smashed against the Xelur Grand Demon Lord’s seven-meter-long swords. He grunted with exertion as he pushed them backward slightly, opening the Xelur Grand Demon’s defenses just enough for Steve’s hit to connect.
The Grand Demon Lord turned ping pong ball was slapped down ten meters, still in the air.
Malsour created metal spears that killed off those who hadn’t died with his flames while Deia and Dave raced forward, their bows letting loose arrows that tore through the Xelur.
Jekoni gestured; water droplets sped through the air, leaving holes in the Xelur’s foreheads as they dropped to the ground. He floated beside Malsour as they moved forward at a relaxed pace.
Steve had been tossed back by the impact of his attack the Grand Demon Lord was more angry than anything that the hit had impacted his soul energy but not his Health.
Again, Lox, Gurren, and Jung Lee kept the Grand Demon Lord wrapped up as Steve pounded on the Grand Demon Lord as if he were nothing more than a nail to be hammered into wood.
At their backs, the Dwarven War Clans were advancing, opening to allow POE and players to pass through their lines as they cut down the Xelur without mercy.
Archers on the castles and mages supporting the dwarves took out the Demon Lords, allowing the dwarves to only deal with the normal Xelur forces.
These War Clans had been trained at the Mithsia Mountains for months and tempered in the Ashal wilderness around Aldamire Mountain. Their strength and fighting abilities were greater than most other War Clan’s that had been fielded in the past.
They took injuries here and there but it was hard to notice as they pushed onward like an unstoppable juggernaut of shields and swords. Even in the eyes of these venerated shield bearers, there was a look of respect as they looked upon the members of Party Zero. They were powerful and decisive. Even if they were weak and wounded, they continued forward against any that stood in their way.
Dave and Deia rose up into the air, Malsour between them as the Grand Demon Lord was smashed into the ground by Steve’s axe.
“And stay there!” Steve slammed against a wall from the recoil of his attack, using the wall to push off and return to the fight.
Dave was linked to Steve, as well as Deia, Lox, and Gurren’s armor. The fighting had not been easy on Lox, Steve, and Gurren’s power reserves.
He directed the power that was being captured by his armor through specialized circuits and shared it with the other three instead of storing it within the vault soul gem that he carried in his bag of holding as his own armor was fully charged.
The others’ power levels climbed upward. Their strength increased as Lox and Gurren’s missing hands and melted chest started to repair at a faster rate.
The three’s attacks increased in speed and power while Jung Lee continued to add his own attacks. The four of them were able to fully suppress the Grand Demon Lord, even getting hits on the Grand Demon Lord who was now fully enraged, unable to escape or move, being treated as nothing more than a demon punching bag.
In no more than it would take a person to blink, Deia clicked the wheel on her bow over to a new setting. Power surged through the bow, lighting up new runes as blue flames flickered over the bow. She pulled on the bow’s string; an arrow of solid blue appeared between her fingers. She drew the string fully back before she released it.
The air shuddered and exploded outward in a pressure wave. The blue arrow turned into a ray of blue light as it passed under Steve’s raised arm and over Jung Lee’s shoulder before it hit the Grand Demon Lord straight on.
The Grand Demon Lord was thrown backward at Gurren, who turned his shield and sword into a war hammer that he swung with all of his strength, his runes blinding as they were overclocked by the power surging through them.
The war hammer halted the Grand Demon Lord’s momentum.
Gurren’s conjured war hammer and hands were destroyed by the forces placed upon them.
From around Dave, orbs shot forward, creating a hexagonal prism with orbs digging through the ground to create all of the various major points. Gray light spread between them all; magical formations appeared along the faces of the prism that surrounded the Xelur Grand Demon Lord.
The Grand Demon Lord didn’t have time to get from its knees when the ground around it shattered, gravitational forces acting upon the Grand Demon Lord.
If we weren’t restricted by the AI’s damn parameters, I could just make it so that he couldn’t move at all, Dave hissed in his mind.
The Grand Demon Lord’s injuries from Deia’s attack were repairing; his soul aura took a few moments to stabilize itself. Deia’s attack had actually blown off his arm. The soul energy still regrew the limb at a speed visible to the eye.
The Xelur Grand Demon Lord, because of his size, was hav
ing more trouble in the gravitational prison than a smaller person might, but he still regained his footing. He was in the center of the gravitational forces.
Lox and Gurren hurled out conjured javelins; their wrists and hands were still broken, so they couldn’t fire out Mana bolts. The javelins, upon reaching the edge of the gravity prison, sped up even more, smashing against the Grand Demon Lord.
He howled out in anger as Jung Lee and Steve unleashed their powered attacks with their weapons, axe, and sword light racing toward the Grand Demon Lord. He blocked Jung Lee’s attack with his right sword, waving his left hand as his other sword leapt from the ground and raced to meet his newly formed hand.
Steve’s hit made him stagger backward; the gravity prison pulled him back into place even as his aura fought against the pull of the prison.
At this time, there was no one left. Malsour had killed the last of the Xelur soldiers that had been trying to escape the walled area, not caring for their Grand Demon Lord that was being completely suppressed.
Deia fired another arrow at the Grand Demon Lord as Malsour looked upon them, unleashing his most powerful attack, flames of the abyss. Wherever the flames passed, the ground was torn asunder, reduced to its molecular components.
The Grand Demon Lord pushed his aura to the maximum, creating a solid shield of pure soul energy in front of him as he wildly attacked one of the gravity prison’s orbs that created it.
Even the soul energy was slowed as it passed through that gravity prison, hitting a Mana barrier around the orb.
Dave laughed coldly. “You think that you will be able to break my gravity prison? Think again. I might not have your soul energy, but I’m a dwarven master smith. I work with soul energy every day and I made magical coding. With just your strength, you won’t be able to defeat my creations,” Dave said with the utmost confidence.
The Grand Demon Lord let out a roar of anger, not willing to accept his fate as he pushed away from the center of the prison, wildly slashing out at Party Zero.
“Finish him off,” Deia said. With his power reduced by twenty to thirty percent in the prison and his speed cut to a third, he was a much easier opponent to deal with.
Emerilia Series Box Set 4 Page 51
