Casper met the Hell Knights without reservation. His body moved like a gust of wind, while his blood spear continued to rotate. With the miasmic flame adorning the spear’s tip, it was more than enough to deal with the legion of monsters forming in front of him.

With a step forward, he shifted the momentum of the rotating spear and stabbed a hell knight, piercing straight through its molten body. Two waves of roiling blood spread out from his flank, engulfing several of the hellish creatures just like that. A second later, a violent light shone as the miasmic fire appeared within the growing coalescence of blood and slowly eroded away the bodies of the hell knights.

“Coming up on your right, Ghosty!” Kaylen shouted.

Casper stepped to the side, drawing the expansive wave of blood toward himself as Kaylen landed right in the center of the hell knights. Her fist smashed into the ground and a shockwave sent the molten skeleton creatures soaring away.

Casper stepped forward once again, parrying the swing of hell knight intent on taking his head. His soul siphon had begun enhancing his body and with a burst of strength, he kicked the hell knight and sent it tumbling backward before leaping in front of it and finishing it with a quick thrust of his spear.

“I’m sending them up!” Kaylen shouted.

Another shockwave followed and dozens of hell knights were thrown into the air like ragdolls. Casper conjured a wall of bloody spikes that shot upward, impaling the helpless creatures before miasmic fire engulfed their bodies.

“Gargoyle!” Wilson cried out, attempting to warn Casper a second too late.

The stony creature with fiery veins lining its skin swooped down and struck Casper with all the force of a bus, knocking him back.

‘That could’ve been bad,’ Casper shook off the impact, most of which had been absorbed by the Ivory Warden’s Armor. Bringing himself out of his temporary daze, his hands moved to draw the Spectral Bow.

“Another one, Casper!”

This time, he rolled out of the way just in time as the Gargoyle flew past, just barely missing him. Just as he took aim, Wilson had already launched himself into the air and grabbed onto the gargoyle, his body swelling as his enhancement gift worked in full force.

“Haaa!” With a deafening shout, he tore away one of the gargoyle’s stone wings and it let out a pained shriek in response before it entered a free fall and crashed in the middle of dozens of hell knights.

“Vincent,” Alexandra said meaningfully.

“I’m on it,” the young man replied, he took slow and careful steps forward, his arms looked in place as the air around him began to shift.

He pulled his hand back and with a small exclamation, threw a punch that echoed throughout the hellish cavern. An invisible force traveled through the grouping hell knights, carving right through their ranks and opening a path, revealing Wilson who was engaged in a fight with a wounded gargoyle in addition to the swarming hell knights.

Casper seized the open path and rushed through, circulating his blood fast enough to cause his body to heat up. A blood spear appeared in his hands and he began decimating any hell knight in his path. He swung his spear, throwing himself forward immediately after, and the fiery heads of the knights were sent into the air.

“This makes us even,” Casper said as he arrived in front of the gargoyle, raising his spear to block its strike.

“I guess so!” Wilson let out a dry laugh before delivering a bone-shattering uppercut to the gargoyle being tied down by Casper.

The gargoyle stumbled backward, cracks appearing in its skin, but it remained standing. Casper jumped into the air, leaping over the gargoyle, and pierced its skull with his spear, but even then it remained upright.

With a pained roar, he entered a frenzy and grabbed onto the spear before flinging Casper away. Unbeknownst to the angered creature, two glowing runes appeared on the base of its skull.

‘Perfect,’ Casper thought, activating the runes.

Two consecutive explosions rang out, splitting the grotesque head of the gargoyle into pieces.

“What about the second one?!” Kaylen’s fist exploded with a shocking amount of power, obliterating a hell knight completely.

“I got it!” Casper replied, drawing the Spectral Bow and firing three arrows within the blink of an eye.

The spirit attack caused the gargoyle, who remained previously out of reach, to plummet toward the ground, crashing into a pool of lava. Its skin-crawling shriek reverberated as it clawed its way out, but awaiting it was another strike from Vincent who had enough time to align his strike. A concentrated force of energy split the air, delivering a fatal blow to the gargoyle who lurched backward and sunk into the lava, never to rise again.

Casper rotated his blood spear fast enough for it to turn into a reddish blur and began sweeping through droves of the hellish creatures. Arcs of blood flew out, cutting the burning soldiers apart before retreating. Steam rose into the air as he made his way through them. As the process of Soul Siphoning filled him to the brim with power, he halted his momentum and raised his spear before driving it into the ground. The ground splintered as the spear dissolved, blood ran through the cracks before rising up as earth-piercing spikes that impaled countless hell knights. A second later, the fires of the miasma rose up, dissolving the writhing creatures into a dark-colored substance that dragged itself toward Casper’s body. He drew as much life essence as he could from the creatures, and while it could hardly compare to a living, breathing, being, it was enough to keep him from falling behind.

The lingering forces of hell knights were cleaned up in a timely manner and the group advanced toward the location of the lesser demon.

Of course, more hell knights appeared to hinder them but it was fruitless as they grew more adept with dealing with the low-intelligence creatures who seemed to focus solely on the offensive.

The watchtower boasted of a design reminiscent of a feudal era, yet no one kept watch over its desolate walls. Nothing kept them out, but a bloody air flowed from its open gates, the distant growls of the lesser demon reached their ears.

“Let’s get this over with,” Alexandra rotated her shoulders, inhaling deeply as her eyes took on a faint glow.

Flashes of illusory wyvern heads, appeared on her fists as she stepped foot within the watchtower where the lesser demon sat arrogantly. He knew of their arrival and yet stayed in the same position, one hand loosely gripping the handle of the greatsword inscribed with demonic runes.

“Filthy human,” It spoke in an ancient tongue that no one seemed to understand, but its derision was clear.

The demon rose, his figure casting a shadow the group as his forked tongue drifted across his sharpened teeth.

Alexandra smiled at the demon before she took a step forward, closing the distance, and planted her fist into its kneecap. The shattering blow did just that as distinct snapping sound rang out. The lesser demon roared, falling onto its knee. It swung its greatsword in a wide arc, with no real direction but the hefty blade was caught in the jaws of a translucent wyvern. A high-pitched cry filled the air as the jaws of the illusory beast closed, leaving web-like cracks along the blade of the ancient sword.

“Human–!” The wrathful bellowing of the lesser demon was cut short as Alexandra delivered several strikes to its abdomen.

The wyvern heads tore out chunks of flesh, leaving holes in the lesser demon’s body. It spat out a clump of dark blood that hissed as it touched the ground before slowly falling over.

‘That was… anticlimactic,’ Casper couldn’t help but think. A tinge of regret came at the fact he lost out on the soul of the lesser demon, though he remembered that things would only get more difficult after they advanced.

As the lesser demon crumbled into ashes, Alexandra moved with a clear purpose. She made sure to destroy the demonic greatsword which triggered a small reaction. A small plat of darkened earth split apart and a large fleshy eye, nearly a meter wide, was revealed.

The large pupil darted around as it took in the sight before it, but could only show panic as a fist quickly appeared in front of it. A squelching sound reverberated as the eye burst, Alexandra wasted no time in destroying it and ignored the bits of gore that flew out as a result.

“It’s done,” she said, her voice solemn as she made eye contact with each member of the group.

Understanding the meaning behind her glance, everyone began to make preparations. Restoratives and resistance potions were consumed en masse. Shortly after, the entire ruin began to tremble.

“Andreas finished on his side,” Alexandra said in a low voice.

Casper, curious as to what was changing, sent out a crow to scout the surroundings and could only stand dumbstruck as a castle began rising out of the sea of magma. An incomprehensible construction of walls long since stained with ash. The mind-numbing groaning of tired iron chains attached to a draw bridge filled the air as a path was revealed. Activating his Spirit Vision, three souls, nearly as bright as Alexandra’s and Andreas’ instantly filled his vision.

“How’s it look?” Alexandra took note of Casper’s stunned expression as his eyes unconsciously widened.

“From my perspective? Not too good…” He whispered, wondering what was waiting in the castle.