“How do you want to proceed with this?” asked Kyrie.

Marcus was lost in thought. From their position, they could see the encampment clearly. They could clearly examine the creatures present. The creatures in the camp were a mix of demons and shadow animals. There were only 10 demons total. There were about 60 shadow creatures. That was a lot of creatures they needed to defeat.

Their major quest had been updated after all. It now read,

Major Quest

Destroy the Demon Encampment

You have discovered what was corrupting the Sosquatch forest. It is a group of demons and their army of shadow animals. Destroy the encampment and kill all the demons.

Rewards: 1000 experience and a magical equipment

The major quest did not say what would happen after they killed all the demons. Marcus was sure there was one more objective and it would be revealed after they killed the demons. They had to kill only the demons. There was nothing regarding the killing of shadow animals. However, to get to the demons, they would have to go through the shadow animals.

Marcus believed that two against such big numbers were bad odds. They would definitely die and then they would have to start again from Solaris.

Marcus said, “I don’t know. There are two options that I see. We can go to the other nymphs for help. Or we can go to Opulential for help. Both will take time though. I don’t know whether the situation here shall worsen after that or not.”

“Are you saying that the more time we take, the more our number of enemies would be?” asked Kyrie.

“The high priest Wush did say that the darkness is spreading. I mean if we take some time to get this quest done, then more animals may come under the influence of whatever this darkness is.”

“I wonder”, said Kyrie thoughtfully, “How are we not affected? I mean we are wandering in this darkness for at least a day now. We seem fine.”

Marcus was thoughtful. He did not have any answer for that. Kyrie did pose a good question. Marcus shifted in his place and shrugged. He said, “I am open to theories.”

Sometime later the demons disappeared from Marcus and Kyrie’s views. All of them entered a large tent which was erected in the centre of the encampment. Marcus wondered what was happening when he felt it. It felt as if a magical pulse was released in all directions with that large tent as epicenter.

As it passed through him, Marcus felt that this magical pulse was not right. It was something dark. It invoked something in him. Something primal. He felt angry. He felt like charging on to the demons in the encampment and tearing them apart with his hands. He almost rushed forwards, but he suppressed this primal feeling inside of him. He took deep calming breaths with his eyes closed. In a few moments he was back to normal.

Marcus opened his eyes and turned towards Kyrie to check up on her. She was trembling.

Marcus said, “Are you all right.”

Kyrie nodded, “It has passed. I am okay. What was that?”

“It seems that we have found out what or who is responsible for spreading the darkness in the forest. There could be an elite demon, a demon lord or an object in that large tent which is sending out magical pulses of darkness. I have a feeling it attacks your will. A being of lesser will would be overwhelmed by that pulse and that is how they would dominate over it. We survived because we have higher will.”

“And this darkness is going to keep on spreading”, muttered Kyrie, “We have to stop this now.”

“And how the fuck do you propose we do that with just the two of us?” Marcus asked, irritated.

Kyrie replied, “I don’t know. Maybe I can ask the nymphs for help. Land and forest nymphs would have warriors. Maybe the warriors fight the shadow animals, then we can attack the demons from the flank.”

“And what if the demons lead the charge?”

“Then we attack the demons while the other nymphs take on the shadow animals.”

“Do you think that the other nymphs will agree.”

“We nymphs are not docile contrary to popular belief”, said Kyrie with a sad smile, “We fight when we have to. And after all, this is their forest. They would do anything to protect it.”

Marcus frowned and said, “But do we want to risk them. Remember, if non adventurers die, they do not respawn.”

Kyrie started to say something but stopped. She said, “You are right. We are adventurers. Not them. They gave us this quest. So, what do you propose we do?”

Marcus said, “I am not a fucking strategic genius. I mean I can observe something and act accordingly. Last time I sneaked into a goblin encampment, I got lucky. I don’t think my luck will hold out with demons, especially if that magical pulse fires again. That is one hell of a distractor.”

“Sneaking”, muttered Kyrie. She said slowly, “That gives me an idea.” She looked up, “We need rain. And at night.”

“Can you control the weather?” asked Marcus incredulously.

Kyrie grinned, “No, but I have a plan.”

***

Kyrie disappeared after telling Marcus her plan. Considering the circumstances, Marcus considered that it was the best plan that they had. He just hoped that it worked.

Hours passed and Marcus kept watch on the encampment. The magical pulse of darkness was activated two more times only. So, the frequency for using the pulse was not high. Only about once every five hours. That was good according to Marcus.

The sun was almost setting when Kyrie returned. Marcus raised an inquiring eyebrow and she nodded. It seemed that she had been successful.

Marcus looked up at the sky. It was clear a moment ago. However, since Kyrie came back, it was darkening with grey clouds. Rain clouds. Soon, the whole sky was covered, and lightning flashed across the clouds. The sun was completely bloated, and darkness spread over the encampment.

At that time, the shadow animals started to move out. It seemed that they patrolled the forest during the night or something. That was indeed lucky for Marcus and Kyrie. They both looked at each other and grinned.

It started to rain. They hid in the branches of a tree. They made sure that no one or nothing would be able to see them. The rain was not pouring but there was no drizzle either. It fell at a steady pace. Marcus saw two shadow animals named Shadow Calaman 1 and Shadow Calaman 2 pass underneath the tree. They did not seem to sense Marcus and Kyrie.

Marcus and Kyrie waited till all the shadow animals had left. Only the demons remained. Each of these demons went inside a tent. Their tents surrounded the central large tent in a circle. Marcus and Kyrie looked at each other. This cannot be so easy.

They proceeded towards the encampment with caution. There was a Shadow Panhard near one of the gates. They killed it fast and silent. They proceeded with stealth into the camp.

They saw no more shadow animals. Marcus wondered why that was. They reached near the tents of the demons and nodded to each other. Marcus went left and Kyrie went right.

Marcus entered a tent. The demon had his back to him. It was humanoid in shape but had no head or neck. A floating fiery orb floated above the chest where the head should have been. The orb was burning with fiery green light, the flames waving on the top where the hair should have been.

Marcus examined the demon,

Demon Grunt, Level 15

Health 300 / 300

Marcus backstabbed the demon for 100 points of damage. Before the demon could react, Marcus attacked the demon with fast slashes from his twinblade. The demon died without even doing anything.

Marcus waited. There was no sound. He had been successful in killing the demon without raising the alarm. He exited the tent to find Kyrie doing the same. She had been successful too. Marcus proceeded onto the next tent to repeat what he had done.

Marcus and Kyrie managed to kill six of the demons in this way. Marcus was feeling good till he exited the tent of his third demon. Two demon grunts stood in front of him. He looked to the left to see Kyrie in a similar situation. It seemed that their luck had run out. They were now in trouble.

Marcus dodged back as both the demon grunts attacked him at the same time. They carried a sword and a shield in their hands and were wearing armor. The other demon grunts had been easy to kill as they had not been wearing armor. Marcus was in for a tough fight.

One of the grunts charged Marcus. Marcus sidestepped the attack to find the sword of the second demon grunt slashing towards his neck. He dodged it at the last second and fell down. The first grunt brought his sword down and Marcus rolled out of the attack fast. He got up quickly, but the second grunt bashed him with his shield. Marcus flew back and crashed into some logs.

Marcus got up quickly as the grunts charged him and blocked both of their swords with his twinblade. The grunts hit him with their shields and Marcus felt a bit dazed. As he swerved, the first grunt slashed at this neck and Marcus suddenly dropped down. The momentum of the swing carried on forward and the first grunt hit the second grunt who was charging. The sword of the first grunt lodged directly into the floating orb of the second grunt for a second. The first grunt took it out immediately, but the damage had been done.

The second grunt looked at the first grunt with his hollow demonic eyes and gave a snarl. The second grunt whacked the first grunt and snarled again pointing at where Marcus should have been.

However, he was not where he had fallen. He had quickly crawled to the back of the grunts. He attacked them now, slashing both their backs. The grunts stumbled forwards. Before they could regain their footing, Marcus charged them, hitting them with a series of slashes and stabs.

When the grunts slashed back, Marcus dodged backwards and took stock of the situation. Both the grunts’ health had reduced. The first grunt was down to 52 points out of 302 while the second was down to 24 points out of 272. Marcus himself had lost 67 points of health.

The grunts put up their shields in defense. It seemed that they would be taking a defensive approach. As they slowly advanced further, arrows struck them from the back, killing the second grunt and taking half of the first grunt’s health. The first grunt stumbled, and Marcus took him out quickly with a stab.

Marcus then looked up to see Kyrie running towards him. She had lost only 20 points of health.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

Marcus nodded and said, “I am not good with fighting, I think. I need to practice.”

“Well, you did take on two of them and killed them.”

“You killed your two demons faster than me and then helped me.”

Kyrie shrugged, “Being a ranged attacker helps. I am good at running away fast and shooting from a distance. My enemies cannot chase after me and defend against my attacks at the same time.”

Marcus did not say anything. He was sure Kyrie was underplaying her talent. He had other immediate concerns. He pointed towards the large tent, “Let’s see what the fuck is inside shall we?”

They went up to the large tent, looking around for more surprises. They hesitated only a second before entering it, their weapons ready.

The tent was empty. There was nothing in it, not even a source of light. However, Marcus could sense something hum. A small object lay on the ground. It looked like a rhombohedron with a flat ring around its center. It was completely black in colour and was about as large as his hand.

It was giving out a humming sound. Marcus could hardly see it considering the illumination in the tent. They looked around the tent one more time and found nothing else. Why was such a large tent erected for such a small object?

Marcus tried to examine the object but could not. He said, “Can you tell what the object is Kyrie?”

Kyrie said, “I am somehow not able to examine it.”

“Me neither.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means”, said Marcus crouching down near the object, “We have found the source of darkness.”

Marcus tried to pick it up. The humming intensified and the next moment Marcus shot back taking the tent with him. He landed about fifty feet away from where he was, and his health fell quite low. Only 23 points remained.

Kyrie entangled him from the mess. Marcus just lay there stunned. He did not register what Kyrie was saying till she slapped him.

Marcus croaked, “What?”

“Are you alright?” asked Kyrie.

“What happened?” Marcus was clearly feeling disoriented. He did not understand why he was lying on the ground, covered with tent material when he just tried to pick up the unidentified object. And how did he take the whole tent instead of just ripping a hole in it?

Marcus got into a sitting position and asked, “How the fuck did the tent rip off. This is not possible.”

“Well as soon as you touched the object, it gave out a short burst of energy. It blasted you back and along with it, somehow the tent. I was also blasted back but I faced a lesser impact of the energy. So, I was not thrown off as far as you”, explained Kyrie.

Marcus stood up. His world spun. He sat down again closing his eyes. He said slowly, “How far was I thrown?”

“About fifty feet would be my guess.”

Marcus opened his eyes when he felt that the world would have stopped spinning. He got up and looked around to find the encampment. He started walking towards it.

Kyrie followed, asking, “What are you doing?”

“We clearly need to destroy that thing.”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

Marcus stopped. He turned to Kyrie and said, “Let’s shoot it from a safe distance.”

They walked up to the object. Now it lay in the middle of the encampment, open to the heavens and still humming. Marcus swore at it for some time. Then he and Kyrie walked up to about thirty feet away from it.

Marcus asked, “Do you think this is a safe distance?”

Kyrie shrugged, “I think so.”

“And are you absolutely positive you can shoot it?”

Kyrie scoffed, “Do not doubt my archery talents Marcus Blank.”

“Whoa! Did not mean to insult you. Just wanted to confirm. I am sorry.”

Kyrie nodded and drew back her bowstring. An arrow appeared as soon as she drew her brow. The arrow seemed to be crackling with magic. A magic arrow, Marcus presumed. Kyrie activated her spell [Power Shot]. The spell charged her attack. Kyrie took precise aim and let loose the arrow.

It hit the target. The object gave a louder hum as the arrow hit it. Other than that, nothing happened. Marcus and Kyrie looked at each other with confused expressions on their faces.

Marcus said, “What now?”

Kyrie said slowly, “Maybe we need to destroy it with a holy attack.”

“Oh, fucking perfect. Where the fuck are we going to get holy spells right now. This is fucking ridiculous.” Marcus broke into a tirade. It seemed that he had quite some pent-up frustration that he needed to let go.

After he stopped talking Kyrie said, “Or we could hit it with an even stronger attack.”

Marcus looked confused. He said, “How strong of an attack are we talking about? And how are you going to get a strong attack? Out of thin air?”

“Exactly”, grinned Kyrie and shouted, “Airie.”

A form materialized in front of Marcus and Kyrie and Marcus stepped back. The form looked much like a nymph, but she looked more transparent than other nymphs and shone with a silvery sheen.

Marcus said, “You must be one of the air nymphs Kyrie was talking about.”

Airie, the air nymph became solid. Air nymphs were silver in colour it seemed. Airie grinned as she said, “Hello Marcus Blank. I heard a bit about you from Kyrie.”

Marcus said, “All good things, I hope.”

“Definitely”, said Airie. Then to Kyrie she said, “How can I help you Kyrie?”

Kyrie said, “Do you sense that object, Airie?”

“That is definitely an evil object”, shuddered Airie, “Please don’t tell me to go near it. Or touch it. I saw what it did to Marcus.”

“What do you mean?” asked Marcus.

Airie said, “I mean it could be the only thing that could have flung you and that large tent so far. It makes logical sense.”

Marcus did not argue. He looked at Kyrie who said, “I do not want you near it Airie. But can you do this one thing?”

Kyrie explained what she had in mind and Airie’s eyes twinkled at the idea. She flew off towards the clouds, turning transparent as she did.

“Come on”, said Kyrie, “We need to be still further away. Else we might get hit.”

Marcus and Kyrie went up to the edge of the encampment. Marcus could not see the object now, but he could still feel its power. They waited for some time. The rain stopped. The hair on Marcus’ neck stood up. He looked up. Lightning was flashing across all the clouds, gathering at a single spot. This went on for a few minutes.

Then a large lightning bolt crashed into the ground. Marcus had to turn away as it nearly blinded him. The sound of thunder that followed the lightning also nearly deafened him. However, he clearly heard a crack after the lightning had struck.

He could now clearly see the object. It was hovering some feet above the ground. A crack had appeared across it and the cracked part of the object looked red. It started to emit a loud whistling sound.

Marcus said urgently, “Hit it again.”

Kyrie shouted the same into the sky. Lightning started to gather again, this time faster than earlier. It took a couple of minutes and then lightning struck the object again. This time Marcus was ready. He had closed his eyes and covered his ears.

There was a loud crack after the second lightning and the object exploded. Waves of dark energy started to rush towards the object, collecting at the spot where the object had been.

As the darkness passed though Marcus, he felt it again. His primal instincts flaring up. With that accompanied the pain. He tried to resist it but it was too much. He screamed in pain and focused on suppressing the rising anger.

Seconds, minutes, hours; he had no idea how much time had passed. The wave of darkness finally stopped and Marcus collapsed on the ground. Where the object had lain, a darkness had formed. It was spherical in shape and about four feet large. It seemed to swallow all the light around it. Shadow tendrils enveloped it, moving slowly in wavy patterns.

Marcus got up and looked at Kyrie. She was still on the ground and trembling. He put a hand on her and she flinched away from him. He decided to give her some time.

He started to walk towards the darkness. Airie materialized near him. She said, “I would advise against approaching it.”

Marcus said, “Then what do we do?”

“We wait.”

“For what?”

His question was answered as the spherical darkness suddenly fell away. In that place stood a demon. It was four feet long and humanoid in shape. It had an octopus shaped head, red barbed skin and claws in its hands and feet. Marcus examined it,

Cthulhin the Devourer

Demon Lord, Level 20

Health 7,000 / 7,000

“Fuuuuuuuuck”, said Marcus.

***

Kyrie had a good plan. It was to take the help of air nymphs. Not directly for attacking but she knew that they would be able to direct rain where she wanted.

Kyrie had run towards the stream near the encampment. The stream had been about two kilometers away from the encampment. She had swam fast and hard to reach the lake. There she had petitioned with High Priestess Tananashadra to get her an audience with the air nymphs. She was sure there would be some around.

She had been right. Tananashadra had arranged for an audience with the High Priestess of the air nymphs, Salya Airborne. The explanation as to what Kyrie required of the air nymphs had taken some time. Salya had finally agreed to help her. Salya sent Airie and other air nymphs to help Kyrie.

Kyrie and the air nymphs travelled to the encampment and the air nymphs diverted the rain clouds. The rain had helped. The shadow animals leaving had been a bonus. She and Marcus had managed to kill all the demons. Then came that object.

Kyrie’s idea to destroy it with lightning had been good. Airie had been excited to help with it too. However, things had not gone well when the object exploded and now she was lying on the ground, groaning in pain and hoping that the world would stop spinning.

When Kyrie felt a bit better, she got up. Her vision was somehow a bit blurry. The rain had slowed down and through the drizzle, she could see three people fighting. Marcus and Airie were attacking a demon lord. Kyrie examined him.

Cthulhin the Devourer

Demon Lord, Level 20

Health 6901 / 7,000

What in the world was going on? How did this demon lord come here? She hefted her bow and took aim. Her vision blurred more and her strength faltered. Why was this happening? Then she checked her health. It had fallen down to just 2 points. She quickly took a couple of health potions to bring it to full. The potions helped. Her vision cleared.

She took aim and thought of releasing the arrow but she stopped. She did not have a holy attack. Nor did Marcus or Airie as per her knowledge. What hope did they have of defeating this demon lord without it. She could clearly see that both Marcus and Airie were struggling against the demon lord and were doing maximum 10 points of damage per hit.

Kyrie looked towards the sky and called an air nymph. One appeared.

Kyrie said, “The high priestesses and high priest. They know a holy spell. Can they come? Can they help?”

The air nymph looked towards the demon lord and then back at Kyrie. The air nymph said, “Airie is helping buy some time. Other air nymphs are helping in their own way. High Priestess Salya shall be the fastest to arrive. However, the message has already been passed to others. We hope they arrive soon.”

Kyrie was filled with hope. She grinned, drew her bow and fired at the demon lord. It hit him for 10 points of damage.

The demon lord howled and charged at Kyrie. Kyrie had to dodge Cthulhin’s attack. The demon lord was fast. Kyrie barely had time to recover before it attacked again. Kyrie parried the attack and shot it point blank. Cthulhin staggered and Marcus took this opportunity to get in some attacks.

Slowly and steadily, they seemed to be chipping off Cthulhin’s health. It was now 6,772 points. A long way to go.

They now took turns distracting Cthulhin. They attacked it from different directions. It seemed that Cthulhin attacked the one who attacked it last. Kyrie and Airie were both ranged attackers. They distracted him the most. Marcus did get in a few hits but he was at the most risk as he had to attack from melee range.

Kyrie did not know how much time had passed but she felt a shift. She looked up. Salya had arrived and she was preparing a spell. She grinned and lost focus for a moment. That was all it took. Cthulhin charged at her and slashed her.

She felt weightless for a moment. Then she slammed into the ground with extreme force. Cthulhin loomed over her, ready for a killing blow. It was ignoring Airie’s attacks and Marcus would not reach it in time to get it off Kyrie. This was it. Kyrie closed her eyes.

Bright light surrounded her, rejuvenated her. She opened her eyes. Cthulhin stepped back from her, howling in pain. She was rejuvenated. Moreover, she got a new buff. She read about it.

[Aerial Rejuvenation]

Your health will rejuvenate by 1 point per second for five minutes. Your dodge speed shall increase by 50% during the duration.

This was sweet. Kyrie attacked Cthulhin, dealing 52 points of damage. Good. He was weakened from the holy attack by Salya. The High Priestess of the air nymphs seemed to have retreated. She would be recuperating after her spell.

Marcus and Kyrie pressed this advantage. Airie seemed to have retreated for now. With just the two of them, Cthulhin became a bit difficult. However, they were doing better damage. Cthulhin was fast but Marcus and Kyrie held up well against it.

By the end of five minutes, they had whittled down Cthulhin’s health by 1,500 points. It was now at 5,270 points of health. Kyrie felt herself tiring. She could see that Marcus was also tired considering how he was panting. She had also seen him use two health potions during the fight. She did not know how long he would last if he continued to push on like this.

Kyrie increased her frequency of attacks, making sure that Cthulhin spent more time chasing her, giving Marcus a breather. She could see Marcus shout to someone in the air. Airie materialized before him and they seemed to be discussing something. However, Kyrie did not have much time to focus on them as Cthulhin’s attacks were fast. She had to dodge, block or parry the demon lord’s attacks while attacking in return.

She dodged one of its attacks and stepped back. Her foot hit something hard and she tripped backwards. It was all it took. Cthulhin attacked her with a flurry of slashes and she felt her life almost ending. She expected a death blow but suddenly Cthulhin was no more there. It had been whisked off by a sudden powerful gust of wind and impaled on Marcus’ twinblade.

Kyrie tried to get up, help Marcus but her feet wobbled and she fell. She tried to reach for a health potion but she could not. She could see that Cthulhin was attacking Marcus furiously and if she did not do something, Marcus would die. She willed herself to move but could not.

Cthulhin knocked Marcus down and jumped on him. This was it. Kyrie tried to shout but could not. They were done. It was over. They had lost.

A gentle voice whispered in her ear, “Do not give up hope sister. We are here.”

Kyrie smiled. Her last thought as she passed out was Go Marcus.

***

Marcus had fallen with Cthulhin on top. He was holding the demon lord off with his twinblade but was losing the battle. The demon lord would break off anytime and swipe Marcus’ head off.

It was of no use. Marcus would fight till his dying breath. He gave a last shout. A last push. He saw the claw heading towards his head but he was too late to do anything.

A bright golden light hit them. Then a second one. Then a third. Cthulhin was thrown off Marcus.

Marcus stood up. He felt rejuvenated. Three buffs were suddenly active on him.

[Healing Water]

You heal 2 points per second for five minutes. Your speed increased by 50% for the duration.

[Rock Protection]

Your physical resistance increased by 50% for five minutes. 10% of the damage incurred reflected on to the attacker for the duration.

[Leaf Rejuvenation]

You heal 1 point per second for five minutes. Your magical resistance increased by 40% for the duration.

He had been completely healed by those three golden lights. Moreover, he did not feel tired anymore. Marcus looked around to see Tananashadra, Wush and Dashandara standing over a fallen Kyrie.

He started towards her but Tananashadra said, “She will be alright Marcus Blank. Deal with the demon lord quickly.”

Marcus turned toward Cthulhin. Its health had reduced to merely 1432 points. How strong the spells had to take off about four thousand points of Cthulhin’s health.

Marcus charged at the demon lord and slashed it. Cthulhin looked confused as Marcus hit it for 102 points of damage. Marcus attacked with a flurry of slashes, pushing Cthulhin back. The demon lord had not yet recovered from the holy spells and Marcus was feeling invincible.

He parried the demon lord’s claws and ran his twinblade straight through it. He slashed, stabbed and kicked Cthulhin till his health reached a mere 53 points. With a final slash Marcus decapitated Cthulhin. As its head fell to the ground, the body of the demon lord disintegrated.

Marcus fell on his knees. Five minutes were up. His buffs were gone. Exhausting crept over him. He smiled. They had won. Darkness welcomed him.