The Demon Lord’s voice rang like deafening bells inside Arthur’s head, but his surprise stemmed from the fact that Abrigel was actually calling for help.

The Fire Spirit proved more powerful and unrelenting than the Demon Lord gave it credit. Then again, it had been greatly empowered by Halric’s energy.

Even were Arthur to agree to help, there was nothing he could do against the Fire Spirit.

Parasite

His heart racing and his mind trying to think of a way out, Arthur hesitated before finally giving a response.

‘My friend has been infected by the Blight. Get rid of it first.’

His priority was getting Evelyn to safety, and though that was almost achieved, she was still infected. Her complexion kept getting worse and her movements were becoming noticeably slow and unsteady.

Help me and I will remove the Blight from that mortal’s body.

‘No.’

As soon as he refused, Evelyn’s body froze and then fell on the ground.

I can make it worse, Parasite. A mortal’s life is worth nothing to me.

His threats notwithstanding, Arthur ignored Abrigel and put his head on Evelyn.

[Wither Touch]

He absorbed as much of the negative energy as possible, which worked, albeit just a bit. She was still incapable of standing back up, blood leaking from her lips.

“Come on. Stay with me, Evelyn!”

Her eyes were half-closed and painful groans kept escaping her lips. Her condition was getting rapidly worse.

The Parasite lifted her body and shot toward the debris, moving as fast as he could until he was out of the Blight’s range.

Flames kept pouring down from the sky as the Fire Spirit screamed. Turbulent dark red flames raged forth and crashed into the hideous visage of the Abrigel, slowly overpowering him.

Once he was in a relatively safe spot, Arthur put Evelyn’s body down and kept using [Wither Touch], but it didn’t work anymore.

The nefarious energy of the Blight seemed to twist and hide, conscious of the pulling force emanating from Arthur.

Then, out of the blue, vines crept from the dirt and wrapped around Evelyn.

“I can save her.”

Halric’s body also surged forth, staring back at Arthur with a deadpan face.

“However, I require your help once more.”

“I’ve done my job, Halric! Heal her!”

“I can contain the Fire Spirit. I just need it to defeat Abrigel.”

“And what am I supposed to do about-”

Arthur stopped and raised hand, conjuring a sturdy barrier that blocked an incoming fireball.

“I was planning on aiding the Fire Spirit, but the situation has changed. I cannot focus on healing your friend and the fight simultaneously.”

“...”

“Do it in my stead and I promise I’ll save her life.”

“Your promises don’t mean anything to me.”

Halric sighed and gestured to the forest, “Alright, then. You can go if you want.”

After a momentary silence, Arthur gritted his teeth and inwardly cursed.

“If she dies, I’ll make sure you do too, Halric.”

The Alchemist solemnly nodded before vanishing. Evelyn’s body was entirely covered by vines before it was pulled underground.

[Mist of Decay]

The green mist spun around, carrying the Parasite higher and higher into the air. At a moderate speed, he flew toward the main fight.

[Law of Perception]

[Law of Resilience]

[Enhanced Spell]

[Sanguis Barrier]

Protected by a spherical barrier, Arthur shot forth while extending both hands. He made sure to remain far from the Fire Spirit’s flames before launching a barrage of spells at the Demon Lord.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as they got close, the spells were extinguished by the Blight.

The thick and ominous miasma spread from the Demon Lord.

You chose the wrong side, Parasite.

‘Go back to hell.’

Like a shooting golden star, Arthur pierced through the Blight while the barrier kept breaking and reconstructing itself.

[Potent Multi-Spell]

[Enhanced Spell]

[Wither Touch]

[Wither Touch]

[Wither Touch]

Like a sponge, The Parasite kept absorbing all the energy around him. The skin of the host literally began to melt, the hair fell, and bones broke apart due to the influx of energy.

Once he was ‘full’, Arthur stretched both hands and cast [Black Swirl].

An elementary Darkness-aspected spell, not particularly strong on its own. However, When it was cast, a frighteningly big vortex of sinister Darkness manifested in the air, drifting closer and closer to the Demon Lord.

Arthur didn’t wait to see the result of his attack, he immediately switched to another body only to be blown away by an explosive blast.

He saw the cackling face within the dark red flames whoosh in the air and gulp down the body he had discarded, then it let out a shout of exhilaration as the sky was momentarily filled with a blinding radiance.

Thereafter, Arthur was caught in a storm of fire that encompassed over half of Blackcrest. His vision turned dark and his body, swept by the fiery wind, uncontrollably spun around before violently crashing into the ground.

He heard Abrigel let out a horrifying scream as his face distorted and then turned blurry. The Blight that had spread across the city hastily retreated to its caster, but the Fire Spirit unleashed another earth-shaking attack.

Unexpectedly, it didn’t attack the Demon Lord again, instead, it retracted all of its flames, much like he did with the Blight, and then transformed into some sort of a gargantuan ball of concentrated dark-red fire.

Brighter than a midday sun, the fireball rose higher into the canopy.

“A…gh…”

Skin completely scorched and blackened, the Parasite laid on the ground, incapable of moving.

Unbeknownst to him, Blackcrest had been obliterated, leaving only a small portion of it relatively intact. The Duke’s castle was nowhere to be seen, and what few buildings luckily survived the flaming explosion were in a disastrous and irreparable state. What the Duke wanted to protect was all but gone, leaving ash and rubble behind.

Feeling the ever-increasing heat, Arthur struggled and, eventually, possessed another human body only to see the flaming sun hanging above the ruined city.

The Demon Lord was nowhere to be seen, though there was still a bit of miasma.

The danger, or some of it, was gone, so there was no more reason for him to stay, but just as he was about to leave, Arthur saw thick brown vines shoot upward and wrap around the fireball.

The vines were incinerated upon contact, but more and more kept appearing from below.

Soon, Halric appeared, his body protected by layers upon layers of vines. He leapt upwards while holding a black claw-shaped artifact on his right hand.

Compared to a massive fireball, Halric was minuscule and insignificant, and as he got closer and closer to his target, his vines kept burning and disappearing.

Parts of his body were hit by the fire, nevertheless, the alchemist persisted until he was in range to attack. He swiped his hand and slashed with the claw, which cut through the flames and resulted in an angry ear-piercing scream to come from within.

The Fire Spirit’s face appeared in the ball, glaring at Halric. While manoeuvring his body with the use of the vines, Halric attacked a second time, but the ball opened in a strange way and let the claw go through nothing but air.

Then, Halric found himself engulfed in flames, his body falling down with great speed. He quickly recovered and shot to the sky to attack but the Fire Spirit wasn’t going to wait for him.

A cacophony of screams echoed across the region, followed by a rumbling that came from the fireball itself.

[Enhanced Spell]

[Sanguis Barrier]

Arthur had already distanced himself and protected himself with magic, even then, he was caught up in the subsequent blast.

It was as if a nuke had been dropped on the city, creating destruction of untold proportions.

With an unpleasant ringing noise in his head, Arthur shook his head while taking deep breaths. He had continuously repaired the barrier, which, at least, saved his current host from being crushed by the shock wave or burned by the subsequent flames.

When his sense had somewhat recovered, there were no signs of the alchemist… or anything else. The debris, and destroyed buildings were gone. There was a deep and massive crater. Only a small portion of the North-Western part of the city was relatively intact.

The Fire Spirit returned to its original form but it was double its previous size. Gleeful, it cackled maniacally while looking down, its unsettling eyes focusing on the Parasite. He was the biggest source of ‘energy’ in its vicinity, and since the Demon Lord was gone, he had naturally become its primary target.

“Shit.”

[Mist of Decay]

[Sanguis Barrier]

When he saw it dive toward him like a meteor, Arthur unhesitantly ran away.

It kept spitting fireballs at him, which he either evaded as the barrier wasn’t strong enough to block them.

“Halric!”

Arthur called out for the alchemist but there was no response. He zigzagged around and avoided as much damage as possible, but the Fire Spirit would soon catch up to him.

From the looks of it, it seemed to be enjoying this cat and mouse chase.

When he looked behind him, he saw the face getting closer, threatening to gulp him down like it did with his other body.

Upon a closer look, however, part of the Fire Spirit had three black lines on it. It was the result of that unfamiliar artifact Halric had used.

‘Fuck me and my stupidity! Why did I agree to help!’

Fire bolts rained down on him from above, some piercing through the mist and striking his body.

The parasite tumbled and then fell down, rolling on the ground.

[Multi-Potent Spell]

[Enhanced Spell]

[Icicle]

[Icicle]

[Icicle]

[Icicle]

[Frost Blast]

[Frost Blast]

For a moment, the ice-aspected energy clashed against the flames, though it was quickly overpowered and extinguished.

Arthur leapt away from the ever-approaching Fire Spirit, his eyes scanning the crater.

[Search]

He kept running, gliding, and jumping while looking for the artifact. After half a minute, which kept getting hit by fireballs, he finally found it.

Desperate, the parasite sped toward the fallen claw. Fortunately, the Fire Spirit didn’t seem to notice that he was going for it, so it kept its playful yet scary chasing, slowly but surely wearing him down with its relentless assault.

‘I got it!’

Arthur snatched the artifact from the ground and held it with his right hand. He swiftly turned around and swept it diagonally at the incoming fireball.

The flames were cut and no damage was sustained, but before he could continue with another attack, Arthur saw that the Fire Spirit appeared right in front of him and bite down with its large maw.

He instinctively jerked his body backwards but to no avail. The left side of his body was instantly gone, causing a fountain of blood to spurt out.

Feeling his conscious waver and his vision turn blurry, he channelled Mana into his storage and took out another body.

Akin to a jumping froghopper, the parasite’s tiny worm-like body leapt from the mouth of his current human body to that of the Cydian Knight Ant.