Kirckour Woods,

16th Banem 1092

Malevolent winds whistled through the quiet forest. A stifling aura of death settled over the dense trees, blanketing all living beings within its cold grip. This forest had been abandoned by light, and chilling darkness had taken over.

Somewhere within the forest depths, an odd party consisting of two daebens, a human and a centaur squared off against a creature that could only have been born from the sinister aura surrounding the forest.

Kashi examined the creature with a solemn expression. He recognized the creature as a Marilith, a half-snake, half-human demon with a female human torso and a long snake's tail. It also had six arms on its human part. Usually, the upper bodies of mariliths took the form of beautiful women. They would lure prey over with their upper body, then either paralyze them with venom or, constrict the prey with its tail before it could escape.

Mariliths were tough demons to face on their own, but the one in front of the party was dangerously unique. To begin with, it was at least ten times larger than a regular marilith. Its human torso alone was twice Kashi's height and large enough to fit three average sized men standing side by side. From his current view, Kashi could not make out the entire length of its tail, but he estimated it was certainly not smaller than 20m.

Even more striking than its size, was the fact there was nothing 'beautiful' about its upper body. Its upper body was a mass of seemingly carelessly lumped flesh and scales and a pair of exposed sagging breasts. Its iconic six arms had increased to eight, but where a regular marilith had 'slender' arms, this marilith's arms were muscular and tough, ending in long, clawed fingers.

Kashi quickly came to a conclusion. This marilith was either infected by the blight (unlikely as blight only affects plants) or it was strengthened and evolved through some dark magic. The daeben's gaze narrowed as he considered the second possibility. So far, he only knew of one group with the capability to produce something like this.

Kashi glanced at Larsial, but her expression was grim and tight. Even if she knew something about this monster, she fully expected it to attack her too. Kashi let out a sigh. There was no point worrying about it now. Everything would be revealed soon enough. Kashi looked at the monster, inadvertently meeting its hollow gaze. Just as he had been examining it, it had been examining the new additions to its prey.

Roughly three seconds had passed since the marilith burst into the clearing. This was more than enough time for both parties to examine the other and quickly come to a decision.

The marilith, having come to the conclusion that the other humes were of no consequence, let out a roar and charged at the nearest party, the daeben that had met its gaze.

"Shadow! Larsial!" Kashi shouted as he calmly nocked an arrow and jumped backed. "Break!"

Shadow and Larsial quickly jumped to their left and right respectively. To their shock, the marilith appeared at their location just as they jumped out of the way, its claws only managing to swipe air. Both assassins paled as they realized what would have happened if they had been a moment late in evading. They had not expected the marilith to be this fast!

Kashi, meanwhile glared at the marilith that approached with a speed very similar to his own. The daeben understood this was because he was retreating while it was advancing. Naturally, it would be faster. However, the daeben was not looking to compete in speed.

Boom! Boom!

Two wooden arrows burst out of Kashi's bow, their speeds creating small sonic booms at the bow, as the daeben quickly nocked a metal arrow. The arrows zipped across the clearing, appearing in front of the marilith within the blink of an eye.

Just when it seemed to be a certain hit, the marilith displayed its daunting agility. It sharply curled around the arrows' path and continued the chase without dropping its speed. If anything, it accelerated, eager to close the gap and kill the daeben.

Kashi's gaze remained even as the arrows flew zipped harmlessly through the 'path' created by the marilith's body. He imbued the arrow in his bow with the maximum amount of mana it could hold. Despite its nimble movements, Kashi easily identified the marilith's path. "[Drill]" Kashi released the third arrow, and with a boom, it screeched toward the marilith's chest.

The marilith's sunken, gray eyes glared at the incoming arrow in disdain. These arrows might have been a threat to many other creatures, but it excelled in speed. To try again just after failing. This hume had clearly run out of ideas. It moved to dodge the incoming arrows.

"[Dimension Break]"

Before the marilith could dodge the incoming arrow, it was stunned by the light emitting from a mandala that appeared right in front of it.

A pair of black arrows rushed out of the portal and smashed into the marilith's face.

BOOM!

The arrows smashed to pieces as they hit the marilith's head, in the process, destabilizing the dense mana packed in the arrowheads. The ensuing explosion forced the marilith to an abrupt stop. It was only a moment, but that proved to be all the daeben needed.

The [Drill] enhanced arrow took advantage of the momentary pause to strike the marilith's exposed chest. The marilith cried out as it was sent flying several meters back. The spinning arrow burned all the mana stored within it as fuel to carry the beast as far as it could.

The arrow quickly expended its mana and the marilith crashed to the earth just in front of Shadow, Larsial and the centaur. There was no way for the trio to know if Kashi planned this or not.

Shadow and Larsial gaped at the marilith in shock. Barely a second had passed since they dodged the marilith's attack and it was back in front of them. Their feet had barely touched the earth, but both assassins quickly sprung to action. Shadow charged to the monster's left while Larsial took the right.

Their daggers tore up a bloody storm on the beast's body as they quickly unleashed their most offensive skills. There was no need to worry about finesse when fighting monsters as large as this one. The duo did not battle alone. Kashi supported the assassin duo with a rapid hail of arrows from within the forest, eager to take advantage of the brief stun window.

Unfortunately, good things did not last long.

Kashi's sharp eyes caught a twitch in the marilith's middle finger. He unhesitantly commanded. "Retreat!"

Shadow and Larsial readily complied. They swiftly jumped several steps back.

Kashi's decision proved to be the right one.

Roooar!

The marilith roared as it rapidly spun in place. Its long tail whipped around itself in rage, but Larsial and Shadow, by distancing themselves, bought themselves enough time to read the tail's path and subsequently evade it.

The marilith recognized its failure and let out an even angrier roar. It raised its arms and eight swords coalesced from dense black lights. It brandished its blades and charged at Larsial. It raised the blades high, eager to rip the daeben to shreds.

Kashi's timely instructions rang out once again. "Centaur-san! Hold it!"

The centaur, who had been watching the fight in shock, only then realized he had done nothing to help. The centaur buried the unease in his heart as he brandished his spear and charged.

"What?" Shadow murmured in shock as the centaur 'disappeared' and appeared in front of Larsial. The assassin's eyes were sharp enough to recognize the centaur did not truly disappear. His insane charging speed just made it seem that way.

Clang!

Sparks flew as the centaur parried the marilith's opening strike with his spear. The centaur glared at the marilith through the sparks, powerful hatred burning in his eyes. "Die! [Slayer's Spear]!" The centaur's spear shone with a golden glow as it rapidly shot out, leaving several afterimages due to its speed.

The marilith roared in pain as sizzling smoke rose from its arms and body wherever the centaur's spear hit. The golden glow around the centaur's spear was revealed to be holy energy which was highly toxic to demons. Luckily, it was the marilith on the offensive, and the centaur only got in one or two lucky strikes for every twenty he needed to parry the marilith's swords.

The marilith, irritated, moved to circle around the centaur, but the centaur's hooves shuffled in a manner no horse-like creature should be capable of performing. He used a deft combination of hop, slides and side steps to easily follow the marilith's movements, pirouetting to the side with a skill that even humans would be envious of.

"Excellent!" Kashi praised as he watched the centaur weave from one side to another. Regardless of if the marilith circled to the centaur's side or behind it, he would always somehow manage to match its movements. In real life, horses just weren't capable of such movements, but this was where higher intelligence proved its worth.

The centaur race had improved their agility so they could battle freely in the forest where danger could come from any direction. An inability to make swift turns in the forests of Destia would only lead to their deaths.

Kashi struggled to beat down an urge to bring Drixlia out and have it learn from the centaur's movements. As much as this was a prime learning opportunity, he could not risk anything untoward happening. After all, mariliths were no small pushovers.

The centaur continued to hold the marilith's aggro, unleashing multiple skills one after another to draw its attention to himself. His quick judgment and situational awareness proved he was quite used to playing the role of tank. However, this was certainly one of the most difficult instances of that role in his entire life. Every thrust of his spear was one made with his life on the line.

The centaur's arms trembled each time they clashed with the marilith's claws. Sweat pooled on the spear's shaft as exertion began to take his toll. The centaur had been battling for several hours against multiple enemies all culminating in this battle. Despite its strong desire to battle, the accumulated fatigue was beginning to take its toll.

The marilith noticed the centaur's struggle and immediately launched a frenzied attack, striking down harder and faster than ever. It was only regretful it could not put its full focus on the centaur because of the two assassins flitting about and attacking its side. In true boss monster fashion, it easily multitasked, retaliating against the assassins with its tail.

For their part, Shadow and Larsial dodged and attacked, adopting a patient approach to whittling down the marilith's life. Their daggers did not do much damage against the heavy scales and a lack of significant enchantments meant their weapons did not pose any real threat to the marilith. This was in stark contrast to the centaur's blade which was not only of a higher grade but had a holy enchantment on it.

This was the major reason why the marilith focused all its attacks on the centaur. It did not dare overlook the holy weapon. If the centaur got in a good hit with that blade, the damage would be imaginable.

Pa!

The marilith roared in excitement as it slapped the spear out of the dead tired centaur's arms. Eight swords swung down in tandem to reap the centaur's life.

Claaang!

A loud, long screech echoed through the forest as eight arrows struck the swords at the same time. The swords' blades shattered under the extraneous force. The falling pieces caught the stunned reflections of both the marilith and centaur.

Within the blink of an eye, those pieces caught the form of a daeben between the centaur and the marilith. The daeben's blood-red eyes were especially catching under the moonlight. The pieces clattered as they finally struck the earth, the sound especially loud as a cold silence enveloped the clearing.

"Well now, that's enough fun for one night," Kashi joked with a terrifying smirk. The air grew heavy and the atmosphere completely changed, turning even more sinister and dark with blood. "You should take a rest centaur-san. I'll take it from here."

The marilith, for the first time that night, instinctively jerked back. It warily measured up the daeben, hesitation growing in its heart.

Kashi was oblivious to the marilith's thoughts. Not that he would have cared either way. He had already marked the beast for death. Nothing could save it now. "Larsial, Shadow. Prepare yourselves. I'll be taking point from here on out."

Kashi looked over his shoulder at the centaur. "Centaur-san. You'll deal the finishing blow with that holy spear. I trust you'll be prepared."

"Darian," The centaur replied.

"What?"

"My name." The centaur stiffly explained as he took a step back. "Darian Alshmeer. You may call me Darian."

"Oh. Pleasure to meet you, Darian," Kashi greeted with a smile. "You can call me Kashi. I'll—"

"Watch out!" Darian shouted as the marilith desperately lunged at Kashi's exposed back with a newly conjured set of swords.

"How rude," Kashi grumbled as he instantly whirled around on the spot. "I am not a villain." His body twisted this way and that, easily dodging the swords. This action, coupled with the marilith's forward momentum, eventually found him centimeters away from its body.

Pow!

"The least you could do is let me finish my monologue," Kashi grumbled as he buried his fist in the marilith's midriff. The marilith stooped over and coughed up blood, just missing the daeben. Kashi ignored the beast hanging over his head and instead, looked over to Darius with a grin. "Get your spear ready. It's about time you saw how Maggots fight. You may consider this our 'job interview'."

Boom!

Kashi unleashed another strong punch that sent the marilith tumbling several meters back. Kashi's fingers clenched and unclenched with excitement as he equipped four quivers on his back and waist. Ferulic's Practice Bow returned to his inner world as he gripped two metal arrows in his arms. A devilish grin spread on Kashi's face as he walked toward the recovering marilith. "Shadow, Larsial. Try to keep up!"

Whoosh!