Whoosh!

Kashi's figure blurred as he instantaneously covered the distance between himself and the marilith. Similar to [Charge], Kashi slid across the ground in one deft motion, the arrows in his hand emitting dark aura as he shot them at the raging beast. The difference between his movement and [Charge] lay in how he achieved the same effect without using the skill, but through exploding mana beneath the soles of his feet. This was a feat ninety-five percent of the summoned would not be able to accomplish. However, the true elite knew that personal manipulation of mana was the most efficient method of combat.

The marilith quickly took advantage of the fact Kashi's punch had sent it sprawling close to the edges of the forest. It quickly curled up the tree behind it, barely dodging the arrows that smashed into the tree's bark. Luckily, these were all Lv. 180 trees. While a significant portion of the tree's trunk was blasted off, enough remained intact for it to remain standing.

The marilith instantly counterattacked. Its rapid climb up the tree trunk built up enough momentum for the quick jump that followed. The enraged demon's angry eyes lit up in delight as it shot toward the charging daeben. Its momentum, coupled with Kashi's charge guaranteed it would definitely smash into the daeben. Excitement boiled in its blood as it imagined the daeben's panicked expression before it destroyed him.

Kashi raised his head to meet the marilith's glare. Contrary to the demon's expectation, a mocking grin greeted it.

The tale-tell whirs of mechanical gears rang through the clearing as a single arrowhead with a metal wire attached to its end stabbed into the marilith's forehead. The marilith's eyes widened in confusion, but no one bothered to answer its question. It looked over the daeben to meet Shadow's steely gaze.

The assassin's left arm was raised in front of him, sleeves drawn back to reveal a black gauntlet. The arrowheads had shot out of this gauntlet, evident by the rope in Shadow's hand. Shadow grunted as he dropped low to balance his center of gravity. He turned in place and pulled the rope with all the force he could muster. Assassin's lacked strength so this would have normally been a futile struggle. Unfortunately for the marilith, it was airborne, flying in Kashi's direction, who was in front of Shadow. If a line were to be drawn from the marilith to Kashi, then to Shadow it would be revealed to be a straight line.

As such, Shadow did not have to exert too much strength to pull the marilith a few feet further than it intended as there was no significant change in direction.

The marilith let out a shrill cry as it was sent sailing over the daeben. In desperation, it swung its swords at the daeben, hoping that the increased velocity from pull would catch the daeben off-guard.

Unfortunately, the marilith was fighting Kashi. Such an opportunity would not so easily present itself. Seemingly telepathically, Kashi stuck close to the ground, much like Shadow earlier. The marilith's swords could only harmlessly slash at the air until Kashi's momentum took him past their range.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Kashi instantly equipped Ferulic's Practice Bow, whirled around and fired three successive arrows at the marilith's exposed midriff. The first arrow smashed its exposed underbelly where the human half met the snake half. This strike launched its midriff upwards and greatly reduced its forward momentum.

The second arrow crashed into the same spot, forcing the monster to fold inwards as its 'waist' was launched a meter into the sky. This also had the bonus effect of completely killing off its forward momentum.

The final arrow carried the most force. Enhanced by [Drill], the arrow burrowed deep into the marilith's waist. Kashi grinned as the marilith was sent flying into the sky, spinning haphazardly as it did.

Who knew when or how she got there, but Larsial's frame appeared above the marilith's spinning frame. The [Falling Spider] once again made an appearance. The eight-legged spider silhouette repeatedly stabbed down at the monster.

The shocked marilith could not react in time. It roared in pain as the spider's legs mercilessly ripped into its back. Luckily, due to the nature of its ascent, its more vulnerable human part was sloped downward so Larsial's strikes only struck the slim border between flesh and scales. Murky, black blood rained down on the earth as the spider's legs alternated between both sides in its indiscriminate attack.

Torrents of arrows peppered the marilith's sloping portions, but it frantically defended its human half with its swords. It could do nothing for its lower half but at this stage, keeping its life was more important than anything else.

[Falling Spider]'s three-second duration soon ended. Dark aura burst out of the enraged marilith's eyes in the split-second the skill ended. A heavy burst of mana blasted out of its body as it let out a desperate, enraged roar that forced the sharp-eared daeben to wince in pain.

Kashi's gaze tightened as he detected a dangerous spike in the marilith's mana as it dropped to the earth. It raised its arms as streams of mana surged into its swords and coated them with dense, dark mana. The daeben yelled at Shadow to take cover as he quickly shot an arrow, then charged towards Darian.

With a deafening roar, the marilith's arms blurred as it rapidly swung its blades. Dense mana blades randomly shot out of the blades in all directions, forming massive mana nets that were impossible to dodge.

Or so it should have been.

As a result of Kashi's warning, Shadow copied the marilith's trick and took cover behind a tree. Just like with Kashi, the marilith's mana-infused wind blades were unable to fell the tree in one blow, allowing Shadow to switch to another before the current one fell.

Suspended in the air, Larsial should have been the easiest target of the monster's attack. However, the assassin grabbed onto an arrow that just 'happened' to fly by her. The arrow's force nearly dislocated her shoulder, but she would not have complained even if it had as it carried her into the forest and away from the marilith's attack range.

That left Kashi and Darian.

Kashi knew Darian was already at a critical state. At his current health, any little attack would snuff out his life, let alone a rage-filled attack like this one. Luckily, Kashi's experience allowed him to anticipate the attack. He arrived in front of the centaur before the waves of blades reached it. Kashi returned Ferulic's Practice Bow to his inner world and stomped on the ground three times. Three identical mandalas appeared on the ground from which three Earth Style [Wall]s rose.

Curiously, however, those walls rose up behind the daeben rather than at his front.

"Kashi-dono!" Darian shouted in fear as he wondered if Kashi had somehow messed up his spell. It would not be the first time it had happened. Warriors were prone to errors in tense situations. The current situation was a prime example of that. Only a select few among seasoned veterans of combat could keep their cool even in the tensest of situations.

However, who was Kashi?

If he claimed to be number two in the virtual world in combat experience, no one would dare to claim to be number one.

Kashi had indeed not made an error in judgment. His eyes shone with excitement and the prospect of facing a new challenge as he took a few steps forward and grinned at the dense mana-blades. Kashi's ridiculous agility exploded as he deftly weaved through the blades. He used the smallest of movements, shifting his feet this way and that, always ensuring he was on either his toes or heels to provide an option to pivot to the next direction.

The clearing went dead quiet as all those present gaped as the magnificent display of insane speed, reaction, judgment, and acrobatics! Not every dodge could be as clean and easy as a simple dodge to the left or right. Sometimes the blades approached horizontally, forcing Kashi to either duck or jump. The daebens ability to seamlessly transition between these exceedingly strenuous movements left everyone in shock.

Darian had long forgotten why he was even there in the first place. If it were not for the sound of the wind blades smashing against the walls Kashi put up, he might have left cover altogether for a better view, instead of peeking from the side.

Kashi chuckled as he felt the resentment of the man inside him.

This!

This was the kind of sensation Suzuki sought everytime he challenged the platform in the training halls. The pumping adrenaline when he barely dodged an attack by a hair's breadth. The wind whistling past his face when a wind blade whizzed past his nose. The excited elation of timing a jump perfectly between two horizontal wind blades.

Kashi's introspective fun was cut short by six vertical blades that innocuously followed up the horizontal mana blades. Considering the blades had been flying randomly all this time, was this bad luck or...?

Kashi glanced at the marilith and only barely pressed down his laughter as he realized the angry beast had turned all its attention to him, leaving only one two hands to keep Shadow pinned down. Rotating midair, with six rapidly approaching mana blades spread out evenly from his head to his legs, the daeben was in a position most would deem irredeemable. Kashi, however, was just beginning to get into his groove. His hands dipped into the quivers strapped to his sides and drew out three arrows per hand.

"I-Impossible!" Darian shouted, this time in disbelief as the arrows shot out of Kashi's hands, the daeben's spinning momentum adding even more momentum. The mana-infused arrows crashed into the mana blades, resulting in a small outburst of wind and mana as both entities exploded.

"How devious," Kashi who was about to land, joked as he spotted mana blade heading for where his foot would hit the earth. "How about this then!" The daeben taunted as the toes of his left foot hit the earth.

The mana blade screeched as if sensing the blood it was about to draw. However, just as it was a meter away from cutting into the daeben's ankle, the daeben's left foot spun in place until it faced away from the incoming mana blade. Then just as the blade was as close as ten centimeters out, Kashi's left knee bunched ever so lightly. His left toes pushed off the earth as his knees sprung upright, catapulting him into a backflip over the blade.

Kashi spun in the air, realigning himself and landed facing the stunned marilith. The daeben could not help but let out a cheeky grin as he took in the stunned silence in the woods. "Nailed it!"

The marilith stared dumbly at the daeben. It had planned that so carefully! It expected the daeben to fall to the horizontal blades, but in the rare case that Kashi dodged that, it had sent the vertical blades to follow. It was absolutely certain the daeben would fall to that set, but in the worst case scenario, the final mana blade was meant to knock him off his feet before he could stabilize himself!

It had only stopped attacking because it did not want to waste the remaining mana it had. It wanted to track where Kashi would fall after being tripped by the blades. It would then unleash the rest of its mana on the fallen daeben. But what the hell was this!? How did this pathetic hume manage to achieve all of that!?

ROAAARR!

The marilith let out an enraged roar as it threw caution to the wind and slashed wind blade after wind blade at the belligerent daeben. It chose to attack with all its arms, Shadow, Larsial, and Darian thrown to the far corners of its mind. It no longer cared if it died or was forced to flee at the end of the day. It just wanted this daeben dead! It had never hated a hume so much in its life!

"Bring it!" Kashi for his part, eagerly welcome the frantic blades as he charged ahead. He once again weaved through the condensed bombardment, except this time he rushed toward he marilith as he dodged. Arrows flew from their quivers as he shot down the troublesome mana blades, his relentless advance not slowed down in the slightest. As he charged, Kashi's brows rose when he noticed a brief respite in the bombardment. He looked up at marilith, the smile on his face turning even more defiant and terrifying as he saw the demon suck in a deep breath.

It clearly was no ordinary breath as the marilith's muscles instantly doubled in size afterward. Kashi did not have to wait long to find out what that was about. A shimmering, translucent image of the bust of a multi-armed goddess with closed eyes appeared behind the demon. Kashi did not have time to ponder on the identity of that image before the goddess' eyes snapped open.

Hundreds of arms created by dense mana sprouted from the marilith's back, each holding a blade of their own. The arms blurred as they each slashed ten times in the span of a second then dissipated, forming mana streams that coalesced into a single, giant mana blade that hovered in front of the marilith.

The hundreds of slashes turned into a dense net-like structure formed entirely of mana blades. This was the definition of a final attack. Everything had been put on the line to finally end the daeben right there. Unknowingly, the marilith had subconsciously trusted the daeben to continue his charge. It never suspected for a second that the daeben would attempt to dodge to the side. After all, although the net was ten times faster than the previous attacks, it did not doubt that the daeben would still have a method to dodge it if he wanted to.

The marilith's gamble proved to be the right one, as Kashi, faced with the net of compressed mana blades did not dodge, but continued to charge head-on. Was this confidence, or a stubborn streak that ran in the daeben's blood? Only the daeben himself could possibly answer that question.

Kashi kept his charge constant but spun as he ran, turning himself into a spinning top as he shot arrow after arrow at the net's center. Slowly, but surely, cracks began to form at the center of the net but it was at this time that the situation suddenly changed enough to shock even the daeben.

Boom!

Of the ten layers that formed the net, five suddenly accelerated. Worse yet, the blades also rotated at different speeds as they approached, forcing the daeben to focus his attention on them. The aim here was clear: Bog down the daeben with the outer layer so he would not be able to attack the second layer and break out.

It was an ingenious plan, and taking into account Kashi's speed so far, there was no way he would be able to block it.

Unfortunately, Kashi, much like most of the shonen heroes he'd watched growing up, was the kind of fighter that never started a fight at full gear.

BOOM!

[FERULIC'S TECHNIQUE ACTIVATED]!

[ANGEL STEPS ACTIVATED]!

Swathes of green aura burst out from the daeben and enveloped him within. The daeben let out a hearty laugh and...

Whoosh!

The daeben's figure flitted through the bombardment, leaving only faint afterimages as testaments to his last known location. It was like everyone else was living in the past, as they could only see where he had been. Meanwhile, the second layer of the blade net, came under an even more relentless attack, as dozens of arrows shattered against the center within the short blink of an eye.

The marilith watched all this happen with pure hatred. It could do nothing but charge up the final blade which had become more solid with each passing second. As much as it hoped Kashi would make commit an error and fall, that increasingly did not seem to be a realistic hope. What the hell kind of scenario was this, where the more realistic scenario was for the daeben to break out of that bombardment!?

Dust clouds rose as the wind blades crashed the earth, gradually covering the area around the daeben. The marilith tensed as the dust rose, dreading the possibility that it would block the daeben would block the path. It was at this moment that it heard a shattering sound. Its eyes widened with shock as a small hole appeared at the center of the net.

Once again, the marilith was floored by the daeben's arrogance. He could have easily broken through the sides, but he chose to smash through the center, the core of the net, and the place with the most blades bound tightly together.

Almost instinctively, the marilith once again gambled on the daeben's arrogance and immediately slashed down. The giant mana blade shot at the net, its core aimed at that exact hole.

"Brilliant!" Kashi roared as he finally broke through the net's center, only to come face to face with the dense mana blade. He sensed the power pulsating within the blade and knew his arrows would be completely useless. Rather than dodge like a good little boy, he defiantly raised his right arm to meet the blade. "Bring it!"

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted as soon as the blade made contact with the daeben, sending dust and earth flying. The daeben's figure was swallowed up by the explosion, causing the hearts of everyone in the clearing to jump into their throats.

What happened!? Did he fail or succeed!?

Darian no longer cared about his safety. He stepped out of cover and stared at the dust cloud.

Shadow's gaze narrowed, but he ultimately made no movement.

Larsial peeked out from behind a tree, her eyes wide in shock as she stared at the dust cloud. Regardless of the result, she was now certain the daeben had definitely been going easy on Froy.

The marilith was perhaps the tensest one there. It anxiously examined the dust cloud, fearing what the result would be once it cleared.

Whoosh!

It turned out it did not have to wait for the dust cloud to disperse.

"That was awesome!" Kashi shouted as he dashed out of the dust cloud.

"WHAT!?"

"!!!"

"HOW!?"

The peanut gallery expressed their shock as they stared at the object firmly clasped in Kashi's dragonified right hand.

"Here, have this back!" Kashi laughed as he whipped the mana blade in his right arm back at the stunned marilith.

Due to its shock, the marilith failed to dodge in time.

Sqshh!

The marilith screamed out in pain as the three arms on its left side were shorn clean off.

"Fuck!" Larsial cursed as she dove to the earth to dodge the blade as it slashed its way through the forest, diving many trees in half before finally dissipating.

Oblivious to Larsial's close shave with death, Kashi had the largest grin on his face as he finally arrived right before the marilith. The daeben's grin somehow widened even further as he regarded the marilith's pained expression. "As thanks for the thrilling experience, I'll show you what it means to be a true Asura!" Kashi roared as he jumped so he was abreast with the marilith's human part.

"Earth Shattering Technique: Fifth Form, [ASURA]!"

A gigantic Asuran image formed behind the daeben. Unlike the marilith's image, Kashi's Asura was a full image, depicting the entire Asura from head to toe. Furthermore, the Asuran image was so vivid, it was like they could reach out and touch it. Nothing compared to the marilith's translucent image.

But the biggest difference of all lay in the Asuran image itself.

While marilith's was clearly a summon of some sort, Kashi's Asuran image greatly resembled himself if he gained pounds of muscles and grew horns. It was for all intents and purposes, a demonified Kashi, and not a random image.

Asurans were known as harbingers as chaos and destruction. Their unquenchable rage often left numerous landscapes destroyed beyond recognition. Was the world trying to send a sort of message by having the daeben's Asuran image as a demonified version of himself?

Who knew?

Kashi had his back to the image so he was the last person that was going to ask such a question. With an excited shout, the Asuran image merged into Kashi's body. Where the marilith's image formed a mass of hands behind the demon, Kashi's entire body somehow transformed to match his Asuran image.

Kashi once again displayed his uncanny ability to adapt to any situation. Anyone else would have been disoriented by gaining two extra pairs of arms, but the daeben simply took it in his stride and battered the poor marilith with an endless flood of punches way too fast for the human eyes to follow. The relentless blows soon formed countless images, creating an effect of seemingly a thousand hands delivering the blows.

Blood splattered all around the earth as the marilith suffered under the relentless blows. The marilith could do nothing to retaliate as Kashi completed the battering. The daeben hammered one final blow to its jaw as his Asuran form dissipated, sending the marilith flying to the sky.

If the marilith hoped this would be a brief respited it was sorely mistaken. Ferulic's Practice Bow appeared in Kashi's hand as he dropped to the earth. Twin arrows filled to the max with Dragon Ki shot out. The arrows rotated around each other and morphed into a single giant dragon.

The dragon chased after the airborne marilith.

The marilith used the last of its strength to rotate to the side, allowing the dragon to pass by it in mid-air.

Unfortunately, Kashi had planned for that eventuality and added the rarely used but definitely effective [Homing Arrow]. The effects of [Homing Arrow] activated, causing the dragon to turn mid-air.

The marilith could only cry out as the dragon swallowed its human half and exploded. The heavily battered, and slightly unconscious marilith coughed up large amounts of blood as its body weakened even more.

"Darian-san," Kashi suddenly prompted. "Prepare Yourself!"

Darian readied his spear. Ever since Kashi asked him to, he had been charging the spear with holy energy, just waiting for the time to strike. Kashi's call was all he needed to flex his tired muscles and raise the spear. He gritted his teeth, wondering if Kashi wanted him to throw his spear. He really doubted he had enough energy to do even that, but if that was what it took to down this monster, he would not mind shortening his lifespan with a forbidden technique to achieve the throw.

Luckily, Kashi had no intention of forcing the heavily injured centaur to overexert himself. "It's coming!" The daeben shouted as he raised his arm to the sky. "Realm Piercing Technique, Fifth Form: [GILGAMESH]!"

Who knew what had possessed the daeben? He had managed to use up all his high-level skills in this fight! He was so excited he even constantly called out their full names even though he did not have to. This could only be attributed to the daeben lacking a true fight in ages. Grinding monsters could never satisfy the excitement that came with fighting an intelligent humanoid enemy. This fight had served as a method for the daeben to vent all the unease he had been suffering silently.

Working towards the progress of the guild was fun, and exciting in its own way, but nothing could ever match the sheer excitement of a true battle where he was forced to bring out 100%. The daeben sighed as he watched one thousand-five hundred arrows shot out of a portal that appeared above the marilith.

Who could understand his pain?

"That was fun." Kashi turned his back to the conclusive result as the arrows pierced through the marilith at the same time.

The marilith's tenacious life force saved it from instant death, but the force from the arrows sent it crashing to the earth, kicking up a large cloud of dust. The marilith weakly rose up, all thoughts of fighting gone from despair-filled eyes. It warily examined the dust cloud around it, hoping it could correctly pinpoint the daeben's location and successfully run away in the other direction.

It did not hold much optimism as a result of its near-fatal injuries but hey, you never know right? The daeben might have assumed it had already died and it could use that opportunity to escape. It would heal itself then return with reinforcements. The marilith began to fantasize about its eventual revenge when a golden blade sliced through the dust cloud.

The marilith scoffed at the slow spear and made to dodge, only to realize with fear it could not even move its body. Kashi's arrows had pinned the entire length of its tail portion to the earth. There was no way for it to dodge that slow blade!

The marilith cried out as the blade grew larger until it consumed the entirety of its vision.

Puchi!

The dust cloud cleared to reveal the blood-soaked Darian, holding the handle of the spear that had buried itself in the marilith's head. Tears streamed down the centaur warrior's eyes as he withdrew watched life dissipate from the marilith's eyes. "This is for my brothers..."

***************

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A/N: 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

For those who have been asking how they can support my writing, I am glad to annoucne that Ihave finally opened a patreon. Following this chapter will be one dedicated to all things patreon. For those who have either can't donate or don't feel like this work is something worth donating to, don't worry. I will not be changing the way I release this story. There won't be paywalls to access this series, but there are some perks that I have to set aside for my Patreons. For those who are interested, please head on to the next chapter and offer your suggestions in the comments of that chapter.

Back to this Chapter!

First proper boss fight in a while, and it was properly spread over a six-thousand words chapter. We might have forgotten due to the large amount of world-building and character development chapters but this is primarily an action novel.

Hope I still got it! Lol!

Picture of the Day

This image has inspired me. It brought back memories of Razznik facing off against Aileera (Leila's previous avatar in King's Journey) at the prologue chapters for Vol. 1

The demon facing up against the defiant, confident maiden. She glares into the emotionless eyes, challenging the deeply buried humanity to once more fight its way out. Will the demon succumb to the human within, or will it raise its spear to the woman it once loved... Only the next scene can tell. But this one moment stretches for an eternity for these two...

Huh... This is definitely making it into one of my stories.... Somehow. Lol