久久大陆

Just as the black sphere released a shock wave, she dashed forward with a flash, tackling Yeong-Un away from the range of the attack.

"...Thanks," Yeong-Un grunted.

She was already back on her feet before Yeong-Un kicked himself up onto his feet with that seemingly boundless vigor flowing through his veins.

"Let me handle this one," she said.

"Huh?! Are ya' crazy?!" He barked.

Sol and Eunji grouped up with them as well, giving the young leader a look of concern as if agreeing with the sentiment of their loud-mouthed comrade.

She looked back at the other three, "Do you see its level? Something like that will mean death if it lands a single blow on you. I'm the only one with the appropriate level to engage it."

"--" Yeong-Un looked displeased, but didn't have a counterargument.

Before any further words could be exchanged, they were all forced to dodge as a slam of the reaver demon's hand came down, crushing the floorboards below with an ear-filling boom.

This time, she was the only one to face it, using the wall as a foothold before springing forward with a flash.

Again, the demon displayed otherworldly reflexes as it seemed to reorganize its own spine to bend backward, avoiding the piercing strike as she flew by swiftly.

"--!"

She caught herself on the next wall, seamlessly flowing into another strike before the grimy demon could stand itself back up.

While she was launching towards it with a flashing pierce, its eyes that held nothing but pure malice in their pearly form locked onto her while it was bent over backwards, watching her with its upside-down gaze.

A chill ran up her spine as she met that gaze; though she had a clear opening on the creature, she stopped her attack midway as her instincts fired off, flipping around and bouncing back just before making contact with the demon–

SWOOSH.

–Her instincts proved to be correct as the reaver demon spun itself around in an unorthodox fashion; its bones cracked as it rearranged its spine, spinning its torso around, turning its neck completely and reversing its arms.

Without having actually lifted itself, the demon returned to its feet through shifting its joints, repositioning its body in a grotesque fashion.

"...What the hell is that?! It's disgusting!" Sol called out, covering his mouth.

"Keep it down, will ya'! Don't distract her!" Yeong-Un reprimanded him.

The two young men and Eunji kept themselves tucked away across the store, watching anxiously as the leader of the group combated the high-leveled demon.

It was a hard pill to swallow, but Ma-Ri was completely right: they had little chance against the reaver demon themselves–it would only result in them getting in the way.

Dammit…Why am I so damn useless?! Yeong-Un thought.

–

She continued using flash steps for swift attacks, making sure to never stay within reach of the tall, lanky demon for but a fleeting passing of light. Still, it was easier said than done to land a hit on the overly-flexible hellspawn.

"Ngh…!"

Again, as she passed by, her rapier was no more than a strand of hair away from its light-infused tip from piercing the flesh of the unholy creature, but this time it snapped its own neck back to make sure its forehead was left untouched.

It's not a boss or anything like that; these sort of reflexes are abnormal. I understand it's a high-level fiend, but…something like this? Not even Jun-Seo was this slippery, she thought.

She was forced to jump back as a counterattack came in the form of a whip of the demon's arm, flung with an elasticity of rubber as it extended forward–coming mere inches from making contact as she could feel the sharp wind exuded from its strength.

"--!"

By some miracle, she managed to avoid the surprise attack, though the whip-arm slammed into the ground, resulting in the floorboards being caved in harshly.

…Its body is unique. It can twist it around, extend it…it's like a weapon of its own, she thought.

Again, she was forced to evade a whip of its arm that elongated, stretching forward as the air cracked from the whip-strike.

The racks in the path of its grimy arm were flung and shattered from the strength behind each strike, though it was unable to reach the swift young woman.

"Get 'em, Ma-Ri!" Yeong-Un yelled out.

"Umm…" Sol mumbled.

"Huh? What is it?" Yeong-Un looked at the young man beside him.

Sol pointed up to the hole in the roof, "...I think its friends are here…"

Yeong-Un and Eunji both looked up as well, seeing demons smiling down from the opening in the roof–looking straight at them.

"Well, I'll be damned–looks like we're not standin' around today!" Yeong-Un smirked, wielding his twin blades.

"...Why do you sound happy?!" Sol shouted as he raised his spear.

Eunji hid behind the two young men, clutching her staff close to her body as she adjusted her glasses frantically, "I-I'll support you both!"

"Thanks!" Yeong-Un smiled.

Jumping down from the hole crashed through the roof, a pair of smiling demons landed down with a THUD. They didn't possess heads, or rather, their torsos were their heads as their eyes and mouths were placed on their bodies; they were tall and lanky, with burly legs but thin arms.

[Grin-Grin Demon | Level 27]

"...Creepy…" Sol trembled his words out.

"Let's get 'em!" Yeong-Un roared.

Without any plan or hesitation, Yeong-Un dashed forward, taking on one of the grinning demons as he slashed both of his blades forward–CLANG.

"Huh–?" Yeong-Un let out.

Stopping his blades were metallic scales that plated the demon's forearm, protruding from its flesh like a new layer of skin.

"Re-he-he!" It laughed straight into his face.

"Watch out!" Eunji warned.

–He leapt back just before the grinning demon's tongue lashed out from its stomach-mouth, attempting to wrap around him as he flipped back, landing on his feet.

"What the hell is this thing?! It's gross!" Yeong-Un huffed.

"...I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so!" Sol added.

The two stood beside one another; Sol held his spear forward, and Yeong-Un raised his two spellblades.

"I've got the left," Yeong-Un claimed, speaking low.

"Guess that leaves the right for me…I wish I didn't have to fight either of them," Sol sighed.

–

Amidst that fight, Ma-Ri had no opportunity to worry about her comrades as her hands were full with the body-shifting reaver demon before her.

She had to be on her feet, constantly vanishing from one spot to another as the far-stretching arms of the demon continued to whip towards her. Through its attacks, she slipped through with a flash, reeling her rapier back before thrusting it forward with a icy swirl of wind around its needle–

"Winter Skewer."

The tip of the rapier aimed itself for the torso of the demon–this was on purpose.

It can bend its arms, legs, spine, and even its neck, but it can't just allow its entire upper-body to vanish! She thought.

As the icy-infused needle pierced forward, it stabbed into the black flesh of the demon, quickly releasing a layer of ice that spread itself across the chest of the reaver demon before it retaliated.

SLAM.

Its whip arms came in swiftly, forcing her to leap back with a flash step before fully sinking her rapier into its body.

This was a battle of swiftness; a contest of agility–it could be settled in a single strike on both ends, but they both possessed the ability to make it difficult for their enemy to land a blow.

SLAM. SLAM. SLAM.

Instead of reaching out and chasing the young woman, the reaver demon stood its ground, using its elastic limbs to continuously whip around a small zone around itself.

"--" She watched cautiously.

It's created a "safe zone" for itself…anything that gets within that space will get struck. I imagine a single strike from those limbs of it will be instant-death, or something terrible at the very least, she thought.

–

On the other end, Sol was experiencing the opposite issue:

"Why me, why me, why me–!"

He was sprinting around the store as the grinning demon chased after him, stomping through the section of the store filled with fishing equipment while laughing out with its giant, stomach-mouth.

As he looked back, he let out another scream as he saw it less than a meter behind him, letting its massive tongue flop out as saliva trailed in the air.

"Stay back! Stay back!" He said.

Using his spear awkwardly like a pole, he tried jabbing the creature back while running, but it did absolutely nothing to phase the grinning demon.

As he looked forward again, Sol let out a scream that gave off no noise–

A wall.

His avenue of cowardice was cut off as he ran straight into a wall, now being forced to spin around and face the burly-legged demon as it lunged its tongue towards him.

"Gh!"

Against his will, he wielded his molten-tipped spear, flipping it around as he invoked: "Cast: Burn Point!"

The quickly-invoked spell resulted in the tip being engulfed in a flame with an incredibly high temperature as steam immediately exuded from its form. As the tongue whipped towards him, he jabbed the flame-enchanted spear forward, attempting to sever the black tongue right then and there.

"Huh?!"