The Jester of Apocalypse

Chapter 111: Legion

Neave found himself up on the surface, gripping the massive sledgehammer and jumping high into the air to get a better perspective.

Looks like Gabrias was correct.

Over twenty thousand demons were rushing toward them. At the far corners, Neave could spot glass shards floating around and attacking the demons, but something was wrong.

These demons didn’t look nearly as decrepit as any others he had seen. They far more closely resembled the demon chasing the others a while back. Rather than being a chaotic, rotting pile of limbs, their skin was a sleek, smooth black, and the extra eyes, teeth, horns, and mouths weren’t placed quite as randomly as they had been.

Neave was fully confident in eradicating them without much issue, but…

“How the hell do I protect the others?”

They were pretty far away, and there was plenty of time to prepare for their arrival, so Neave dropped into the cave to do precisely that.

The others rushed at him, full of questions.

Neave waved a hand and turned to the glass shrub, “I spotted that you were attacking them over at the outskirts of the territory. You can stop. Focus on protecting this dome at all cost.” Then he turned to the others, “You have your weapons, and this dome will be quite hard to penetrate, especially with the shrub on your side. I recommend you wait for them outside and face them in combat. Retreat into the chamber only if you find yourself heavily outmatched.”

“What are you going to do!?”

“Me? I’m going to go to the surface.” Neave grinned, gripping the hammer tighter, “If I stayed and fought here, well… I wouldn’t want to collapse all of the caves around us.”

With that, he disappeared.

Neave ran out into the caves, hauling the massive sledgehammer. It wasn’t nearly as challenging to carry now that he had increased his strength, but it still left him awfully imbalanced.

However, Neave didn’t take long to discover something practical. If he used the telekinesis provided by the crown, he could drastically reduce the hammer's weight. Even beyond that, he could actually keep the hammer afloat.

That was somewhat surprising, as he hadn’t expected the telekinesis to be that powerful. Could be a rather impactful asset in the fight, more so than he had initially expected.

Within seconds of dashing and teleporting through the caves, Neave was once again on the surface. He looked over to the demons, carefully observing them.

The variety in types was immense. Just off of the body types, quite a few demons were more animalistic in features. There were several that were quite gigantic, too.

None of those intimidated Neave. Instead, none of them scared him even a bit, but compared to the large and animalistic ones, he was more keenly observing a few humanoid ones.

Despite very likely being the most dangerous among the demons, Neave was vastly more interested in the gigantic ones. It was for a simple reason, really.

They’re trampling my lawn!

The poor shrubs were getting desecrated, and, at least on the surface, the shrub population would suffer greatly. That couldn’t do.

Neave started running at a rather casual pace.

Then he jumped into the air and suddenly accelerated immensely. Once he was about to land, with a single foot, he accelerated even further into another jump. Before landing next time, he used a movement technique to accelerate even further.

The land below him became a blur as he shot through the air like an arrow and raised the hammer in front of him.

Neave focused on the hammer with all his might and used telekinesis to accelerate his flight further.

Instantly, one of the massive demons went from a speck on the horizon into a towering mountain. The sledgehammer landed on its chest before it could even begin to react, and Neave moved through the demon’s body as if it were made of liquid.

The shockwave traveled through the demon's body, pulverizing it from the inside out and scattering its remains into a fine mist that exploded outward, flattening the surrounding area.

…

Ok, maybe I’ll be doing more damage than they would.

Yet, he grinned anyway. He felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins, and it wasn’t long before he decided that wrecking some of the shrubs was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

There were plenty of them underground, anyway.

Instantly, dozens of demons shot off from the ground toward Neave, leaping at him like frogs of shadowy death.

Neave spun in the air, smacking the demons away before they could even reach him, utterly pulverizing their bodies and sending waves of destruction with every impact.

Dealing with them one by one will take forever.

The grin on Neave’s face widened as he landed on the ground, shattering the surrounding area. The hammer lit up in golden runes, and Neave spun in a perfect circle around his body.

A tornado of destruction spread around him, annihilating everything in its path and shredding the demons to paste. The draft rose into the sky, pulling tons of soil into the clouds, causing a rain of demon goop and pebbles to cover the surrounding area for miles.

Flying out of the center of destruction, Neave appeared before a horde of demons, all facing his direction and readying themselves for a march. Yet another mighty swing later, the closest ones were turned into a black mist-shaped memory of themselves, while the ones further away were mangled and wrecked.

A giant demon in their midst managed to survive the strike, and Neave jumped on it, smacking its head and burying its entire body, or whatever was left of it, into the soil.

Neave couldn’t fathom what the demon’s plan was. This didn’t seem like a wild attack, and there was a distinct hint of coordination. Yet, there was only one thing they succeeded at.

They made their extermination as fun as it could possibly be.

With a hammer clutched in his hand, a grin plastered on his face, and blood raging through his veins, Neave sighed in satisfaction. Moments later, he disappeared, reappearing to annihilate another horde of demons just a little further away.

***

Marven clutched the oppressive sword in his hands and observed the shadows.

The puppet moved again, and Gabrias pointed at a corridor, “There!”

Instantly, Marven’s sword lit up with pale blue light, and a technique fired away. The flying strike flew through the cave and severed the bodies of the incoming demons into pieces.

Remarkable, Marven thought.

That was an basic technique, something he only used intending to distract the demons and prepare another attack, yet it effortlessly ended the lives of dozens.

He felt tempted to tell the others to not even touch the weapons they were handed due to the potential risk of killing themselves with them, but he decided against it. Those weapons were a damn good insurance.

Not to mention, with the enhanced regeneration and survivability they all had, especially with these crazy accessories Neave had handed them, it was damn near impossible for them to harm themselves.

This arrangement continued for quite a while longer, and Marven relaxed slightly. None of the demons seemed to be a severe threat. Rather, all the demons that had reached them so far seemed to be fast variants that likely slipped past Neave due to their speed.

Speaking of Neave, whatever he was doing sent shocks and tremors through the earth every few seconds.

Soon enough, more powerful versions began appearing. Marven still found little issue with dispatching them. Several demons that seemed even more powerful than the one that nearly annihilated them appeared, and even those didn’t stand much chance before the Glass Shard.

The weapon was genuinely horrifying. All of the weapons they had been handed were. Eventually, Gabrias started using the bow, and the freezing ability left most demons turning into ice statues with a single arrow.

Dukean also joined the fun with his sword. It was unwieldy, and it took him a great deal of effort to use it properly, but relatively soon, he was also dispatching the demons. Some ice shards and a couple of boulders were flung, assisted by fire and wind, mainly as practice for using the spirit powers.

Hunter didn’t quite dare rush at them, but he couldn’t resist testing the power of his sword. It was rather ridiculous, actually. He could run on walls and even the ceiling without a problem. One of the demons jumped him from a shadow, and he blocked the attack.

Not only did Hunter remain utterly unmoved, but the demon was violently knocked back and smashed into the wall.

That was a horrifying power that could allow for either a hyper-aggressive or super-defensive fighting style. It was so impressive that Marven envied Hunter slightly, although he still preferred the cold, simple efficiency of the glass terror blade of his.

Harel tested her weapon once. Only once. After shattering the walls and collapsing a section of the cave, it was decided that she should perhaps abstain from testing the spiky ball on a chain further, much to her dismay.

Time passed, and what seemed like hours blazed by in an instant. Yet, the attack never became any more dangerous. Soon enough, the demons started appearing less and less frequently, and it seemed like the assault had passed.

The puppet perked up suddenly and started violently waving at Gabrias.

***

Neave finished off yet another giant demon, and he was already yawning.

What a dull attack.

He felt ecstatic the first few times he sent a blast of destruction through the land to annihilate the demons. The rush of wind, the backlash, and the scene of carnage and destruction, coupled with the smell of rotten gore, made his blood pump and his heart rage.

That got boring quite quickly, though. There was no challenge. The demons were pathetically weak. Well, compared to their opponent, at least.

Are they just not going to be a threat?

If so, why did they come here? Were they really little more than dumb beasts rushing at the scent of their enemies? Perhaps attracted here by the plants?

They didn’t seem to be going after the plants, though, as they entirely ignored them.

Suddenly, all the demons he could see turned around and ran away. Neave rushed from one to another, pulverizing them, yet soon, he stopped.

Why? Why are they running away now?

Unease replaced the dull boredom, and Neave found himself hesitating. Could they have sent a powerful hit squad after the others? He turned around and rushed full speed toward his allies.

Not long after, he was at the center. His allies were gone. Panic set in, and he felt his stomach drop. Were they all dead?

A few shards of glass floated up into the air before him and created an arrow, one that pointed in a particular direction.

However, the way it was pointing didn’t reduce Neave’s anxiety even a little bit.

Within less than a minute, Neave made his way to the sealed chamber that held the abominds they used for food.

His allies were all there, and they stood with uncertain expressions. The crystal dome that sealed the abominids was shattered and dissipated. Inside, the abominids all lay dead on the ground.

The dead abominids weren’t a problem. Neave had been cautious and had already prepared several small, sealed secret chambers that held these abominids as a backup in case something happened to them.

Yet, dread filled Neave as he counted the abominid corpses.

One of them was missing.