Scarlet

I listen for several seconds as the demons begin walking through the entryway and into the opposite hallway as the one we’re in. Which makes me immediately feel grateful that this floor in particular is split up between two different hallways branching from the entryway, and that neither of these hallways connect at any point outside of the entryway. Furthermore, I know for a fact from having gone into some of the recording studios on the other side of the floor that they also have bunkers in the middle of them.

So the only viable plan I can see working is to get the demons’ attention and then lead them into one of the recording studios, which will force them into breaking whatever formation they may have – assuming they have any – to enter the room. I can then ambush the first one to enter, hopefully dealing a crippling blow to it in the process before going back and guiding them to the bunker.

A decent enough plan if I do say so myself.

I glance back at Aria again before nodding and leaving the room, shutting the door as quietly as possible and heading off towards the entryway.

As I walk, making sure to do it without letting my shoes make any noise on the floor in the process, I focus on listening to the fomorians and the acolyte. And all I hear is them slowly making their way down the other hallway, passing right by the recording studio over there that I’d entered which has the bunker.

Good. They’re near it.

I pick up my pace a little bit, still making sure to stay quiet as I do so before entering the other hallway and picking it up even more.

By the time I reach the corner of the hallway, the demons almost entering my direct line of sight, I have my arm shifted into that of a beast with both of my claws covered the blood that I had stored in my blood storage. I then glance at the door to the recording studio as I pass by it before fully turning the corner and focusing on the demons who are now beginning to notice me.

I can’t help but let out a sigh of relief when I see the demons’ levels.

|Demon Acolyte – Subspecies: N/A – Level 126|

|Demon Fomorian – Subspecies: N/A – Level 106|

|Demon Fomorian – Subspecies: N/A – Level 105|

|Demon Fomorian – Subspecies: N/A – Level 105|

|Demon Fomorian – Subspecies: N/A – Level 107|

They’re all on the lower end of their level spectrums. That’s great. I can… probably… yeah, probably work with that.

“Probably?” Tar asks, sounding not so sure.

Probably.

“Attack,” the acolyte declares, its voice sounding scratchy as the creature – who has the appearance of a humanoid spider wearing simple black leather armor – waves its staff in my direction, a large fireball beginning to build up in front of it. Then the demon fomorians all begin charging towards me.

Shit, that thing is casting faster than I thought.

“Probably,” Tar repeats, making me shout out loud, “Shut up!” as I continue running.

And he does shut up.

The demons on the other hand ignore my shout as they charge forth all at once with their swords held out to their sides. Meanwhile I have to push the limits of blood sacrifice just to be able to dodge the fireball that comes slamming right into where I was before dodging, burning a hole in the ground that enters the piping below. Thankfully not a gas pipe for that matter.

I look up to find one of the fomorians already reaching me while swinging its sword, but I duck under it, letting the blade pass by above my head. Then I stretch forward to kick its leg out from under it, fortunately having enough strength to do so thanks to predator V and blood sacrifice.

The demon topples down to the ground, landing on its back and dropping its sword with a clang, but I don’t have the time to bother with it as another two swords swing straight towards me. One of which I manage to dodge by moving my torso back, the blade barely passing straight by where my stomach was, but the other sword is flying straight towards my lower leg, where I can’t dodge it. So I just grit my teeth and activate both blood diffusion and blood retribution, making a glowing red barrier appear above my clothing that is then immediately hit by the sword, making a strong wave of pain and discomfort move through my body as thick amounts of red steam lift off both my and the demon’s skin.

And in addition to the damage from blood retribution, the demon clearly wasn’t prepared for the attack going like that, the recoil from the blade simply stopping at the shield having him staggering a little, so I take advantage of this to push through my own discomfort to use blood boil and life drain on all five demons at once, feeling a powerful surge of life energy begin entering me. Then I rush to my feet, ignoring the lightheadedness that comes with blood loss to jump backwards a little, just barely avoiding another fireball that strikes the ground, lightly scorching some of the demon fomorians in the process.

Another bright side about them only having a bare minimum of intelligence. Friendly fire.

I turn around and begin running straight towards the recording studio right around the corner where I had my blood shadow enter beforehand. One I had summoned at some point around halfway through killing the other six fomorians I’ve done in so far today. And just seconds later, I hear the fomorians beginning to regather themselves and begin chasing with the acolyte right behind them.

But I just open the door and slam it shut, hiding on the left side of the door with my blood shadow on the right holding a sword of blood.

Now to see if this works, or if I’m gonna die.