The Jester of Apocalypse
Chapter 108: Legion

Neave ran, gripping the massive sledgehammer as he jumped high to get a better perspective.

Looks like Gabrias was correct.

From a specific direction, he could see a horde of wiggling black shapes shifting in the darkness. According to what Shrubby conveyed to Gabrias, there were over twenty thousand, and Neave, with his incredible perception, judged that estimate to be accurate.

In a shimmering display of defiance, shattered shards of glass lifted and aimed to fight the invasion back. But something was wrong. Neave had seen the glass shrub in action before—and now, it seemed to be struggling to put a single demon down.

The creatures comprising this horde didn’t look nearly as decrepit as the demons usually did. 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 grey, and the extra eyes, teeth, horns, and mouths weren’t placed quite as randomly as they usually were.

Neave was fully confident in eradicating them without much issue, but… sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NƟvelFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"How the hell do I protect the others?"

The demons were still far away, and there was some time to prepare for their arrival, so he dropped down to his allies. Before they could even ask a single question, he grew five arms out his back and wrapped them up, carrying them down to the main chamber.

He waved a hand and turned to the glass shrub. "I spotted that you were attacking them over at the outskirts of the territory. Stop wasting your energy,” he commanded. “Focus on protecting this dome at all cost." Then he turned to the others. "You have your weapons, and this chamber will be quite hard to penetrate, especially with the shrub on your side.” But as he thought further, he frowned.

“Actually… You have your weapons. This is a good chance to get some experience using them. 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!?" Marven asked.

"Me? I’m going to go to the surface…" Neave clenched his jaw, gripping the hammer tighter, “… where I can cull the bulk of the army.”

With that, he dashed out of the chamber.

He 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 unbalanced.

However, Neave didn’t take long to discover something practical. If he used the telekinesis provided by the crown, he could drastically reduce its weight. Even beyond that, he could actually keep the hammer afloat, but the quasi-spirit within seemed to be resisting the telekinesis, making that considerably more difficult.

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 by the body shapes, quite a few demons were more animalistic in features. There were several that were quite gigantic, too.

None of those intimidated Neave—not even the mostly humanoid ones, which he knew to be dangerous. No, he was vastly more interested in the gigantic ones. It was for a simple reason, really.

They’re destroying the shrubs!

The forest that Shrubby had worked so hard to grow was 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.

He 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 giant, pulverizing it from the inside out and scattering its remains into a fine mist that exploded outward, flattering the surrounding area with the shockwave.

…

Ok, maybe I will damage the forest more than the demons.

Yet, he didn’t feel like holding back. Rage coursed through his veins. He was tired. It was all so frustrating. Power soared in his body, and as he lit up in a towering crimson flame, 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 towards him, leaping like frogs of shadowy death.

He 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.

He landed on the ground, shattering the surrounding area. The hammer lit up in golden runes, and he spun in a circle around his body. Every shred of energy that the hammer was carrying transferred into the air, and rather than slow the spin down, Neave accelerated it, spinning faster and faster until the world around him was spinning too fast for even him to see, and his weapon blazed from the heating of the metal through all the friction with the air.

A tornado of destruction spread around him, annihilating everything in its path and shredding the demons to paste. The sheer heat that the intense whirl of dust and glass shards produced through friction caused an updraft that rose high into the sky, and with life force ignited directly in his lungs, Neave blew a breath of red fire, causing the heat to jump exponentially and the internal pressure to push the tornado out further.

As all the air, coupled with melting glass, stone, and tons upon tons of dust, escaped high into the atmosphere, the pressure in the surrounding area dropped sharply, and with how much heat the whirlpool was radiating, everything nearby was melting. The result caused a spot of negative pressure that sucked fiery winds towards the infernal maelstrom of death, vaporizing the bodies of demons that fell victim to it into ashes that scattered high above the clouds, which were already beginning to spark with lightning.

***

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 shattered into a scattering of blue lights that shredded the bodies of the incoming demons into pieces.

Remarkable, Marven thought.

That was a 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. These were weapons worth risking one's life to master.

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. At least permanently.

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 enemies that had reached them so far seemed to be fast variants that likely slipped past Neave due to their speed—or by traveling through the underground from the very start.

Speaking of Neave, he was almost certainly the culprit of the intense vibration shaking the ground below them. And, for some reason, the air pressure around them seemed to have dropped.

Soon enough, more powerful versions began appearing. Marven still found little issue with dispatching them. Several demons that seemed even mightier than the one that nearly annihilated them arose, but 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, and if even a single of their tentacles were attached to another demon, the ice could travel fast enough to at least incapacitate the unfortunate tentacle buddy.

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 invaders. 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 with such force that it nearly killed it.

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.

The minutes passed, but 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.

Until the puppet perked up suddenly and started violently waving at Gabrias.

***

After Neave’s initial rampage, the defense of their base became… dull.

His stunt with the hellish tornado of infernal flames had done a number on the army—a big number, as in, nearly ended the fight right then and there. The only demons that had survived were the humanoid ones that had managed to get out of the range of his attack on time and those that were lagging behind or far to the sides.

He couldn’t let the humanoid ones run, so he was busy cleaning them up. It couldn’t even jokingly be referred to as a challenge, however.

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 his impatience, and he found himself hesitating. Oh no… Had they 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 monster all lay dead on the ground.

The dead abominids weren’t a problem. Neave had been cautious and had 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.

None of his allies had seen what happened.

But among the dead, at least one of the abominids wasn’t accounted for.

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