Lilith: Origin of Succubi

Chapter 240

Chapter 240<~> Chapter 240

As we got closer to the bazaar, even more of the cheering quickly started to turn to screams, and the sounds of fighting redoubled.

"What's happening?" I asked Silva.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Her brow was furrowed. "I can't tell from here, should we go look?"

I turned around and looked at the former slaves we were protecting. Most of them weren't really battle-ready, and one of them only had one arm... The hyenakin growled at me when I looked at her. "Give us weapons! You look like you're sizing us up, me and my sister can fight!"

"Do you have any more weapons left Mimi?" I asked her.

She frowned, "I only kept your cursed two-handed sword, I gave everything else away."

"You keep a cursed sword?" Kal'daeryn asked me.

"The curse isn't that bad, it just makes you hungry when you use it."

"Whatever! I'll take it!" the hyenakin practically yelled.

Lorriene spun and pointed a dagger to her throat in one fluid motion. "Enough."

The hyenakin froze and lifted her hands placatingly. "Yes, ma'am."

"Hey, none of that," I told Lorriene. I looked at the hyenakin. "Don't test our patience. I'll give you the weapon, just be careful with it. I'm more patient than some of my friends, but we're supposed to be sneaking through here."

A box crashed to the ground behind me and I spun to see a human dressed in a guard uniform being bowled over by a demon that looked like his bones were on the outside. I hadn't seen a monster this disgusting since we were in the demon dungeon. It looked red and veiny with all of its flesh covered in a mucus membrane, its bones held it together from the outside like it was inside out. I drew my sword and turned to face it as an arrow dug into its head and knocked the demon off the guard. He didn't stop to say anything, he just turned and continued to run away.

"That didn't kill it," Torien warned. The monster climbed back to its feet in a hunched crawl before scrabbling at us on all fours like some kind of monkey.

Silva dashed forward and stabbed it through the chest, killing it instantly. "Go for body shots, avoid the bone. Its bone was denser than the rest of its body."

"Sure, got it," Torien replied.

"More coming from the south-east!" Bella's voice called out.

An entire horde of them were running right at us through a gap in the barricade that separated the market district from the southern quarter bazaar. I instantly began to draw a ritual circle on the tip of my sword using [Light Scribing]. The ritual spell resolved quickly and I began to create a wall of solid ice using the cast spell.

"The water fording ritual!" Morrigan called out excitedly. Frankly, it wasn't the best timing to be excited about it but better than despondent by the absolute throng of demons running at us. When the wall of ice finished forming I had managed to lock off a gap that funneled them all into one spot.

I turned to the group of former slaves. Other than Kal'daeryn, they all looked scared shitless but none of them were hurt. Bella was looking around behind us, making sure we didn't get ambushed while we held off this chokepoint.

"How are you two doing down there?" I called out to Silva and Kal'daeryn.

"Fine." Silva grunted between thrusts with her spear.

A pile of corpses was forming at the choke which was slowing the demons down further. The only problem was that the pile was starting to reach the edges of the walls. I felt Mimi touch my mind through the bond. -- "I can eat the bodies! It'll get them out of the way!" --

My brow knitted with worry. -- "Is that a good idea? It won't affect you to eat them will it?" --

-- "I'll be fine! I used to eat demons all the time, remember?" -- Mimi replied through the bond.

I turned to Bella and spoke to her through the bond next, -- "Bella! Mimi's going to eat the corpses. Make sure none of the former slaves see her do it. Except for Kal'daeryn, I guess." --

-- "Okay!" -- Bella replied without hesitation.

"Everyone! Eyes on me! Are any of you hurt?" Bella called out to the group of former slaves. All of them were startled by her sudden yelling and turned to face her immediately.

I touched Silva through the bond next, -- "Mimi is going to remove the corpses but she's going to need cover. Push in a little bit and make sure Kal'daeryn doesn't freak out." --

-- "Got it," -- Silva replied.

"Forward!" Silva pushed into the crowd and Kal'daeryn followed her lead, though she did look confused about it. Mimi came in from behind and her belly opened up like a big mouth and swallowed body after body in a matter of moments. Kal'daeryn was so focused on fighting barehanded that she didn't even notice the bodies were gone until Silva started to retreat back into their chokepoint.

"What happened?" The white tigerkin asked in shock.

"Our spatial mage cleaned up the corpses!" Silva called in response.

Kal'daeryn looked just as shocked but it faded as she went back to holding off the horde. That train of thought left me when I felt the fireball beginning to finish forming. I turned just in time to warn Morrigan. "Fireball incoming!" I called out to her.

"Got it!"

Like last time, her ice spell caught the fireball in midair and detonated it into harmless fire mana. "Now!" Lorriene called before leaping forward and disappearing the moment she touched the ground. Lorriene appeared behind the bone twister and stabbed one of her long daggers deep into the creature's back, making it scream and flail as it tried to knock Lorriene off of it. With her hood on I couldn't see her face but her movements made her look unfazed by the demon's thrashing as she continued to repeatedly stab it in the back.

Suddenly, Lorriene leapt off the monster, rolled, and then disappeared in a cloud of shadow only to reappear next to me panting and out of breath. "I wasn't able to finish it off... too tired." Lorriene fell to one knee.

I turned back to the edge of the wall. We had cleared most of the smaller demons now and the bone twister looked bloodied, but it wasn't over yet.