Xaren clicked his tongue in annoyance but quickly devoured the soul he had just claid, then utilized his gravity magic to enhance his speed, propelling himself forward with renewed urgency.
They erged from the abandoned path and into the main halls of the fortress, eting fierce elven resistance. It seed that the fight with the Serpent below had alerted the elves so they were already waiting for the demons at the exit.
Xaren and the demons forced their way through, their clashing blades and flying spells quickly lighting up the walls of the fortress.
Despite the resistance and their injuries, the demons pushed onward, carving a bloody path through until they arrived at a tall hallway that stretched before them.
Carack pointed to the door that was at the end of the hallway and yelled.
"We just have to get past that door!"
Hearing this, Xaren leapt onto the stone wall, his body lightened thanks to his gravity manipulation. Using his Attraction technique, he anchored his feet to the surface, propelling himself horizontally along the fortress wall.
He swung his sword in a deadly arc, flas trailing behind as he decapitated a trio of elves who had attempted to block their advance. Their bodies collapsed in unison, clearing a path for the demons to charge forward unimpeded.
Xaren didn't pause. He jumped back to the ground and sprinted toward the tall door at the end of the hallway, Carack beside him.
Together, they slamd into it, pushing it open with force. As the heavy tal door creaked, they quickly turned back to their companions.
"Hurry! Get inside!" Carack yelled, his voice urgent.
The other demons dashed through the opening, leaving the elven soldiers chasing them behind.
The door was a sliding door and was heavy, but one of the demons was a Straga type known for their strength, so with his aid, the door was closed in seconds.
One of the elven soldiers had their legs caught in the door and cried out in pain, but the demons ignored it and focused on slaughtering the elves inside the room.
As the last of the elves fell, their cries fading into the silence of death, Xaren lowered his sword, breathing heavily. He wiped the sweat from his brow, finally able to take in his surroundings.
The room was as wide as a small hall and as high as a two-storey building. At the centre of the room stood three stone pillars, each arranged on a raised platform.
"Is this the control room?"
Xaren asked, his voice rough from exertion, and Carack nodded, stepping forward as his sharp gaze swept over the room.
"Yeah, this is it. We need to move fast to minimize the damage our forces take."
He reached into a small storage pouch at his waist, pulling out an aged parchnt. Without wasting ti, Carack approached the chanisms set in the far wall, referencing the parchnt as he worked.
First, he removed the elven sword stabbed into the chanisms, an action taken by an elf who didn't want them to take control of the room.
Unfortunately, during the ti the demons temporarily held this fortress, they had discovered the backup controls and Carack's parchnt held the instructions for them.
He pressed a series of buttons, turning levers and making adjustnts to the controls. His hands moved with ease, as though he'd studied this fortress's layout extensively.
Once the chanisms were in place, Carack moved to the platform in the centre of the room. His hand hovered over the orb resting between the three stone pillars, he infused it with magic power.
As the orb pulsed, growing brighter with each passing second, the runes on the walls around them flared to life.
The system was ready.
Returning to the control board, Carack grabbed a large lever and pulled it down with force. A distant rumble echoed through the walls as the chanisms outside engaged, all the fortress's gates began to rise.
"Task completed. Now we just have to protect this place until our side conquers the fortress."
If they left and the elves ca in and closed the gates again, it'd be troubleso. Also, to get out of this place, they had to fight through the elves waiting for them outside the door.
Though the demons outside had little in the way of experience, they outnumbered the elves by a lot. Now that the gates had opened, the fortress wouldn't be able to serve as one, so they shouldn't have to wait for too long.
After making sure the sliding door was properly sealed, the demons sat on the floor and began chatting amongst themselves.
"Damn, today was the sa as always, huh?"
"I got stabbed in the leg! Whaddya an 'the sa'?!"
The demons burst into laughter when they heard the words of the one wrapping a torn cloth around his bleeding leg, and Xaren couldn't help but laugh along with them.
"Leaving this idiot aside."
"OY!"
Carack ignored the injured demon and continued speaking.
"We made quite the achievents. We should get a lot of rits from this.
Also, the day we beco Low-Ranked demons isn't that far."
Hearing his words, the other demons nodded in affirmation, and one raised his damaged Warhamr and spoke.
"My hamr is cracked. I want a new one."
While they talked, Xaren used the shirt of one of the dead elves as a rag to clean the blood of his sword. It was then that the subject of conversation suddenly shifted to him.
"Yo! Xaren, right? What's with that magic that let you run on the wall?"
Carack threw this question to him and hearing it, the other demons' eyes glead and they turned towards him with anticipation.
Xaren had a short mont of silent contemplation before speaking.
"It's actually a skill, not magic.
I can control the force that keeps our feet on the ground, so I changed the direction of the force to keep my feet on the wall instead."
"Oh, I've heard of sothing like that before. I think the higher demons called it 'guravity'?"
"It's 'gravity', you dolt. Now focus on your wound."
Carack shut the wounded demon up and tossed him a small healing potion vial, before returning his gaze to Xaren.
"Is that how you were able to make us faster earlier?"
He referred to when they were about to enter the fortress and Xaren nodded in affirmation before sheathing his sword.
"And you can use black fire magic too. How long have you been around?"
Xaren was about to answer Carack's question when a sudden loud noise reverberated through the room.
The loud noise ca from beyond the door and the demons reflexively stood up, their hands gripping their weapons as the pounding continued, growing louder and more forceful.
"Prepare for battle!"
Carack barked, and the demons rushed to the sides of the door.
Then, with a deafening explosion, the door was blown off its hinges, chunks of stone and iron scattering across the room. But since the demons had moved away from the doors, none were wounded by this.
Dust and debris filled the air, but through the haze, a massive figure stepped forward, wielding a Warhamr that seed too large for any normal creature to carry.
A Lesser Giant had burst through.
Its long hair hung wild around its face, and its eyes burned a deep, seething red, glowing like embers in the dim light of the control room.
Even though it was considered "small" for its kind, the giant still stood nearly 20 feet tall, towering over the demons. Its muscles bulged beneath its skin, each step shaking the ground beneath it as it swung the massive hamr with ease, sending a rush of air through the room.
"Demon rats!!"
The giant's roar reverberated through the room, shaking the walls as he stord in with heavy, thunderous steps.
"I will tear you all up! I will break your bones and... GACK?!"
His threat was cut short by a pained gasp as one of the demons, seizing a fallen elf's crossbow, unleashed a barrage of bolts at the giant's knees.
Carack followed with a blazing fireball, and another demon struck with a surge of lightning, causing a violent explosion that destabilized the giant's stance.
"You cowardly demons!"
The giant scread out, but the demons ignored him and continued attacking. There was no need to listen to the opponent's speech.
'This giant must be stupid if he thought we'd stand back and listen to him talk.'
Xaren thought this as he joined the demons in attacking, throwing balls of fla at the giant's face to obscure his vision.
So of the demons attacked the elves who charged in along with the giant, while the others focused on the giant, with Xaren and Carack in the lead.
The giant roared and charged forward. With his large strides, he only needed a few steps to reach the demons' positions and force them to split up.
Raising his hamr, he swung it down with force and the weapon carved a ten-tre-wide crater in the centre of the room with just one swing.
The elves tried to tell the giant not to destroy the room, but he didn't listen and swung his hamr once more, aiming for Carack.
Xaren used attraction to try and divert the hamr, but the sheer weight only made Xaren able to shift it by a few inches before he hit his limit.
'And he's lifting that thing so casually!'
Giants were known for their high base physical strength, so this wasn't sothing that ca as a surprise.
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