Free Web NovelChapter 71: Demon’s Heart
Victor Shieldman and the hero Elban were trapped together with the demon Gravisk inside the central barrier in that large cave chamber.
Space was very limited, and the altar was destroyed in a matter of seconds as Gravisk fired several beams of pure energy non-stop, trying to hit Elban and Victor.
In a moment, Victor and Elban separated. One went to the left, the other to the right, which divided Gravisk’s attention again.
Victor had his sword sheathed again, so he could run more freely, while Elban was supporting the weight of his sword on his back, resting it on his right shoulder.
Angry, Gravisk directed its staff at Victor, who had wounded it, and fired a series of black energy spheres.
Victor stepped forward and moved from side to side, dodging the attacks that flew rapidly towards him.
The spheres didn’t manage to hit Victor directly, but they did hit the ground and this caused several stones to fly everywhere, it also made several craters in the ground and caused a curtain of smoke to rise.
However, Elban would not let Victor’s efforts go to waste. He took advantage of Gravisk being busy with his friend to dash forward and appear next to the demon.
Elban’s sword was slightly heavier than normal swords, but the black-haired hero moved it so naturally that it seemed light when it left his back and headed for Gravisk’s abdomen.
Unfortunately, demons had good reflexes.
With his empty hand, Gravisk created a sword of pure energy with his magic and defended Elban’s attack.
"You won’t be able to catch me off guard again! I won’t underestimate you anymore!" Gravisk shouted, gritting the teeth of its cadaverous face.
"Too bad for you that this is no longer a fair fight!" exclaimed Elban, and at that moment his eyes turned black and out of his arms came black whips, something that looked like magic, but didn’t need a chant, staff, grimoire or anything else to be used.
The black whips grabbed Gravisk’s right arm, like an octopus would grab its prey, during the clash of the two swords.
"Now, Victor!"
Suddenly, the white-haired hunter stepped out of the smoke screen that had been raised by the demon’s attacks and, like a white blur, appeared in front of Gravisk.
The demon still tried to move the staff he was holding with his other arm to try and do something, but more black whips came out of Elban’s back and grabbed Gravisk’s other arm as well, leaving it completely defenseless.
Victor didn’t flinch for another second and with one plundering movement slid his sword through the demon’s flesh, ripping open its abdomen, and halfway through, near where a normal creature’s navel would be, his sword collided with something sturdy.
A broad smile appeared on Victor’s face. "I’ve finally found it!" He thought aloud.
Victor was talking about one of the demon hearts, a heart made of pure steel. frёewebηovel.cѳm
The multiple hearts of demons were not exactly the reason why they were so feared even by formidable warriors, but rather their resilience. The act of destroying a demon’s heart was such an arduous and difficult task that in the past there was a legend of demon hearts being literally indestructible, this before the Age of Heroes.
Although Gravisk had a sword stuck in its abdomen, it laughed when Victor’s sword came to a complete stop when it collided with his heart.
"I told you that you were weak!" Gravisk growled with a smile, but that smile disappeared in the next instant.
Victor hadn’t been blessed with any special talents by any of the gods, nor did he have the ability to do magic like the others, but he did have something special that led him to easily reach the level of Rank-B Hunter and that special something was the overwhelming will to win every fight, no matter what. Because of this will, Victor always adapted and never gave up on becoming powerful, so he reached a level of natural strength that few humans in history have achieved.
At that moment, when Victor’s sword collided with the demon’s heart, there was that brief instant of uncertainty, but soon Victor’s muscles pulsed, his veins popped out of his skin and his enormous strength did the rest of the work.
Victor’s sword slid through the iron heart and cut it in half, and the hunter even made a Z move to try and hit another heart on the way, but didn’t find another as he drove his sword through the demon’s abdomen.
Gravisk, its eyes wide with fury and surprise, coughed up black blood, evidence of the devastating impact Victor’s action had had.
"You... you can’t...!" Gravisk grunted. "No one... no one has ever hurt one of my hearts! You will pay for this with your souls!"
The air around him began to distort and its skin absorbed those black whips coming out of Elban. The smoke that formed Gravisk’s body intensified in such a way that it began to leak out like steam.
The cave shook, and rocks came off the ceiling and the deafening sound of an earthquake began to spread.
Gravisk looked at the two men standing in front of it with its gaze full of hatred. "You... you can’t win! Every heart you destroy only makes me stronger! Didn’t you know that?!" Gravisk proclaimed.
Elban, gasping for breath, looked around, assessing the situation quickly and said to Victor:
"We need to put a stop to this before he unleashes all the power he’s amassing!"
However, it was already too late.
"Die! All of you!" Gravisk shouted with its voice distorted by the power flowing through it and slammed its staff into the ground.
Then, a whirlwind of energy, shadows and murmurs enveloped the entire interior of the central magic circle, and Elban and Victor’s perspective became the sight of the inside of a hurricane.
Distorted faces and desperate voices seemed to struggle against the walls within the maelstrom, and the elven protective barrier began to crack and break under the pressure of the uncontrolled energy.
Finally, the elven runes drawn on the floor of the cave were scratched by invisible hands and magical fragments scattered through the air as the first barrier was broken by the force of the whirlwind of souls.
