Free Web NovelChapter 72: Whirlwind
When the whirlwind of souls used by the demon Gravisk broke through the elven barrier, Pyaxu, Orie and Riggilo, who were outside, witnessed the chaos unfold before their eyes for a few moments.
The barrier turned into several shards, literally like breaking glass, but when these shards touched the boys’ faces they crumbled, because they were only magical fragments. However, a strong wind coming from the whirlwind pushed everyone back.
Riggilo, the white-haired cleric, tried hard not to be thrown backwards, using his staff for support.
"What’s going on in there?" asked Pyaxu as he shielded his face with both arms.
"Did we get the symbols wrong!" asked Orie, clinging to a rock on the ground to fight the gale.
At that moment, Pyaxu looked worriedly at Orie, because if they had got the symbols wrong, it could be the biggest mistake of their lives and cost them dearly.
Inside the maelstrom, Elban and Victor struggled to stand up against the overwhelming force of Gravisk’s magic.
Everything shook violently, and inside the maelstrom the cries of the trapped souls echoed in a dissonant chorus.
"It’s... much more powerful than I imagined!" said Elban, standing up and looking at Gravisk, who had its staff on the ground, conjuring up the whirlwind.
"You’re right! I underestimated it too! And the worst thing is that it’ll become much more powerful when we break the next heart!" Victor replied.
"I don’t know if this cave can withstand such power!"
"It should as long as we keep the sacred barrier standing!"
"You can’t stop me!" roared Gravisk, its distorted voice echoing like thunder in the maelstrom. "I’m a demon, I have enough strength to wipe out entire human kingdoms in the blink of an eye and I’m so old that when the first generation of you were jumping from branch to branch in the forests, I was already practicing magic!" freeweɓnovel.cøm
However, while Gravisk was chattering away, Elban and Victor exchanged glances that shared some ideas. They knew they had to find a way to break Gravisk’s hold on the cave before the maelstrom expanded and it was too late.
But suddenly a bright light cut into the maelstrom, slicing through the shadows and all that distorted magical energy.
"What’s that?" Victor asked himself, crossed his eyes and saw that ’it’ was Pyaxu, enveloped in a golden aura, holding a sword and with a strange necklace around his neck.
At that moment, Pyaxu could only think:
’Please don’t let me die! Please let me not die!’
Pyaxu wasn’t a formidable warrior and was at most a good C-Rank Hunter, but it didn’t matter to him if he wasn’t the most talented warrior, nor the most powerful, because Pyaxu had the courage to go against his survival thoughts and instincts. That was the best possible quality for a type of hunter who should always be at the forefront of battles.
So when Pyaxu suddenly ran into the maelstrom and found himself just a few meters from Gravisk, he didn’t hesitate for a second before attacking. Pyaxu raised his sword and swung it at Gravisk, aiming for one of its fists, so that he could tear off its hand and make him drop its staff.
The sword made its way through without too much trouble. Gravisk was distracted, inert in its own whirlwind. However, when the sword collided with Gravisk’s skin, it didn’t manage to tear through more than five centimeters of skin and this left Pyaxu far from being able to do what he had planned moments before.
Pyaxu’s body shuddered, as if he had tried to cut an anvil in half with his blade. Despite this, he didn’t give up. Pyaxu screamed, trying to force his way through the tough flesh.
Gravisk then felt a small nagging pain in its right wrist and its eyes finally fell on Pyaxu, who felt the purest terror of his entire life.
A wide, frightening smile crossed the demon’s face and it said:
"Ah... It’s just a worm..."
However, when Gravisk dismissed Pyaxu as nothing, Elban and Victor took advantage of the young man’s courage and the brief distraction he created to push forward again.
They advanced towards the demon despite all the magical energy surrounding them in the maelstrom. freёwebnovel.com
Elban, with his black sword in hand, and Victor, with his glowing pommel sword, approached quickly.
Gravisk soon heard the men advancing and quickly tried to conjure more magic to repel them, but by the time its staff left the ground, Victor and Elban were so close to it that their reflections were visible in Gravisk’s glowing eye sockets.
The demon gritted its teeth and still tried to cast some magic, but at that moment, Elban and Victor attacked almost simultaneously with their swords shining like stars in the midst of the magical storm. The blades penetrated the demon’s eye sockets with a bang, echoing like thunder inside the cave.
The blows were so powerful that they caused Gravisk to lose its balance and immediately fall to the ground on its back with such force.
Gravisk let out a deafening roar and the whirlwind’s magic began to weaken, as if Gravisk’s own dominant presence had been diluted at that moment.
"I got it!" Elban shouted with his sword still stuck in Gravisk’s right eye, seeing that this eye protected one of the demon’s hearts, the second of them.
"ARGHHH! YOU BASTARDS!"
With a roar of pain, Gravisk unleashed a wave of power that exploded from its body, blowing Elban, Pyaxu and Victor away like leaves in the wind. The impact caused their swords to come loose from their hands, flying a few meters before falling to the ground with a metallic clang, and they flew so far away that they left the area of the maelstrom.
Then the whirlwind weakened so quickly that it dissipated like mist in the wind.
Riggilo and Orie, who had been standing outside the whirlpool all this time, watched in amazement.
Before, from their perspective, it was like watching the fight from behind a curtain, but when the curtain opened and it was the villain who was standing instead of the protagonists, it was a shock to them.
The bright light in Riggilo’s eyes was dimmer, and he was panting heavily and visibly shaken.
In the center of the chamber, Gravisk slowly stood up, and only its left eye had regenerated yet. It raised its right hand with its fingers twitching towards Riggilo.
"You, insolent human, break down that barrier now!" ordered Gravisk. It looked even more powerful than before, because its whole body was enveloped in a black aura of power.
"No way!" Nevertheless, Riggilo shouted with courage. "I’ll maintain this barrier no matter what it takes!"
"THEN YOU’LL DIE TRYING!"
