Chapter 73: Astaroth, the King Of Brutality
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The manifestation of Astaroth surged from his underground hideout, fully formed and ready to tear apart anything in front of him. The ferocious Apostle of Death resembled a gigantic black dragon, with long, purple-colored wings and several eyes spread across his entire body, reaching over two hundred meters in height. He was so tall that when raising his neck up, he was able to see the walls surrounding Stronghold down, clearly not as tall as him.
“GRAHAHAHA!” His laughter reverberated across the ruins and even the city of Stronghold. The people were once again panicking, hearing the ferocious roar of a monster.
The four top guild masters immediately glanced at the scene in panic. While Henrietta, with the aid of her three disciples, managed to defeat the golem first, the other three were still figuring out how to crush its core without getting blasted by the golem’s demonic beam.
"Another Apostle of Death?!” Henrietta panicked; this one was much stronger than the weak, still manifesting one she defeated before.
“A huge dragon?! T-This aura…!” Sara muttered.
“S Rank!” Hector groaned; his eyes filled with shock.
“Hoh~ It looks like there are still some guys willing to play around.” Lee Hengyang laughed. “I might as well let this thing thrash the place around for a little bit."
While everyone else panicked at the arrival of such a dangerous monster, Lee Hengyang felt happy or even relieved. His cunning mind instantly thinks about using this big monster to kill some of the flies in front of him right away instead of having to wait much longer.
After all, as he was an S-Rank Hunter, he was fully confident in being able to defeat this manifestation, especially with the powers that Ouroboros had given him as the Archdemon’s Incarnation.
“PERISH, HUMANS!” Astaroth didn’t have any time to waste, opening his massive jaws and loading enormous amounts of Demonic Energy, unleashing a devastating Demonic Dragon Breath!
The massive beam of black and purple energy spiraled towards Stronghold’s Magic Barrier, impacting it with so much force that it quickly started to spread more and more cracks.
Crack… crack…!
CRASH!
The magic barrier could not withstand the might of the Manifestation of an Apostle of Death, as it instantly shattered, opening a massive hole where the beam went through, impacting a tall building in the middle of Stronghold City, and making it crumble over the streets below!
BOOOM!
The screams and panic of people within the city could be heard all around. As the Hunters all panicked, the strength of this beast was more than capable of piercing through the Magic Barrier! If they allowed this thing to step into the city, everyone would be doomed!
“There’s no way your weak barrier would have any effect on me, weakling humans!” Astaroth laughed proudly. “Now I shall enjoy myself as I devour you one by one! Might your screams and agony open the way to a new world for us demons? My brethren shall enjoy your blood as-”
“Would you shut the fuck up?!”
Suddenly, a figure appeared right in front of the dragon, covered with golden fur across her small body, with blazing golden eyes and big cat-like ears, alongside a long, golden-colored fluffy tail. Her legs quickly loaded with tremendous quantities of Mana and Ki, as a powerful pseudo-divine aura constantly surged from within her as she drank several potions, all at the same time as she kicked the dragon’s snout!
[You have consumed the [Skill Level Potion (B Rank)] x3!]
[The Half-Beast Demonic Transformation (B): Lv4] [Sunlight Blade (B): Lv2] [Great Sorceress (S): Lv2] Skills have leveled up!]
[Oh? What Luck! The [Half-Beast Demonic Transformation (B): Lv5] Skill has gained an additional level!]
[Due to the Leveling Up of the Skill you’re activating right now, a large input of power has been imbued into your physique, temporarily increasing all Stats by an additional +100% for 5 minutes.]
BAAAM!
“UUGH…?!”
Astaroth couldn’t bear it, as he was forced to step back, his huge head moving away like a ball as Anna kicked him so hard in the snout that he screamed in agony, tears coming out of his big eyes all across his body!
“IT HURTS! DAMN HUMAN!”
Astaroth’s entire body began glowing bright red as all the eyes spread over his scales, gathered Demonic Energy, and fired red lasers everywhere! The lasers reached everywhere except the great walls; the dragon had terrible aim, it seemed.
“Your aim sucks!” The voice of Dan Baihe surged from beneath Astaroth’s gigantic legs as a wave of frost surged from within her body. “{Absolute Zero}!”
“EEEK! SO COLD!” Astaroth screamed, trying to move away but finding out that two of his gigantic legs were covered in frost all over! “GRAAAH! You really are pissing the heck out of me, you damn ants!”
The gigantic demonic dragon opened his jaws, unleashing a Dragon Breath directly towards Dan Baihe! However, Dan Baihe was nowhere to be seen, as Anna managed to rescue her, jumping away into the skies the moment she grabbed her.
“I-I missed again?!” Astaroth complained.
“You’re pretty damn goofy for an Apostle of Death.” The voice of Kevin resonated, right over Astaroth!
“HUH?!”
The boy was floating in midair, utilizing the power of his magic named “Light Step,” which allowed him to step into midair. Without wasting time, he immediately descended from above, pointing his spear down at Astaroth’s head.
“{Divine Spear: Gungnir Manifestation}!”
His Golden Spear temporarily gained Divine Power, undergoing a transformation and becoming a Divine Relic that Odin himself wielded, the powerful Gungnir, said to never miss its target! The whole impact pushed Astaroth’s head down onto the floor, making the entire surroundings tremble constantly!
Countless cracks spread across the floor, and the entire ruins surrounding Stronghold fell apart rapidly. Astaroth’s head was pierced by Kevin’s divine spear as a divine arc of light reached the skies.
BOOOM!
The explosion that surged from the impact swiftly spread across the entire dragon as Kevin swiftly jumped away from the scene, joining back with Anna and Baihe.
“GRAAAH! That freaking hurt... Okay, now I’m PISSED!”
However, to their dismay, the dragon had not fallen yet; a huge wound was over his head, but it didn’t manage to pierce his skull. To make things worse, the frozen legs were already freed from the ice. Despite how funny he spoke; he was a real menace.
“He’s not dead yet?!” Kevin asked. “But I hit that damn thing with my spear!”
“It won’t go down that easily!” Anna said. “Unlike Bael, Astaroth here has fully materialized into a powerful vessel. He’s stronger than Bael and probably on the same level as the Embodiment of Leviathan, if not even stronger."
“What do we do?!” Baihe said.
“Annabelle! Is it ready yet?!” Anna cried as Annabelle was standing several meters away, over an abandoned building.
Her powers gathered in her chest and spread like a veil of shadows and darkness, forming an armor resembling the exoskeleton of a spider, her eyes glowing brightly with four pupils each, while her long hair continued waving.
[Character: Annabelle] has activated the [Spider Queen (S)] Skill. She has undergone a transformation that has increased all her stats by +150%; her Poison and Darkness Attribute Damage have increased by +300%; and her HP and MP Regeneration Speed have increased by +500%!]
[At the same time, she can summon the power of Spiderlings to battle!]
[Duration: 10 Minutes.]
“READY!” Annabelle roared, having taken a bit longer to get used to her newly awakened skills, as she instantly leaped out of the window’s rooftop and towards the gigantic dragon in front of her.
Like a ray of pure darkness, she instantly reached the Dragon’s face, Astaroth’s eyes opening wide, surprised over the little human’s sheer speed! Annabelle opened her clawed hands as enormously concentrated quantities of poison and darkness gathered, forming two spheres. This was, without a doubt, the power of Abyssal Poison Magic!
“{Abyssal Poison Flare}!”
“NGH?!”
Black and purple flames exploded right in front of Astaroth’s big eyes as they quickly burned, bleeding instantly! The eyes on his face were completely destroyed!
“DAMN BRAT! THAT FREAKING HURTS!” Astaroth comically cried. “However, I’ve got tons of eyes anyway, dumbass!”
Annabelle glanced as countless eyes opened all across Astaroth’s body, which swiftly loaded Demonic Energy and fired deadly lasers against her!
“{Spider Queen’s Venomous Claws}!”
Annabelle’s hands grew big, metallic claws loaded with Abyssal Poison Aura, resembling purple and black flames, as she intercepted all the beams with her hands, reflecting them away into the skies!
“Y-You can take those head-on?!” Astaroth was surprised. “Alright, but what about THIS ONE?!”
The Demonic Dragon swung his gigantic tail towards Annabelle, attempting to crush her with it! Annabelle was too distracted to reflect his powerful beams, so she was unable to intercept the incoming attack in time!
Her small body was quickly thrown down onto the floor, and as she fell and crashed across several ruined buildings one after another, generating several explosions, the buildings crumbled into pieces one after another.
“Ungh… Hahhh… Hahh…” Annabelle quickly stood back up, her wounds beginning to be covered by her poison as they swiftly healed back.
“You’re a tough insect, but an insect nonetheless! Die crushed like the bug you are!!!” Astaroth roared, his gigantic foot descending above Annabelle! His huge dragon-like foot pressed tightly into the ground, making sure he crushed her well enough. Astaroth smiled as he saw the blood of her squashed body there.
“Heh… Let’s see how ugly you look after being crushed to death…” He laughed, lifting his leg, only to find Annabelle not there but a dead spider. “W-What?!”
Annabelle quickly appeared above him, alongside Kevin, Anna, and Baihe. All of them had completely slipped out of his grasp so easily! And instead of crushing her, he ended up crushing a huge spider he had never seen before!
"I never thought it could work like that!” Anna said.
“It seems I can use these Spiderlings to replace me when I take too much damage.” Said Annabelle. “But it is not unlimited… For now, we need to go all out and put his attention on us! Right?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan.” Anna nodded.
“My sister’s over there! She seems to be taking care of some hunters.” Kevin said. “We have to buy time until she can join us.”
“Anna… Can we truly take down this thing?” Baihe asked.
“We should first try to do everything we can... And if push comes to shove, I’ll have to use something else. But for now, let’s test how strong we’ve all grown.” Anna said, power overflowing across her body.
This was because she had undergone her Demonic Beast Transformation, which greatly boosted her stats, Mana, and Ki Regeneration Speed, although only temporarily. Their ability to fly was limited. Anna could lift off the ground through her transformation, and so could Annabelle, while Kevin could only step into the sky and only Baihe could genuinely fly through the Levitate Spell she had mastered.
Therefore, they didn’t have much time. To fight such a huge foe, flying around it was essential if they wanted to deal any sort of damage to it.
“You damn rats! Come HERE!” Astaroth roared, quickly beginning to shift his attention from the city and running behind the four kids.
Astaroth’s huge legs made the ground tremble around him as he redirected his attention to the four of them. Anna’s plan was a success; now, the only thing she had to do was find a way to defeat this powerful foe or buy as much time as she could.
Of course, she could utilize Abraham’s Lincoln Monocle and reset the cooldown of Anubis’ Judgement, hence giving her the power to overpower Astaroth and increase her chances of defeating him greatly. However, since this power that the accessory possessed could only be used once every 7 days, Anna had to be careful when using it.
Knowing that there were other powerful, albeit busy, hunters in the vicinity, just buying time until they could come to help seemed much more convenient than using the accessory’s power right away. After all, as Anna said, it was for emergencies among emergencies, when there was absolutely no hope at all, but right now, there was hope.
“Yeah, stay right THERE!” Astaroth laughed, opening his jaws and directing a gigantic dragon breath attack against them.
A huge purple and black beam pierced the skies, reaching the quartet in mere seconds! A tremendous explosion happened in the middle of the sky. The citizens of Stronghold glanced in shock as a hue, purple, and black explosion decorated the skies as the night was slowly falling.
“W-What is happening there?!”
“A huge explosion?!”
“T-The news said there’s a huge dragon outside! An S-rank monster!”
“S RANK?!”
“T-Then who is fighting that thing?!”
As the people panicked, Astaroth’s various eyes opened in surprise.
“Huh?! How come you can resist my Dragon Breath?!” He thought as he kept unleashing the gigantic beam from his jaws, only to find out Anna, Annabelle, Kevin, and Baihe were together, unleashing their own Auras and Magic Powers to resist the beam.
“If we wanted to, we would have evaded it already…” Anna smiled as she started sweating. “But how about you take it back instead?! Baihe! Like we practiced before!”
“Alright!” Baihe nodded.
The two girls combined their Magic Powers as their auras swiftly began rotating against each other. Anna and Baihe’s Auras were the complete opposites. While Anna held the Aura of Yang, Baihe’s Aura was of Yin!
However, although they were opposites, they were still complementary, and Anna had figured out a powerful series of spells that could combine both the Yin and Yang elements.
And one of them was the spell they conjured together!
“{Divine Yin & Yang Rotation Magic}: {Divine Mirror of Harmony}!”
A mirror formed out of their rotating elemental auras, beautifully glistening with the brilliance of complete harmony between opposites! And then, the mirror took on Astaroth’s dragon breath attack, gathered all of its immense power within, and...
Reflected it!
FLASH!
The beam was reflected, absorbing the Yin and Yang elements of Anna and Baihe and blasting back to their creator, as Astaroth was unable to evade due to his massive body, taking the powerful beam head-on! This time, it was no measly damage, as his entire, gigantic body was pushed down onto the floor, blood splattering out of his body as his bones seemed to crack loudly!
BOOOM!
“I-Impossible…!”
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