Chapter 72 - Finally Fighting The Ancient Demon Guarding The Heavenly Garden
At this moment, Arthur knew he wasn't just that random leader to them, but he was like their closest friend, a person they would be extremely worried about when bad things happened to him.
He felt gratitude, deeply touched from their genuine feeling towards him, and in return he started to see them all as his friends, as part of his family.
"Tell me, has anything major happened while I was away?" he asked, as he wanted to be briefed on anything important.
"Nothing, we just finished cooking, and now all the meat is stacked there, waiting for you to store," Randy said, as he pointed towards the distance. The place which had many trees before, and turned later into a cooking festival, was now covered with tons of cooked meat, waiting for him to store.
He just chuckled, as he knew this would be the leftovers after they ate what they desired for two days without his observation. He didn't say a word, as sometimes things happen for a reason, and whatever they gained was only their luck and right to have.
Arthur went towards these hills of meat, and in an hour he stored them neatly inside his ring. Though they consumed a lot, what remained was really unmeasurable, enough to make them eat for months to come, and might be enough to a larger group of people.
As he finished all his preparations, it was now time to face that ancient demon. He still didn't know what he had gained from that strange experience of his, but he planned to put that to test, with much expectations of the result.
"Let's get ready, we will go into that garden, and kill its nasty guardian," he finally said it, after he took out many explosive rocks, ready to be used at any time. he didn't need to bring any fire pits from his ring, as he already used the pits prepared for cooking here.
Everyone stood in front of the garden entrance, ready to fight that tough opponent. Arthur glanced at his group, which started over a week ago by him and Ron, and now they spanned over fifty people, all were officially mages.
"Listen up," he started his last instructions, using his past life knowledge about dealing with ancient demons, "this monster will be quite hard to deal with. Though it's already weakened, it can absorb human blood and use it to recover its wounds. So, no matter what, take these leaves and use them all the time whenever there is a wound you suffered.
If you have blood loss already, just retreat away, and try to bandage it using any clothes you have. The key isn't to just deal considerable damage to it, but to prevent it from self healing."
His words were absurd to them, new and never heard of before. They never questioned him for knowing stuff they never heard of, as Ron already told him of the life changing experience he just had.
They took his warning for granted, based on their past dealings and experience with him, they didn't doubt a word he said, though what he just said meant they would face a very difficult fight up.
"Madly, Amelia, Omar, Drago, and Randy will act as your group leaders. Follow their orders and do as they say. Whenever I say retreat, don't stop in your place for even a second and do as I say."
He said his final arrangements, as he chose those who already had leader capabilities, and those mind freaks from his team.
They all nodded, and as such, the battle started by him stepping inside the entrance, heading straight to the nearest bunch of flowers with a very enchanting scent, and picked them up.
This was a trigger to instigate the ancient demon to show itself up. Arthur knew the demon was forced to interfere, show up, and obliged to kill them all.
Once he grabbed these flowers and took them into his hand, he felt a tremor on the ground, followed by a mighty roar. He knew these were just superficial things, a show up to scare people, other people not him.
He stood his place motionless for a moment, before going to another flowers here, and grabbed them from the ground. He stored them into his ring, and as such the roar came again, preceded by the trembling on the ground.
"If you don't show yourself I won't stop until I take all the plants here!"
Arthur knew the demon had to interfere, if he didn't retreat at the least. So, he moved towards the next group of flowers, and this time he didn't take them off by force, instead he touched the ground, and absorbed all the fertile soil here with the flowers into his ring.
This ancient demon depended entirely on this place to live, so doing so would eventually kill it, in case the contract binding it didn't claim its life first.
Arthur just repeated the process a couple of times before he left behind him a stretch of empty ruined holes in the ground. For others he seemed to be digging the ground, taking the plants with the soil, and leaving the land behind infertile and useless.
That was a very hard way to instigate this monster's wrath, as Arthur was fixed on making it move. Others behind him just kept their silence, and vigilance, knowing that their enemy might show up at any moment, from anywhere.
They were tense, very nervous, and Arthur could even smell the scent of fear in them, but he knew once the ancient demon showed itself and battle kicked off, they would act as usual, with their confidence and bravery taking over.
He just walked another few steps, leaving behind a ruined land, and that ancient demon couldn't take it anymore. It was faced with the truth that Arthur intended to kill it, one way or another, so at least it would die fighting.
Suddenly, a storm kicked in from far, as a huge body started to take shape. It was colossal, really big, like a small hill in front of them. it was like a gorilla, with hair covering all its body, and many horns appearing from every single joint of it.
Arthur once saw it smiled, a wide grin actually, as his first impression of such a demon was what he expected from before, it was very weakened.
Though it had this huge body, its strength was actually depleted. He knew it couldn't stand a chance against them, provided it didn't absorb any of their blood.
It roared, as it started hitting its chest with its fists, causing bombing explosions with each hit, enough to stir fear into the hearts of those in front of it.
"Tarry, it's your turn, go and show this hairy little monkey it's true place," Arthur wasn't fazed even for a moment, as he started issuing orders to Tarry. Tarry just looked at him, in a very weird way, as he was asking himself what he did before to instigate Arthur's rage and hatred against him, so he would send him like this to his death.
Arthur felt the doubts and hesitation Tarry had, so he didn't speak, grabbing his bow, and then using an arrow of his. He used a special arrow that he experimented upon, binding the sharp edge pointed end of the arrow with an explosive rock, which he just ignited from a fire pit inside his ring.
Then he launched the arrow towards the demon.
Everyone looked at him like looking at a child, so idiotic that he thought himself mighty and strong against adults. Arthur felt their gazed and sneered, as he pointed towards the demon and said nothing.
The arrow just hit the demon, deeply inserted into its flesh, and the next second, a huge explosion occurred, pushing the huge body of that demon backward, and it even was about to fall, but it balanced its body at the last minute.
When the smoke faded away, a very deep wound appeared, with huge amounts of blood oozing from it like a flood.
"Tarry, go and hit it now!"