Dennis grunted as he felt the impact rippling through his body. It's like he got hit by a cannonball.
Thankfully though, his shield was rather sturdy and he was experienced enough to know how to disperse the impact so that it won't injure him too badly.
The Sabertooth Cat Demon, however, was relentless. It raised its fearsome claws and swiped down at Dennis.
Dennis felt the threat of death coming for him so he immediately responded by casting a skill:
"Bulwark!" He roared.
His shield lit up, it seemingly formed several layers on its surface just as the demon's claws struck down.
Sounds of shattering glass could be heard when the attack landed, and the Sabertooth Cat Demon's claws broke through several layers of the shield before stopping.
Dennis felt the ground beneath him shattering because of the sheer weight behind that attack, forming webs of cracks that spread out around him. He could feel his insides rattled by that as well.
Blood trickled down Dennis' lips as he glared hatefully at the demon. As the two measured gazes, a streak of light suddenly entered their vision.
That streak of light turned out to be Jane.
Holding a spear and wearing a solemn expression on her face, she charged toward the Sabertooth Cat Demon with the intent of piercing its body with her spear.
The Demon reacted in time though, it pawed on Dennis' shield, using it as a platform to tumble backward, avoiding Jane's attack and putting distance between itself and the humans.
Jane landed next to Dennis and placed a hand on his back, without taking her eyes away from the demon, she asked: "You okay?"
"Yeah, just injured slightly but I'll be fine. I've experienced worse." Dennis replied.
"Warmth!" Both of them heard from behind.
It was Olivia who cast it. An orb of golden light appeared beside Dennis. It radiated a sense of comfort which alleviated the pain Dennis was feeling.
"Thanks," Dennis told her.
Olivia nodded, inwardly she sighed in relief. 'Thank god I learned some White Magic or else we'd be in a tough spot.'
Suddenly, an orb of packed heat whizzed past them and flew toward the demon.
The Sabertooth Cat Demon saw this and growled. It raised its paws to strike down the Fireball.
Harry saw this and sneered. Before the demon's claw hit the fireball, Harry snapped his fingers. The fireball exploded and engulfed the demon.
"Got you, bitch!" Harry grinned as he re-grouped with the team.
Seeing Harry making a move caused the rest to feel relieved. This guy might be obnoxious at times but at least he's willing to help when the need arises.
"...I don't understand. How did it see us through the Concealing Formation?" Olivia asked nobody in particular. "We've checked it before, there was nothing wrong with the Formation at all. So how could this demon sense us?"
"...isn't it kind of useless to ask such questions right now?" Harry said, "What's done is done, it saw us and now we need to fight it. It's either we kill or it kills us."
"I'd hate to agree with him but he's correct, Ollie." Jane chimed in. "Heads-up everybody, it's not over yet."
The group went into formation as they warily paid attention to the Sabertooth Cat Demon — who was now done rolling on the ground, mostly unharmed by Harry's attack and royally pissed.
Dennis, as the leader of this group, stepped forward and readied his shield, he also held a broadsword in his other hand. His fighting spirit was roused as he made a threatening howl which caused him to release a pulse of red light that covered not only his but also his allies' bodies.
This was a Guardian Knight's support skill: Battle Cry, which causes his and his allies' attack power to receive a 20% boost for the next 10 minutes.
Seeing their leader buffing himself up, the rest also cast their spells which empowered them.
"Energize! Focus! Mana Armament!" Olivia cast three support spells which also empowered the team as a whole.
Energize temporarily raises everyone's Mana Reserves by 10%, lasting for 30 minutes. Focus enhanced their senses for the next 15 minutes and Mana Armament enchanted everyone's weapon with Mana, making them more effective for the next 15 minutes as well.
As soon as they were done powering up, the demon recovered. It wasted no time and immediately turned into a flurry of shadows, moving like a ghost around the team.
If this was before, then everyone wouldn't be able to follow its movements, but now that they've powered up, they were able to see the demon clearly despite its swift movement.
Roar!
The demon released a threatening roar as it suddenly pounced toward them. Its target was Harry, obvious by the way how its eyes never left the guy who threw a ball of fire at it.
"I'm here you freak!!!" Dennis howled, his voice was amplified by the Provocation Skill.
The Demon couldn't ignore the skill's effects so it immediately switched targets and went for Dennis who was ready for it this time.
Releasing a battle cry, Dennis kicked his legs and slammed his shield at the charging demon, striking square in its face.
The Demon was stunned and started seeing stars when Jane appeared from above, she stabbed her spear so fast that it left afterimages in its wake. Sadly, instead of poking holes in the demon's body, her spear only left white gashes on its skin.
This meant that the toughness of this demon's skin was quite absurd. That caused Jane to feel unconvinced so instead of targetting its body, she attacked the demon's weak spots... its eyes for example.
But just as she was about to pierce the demon's eyes, the cat demon reacted and stood on its hind legs, borrowing the momentum, it then kicked and tumbled backward, putting some distance between itself and the humans again.
"Damn it!" Jane cursed as she caught herself.
"Vine Growth!" Olivia uttered, releasing an emerald glow from her wand which was pointed toward where the demon landed.
From below the ground, several thick vines appeared, entangling the demon's body and locking it down on the spot. The demon struggled fiercely, biting and clawing down the vines but Olivia wasn't done.
With another wave of her wand, she cast Briar Growth — which caused thorns to appear on the vines, making it more painful and more difficult for the demon to escape its bindings.
Harry then came through and cast: "Poison Haze!"
An orb of purple smoke flew toward where the demon was before exploding into a poisonous cloud.
The cloud obscured their vision of the demon for a bit of how it struggled fiercely against the bindings, they figured that it should at least inhale a good amount of haze which could hopefully weaken it and slowly kill it.
However, the reality is often disappointing...
Roar!!!
The beast, instead of sounding weak, became even more energized and almost berserk.
Within the purple haze, they saw a pitch-black light enshrouding the figure of the Sabertooth Cat Demon and the pair of red eyes glaring at them.
"Not good! It escaped!" Olivia immediately warned her teammates. As the one who cast the vines which held it down, naturally, she could also sense if it was still bound or not.
The demon easily ripped apart the Vine Growth even with briars covering it. Just from the aura of the demon beast alone, they could easily tell that it wasn't weakened. If anything, it's even stronger now compared to before.
Harry hastily condensed several awls made out of ice and sent them towards the demon but those didn't even hit the demon.
The speed at which the demon ran around went to a whole new level, leaving the team breathless and greatly alarmed. Even with the buffs they had, they couldn't follow its movements.
"Dennis! Behind you!"
"RAAAGGHH!"
Thankfully, Dennis managed to turn around in time to block the demon's attack. He coughed out blood due to the sheer impact of that strike, his pupils dilated a bit when he felt how suffocatingly stronger the demon got all of a sudden.
Dennis gnashed his teeth and pushed back. He then slammed his sword on the side of his shield, allowing him to cast the skill: Vengeful Return — a skill that reflects the force of the last attack he receive back to his enemy, twofold.
The demon let out a pained yelp when the skill went off. Props to Dennis for being the first one to cause some real injury to the Sabertooth Cat Demon, though. Albeit, he didn't get out unscathed.
The Warmth spell that Olivia cast earlier was still around but it couldn't keep up with Dennis' injuries.
Despite being injured though, the demon beast was still vigorous enough. It stood up once more and turned into a mere blur.
Everyone's heart tightened as they felt their backs against the wall. They clumped up together, forced to wait in suspense until the demon choose to attack once more.
They've lost the initiative this time and this demon certainly isn't something that they could handle.
All of a sudden, they heard the demon growling again, causing their hearts to clench.
Then, without any warning, the demon appear right in front of Olivia who was a beat late to notice it.
As Dennis and the rest hurriedly tried everything they could to rescue her, something happened that went completely beyond their imagination...
The Sabertooth Cat Demon froze mid-attack, unable to move even a single muscle.
The team then heard footsteps coming towards them and the words:
"Tsk, tsk. Bad kitty."
