How To Survive A Calamity-Chapter 166: Dragon Slaying [2]

"You mean...all that happened...?"

Deandra's voice just couldn't reflect how much her shock of the revelation truly ran deep.

"..."

Even I couldn't utter the right words or sentences to properly explain how messy my thoughts were at the moment.

Xavier's expression was grim as gazed darkly at us, holding his shoulder and leaning against the boulder.

Ceres meanwhile, stood by the edge, gripping her sword and overlooking the Sand Dragon as it rose from beyond the boulder.

Xavier just finished summarizing the entire situation to us in a few minutes.

"Nicodemus...was a Demon?"

"A Contractor — Demon Contractor."

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"Yeah, that's what i said."

To be honest, this piece of news came as a suprise.

Shock was more like it, considering i fogot about my current situation, actually.

"And Alex went after him?"

Chelsea, and Trise too...

"Fuck this is messed up..."

I couldn't help but lower my head and mutter.

Every single thing that has happened so far since the beginning of this Exercise is one twisted shit after another.

And to imagine that, behind it all, was a Demon...

An actual Demon.

'I've never met a Demon before...' my thoughts began to race and trail.

'Well...not exactly.'

I'd only ever heard of the Demon Race in passing multiple times, despite only ever seeing them in the visions Meta showed me before.

I knew eventually I'd get entangled with the Demon Race, and that it was only a matter of time.

Considering everything that's happening in this life, it was inevitable. My fate had already been sealed the moment i awakened in Aethoria with the System.

Even as an Awakened.

'Meta, just...how strong is a Demon anyway?' i said inwardly, and a synthetic response came quickly.

[There are corresponding ranks to the Demon race representing varying power levels, like the Awakened of the human race.] Meta curtly said without a definite answer.

'I see...'

I could only furrow my brows.

There wasn't much i could infer from what Xavier said about Nicodemus's and the Demon's combat strength or ability. Xavier described the Demon's ability as something that seemed insidious and powerful, but it was still too ambiguous and vague to be certain of anything.

And on the other hand—

"Didn't you also fight Nicodemus?"

I turned to Ceres.

"How powerful was he?"

Ceres remained stoic then a small crease formed on her brows as she responded curtly.

"He was annoying."

"Huh? Annoying?"

"Kept trying to get into my head."

"—...huh?"

I gaped stupidly at Ceres' short and unsatisfactory response.

'That's even more vague and ambiguous than Xavier's...'

"His main ability, or Skill — maybe even Spells — deals with influencing his target's mind and emotions. Nicodemus... He can force you to... See things and feel things you'd never imagine. It's an insidious power that truly belongs in a nightmare..."

See things and feel things that can't be explained...

A skill that directly influenced and take hostage of the target's minds and emotions.

Didn't that sound suspiciously like what we've been experiencing throughout the day?

[If the description truly fits with the Demon's ability, then there might be a possibility than you might be dealing with a scion of one of the Major Demon Clans, one of the House of Misery.] Meta suddenly said out of nowhere.

'House of what now...?'

Ah.

There was so much to think about.

Things were so much more twisted than i thought.

But ine face remained the most glaring to me at the moment.

—Alexander went after Nicodemus.

My thoughts seemed to boil and cease at that point.

"We need to save them..."

"That is why we need to quickly finish up here!" Xavier emphasized and snapped me back to reality.

Sweat was already beading down the side of my face and my fingers felt cold.

I...

I couldn't fail the quest.

Never.

It wasn't about not getting the rewards, or suffering the penalty.

If i failed the quest...

The outcome of Alexander's death was too great to ignore.

"Yeah..."

First we had to get past the Sand Worm.

I snapped out of my reverie and slapped myself in the face.

-Pa!

The sound of my palm smacking against both of my cheeks caused the others to look at me strangely, silently judging my sudden and inexplicable actions.

I ignored those piercing looks that screamed 'weirdo', and finalized my thoughts.

'I just have to stop Alexander from dying, that's all. If that's all i have to do, then that's it.' i needed some self motivation.

Mentality was always the key!

At this point, i understood why we couldn't just run from the Sand Dragon.

If Nicodemus could somehow control and summon this creature whenever he wanted, then it would be a bad idea if we didn't take care of it right now.

'He could even recall it and pit the Sand Dragon against Alexander's group at any time.'

—That would be bad.

Almost as if everyone present suddenly had the same realisation, a deep and heavy silence hung like guillotine over our necks.

Then eventually, Deandra was the one to break the dark silence.

She shifted with Don on her laps and said resolutely.

"What's the plan?"

The silver haired Ceres was the one who replied as she took a bold step outside away from the cover of the wall.

Her cold red eyes reflected nothing but an untold intensity as she simply said casually:

"We slay a dragon."

*

*

*

'We slay a dragon, my white ass!'

-BOOOM!!

'Why did i let myself get carried away like that!' i feverishly thought as i tumbled forward in a roll.

-Boom!

The wall area around the wall which i had just been a second ago exploded into debris and rocks as a massive tail smashed into it with terrifying force.

The Sand Worm ruthlessly attacked me, using it's unfair size and weight advantage.

~FWOOSH ~FWOOSH ~FWOOSH

Three burning point of light appeared in mid-air and quickly ignited into boiling balls of fire.

The points of flames seared through the air and exploded against the hardened scales of the Desert King but nothing happened.

The Attribute of the Sand Worm that made it almost nearly impervious to magic and physical attacks prevented the overgrown worm from sustaining even a scratch against it's scale.

From afar, i could spot Deandra's face contort ferociously that even i was terrified.

'I kinda feel bad for her...'

That was like her umpteenth volley now, too...

How had Ceres even managed to actually wound that thing?

Ah...

Ceres...

That crazy girl.

'I got carried away because of how cool what she said sounded.' i felt embarrassed, i could almost let the Sand Worm crush me.

Almost.

"Aim for the wound!"

Ceres' voice penetrated through the space as her figure swiftly sprinted across the air like a blur.

Not glided.

The silver boots she wore were special items that let her travel at insane speeds and walk around in the air like it was solid ground.

This gave Ceres malleable flexibility while stuck in mid air.

'Ah, how envious.'

I, also, had some pretty cool — albeit terrifying Artifacts —but none of them gave me a single ability remotely related to flying...or walking on Air.

She's the main reason we were even remotely confident about beating the Sand Worm.

"Tsk."

I clicked my tongue and quickly took cover next to a massive piece of rock and summoned my bow and arrow, promptly pulling on it's taut string.

I raised my aim and let a shot loose through the air.

The moment i did so—

A familiar string of words rang inside my head.

•[Skill: Lock On has been activated]