[Salvos] 781. Hellevil (Patreon)

781. Hellevil

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[Hellevil - Lvl. 214]

It was a Primordial Demon.

Even if it looked like an [Imp], and it was as tall as an [Imp], it was no Lesser Demon. 

But why was it here? How did it even get here?

The world around me seemed to slow as these questions resounded in my mind. 

Perhaps the [Hellevil] had been drawn here by the fighting— but that wasn’t right. The wild Demons that were battling here hadn’t been here for long. They had also been drawn here by something.

It was possible that they had sensed the corruption, and they had come here on instinct. Not because they were trying to protect the Netherworld from destruction— as evident by the fact that they didn’t care about the dying Infant Demons— but because they sensed the arrival of new opponents.

New sources of experience for them to battle with.

After all, these were wild Demons. They had no thought— no drive. Only the instinct to destroy and grow stronger.

And that was why the [Hellevil] was here too.

The realization settled in as I watched the Primordial Demon open its mouth. It let out a screech, ready to pounce at me. But fortunately for me, the world was still moving in slow motion. 

I honestly wasn’t sure why that was happening— perhaps my [Angelic Premonition] instinctively kicked in and helped me activate my [Cluster Time Dilation]. Because while the world around me was moving slowly, I was able to move at normal speeds.

So I had time to react, right?

I would just step into the portal to [The World Of My Mind] and get out of here before it could reach me.

But as I moved towards my pocket space with the Infant Demon in my arms, the [Hellevil]’s figure shifted. The ground beneath its feet where it had been standing just a moment ago shattered.

And the [Hellevil] launched itself straight at me, its claws ripping across space itself as it let out a high-pitched screech.

My eyes grew wide as the distance between us almost completely closed in an instant. I couldn’t react with my own counterattack in time. So I just moved straight to my portal. I managed to step one foot into the portal, trying to shove the Infant Demon inside at the same time.

But the [Hellevil] reached me right as that happened. As it did, it swung its claws out and sheared the world itself. My aura of invulnerability protected both myself and the Infant Demon, but the ground behind me cleaved open. The portal to my pocket space was sliced into three pieces.

Space itself burned with the white fire of the Primordial Demon. It was nothing I had ever seen before. It was almost like seeing the effects of my [Claw Of Corruption] with the appearance of [Divine Radiant Slash].

Fortunately for me, it wasn’t actually the corruption, and my [My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends] tanked the attack, protecting both myself and the Infant Demon.

We were both sent flying back as the [Hellevil] refused to let up. It continued to unleash a flurry of strikes at us as it followed our figures tumbling through the sky. Each strike sent us crashing to the ground and opening up massive craters beneath us, but before we could even regain our bearings, we were sent flying again from another strike.

And when we were sent flying by a group of Corrupted Netherskies, the [Hellevil] barely paid them any mind, just shredding through them, before continuing to launch itself straight at us. It was strange. I didn’t know why. It was almost like the [Hellevil] was targeting us. 

Again and again, we were relentlessly attacked. There was nothing we could do except hope my aura of invulnerability held up. Well, that was to be expected from the Infant Demon. But I had to do something to fight back— to distract it for a moment to escape from this place.

Before the [Hellevil] could land its next attack on me, I spun around and pointed at it.

“[Influence Wild Demons]!”

It was a Title Skill I had gotten a while back, but never really had the chance to test it out properly. I hoped it would help in this situation. Even if I didn’t really know how it worked.

I tried to get the [Hellevil] to focus on the nearby Corrupted Netherskies or the other wild Demons instead.

But it seemed the Skill failed as the wild Primordial Demon just continued its onslaught of attacks against me, striking me once again.

Did [Influence WIld Demons] fail? Perhaps it was because I didn’t know how to use the Title Skill yet. Or maybe it was because a Primordial Demon was too powerful for me to even influence. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter.

Ugh, fine, then I guess I have to try to fight back! I thought as I raised my claws.

“[The Call Of Armageddon—”

I shouted and the rain of black fire exploded out for a split-second. But the [Hellevil] was already on me, completely avoiding the flurry of fiery projectiles. It struck me again, the attack wiping out a group of nearby [Savage Agarats] and sending me flying once more.

I tried to fight back however I could. But every time I tried to attack it with anything, it would counter me first. Sometimes before the Skill’s effects could even manifest in any meaningful way.

“[Prison Of Isolati—”

“[Claw Of Corr—”

“[Divine R—”

I had to be able to keep up with the [Hellevil]. But even after activating [Divine Haste], I was still too slow to do anything.

Perhaps if I had my [Divine Essence Of The Angelic Hellprincess] active… but no.

Its effects had run out not too long ago, and I had to wait over a day before I could use it again.

There was only one other way I could think of to escape this battle. And while I didn’t want to use it right now, I had no choice.

[Rapid Disengage].

I activated the Skill right as the [Hellevil] was about to reach me again. And the world around me seemed to change.

I was now floating dozens of miles up in the air, given a momentary reprieve.

“Sorry about that.”

I said to the Infant Demon in my arms as I opened up another portal to my pocket space. She didn’t react, her eyes rolled back. She must’ve fallen unconscious from the speed we had been knocked around by the [Hellevil].

“But I’ll get you out of here now—”

And right as the words left my mouth, there was a flash of light. I blinked as the [Hellevil] had somehow appeared next to the both of us, already mid-swing.

For the moment I had to process this, I could just see the [Hellevil] snickering, smirking savagely as it unleashed its attack. And it was a stronger attack than anything it had struck us with earlier, an explosion of wipe flames filling the sky.

The both of us were sent flying down like a comet as I tried to understand what had just happened.

Even if the [Hellevil] was capable of teleporting great distances normally, it shouldn’t have been able to tell where I went. I mean, I went way up high in the sky for a reason, so that it wouldn’t be able to follow me. And yet, it had teleported straight to me.

It had to have used some kind of Skill— like the opposite of [Rapid Disengage]. Maybe… [Rapid Re-engage]?

If that was a Skill that existed.

Anyway, I knew if this kept up, I was going to die here. I had to get out of here somehow. I wracked my brain, trying to think of anything I could do to escape this predicament. Perhaps I can teleport to my clones—

But no.

My clones were dead. I didn’t even realize it, but while I was too distracted being lost in my own head, they had been killed by the Beast. 

So my only option now was to distract the [Hellevil] somehow if I really wanted to escape alive.  

And as I continued to fall, I spotted the [Hellabomination] and the [Archarachne] from earlier, both still locked in battle far down below.  I aimed myself towards them, before crashing between the both of them. 

The shockwave wiped out hundreds of [Aranea], which drew the [Archarachne]’s attention. It let out a hiss as it began to activate its Grand Skill. Crimson threads began to shoot out and weave together the vestiges of a sphere around us to trap me in with it.

The [Hellabomination] noticed this and instantly disengaged, flying out of the [Archarachne]’s Grand Skill. I quickly got to my feet as I grinned, seeing the dome-like prison forming around me.

“Exactly what I wanted. Hopefully that’ll distract the—”

But I spoke too soon as the [Hellevil] just shredded straight through the dome and landed right on top of me.

I groaned, even if it didn’t hurt.

“Ow… what is your problem with me?”

I asked as I stared up at the sneering Primordial Demon. The [Archarachne] just screeched in the background, seeing its Grand Skill completely fall apart, before opening up its mandibles. A crimson beam shot out at both the [Hellevil] and I.

But the Primordial Demon barely glanced up as it flicked a finger in the direction of the [Archarachne]. A blade of burning white space shot out, shearing the wild Primeval Demon in half.

“[Sacred Hellfire]!”

I shouted at that moment, pointing at the [Hellevil]’s face as I took that opportunity to attack.

The gold and black flames burst into existence on the jaw of the [Hellevil] as its head snapped back. Slowly, it looked down at me as the smile vanished from its face for a moment.

Then it laughed.

“Nice try.”

It said in a garbled high-pitched voice, before wiping off the flames that could not be extinguished from its face.

“Huh.”

I stared at what just happened— at both what I had just witnessed and what I had heard— uncomprehendingly. Not only did I not expect the [Hellevil] to be able to speak, but nothing had ever been able to just… brush off my [Sacred Hellfire] like that.

Extinguishing it like it was an ordinary flame…

How was that possible?

But as that question echoed in my mind, the [Hellabomination] appeared behind the [Hellevil]. The giant wild Primeval Demon swung down with a powerful strike, but a fractal barrier momentarily flashed around the tiny [Imp]-like Demon, blocking the attack.

The [Hellabomination] moved quickly, its Grand Skill evidently active. It circled around the [Hellevil] and unleashed a barrage of clawed strikes. None of them even so much as made the wild Primordial Demon budge.

It just chuckled before bringing its hands together in the shape of a diamond. And then in an instant, white flames bloomed all around us. It ate at both space and the world itself, blinding my vision for a moment.

Then when the flames subsided, my vision returned, and I took in the destruction all around us. Everything in the shape of a diamond had been completely incinerated. The [Helalbomination] hadn’t been able to avoid it despite its Grand Skill, being completely turned to ash.

I fell to the bottom of the upside down triangle-shaped crater as the [Hellevil] landed right next to me, just smirking with its toothy grin. Snickering with a garbled laugh. Almost like it was taunting me.

And it was finally made clear to me at that moment. Everything clicked. This wasn’t a wild Demon at all. It was intelligent. It could think.

That was why [Influence Wild Demon] didn’t work on it— not even making it slow for a moment.

That was why it could speak.

But then— that meant…

It was intentionally targeting me.

For whatever reason, it wanted me specifically dead.

But why?

Before I could even ask the [Hellevil] this question, a wave of black flames washed over the crater, pouring straight for the wild Primordial Demon. Its eyes flickered as it turned around and swiped out with its claws, knocking the attack to the side.

But at that moment, tendrils shot down from the sky and tried to grab a hold of it. It just swung out, keeping the tendrils back. 

I took that opportunity to attack as well. But not with something that it could dodge or block. A burning mark began to glow on its skin as it blinked, looking down at the [Divine Demon’s Mark] I had used on it earlier when it was standing on top of me.

The explosion engulfed the wild Primordial Demon as I flew up and out of the crater with the Infant Demon in my arms. Standing at the edge of the crater was the [Cerberus Of Hell], its entire body burning with black flames— a mark of one of its Grand Skills.

And hovering above it was the Corrupted Hellsky. It was larger now than it was before— it must’ve absorbed some of the Corrupted Netherskies in the area to grow even stronger than before.

“Hey, so, um truce?”

I asked as I looked between the two of them, before looking down at the [Hellevil]. It was standing at the bottom of the crater, barely a scratch on its skin from the powerful explosion it had tanked.

It stared up at us with a slightly annoyed look on its face, before grinning.

“Because we’re going to die if we don’t defeat that thing.”

In response, the [Cerberus Of Hell] turned to me and unleashed a cone of black flames.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the late chapter. I saw a horror movie for the first time in 12 years which gave me nightmares so I couldn't sleep and slept very late. I thought being 26 years made me immune to being scared of horror movies but nope I'm still a coward oops.

Anyway I listened to super buu's theme as I wrote this chapter.

Read the next chapter here