The Monster King's Legacy - Chapter 87

Chapter 87: The Demon Marshals Chapter 87: The Demon Marshals Lance, Ruzak, and Gorvak continue to push their way through the back ranks of the demon horde.

At a certain point of their advance, the once-raging mob had suddenly halted its attack on them, ignoring them completely.

The three leaders advanced cautiously; their weapons still slick with the remnants of previous skirmishes.

As they reached a small, elevated land near the rear of the demon army, they found two demons standing apart from the frenzied swarm.

These two, unlike the ravenous mass, exhibited a disturbing calm.

Their skin was a deep ashen and black tone with overlays of red markings running over their exposed skin, and from their foreheads, long, curved horns jutted outward, curling backwards.

Their eyes glowed with a dark, potent energy, and their posture exuded an air of authority and unyielding control.  The first demon stood almost 8ft tall, while his companion was just under that, but much less muscular and brutish as his larger companion.

Without warning, the chaos of battle seemed to fade from the immediate vicinity.

Every demon that had been swarming now ceased its advance, their attention all turning away from the trio.

It was as if the presence of these two had enforced a temporary truce on the battlefield around them.

‘These two are not ordinary.’ Lance thought to himself as he studied the demons before him carefully.

Lance stepped forward, his voice steady as he addressed the pair, his tone measured despite the tension crackling in the air.

“Who are you?” The larger demon, his voice low and resonant, replied coolly, “We are the marshals of the Demon Lord.” His tone carried no warmth, only the cold, dictatorial cadence of orders given and obeyed.

The second demon added simply, “Our duty is to oversee the wishes of our master, and you’re in our way.” Their words hung in the silence that followed, heavy and definitive.

There was no further dialogue from them; their faces remained impassive, almost bored with the prospect of conversation.

It was clear they had no interest in prolonging this exchange.

Ruzak and Gorvak exchanged a glance.

Both understood that this was not the time for prolonged dialogue.

Before any further questions could be asked by Lance, Gorvak, ever the hothead among the trio, bellowed, “Enough talk!” His voice thundered as he lunged forward in a single, powerful motion.

His large battle axe that was nearly as massive as his own frame following an arc through the air, aiming directly at the nearest demon marshal.

The demon moved with a speed that belied its casual stance.

In one fluid motion, it raised a clawed hand to intercept Gorvak’s blow.

The clash was like watching a sledgehammer meeting an immovable object; Gorvak’s strike, though fierce and filled with raw power, was effortlessly neutralized by the demon’s swift, precise parry.

The sound was a sharp, metallic ring that echoed in the clearing.

It didn’t even resemble a clash between metal and claws.

Before Gorvak could recover, the demon retaliated with a single, brutal counterattack, striking Gorvak on the side with a simple kick.

The impact was devastating.  Gorvak’s body was hurled backward, tumbling through the air like a ragdoll, until he was caught by Ruzak just before he hit the ground close to where he and Lance watched from.

Ruzak’s grip tightened around his comrade, preventing what could have been a fatal fall, though, the damage was still very much present from the kick, but it wasn’t much as it was more to create distance than to damage.

For a long, tense moment, silence reigned as the dust settled around them.

Lance and Ruzak exchanged glances, silent acknowledgments of the sheer power they had just witnessed.

Internally, they both estimated that this single demon marshal, in that brief exchange, was as powerful as at least three of them combined.

Though Gorvak’s reckless charge was, well, reckless, it gave them an idea of just how powerful the opposition was in comparison to themselves.

Merely looking at it, their chances weren’t looking good at all.

The smaller demon’s voice was low and mocking as it spoke in disdain.

“Your kind dares challenge us?

You are but specks, clinging to hope.” “Talk is wasted on the weak.

Let us see what you can do.” The other said, proposing a challenge, or so it seemed.

Lance could read through their intent, it was clear they only wished to toy with them, seeing them as weak and certainly not a threat.

Realizing their position, Ruzak snarled and stepped forward.

In a flash, he lunged, his claws extended in a savage arc aimed at the larger marshal’s flank, but the demon moved swiftly, intercepting the blow, its arm moving in a blur as it struck Ruzak in a heavy strike.

The contact produced a shockwave that rattled nearby trees.

Ruzak’s beastkin muscles tensed as he staggered back, momentarily off-balance.

Lance for one couldn’t believe Ruzak was still in one piece following that contact.

The force it carried was just that terrifying.

Gorvak, getting on his feet, roared and charged forward, turning his axe the other way to make a mighty war hammer.

With a force that could crush boulders, he brought the hammer down in a sweeping blow at the demon marshal.

The impact, however, was absorbed by a shimmering barrier that the demon conjured with little visible effort.

The barrier cracked, but the strike did little to diminish the demon’s imposing form.

Before he would be hit, however, he jumped back learning from his previous mistake.

He was able to move well and generate such power because Lance had used the opportunity when Ruzak attacked to heal him, just like he did again with Ruzak when Gorvak attacked again.

“I was able to crack his shield, that’s a start.” Gorvak said, raising his war axe, ready for attack.

Ruzak and Lance also stood ready.

This was their only choice, if not, they would be killed.

They’d rather try their all to conquer the impossible odd than die without trying.

For several agonizing minutes following that, the three of them exchanged furious blows with the demon marshals.

Every strike from Lance’s blade, every savage lunge from Ruzak, and every earth-shattering blow from Gorvak was met by a counter that seemed to only hint at the marshals’ vast, untapped power.

Even when the marshals were using less than the full percent of their strength, they deflected and absorbed the onslaught, leaving the coalition leaders bloodied and struggling.

The battle was a blur of motion, Lance darting and slashing with speeds that almost rivaled Ruzak’s, Ruzak hurling relentless attacks with feral intensity, and Gorvak attacking relentlessly; while the demon marshals countered with swift, almost languid movements that belied their overwhelming might.

At one point, a heavy blow from a demon marshal sent Gorvak crashing into a large tree.

The impact splintered wood and dirt as he was thrown clear, his body skidding across the ground before coming to a halt.

His breathing was ragged, and a deep gash marred his side, his back endlessly laced with bruises and cuts, several pieces of wood sticking out.

Lance fought nearby, his eyes burning with frustration at this point as he fought his hardest yet.

Every time he found an opening and unleashed an attack, the demon would parry easily, their movements too quick, or perhaps, he was just too slow.

Despite now being even more powerful than Rynne, he was still so weak in the face of power… it was sure to frustrate anyone.

He worked so hard, but everything now appeared as child’s play.

… As the skirmish raged on, it became clear that the demon marshals were beginning to inflict too much damage on them.

For a while already, Gorvak had been fighting with a lesser intensity than he was normally capable of.

A vicious slash from the leaner demon marshal caught Ruzak across the shoulder, drawing crimson blood that stained his fur deep.

Another powerful counterattack sent Lance reeling, a deep cut along his arm that tore deep into his flesh leaving him staggering.

The three of them, though the most formidable of their coalition, were suffering; their bodies aching under the strain of constant, brutal combat.

In the midst of this chaos, in a brief moment when the three of them grouped together a sudden surge of energy pulsed through Lance as he activated his healing magic, his only innate ability.

A soft, golden light shone from his palms, and he extended his hands to his almost fallen comrades who were barely holding on.

Ruzak’s wound began to knit itself together, and Gorvak’s bruised form regained color almost instantaneously.

Their battered forms started to change as they regained their strength.

Lance’s healing was potent-a miraculous burst that restored them to peak condition.

As his magic washed over them, even the demon marshals paused momentarily, their eyes narrowing as they took in the sight.

They had assumed this healing magic was a last resort, something used only in desperate circumstances.

Yet here it was, a force that seemed to defy their expectations.

The renewed strength of Lance, Ruzak, and Gorvak reinvigorated their assault.

They surged forward with their ferocity reborn, every swing and thrust laced with a desperate determination.

Still, even as they pressed their attack, the demon marshals smirked, their earlier indifference replaced by a glint of malice.

“We see you can heal, human” the larger demon marshal taunted, his voice echoing coldly.

“But does that make you invincible?

Your trickery won’t save you forever.” At that, the leaner demon marshal smirked, his posture shifting; the glimmers in both of their eyes grew sharper.

“Alright, enough fun,” the leaner demon marshal said.

“We should now eliminate them and take care of the rest.” Lance, Ruzak, and Gorvak braced themselves for the onslaught as the demon marshals advanced with new ferocity.

Their movements were a whirlwind of raw strength, a display of power that dwarfed their best efforts.

Just then, an unexpected disturbance shattered the intense focus of the combatants.

From high above, a figure plummeted toward the battlefield, a dark silhouette against the chaotic skies.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS ZombieMann Hi everyone, so some bad news, my laptop crashed.

I will still continue writing on my phone or borrow a laptop from someone else, so I won’t stop updating, but the likelihood of missing a day or two is possible, but I will try not to, especially because you’ve paid for this.

Though, it’s regrettable that I will not be able to deliver the two chapters a day, hopefully, the longer chapters compensate for that to some extent.

Also, my exams start tomorrow, that’s why I can’t leave school to fix the laptop because my school is not close to the city and I don’t trust the people who offer services related to fixing laptops within the school.