Reborn Regress Return: I Am the Heir of Shadows!-Chapter 91: Demon Slaying!

The corrupted mana of a Devil leaking into the world created demons.

Their vile mana degraded a person's magic, aura, and body. The changes ranged from growing horns, extra arms or even a head—it was a mutation, but sometimes extremes existed too.

His arms shifted with an eerie momentum, like a millipede's dozens of arms swayed while the masked human-shape approach Julian and Fran.

"Julian, wake up. This isn't a normal monster, right?" Fran's eyes narrowed as she plucked three arrows from her quiver and jumped onto a thick branch before aiming at the stationary male with her throat humming in preparation. "Don't hold back!"

Fwoosh—beautiful blue and pink arrows twirled through the air after she shot three arrows in rapid succession, hooking the branch with her long feet before twisting and dashing to another branch, leaping through the air.

Her arrows pierced the male's body, leaving gaping holes in the blizzard black robe, but the figure seemed unaffected, his arms not even moving to deflect them.

"Huh? It did Nothing?"

"You shouldn't be here." A distorted and slightly static voice repeated as the monster stepped closer to Julian, an eerie pressure weighing down on his shoulders.

Crack—the moment Julian heard Fran's voice, he stepped back, flicking his hand to the figure and clenching his fists before yanking to the ground. A moment later, the black, shadowy hands appeared in the air and clutched the monster.

"..."

Instantly, the dozens of arms shifted, the two eyes embedded in their palms all snapping open and gazing at Julian with a dark light, causing his spell to fizzle and a flicker of energy forming inside their pupils.

'Oh, goddess...!'

A purple light formed, swirling rapidly before shooting a high-powered beam towards Julian, the heated rays cutting through the ground before zipping upward and destroying half the forest with a low vibration.

Julian barely managed to escape the danger by throwing himself to the left, smashing into another tree, cutting open his cheek. "Fran, I don't think we can fight this guy!" He couldn't understand who or what this thing was as he snapped his fingers summoning a lance of shadow energy to jolt the target with a low pop.

Hiss—The monster's hands shifted towards Julian, following his every move, as the lance of shadow impacted one of the palms, bursting the fleshy hand into a pool of black, putrid blood that smelt like rotten meat.

"Keep moving that sweet ass, or you're toast Julian!" Fran's voice rumbled as she shot arrows constantly, trying to find gaps in the monster's vision.

"You must return, you must die, You are not supposed to be here!"

The mouths on each hand started speaking, muttering like a mantra. All saying different things but with the same meaning and that Julian shouldn't exist and that it must eliminate him.

'Creepy! Umbra, help me!'

With a black arc of lightning, Umbra's figure landed beside Julian, twirling her spear, she immediately rushed at the monster.

Clang—! Her spear cut through two arms before her body turned to mist and vanished appearing behind the monster, sweeping across, but blades of darkness formed from each of the hand's nails and sliced towards her.

The creature twisted half of its hands to gaze at Umbra, Julian and Fran simultaneously from three directions.

"Any ideas Julian? It's eating my arrows like jerky..."

"None, I've never seen something like this! Just keep attacking the arms, they are slowly wasting away!"

Umbra's movements slowed as the purple rays cut into her shoulder, leaving a trail of burning light across the forest. "Master... this creature isn't normal."

"I know!" Julian felt helpless as he could barely avoid these attacks.

The eyes watched Julian from three different angles as if it could see his past, present and future movements, if he ducked to the right before flinging a lance of shadows at the target, the monster would spurt a beam of light in the place Julian planned to stand, forcing him to keep running around like a rat.

'Think. Think... what can I do?'

Julian felt his heart thump in his chest and sweat roll down his face. This wasn't a matter of force or power but ingenuity and using his mind.

He gripped the rough bark of a tree and swung around its trunk before wrapping around all the way to see the monster's bizarre figure clashing with Umbra and Fran's combined attacks.

But it was that fraction that the terror needed.

Its eyes snapped towards him before a flash and multiple beams shot at him.

"Woah!" Julian threw his body back, almost bending backwards as the beams shot over his face, scorching his cheek slightly, the sizzling of his flesh giving off a fried-pork scent.

"That fucking hurts!" He groaned while rolling along the ground, pushing himself off the ground and rushing out of vision while the hairs on his arms and legs rise from fear.

He had never been this weak compared to a foe before. It was like a different dimension because the system information only showed jumbled up letters and numbers when he looked at the humanoid figure swaying on the spot, like a rooted tree.

"Surrender, it's impossible."

The creature spoke in a soft voice as if trying to help Julian.

'How can I get rid of such a monster... Maybe?"

He gazed at Umbra, who nodded, her body covered in wounds, but because she wasn't, the focus could still fight. Fran, however, was bleeding. Her breath hitched as she panted out of view with a racing heart.

"Fran, stay out of danger, can you attack when I give you the signal?"

She narrowed her eyes, biting her lower lip to endure the searing pain in her thigh from the monster's beam attack.

"Okay!" Fran forced herself and aimed at the shadow of a distant tree, much further than her usual comfort zone, gathering mana at the tip of her arrow as a dull ache spread through her right hand.

Julian watched Umbra turn into her dark mist form before flickering around the field, creating a bunch of afterimages and confusing the creature's senses for just a moment.

It wasn't as effective as he had hoped.

The eyes moved independently, as if they were dozens of individual figures, twisting and turning to find their prey in milliseconds.

However, he couldn't stop now. He grasped the air as his gauntlets appeared in a fraction of a second, crackling with dark energy as he formed two spheres, two bombs in each hand. His mind focused on condensing their force, his veins bulging from his neck as he grunted from the stress.

'Keep going... Umbra!'

He didn't need to speak because she knew what he meant.

She moved faster and more erratically and created more images.

But in a single volley of beams, a dozen of her afterimages vanished. Undeterred, she stomped on the ground before throwing her body into the distance, avoiding the monster's attack.

Julian clenched his fists; this was all or nothing.

He took a deep breath and started running at the creature, using the broken trees to cover his approach. He noticed Fran in the corner of his eye before calling out as he jumped from the tree.

"Shoot the orbs Fran!"

WOOSH—!

Fran pulled back her bow, her entire arm shaking with pain but she aimed the arrow towards Julian's left orb just as the creature turned its gaze to him.

Time seemed to move in slow motion for Julian as he gasped, the purple lights shot towards him, with a few hands also aiming for the orbs he threw, but thanks to him putting all his spare points into Strength, they avoided the first beams.

They then arced through the sky before Fran's arrows pierced through them.

"Get down!" He cried out before throwing himself to the ground, exhausted. The two shadow bombs were enhanced using his Mana Enhancement, draining him of almost all his mana with the two bombs, sending a blinding flash before they exploded.

"You don't Belon—!"

The explosion drowned out the monster's voice as darkness covered the entire forest. Julian felt an enormous weight press him against the ground as if something huge lay above him, crushing him. 'U-Umbra... what is happening? I can't breathe!'

"Master, we might have overdone it..."

The scent of burning trees, charred grass and a pungent smell that made breathing unbearable filled his nostrils.

He tried to speak again, but a cloud of acidic smoke flew into his mouth, causing him to choke, cough and spluttering on the ground while tears leaked from his eyes.

"Umbra! Get off me, you're heavy!"

"What? Master, I'm not—"

Julian tried to crawl from underneath her when he realised it wasn't her but... Fran, her soft, meaty hips covered his face, as she laid unconscious over him with blood leaking from her ears.

"Fran?"

He pushed against the ground, trying to lift their bodies, but without any mana, it wasn't easy. When he rolled her over, he gasped. She must have jumped on top of him to protect him from the blast because Fran's chest was full of wounds.

"Silly rabbit..."

'But what about that thing?!'

When he looked up, there was nothing left.

Only a crater filled with flesh and black, coagulated blood as if the creature was never even alive.

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"Let's get Fran up first, and then check the monster's remains."