Published at 21st of December 2020 11:57 am

Chapter 521: Heavenly Devil

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"Lord Kis'Shtiengbrah, your armor is ready," Andre spoke to Dave.

The time was already close to midnight, the capital was silent as the dead. Windows and doors barricaded and locked; people were in hiding. Dave was at the front of the Qin capital's gate. This is where the Nian could enter the village. Qin's walls were fifty meters tall and ten meters wide from what the soldiers had told him. The Nian, though a massive creature in size, was not as big as the walls and couldn't go past them, but the gate, he wouldn't have much difficulty tearing it down if it wanted to.

Andre was behind Dave and handed him his Undead War King armor. Once he has done the armor, Dave thanked Andre and said, "You should leave."

"As you wish, I'm not much of a fighter, Prithee, be careful. I don't want to see m' work squandered."

"No worries, I got this," Dave said and waited at the gate.

Soon his Doom Knights all showed up behind him. Over the top Kalel knelt down to give Dave a report.

"Your majesty, the doors are locked, the people are in their homes and no signs of red stamps or flags are in any parts of the city. The Nian will come for sure."

"Good, we have half an hour before the lunar year starts."

"What is this monster they' be talking about, boss?" asked Singund.

"If I'm not mistaken, a Nian is a nasty creature, it eats livestock and children it finds, destroy crops, and could tear down the buildings of this whole city in a night if it was irritated enough."

"The people seem to have known it for long," Asked Bud.

"Yep, it's mentioned in their tradition, a monster, a calamity that hadn't been captured by the old gods and locked up in pandora's box."

"If it wasn't locked by the deities, wouldn't that just mean that it's weak?" Singund added.

"The Naandloushii was not weak, he could kill a person if they show an ounce of fear. And it was not captured. This thing had probably escaped their notice, hid somewhere while the other calamities were fighting the gods."

"I see, then we'll have to drive it away ourselves."

"Nope, that's what these guys have been doing for a while now, always driving it away, every year, every time, it grew hungrier, definitely more dangerous, and now with the fact that his buddies are gonna come out of their hidings soon, it's gonna come at ass without restraints."

"But I fail to understand why did we remove the red markings,"

"So, it doesn't get distracted." Dave grinned.

The clock struck zero hour. It was midnight.

"It's time," Dave said and equipped his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets.

He slapped them both together in a thunderous boom, and fire emerged from his hands.

Dave punched the air above him, releasing an infernal dragon in the skies. A symbol for anyone near to see. He was calling the beast.

Not a second later, a howl, so primal, so deep and so low, echoed in the distance. The howl was dreadful enough to cause a man's hair to turn white. It revibrated continuously around the capital. The beast was coming.

"Singund, Kalel, take the front, go into the field, Bud, enter my shadow. Dog, you're on backup and backline duty. Spark, make the Nian know where we're exactly are."

Singund and Kalel charged the field in front of the gate and kept an open eye on anything that should approach, while Spark shot glowing orbs of fire above the gate for the Nian to take note of and see.

Dog retreated and was waiting for the Nian to make the dreadful mistake of going past Dave. While the latter was waiting for the incoming creature.

Seconds passed and no more howls echoed, there was nothing in the vicinity. This caused Dave a bit of worry, had the Calamity escaped?

But before he could dwell on the matter, something appeared right next to him, it was instant, sudden, and without notice.

Dave couldn't even turn to see what was right next to him when a claw the size of a truck lander on where he stood.

All thanks to Bud's instant reaction in dragging Dave back thanks to his shadow control.

A loud explosion echoed at the front gate of Qin capital.

Dave was on his back, he looked forward, a creature, dark as the night, at least four times as big as a sworn Stalwart. He had the body of a lion, but the frontal side chest up was much larger compared to his back and hind legs. The creature's mane was that of a green and red fire. The hair on its elbows and knees were the same, a flame of green and red. Even the end of Its tail was made of fire.

The creature turned to Dave, its feline face had whiskers made of flames, its mouth had sharp jagged fangs, that were far more than enough to grind stone and metal to dust. The eyes were what gave Dave a slight sense of awe. They were golden blue, beautiful but at the same time when one was to associate them to the behemoth of a creature that those eyes were on, only dread would come to them and fright.

Dave inspected the creature.

***

Name: Nian

Level: 666

Tier: Minor Calamity of Sacrifice

Danger level: Calamitous!

Damage: 66,666

HP: ∞ (infinity)

PD: 666

MD: 666

Skills:

[Catharsis] The Nian is a distant relative to dragons. Capable of controlling fire and attacking with it. Only that due to the Nian's heavenly nature before turning to a Devilish nature, his flames hold both the aspect of destruction and catharsis, meaning that bathed with the flames of the Nian one would die, cleansed. -Passive- All fire attacks from the Nian deal an additional 200% base damage in holy fire damage.

[Tantrum] The Nian is easily irritated, for every failed attempt at killing it, the Nian's base strength grows by 1%

[Everywhere and Nowhere] The Nian was a heavenly creature before it became the Devil it is today, it had been in the company of the Space Lord for a time and learned some of his powers. The Nian can fold space to a certain degree.

Lore:

Nian, a heavenly lion, turned mad with rage one day at the death of his creature. He was spared the reckoning of the gods in the days where the calamities were driven into the Box due to his past contribution in assisting the lords. The Nian has plagued the ground ever since, corrupted and mad by the loss of his lord, he became what he was meant to hunt in the first place.

***

"Damn, what a sad little fellow. But seriously, all of you, calamities have an absurd HP Pool."

The Nian disappeared from where he was only to have Bud draw Dave to the side again to evade another strike from the Nian's claws.

"Damn, I can't see him move at all."

"Because you're using your eyes lord, shadows tell. Use my strength," Dog said.

"How do you suppose I can do that?"

"Close your eyes," Dog said and Dave did as asked.

Soon Dave's vision, which was completely black turned monochrome. He was able to see everything in contrasts of black and white. Things that he couldn't see before, shadows turned to paths. Leading from one side to another, and what the moon brightened looked hard as an obstacle. The Nian's shadow was clear, even if the creature itself moved with the speed of lightning, Dave was able to pinpoint him, he had a full 360 vision.

At first, it was dizzying, as for Dave, he no longer recognizes forward from backward, left from right. It was jumbled up in his head.

"Don't try to use your senses to move, use the shadows," Bud said.

And the moment Dave's foot touched the looming shadow of a building, everything in his head turned clear. It was as if the shadow was the anchor for his positioning. And from it, he could recognize directions and be able to dodge the incoming attack of the Nian.

Dave rolled to the side and sliced at the Nian's eyes, the latter easily jerked his head back and bit at Dave's face.

Dave's legs sunk into the shadow under him, evading the jaws of death, and appeared under the Nian's chest, where his own body made shadow against the moon's light.

Dave struck up with Durandal, but the sword hadn't managed to leave a single mark on the creature, it sunk right through his chest, while the beast moved aside, the sword as if it had struck an illusion.

"The heck?" Dave.

"Lord, it uses the rule of space to evade being harmed," Bud said.

"The heck would it even need that, the thing is practically immortal as is with that HP."

"No one likes a sword in their guts, even if immortal," Bud added.

"Though I hate it, You make a damn good point."

Dave sunk into the shadow and appeared on another one nearby.

The Nian charged at him again, but Dave evaded once more. Kalel joined the battle. He lunged at the creature who didn't even bother avoiding the silver knight. Kalel went through the Nian and out the other way.

But the Nian had underestimated Kalel of the People, a knight whose sole purpose was to hunt down monsters that harmed the weak and innocent, he was a master in battle and something such as this didn't cause him to hesitate or abandon the charge.

Kalel made a frontal flip in mid-air the moment he left the Nian's body, his legs planted on a nearby wall, then he bounced back, his sword slicing at one of the Nian's heels, drawing blood.

The Nian's eyes turned red for a second and another gut-wrenching howl echoed from its maws. The beast was angry.

"Good Job Kalel, it bleeds… and if it bleeds."

Kalel, Bud and Singund all replied at once. "It dies."

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