My Demons

“Kwajik!”

The grouper’s mouth instantly crushed the head.

“Ugh.”

If it weren’t for the helmet, my head would have been chewed up like gum by its sharp teeth.

Struggling against the oppressive odor and the piercing pain in my throat, I thrust the falchion into its belly.

“Gergh!”

Right at that moment, something sharp from behind stabbed my thigh.

Thuk!

“Ugh.”

Thanks to instinctively grabbing the creature biting my head and rolling on the ground, it didn’t stab too deeply. Nonetheless, the unexpected blow was incredibly painful.

“Ah, these fish bastards!”

I shoved my hand into the gills of the grouper that was stubbornly biting and pulling on my head.

Frantically rolling on the water-filled ground to dodge attacks from the others, I tore and ripped the fish’s gills with my hands.

“Grrrh…”

Filled with a foul-smelling hot breath, the creature finally loosened its grip, and I quickly pulled my head out and stood up, splashing water.

Then, as if it had been waiting, a stream of water shot from the Golden Molly struck my face.

Swooah!

“Puhuk,”

As I gritted my teeth and raised my shield, a resolute voice came from behind.

“Plamya!”

Glancing sideways, the owner of the voice, Luke, was smashing the approaching grouper’s head with his staff.

At the same time, three streams of blue flame burst from the tips of Luke’s fingers.

“Sozhgi e-to!”

At Luke’s command, the will-o’-the-wisps shot towards the Golden Molly.

As I mentioned before, the blue will-o’-the-wisps weren’t particularly hot.

However, they were hot enough to scorch a face.

Chiiik!

“Kyaaargh—!”

As the will-o’-the-wisps wrapped around its face, the Golden Molly screamed and swung its wand.

The swiftly evading will-o’-the-wisps eventually got extinguished by the stream of water.

By the time the Golden Molly turned to face me, I had already killed three groupers and was holding a bone harpoon.

“Heup!”

Thanks to my taut waist and shoulders, the harpoon was shot at an incredible speed.

Blinded by the will-o’-the-wisps, the Golden Molly failed to notice the harpoon flying through the darkness.

Pook!

“Kegh-“

The harpoon struck precisely into the center of its slender chest. Its beautiful face was marred by burns and pain,

“Cikerr- Thuar, Huargh!”

What the hell, why is it so tough?

It desperately began to chant a spell, causing the water rising up to my knees to ripple ominously.

In haste, I threw a broken metal hook.

Clang.

However, the metal hook barely missed, leaving a long scar on the stone wall. It missed due to the Golden Molly’s staggering fall.

“Phoenix, get out of there!”

“I wish I could, Kuek!”

I frantically flailed to get out of the water, but I couldn’t move due to the groupers surrounding me.

“Grrrrgh.”

“Keregh!”

Some of the groupers that had surrounded me turned their attention to Luke. Then, Luke finally played his last card.

“Answer me, cargo – Fulfill the contract.”

I still couldn’t understand the meaning, but it was a familiar spell by now.

I quickly grabbed the straw ball I had placed inside my shield.

“Scream from the abyss, Yaaal—!”

As the ‘Abyss Scream’ spell was completed, the magic conjured by the Golden Molly also engulfed the water.

Jejejeok!

“Gyaaargh!”

“Kieeeh!”

Chaos erupted in an instant.

The water began to freeze from the surface, and the groupers, hit by Luke’s spell, screamed and scattered in all directions.

The groupers who had managed to dodge the spell huddled in confusion. I charged at them, cutting them down before leaping out of the water.

The rapidly freezing water clung to my legs, but gritting my teeth, I pulled my feet free, sending ice shards scattering in all directions.

Thud!

“Heh.”

A sigh of relief escaped as I set foot on land.

Looking back, the water that had been trapped by an invisible wall was now completely frozen.

“Are you okay?”

“Ha, yeah. That was a close one.”

Clang!

A tremendous noise made me turn around. Beyond the blocks of ice that filled the tunnel, a Golden Molly who had been speared in the chest was gasping for air. A terrible smile formed on the distorted face of a woman.

Damn it, could that be—

“Eregh ranterg……!”

“Get down!”

At the last incantation, I quickly ducked, covering my head with a shield. Luke also instinctively ducked, and at that moment—

Boom.

The block of ice exploded.

***

“Heugh—”

Ellen leaned against the wall, clutching her arm.

Her already pale hand turned even paler as she gripped her wound, staining her robe with dark red blood.

Pulling the crossbow’s trigger with her injured arm was a foolish act.

‘It… was a foolish act.’

Yes, no matter how you look at it, it was foolish.

Descending alone into the perilous sewers.

Assuming the secret tunnel would still be open.

Wasting mana on zombies and cockroaches with spells.

It was uncharacteristically foolish of her.

“Whew, huh, heuh.”

Ellen had acted impulsively, but she thought her plan was pretty good.

She had a map copied from the sewer blueprints, so there was no fear of getting lost.

If bandits were guarding the secret tunnel, she would put them to sleep with her crystallized sleeping potion.

Her mana had been increasing for a few days, and she had newly learned spells, so she thought she could handle some threats.

The plan was, surely, okay.

Squish.

“Huh.”

Hearing a wet sound, Ellen swallowed. She then attached a firebomb to the ready crossbow.

The Merfolk generally have strong resistance to poisons and sedatives.

Unless poison is directly poured into their gills or mouths, they’re unlikely to be poisoned.

Therefore, her most effective method of attack was to spread oil and then shoot a flaming arrow.

‘If I had realized lightning magic… Damn.’

Squish, Squish.

As the footsteps drew closer, Ellen involuntarily pinched her nose shut. It was because of the terrible stench.

Her nose might be blocked, but her ears were wide open. She was trying to gauge their numbers through the footsteps.

‘Two? Three?’

The sound was distorted due to the narrow sewer.

‘…I don’t know.’

With her slightly above-average senses, Ellen couldn’t gauge the number of enemies.

At that moment, she thought of Phoenix.

Although sometimes behaving foolishly, Phoenix always took the lead when facing danger.

His hearing was so sharp that he could easily detect threats approaching from tens of meters away.

If he had been present, they would have been aware of the approaching danger long ago and would have estimated the number of threats.

Then, like a wild animal, he would have charged in and swiftly dealt with them.

“That foolish, obnoxious, irritating guy.”

She shook her head, dispelling the image of the face she didn’t want to see.

Ellen began to softly chant the incantation, licking her lips. With the hand that was holding the wound, she also carefully formed hand signs.

If there was an abundance of mana, one could skip the hand signs and use a shorter incantation, but the current situation didn’t permit that luxury.

She had to conserve mana through intense mental focus, intricate hand signs, and a lengthy incantation.

“Skares Orugh (Fishy smell)—”

“Orugh, Regarh (Smell, smells good).”

It was a eerie, unsettling voice that always sent shivers down one’s spine. Judging the distance by the sound, Ellen was certain that now was the right moment to act.

“Hooh.”

Taking a deep breath, Ellen swiftly turned around and fired a crossbow at them.

Thunk, clang!

“Argh?”

“Zerri-hugh (It’s an ambush)!”

The fish-like men were startled and leaped as the glass bottle shattered on the ground. However, upon realizing that its contents hadn’t reached them, they broke into mocking laughter.

Adjusting their weapons, the fish-like men watched as Ellen completed her spell.

“Ignis (Fire)!”

A flame enveloped her left arm and gathered at her fingertips before shooting out.

Whoosh!

“Gergh?”

“Ervirgh (It’s magic)!”

A pillar of fire surged in the middle of the passage, causing the fish-like men to hesitate and step back.

Before they could charge at her, Ellen swiftly completed another spell.

“Ventum, Av-em (Wind, spirit)!”

The spell consisted of just two words, and she could only form one hand sign. Virtually no mental focus was involved, but it drained a significant amount of mana.

“Oo—”

Despite gripping her head and staggering, Ellen tenaciously controlled the spell.

Whoosh. 

A small whirlwind emerged, carrying a spirit within. It was the Rank 1 wind spell, ‘Dancing Spirit.’

“Saltare (Dance)!”

Upon Ellen’s command, the transparent wind spirit hurled itself into the fire pillar and began to dance frenziedly.

Whoosh.

The fire pillar, which had been rising toward the ceiling, twisted and swirled due to the spirit’s dance.

And thus, a vortex of flames engulfed the fish-like men.

“Kyargh-!”

“Keregh (Kill)!”

Amidst the screams of his comrades, one fish-like man raised a harpoon. Ellen, who had been gripping her dizzy head and staggering, ducked behind a corner.

Ching, clack.

“Heugh.”

The harpoon that narrowly missed her hair sparked as it struck the wall. Ellen, her face pale, pulled back the crossbow’s string.

The Dancing Spirit, which possessed limited intelligence and self-awareness, swung the fire pillar wildly on behalf of its master.

Thanks to that, four out of seven fish-men were charred, and the remaining three had to deal with their burnt skin.

“Screeeak, click.”

“Ugh.”

Groaning, Ellen drew the bowstring and suppressed a pained grunt from the newly opened wound. Then she suddenly clenched her teeth.

“What a fool.”

‘Just throw it!’

Swiftly turning the corner, Ellen hurled a Molotov cocktail at the dying fire pillar.

Clang!

The Molotov slightly missed, but the dancing spirit promptly manipulated the whirlwind to spread the fire.

“Woosh!”

A second fire pillar erupted, and the spirit continued its dance.

Ellen began running toward the opposite side, seeing the fiery blaze. Fish-men were gathering beyond the fire pillar.

She had lost her torch a long time ago, so Ellen had to navigate through the oppressive darkness.

Due to the broken floor tiles here and there, she stumbled and twisted her ankle several times, but Ellen persistently ran down the passage.

How far had she gone? Ellen unexpectedly tripped on some protruding earth and fell.

“Ugh!” 

Crash, splash!

Not only did she fall hard, but she also tumbled down and hit her head in the central stream.

“Uh-uh.”

The numbing pain paralyzed her hips and knees; her palms were torn; sewage soaked her face and hair; her arms were deeply cut; she was out of mana; the darkness was as pitch black as ink.

“Ugh……”

Pain, fear, powerlessness, anger, self-blame.

Unconsciously, Ellen burst into tears.

She knew that if she stayed, the horrific fish-men would capture her, but Ellen couldn’t move an inch.

How long had she cried?

A faint echo came from a distance.

“Yaaaaal!”

Ellen, who had been burying her head in a mound of dirt, suddenly lifted her head. The crying had already ceased.

It’s a spell. The spell of the aged Luke!

There’s no way he would have ventured down alone; Phoenix must surely be with him. They’ve come to rescue her!

Forgetting that she had descended on her own, Ellen was overwhelmed with joy.

‘Where, in which direction?’

Staggering, Ellen stood up.

She could hear it, but the spell’s effect wasn’t reaching her, indicating a considerable distance.

Another sound didn’t come, and just then—

“Kaang!”

A tremendous noise made Ellen flinch. It wasn’t just an explosion but a sharp sound like something breaking.

“What was that…?”

Before Ellen could mutter, a vibration reverberated from far away.

Rumble.

The sound of something pouring, or collapsing.

Before she could make sense of the situation, the ground beneath Ellen’s feet trembled.

“Ugh!”

The nearby mound of earth crumbled, and the soil began to flow in a certain direction.

‘Is it collapsing?’

Fear filled her blue eyes.

‘Where, where should I go?’

The noise was coming from ahead. Instinctively turning around, Ellen groped her way through the soil, but it was the worst choice.

Whoosh!

“Ah, ah!”

The flowing earth engulfed Ellen like quicksand.