Maids VS Apocalypse

The Demon’s roar called for its spawn to cross the border. It was the call for battle. The call of a hunt.

A new world awaited behind the dark veil. A pure, uncorrupted world filled with souls ripe for the taking, enough to feed the entire horde and help its leader ascend to Lordship.

Drumming their chests, the Fiends rushed to the gate like a tide. The brightness that met them on the other side was enough to make a few stagger, but not all feared the light.

Mindless as they were, the Fiends could think of nothing but the feast awaiting them. They paid no heed to their leader who had yet to make a move, nor did they care for the confidence shown by the humans facing them.

Awakened. Seven of them. Each emitting a strong sense of danger. Each possessing a powerful soul. Which one would be the easiest to target? Which one should go down first?

Rip their flesh and crush their bones. Drink their blood and devour their souls. The Madness fed their evil desires, leaving no space for rational thought. Even the smartest among them could only consider who to attack and who to avoid.

The seven drew their weapons and faced the horde. The battle began and the difference in power became clear from the get-go. Two broke through and headed for the Demon, another climbed a platform and shot exploding projectiles.

Fire erupted and spikes sprang out of the ground. One by one, the Fiends fell to the ground, never getting a taste of the prey they were so eager to hunt down. They couldn’t even reach the leader at the back, the one with the most potent Soul.

A powerful Soul. A Soul full of potential. A Soul rich with Aether. Enough Aether to push a single Demon to the Rank of a Lord, or help a recently ascended Nightmare overthrow the progenitor of its horde.

~[ ]~

"Well, guess this is saving MP as well..."

Mark was the only one in his squad with next to no battle experience. That became evident right from the start, making the nickname Newbie given to him by Alex rather fitting.

’No, don’t let your guard down...’ he told himself. ’This looks like the time where we don’t notice one of those things sneaks in on us...’

His eyes darted to the surrounding ruins, following the apes that had scaled them earlier. As expected, some opted to go around the back instead of attacking head-on. Ben and Lara were aware of that, seeing that they flanked him on both sides, ready to react at any instant.

’You aren’t going anywhere.’

Mark took aim and fired at the monkeys. Dust and shrapnel scattered from the ruins and obsidian stone lining the monsters’ path, forcing them to a halt. Enraged, they turned their eyes to the one responsible then leaped off the elevated platforms, unable to stick to their strategy.

"Lara!"

Calling out to his maid, Mark unequipped the AR-15 and opened his Inventory with a press of the Y button of his imaginary controller. While Lara intercepted the armored monkeys, he went ahead and switched to another, more appropriate weapon.

Pressing the A on the "Use" option instead of "Equip" from the list that appeared, the Inventory window vanished and a shotgun appeared in front of Mark.

Mark wasn’t a big fan of first-person shooters, or any shooters for that matter. Even then he still felt like a kid in a candy store as he looted the gun store last night. Though he wanted to take every gun and every piece of ammo, Ramsay stopped him and recommended a few that were sure to come in handy.

Among the loot were a bunch of Remington 870. Last night, while waiting for his MP to recover, Mark used the time to load all of them so he could pull one out whenever needed.

Lara stepped in front of him and slashed at one of the Exo-apes, bisecting it with the white blade extending from her spear. The one following it rolled on the ground to evade then thrust its tail at the maid only for her to parry it, spin around, and thrust her spear.

The Monkey evaded with another roll and prepared to stab with its tail again, targeting the maid’s back. Lara of course could have finished it off before that happened, but something told her to focus on the others instead.

The Exo-ape that got past Lara grinned maliciously. It was about to thrust its tail at her when it sensed something approaching it from behind. Whipping its head around, it was met with the cold touch of a barrel to its nose.

BANG!!!

The monster’s head snapped back, and a second later, it fell on its back completely motionless. Smoke rose from the face opening of its helmet-like carapace, everything underneath it having turned into a mangled mess. As he looked down at the dead monster, a smile spread on Mark’s face, gradually turning into a wild grin.

[You have defeated an Exo-ape (Fiend)] 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

[+30]

~[ ]~

Alex bulldozed his way through the hoard of Fiends and reached the Demon at the back in a second. His target wasn’t just standing, however.

It had seen him coming and reacted accordingly, coating its fists in the blue glow of its Force Field as it raised its arms high and prepared to slam the ground in front of it. Something caught its attention at that moment.

Another human, one much smaller than the others, leaped high in the air while carrying a large broad sword. Even with a long distance separating her from the monster, she prepared to swing her weapon.

The broad sword seemed to swell in size as it cut through the air, and just as its tip pointed toward the sky, it suddenly accelerated, heading for the beast like a falling tower.

The massive gorilla kept its glowing arms raised to block and instead swung its tail in a wide arc near the ground trying to swat the fast insect before it could reach it.

Alex had no trouble evading the massive tail. His entire body started glowing as the lightning surrounding it crackled erratically. Kicking the ground, he zoomed in on the monster and docked under the tail.

With his sword at the ready, its blade glowing bright blue, Alex swung at the monster’s leg and carved a line through the hard carapace at exactly the same moment Elya’s gigantic sword came crashing down from above.

The Demon roared only for its voice to be swallowed in a cacophony of explosions. Arrows too small for it to notice pierced its face and detonated, blooming into flowers of blue flames before fading in the smoke that followed.

"Good!" Ramsay smirked as he knocked three more arrows. "Keep it in place just like that!"

He pulled the string, his bow bending along with it. Even with the distance between them, the brown man could still see exactly where he wanted to plant his arrows.