Parallel (A Virtual Gamer's Story) [Vol.1 - Vol.4 Complete]

Chapter 163: Battling the Marilith

Kirckour Woods,

13th Banem 1092

Malevolent winds whistled through the quiet forest. An oppressive aura of death settled over the dense trees, blanketing all living beings within its cold grip.

Somewhere within the forest depths, an odd party consisting of two daebens, a human, and a centaur squared off against a creature that could only have been born from the sinister aura surrounding the forest.

Kashi examined the creature with a solemn expression. He recognized the beast as a Marilith, a half-snake half-human demon with a female human torso and a long snake's tail. It also had six arms on its human part. Usually, the upper bodies of mariliths took the form of beautiful women. They would lure prey over with their upper body, then either paralyze them with venom or constrict the mark with its tail before it could escape.

Mariliths were formidable demons to face independently, but the one in front of the party was dangerously unique. To begin with, it was at least ten times larger than a regular marilith. Its human torso alone was twice Kashi's height and large enough to fit three average-sized men standing side by side. From his current view, Kashi could not make out the entire length of its tail, but he estimated it was undoubtedly longer than twenty meters.

Even more striking than its size was the fact there was nothing 'beautiful' about the marilith's upper body. Its human torso was a mass of seemingly carelessly lumped flesh and scales and a pair of exposed sagging breasts. Its iconic six arms had increased to eight, but where a regular marilith had 'slender' arms, this marilith's arms were muscular and tough, ending in long, clawed fingers.

Kashi quickly concluded that this marilith was either infected by the blight (unlikely as blight only affects plants) or strengthened and evolved through dark magic. The daeben's gaze narrowed as he considered the second possibility. So far, he only knew of one group with the capability to produce something like this.

Kashi glanced at Larsial, but her expression was grim and tight. Even if she knew something about this monster, she fully expected it to attack her too. Kashi let out a sigh. There was no point worrying about it now. Everything would be revealed soon enough.

Kashi looked at the monster, inadvertently meeting its hollow gaze. Just as he had been examining it, it had been analyzing the new prey.

Roughly three seconds had passed since the marilith burst into the clearing. This was more than enough time for both parties to examine the other and quickly come to a decision.

The marilith, having concluded that the other humes were of no consequence, let out a roar and charged at the nearest party, the daeben that had met its gaze.

"Shadow! Larsial!" Kashi shouted as he calmly notched an arrow and jumped back. "Break!"

Shadow and Larsial quickly jumped to their left and right, respectively. To their shock, the marilith appeared at their location just as they jumped out of the way, its claws only managing to swipe air. Both assassins paled as they realized what would have happened if they had been a moment late in evading. They had not expected the marilith to be this fast!

Kashi, meanwhile, glared at the marilith that approached with a speed very similar to his own. The daeben understood this was because he was retreating while it was advancing. Naturally, it would be faster. However, the daeben was not looking to compete in speed.

Boom! Boom!

Two wooden arrows burst out of Kashi's bow, their speeds creating small sonic booms at the bow, as the daeben quickly nocked a metal arrow. The arrows zipped across the clearing, appearing in front of the marilith within the blink of an eye.