As Ilveroz and Brornun leaped towards the velo, the underworld creature pounced towards Ilveroz at such a speed the demon hound couldn’t evade. The attack sent the hound flying until he hit the tunnel wall where he stopped moving. Dreu knew better to turn his back against such a dangerous foe so he prayed Ilveroz was fine. With the creature turning its attention to Brornun, the young man saw an opportunity to land a slash in. Yet, the creature, despite having its back turned to him, still avoided the attack with ease. Then, it returned its attention to Brornun who had been expertly avoiding the claws.

  How do we defeat something that has speed, damage and no blindspot?

  Dreu’s repeated attempts to land a hit ended with the same outcome. The creature wasn’t interested in attacking him for some reason and he didn’t like it one bit. However, it did mean he could freely attack the creature until it decided that he was worth its while. A few minutes later, Dreu summoned Aggich and requested her to use her curse on the velo. While casting the curse, the cursed fox stood still which allowed the velo to quickly close the distance between them.

  “Not on my watch!”

  Dreu swung his blade in the path of the velo which it expertly dodged. The dodge bought Aggich the necessary time to finish casting her spell. Unlike the bat, the velo did stay slowed after the curse was cast. Against a less agile foe, Dreu and Brornun could land their attacks with impunity. Sadly, their physical attacks couldn’t get through the creature’s armor. The sturdiness was unlike anything Dreu had encountered before. In a standard human or demon army, such a creature could easily serve on the frontlines.

  These are just the scouts? No wonder Bayard told us to avoid them. They are too strong for most unless one happens to be equipped with the means to deal with them.

  Dreu wished he had brought more of his companions along. Limited options really complicated the combat as he had to experiment on the fly. Then, he jumped out of the way as Balgzr narrowly hit him in its charge. It then charged at Aggich but Ilveroz managed to intercept it with a charge of his own. The demon hound and direwolf had the bat sandwiched this time, attacking it without giving it a chance to resume its charge.

  Could the velo now call upon its allies? We need to separate them…or defeat the velo while it's still slowed.

  With Zog joining them, Dreu requested the demon butterfly to cast its fireballs at the slowed velo as Ilveroz and Brornun focused on keeping the bat occupied. After a few hits from the duos, Dreu could see their attacks having an impact and urged them to keep going.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Focus on the locations with the burns. Zog must have greatly weakened its defense.

  In the meantime, Zog’s chaos flames turned the velo’s armor to a bright orange. After ordering Zog to pause, Dreu ran over to slash at the armor only to find his blade went through it like a knife through butter. Unlike the sturdy armor earlier, the velo was now vulnerable and the young man didn’t stop until he could no longer sense life in it. His smile disappeared when he turned to observe how Ilveroz and Brornun were doing. The demon hound could barely stand on his own strength while Brornun was clearly losing to the bat.

  “Get away from him!”

  Unexpectedly, the bat flew straight at him so Dreu brought up his blade between him and the enemy. He expected the creature to dodge but it actually charged straight at him without slowing down. Upon impact, his free hand was supporting the flat side of the blade as he pushed back with all his might. In his mind, he could only comment on the hardiness of the creature. Zog did well softening part of the bat up but the creature was still extremely tough to kill off. Then, Dreu saw in his peripheral vision Brornun leap into the creature.

  “You disgusting mutt!” shouted the creature.

  The low voice surprised Dreu as this was the first time he encountered a demonic creature who could talk. He and his summoned units relied on their thoughts and, even then, there were limitations. Yet, this was neither the time nor place to wonder about that. While he held the bat in place, the direwolf targeted the vulnerable backside of the bat. He studied the creature as it backed away. A big chunk of it was missing with black fluid forming a trail to Brornun. The young man watched as direwolf spit out what was in his mouth. As Brornun turned to the creature, he suddenly convulsed, collapsing to the floor.

  “How do you like it?” called out the bat in its final minute. “Embrace the power of the underworld! You'll become exactly like me!”

  Dreu didn’t hesitate to slash into the exposed flesh of the creature. The creature, so distracted by Brornun’s pained cries, didn’t react until the blade cleaved it in half. Dreu quickly backed up to avoid any of the creature’s guts and fluids from making contact with him. He held his blade at ready while he stared down the bat. At the same time, he summoned Dar, having not found a good time earlier for the other demon butterfly to enter the fray.

  Dar, check on Brornun!

  Once he was certain the bat was indeed dead, Dreu sheathed his blade and went over to check on Brornun. The direwolf seemed to be in bad shape and nothing Dar did improved his condition. Then, the young man realized his foolishness and looked to unsummon Brornun. For the first time, his companion couldn’t be unsummoned and it worried him greatly. He looked to the others but they were puzzled as he could unsummon them at will. The prompt also didn't provide him with any information.

  Loryss, please assist Dar in healing Brornun while I get him out of here.

  Without another word, Dreu carried the direwolf on his back and he began the trek back to the city.