My Servant System

Chapter 656 Chapter 655: Creating a Benchmark

Nirinia's golden Dadao left a thin gash on the Fiend's muscular back, the flesh knitting itself back together even as the blade remained inside the cut, barely allowing any of the blue blood to drip out of the wound.

Hissing softly at the sudden - yet fleeting - pain, Tza'Inopia turned and slammed two of its fists down at Nirinia's hard, snarling "You annoying little bug..! How dare you try to sneak attack me!?"

As its fists were crashing down towards the Djinn, the Fiend narrowed its eyes and raised its other set of hands to summon up a curved disc of mana on its side, protecting it from a barrage of flaming arrows that exploded violently upon contact.

Growling, Tza'Inopia looked around the square, still grinning despite counting the various people around itself.

Nirinia braced beneath the blow, her blade catching and holding the two fists of the Fiend as she planted her feet, though considering the way she was grimacing and had blood trickling from her lips, it was safe to assume that the vibrations from the blow had rattled her insides enough to do damage.

Adelina growled beside me, her two fluffy ears twitching as she stared at the Fiend hatefully, and without another word she dashed forwards, joining Nirinia in the close quarters combat against the Fiend.

Anput wasn't far behind, and Jahi had begun to wade through the remaining monsters to reach the Fiend, her eyes now gold as she stared down the Fiend, who was grinning back at her.

"Pathetic! The little whelp needs help to take down a Fiend, hmm~? How utterly-!"

"Shut up. I don't need to appease to your useless vanity. My lovers and my peers are all related to my own strength, Fiend. You're just angry that you're going to lose either way."

Tza'Inopia's grin twisted into something unpleasant as they hissed "Careful, brat. Pissing me off might not be the greatest strategy..."

Cleaving a trio of Goblins in two with a single swing, Jahi snorted as she muttered "Real tough guy huh..?", which only made the Fiend angrier as they tried to move away from Nirinia and towards Jahi.

However, as Tza'Inopia tried to do so, the Djinn below pushed back against the two fists and began to challenge the Fiend in a contest of strength, while Adelina arrived near the Fiend's legs, cutting at them with her blade and scoring thin, shallow cuts on the scales.

As the Fiend tried to move one of its four hands towards Adelina, it faced an issue; Leone had two hands pinned with her arrows, which continued to explode against its barrier, while Nirinia demanded attention from below, threatening to deal damage if she wasn't held back.

That was still without Anput or Jahi doing anything, and me as well, though I focused on cutting down the remaining monsters and Cultists for the time being, supporting the others that way.

The Jackalkin leapt up and slammed her shin into the Fiends face, while her blade left a deep cut on the side of its neck, eliciting a hiss of pain from Tza'Inopia, though that hiss was nothing compared to the roar as Jahi barreled into the Fiend, ramming her shoulder into its chest and slashing her great sword across its chest twice, marking it with a giant 'X'.

Her dual metal blade was shrouded in a harsh golden glow, and it was clear that the wounds left on its chest were taking longer to heal then the one on its neck, which had almost closed already and weeping a trace amount of blood.

Tza'Inopia's roar pushed the others back, mana lacing the sound and forcing them to protect themselves from the vocal attack, and the grinning Fiend spat "[Superior Vocal Rend]!" towards Jahi, a thick, compressed crescent of mana and sound slicing through the air towards her at insane speeds.

The Demoness blocked the invocation with a barrier of glittering gold, and as the Fiend opened its mouth to spit another one out, it let out a shout of pain instead as the arrows from Leone changed course, going from straight on to falling onto the Fiend's body, taking advantage of the momentary lapse in observation from the Fiend and making it pay accordingly.

Nirinia managed to push back against the Fiend's fists as well during that moment, and the two's counterattack left Tza'Inopia defenseless and off balance as chunks of its flesh were roasted and blown off, while the sudden loss of something to take its weight was felt immediately.

Anput joined Nirinia and Jahi in dashing forwards to attack the Fiend, and without hesitation the three coated their blades in mana and attacked.

The Jackalkin lanced a spear through the Fiend's upper shoulder, piercing its flesh and making one of its arms hang uselessly by its side, the bone or tendons inside severely damaged.

Nirinia swung her Dadao down towards its knee, and the golden blade crunched past the scales and splintered them, revealing the pale blue flesh beneath and cutting into that, dealing damage to the Fiend's mobility.

Finally, Jahi returned to the front of Tza'Inopia, raising her great sword and bathing it in golden mana, sneering at the Fiend before unleashing a whirlwind of slashes, cutting into its chest and throat wildly and revealing the bones beneath, before they too were broken as the Demoness continued to swing her sword.

Tza'Inopia was screaming in agony, it's blue flesh bathed in blood and sliced open, while the grey runes that might have given it some offensive or defensive capabilities flickered out of existence as it tried to heal itself instead.

Not wanting to be left out, I summoned a lance and hurled it at the Fiend's skull, lodging the crystalline lance in its mouth as I shattered its teeth and impaled its throat, only for the lance to explode and shred the inside of its skull.

The screams persisted even as we continued to maim and tear Tza'Inopia apart, but they eventually began to fade as Jahi dismantled the Fiend and ripped off its head, promptly stamping her foot straight into its cranium and ending its existence, bringing silence back to the city.

Of course, we all stood there warily as we looked around, wondering if this was some sort of trick or ploy from the Cult or from Tza'Inopia, not expecting the Fiend to be that easy, and yet...

Nothing happened, and Cali popped out and looked around, her lip curled up in disgust as she maneuvered through the square, eventually reaching the Demoness.

"Not too shabby, 'Bluey'~! It might not be the strongest of Fiends considering it was not only young but also a 'Thrall' to Delira or someone else, but it was still a Fiend~! And you just killed it~! Congratulations to everyone~!"

The Arch Fiend grinned widely at us all, before crouching down and poking the battered, bloody cheek of Tza'Inopia, murmuring "The first of many, hopefully..."

Getting back up, Cali looked at everyone and said "Don't think this will be common though; this idiot was likely used as a way to figure out just~ how strong you lot are, though they probably never expected both Greeny and Goldy here to join as well... or our two lurkers."

We all followed Cali's gaze to see the two guards standing on a rooftop nearby, and they waved as they noticed we had seen them, the two dropping down and making their way over.

"Really though, congratulations~! Not many could say they even harmed a Fiend, let alone killed one! Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I shall become a 'lurker' myself... nasty thing, violence..."

With that, Cali disappeared in a plume of pink smoke, continuing her trend of appearing and disappearing randomly whenever she wanted, leaving us mortals alone inside the macabre square.