God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 236: Malignant.

Cain's blades struck true at the creature, but for the first time since the start of the apocalypse, he was taken completely by surprise.

Rather than dodging his attack, the malignant creature simply put the unconscious Hunter in the flight path of the approaching Cain.

Cain's eyes turned as wide as saucers...

If he didn't act as soon as possible, Hunter's head would be sent rolling. He immediately dismissed his blades and used the ability of {Wind Weaver} to maneuver to the side. That way, he was able to avoid smashing into Hunter at full force.

Before he was even able to get a moment of respite, he felt three distinct pressures bearing down on him.

He wasn't even given any time to defend himself before he was attacked by the three girls who had been on the platform with the evil creature.

However, now that he was closer to the creature, he was able to check its details. Surprisingly, there was no description available for the creature.

Cain frowned...

When he tried to bring out the description of humans in the past, he had always come up empty.

'Does it have something to do with intelligence? But the devils are just as intelligent as we humans. There's Ignis as well... What the hell is this thing?!'

He was immediately brought back to reality by a well-positioned strike aimed at his temple. The slim blade of the rapier was about to impale his head in a split second. Tilting his head to avoid it, Cain's eyes widened when he saw that the blade had suddenly shifted in the last second and was now mere inches away from his head.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to summon his weapons in time, he wrapped his head in a solid casing of metal and tried his best to shift away.

BANG!

Despite being wielded by a slender and frail-looking girl, the rapier carried so much force, such that the impact almost gave him a concussion.

He felt something approaching him from the back, but he was unable to dodge at all. Letting out a sigh, he coated his back with a layer of golden metal and braced for impact.

BANG!

The force this time was even more devastating. The layer of metal protecting his back exploded into metal shards, and the tip of the blade bit into his flesh.

'Damn! These girls are way too aggressive.' Cain thought to himself as he was suddenly the victim of an onslaught of attacks.

"Foolish human! How dare you attack me?! I'll have you killed!" The evil creature spat out with venom.

"Angel, please, let us take care of it." The feline woman with the yellow electrifying eyes said coldly as she turned to face Cain.

'Crap!'

Sparks of lightning raced across her body. With a slight movement, she was gone...

And immediately appeared before Cain, her sinister claws approaching his jugular.

Taking a deep measured breath, Cain pushed all his body weight to the side and tilted his head, dodging the lethal attack. However, the girl holding the rapiers was prepared and struck at his back.

Twisting his body around, Cain danced gracefully around the tip of the blades and came face to face with the cold face of the tall lady. Up close, she was even more beautiful. However, there was a dark look in her eyes. It was as though her soul was encased in a prison of darkness, her mind shrouded in perpetual black.

Frowning, Cain dropped to the ground and rolled away from the vigorous women.

"Stop! That thing is-"

Before he could say anything else, a huge shadow bore down on him from above. Reacting with lightning speed, Cain struck out with his fist as well.

Violent tremors rushed through his body as he was flung back. The blood vessels on his hands erupted, and blood flowed from his weak hand like a river.

Looking at his attacker, he wasn't surprised when he saw the athletic build of the hunter like female. Her eyes were filled with murder, and white and black stripes of fur were beginning to grow on the surface of her skin.

"You... You idiots!" Cain growled menacingly.

"You are the only idiot here..." The girl holding the rapier said coldly.

"Not only do you sacrifice your fellow humans, it is apparent you all have no remorse." Cain spat out.

"And why should we?" The woman with the yellow eyes said.

"Kai, finish him off. We have no time to waste. Maybe he is a friend of the Beast of Ragnarok, and has come to avenge him. We have better things to do with our time." The yellow-eyed woman said coldly.

Turning around, she faced the abomination with a little bit of fear in her voice,

"I deeply apologise for this, Angel. We assure you that he will be dwelt with swiftly."

"It's alright. As long as you do it properly..." The abomination said while looking at Cain with its dark eyes. Suddenly, its eyes opened wide in panic, and it yelled at the top of its lungs,

"Kill him! Kill him now!"

Before Cain could even thing about what the creature said, all the girls present apart from the normal beast-people, the ten of them, rushed at him with varying expressions.

Some where hesitant, while some looked happy and excited that they would be able to rip his flesh off his bones.

He then glanced at the creature and saw that it was rushing to the chasm...

'Guess it's time...'

Now that he had separated the girls from the creature, it was time to execute his plan. Under his breath, Cain whispered;

"Burning Spirit..."

It felt as though his body and soul had been liberated. Mana blazed from within his body and enveloped him like a thin film of near transparent flames.

Suddenly, the flames took on a light red. It was as though he had been consumed by flames that could burn through space itself..

After activating the {Burning Spirit} skill, he attached the flame enchantment as well. Meaning his attack power had increased by 100%, but his defense was reduced by 90% in return.

However, Cain wasn't done yet...

"Azure Burst!" Azure flames immediately consumed his body as well.

'The best form of defense... is offense!'. That was the mentality Cain adopted when entering the fight. To come out of the battle alive, he would need to not only be very fast, his punches needed to pack a sufficient amount of punch as well.

Frowning, the yellow-eyed girl suddenly made a move. Wrapped in currents of lightning, she moved so quickly, most wouldn't have been able to see her. However, all of Cain's stats had been multiplied by two.

Not only that, but the additional speed boost made his speed leap past what was humanly possible.

Dodging the girl with a cold look on his face, he stretched his hand and grabbed at her wrist. Eyes wide open, she attempted to stop her motion midway. However, Cain was just too fast. Grabbing her hand, he applied a bit of force and dragged her to the ground, smashing the concrete with her back.

"Heh, Rend!" Suddenly, Cain felt his scalp tingle.

His eyes shifted, and he caught sight of a girl wearing a raven black cloak with a dark, wicked look in her eyes.

With his heightened perception, he was able to see the very thin tear in the space. And that tear was gradually approaching him...

His blades immediately appeared in his hands. Holding the {White Claw} in his left hand such that its tip was pointed at the ground, and the {Black Claw} was held horizontally in the right.

Ki and devil essence exploded from the white and black weapons. Crossing them and slashing forward, a beam of destructive energy shot forward and tore the rendered space apart.

The beam continued unobstructed and slammed into the wide-eyed girl. A dull explosion rang out as the girl was flung forward. Although she didn't suffer any physical damage, her face paled drastically and she stumbled to her knees weakly.

"Lin Lin!" Seeing her friend getting hurt seemed to ignite rage in the heart of the athletic female. She rushed forward in a fit of frenzied rage. A pale bone spear appeared in her hands, which she thrust at Cain wildly.

This time, Cain didn't even bother dodging. He clashed directly with the large female, trading blow for blow like an enraged beast.

He was angry as well...

Despite her monstrous strength, the giant of a female was unable to hold on for long against Cain's monstrous strength.

However, she wasn't alone...

Just before the edge of Cain's blade could bite into Kai's flesh, a stone barrier was erected between them. At the same time, the girl wielding the rapier and another girl holding two pistol-like weapons attacked him from behind.

Dodging their attacks, Cain dished his as well. Soon, all ten of them and Cain were locked in a furious dance of flesh and metal.

Suddenly, there was a crash...

Before the creature could get to the chasm, it was suddenly attacked by a frightening beam of concentrated energy that smashed into its temple.

At the same time, a few chains woven of light shot out from magic circles that appeared all around it and bound the creature.

Stan and Li burst out of the darkness at full speed and smashed their weapons at the creature, blocking its path to the chasm in the process.

The creature was flustered by the sudden attacks, and a look of panic and anger quickly appeared in its eyes.

With urgency in its voice, the creature cried out,

"Help me!"

All the girls fighting Cain snapped their necks at the despairing abomination, but Cain made sure to keep them occupied by throwing random but lethal attacks their way if they seemed even a bit distracted.

"Grr! How is he so strong?!" Kai growled angrily as she deflected a blow from Cain with her spear.

Seeing that the girls wouldn't be able to help it, the creature suddenly let out a sigh...

"You insolent humans..." the creature said in a slow, frigid tone that incited deep fear in the hearts of any who heard it.

Suddenly, a deep dark spear appeared in its hand. With a casual swing, the chains of light that bound it were all broken, causing Susan to frown deeply.

Then, the creature too a step forward...

Because his perception had been heightened, Cain was the only one that could see the thing's movement.

Just barely...

It was so fast, all he was able to see was a blur. And then, all of them fell to the ground. Blood leaked from holes that had appeared in their bodies.

"No!" Cain yelled as he ignored his attackers and rushed at the malignant creature.

"I'll come back for you!" the creature said darkly, evil and contempt swelling in its eyes as it stepped over their bodies and walked toward the chasm.

"Get back here!"

Golden chains with runes etched onto them broke through the ground and snaked toward the creature. However, they were stopped by an invincible barrier.

Glancing back at Cain one last time, the creature took one more step forward, Hunter still in its hand, and jumped into the darkness of the chasm...