God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 262: Bog Serpent.

The enormous serpent stared at Cain with deep intelligence dancing in its eyes. Cain immediately knew he had come across a formidable foe.

***

{Bog Serpent Wyrm}: Level 99 (Godly).

Strength: 4,500.

Agility: 4,000.

Defense: 8,000.

HP: 100,000/100,000.

Aether: 25,000/25,000.

Skills: Devouring Poison, Piercing Water Arrow, Mimic Dragon Physique, Cloud Rider.

***

'These creatures just keep getting more and more ridiculous.' Cain let out a sigh as he started back at the creature. Not only was the creature strong, but it was also a bit stronger than the {Land Eater}.

Its skills were strange. It had a skill that was similar to the Land Eater's {Mimic God Aura} skill. He felt that the creature's {Mimic Dragon Physique} would be many times more treacherous than its counterpart.

It's those thoughts in mind, that Cain realized this battle would be tougher than he expected...

Both of them stared at one another, the tension and killing intent between them growing stronger. Cain noticed a few emotions within the beast's eyes.

Fear, mad rage, hunger, wickedness, and a hint of familiarity...

Eventually, the mad hunger won out. With a screech, the creature lunged at Cain with its fangs bared. Since his movement speed had been reduced to a snail's crawling pace, he was completely unable to avoid the attack.

However, he never intended to dance with the creature. Instead, he was going to stand his ground and become a fortress. Even if it was only for a moment.

Cain cleaved through the air with the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame}. The blade burned the air around its edge. A red and black streak clung to the surface of the blade and cut through the air as well. When the blade landed, it cut through a huge chunk of the creature's flesh. However, the creature was already close enough for it to activate one of its insidious skills.

The ghastly black fog that surrounded the creature's body suddenly spread out. Cain's eyes widened as the black poison completely suppressed his golden flames in the blink of an eye. It burrowed into his body and sought to suck out the very essence of his life.

'Crap!'

Although his poison resistance was high, the skill still had a sizable effect on him. If it was someone else who didn't have as high of a poison resistance as he did, the individual would become a dried-out, rotting corpse in a matter of seconds.

Cain gritted his teeth. His mouth was closed to prevent the poison from spreading faster through his orifices. However, thanks to the {Dark Soul}, he was able to see all the creature's movements. He saw the creature trying to use its enormous body to crush him. The creature rose and allowed its huge fleshy body and gravity to do the rest.

Cain twisted his body and tried his best to dose the descending monster. Angling his blade diagonally, he activated the only enchantment on the blade. The blade's edge became as sharp as a razor and as heavy as a mountain. The creature fell, but instead of feeling the satisfying crunch of bones, all it got in response was a sharp pain to its side.

It howled in pain as Cain slashed his blade furiously. The heavy blade in his hand moved furiously like lightning. His canines were bared, painting a furious visage.

At the same time, the faint sound of rippling air sang in his ears. He immediately knew his support had gotten into position. A charged bullet fell from the skies and struck the creature directly on its eyes. Despite its focus on Cain, the creature managed to close its eyelids on time. However, Jemny's bullets were not that easy to block.

Flesh and blood splattered as the creature's eye was punctured. Cain grinned when he saw this. He continued his furious assault, blocking the creature's heavy-handed attacks, carrying its sharp fangs, and dishing his terrible attacks as well. Soon, the front side of the creature was covered with dire wounds.

As if that was not enough, the sky suddenly lit up...

Cain looked up and he felt his heart seize for a moment. The sky was covered with a large magic circle. If he was standing a few kilometers further, he would have been able to see Susan standing on a high hill with her bow of light bent into a full moon.

Her eyes were cold, and the killing intent she produced would have been enough to make Cain break out into a cold sweat.

An arrow was nocked into the bowstring. With a sharp exhale, she let it loose. The arrow drew a parabolic arc and fell into the center of the huge magic circle. The magic circle exploded and was replaced with a sky filled with arrows of light.

The arrows of light fell to the ground and pierced the large body of the {Bog Serpent Wyrm}. Blood splashed all around as arrow after arrow dug deep into the creature's body.

The creature thrashed and rolled as it tried to find where the attacks were coming from. However, Cain didn't give it time to even consider any other potential attackers.

Cain finished the final words of his chant,

"Heavenly Blue Lightning!"

A magic circle hidden deep within the skies expanded. A deep rumble spread across the purple sky, and a thick bolt of lightning fell from the heavens. It struck the large head of the creature furiously.

The creature was slammed straight into the ground. Although it tried to get back to its belly, another thick bolt of lightning struck its head again. Another soon followed...

The smell of burning flesh rose to the sky...

'This is it! If we keep this up, this thing will fall in a few minutes!'

Cain was about to launch around series of attacks when the dark fog around the creature's body receded and was replaced with a light-blue mist.

The creature's eyes glowed with bright blue as its nostrils flared and a huge stream of steam rushed out. Its dull grey scales began to sparkle as the wounds on its body began closing rapidly much to Cain's dismay.

The creature's body contorted as it began to slither closer to Cain. However, rather than slithering on the ground, its body slowly began to ascend.

'Fuck! Cloud Rider! It is a literal Cloud rider!' Cain was stupefied. He watched as the creature ascended slowly into the sky. The horn on the center of its head glowed brightly as it stared down at Cain with deep rage-filled eyes.

The creature suddenly opened its mouth. The water element in the air stirred violently and moved to the creature. A ball of murky water was created in the creature's mouth. Regardless of how much energy flowed into its open maw, the ball of water never got bigger.

Cain felt his instincts screaming at him. Every cell in his body told him he would die immediately if he didn't dodge the incoming attack.

And dodge he did...

He quickly deactivated the metal enchantment of the {Burning Spirit} and activated {Azure Burst}. The azure flames burned bright as he flickered away like a phantom. At the same time, a thick jet of concentrated water was ejected from the creature's mouth.

It was common knowledge that water that was concentrated and pressurized enough would be able to cut through hard stones. Nevertheless, Cain was still shocked by how clean the cut was.

The hard ground was pierced and cut through like a sharp, hot knife cutting through butter. However, the sharp stream of water never stopped. Instead, the creature continued chasing after Cain who was now running for dear life. Seeing the predicament he was in, the girls began increasing the tempo of their attacks.

Arrows and bullets fell onto the creature's body, but they were either shrugged off or they left shallow wounds.

'Shit! Shit! Shit!'

Cain dodged and ran like his life depended on it because it did. Even his strongest defensive skills and spells would turn into butter if the stream of water touched him.

Sliding through some shrubbery, Cain activated {Emblem of Darkness}. However, the creature seemed to have the ability to negate the effect of the spell and continued to chase him by swimming through the sky.

Its speed in the sky was even more disturbing than that of its land speed. This chase continued for a few minutes. Despite the speed boost granted by {Azure Burst}, he still had the creature chasing him down. The creature was slowly getting closer as well.

Before he knew it, the creature was behind him, its jaws open like the entrance to hell. Grinding his teeth, Cain poured as much power as he could into his legs.

A look of satisfaction appeared on the creature's face as it shut its jaws, aiming to crush Cain within them.

A grin was spread across Cain's face...

'Idiot...'

"Rakshasa!"

A howl escaped from Cain's throat. His body morphed and was covered with a layer of pitch-black energy laced with crimson streaks. Three curved horns grew out of his temple. His eyes disappeared and were replaced with a hollow golden void. The Blade in his hand exploded with thick Ki and devil essence.

His body spun violently and he swung the blade with reckless abandon. The incredibly heavy blade was like a wooden sword in his hand as it cut through the air, leaving behind a black streak.

The creature was moving too fast, so it was unable to stop in time. The sharp blade energy tore through its hard scales and was assisted by the creature's incredible forward momentum.

Blood spouted like a fountain from the creature's side. His body was drowned in blood, but he felt incredibly alive. He knew that the creature wasn't dead and was only severely wounded. However, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Despite becoming the caricature of a malevolent demon, he maintained his sanity. Well, most of it...

With a deep bloodlust boiling within him, he smashed his feet into the ground and flipped. His body floated through the air, just in time to clash with the furious and bloody aether beast.

'Splendid!'

The creature circled him and dived at him again and again. However, his blade was like a phantom, cutting through the wind and clashing against the creature's wide fangs and drawing ghastly wounds across its body.

The fight was ferocious and filled with an intense amount of blood and violence. Cain swung his blade with reckless abandon, and the creature attacked relentlessly. Its black fog enveloped them once again, seeking to drain Cain's life force away from him. However, Cain completely ignored it and increased the ferocity.

Soon, the only thing that could be heard for miles on miles were the furious, incessant sounds produced by the clashes between bone and metal...