God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 98: Hulking Behemoth.

"So here's the plan..."

The area surrounding the appendage was completely devoid of greenery. Unlike the one Cain had encountered earlier, this appendage not only drained the life of the nearby mutant animals, but it also consumed the nutrients of all plant life surrounding it.

It was so bad, the soil around the appendage had turned coarse and dry, a phenomenon that would only occur in places where the soil had no nutrients at all such as beach shores.

Because of this, the area within a 50-meter radius around the {Appendage} was completely void of trees, plants, or even grass, which meant there was no natural cover available for Cain and the rest to hide under.

Although using their stealth skills and spells would work, there was also a probability that they would be spotted. Hence they couldn't rush in without a plan.

"Ruby will serve as a distraction and will attract the attention of the devils long enough for me and Evangeline to destroy that {Appendage}. During this period, Jenny, you will need to shoot down as many devils as you can, as fast as you can. But remember, you can only start killing on my signal. Anything before or after, and we've screwed up. Do you understand?" Cain said in one breath.

The two girls and bear stood behind and beside him as he spoke. Evangeline had a look on her face that screamed she couldn't care less about what Cain wanted to have her do.

"Sure..." Jenny responded with a simple calm nod.

They were both confident in their abilities. To them, doing all this wasn't even enough to make them tense up a little.

"Alright. Dark Cloak."

Once again, Cain let the covers of darkness envelope him and Ruby as the thick darkness elemental energy formed layers of energy that obscured them away from sight.

Evangeline and Jenny both did the same, activating their stealth skills and spells, before moving toward the {Appendage}.

Once they had reached a certain distance away from the {Appendage}, Cain used his telepathic connection with Ruby to initiate the plan.

'Ready?'

'No! I don't want to do this. This is the second time Master is using me as bait!' Ruby said, hidden grievances of the past resurfacing.

'Don't be mad, okay? I'll get you plenty of blood elemental mana shards when we are done with this. Okay?' Cain did his best to pacify the bear.

'Deal?'

Cain couldn't help but roll his eyes when he saw how easy it was to bribe the mutant beast.

'Deal!'

'Okay. Remember under absolutely no conditions should you kill even a single one of them.' Once the final preparations were made, Cain deactivated his {Dark Cloak} spell that was on Ruby, allowing the bear to shimmer back into plain sight.

Since all this was done very silently, the devils hadn't noticed her yet. Most of them were connected to the {Appendage} through the several small opening on its surface, a thick red fluid gushing through it into their systems providing them with sustenance, while others were keeping guard.

However, all that changed when Ruby let off an earsplitting roar.

ROAR!!!

This was how Cain had told her to attract the attention of the devils, so that was what she did...

Almost immediately, the devils surrounding the {Appendage} turned towards Ruby.

They communicated with one another in their alien language before a small number of them broke off from the larger group and charged at Ruby. There were about twenty devils, fifteen on land and five in the sky, but only eight of them, six on land and two in the sky chased after the poor mutant bear.

Seeing the bloodthirsty devils racing towards her, Ruby let out a cry and scurried into the undergrowth.

'Damn it! That's too little!' Cain cursed when he was that the number of spawn devils that gave chase to Ruby was too little when compared to the whole.

Cain's mind worked incredibly fast at that moment...

One of the most important skills he obtained growing up was the ability to make quick decisions in difficult situations.

Now that Ruby had garnered much less attention than needed, there was only one way to make the plan move forward.

Turning to the two girls standing beside him in invincibility, he put on a scowl as he made up his mind,

"There's been a slight change of plans. You guys should go along with the original plan. I'll handle this." Saying no more, he deactivated {Dark Cloak}.

Jenny couldn't help but shake her head, "A little? This is so stupid."

Meanwhile, Evangeline who was still in her stealth mode continued towards her target without a pause.

"Hey, you uglies!" Cain knew the devils could understand human speech, so he didn't bother with mincing his words.

He had had very few interactions with the devils, but every single one of them had left him with a few impressions. The {Blade Devil} had shown him just how intelligent the devils were, the {Devil Fighter} had shown him the true nature of the devils, and the {Miasma Devil} had exposed the extent of their abilities to him.

In other words, they were scary and powerful.

These devils were very strong, even though they were only spawn devils. A level 20 devil would be able to beat 2 level 20 mutant beasts with ease. Not only were they very strong, but they were also incredibly bloodthirsty.

They had killed over 300 students who had once lived ordinary lives in less than twenty-four hours. They had been dismembered, torn apart, and eaten by the devils.

And the devils weren't rabid beasts. They were intelligent creatures who saw the humans as nothing more than a well-deserved meal.

To Cain, such a nature was of an even more perverse spirit than just being a rabid beast.

'Rabid beasts can be tamed, but creatures such as these deserve only one fate. Death...'

There was silence amongst the devils after Cain spoke...

Suddenly, a deep devilish voice made its way to Cain from behind the gigantic {Appendage}.

"A human?"

A huge creature almost as tall as the {Appendage} appeared from behind it. This creature was incredibly huge and bulky. Its entire frame was covered in thick lean muscles that seemed to be filled with explosive power. At the center of its chest, a devil core with a slight hue of gold marking its edges sat, emanating power.

Unlike most spawn devils, its black skin had golden lines running across it in numerous places. Its face was still similar to the other devils, however. A pair of malevolent yellow eyes, and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, although it did look a bit more human that the rest.

Unlike what Cain had thought, the huge creature the size of a tree didn't have any issue moving at an incredibly fast speed as it appeared before him in the blink of an eye.

'How didn't I sense it?!' Cain was surprised that he was unable to sense such a huge creature despite being only a few meters away from it.

"Yeah, a human. What's it to you?" Cain was surprised that he could engage in conversation with such a huge, evil creature. He stared a bit more intensely at the gargantuan creature before him, and its details instantly pop up

***

{Hulking Behemoth}: Lvl 30 (Deadly)

Strength: 500.

Agility: 500.

Defense: 100.

Magic: 50.

HP: 10,000/10,000.

MP: 5,000/5,000.

Skills: Metal Manipulation: Titanium Body, Body Strengthening level 2, Blade Mastery level 1.

***

To Cain's surprise, he could see a very huge blade almost twice his size attached to the creature's spine.

'It's strong. It also knows how to use a weapon. It seems like this mission is not as easy as I might have hoped it would be.' Cain let out a wry smile as he stared straight into the devil's eyes.

"Those human buildings are supposed to be Gael's jurisdiction. How is it that a puny human like you managed to survive this long?" However, contrary to what Cain thought, the creature didn't attack him immediately. Instead, it asked him an odd question...

Cain stared at the {Hulking Behemoth} in confusion for a while before speaking, "Who's that?"

"Lord Gadon. Should we attack it?" One of the devils that hadn't chased after Ruby asked the {Hulking Behemoth}.

"No. Focus on recovery for now. This one is a little strong but will serve as a very good supplement for us. I can sense the rich mana flowing within it." The devils conversed about Cain the same way a butcher would when confronted on how they wanted to slaughter a chicken.

And Cain was having none of it...

If there was anything he hated the most in the world, it was his pride being trampled upon. Although he had recently learned to tone it down a bit, bad habits die hard...

A dark expression fell across Cain's face as he withdrew his weapon from his inventory. By now, with all the upgrades he had received thanks to the {Elemental Body} skill he had, he was finally able to comfortably wield {Devil's Broken Claw}.

***

Name: {Cain Lenosi}

Level: 30.

Strength: 335.

Agility: 402.

Stamina: 209/218.

Vitality: 156.

Defense: 197.

Control: 16.1.

Perception: 15.3.

HP: 15,600/15,600.

MP: 14,700/14,700.

Magic: 447.

Ki: 135.

Spirit: 188.

Resistance: Poison- 80%.

Skills: Golden Blood, Mana Blade, Lightening Edge, Blade Mastery Lvl. 2, Burst Step, Metal Creation Lvl.2, Golden Severance, Metal Manipulation, *Fear, *Bloodthirsty, Blood Regeneration, Azure Burst, Mana Heart, Seal, Hollow Judgement, Devil's eyes: Eye of Clairvoyance, Elemental Body.

Spells: Fireball, Air Whip, Dark Cloak, Blue Lightning, Blink, Golden Halo.

Titles: Champion of Ashur (locked), Sorcerer's Mind, Blessed by Mana, Pioneer.

Free attribute points: 33.

System points 19,720.

{Inventory}. {Shop}.

***

"Hm?" The {Hulking Behemoth} let out a sound of surprise when it saw the weapon Cain retrieved.

"It seems I can't help it..."

There was a brief spark of light once again before a huge item was transferred from Cain's inventory onto his body.

***

{Heavy Armor}: Normal

Strength: +50. Attack power: +50%.

Agility: -50. Attack speed: -50%

Defense: +50. Weight: 1000kg.

Requirements: 200 Strength and 100 Stamina.

Skills: Damage Reduction.

Durability: 100/100.

***

The {Heavy Armor} wrapped itself around Cain, making him look like a war god ready to charge into battle and stain his cape with the blood and guts of his enemies.

"The weapon in your hand. Why does it give off Ga'el's aura?" The {Hulking Behemoth}, Gadon asked Cain, its heavy devilish voice booming.

"Shut up and die, you disgusting creature. I retch in disgust anytime I gaze upon your kind." Cain said calmly.

"Is that so?" Gadon said. It reached its back and retrieved the huge blade that sat on its spine.

"As for this Ga'el you speak of, if I had to guess, it is most likely a {Miasma Devil}. Correct?"

"You are right." Despite everything, the {Hulking Behemoth} was still as calm as ever.

"Then you will be happy to know that by the edge of my blade, it has been escorted to the depths of hell, where it belongs. The same place you are going in a couple of minutes..."

There was a brief silence between the two before the Gadon spoke, "I guess that can't be helped. He was weak after all. Alright human. I will humor you... After all your bones have been broken by me, you will suffer a fate worse than death. You will be given to Mother who will drain all the life and mana out of your puny body without granting you the release of death." The devil said matter-of-factly.

"No more talk." Cain hadn't even finished his words before he launched himself at the devil, bloodlust in his eyes.

Cain had decided he was going to kill the devil standing before him as brutally and quietly as he possibly could...