Moonlight Demon (GL LITRPG)

Chapter 174

Keiko unconsciously took a step back as the demon got closer. Its violet eyes were set on one soldier in front of it, and the demon took lumbering, slow steps towards the unaware young woman in armor. Keiko wanted to shout to her to move, but as the demon arrived, Keiko couldn't find the words in her lungs. And so, the soldier noticed the demon too late, when the demon already had its sword raised. 

One second, the girl's body was fully there, and the next, her torso went missing as the demon swung, a trail of red splashing onto the left. 

Other soldiers began to notice the towering demon and Keiko saw a few of them run away. A commander yelled out orders at some nearby mages, and all of those projectiles which had been focused on the demons pushing through the obstacles were now launched at the demon who was sluggishly walking forwards. 

None of them appeared to hurt it. None of them even managed to slow it down. It dragged its feet through both the ice and flame sent its way. Keiko narrowed her eyes at it. 

"An impressive opponent," Yumi said, walking up to her. "It seems that just this creature's presence has shifted the minds of the people around us," she said. 

"We need to stop it," Keiko told her. "Can you fight it?" 

"Without seeing its level, it's hard to say," Yumi sighed. "I've already run into one demon who was far above my capacity to kill. There is a chance this one is as well. However," she added, as the demon swept away another small number of soldiers, breaking their bodies in half. "This one might just be slow enough for me to keep it distracted. 

"Are you sure?" Keiko asked. 

"Well... Yes," Yumi took a deep breath, "I am certain that I can run around it for a time, keep it from hitting me for at least a minute or two. But... It seems that if it so much as touches me, I will surely die," she looked over at Keiko. "Would the best option not be to run?" 

Keiko nodded and looked around, trying to find a nearby captain or two. She ran up to one and pointed at the demon. 

"Get your soldiers out of here!" Keiko pleaded. "That thing is too strong!" 

The man heard her and looked ahead, towards where the demon was wiping out any warrior unlucky enough to have been too close to it, or foolish enough to believe they could slow it down by themselves. The captain's eyes widened and he lifted an arm. 

"RETREAT, RE-" 

And then, a chain landed on his face, exploding his head right in front of Keiko. Bits of his skull fell on her cheeks and Keiko froze. She looked to her left and saw that the demon had launched one of the chains on its arms at the man. 

Keiko turned, grabbed Yumi by the wrist, and started running. 

"We need to go!" 

Whatever thought Keiko had of fighting this thing left at that moment. It was too much. Without Ash or Kaori, hell, maybe even with them here, they stood no chance. 

"S-Should we not stay and...?" 

"We can't do anything, not against..." Keiko started to say, however, as she ran, the world started to spin. Her stomach burned and Keiko gagged. 

No.  She thought.  No, no, no, no. Why now!? 

She looked back and found that the demon was still back where it was, clearing out whichever soldiers still remained. However, as she looked back ahead, she nearly tripped and Yumi had to keep her steady. 

"Hm? Keiko?" Yumi asked, confused. 

Keiko was about to reply, but as she opened her mouth, all that came out was that violet liquid. She puked it out onto the stone beneath her and coughed twice before taking a deep breath, all while Yumi watched in horror. 

"K-Keep going," Keiko told her, but then she remembered something. 

Wait, the inn! 

This was bad. Keiko realized that the New Age Inn was just a couple of streets away. With the demons tearing through the city like this, there was a real chance they'd reach the inn before the night was over. If they even planned to stop with such a powerful creature out on the battlefield like this. 

Sure enough, as Keiko looked back once again, she found multiple smaller, regular demons running after them. More guards showed up however and started to fire crossbow bolts at them, giving Keiko and Yumi a bit of space. 

"I need to go get some people," Keiko told Yumi as the two continued to jog through the streets. Keiko could see the inn just up ahead. "Can you hold them back?" 

"I believe so, as long as the stronger one does not appear yet, how long will this take you?" Yumi asked. 

"I'll be quick, just buy me some time." 

At that, Yumi nodded and Keiko thanked her before running into the building. 

The inn was just as empty as before, but as Keiko entered, both demon and human blood covering her person, she saw that everyone was standing, looking somewhat frightened. In the building were just Keiko's group, Caroline and her friend Tye, who co-owned the inn with her, and Ayami and her husband at the back. It seemed like everyone else had already left. 

"Keiko," Satsuhiro began to ask, "what's...?" 

"They're pushing too far," Keiko told him. "They're probably going to cover the whole street by the end of the night." 

Hearing that, Metsumi's face turned frightened, Opah looked up at her, confused, while Ayami and Jino in the back paled. 

"Shit..." Caroline muttered as she leaned against the bar to the left. 

"We need to go," Keiko told them. 

"But, wait, you can't hold them back?" Satsuhiro asked. 

"No, there's one that came in, out of nowhere, who's just way stronger than we can handle. I, I don't even think Ash or Kaori could beat that creature. We need to leave." 

Satsuhiro paused for a moment before nodding. 

"If that's the case then you're right. We can't stay here." 

He glanced over at Metsumi and she nodded as well, crouching down to face Opah. 

"Hey, sweetie, come on up. I'm gonna have to carry you for a bit." 

"Where are we going?" Opah asked. 

"Just need to move somewhere else for a while. It's okay," Metsumi said in a calm tone. Ayami and Jino both stood from where they were sitting. They hurriedly walked over to the front door and Keiko stepped aside, wordlessly letting them pass. 

The Zayama's eyes fell on Caroline and Keiko walked over to her. 

"Come on, the demons are right outside, we need to go!" 

At that, Caroline shook her head. 

"No, it's alright." 

"What?" Keiko shook her head. Admittedly, Keiko was still annoyed at Caroline over what she and Kaori had done, but that didn't mean she wanted the woman to die here, needlessly. "What are you talking about? Just come on, we can just go." 

"Love, I'm not leaving this place." Caroline sighed as she crossed her arms. "I'm not going to leave my baby here. I have nothing else, Keiko. This is it for me. I can't just keep going without the inn." 

Keiko heard her and paused. Then, she walked up and, as lightly as she could, slapped Caroline in the face. 

The green-haired girl took the hit and blinked twice. Keiko then put her hands on Caroline's shoulders. 

"Are you dumb?" Keiko asked. "The inn can be rebuilt, Caroline. After this is all done, you can come back. You can make this place again, you did it the first time, right? You told me about it. I still remember that talk. You had nothing, built this place up from nothing, and still became a success. Why would you throw everything away just because this version of the inn might be getting taken down? You can rebuild! Just come on," she pleaded. "This isn't the end for the inn. Trust me, just wait for us to win. Please." 

Caroline took those words in with gleaming eyes before chuckling. 

"Wow. I didn't know you cared that much," Caroline laughed a little more. "Ah, shit... You made some sense though." 

"I... She's not wrong," Tye said. "But, that's if Onyx wins the war here."

"We can," Keiko said, and she absolutely believed that. 

Mainly, because she trusted her friends. Kaori and Ash would find a way. More than any god they had on their side, or the well-equipped army, Keiko trusted them to pull through. 

"And once this is all done, you can make this place just as good as it was, if not better. But, that means you need to live for that to happen, right? So, come on!" 

Hearing that, Caroline took a few seconds to think. Then, she sighed.

"... Shit, fine," Caroline said and with that, they all walked out of the inn, together. 

Outside, Keiko saw Yumi fighting back a few demons with ease. Indeed, outside of that one abnormality, she was simply too fast for any of these other enemies to deal with. 

"Yumi, come on!" 

She turned around and nodded. 

"Right." 

And, with that, the group began sprinting in the direction of the Grey Chamber, hoping that demon wouldn't chase them there.