The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 46 Aberrant Demon

"These clueless bastards!"

Ten minutes had elapsed since the separation from the Gray Dwarves, and Bruto was still seething about the recent events.

Lancelot carefully scouted ahead for danger. He felt slightly uneasy, always sensing that he might have overlooked some detail, and Dunif's parting glance must have held a particular reason.

Under the subconscious operation of the Ice Heart Spell's mental method, he found himself calming down and began to meticulously recall the entire recent process.

"How many people did the Craftsmen Committee say were in that Gray Dwarf mining team?" he suddenly turned back and asked Barrend.

"Twelve, why?"

"The group of Gray Dwarves we just saw was nine, right?"

"Correct." The old Dwarf nodded, "There was a Gray Dwarf's corpse inside that mud creature, and the flesh hadn't even decomposed properly, clearly it had been devoured recently. Plus, the two bodies we found earlier at the fourteenth worksite, the numbers exactly match up."

Lancelot nodded; he figured out where the unease stemmed from.

"From now on, maintain the highest alert for any Gray Dwarves we encounter in our sight," Lancelot declared.

"What are you talking about?" Barrend looked at him confused, "Didn't we just count? Three bodies, nine survivors, the numbers match up."

"Especially those survivors," Lancelot answered without turning back.

Everyone shrugged their shoulders and discontinued the topic. They continued downwards for another half hour, stopping as they encountered waves of pitiful wailing.

"I might know what creature made that sound," Kalalin whispered, "Move lightly, let's get closer and see."

The group stealthily made their way forward and, around a corner, they saw five Demons emitting continuous wails.

A mere glance was enough to understand why these Demons were wailing. Merely looking at them was painful; their bodies were covered with sores and abscesses, with some areas devoid of skin, muscles exposed to the air. Yet, upon closer observation, they could vaguely make out the limbs and torsos typical of humanoid beings.

They looked as though a giant hand had kneaded them into a ball before unfolding them again. Their legs were bent sideways instead of forward, their backs hunched like boiled shrimps, all facial features present but randomly arranged, such as eyes located in the mouth and one ear on the head while another on the chin.

The arms were the only part that seemed somewhat normal, which implied they still possessed normal fighting capabilities. Most of these twisted Demons held a type of long-handled weapon similar to a Trident, although severely rusted.

Kalalin gestured, and the group carefully retreated.

"Moradin above, what on earth was that?" Bruto was the first to speak. He had seen many Demons before, terrifying, ugly, and even handsome and beautiful ones, but it was his first time seeing such pitiful Demons.

"Those were Aberrant Demons." Kalalin explained with a grim face, "The Abyss itself does not give birth to such demons; they are all creations of somewhat high-ranking Demons."

"But they look like…" Bruto tried to find the right adjective, "not very suitable for combat?" Explore stories on empire

"One explanation is that the Demon Lord who created them wasn't that powerful.

Creating stronger demons might consume too much, or might be hard to control," Kalalin recalled from the knowledge he had seen before, "It's said that they are twisted directly from the lowest-level Prime Demon or Coward Devils, ascending only consumes a little of the Demon Lord's magic power, ensuring that the subject doesn't die in this extremely painful process.

Occasionally, higher-ranking Demons are made to take this form, mostly as some kind of punishment."

"Their torment ends here," Lancelot said resolutely. "Is there anything we need to be cautious of?"

"We don't know much about the Aberrant Demons, but for evil creatures, pain is also a source of power," Kalalin reminded. "They might possess some technique-like abilities, and most demons can summon their kind, which could be more dangerous than the demons themselves."

"Understood," Lancelot nodded. After a moment of thought, he began to arrange the tactics: "I'll charge at the front; Bruto, watch my back and any additional summoned enemies. Kalalin, you stay in the rear; Barrend is responsible for any that slip through. Any problems with that?"

"Let's just get started," Bruto suppressed his anger. "From the moment I saw them, the only thought in my mind was to smash these disgusting creatures into pulp."

"I completely agree with you there," Lancelot said, drawing his longsword Frostslash.

They snuck back to the spot from where they had stealthily observed the enemy earlier. The terrain there was narrow and easier to defend than to attack, perfectly suited for Kalalin and Barrend to stay put.

Lancelot took out a sharply-edged silver coin, specially modified by Bruto for him. He took a deep breath and aimed the coin at the farthest enemy, throwing it.

A silver streak flashed across the sky, and the struck Aberrant Demon fell with a large chunk of its skull sheared off, but it seemed not yet dead, struggling to stand.

The rest of the Aberrant Demons instinctively looked towards their attacked kin; just then, Lancelot and Bruto charged out.

Lancelot employed a footwork technique he had learned from ancient bamboo slips. According to the revered Han Tianzun, it was a favorite move of his youth that had saved his name multiple times in critical moments, but Lancelot found it extremely useful for launching surprise attacks on enemies.

The effect was striking. Although dwarves were naturally a bit slower than humans, when Lancelot reached the first enemy, Bruto had only covered half the distance.

As he charged, Lancelot held his longsword aloft on his shoulder, grasping the handle with both hands. The Aberrant Demon finally noticed the incoming enemy, but as it turned its head, the great sword's blade filled its entire field of vision.

"Damn! Leave some for me!"

Bruto witnessed Lancelot's astonishing over-the-shoulder charge and slash, and the unguarded enemy was cleaved in two by the strike. He couldn't help but shout anxiously.

Lancelot had no time to chat; following the downward slash was a horizontal slash, parrying an incoming trident from another Aberrant Demon. Taking advantage of the enemy's exposed defense, he turned his sword back for a thrusting stab, ending the twisted demon's agony.

This was his most commonly used attack combination, executed countless times on the battlefield, polished to perfection.

But only when facing the enemy again did Lancelot truly appreciate how much spiritual cultivation had enhanced him.

True Qi naturally circulated within him, making the longsword feel as light to wield as a broomstick. His speed had increased by at least a third, and his final thrust even left him with time to aim for the heart.

Moreover, the cold iron construction of the weapon inflicted significant additional damage to the demons. Demons naturally possessed extremely tough bodies, their musculature acting like armor, but Frostslash could easily breach this defense, frosting the impacted area and suppressing the demons' powerful regenerative abilities.

Two more Aberrant Demons came at him; Lancelot calmly parried all their attacks, never falling into disadvantage despite being outnumbered.

Then Bruto joined the fray, slamming his shield hard into an Aberrant Demon that tried to join the assault on Lancelot and then habitually swinging his hammer at where the knee should be.

He missed; there was nothing where the knee was supposed to be.