[Salvos] 643. Lost (Patreon)

643. Lost

***

It was over. They had lost.

Ultis realized that there was no point fighting anymore. Not against such a terrifying monster. It had killed Asto, Incol, Liquis, and Ocbu. Nonnu was somehow dead too. Unis and Val were nowhere to be found— but Ultis was assuming they were probably dead as well.

It had been an utter massacre. Seven of the Deathsquad Hunters were killed, just like that. And that was not considering what happened to Venas and his group. This mission had been a terrible mistake. According to estimations Ultis had heard, there were only about a thousand Primeval Demons serving under the Demon King. To have even a single Primeval Demon die was a massive blow to Regnorex’s forces.

To have over a dozen dead was certainly going to draw his attention.

But what he did didn’t matter to Ultis. Because she knew she was going to die here. Even with the combination cast Grand Skills of Aliq and Quid, the monster that had slaughtered their comrades emerged completely unscathed.

Now, it loomed over the three remaining Deathsquad Hunters gathered here. Its massive figure rose from the smoking crater, its blazing eyes boring into their horrified faces. Even though it had just been struck by a blast that destroyed an entire mountain, there was not a scratch across the entire length of its body.

“What is this monster?”

Quid whispered as he got to his feet and backed away. Aliq did not say a word— frozen in fear in sheer terror. Ultis pursed her lips as the monster huffed, opening its mandibles wide apart.

It has to be a Primordial Demon… the thought crossed her mind as she stared on. But why is a Primordial Demon— wait…

And she froze. For the first time since the monster had attacked them, Ultis was finally able to use [Identification]. But what she saw wasn’t what she expected in the slightest.

[Lesser God - Lvl. 167]

“A Lesser God…?”

But that wasn’t the only thing that stood out to Ultis. It was the monster’s level that made her eyes snap wide open. It almost took her a moment to process what it said. And even then, she could only fully comprehend it when Quid vocalized her thoughts for her.

“Wait, it’s not a Primordial Demon? That’s impossible.”

Quid wore a crazed smile on his face, almost like he was trying not to laugh at a stupid joke. And this was a joke. It had to be one. How could ten members of the Deathsquad Hunters be wiped out by a single monster that wasn’t even higher-leveled than they were?

Did being a Lesser God make that much of a difference?

Ultis didn’t know. All she could do was look, whispering quietly to herself as she awaited her death.

“Just what is this monster?”

The words left her mouth as she stood frozen in fear. It was said in such a soft voice, Ultis was certain neither of the twins heard her. And yet, seemingly, the monster heard her. It jerked back, before tilting its head curiously.

Ultis blinked, watching as the monster lowered its head down to face her. It opened its mandibles, and she realized this was the end. She was going to be crushed by the monster just like the others.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. It was over. There was nothing else she could do. She was going to die—

“Monster?”

And a booming voice spoke, breaking Ultis out of her thoughts. She looked up with round eyes as the monster spoke. Was she imagining it? No— Quid and Aliq had noticed it too. They exchanged a confused glance as the monster continued.

“I am not a monster— I am Salvos!”

“What…?”

Ultis could only utter that single word as her head spun, trying to understand what was going on.

***

This had been a very annoying fight. Well— it wasn’t really a fight. It was a slaughter. But it was a very slow slaughter.

I had used all of my Grand Skills to get this far. First, I used [The World Of My Mind] to hide in wait, biding my time for the right moment to deal a decisive strike. I wanted to make sure that I took out the highest-leveled member of the Deathsquad Hunters instantly. That was why the next thing I did was activate my Divine Essence, giving me an extreme boost in all my Stats.

I also made sure to transform into the most terrifying monster I could think of, which was an [Ancient Centinel], to intimidate the rest of the Deathsquad Hunters against immediately retaliating. This transformation also ended up proving useful since I was able to take advantage of the biological advantages of a Centinel to dig tunnels through the earth, letting me sow even more discord and chaos before they could comprehend what was happening.

Everything worked out perfectly. Meanwhile, outside of the mountain, Haec and my clones go to work, disposing of the other three Deathsquad Hunters keeping watch. Haec killed one, while my clones dragged two of them underground, hoping to kill them quickly. But they managed to fight back with their own Grand Skills— one of them created a powerful barrier that even my strongest Skills couldn’t penetrate. So my clones were forced to use a Grand Skill of their own.

My clones were forced to finish those two Deathsquad Hunters off with [Claw Of Corruption].

Perhaps my clones didn’t need to use that third Grand Skill. But I had wanted to take out all of the Deathsquad Hunters as fast as possible, which was why my clones resorted to that. Fortunately, since it happened underground, there were no visible signs of corruption up above.

But as I went up to finish off the last three Deathsquad Hunters, two of them decided to combination cast their Grand Skills together. So I was forced to use [My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends] to tank their attack.

And it was a very powerful attack. It literally blew the mountain apart! I hadn’t expected that at all. Thankfully, my Grand Skill made me nigh invincible. No other Skill I had would’ve saved me from that attack. At most, I could’ve teleported out of the way. But I realized there was one problem that came with me being transformed as an [Ancient Centinel]— teleporting took longer than when I was in my normal form.

In any case, seven of the Deathsquad Hunters were already dead. The remaining three had exhausted every option they had left. And it was clear that they had given up. That was why I decided against finishing them off.

Because they already knew they lost. So now, I lowered my head, looking between the three of them. There were two [Jinns], one was red, while the other was blue. They were both Level 162 each. And there was a [Fiend] who was short and thin, wielding a pair of sickles. She looked terribly afraid of me. Which was my intended goal.

The red [Jinn] stood where he was, and he looked like he was at a loss for words. But the blue [Jinn] could still stand. In fact, he even spoke as he narrowed his eyes at me.

“Salvos… I know that name.”

His eyes lit up as he pointed at me.

“You— you are the Enemy!”

“I’m your enemy? I mean, I guess I’m your enemy. But you guys were the ones who were trying to kill my friends. So you’re my enemy.”

I replied simply, casting my gaze to him. He flinched, before gritting his teeth. He created a blue sphere in the palm of his hand as he stepped back.

“You’re the one who ruined our King’s plan to overtake the Mortal Realm. You’re the one who betrayed your Species for the sake of those worthless Humans!”

I blinked a few times, before I nodded at him.

“Oh, yep. I did do that. But I did it to save my friends. Which is also why I killed your friends— sorry about that, by the way!”

“You…”

The blue [Jinn] glared at me.

“Why don’t you just kill us already? Enough wasting our time.”

He spat my way, and I rolled my eyes.

“If I wanted to kill you, I would have already done it. It would be good experience too, anyway.”

I shook my head before meeting his gaze. He shrank back, even if he tried to put on a brave face. I knew that [My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends] was still active, so any attack he threw my way wouldn’t harm me. However, the invulnerability Grand Skill did have a time limit. So I wanted to settle this conversation as soon as possible.

That was why I spoke simply, drawing closer to the three Deathsquad Hunters as they stared in shock.

“But I have an offer to make you. So— how about this? Let’s make a contract. Demon to Demon. If you help me, I will let you live.”

Author's Notes:

Last day to pledge to the Kickstarter and get a signed print edition of Salvos Book 1! It is the first ever print run of Salvos, and I don't know if we'll have any more once the run is over. So get it now if you haven't already!

Salvos Book 1: An Epic LitRPG Fantasy Novel by Merrick Books — Kickstarter

What thonk?

Read next chapter