Back over where the demons were attacking en-mass, Ceph was facing a demon variant of centaurs.
Instead of the demon having an equine half, it had the long body of a centipede. The demon also had four arms in total and massive mandibles for a mouth. Giving her an utterly terrifying appearance.
In her arms, she carried a massive poleaxe. Its heft was such that even a normal centaur would probably struggle to keep their balance with it in hand. Yet, she wielded it like it was a toy.
Her random swings tore trees from the ground, and if their roots were particularly persistent, the tree would be splintered into pieces.
Every time Ceph dodged, he could feel the wind from the attack knocking at his body. Telling the tale of how it wouldn't simply cut him apart. It would crush him. Leave nothing but a paste behind.
Knowing the danger her weapon presented, Ceph continued to dodge. Having taken his elven form for its nimbleness. Yes, his elven form was weaker, had less natural armor. But that wouldn't make a difference in the face of her monstrous poleaxe.
Spells were proving mostly ineffective. The poleaxe was enhanced with something that allowed it to disrupt spells.
This meant even though the hippo centipede demon couldn't use magic and seemed incapable of even calling on its mana. She was completely capable of defending against spells.
Worse, her numerous insect legs allowed her steady purchase in the ruined forest. Allowed her to suddenly shift the motion of her attack and even scale trees (or their ruins) to attack from above.
And those legs... they weren't harmless either. Their tips were colored differently. And Ceph had seen the venom dripping from them. Deathly, that was all he could call it.
Honestly, Ceph would rather face Terror than her. At least he understood how their uncanny way of attacking worked. Yes, they could morph any part of their body to attack, but there were signs.
'Crap! That was too close!' Desperate, Ceph took to the skies. Hoping to gain some time to recover and assess how to face this unknown entity. However, as soon as he left her range, she turned to the others.
Ceph couldn't allow that. He was the only one facing just one demon. The others were standing against two, three, or even four. Allowing someone to be even more outnumbered was simply not something he could swallow.
Luckily, height gave Ceph an advantage. He could see the scale of the battle, what was happening, where his opponent was going, and that she was no longer paying him much—if any—attention.
'I'll only have one chance. So I have to make it count.' Ceph told himself. He kept himself up high, pulled out a weapon Eldrian had gifted him, and readied for his attack.
Ceph did not have any ultimate attack like Eldrian. He couldn't call upon powers like auras to enhance his magic. However, he could use magic almost completely intuitively.
Thus, he focused his all on his attack. The gap of two Tiers would not deter him. He would—no, he had to. He had to kill her. He had to relieve the pressure on the others.
With his determination burning, Ceph held the spear in hand. It wasn't at the level of Crystoi, but it didn't need to be. It wasn't even worth the title of Tier 5 that it held. But that was fine. Ceph didn't normally need weapons.
Normally, he would wield the daggers or the sword his parents had given him. But, at this moment, he needed something with more of an impact.
Collecting his mana around the spear, Ceph formed a funnel with the surrounding wind. He summoned multiple barriers around himself. Cloaked himself from the light, making himself little more than a shadow. And contacted his allies.
Gripping the spear in hand, Ceph readied himself. Hiding his presence as best he could, he waited. Until...
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