Black Dog Barghest, also known as the Walking Calamity, is not something that has to be taken lightly. Aside from its violent nature, its insane appetite can also be considered a symbol of Gluttony as well. Now I realize why the symbol of Gluttony is going to save the camp. It is because the one who is considered the symbol of Gluttony itself was the one who wiped out the demons in one go.
It isn't me who was considered the symbol of Gluttony, but the Black Dog Barghest.
"Master, be careful, there is no way we can avoid combat against this monster!"
Just as we are about to fight Black Dog Barghest, one demon emerges behind the cage, holding a key holder, and casually swinging it around.
"It seems you all have finally arrived."
I was surprised. He wasn't eaten? That's a first. After all, Black Dog Barghest is known to attack and eat its victims once it overpowers them. No one has ever managed to control its hunger and getting very close to the Black Dog Barghest without any sort of weapon or protection to stop its attacks is only what you call suicide. But this demon who just appeared was not even bothered by the presence of the walking calamity. In fact, it seems the Black Calamity does not even attack him.
"Impossible, did he manage to tame the Black Dog Barghest?!" I frowned.
"Pretty close, but not that close. I didn't tame it. I, Lakius, became its worshipper and as a result, the great Black Dog Barghest is now akin to a demi-god. Beings like humans are no longer a threat to it. And since the great being holds me as an important being, it does not harm me in the slightest."
"But aren't demons value the life of other demons? Which is why they are rescuing their comrades?" Lucia frowned. She does not understand the actions of Lakius and neither do I.
"Value? For me, valuing the life of others is a weakness. You only value your life and that is the only thing that is going to get rid of that weakness. And with that, things are not just going to be the same."
"Enough of this nonsense, Manato, everyone, why should we keep listening to this guy? Let's beat this guy and this dog and let's get this business end already!"
I nodded. "Couldn't agree with you more," I pulled out my gun and immediately released a gunshot toward Lakius.
Lakius tried to dodge but his dodging skills were pretty much nonexistent and before he could avoid the bullet, his left arm exploded and he gripped the place where his left arm was supposed to be to control the bleeding.
"Urgh...I see... Khhh...No wonder you are all lacking in terms of understanding. Since you all are trying to die anyway, then let the feast begin!"
Black Dog Barghest howled into the air and a shockwave was generated from his howl. We braced ourselves to not get blown away from the pressure released. Once the howl ended, we immediately went to position. Zena immediately rushed forward and skillfully dodged the attacks of Black Dog Barghest before launching a series of punches to its face. But the dog is clearly not even affected by it and tried to bite on Zena.
BOOM!
But before the black dog can even take a single bite, a large fireball explodes on its chin, and the Black Dog Barghest is interrupted in its attack. An attack that Riko shot. Zena immediately retreated and caught her breath. "Thanks for the save."
"Be careful. One bite from that day and we will be torn to pieces," Rika immediately switched from Zena and continued the momentum as she released a flurry of attacks from her flaming sword.
I also attacked as well in conjunction with Rika's attacks. While Rika was attacking the big guy and taking his aggro, I took advantage of it and stabbed the Black Dog Barghest in its abdomen before running to the side to slice its body open.
SWISH!
Black blood pours down on its big wound as the Black Dog Barghest staggered. However, a few seconds later, the attack that I did close like it got stitched by an invisible needle and thread and stopped its gaping wound. I don't know how strong my attack earlier was. After all, even though the Black Dog Barghest has an HP bar, it is pretty much broken as we cannot even see its name or its stats. It seems to have kind of bugged. My guess though is due to how Lakius decided to worship this monster which allowed the monster to ascend to demi-godhood.
Black Dog Barghest released another howl but as soon as the monster did, two big heads made from some sort of demonic aura appeared and started chomping towards Rika and me.
"Don't block it, run away and dodge it!"
Hearing that, Rika didn't waste her time and started running away. I also started to run away as fast as I can as well. Both Riko and Zena also started running while Lucia went to high ground by going to the top of the walls when the demonic heads tried to attack. Unfortunately, Riko was a bit slow and she didn't get to dodge in time.
CRUNCH!
"GAAAAAHHH!"
Riko screamed in pain as the demonic head bite on her. Her health went critical as a result and she landed on the ground.
"F*CK! Riko!" I immediately rushed towards Riko and checked on her. Lucia, Zena, and Rika also rush towards Riko who is still squirming in pain. Thankfully, it seems the attack didn't change which I am grateful, but Riko is currently debilitated after being bitten by the demonic head. She didn't receive any wounds or her body was torn apart, but a red aura of bite marks was present on her body and she couldn't move. A red aura is also pouring out of her as well.
I grab a Full Restore splash potion and pour down its contents to Riko, restoring her health. However, her debilitated debuff didn't disappear which is a normal thing but this will hamper us a lot.
"Riko!" Rika rushed towards Riko and looked at me and Zena. "Is she fine? What happened to her?!"
"Yeah, she is still fine. But she will be unable to fight for a few minutes. We will have to make do without a mage for now. Also, we have to keep our distance to the f*cker right now."
We turned to look at the Black Dog Barghest that started howling and a black aura seeped into it the moment the Demonic Head that bitten Riko returned to its owner. Its abilities have doubled and the danger level of the monster has increased twofold.
"Did the monster just become a lot stronger?!" Rika frowned.
"No. It seems she sucked out the life force of Riko forcefully causing her to be like this and as a result, the monster dog has powered up a lot. This is not looking good," Lucia frowned and her face got serious.
"Zena, you are strong and quite fast, right? Please take Riko a little bit farther right now but don't stray too far from the battlefield. It seems the Black Dog Barghest will not let you out alive if you try to escape. Our main priority is to keep the Black Dog Barghest far from Riko while also keeping ourselves alive and defeating the Black Dog as soon as possible.
"Alright," Zena grabbed Riko, put her on her back, and retreated a little far from us.
"What are we going to do? It's much faster now compared to before," Rika frowned.
"We will have to outlast this monster until his buffs are gone. From the looks of it, this is just a temporary buff. I looked at Riko's status and her debilitated status is not permanent but has a timer. My guess is that this monster will remain in that form for a few minutes until the effects disappear which will also allow the recovery of Riko from the attack. But before that, we will have to dodge this...!"
We immediately dodged away as the Black Dog Barghest immediately dashed in our direction in the blink of an eye. We still didn't get to properly land when the Black Dog Barghest suddenly changed its direction to my direction and suddenly zoomed in.
I opened my wings and temporarily flew in the air and if I was one second late, my body would have been torn apart by this guy. I pulled out the Pain Delivery and started blasting on the beast.
But as expected of a monster who has undergone physical and magical enhancements temporarily, the bullets that should have been pretty dangerous and can sometimes instakill, didn't even breach its fur. All of my bullets bounced from its body.
Lakius who was dying started laughing seeing our situation.
"Haha...you all won't be able to escape. Death will soon awaits all of you..."
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