“Was that really necessary?” Choshi asked timidly.
I slung the spirit weapon back over my shoulder. “I hit him with everything I had, and he still kept coming. And I’ve seen enough movies to know that unstoppable monsters like to lull their prey into a false sense of security.”
I glanced over my shoulder to check the situation with the demons. Faryn and Kumi kept up a valiant offense on the monk’s creatures. Tolin sat in exactly the same spot in the tree, his eyes closed as he muttered to himself, seemingly lost in his own world. I drew the Depthless Dream from my back, heard Yono’s breath hitch in excitement, and dipped the head of the trident into the water.
“Yes, Master,” Yono sighed. “Finally, a welcome respite from dry land. And just for that, I’ll give you a little tutelage for your gift to me.”
“Is this really the best time for swimming lessons?” I asked as I summoned a thick blanket of Smothering Mist around the demons closest to my friends.
“Channel the Crashing Wave technique,” Yono said. “But rather than push or pull it to your will, focus on the stillness of the water. You’ve done this before. This time, I want you to reach out with me.”
I took a deep breath and reached out to touch the water around my knees, sending Vigor down the corresponding pathways for Crashing Wave technique. Instead of pushing or pulling it into a roaring tidal wave, I pictured a still pond and trusted Yono’s words. The Depthless Dream trembled in my hand, and I drew it out of the water.
Ice sparkled in the low light around the trident’s prongs. A frozen greatsword stretched out from the head of the trident, a yard long and a foot wide, and my eyes widened at the sight. I’d channeled ice through the Depthless Dream before, but nothing like this. I hefted the blade experimentally. It barely weighed more than the Demure Rebirth.
“Now let water flow through you,” Yono whispered, “and cleanse the evil of this place.”
She didn’t need to tell me twice.
With a flick of my will, water flooded my physical pathways, and I sprinted out of the stream. The ground blurred under my feet as I crossed the distance between myself and the nearest demon in a second. The demon half-turned, its scarlet eyes wide, and my ice greatsword tore through it like paper. The armored fur of the Greater Soldiers couldn’t hold up against the power of Yono or the strength of my Augmentation. Viscera splashed over the grass as the demon collapsed into two messy halves.
Another demon ripped through Faryn’s grasping roots with a set of razor-sharp claws and leapt at her with a maw of dripping teeth. I gestured, and a wall of Plank Pillars rose in a defensive shell around Faryn. The demon crashed uselessly into the wooden pillar, tearing and scraping, and I rammed my huge blade into the center of its chest, cutting through its spine and covering me in black, foul-smelling blood.
“I take it your quarry is no longer with us?” Faryn asked as she appeared from behind my Plank Pillars.
“He went for a swim,” I replied as I turned to bail out Kumi.
The Qihin Princess whistled a bar of music, and a strand of falling water struck her enemy’s back. Hissing steam and the acrid smell of burning flesh wafted up from the demon. I activated Hidden Burrow to get closer and appeared beside Kumi in a small eruption of dirt and grass.
I charged my veins with fire and grabbed a fistful of the demon’s hair. Its claws raked over my robes as I tore it away from Kumi, but its natural weaponry wasn’t enough to pierce my reinforced body. I tossed the demon up into the air, grabbed hold of the trident with both of my hands, and activated Crashing Wave. A razor arc of water sprang from the icy edge of my improvised weapon and caught the demon in mid-air. It howled as one of its arms spun away from its body. I kept up the momentum of the swing and smashed the Depthless Dream down onto the demon as it landed. The trident-turned-greatsword cut clean through the demon’s neck and slid deep into the earth from the force of the blow.
The demons backed away slowly from us toward the river. A quick glance told me that Tolin was still caught in his meditative trance. I’d seen what had happened to the corrupted monk when he’d tried to interrupt it, so I decided not to bother the old man and focus on helping the others.
I joined Kumi’s side and offered her a hand up. She took it, rose wearily to her feet, and grimaced as she glanced over our surviving enemies. The five demons weren’t outnumbered, but without their weapons, they couldn’t hope to match us.
Animal instinct glittered in their eyes. Some turned to glanced at the treeline, and their limbs flexed experimentally as they weighed up the simple equation. Fight, and die. Or run and live to fight another day.
“If they hit the treeline, we won’t be able to catch them,” Kumi said.
“They won’t hit the treeline,” I assured her. “Faryn, lock them down!”
Faryn wiped blood away from her face with the back of her hand and slashed her sword toward the monsters. Strangling Roots burst from the ground around the demon’s feet, snared their ankles, and triggered howls of fury from the monsters. I pointed the Depthless Dream at the
