The Fiend's Creation System

Humans vs. Fiends 2

Julius and his homunculi flanked the humans from the far side of the treeline where they were most concentrated.

It was easy for his homunculi to overpower them. They had lower basic stats than his homunculi. Only a few were above their human standards and even then, they were still overpowered. 

The number of scouts on this side of the forest wasn’t many so with Julius’s forces, he was able to quickly deal with them before they could send the news to their main force about his presence.

“We’ll ambush them so stay low or high up in the trees. Our only objective is to cause enough mayhem that the humans will be forced to focus their attention on us. After that, Eisha and the elves will attack.”

Julius knocked an arrow and shot down a human who was trying to run away. “We’ll act as the knife that’ll stab them in their flanks.”

“Lord, if they ignore us?” Proto asked.

“Then we’ll just slowly twist the blade.”

It didn’t matter to Julius. Either way, he’d be able to deal a significant blow to the humans. 

Just as he ordered, the homunculi stayed low on the ground or moved through the treetops as stealthily as they could.

Whenever they found a team of humans, they would immediately attack like a swarm and devour them before they could do anything. Swift and clean, that was the style Julius preferred especially when he had the advantage of the minimap and the mobility of his units.

It was only after Julius and his homunculi had pushed so far into the flanks of the human forces that City Lord Viktor finally received news about their presence.

“What? How was this reported only now?!”

“My Lord, the forces striking at our flanks were stealthy and quick in their attacks. We’ve lost many squads because of their swift attacks and they weren’t able to relay any sort of message.”

“Tsk, send a few squadrons to tie them down! We have to keep our main force here and guard against the elves. Our trap didn’t work as expected and those attacks are clearly only a decoy!”

“Yes sir.”

“Those long-eared bastards. It seems they’ve acquired some help!”

Julius was hiding in wait for the reaction from the humans. He noticed that only a few red dots had separated from the main human force and smirked.

“Hehe, so they think we’re just a decoy, huh?”

“What now, Lord?”

“We’ll blitz them. Quickly take care of the detached forces and heal up any of our injured by consuming their corpses. Then, we’ll strike at their rear.”

“Yes, my Lord.’

Over at Eisha’s side, she was currently working together with the elves to break through the tar field ahead of them. The humans, for some reason or another, continued to send tar in their direction.

Eisha couldn’t understand what they were aiming for since she and the elves had retreated to the nature magic-created bridge that the elves used to cross the river.

Since they had retreated that far back, the humans’ futile attempt to burn them was rendered useless. They were just wasting their resources now. Elder Vysin had already issued orders for the elves to move upstream, similar to how Julius had moved downstream so that they could flank them.

Eisha had informed the elder of Julius’s plans so the elf didn’t hesitate to copy him. It was better than just standing there on the bridge waiting for the humans to stop their futile actions.

Vysin didn’t send all of his forces to flank the humans. He kept most of his soldiers with him on the bridge because he wanted to see what they were up to. 

Viktor had long since noticed the elves’ movements. His response was to tighten up his force's right flank. Unfortunately for him, his left flank was still being pestered by the elves’ allies. 

He received word that the enemies his army’s left flank was dealing with weren’t humans at all. The way they moved was as fast as lightning, leaving behind claw traces and bite marks on their victims.

The way they killed was also gruesome. Most of the corpses left behind were torn in two or had their heads and some parts of their bodies missing as if they were bitten off.

Not once has his men caught a glimpse of how they looked like. The only thing they saw before dying was a white flash or a streak of red. Viktor had even cruelly tried to sacrifice a team of his soldiers so that their scouts would be able to see who or what it was they were fighting against.

However, even these soldiers weren’t exempted from death. Most of them had an arrow pierced through their head or heart while some had parts of their bodies blasted apart. Since he couldn’t get any information, Viktor finally deemed the ‘thorn’ on his side was worth more attention than just the elves who were turtling behind their barrier.

The tar spread out in front of the elves was enough to raise a hellfire so he didn’t need to worry about the elves suddenly charging in. The ground was slippery and sticky so rushing over it was also not an option, to begin with, and the elves themselves knew this.

“Bring half of our main force to deal with the thorn on our side. Make sure you eradicate all of them!” Viktor ordered.

Once the human army began moving in full, Julius was immediately aware of it. The large movements on his minimap didn’t escape his eyes and he knew that his plan finally worked.

‘Eisha, tell Vysin that the humans have turned their attention on me. Have them shift the land and funnel the black tar into the river. Having our homunculi help out as well but make sure to keep the humans from knowing. Also, have some of our homunculi consume the tar. It isn’t harmful to us and we may have a use for it later!’ Julius telepathically communicated.

Eisha gave an immediate response and told Elder Vysin of the humans’ movements. After that, without alarming the humans, Eisha’s homunculi began shifting the earth near them with a little help from the elves. 

The sludgy black liquid began to slowly flow out into the river. Thankfully, the area between the riverside and the treeline was sloped slightly into the river so the tar was able to easily flow down.

Eisha’s homunculi began consuming a little bit of the tar flowing but after seeing that it really didn’t harm them, Eisha ordered for them to quicken the consumption. The elves were a little repulsed seeing this but they didn’t pay any mind to it after a while. 

The skin of the homunculi who consumed the tar began changing from grey to black. Eisha didn’t know what this entailed but Julius had received a system prompt.

[Flammable Liquid has been consumed, Incendiary Homunculi has been created]

[Unit

Incendiary Homunculi

Rank: C

Lvl: -

STR: C

AGI: C+

INT: D+

Skills: [Transform C], [Blind D], [Combustion B]

Addition: High Speed Combustive Reparation]

“A new unit… well, this is good. Let’s see what they can do later.”

Since he was now being targeted, Julius began making a whole lot of ruckus to get more attention to this side. He sniped and killed as many humans from afar as he could while his homunculi would occasionally strike at the flanks of the human army’s formation and drag out a few unfortunate souls with their tentacles into the dense foliage above.

With the eerie way they began losing their comrades, the soldiers’ morales were struck hard and they hesitated to even take a single step forward. Julius continued to play mind games with the humans as he struck and pulled on the cords of their sanity.

He had his homunculi regurgitate a few human body parts and the blood that they drank all over the soldiers down below. It was such a cruel sight but he enjoyed every minute of it as he relished in the horrific cries of the soldiers.

When he began dropping the heads of his victims on the soldiers below and showed them the horrifying expressions of their comrades, it was literally the last straw on the camel’s back.

The ruckus within the forest immediately caught the attention of both the elves and the humans. Viktor, who was acting as the commander and standing at the backline couldn't help but grow wary when he heard the cries of his men.

“What the hell is going on?!”

“I-I’m not sure, my lord―”

“Then find out! I didn’t pay you to stand around! Go you fool!”

“...Yes sir…”

Vysin also heard the commotion, it was then that he decided to make his move. The tar spread out on the area ahead of them had mostly been siphoned away into the river.

It contaminated the waters a bit but it was being washed downstream anyway. In their current situation, they didn’t have time to worry about the environment anyway. Eisha also asked them to not be so lenient to the humans later during the battle.

This request naturally caused Vysin to frown. They weren’t so keen on killing the humans despite their transgressions but after giving him a little bit of reasoning, Vysin promised not to be merciful.

Only the old elder elves were like this while the younger ones were more than willing to comply. They hated the humans to the core especially due to the recent events that have been happening to them.

They all wanted nothing more than to kill those humans but the elders of their forest were always against it and reminding them that the consequences of going against their long-established rules. 

Eisha had cheated a little when she convinced Elder Vysin. Despite being a long-lived elf, Vysin was one of the younger elders and Eisha had tempted him with a few mind tricks.

She was going to be the first in history to convince an elf to kill someone. For both Eisha and Julius, being unable to kill another living creature, was just something they couldn’t understand.

As Fiends, they consumed the lives of other beings, just like the Fallen, to grow and develop as a race. It wasn’t just living organisms, but consuming materials and elements were able to change the homunculi and evolve them into something more.

They were created in the image of the Fallen’s abilities and characteristics. These were just one of their abilities. 

A little more time had passed when suddenly, a large explosion was heard on the other side of the forest at Julius’s location. A few of the large trees within the area toppled over and the cries of battle resonated in the air.

Eisha saw this as the signal and quickly transformed. She used Metamorphosis and thanks to the cover of the elves’ barrier, the humans couldn’t see her grotesque transformation.

The elves were surprised to see her change but Eisha didn’t even bother to register their thoughts and expression. She immediately ordered her evolved homunculi to rush towards the treeline and attack the humans.

She shot high into the air before swooping back down and into the forest. Eisha aimed for the mages that could light the tar on fire and began slicing them apart with her sharp wings and claws. 

In her Metamorphosis form, Eisha was a human meat-grinding machine. Her sudden appearance shocked the soldiers despite her possessing this otherworldly beauty and presence that was exuding from every fiber of her being. She was mowing down the mages in the backline and thanks to her mobility and agility, all attention was focused on her.

“What the hell is that?!”

Viktor shrieked in horror. Even though Eisha still had her beautiful face and voluptuous body even in her Metamorphosis state, her monster-like appearance was not something to be taken lightly of.

Especially when Viktor saw the way she was killing his prized squadron of elite mages like she was cutting down wheat. 

Before he could even issue the order to pin the monster woman down, multiple explosions happened at the location of his army’s vanguards. Along with the explosions were also the battle cries of the elves who had rushed past the treeline.

“What now?!” Viktor cried as he turned his attention back to where the elves were and saw a grim scene.

“Dammit! These were all just distractions! Tell the mages to fire! Light up the tar! Quickly!”

“B-but sir, that...that witch! She’s not letting any of our mages go! Any of them that tries to chant a spell is immediately killed!”

“Dammit! You good for nothing bastards!”

More explosions happened on the frontlines. The source of the explosions was naturally the evolved Incendiary Homunculi. They had jumped into the middle of the human army’s vanguards and activated their [Combustion] skill.

The skill basically ignited and blew up their flesh. Normally, they should have died but thanks to their new addition, the High-Speed Combustion Reparation, they were able to quickly regenerate their bodies at the cost of the explosive chemicals that they used to combust themselves.

The chemicals were naturally produced so they only needed to wait a few moments before they could repeat the process.

With the homunculi opening the way, and Eisha distracting all the mages, the elves safely made it through the tarred-up area and began attacking the human army. Unlike before, they didn’t have any ounce of mercy.

Their elven longswords and spears sliced through the human soldiers’ armor while their arrows and spells struck to kill. There was no leniency this time for the humans had gone far past the line of tolerance from a long while ago so the elves unleashed hell on them.