The Fiend's Creation System

Attack 3

Before the High Priest could finish his spell, Proto quickly made his move and interrupted him. 

His tentacles shot out through the cloth that was wrapped around him, aiming straight for the high priest's head. Paladin Captain Balt was able to quickly react as he stepped forward in front of the priest and parried the attack with his shield.

The force of Proto’s attack pushed the captain back and sent him colliding with the high priest. With his spell broken, Quint couldn’t erect the holy barrier that would entrap Eisha. 

Eisha’s hands transformed into claws as she swiped away the blade that was aiming at her back.

“Hmph!”

Eisha quickly turned around and impaled her claws into the unfortunate soldier that bravely stepped forward to attack her. She yanked out the human’s heart before crushing it in her palm.

“You should have turned back while you still had the chance. Now, no one gets to leave!”

Eisha transformed and immediately released a cry into the air. The forest began to stir as Eisha’s fiends emerged from their hiding spots within the area around the human’s camp.

Seeing the pale, grim-faced monsters that had appendages in the shape of various weapons rushing at them, the humans could help but feel afraid. These weren’t the typical monsters that they were used to dealing with. 

The first fiend quickly rushed into the midst of the humans and began cutting them apart. Their weapon-transformed arms easily sliced through the humans’ armor while the ones with blunt weapons tossed the humans up into the air before sending them over to a fellow fiend who sliced them in half.

“Capture her! If we capture this witch, the rest of them will―”

Before the man could say anymore, Proto rushed towards him and impaled the unfortunate human with his tentacles. They pierced into his body and Proto pulled the man apart.

“AAAHHHH!!!”

He died a very gruesome and painful death. The way the man died was so grotesque it caused the humans to falter in fear. Only the paladins still had their emotions in check so Balt quickly raised his voice and shouted.

“Don’t let fear control you! Keep your minds strong and rally together! Get into defensive formation and push back the enemy!”

The paladins took the lead and began forming a phalanx while the adventurers and mercenaries regained their wits and fell into line. Unfortunately, not everyone in their scouting group was here.

There were still some priests and mercenaries back at the camp which was now being overrun by the fiends. Eisha made sure that there wasn’t going to be a single survivor within the human camp because it would cause Julius and them some problems if a single human survived and was able to let the church know about what happened today.

Her level was just about to hit level 50 but even after killing a few creatures and even the human from earlier, it wasn’t enough to let her level up. There was some kind of percentage next to her level bar on her status screen but she didn’t know what it was for.

[Status

Name: Eisha de Ephalerith

Race: Fiend 

Class: Queen of Fiends

Level: 49 (48,999/49000) (50%)

STR: 88 (A-) / 44 (C-)

AGI: 91 (A) / 45 (C-)

INT: 100 (A+) / 50 (C)

Skills: [Quick Step A], [Frenzy A+], [Fiend’s Eye S],

Additions: [Fiend’s Zeal], [Metamorphosis]

Condition: Abnormal, Hungry, Weakened            ]

She didn’t know why, but after using Metamorphosis she had greatly weakened. Since this morning, she felt something was off about her body and it became worse when she transformed earlier. This was bad because even after transforming back, her stats didn’t recover and she was still in her weakened state right now.

“Wh-what’s going on?”

Eisha wanted to quickly retreat from the fight but she was currently surrounded. She could just fly out, but there were archers and mages within the humans’ ranks. In her weakened state, it would be dangerous if she flew away and was hit by a few of their attacks.

She panicked a bit and Proto felt her anxiety. 

“My Queen, follow me. I’ll break through their lines so you can escape.”

“Then what about you?”

“I’ll be just fine. Now hurry.”

Their conversation didn’t escape Balt’s ears. He had been keeping an eye on the two monsters and was waiting for them to make a move. Earlier, when he saw the woman transform, it greatly frightened him because her aura had reached a level far beyond his but now that he probed her again, the woman’s aura had greatly weakened for some reason.

He didn't know why, but this was definitely his god helping him out of their dire situation. “That momentary transformation weakened her! The gods are on our side! Men, on me! We’re going to kill that witch!”

“Follow the captain!

“Kill the witch!”

“Raahhhh!!”

Eisha and Proto quickly noticed that the humans caught on to their situation. Proto didn’t know what was going on with his queen, but he knew that it was his mission to safely escort her out of the encirclement. 

Eisha’s guards were already cutting their way towards their location so Proto only had to move in their direction and meet up somewhere in the middle before they would escort Eisha out of the battlefield.

A few attacks were immediately sent their way from the paladins who were moving in their direction. Proto blocked the attack using his tentacles and started attacking the nearby humans.

He was moving in the direction of Eisha’s fiend soldiers but with just him alone, it was nearly impossible to make any significant progress. The few fiends he could control, Proto immediately ordered for them to recklessly break through the human wall.

The battlefield became even more chaotic as the fiends began to rampage through the battlefield with only one objective in mind which was to rescue their queen. With the fiends going on a frenzy, Balt was even more sure that there was something wrong with the woman and that she was important to the pale white demons.

Quint also noticed this so he frantically ordered, “Quick! Capture her! We must take her alive! Those abominations will stop attacking if we capture her!”

“You don’t need to tell me twice!”

Proto was doing his best to impede the humans with his numerous tentacles but they could only do so much. The paladins cut them down with ease but they made little progress pushing forwards because Proto would sometimes unearth the ground and flip the terrain onto them. 

Proto’s battle prowess wasn’t that great, but thanks to his empowered homunculus abilities, he was able to easily destroy the terrain around them. The paladins needed some time to get over the upturned ground and it only made things hard for them when Eisha and Proto began hurling stones and earth in their direction.

Proto and the normal homunculi shined in a frenzy and chaotic battle like this where enemies were attacking you from all sides. Their versatile and easily changeable tentacles could become just about anything so they could handle many types of unexpected situations. 

It was thanks to this that Proto was able to defend Eisha and prevent all of the humans from approaching her.

However, this level of control and manipulation came at a cost. Proto was consuming his energy at a rapid rate to defend his queen and this wouldn’t last long. Once his energy ran out, the two would be at the mercy of the humans.

Thankfully, Proto was only trying to buy some time so that their allies could rush in to save them. If nothing was wrong with Eisha, things wouldn’t have panned out this way. 

Eisha at first wanted to negotiate with the humans but it was a foregone conclusion that things wouldn’t work out. Eisha was just being hopeful but reality slapped her back in the face. The humans couldn’t be reasoned with and her attempt to make them turn back and leave them in peace was all in vain since the priests insisted on carrying out their ‘duty’ in eliminating all forms of evil beings.

Eisha was angry that those lesser creatures dared to call her husband and her family evil. All of the fiends in their colony were like family to her. She watched them spawn and took great care in every one of their growths and evolutions.

There was nothing that drove them to do anything categorized as evil so how could someone label them as evil. The truly evil people were the humans who after dispelling the mimics’ transformation immediately attacked them one-sidedly. Just because they were different, they were killed without even

“Why did I weaken at the most crucial moment… these disgusting humans… I want to kill them all!”

In the distance, Eisha saw her fiends rushing in their direction. It was very noble of them to rescue her but she had to watch as a few of them died on the way to her while she couldn’t do anything.

Her eyes were red with rage that she didn’t pay attention to the threat that was already so close to her. She was suddenly shoved to the ground by Proto and when she looked up…

“P-Proto?”

“...Live on, my Queen…”

Those were Proto’s last words before his small body was split in half by a sword, glimmering with light.

Eisha just stared blankly at Proto’s bisected corpse.

“We’ve captured her!” Balt roared.

Quint quickly stepped forward and grabbed Eisha’s face and yelled, “You witch! Tell your abominations to stop attacking, or else we’ll end your life!”

“...”

“Tell them!”

Eisha’s blank gaze quickly turned into a sharp glare as a voice echoed inside her head, bringing her back to reality, "Do...you..."

"...grant... ...er"

"kill..."

"...an."

It was incoherent but she knew what she had to do. She initiated her Metamorphosis again but this time, she wasn’t weakened. Her skill worked as intended and her stats were amplified. She quickly cut off the hands that were holding her face and impaled the high priest with one of her wings.

“You should tell your humans to back off!” Eisha screeched in rage, her voice sounding gravelly and distorted.

Seeing her transformation, Balt quickly stepped forward and roared, “Die, witch!”

Balt swung his glowing sword down on Eisha but she quickly backed away and shielded her body with her other wing. The sword cut apart her wing and it caused Eisha to screech in pain.

“Bastard! I’ll kill this human if you don’t back off!”

Eisha threatened the paladin, but Balt wasn't phased. He raised his sword and resolutely said, “His life is in the hands of our Lord now! Men, don’t back down. Kill the witch!”

“Ugh, Balt, what are you...doing?” Quint asked weakly, blood spilling from his mouth.

He was still impaled on Eisha’s wing but the paladins didn’t stop rushing at Eisha even when she moved him in front of them to stop their attacks. She was using the high priest as a human shield but it didn’t hinder the paladins one bit.

They swung their weapons and attacked her, sometimes hitting the high priest that was impaled on her wing. Eisha actually didn't have the heart to use the high priest as a shield so she was struck a few times by the paladins' blades.

Normally, she would be able to heal quickly, but the magic they used to enchant their swords hindered her regeneration. She had it rough but it was even worse for the high priest impaled on her wing. The man, or what was left of him, had long since died. His body was cut up and mangled and this horrified Eisha.

She quickly threw the body away in disgust before backing away from the paladins whose magic was fatal to her.

“You, you people are the monsters!” Eisha cried out. 

She couldn’t believe that these people wouldn’t hesitate to turn on each other mercilessly like this. She threatened them with their companion’s life but instead of helping him, they ended his life for her.