"We just have to beat her then, leader." Gram says with a casual smile, and the surrounding demons laugh at his words. I don't like it, but if we have to fight to get back to the capital quickly - it's the only way right now. I have to do my best, so that the big man doesn't end up a slave of this beastly woman.
"There you have it. Then, who do you want to go up against first?" Rolan turns to Chandra and asks, but earns a surprised look. It changes into a wide toothy grin and she crosses one pair of arms, spreads another in a challenging gesture, and casually shrugs.
"Just all come at me at the same time. Ya can even use weapons, if ya wanna." She says with a confident expression and shows off that she is ready to fight. We exchange looks between each other and agree on our battle plan wordlessly. It will be the same as against that thousand-eyed demon, where Gram would provide frontline cover for Rolan and I, while Sigurd distracts the enemy with his crossbow.
"... but I shall refrain from shooting at an unarmed and unprotected opponent in a sparring match." Sigurd suddenly states. Even when so much is at stake, he is a man of chivalry. In fact, Rolan and Gram seem to agree, but I certainly don't. If we lose because he doesn't provide backup, the big man will end up a plaything for Chandra. Only prideful fools have the leeway to think of honor in such a situation.
"No, we have to win no matter what. I don't want the big man to become a slave." I speak my mind firmly, causing the others to look at me in surprise. Usually, I don't voice my opinion too often, instead leaving the decision-making to the more experienced members of the group. But I don't want to be separated from Gram. I see understanding in their eyes, because they know that I speak from experience.
"I don't mind. That's not gonna pierce my skin anyway." Chandra interjects and points at the crossbow with a pitiful gaze. "I hope that's not all ya can do." A smug expression fills her face, as she looks at him. It irritates me greatly, and I plan to hit her with my cursed arm several times to send her flying for mocking my friends.
"... just a question. What happens if you die?" Rolan asks carefully. If he's allowed to use a weapon, his glowing sword should be able to win him this battle single-handedly. But it may cost the woman a few limbs, if not her very life.
"Come at me with the intent to kill, and ya might have a chance. But if I die, Shugra'll give ya what ya want." She responds while pumping out her bare chest, entering a powerful stance with all her arms at the ready. When I look at her this way, I can tell that it won't be so easy to overwhelm her even when we have the numerical advantage. I don't know how well Gram will be able to cover for us, if she can just grab his shield and maybe even wrest it from him, while still having enough free hands to block and catch my arm.
"Ya ready?" One of the demons asks when we get into our positions. "Let this be a good fight!" And thus, the start of the battle is announced.
Chandra immediately rushes forward with a wide-eyed grin, aiming straight for Gram, who braces himself and readies his shield. Swiping at him with three arms, the big man's defense is swept aside through sheer power and she immediately aims to subdue Rolan with her other hands. He barely dodges while slashing at her forearms with his old sword. At the same time, Sigurd releases a crossbow bolt, which hits her shoulder and bounces off with no effect.
I approach from Chandra's left and swing my cursed arm against her leg with all my strength, but it feels like I just hit a boulder. She doesn't even register it and lunges at Rolan, the only person she perceives to maybe be able to hurt her. His sword was unable to penetrate her skin, either, but it hit at an awkward angle and with little force as he was still in the process of avoiding her grasp.
Gram gets back into the battle and slams into Chandra from the side, sending her off-balance. Using that opportunity, I hit the back of her knee, while Rolan slashes one of her arms. My attack had no effect but I can see that his draws a little blood. His sword is enchanted with wind magic to improve its cutting power, but the fact that it can only cause such shallow wounds even though normally it's enough to cut hard leather and even chainmail, shows how tough her body is.
Turning to the big man, she grabs the big man's shield with three hands while swinging a large arm at Rolan. She has still not registered that I am participating in this battle, as none of her actions are directed at me. One more hit connects with the back of her thigh, and I can feel that the power is rising once again. Yet, she does not seem to notice anything, as she tries to twist Gram's shield out of his grasp, while fending off the leader's quick strikes.
My fourth strike hits the large woman's waist and she feels the impact for the first time, upon which she lets go of the shield and swings her arms around reflexively. I roll to the side and narrowly avoid the elbows that would have surely broken several bones in my body, if they had connected. Using the same motion as I dodge, I aim for her ankles, but she lifts her foot and avoids it completely. She attempts to step on my arm, but a crossbow bolt hits her in the temple and the surprise causes her to miss. Rolan takes the opening it creates and stabs her flank, but the tip of the blade slides off her skin and only leaves a streak from which a little blood trickles out.
"That's interestin', lil' one!" Chandra looks at me with a mad laugh and pumps her fists after gaining some distance. The first exchange went in our favor, but she now understands what we're capable of and will act accordingly. As expected, I have become her new target, and she charges at me with her arms spread, intending to grab hold of me. Gram jumps between us and smashes his shield forward, causing the two giants to clash with an incredible impact - from which the big man emerges the loser. He is pushed back and the arms reach around the shield to grab his clothes, pulling him to her chest in a bear hug, with the slab of metal still between them.
Rolan rushes to his aid and slashes at Chandra's back, but she spins around and uses Gram as a shield. That leaves her open to me, and I bring my arm down on her exposed back. However, the curse effect already reset, so the first hit doesn't even cause her to flinch. She swings her free arms around and I have to take my distance to avoid being hit.
"As I thought, that arm got a special power, lil' one." She comments and brings two arms between Gram and his shield, before pulling him away from it. Another crossbow bolt hits her in the back of the head, but once again, only bounces off harmlessly. Turning her head to Sigurd, she gives him a pitiful grin. "I'll get to you in a moment."
The big man steps back, lowers his body and lunges forward, pushing right into Chandra's abdomen with his shoulder while grabbing and pulling at the backs of her knees. Against an opponent with human levels of strength, that would have taken them off their feet and pushed them to the ground, but this muscle demon stands firm and laughs at the attempt. Rolan charges in and slashes at her in what he perceives to be an opening.
"Nice thinkin'!" She catches Rolan's blade with one hand while putting two arms around Gram's waist and lifting his legs off the ground. Motioning to slam him into the ground head-first, she drops him with a downward motion. Luckily, he let go of her legs earlier and catches his fall in time, avoiding a knockout or worse. Leaving the big man aside since he still takes time to get back onto his feet, she pulls the leader towards her by his sword and punches him with three arms at the same time, each aimed at a different vital spot.
Rolan lets go of his weapon and steps back, causing her fists to miss. I take the opening to swing at her calf in a backhand motion, aiming to pierce her skin with the grotesque spikes growing from my arm. Since I have not stacked the effect of the curse, it's unable to penetrate and I bounce back. Using my momentum, I spin around myself and perform a straight punch into her flank, but it's blocked by an arm. Another one comes down to grab me, but I avoid the hand and slap the wrist to keep the curse running.
Gram tackles Chandra once again, but she doesn't even waver. However, his aim is something different this time, as he puts his arms around her waist chest and puts all his strength into squeezing her. With her occupied for the moment, I continue to attack her, reaching the fifth hit in the hollow of her knee. It buckles under the impact and the big man uses the opening to push her to the ground with his own body.
"Oh my, ya bein' quite forceful." She jokes as she twists her body, carrying Gram and her own body weight on one leg, before spinning around and turning him under herself instead. "But I prefer to be on top!" Despite being so big, she is really fast, and quickly mounts him, holding his arms down with two of her own while preparing her others to pummel him.
My sixth strike comes from the side and she blocks it with her arm angled against her flank. But at this point, it has gained enough impact force to cause her body to jolt sideways. Surprised by the force, she turns around to me and takes a crossbow bolt to the forehead, which knocks her head back. In that time, my cursed arm connects with her chest and she is sent flying off of Gram and backwards into the encirclement of her warriors.
"Thank you, Kamii." He says and sits up. Rolan looks at me in surprise, since that is the first time he has seen a seventh consecutive hit on the same target. Even against the demon in the underground arena was I unable to land more than six at a time, which didn't have enough force to cause it to fly backwards like Chandra just did.
"I haven't had this much fun warming up in a long time!" Speak of the devil. She's getting back on her feet and cracking four of her hands' knuckles while rotating the others in stretching motions. Did she just say that she considered what we did warming up?
Gram and Rolan each pick up their weapons again and Sigurd prepares another crossbow bolt. I stare at the large woman, whose gaze is fixed on me. Among all the people present, I'm the only one who can do enough damage to defeat her, but I only have one method of attacking, while she can grab me with her six arms. But the others in my group have caught onto that fact, reevaluate the plan against this particular opponent, and are now motioning to cover for me.
"I'd like to avoid using that sword against her, because I don't know whether or not I'd be able to not kill her. And I doubt we'll get what we want if she dies." Rolan mutters as he enters a defensive stance. Gram stands at the ready with his shield, to step between Chandra and me, if she decides to come at me.
"Alright, let's go for real now!" Running forward faster than ever, the blue-skinned demon comes at us like a charging bull, her arms angled to prepare for both tackling and grappling. Gram heeds her call and moves to meet her halfway in the middle of the encirclement. Skin and metal clashes, and the big man is swept aside by three arms, while Chandra continues on, not slowed in the slightest. "I'll teach you how to do better than that." This smug sounding remark is directed at Gram and delivered with a youthful innocence, as she comes towards me.
Rolan rushes forward and sidesteps her, bringing his sword around in a wide slash at her torso while avoiding her hands as she grabs at him. The blade cuts into her flank and draws blood - more than ever - but does not slow her down. She ignores the wound and is upon me in an instant, attempting to put me in a bear hug with all her arms. A crossbow bolt flies at her but she catches it between her teeth. This distraction gives me enough time to avoid her grasp and roll through her legs while delivering a swiping attack at her calf. Since enough time has passed, the curse stacks have worn off and my power is back to its basic level.
Spinning around on the spot to try and grab me, Chandra is tackled by Gram, who takes her by surprise. I immediately follow up with a hit to her knee, but she does not even flinch and grabs the big man's arm behind the shield. Rolan stabs at her face but she catches the blade with her palm and deflects it aside unharmed. This allows me to land another hit on her thigh, which seems to be enough to shake her leg slightly.
Then she wrests Gram's shield from his hands once more and throws it aside, while putting him into a headlock. Rolan's blade is caught with another hand and he is too slow to let go as she pulls him in. A heavy punch to his chest sends him staggering backwards. I manage to land one hit to her stomach, but she takes it by focusing her core muscles and breathing out at the time of impact.
She steps forward and grabs at me with three arms, but a crossbow bolt hits the one closest to actually connecting with me as I jump backwards, causing it to be deflected sideways. In the same motion and taking my distance, I slap her other arms aside and reach the fifth hit on her. Realizing this, she swings Gram around and throws him towards Rolan, causing him to crash into the leader and sending them both to the ground.
That is when I rush forward fearlessly and deliver a straight punch to Chandra's exposed flank, which connects and causes her to lurch sideways. Just in time, I avoid my arm being caught by hers, but now nothing stands between her and me. But if I hesitate, the curse may fall off again, and I'd waste the opportunity granted by the other members of the group to stack up to this much power.
Chandra gives me no time to think and spreads her arms to catch me, but I duck away under them while trying to perform a swing of my own. However, she has six arms and now I'm in a vulnerable position right below her, where she can easily come down on me with her size. As expected, she drops downwards to try and crush me with her entire body's weight, but I take my chances and perform an uppercut.
The blue-skinned woman's feet leave the ground from the impact and all the air is pushed out of her lungs. I follow up on it as she comes back down and give her a backhand strike to the face, upon which she is sent flying through the air and crashes into the roof of her fortress. All the warriors surrounding us stare in disbelief, looking between me and the hole in the roof, through which their clan leader disappeared. Shugra, who has refrained from showing any expressions so far, let alone cheering, is lifting an eyebrow at the sudden turn of events.
"Wow, that was incredible, lil' one!" Chandra smashes through the wall of the wooden building and emerges largely unscathed. A bruise is developing on her cheek and she spits out some blood, before grinning like a child who has found a new toy. "That cursed arm, I'll teach ya how to use its full power." She walks forward with firm and confident steps, returning to the ring where Rolan and Gram are getting back onto their unsteady feet; the last impact has shaken them to their core.
"Alright, that's enough." Rolan states and draws his shiny sword. Its radiance puts the murky sun in the cloudy sky to shame and all the demons present stare at it in awe. Rushing forward at a blinding speed, the leader is immediately upon Chandra and slashes at the elbow of one of her arms. He's not trying to kill her, but break her spirit by cutting off one of her limbs.
"Oh, Roshanee?" She simply states and catches the blade between two hands. Rolan is completely dumbfounded and blanks out, forgetting that this is a battle. A fist pounds into his chest and stomach each, causing him to let go of the sword and sending him flying backwards. He rolls across the ground and stops on his back, coughing violently from having all the air pushed out of his lungs. "Where'd ya get this treasure of our clan from, human?"
