Chapter 459 Catch Me If You Can

Dave took a few steps before the Chosen One of the Ash King noticed him. La-Lina was quick on her feet. The Demoness didn't waste a single moment as she charged Dave head on. Her notched whip sliced through the air with supersonic speed, blasting the sound barrier as it smashed into Dave's foot.

The blow staggered Dave, as he didn't expect her to have such a fast attack, but that didn't matter. His aim had never been the Chosen One, but rather, the container behind her. The God Slaying Bolt was floating inside and all that was separating Dave from his goal was some flimsy glass.

Dave ignored the Chosen One of the Ash King for the time being and kept running toward the container. The draugr swung Durandal the moment he was in reach and the sword crashed into it breaking its glass in the process.

Dave reached for the bolt, but the whip was faster. It struck the item sending it all the way to the other side of the room. Dave turned, snapped his finger, summoning 48 Infernal Dragon Skulls. The massive skulls hovered in the enclosed space and focused their collective gazes upon the Chosen One.

The temperature in the room rose staggeringly thanks to the heat from the skulls, and it was enough to cause the Chosen One to enter into an Overheated status.

Dave frowned, shouldn't demons have a greater tolerance to heat? But he didn't need to analyze what race the Chosen One in front of him was nor why she was feeling sweaty. Dave turned to the direction where the bolt was at and sprinted forward.

"Come Forth! Minions of the Ash King!" The Chosen One's first words were a call to help. Almost immediately, the doors in the room opened wide, and waves of demons surged out.

Dave snapped his fingers again, causing all the Infernal Dragon Skulls to blow up. The shockwaves from the blasts staggered everyone besides Dave into an imbalanced fall.

The bolt was right under the hand of one of the demons, it had grabbed it when it fell. Dave swung Durandal with enough strength that it cut through the demon's arm and the ground under it. He reached for the Bolt, but a moment before he touched it, Dave twirled his body, his shield facing a sneaky incoming whip attack just in time.

Dave absorbed the blow, and with his other hand, let go of Durandal for a moment to grab the bolt.

The item shone bright in his hand as he pocketed it. The Chosen One became enraged, to have failed in the task of protecting the bolt.

"Kill the draugr! Get the bolt off of his dead body!" the Chosen One screeched an order and the fallen demons got up with even more vigor heading toward Dave.

Dave swung his sword left and right, slicing, slashing, cutting, crushing and killing in the process. Yet the demons were too many, and the open doors were like a floodgate letting more and more in. If he didn't find a way out of this place, he would soon be swarmed and covered in demons.

He used [Stampede], and charged ahead, targeting the Chosen One, she was holding the gate out. Dave smashed into her, and followed up with a slice to her head, taking it off in the process.

Yet the moment her head touched the ground, it flew back and attached itself back, while she herself grew larger, and had another whip in her other hand. Following the power-up her whips took on a flaming aspect and became whips of fire.

"We, the Chosen Ones, do not die!"

"Funny, La-Blaire, La-Khbar would beg to differ," Dave smirked and ducked to the side. As two whips slashed right where he stood.

If Dave hadn't anticipated the blow, it could have cost him a good chunk of HP. The speed behind the whips may have decreased immensely, compared to before, but what they had lost in speed they made up for with more power. At least that was Dave's analysis from the fact that the entire row of demons behind Dave had died to the explosive effect of the whips once they touched the ground.

Dave gulped, the blast was pretty nasty. The more the Chosen Ones died, the more they revealed their true power, and the harder they would be to kill. This one was particularly annoying as she was fast, and had a lot of demons supporting her, making Dave's exit extremely difficult if not impossible.

"It is always the same with you Undead! You have sent one assassin who has failed in his mission, and now you sent in more to fail! Only today, unlike that ghoul, I will make sure you won't escape!"

La-Lina swung her whips in a manner that made them look like an incoming wave of fire.

Dave rolled to the side, hiding behind a demon's corpse, the fire wave went past him and burnt everything it touched to a crisp.

"Shit, this must be where Samael failed. Gotta make things right then." Dave sprang up to his feet and dashed toward the Chosen One. Two demons stepped to block his way as many of them were still funneling in from the doors.

He turned his aura on. [Infernal Tyrant's Oppression] raged amongst the demons, the skull that disdained all life and looked down upon all that moved around Dave with utter disgust and scorn. They were beneath it, and its piercing gaze made sure that they knew it.

The black flames of Dave's Aura flared to life, consuming all who approached it, and those that it didn't touch, it played with their minds, showing them horrors beyond simple fears, making them fall to their knees, clawing at their heads in utter terror and horridness. Fear ruled all!

The Chosen One unfortunately seemed to have escaped the fear effect but when Dave turned toward her, he used [Immortal Ascension], and in one single move, he struck with a closed fist at the Chosen One's temple.

The eyes on the Chosen One of the Ash King rolled back up, her mouth opened wide, gurgling incomprehensible sounds as her body turned limp and she fell down to the ground motionless.

***

You have slain the Chosen One of the Ash King.

Due to the use of a special item, you will not get any exp from this kill.

The Ash King has sensed the True Death of his Chosen One.

He is personally coming for you.

Flee, you fool!

***

The demons in the room couldn't understand how an immortal Chosen One of the Ash King could have died that easily. That was turning all their beliefs upside. The draugr who should have been handled like all other intruders started to invoke real fear in all of their hearts.

None of them seem to have noticed that hidden in his fist had been the God Slaying Bolt. Dave had used it to terminate the Chosen One in one fell swoop. He himself couldn't believe it would work without the need of some kind of ritual or anything, but just with a simple touch. Nevertheless, this was good news for him. Now he only needed to run the hell away from this place as the notification which had confirmed his kill warned him about the consequences if he didn't.

Dave bolted out, from the area, the surprised demons couldn't get in his way due to the fear effect from his aura still present.

His speed increased more and more, as he pumped whatever energy he could generate into his undead body. The Ash King was no joke, it was all fun and games when he couldn't personally move against Dave, but now, in his own kingdom, if he laid hands on Dave, ending up like Samael would be a pipedream. The Ash King had probably many things to show Dave, many nasty, pointy and sharp things.

Dave ran as if he was possessed, happier than ever that as an Undead he had unlimited stamina. He quickly left the Chosen One's area behind him and was right outside in the plains. He turned to where he marked his library entry point and bolted through the fields.

Fire pillars the size of the Empire State Building rose where he had just stood a few seconds ago, and more and more began rising up, Dave understood that he had only seconds before one of these fire pillars would touch and eventually scorch him to ash.

"Aspect of the Dragon!" Dave roared the chant for the spell. Two large leathery wings grew from his back, while his nails grew to fangs, his eyes gained a new vision, a draconic one, and his body was empowered by dragon scales. Dave jumped forward, and with a flick of his wings, he tore through the air like a rocket.

Fireballs the size of meteors fell down from the sky toward Dave. The Ash King was going all out to bring him down, and Dave knew it well. He dodged left and right, the fireballs came down crashing into the grass scorching it faster than it could recover.

He dodged and dodged, but still took one flaming orb to the back.

-480,000

The blast from the spell tore a good chunk of his HP, despite the current transformation reducing any damage taken by 80%.

Dave grunted through the pain and kept flying until he found the pillar he entered through. He dove in and into the library, scaring the living hell out of the Imps working there. Dave ignored them and continued his escape toward the window he came from.

Once he was out, he noticed his transformation only had a couple of seconds left, not nearly enough to cover the distance from where he was and across the flaming lava that acted as a moat protecting the Ash King's Keep.

He still dashed out with all he had, while the seconds ticked, the gargoyles on the building roof noticed the strange life signature from Dave, it was totally different to when he first arrived. No longer demonic, now in dragon form, he was treated as the hostile entity he was.

All the gargoyles shuddered, shaking off the stone skin and turned to life, then they hopped into the air and flew after Dave, adding more to his plate.

Dave's transformation ended, but a fraction of a second before, he hurled Durandal with all the might he could muster forward. The blade shot like a torpedo while Dave began a freefall toward the lava pool.

The gargoyles gave up chasing Dave as he was doomed to an eternal inferno.

But just before he touched the lake, Dave reached out with his hand, and used [Recall]. Suddenly his body jerked up from above the lake and flew forward, even faster than when he was flying.

The gargoyles turned their flight and chased after Dave, but they couldn't keep up. Dave's speed was too much for them to catch, but that didn't mean they would give up the chase.

Dave arrived at where Durandal was embedded, the throw had been powerful enough that the greatsword got buried to the hilt. Thankfully it was right above the edge of the mountain, he pulled the sword out with all his strength and began sprinting like a madman down the mountain's slope.

Dave's face was stuck in a maniac's grin. Not only did he obtain the bolt, but his bet also paid off. The technique of recalling the sword had been influenced by Warlord's own ax throw.

The American Guildmaster had been able to exchange the position of himself and his ax, but Dave was able to recall his sword to him. Yet when Dave's sword got stuck in an unreachable sword, [Recall] actually worked differently. It ended up dragging the user to the sword.

A wrathful roar sounded behind Dave, and the massive fire pillar above the Ash King's Keep raged further on.

The body of the Ash King materialized through the fire pillar and he dove down with an extended claw at Dave.

Dave jumped forward in [Immortal Ascension] dodging the claw and turned to the Ash King, middle finger pointed forward as he exclaimed "Can't Touch This!"

And continued sprinting down the slope.

The rage of the Ash Kin was immeasurable, enough that it shook the lava running through his domain to a tumbling turmoil, while he himself began to materialize fully, instead of just sending out an avatar.

The Ash King was coming for Dave, yet the latter couldn't care less.