Demonic Devourer's Development

After Wendigo's report, I didn't wait before ordering Pest to teleport me to the same coordinates I previously threw her squad at. There was no time to waste. I had no illusions that my army will last for long, as a distraction or as fighters, and had to strike before the enemy could unite again.

My wings carried me over the half-thawed planes like an arrow towards the columns of smoke on the horizon. I saw them long before I reached the city where Wendigo and her soldiers had their fun, and knew that there was a lot of fun to be had for them. And not only in the city—the wind brought the scent of smoke and blood from other directions, too. This wasn't the only settlement in the area.

Isn't that just great when people love their jobs? I was anticipating mine. Anticipating the moment when my fangs will bite down on divine flesh again, when my claws will tear the bastards' bodies… I forced myself to fly faster, at the same time sending outward my mental projection.

Even with it, the goddess found me first, as soon as I reached the city. The demons must've been fought off, but the consequences of their invasion—not yet. Some humans were running around with buckets of water, trying to contain the fires, while others used the panic to pillage what demons didn't have time to touch. Women screamed, children wailed, men shouted. A chaos, if subdued one now.

In that chaos, the arrow she shot got so close, it cut a few hairs from my head. It came from behind, and I noticed it only when its tip entered the zone of my blind sense. That gave me only barely enough time to dodge, but enough time to see the strange arrow in details.

Its tip had a small jewel embedded in it, which was strange. The answer why appeared in my head in the next moment, spoken in Pest's voice.

'Master Voren, there's a spell on that arrow. Something dangerous!'

A moment too late—the arrow exploded a meter away from me. The heat of the blast was nothing, though it made me transform the outer parts of my body, ones that didn't have precious books in it, into lava. But the blast wave threw me down towards the roofs, threatening to smack me into one.

I caught myself and instead gently landed. At the same time, my mental projection, guided by the direction from where the arrow came from, finally found my enemy.

Goddess of Rangers. I scanned her thoughts. She wasn't happy that I dodged. She thought I could've heard the arrow's approach, or had a pair of eyes on the back of my head—a real possibility. The goddess also cursed in her head that God of Bards already left. She didn't send the message to others—she was sure that I was flying past and going to fly away unless she hurries, but now she was casting the spell. In her calculations, she will only need a minute to alert everyone else, and they will need from a minute to five to teleport to her position.

So that's how much time I had. Not much, but it would do.

I and the goddess were separated by a couple of streets and plenty of obstacles. The cover wasn't a problem for the best of all archers, as long as she knew my position, but for now, she didn't. I used that to get closer to her without having to dodge any more explosives.

She found where I was as soon as I moved. By sound alone, despite the surrounding noise. Impressive. Maybe I could've sneaked on foot, but it would've been too slow, so I just flew with an intent to be faster than any arrow Goddess of Rangers will shoot.

Through my projection, I saw her getting another arrow from the quiver. It also had a jewel in the tip, but the tip itself was narrower and longer. It reminded me of a spear. When she shot it, the arrow pierced through wooden walls of houses like they were paper, barely slowing and reaching right towards my head again. She did all that without stopping preparing her message spell.

Only my perfect air manoeuvrability saved me from flying right into it. I changed directions so fast I felt the inertia squishing my insides a little. The surprise in Goddess of Ranger's head—she was so sure she'll hit this time—brought a grin on my face.

I didn't want to give her time to shoot me again. When her hand reached the quiver again, I flew into her line of vision, just a dozen meters away. Nothing for someone as fast as I am—or for an arrow that the goddess shot at me, after all.

Explosive again—but this one I saw before she even left the bow and caught it midair. Then, as the goddess's eyes widened from the realisation of what I wanted to do, I threw it back at her.

She jumped away, but it give me time to get closer to her. The narrow streets of this city, which was once a jewel of arts, now were a convenient fighting ground for me—Goddess of Rangers didn't have space for escaping. She was light on her feet, which she showed by running up a wall, but I was light on my wings, which I showed by reaching the same place before she even could and meeting her from above.

Goddess of Rangers jumped back down, and my claws only snagged on the hood of her cloak. Under it, her hair was cut boyishly short, and I wasn't given a pleasure of cutting at least some of that. My blood boiled and sang for the warmth of her flesh on my tongue, and I followed her with the relentlessness that didn't need any additional motivation like the time I was lacking.

The goddess touched the ground again and smirked—the message reached other gods. They were on their way. She knew she won't run away from me here, though, and in the second she had snapped her bow in half.

At least, I thought so at first. Instead, she just unfolded it into two short, curved blades. The unhooked bowstring fell into the dirt, and the goddess met my claws with adamant.

She was barely worse in fencing than in shooting. If I was going to let us fight claw to blade, Goddess of Rangers wouldn't have let me win in the time I had. So instead of that, I threw a dozen of wind claws at her from close combat distance, which she couldn't have blocked with her blades if she tried.

Then, a decisive rush forward, scorching the goddess's skin with the heat of my body, and my teeth found her shoulder. The pain of her blade in my chest barely registered, just like the smell of cooking blood.

The goddess screamed in pain, but not for long—I ended her suffering with my claws and finally let out a breath.

This was becoming easier with every time. As long as I got them one by one…

I transformed from lava into flesh, bone, and slime and picked up the goddess's body and her bow. Eating them would take time I didn't have. Pest got an order to prepare a teleport, and I flew away from the city with all the speed I had.

If Wendigo was still alive, which I doubted, she'll get out. If she wasn't, she'll find me in Hell as soon as she gets through Heavenly Judgement—or won't. Her usefulness ended when she lost her life and all her gathered power.

There were still other demons wreaking havoc, and while they did, I was going to kill as many gods as I could. Until then…

A flash of teleport, finally complete, transported me back into the dry heat of Dis—somewhere onto the plains. Pest's portals, as usual, were as precise as a blind archer, and Dis wasn't even visible through the smoke where I ended.

That didn't matter. I just needed a quiet place where the gods won't find me while I eat my prey. Let them wonder where I disappeared… Even the goddess herself.

Divine flesh was as delicious and nutritious as always. A pity that I only had a single body—there surely was plenty of EXP left where it came from—but I contented myself with the thought that next time we meet, Goddess of Rangers will have nor her speed, nor strength, nor these enchanted bow and arrows.

The signature items were the most delicious because I imagined the goddess's face from their loss. If she was as distressed by it as God of Rogues was when I ate his dagger… I grinned. This alone was worth Wendigo's death. That girl was getting on my nerves—and would've betrayed me to the gods if they only thought to offer.

She was so fucking naïve. She actually thought they might accept her to Heaven if she got strong enough.. My story didn't teach her shit.