Demon's Virtue

The crow took a step back, looking down at their chest. Their black feathers were soaking up blood, and the venom that had splashed on some of them was dissolving parts of the fine plumage. Nervously and in pain, they let out caws... screams of fear and agony.

Their eyes, formerly a deep black with a blueish hue, were now increasingly filling with a vivid red as bloody tears streamed down their face and flowing around the base of their back.

Eiro's venom was spreading throughout their body incredibly fast. This was a specific kind of venom that Eiro had developed for the crow; it would paralyze their body, attacking and dissolving their nerves and muscles as it spread throughout the bird monster's body. It must be absolutely agonizing to go through, though that was just another benefit of this particular strain.

Its main focus wasn't to kill the crow; but to slow it down, and if possible, even fully stop it. The pain, the damaged muscles, and the paralysis, would all work together as much as possible.

And then, the crow just stared deeply at the demon. Eiro could feel, or rather smell, them be overcome by a mystical force that Eiro was just perfectly familiar with; the artificial, strengthened rage of the Mark of Wrath.

In just the few moments that it took for the venom to start working after the crow moved away to build some distance to Eiro, they became totally enraged to the point that their body seemed to be reacting to it.

Maybe it was the venom also distorting the way they could control their own body, because instead of the streamlined, minimal movements from before, the crow took on an animalistic stance like that of a wolf ready to jump at its prey.

The crow ran toward Eiro, swinging their talons at him. Despite the state they were in, Eiro still didn't have the leisure to attack by himself, instead just focusing on evasive movements. Of course, at the same time, the crow had slowed down considerably.

Enough for Eiro to be able to dodge consistently with just a little bit of magical assistance, and even to launch some counter-attacks with his daggers. They were shallow cuts, but due to the duplicated mountainbreaker build into them by Armodeus, just those shallow cuts spread all over the crow's body.

With every tiny connection of the blades, black feathers fell from their body and rivers of blood flowed out of their wounds. Their muscles were even being damaged, slowing them down even more.

At this point, this was a battle of endurance, one that had a definitive outcome already. The more they were wounded, the more their rage turned back into the fear it originated from, the more the crow seemed to hesitate. Eiro saw them glancing down the hallway, where the fake Devil was standing. It was clear what was about to happen.

Instead of fighting a battle that they were bound to lose, the crow ran past Eiro. The fake Devil had stood by the wall as per Eiro's mental command. The moment that they would attempt to run, it was obvious that the crow was no longer intending to fight; they were focused on running, and Eiro wouldn't stop them from doing that. There was no reason to.

The monster ran back into the mineshaft's hallway, trying to get as far away from Eiro as it possibly could... just to be faced with a stone wall that wasn't supposed to be here. This wasn't here earlier.

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As the crow stood in front of the stone wall, the ground rumbled and shifted. They turned around, seeing another stone wall currently growing out from the walls. While the first one had been erected by Gondos the moment the fake Devil had caught up, the second one was built by Eiro. The crow was weak.

Of course, speed allowed for quite a lot of power to be put into an attack, but it wasn't enough to destroy a wall under the control of an earth spirit instructed to make a wall that was as thick and dense as possible. The walls to the left and right, or the floor and ceiling weren't an option either.

And in the other direction, even if the crow did manage to break through that wall, the only thing waiting for them there was the being that they had been running away from in the first place. Not that Eiro's wall would be easy to break through in the first place.

This was a death sentence. The venom would kill them, slowly and painfully. For a monster whose body and mind existed at a speed far beyond what others were capable of comprehending, a death that came within a few seconds was still excruciatingly long.

As such, the wall created by Eiro slowly closing in on them was probably an action of mercy. Something to put the crow out of their misery, instead of letting them suffer under this utter agony. Before long, the wall had come close enough that the crow could reach both of the magically manipulated walls if they stretched out their wings.

Then, close enough that they wouldn't be able to lay down anymore.

It didn't take long until their shoulders could touch either of the walls.

It was faster than the venom, but that didn't change that the crow could distinctly tell apart every step of the way.

When their ribs broke under the weight of the walls.

When their beak shattered against the hard surface.

When their eyes were squeezed out of their skull.

And finally, when the noise of their own skull shattering and piercing their brain became the sound they had been yearning for.

---

[You killed another Card Owner, and have taken their card into your ownership yourself. You are now the Owner of the Three of Pentacles]

[3/14 Cards of the Suit of Pentacles acquired]

[9/56 Cards of the Minor Arcana acquired]

[Aptitude with the Earth Element increased]

---

Eiro waved away the notifications and stepped up to the stone wall that was the final weapon to kill his opponent. With a flick of his wrist, both of the walls that squeezed the crow monster to their death retracted back into mineshaft's original walls, and the bloodied, black and red mass of blood, flesh and feathers fell to the ground.

And inside of it, covered in it all, was the intricately decorated card; the Three of Pentacles. The card of Ultimate Agility.

The Demon squatted down and grabbed the card, placing it into his treasury. The goop clung originally clung to it fell to the ground as the card disappeared. If Eiro had the time, then he would activate the card right away. It would be an amazing benefit for the battle against the Devil. But a card of particularly the suit of pentacles couldn't be so easily used. Or rather, it shouldn't.

The first time that Eiro used the Five of Pentacles, his senses, despite his minuscule perception stat at the time. With Eiro's current stats, without extensive preparation and the ability to slowly get used to it, he would probably rip apart his muscles and ligaments, and break some bones if he tried moving even slightly.

It was unfortunate, but this card had to wait until after the battle with the Devil was won.

Eiro turned around, looking at the well-dressed figure of his servant, the fake Devil. He held forward his hand and pulls the shadows of the mineshaft into the shape of a magic circle floating in front of Eiro's palm. Quickly, he cast a spell on the figure, keeping it enveloped in shadows and ensuring that it would be hidden from the perception of at least regular monsters.

The true Devil might still realize, but that was fine.

"Just follow along at a distance for now. When I reach out and call for you, come running right away," Eiro told the Servant. The Ace of Cups liquid that had been used to hide it earlier had been used up completely, and since Eiro had used the artifact earlier, he wasn't able to produce more right off the bat. So this 'regular' stealth spell just had to do for the time being.

Though, no matter what happened, the fake Devil was an investment that had already paid off. Being able to kill the crow with minimal injury to himself was something that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Just through that single moment of distraction caused by the fake Devil was he able to inject the crow with his venom.

If it survived through this, maybe Eiro should find a good, long-term use for it. And maybe he could 'upgrade' it by using the Devil's actual body. Eiro turned down the hallway and spread his wings, looking at Gondos who was floating nearby, trying to avoid looking at the crow's bloodied corpse, if it could even still be called that.

"Good job," Eiro told him, and Gondos just slowly nodded, "Of course. This is what I am here for," the young Golem replied, and Eiro smiled.

"Let's go, we need to catch up to the others," Eiro said activating the spell formed through the magic circuits in his wings. With the gust of wind, he shot through the long mineshaft, flying through the tunnel's darkness until reaching the other end. There was another larger space, but this time many times larger than the one that Eiro had fought in just now.

On a stone platform not too far away stood Eiro's party, facing off against the hordes of monsters that the Devil had prepared for them.