From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 517 Slaughtering Relatives

Crimson blood gushed from beneath Orin's revealing armor, clinging frantically to the walls of the Zariel Temple as if it possessed a mind of its own. When the adventurers returned their gaze to the spot where the Crimson Daughter had been, they found that the woman, whose skin was as unnatural as a corpse's and who seemed more insane than a mental patient, had vanished.

"I have prepared for that feast for far too long, and I will not allow you swine to ruin it!" When Orin's voice rang out again, almost all the demons in the temple of Zariel were dead or wounded.

The dagger, resembling a winding trail of blood, was pressed against the back of the last remaining demon.

With wings on its back, curved horns on its head, and wielding a flaming steel fork, the horned demon is undoubtedly the closest in appearance to the devils in various traditional literary works. Although it may seem a bit more fundamentalist, no one would underestimate the fighting power of this devil.

Besides the Horned Demon, they have another name that evokes even greater fear—the Overlord Demon.

These demons are high-ranking demons who serve the Hell Legion. Although they are on the same level as Bone Demons and Blood Armor Demons, they are more powerful than the former two.

Within the Hell Legion, demon grand dukes or chapter leaders typically choose horned demons as instruments to carry out their will. This is not only because of their unwavering loyalty and formidable strength, but also because horned demons possess a certain ability to lead other demons in battle. Unlike the more solitary Blood Armored Demons, horned demons are mid-level officers in the Hell Legion, bearing the responsibility of leading their troops to overcome obstacles and challenges.

No one knows exactly how much reward and sacrifice the cultists in Van Sampur promised to summon such a devil from hell, but judging from the result, it was clearly not a successful summoning.

The demon, who had not uttered a word since its appearance, sensed the threat from behind. Just as it was about to flap its wings and swish its tail to sweep away the enemy, it was interrupted by a pain that felt like it was tearing its soul apart.

In an instant, Orin's dagger transformed into several streaks of red light, leaving a series of bloody wounds on the horned demon's massive body. The demonic wings on its back were now only connected to its back by a bit of skin and flesh, the bones and tendons supporting the wings were broken, as if a butcher who had slaughtered thousands of livestock had smoothly turned his dagger into the bone crevice.

"Ah—" The horned demon's heart-wrenching wail had barely left his lips when it was drowned out by the blood gushing from his chest and throat.

Orin's dagger pierced through the devil's head, emerging from its gaping maw filled with sharp teeth, turning the devil's wails into a string of mundane bubbles.

Like the gentlest lover caressing their beloved's cheek, fair fingers climbed up the horned demon's head, mimicking the lovers who had just finished their lovemaking. The fair fingers danced on the rough, scaly demon's skin, and soon circled the demon's horns.

"Don't use my face to do such disgusting things!" the evil thought cursed, manipulating its prosthetic hand to open its palm, activating the mechanism hidden beneath the palm, and launching a blade that gleamed with a ghostly light.

Holding the horned demon's bleeding head, "Evil Thoughts," or rather, Olin, who had taken on the appearance of his sister, calmly deflected the hidden weapon shot from his prosthetic hand by tilting the demon's head in his arms.

Ivy's meticulously crafted magical weapon pierced deep into the devil's eye socket, causing the devil, who was barely breathing, to finally shudder.

“Oh—” Orin sighed regretfully in a voice laced with wicked intent, “How could you just kill him like that, sister? We all know you haven’t heard enough of his wails—just like I have.”

"Don't compare me to you!" The evil thought trembled, a hidden excitement welling up from within her. She took a breath and continued, "And don't use my face!"

"Your riddled-with-holes brain still hasn't remembered, has it?" Orin released the demon corpse from his arms and nimbly drew his dagger before it completely collapsed to the ground and turned into a pool of thick, black liquid.

"When my dagger pierced your skull, and your thick, sweet brains spilled all over the ground, what kind of scream did you let out?" Orin, still maintaining his wicked demeanor, strolled through the pool of blood he had created.

“It’s just a small wound, but it’s big enough for a worm.” The blood on Orin’s palm transformed into the shape of a Mind Flayer tadpole. She held up the tiny worm in her hand and then crushed it. “Your body is the blood bag that nourishes it.”

"Baal's darling has become a flesh puppet, its tendons suspended high, becoming the strings I pluck with my own hands." Orin reverted to his original form, licking the demonic blood from his dagger with relish. "How pathetic..."

She sighed, “But now is not the time for you to take the stage and slaughter your own kind. I have a quality you lack—patience. God the Father will witness our reunion, but not now, not here.”

"If you're already impatient, feel free to vent that energy elsewhere..." Orin's slow, intoxicated tone vanished abruptly, her madness returning to her mind. "Now, go find Gotash, find him! Then kill him! Take his Netherstone, and the one you have, and face me in the Father's temple! Do as I say, no tricks, no hesitation, or you'll see!"

The magic of the atmosphere transformed into roaring lightning, which swept across the blood-stained temple of Zariel and lashed heavily at the hysterical Olin.

Ivy made her move.

He wanted to hear if Orin could reveal any other secrets or information from that leaky mouth. But the truth was, Orin's mind seemed to hold nothing but threats and murder; he didn't even bother to boast about mimicking the ritual murder that Chanem had carried out against the Five Tribes a hundred years ago.

However, Ivy really didn't believe that a ritual murder without any magic could win Baal's favor. How could it be considered a devout imitation of his predecessor when not even one of Baal's sons had died?

Moreover, since Olin's true form is here, as long as we kill her and take the Netherstone from her dagger, we won't have to worry about her near-perfect ritual murder.

It was precisely because of these considerations that Ivy launched a sudden magical attack on Orin halfway through the sisters' meeting.

However, things didn't go as smoothly as he predicted.

The lightning bolts did indeed strike Orin, but a crimson shield of light perfectly shielded her from the electrical damage. Given that even Katheric Som, another member of the Death Trinity, could summon an avatar of Melkor, it wasn't entirely unreasonable for Orin to use the power of the God of Murder to avoid the damage.

However, the other Baal cultists in the temple were not so lucky.

The chain of lightning, simultaneously cast by Ivy using both [Powerful Spell] and [Extreme Spell], spread a vast net of lightning from its point of impact, its ends linking to all the Baal cultists within the temple.

Lightning flashed, and a foul stench quickly filled the temple hall.

Seeing that Ivy had already made her move, the adventurers, who had the advantage in numbers, no longer hesitated and drew their weapons, chanting spells as they launched their attack.

The main target of the battle remains Orin, but without breaking the divine power shield around her, it is clear that she cannot be properly damaged.

Evil Thought and Orin, these two bloodthirsty kin, were now entangled, dancing a dance of murderous intent and bloodshed. "Weak and powerless!" Orin shrieked, his dagger inflicting another wound on Evil Thought. "Your old friend can't even see through Father God's love for me!"

"Immune to both magical and physical attacks?" Ivy watched the Sons of Baal dance and began to speculate on the truth behind Orin's "invincible" ability.

If it truly is some kind of absolute barrier created by Baal's power, then it must eventually be exhausted. Either it exceeds the shield's maximum capacity, or there's some time limit, or a limit on the number of uses.

Although the damage of the sixth-circle spell Chain Lightning is not high, with the amplification of [Powerful Spell] and [Extreme Spell], it has surpassed the damage of a ninth-circle spell under normal circumstances.

Although it has no side effects, it shouldn't be completely ineffective. Therefore, it's highly unlikely that Orin's shield has a single-instance damage tolerance limit.

The dagger of evil intent failed once again, its attack blocked by the blood-red mist three inches above Olin's brow.

Instead of exploiting this huge opening to launch a fatal attack, Orin toyed with his murderous kin like a cat that had caught a mouse.

The scarlet dagger left a snake-shaped wound on the beautiful face of the evil thought. After the attack, Orin disengaged and showed no intention of supporting his subordinates. Instead, he tasted the blood of the evil thought on the dagger's blade as if no one else was around.

"Filthy! Lowly!" Orin spat on the ground, his mouthful of bloody saliva, and cursed with disgust, "You're like a pig wallowing in the mud! I really don't know why the Father God would look at you differently!"

"Because you're nothing but a lowly, despicable shapeshifter! Father God only dotes on you to make you my sacrifice!" The wicked thought, not intending to lose the verbal battle, wiped the blood from her cheek and retorted, "Look at the mess you've made of Father God's grand plan! You don't actually think he kept you around so you could control everything, do you? You're nothing more than a pebble on my trial path, easily kicked aside. You can't threaten anyone; you'll undoubtedly fail him, just as you failed me back then!"

"Lies!" Orin had long since abandoned his feigned calm and elegance. "You lying worm! You're just delirious because of the little worms in your brain. Those fantasies created by the Mind Flayer tadpoles won't change your situation at all! Father God has always loved only me! He only favors me!"

Before Orin could finish her declaration, red force field missiles flying from all directions blasted the floor she was standing on into dust.

Large amounts of smoke and dust flew out in all directions, engulfing Olin's scarlet figure.

"You despicable scoundrel!" Orin screamed as he burst out of the smoke and dust, yelling furiously.

Ivy had no idea what this mentally ill person was thinking, how could he dare to leave a legendary spellcaster aside and get entangled in a fight with another assassin?

While Orin and Evil were arguing, Ivy used [Instant Spell] to unleash two rounds of eighth-ring version magic missiles. A total of twenty crimson missiles, trailing trails, formed a storm-like dense attack that completely overwhelmed Baal's Scarlet Daughter.

Unlike the "no harm in smoke" rule in comics, the real world doesn't have so many conventional rules.

Ivy's spells have a high hit rate, and even though Orin is Baal's assassin, he can't avoid getting hurt.

"So there really is a limit to the number of times you can use it." Ivy noticed the bruises on Orin's skin at a glance, and then nodded in satisfaction.

Although each magic missile only causes negligible force field damage, they do count as a single attack. Twenty magic missiles are equivalent to twenty consecutive effective strikes, and the invincible barrier, with its limited number of uses, obviously cannot protect Olin under such a dense onslaught.

"Well done, Ivy!" The evil thought, which was very sensitive to combat and damage, naturally noticed the change in Orin and quickly praised him before grabbing his weapon and charging forward.

Rapiers and daggers came one after another, but Orin showed no intention of continuing the fight.

The crimson mist exploded again, and all the evil attacks landed in empty space.

"You've been arrogant for too long! Little mage! Today you have nowhere to escape!" Orin's unpleasant voice rang out from behind, followed by the stench of a blood-soaked dagger.

Using displacement abilities to launch a surprise attack on a spellcaster is indeed a very effective strategy, but that only applies to spellcasters in the conventional sense.

Ivy, who possesses the eleventh-level [Sword Saint] class rank, is clearly not included in this category.

The two class abilities, [Lightning Draw] and [Graceful Reflexes], greatly enhance his ability to face unexpected enemies. He can not only draw his weapon at lightning speed, but also launch an exceptionally efficient counterattack.

The magnificent and elegant Beastbite Sword drew an arc of light, its blade gleaming with a chilling light as it parried Olin's incoming dagger.

Orin's attack will not end easily, but Ivy's counterattack is equally unstoppable and incredibly fast.

With a sweep of his mithril staff in his left hand, a semi-transparent force field giant hand flew out amidst the colorful light refracted from the Heart of the Mountains, rapidly expanding into a thick wall. Olin, who was fighting at close range, didn't even have time to break free before being gripped in the palm of the force field giant hand.

"Now, who is the one with nowhere to run?" Ivy's eyes gleamed with magical light as she looked at the controlled Scarlet Woman.

"Don't think you have the upper hand!" No matter what trump cards Olin had up her sleeve, she never intended to activate them without saying a word.

Like those players who shout out loud when they get a good hand in a card game, Orin screamed and plunged the dagger containing the Netherstone into his own neck.

With excessive spray of blood, the shapeshifter's body began to twist and swell, its bones making a teeth-grinding cracking sound, before reforming amidst an even more ear-piercing friction sound.

Ivy's Biggby Palm could no longer control the surging power of Orin—she had become another ball of flesh, her size even growing to the size of a large force field hand.

Like an overinflated balloon, Orin's flesh burst open, revealing a monster with four arms and a head encased in an exoskeleton. Its body was nothing but solid muscles and grotesque bone plates; this was a killing monster crafted by the Baal, more terrifying than even the demons of the abyss could evoke fear in people's hearts.

(End of this chapter)