Dreu had been waiting several minutes when Brornun spoke up.

  Something is approaching us. Seems to be a bat but it’s far too fast.

  Damn! Where are those four? They aren’t in my recall list. Did something else happen to them?

  Moments later, the four bats flew frantically towards the young man. They were all shouting incoherent sentences so Dreu told them to stay behind him and stop talking. He quickly summoned Aggich and Ilveroz and told the cursed fox to prepare her curse for the incoming creature. He, Ilveroz and Brornun would form the frontline to hold off whatever was coming at them. In the worst case scenario, the young man would fall back through the tunnels and hope he could get away.

  The creature is here!

  While Dreu got the warning from Brornun, he wasn’t ready for what turned around the corner. The torches provided enough light for him to see all the features of the abomination. It had the wings and ears of a bat. The size roughly matched what his four bats described to him. The rest of the creature’s body was bloated similar to that of a corpse. Even from where he stood, Dreu could see wormlike creatures crawling beneath the skin. The eyes were completely covered by bloated flesh but, with the way it turned its head, it was obvious that the creature could sense them just fine. In addition to the horrendous outer appearance, the aura of the creature made Dreu want to turn tail and run. Whatever they were facing must be related to the evil the bats spoke of.

  Is that Balgzr? What happened to it?

  Dreu felt the urge to vomit but his attention quickly turned to the creature which flew straight at him. The young man, with his drawn blade, readied himself to intercept. Once the creature was closer, he gave the signal to Aggich. The creature was slowed down to barely a crawl when it suddenly regained its speed. Dreu quickly dodged out of the path of the creature as he wasn’t expecting it to regain its speed.

  Is that thing immune to curses? We have one way to find out.

  After repeated curses from Aggich, it soon became clear that curses had no impact on the creature. Due to that, Dreu quickly unsummoned the cursed fox to avoid her getting hurt. He then ordered everyone to keep dodging, hoping that the thing would eventually use up its stamina. Unfortunately, the thing kept going and never slowed down once.

  Ilveroz and Brornun, we’ll have to defeat it the old fashion way then!

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  Given the creature’s speed and hostility, he doubted any of them could outrun it in the caves. Leaving their backs to it would be a mistake. As soon as he got a small opening, Dreu pointed his staff and cast the max brightness at the creature. When the act did little to slow down the creature, he unsummoned the staff and held his blade with both hands. He patiently waited for a second opening before he swung his blade down as hard as he could only to have his weapon bounce off.

  How tough is the creature’s skin? I didn’t even leave a mark.

  Ilveroz and Brornun then tried their luck with their claws but they too couldn’t get through the creature’s hide. After a few attempts of attacking various parts of the creature, they couldn't even leave a scratch on it. Seeing how their physical attacks weren’t working, the young man summoned Zog and ordered the demon butterfly to use its chaos flames on the creature. Dreu breathed a sigh of relief when the creature screamed in pain after it was hit by the chaos flames. While it wasn’t clear how much damage it took, the fact that it worked meant they had an answer to it.

  Zog, keep up the pressure!

  As the demon butterfly fought the creature one on one, Dreu ran over to the bats asking if they saw anything unusual before they encountered the creature. The bats claimed that they fled before they noticed anything and the creature had already started pursuing them by then. Hoping that they could find a way to defeat the creature, Dreu led the bats, Ilveroz and Brornun deeper into the tunnel. He wasn’t sure what he expected to find but his instincts told him that something was making the creature immune to physical attacks. For all his time interacting with adventurers, he had never heard any creature or individual that could completely nullify all physical attacks.

  I sure hope I am right and I’m not leading the group to their deaths.

  The young man still remembered the words from Brornun about something sinister. He checked with the direwolf earlier and got confirmation that what they faced wasn’t what it sensed. As long as they didn’t go too deep, they might not face what the direwolf warned them about.

  Zog, I believe you can do it!

  The group made quick progress as everyone searched for anything out of place. Several minutes later, they stopped before a hitching post that released a terrifying aura similar to what the creature exuded. Ilveroz offered to attack it and, when he made contact, he was pushed back. The post then started glowing as a dark portal formed beside it. The portal was nothing like the demon portal as it was pitched dark with nothing visible on the other side. Then, a sickle-shaped claw reached out from the void before the creature’s entire body appeared. The featureless long and narrow reptillian head reminded him that this wasn't the first time he encountered it. Recalling the same fear he had before, Dreu recalled the name.

  That’s a….a Velo? Is this hitching post a product of the underworld? What is happening in the demon realm?

  As soon as the creature exited the portal, it dashed straight at Dreu. It was intercepted by Brornun who put his weight into the charge to disrupt the creature's charge. Ilveroz then arrived behind it as he and Brornun were ready to sandwich the Velo in the middle. Dreu steadied himself before giving the order for those two to attack.

  We'll defeat this creature together!