Kremeth brought Max about 50 metres away from where Asmodeus and Sebastian were as he let him off his back but refused to let him jump into the fight just yet.
The two of them were behind a tree trunk, away from Sebastian and Asmodeus's view as Kremeth deliberately chose this spot to train Max.
" You promised to listen to my guidance in this fight, so now calm your raging blood and start thinking like a coward". Kremeth said as he placed his turtle hand over Max's shoulder making it impossible for Max to move a muscle under his power and grip.
" What does that even mean?" Max asked, sounding a little irritated and impatient.
Peeking from behind the tree trunk, Max could see how Asmodeus had tied Sebastian up against a log and was torturing him, and the scene caused uncontrollable rage to bubble inside him as he felt like rushing into battle right this second, no matter the consequences.
" Rule one of fighting like a coward is to never fight if you don't have to.
You have a proxy skill, just summon your hounds and let them rush into battle before yourself". Kremeth suggested as Max immediately summoned his 25 nether beasts and sent them to Sebastian's defence.
The nether beasts immediately rushed to Sebastian's aid as Asmodeus immediately became on guard against facing a possible enemy.
The beasts jumped and leaped at Asmodeus, trying to bite his limbs and bury their claws into his flesh as their sheer number made it difficult for Asmodeus to fight back.
" Ravan? " Sebastian shouted as he immediately recognised his friend's hounds.
Sebastian tried to frantically look around, turning his neck in all directions in the search for his friend's face, but he could not find him for some reason.
Eventually Asmodeus managed to start fighting the hounds to a stalemate as picking Max's name from Sebastian's call, he said " So the hound had decided to attack me with a pack of hounds. How original".
Asmodeus tried to look around, searching for Max, but even he failed to locate him.
" Step two is to use long range attacks. Use your Agni Astra and engage with him at a distance, don't reveal your exact position if you don't have to and keep moving around" Kremeth said as he let Max go.
Max listened to Kremeth's advice and circled behind Asmodeus's back while he was busy shaking off the hounds as upon seeing an opening he used the " Fireblast" spell to attack his exposed back.
-1200!
" Agh, Lucifer have mercy " shouted Asmodeus as he angrily turned towards the direction the attack came from, again to find nobody as the hounds took advantage of the opening and landed two bites on his leg muscles.
-300
-300
" Agh damnit! " Asmodeus turned once more but he could no longer focus on fully fighting the hounds anymore as he tried to scan his surroundings constantly for any signs of moving trees or enemy ambush.
This worry led to him making mistakes while fighting the hounds as he began losing a lot of HP fast, with his internal injuries not helping his cause at all.
" Fireblast "
-1339!
Max managed to sneak a second shot onto Asmodeus's back after scaling a tree and using height to attack Asmodeus from his blind spot.
Somehow Max had not even shown himself in the battle yet and still managed to shave off 70% of Asmodeus's HP bar.
" Stop fighting like a coward and show yourself damnit! " Asmodeus shouted in anger and dismay but it was to no avail.
Max had already decided to go in for the kill, as he used sword intent combined with Wind Slash to send a powerful slash towards Asmodeus who barely reacted in time to block it.
" Fireblast" , by blocking Max's sword attack, Asmodeus was in no position to block the subsequent fireblast as it landed fair and square on his chest causing -1500 damage and sending Asmodeus back outside the dungeon.
Asmodeus's death caused all of his gathered loot to be spread across the floor as the only time Asmodeus managed to catch a glimpse of Max throughout the battle was one second before he died.
The terrifying fear that he felt in his heart when he realised he was probably going to die made him almost pee his pants because he knew exactly how failing captains were treated by the dark faction seniors.
Asmodeus knew that a grim fate awaited him outside, one much worse than the torture done by the soulmancer priest, which is why his death against Max inside the dungeon felt like a worse fate than dying for real, as atleast then the suffering would be over forever.
" Ravan you came! " Sebastian said as Max rushed up to free his friend. His face covered in cloth looking nothing like his usual concealer mask, however, with the same unmistakable blood red eyes, Sebastian knew it could only be his good friend.
" Anna and Asiva they … they … '' Sebastian wanted to say they died because of his mistake, however, Max just hugged Sebastian tight to let him know it was not his fault.
When Max saw Sebastian's old body torturing Sebastian he did feel a little odd, but knowing the full history he had no sympathy for the demon who had terrorized Sebastian in the past.
In either case, Max was never going to show anyone who harmed Asiva a shred of mercy. But today, fighting like a coward and achieving such great results, Max started to realise that he needed to spend more time with the turtle hermit for sure.
If he can master the art of fighting like a true coward, he could become a much superior and versatile fighter overall.
—----
/// A/N - Bonus chapter 4/4 for the day. Hopefully you all enjoyed today's bonus series.
Once again a big thankyou to everyone for the support you have shown to this novel in this last month. We are slowly but surely closing the gap between ourselves and number 10 on the GT rankings. Let's go get it! ///