Heavy breathing filled the formation of the adventurers as sweat ran cold. Right by this moment, the adventurers were also surrounded just like the others, by three demons… no, six, closing in from different angles.
"What… what are we supposed to do?" Ellie whispered, her voice trembling as she tightened her grip on her crescent blades.
"There are too many of them…" Mike muttered, raising his crossbow with shaking hands. After a pause, his voice cracked. "We weren't told about this. Weren't we about to go here and meet up with the soldiers and investigate? This town…has fallen a long time ago."
It wasn't hard to realize that most of them had once been the residents of this town.
Then finally, the demons charged at them like hyenas.
At the town square, steel scraped against steel as blades were raised. Compared to the rest of them, the large group of knights were doing far better than anyone.
"Kill!" Hamon shouted out loud, and the faint light shining around his large axe reverberated.
As the huge blade cleaved down, two demons charging in front fell down with a large wound on their chests, causing their upper bodies to roll back as blood sprayed into the air.
The other knights similarly held their ground.
Watching them, Ard and Zayn could see the mana—faint light shining around their swords.
The dozen or so remaining knights in the defensive formation stood like an immovable fortress, blocking and slaying the demons who dares to take them.
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"Damn it!"
Corre surged forward, his short blade flashing as he leapt into the air. Twisting mid-jump, he angled his strike and cleanly severed the demon's right hand. He didn't stop there—landing, he burst forward again, pressing the attack.
The demon only smiled, laughter spilling from its lips as it raised a blade of its own and parried the strike. In the same motion, it lunged, clawed hand shooting toward Corre's throat.
But Ellie emerged from behind and the crescent sword gleamed and stabbed through the demon's heart. The creature stiffened, then crumbled into ash.
It was clear they had a lot of experience fighting demons in a group.
"Thank you." Corre said.
Ellie merely nodded and dashed forward again.
Behind them, Jane and Mike drew and loosed in quick succession, their arrows finding gaps with precision—sometimes covering their teammates, sometimes delivering the final blow.
Jane's eyes glinted, as she dodged the barrage of attacks of a demon, but some grazed her drawing her blood. But then as the demon licked her blood that had stayed on the dagger he had used. The demon looked very interested, making Jane show disgust on her face.
Then from behind, Mike's mana-reinforced arrows shot forward with deadly precision, piercing the demon's chest. It staggered, then collapsed, turning to ash as it fell.
Everyone, once they had collected their calm, was now doing better.
But even so, these ordinary demons were overwhelming—and there were so many of them.
Moreover—
"Is anyone here strong enough to stop him?" Corre gulped.
From up far, looking at the scene before him, there was the horned demon. He was smiling in amusement as if he was simply watching a mere play at a theatre.
That wasn't just a normal demon! It was far higher. Far higher! It was the evil incarnate himself.
From the first moment it appeared, everyone knew there he was the cause of that raining rocks earlier, and while he wasn't doing it right now, it was only a matter of time.
Meanwhile, at the rear, Doctor Angelo worked tirelessly, his hands glowing with healing mana as he tended to the wounded knights, doing everything he could to keep them alive.
Zayn went towards me. He too could see the chaos and was looking at the creature watching in amusement on top of a tower.
"What is happening?" the boy asked, "This demon miasma I'm feeling is too thick."
Since Zayn can also sense mana, Zayn could not understand.
His whole body just like everyone else there was petrified by the sight of the former baron at first. This was because of the demonic miasma around the baron.
After all, for most mages, mana felt like a small well, a finite resource to draw upon. The more talented ones experienced it as a spring or a flowing river, while the rare prodigies carried mana as vast and inexhaustible as the sea or even the ocean.
And, naturally, one's capability increased with both talent and training. The stronger the reservoir, the greater the power one could wield.
And now, to everyone there who could feel mana, they knew that the creature above wasn't normal at all!
To Zayn, it felt like he was looking and seeing one of the Generals in the Demon Army!
I didn't look away from the battlefield.
Right at this moment, my crimson gaze narrowed and travelled angles. Then far from what any human could do, my eyes landed on the baron—on the way the air bent subtly around him, on the pressure that crushed the breath around him.
"A demon lord," I said quietly to Zayn. "That is a demon lord right here."
I am sure most of the more capable knights and adventurers have also understood what kind of entity they are up against.
Demon Lords were highly respected beings even in the demon continent. They were given territories by the Demon King so that they could guard against humanity. To be become a demon lord, one had to be extremely strong. Extremely. Enough to crush cities alone with just a few magic spells.
In the era of the Demon King Valier, there were several Demon Lords: Demon Lord of Strength, Demon Lord of Sword, etc. In comparison to human realms, if humanity have kings and dukes. The Demon Realm have the Demon King and his Demon Lords. Although no matter what, only a fool would believe a Demon Lord was as strong as Dukes. Dukes after all referred more to titles than their actual combat power. A demon Lord wasn't like that.
It referred to a demon's capability only.
If one is a demon lord, it means great strength. Unlike humans, this included the inherent and biological authority to rule over others.
"What do we do?" Zayn then asked. He seemed prepared to move out.
Nonetheless, I remained watching.
A man who looked like a normal citizen at first jumped and dashed towards the defensive formation from a house. His eyes were dark and the aura around him reeked of demon energy.
The demon lunged—only to be cut down by a knight barely holding his stance. Blood splashed across the stones.
"We do nothing," I said. "Right now, we are simply humans. We will not do anything. If worse comes to worst, do not worry. I will get us out of here. Or I would just kill whoever this demon lord is."
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In the town square—
"Damn it," Corre cursed, having suffered a heavy wound on his left shoulder. Jane and Mike kept firing relentlessly, their fingers already nocking the next arrows.
Then Jane muttered a curse of her own, frustration etched across her face.
She scanned the battlefield, circulating mana through her body, focusing it in her legs. With a sudden burst, she dashed forward, firing an arrow that struck a demon before slamming her knee into its head. Springing to higher ground, she nocked another arrow and aimed toward the top of the tower.
Powerful surge of mana gathered around her arms, down to her fingertips, infusing the arrow with a blinding radiance.
"Take this, you bastard!"
Then she released the string.
It drew a brilliant shine, just like a shooting star as it whistled and pierced out through the air, spearing towards the demon's head who was watching on top of the power.
Psh!
Everyone couldn't look but to pause for a moment.
Jane smiled wide and proud.
It was her most powerful attack!
Only that it had its drawback.
"Ugh." Jane groaned in pain suffering the drawback.
Doing that skill caused several bones on her arms to break. But it was worth it. No one in her entire life had ever dodged that, especially one launched from a blind spot.
But then—
The demon atop the tower caught the glowing arrow effortlessly in his left hand. He tilted her head and started to inspect it with an almost casual curiosity as if he could not believe what just happened before his black eyes swept downward, landing on the short-haired, youthful girl who had fired it.