Chapter 137: The Storm after the Storm (2/2)

“Any news? Some of the demons came to the camp and the boss wants to know the situation.” the man in front of him asked. More a boy in Damian's eyes but still, he would grow in their group, still there was food plenty and with the demon invasion it was rather simple to get more.

“Rangers and scouts are manning the walls again, they actually managed to destroy the demon horde. I think tonight would be the perfect moment to engage, they're probably all exhausted and I'm sure their numbers were reduced by at least half considering the demons' numbers.” he told the man who grunted in response before spitting on the ground.

“Aight, guess you can come back too then or do you wanna do more scouting?” he asked, Damian shaking his head. Scouting was dangerous, he wanted to stay with the main group for as much as possible.

“Good, good. Let's go back then.” the man said, taking a look towards the town, smoke rising above it as the sun rose slowly on the horizon.

No attack came during the day. The gates closed off for now with earth and rock, spikes had been formed around the town and what little numbers of runed plates they could manufacture in the day were distributed around the main entrances to the town. At least two thirds of the fighters and mages were resting, some of them had the privilege to have slept already. Claire was sitting on a small stool inside a stone watchtower that overlooked a big part of the town.

The pits were still burning, hundreds of demons placed into them and reduced to ash. The smell was horrible but as the day progressed she got used to it more. A couple more days at most and it would be gone. Water mages were still walking through the streets, cleaning up the blood and guts still littering the place. The barracks were filled again. Claire had the fighters distributed around the town again to be able to respond more quickly than with a centralized group at the armory. Any organized enemy would be better fought at using the walls and not a single building. Luckily the demons didn't have any explosion or earth mages among them, otherwise last night's battle would've turned into a massacre.

She had allowed herself two hours of rest earlier in the day, when all the necessary jobs had been distributed, some of them already complete. One good thing about losing people was that the food would last longer. She didn't want to go as far as to cure or store any of the demon meat, at least not yet. The sun was already setting as she continued to scribble in her notebook. She had visited her mother earlier as well, the woman had gotten a separate place in the armory's cellar, with furniture and items from their home. A couple nice women agreed to take care of her. When she checked on her she wasn't stressed, her empty gaze as it had always been. She wouldn't want her to come out while people were still fighting, on the other hand she felt bad about having her stay in an unknown environment.

It was crucial to keep her safe, Claire told herself. And there was no safer place than the armory, at least for now. Reinforcements to the building itself were underway as well, luckily two of their earth mages were architects, both having served in the imperial army at some point in their lives. A sudden somewhat quiet whistling sound made Claire perk up, magic flaring up around her.

Damian smiled as he looked around the dark town, the sun nearly set as him and their whole group were wrathed in shadow. The guards had been reduced over the day as predicted. While the defenses had been build up again it seemed to be mostly focused on future demon attacks and not a team of rogues. Climbing the walls and killing off the two guards nearby had been trivial.

The boss determined the highest people in the city to be around seventy. Their strategic knowledge was certainly impressive, surviving such a massive demon attack but then again the beasts were stupid and uncoordinated. With the last night's battle they would be easy pickings.

Damian looked around and saw the only person able to spot them to be a guard at the top of a somewhat central watchtower. He would quickly take care of her before they would kill the sleeping people and tired guards. Most would be dead before they knew something was amiss at all.

He aimed his bow and activated three of his skills, the string extending just a little more, the arrow glinting in the moonlight, it's head sharpened by the magic of wind. It would kill or seriously injure and he was aiming for the guard's throat, right below the helmet. Damian never missed.

The arrow was loosed as he turned to the others with a smirk, motioning for them to continue onwards but the man next to him just lifted his arm and pointed towards the guard tower, a confused expression on his face. Damian turned to see the guard looking towards them, his arrow nowhere to be found.

“He deflected it with some kind of shield...” a mage in their group said. “Guess we fucked up the stealthy route...” another one said as Damian watched the guard jump down from the watchtower, landing on the streets around fifty meters away. No alarm was sounded, the guard simply approaching them with casual and slow steps.

“Wow that guy's an idiot...” he said as he got another arrow from his quiver. “Let him approach for a bit more and then take him out. Conceal yourself and surround him.” Damian said, a little vary at the unconcerned guard. The black armor reinforced a little of that feeling but the chance of an actual Hand member to be in this backwater village was close to zero. Likely some small town hero fancying themselves more than they are.

The group spread around him, weapons and magic at the ready when the guard stopped around ten meters in front of them. He gulped as his Identify spell was unable to determine his level but still the possible reward was worth the risk, looking over to the boss the man nodded and he hadn't led them astray so far. Twenty six people, all above level one hundred, some as high as one fifty against a single person.

“There is nothing here for the likes of you but death.” the guard said, the voice distinctively female. Damian noted the lack of concern she showed and again nervously looked towards the boss but it didn't seem like they would change the approach. As soon as battle was inevitable, they would attack without relent.

“Give up the town and we'll let you all leave, with some food and warm clothing even.” the boss said as he stepped a couple meters towards the woman, arms wide open in a gesture of peace. He had a calm and reassuring voice, a born leader. The evening wind blew through his short brown hair as they all held their breaths for the woman's response.

“You don't seem to be lying.” the woman said, scratching her helmet with an armored hand. “But if that's all you have, you're not bringing a lot to this negotiation.” she waited for a while before she continued.

“Now if you wish to trade information or goods, we might find an arrangement. Though if you continue with the hostilities, then my answer stands. There is only death here for you.”

Damian was full on panicking. He was good with people and her body language and voice made him rather sure she wasn't joking. The problem here was that he also knew their boss and if he knew anything about him, then that a statement like hers was a show of weakness to him. The confirmation he had sought. The next moments passed as if in slow motion, Damian opening his mouth to interrupt right when the boss gave them the signal to attack, clapping his hands together as he smiled.

The woman quickly moved her hands, throwing stones around her as she whirled in her long battle skirt. The rogues of their group stepped in, some appearing out of the shadows in the streets, others teleporting right next to the enemy, their weapons drawn and their eyes looking for death.

A shield materialized suddenly, all but one of the rogues caught within before fire erupted inside of it. “Noo!” Damian go out, his hand outstretched towards the dome. Now or never he thought and jumped through the window next to him, moving further along the wall as the street exploded in noise. Spells and arrows were shot towards the barrier, the rest of their group unsheathing their weapons. Luckily nobody went after Damian, focused on the enemy or thinking him to find an advantageous position. Which was exactly what he was doing. A position away from the others.

Looking out the window, he saw the group spreading out, their heavy steps leaving deep tracks in the dirt and mud, a light rain started to fall, dripping off their leather and metal armor while the last light of the sun left.