Chapter 65: The Fall of Sin (1/2)

Approximately 100 kilometers north of Wyrport, Robert, the trader, was looking for a good place to set up camp. He had been heading along the inland route to the northwest, looking to skirt Wyrmrest Lake on his way to the capital.

Ordinarily he would have stopped much sooner, but the sounds of explosions and screaming carried from the city on the cool night breeze, had encouraged him to press on a little longer.

He had been travelling this particular route for many years, and rarely had any issues with monsters or bandits. As such, he often travelled alone, with only his old pack horse, Trevor, to keep him company.

He was just beginning to pull off the road to shelter under one of the uncommon trees in this grassland, when it exploded.

Robert was thrown from his cart as a rain of wood splinters cascaded down around him.

Trevor, as a full-blooded Borvani horse, a fact that Robert expounded upon whenever the horse came up in conversation, remained unimpressed. He passively waited for his master to finish rolling around on the ground, slowly chewing a bit of grass he'd snuck almost an hour ago.

Robert stood up hesitantly, and approached the crater where the tree once stood. Sticking from the ground was a massive spear, nearly 3m in length. It had a glassy finish, as if it were made from a volcanic rock. A mottled pattern of dark red was etched into the shaft of the spear, glowing with an ominous light.

Robert had no idea where the weapon had come from, or really what its nature was, but seeing it resting there in all of its brooding might, only one thing came to mind.

”JACKPOT! I'm going to be rich!”

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[This is going to really bother me. What am I forgetting?] Mike was thinking to himself.

[Oh well, I'll worry about it after we take down this demon.]

Lesser demons had begun entering the intersection again, this time pouring towards the barricade from all three directions. He heard James's shouted orders directing the archers to resume their covering fire. Judging from the motion of the Gluttony Demon, it would also reach the intersection in approximately one minute.

Deciding that now was a good time to launch another Fireball, Mike began the chant. ”I let thee free….”

As he was concentrating, he dimly noticed a few oddly shaped demons in the crowd, acting strangely.

”WATCH OUT!” An impact to his side sent Mike sprawling as several barbed spines shot through the air his head was occupying.

He looked down at Sera, who had fallen over on top of him. ”Whew, thanks. That would have been really painful.”

She blushed and looked away while climbing off of him. ”It's nothing. I owed you for earlier anyway.”

Mike peeked over the barricade, trying to locate the origin of the spines, and nearly received another one to the face for his efforts.

From what he was able to determine, there were three large, quadrupedal demons lurking within the crowd. He didn't get a good look, but it seemed like they were covered in porcupine-like quills, only facing forwards instead of backwards.

”What are those things?” He asked, more to himself than anything.

Tal, who had been forced to take shelter as well, answered, ”Spiker Demons. Shoots spikes.”

”Thank you, Tal, for that illuminating information.” He said sarcastically.

She puffed her cheeks out in the closest thing to a facial expression he'd ever seen on her. ”Very agile. Resistant to fire. Need caution.”

”Hmm,” he muttered to himself, trying to weigh his options.

Brenden neatly dissected a lesser demon in the shape of an oversized caterpillar with a set of bird wings. ”What's the plan?”

”Well, they won't let me get a chant off, and I can't just incinerate the area due to their fire resistance.” He glanced over at Tal and Brenden. ”I'm going to try something a little different, can you draw their attention for a bit?”

They nodded, engaged in a quick whispered conversation, and burst into action. Brenden hopped over the barricade, and began running alongside it while yelling like a madman.

[What the hell is he doing?] Mike thought while placing a hand on the ground and concentrating.

Their plan became clear, when the Spiker Demons started focusing on him, launching barrages of spikes at the swiftly moving beastman. Brenden engaged in an impressive display of agility, simultaneously slaughtering any of the lesser demons that approached, while dodging and weaving around the flying spikes.

However, he couldn't keep it up for long, and after one particularly close call, he was left off balance, with another wave of the deadly projectiles incoming. Just when it looked like the heroic youth would be skewered by the barrage, a wall of earth sprang up in front of him.

Tal had run parallel to Brenden's path, staying hidden behind the barricade while preparing the chant for a simple defensive spell when it became necessary.

The Spiker Demons, clearly upset by the sudden reversal, launched long streams of spikes into the wall, destroying it piecemeal. Brenden looked unconcerned, despite the growing danger, and the reason soon became evident.

”Alright, get back!” Mike called as finished pumping mana into the ground below the intersection. The beastman responded by back flipping over the barricade.

[Has he gotten more agile since we fought? He's not even using any enhancement techniques.]

Mike will his magic into action. The hand touching the ground clenched, as if grasping something. With a grunt of effort he wrenched it upwards.