Peril

“Hero Mateo, not a great hunt tonight, huh?”

“Well, with such a large group of people marching through, most of the animals seemed to have been scared away.”

“Well, it’s still better than what we’ve achieved these past few days.”

That was true, the group had been living off of rations throughout the march. Every now and then someone would get lucky and bring something back. However, like his own situation, it was usually small game.

“I hope you didn’t go too far out though. You mustn't get greedy for meat and journey too far from the camp.”

“Sorry, I was just too embarrassed to return empty handed.”

“That’s fine, just be careful.”

Mateo smiled and waved as he walked past and headed back to camp.

“I don’t think it will be a problem, we’re almost in the city anyways.”

Even as he walked past the knight, he could still feel their eyes boring into the back of his skull. He couldn’t help but frown once he walked out of sight. It doesn’t seem like he had been found out, and yet it appeared that the knight’s intuition could not be discounted.

He walked back into the camp and handed over the two rabbits to a knight who had taken on the role of cook. By dinner time he sat with his party, snacking on the rabbit meat.

The spirits of his classmates seemed to be uplifted as they savored his hunt. Unfortunately, there was only so much to go around. Once again they were exempted from night watch and spent the night getting a good night's rest.

The only issue Mateo had was that a certain someone kept sending glances his way. Interestingly enough, none of the other knights acted weird, even Anthony. Had the knight not told anyone?

It made sense, there wasn’t any actual proof. However, Mateo still did not feel comfortable under the scrutinizing gaze. What was it that made the knight so suspicious of him?

Everyone started to pack up the campsite and their journey began once again. By tomorrow evening they should be able to reach the city. What occupied his thoughts though was the upcoming demon ambush that Tilch had informed him, along with his own role to play.

A few hours on the road Mateo finally felt his hand heat up, it was time.

Trying not to look around, he instead kept his gaze upon Anthony. He would definitely be the first to notice if anything happens. Strangely enough, even after traveling a dozen more minutes nothing happened.

What was stalling Tilch?

Even Mateo couldn't sense any marauders nearby.

The next moment though, before anyone could react, sigils appeared upon the ground in the middle of the group. Walls of corrupted earth rose up, splitting the company in half. Mateo and his party found themselves behind the wall, separated from Anthony.

The next moment another sigil appeared directly beneath Mateo. Judging by the head in his hand, the sigil had been locked onto his own sigil hidden beneath the skin.

Has he been betrayed? Before he could fully understand the situation more corrupted earth shot up around him, caging him inside a prison of earth. He nearly lost his balance as he felt the ground beneath him move.

The party watched as they saw their leader was suddenly kidnapped as the earthen prison that encased him slid across the ground at a shockingly fast speed.

Before they could chase after, they were blindsided by several hands shooting up from the ground. This time though they weren’t made from the very earth but consisted of flesh and blood.

Each of the party members were able to protect themselves through their own methods, be it merely dodging or counter attacking the hands. The lapse in focus had made them lose sight of the earthen prison though.

There was also the problem of the beings that had risen up from the ground. The party was shocked to discover that the perpetrators of this ambush were the demons that they had come to find.

The demons were humanoid in appearance, but with some type of thick armor plating surrounding their bodies along with long and thick claws. Their heads were bald, but their scalp was the same thick shell that covered their bodies.

The biggest problem, there were a lot of them. The only fortunate news was that none so far were on the level of a Demon Lieutenant.

While the party was doing well, several knights had already been dragged into the earth. It was a haunting scene, especially the sudden silence after the bone chilling scream they had let loose.

The party fought back while never stopping for even a moment. For every demon they fought above ground, at least two more were lurking beneath them.

The party was finally able to create a safe zone as Noah created a barrier beneath their feet. They quickly gathered the remaining knights, finding themselves at a stand off against the demons that surrounded them.

While knights were able to gain courage seeing how the demons became more timid in their actions without the underground support, they still couldn’t help but worry about their companions on the other side of the wall.

As for the party, their thoughts were completely occupied by their missing party leader and his safety. The one who was panicking the most was Alicia. Her eyes wandered all over the place, not being able to make a decision on what the best course of action would be.

Should she pursue the earthen prison, head off in the direction she had last seen it going? Should she focus on breaking through the wall? Or was the best decision to fortify their location and wait for Anthony to break through?

What made it worse was that all the knights were looking to her for commands. The other party members could see their second strongest completely in over her head. Before they could try and placate their classmate though, a new problem arose.

Making its way through the cluster of demons was a new foe. It was fully encased in some type of demonic looking armor with a giant glowing sigil on his chestplate. In his hand was a long sword that he had been leaning against his pauldron

The armored demon cast his gaze over the group, studying them along with the barrier beneath their feet. The party felt naked before this gaze, with a chill running down their spine. This demon was dangerous, extremely so.

It wasn’t just the demonic aura that he radiated, but more so his gaze that frightened them. If the demons had given them the feeling of a natural enemy that viewed them as just some humans to slaughter, this particular demon radiated a certain kind of hatred in its eyes.

The first one to react was Alicia, who broke away from the group and immediately charged at the armored demon. She held nothing back and activated her Intermediate Weapon Art right from the beginning.

The name of this particular move was Blink Thrust. The attack was nothing flashy and had only one key component, an insanely fast closing dash to reach the target.

One moment she was several steps in front of the group, at the edge of the barrier, and the next she was directly in front of the armored demon. However, the conclusion was not what she had expected. Instead of the demon standing passivley with her sword piercing its chest; it had repositioned its own sword from its shoulder to right in front of its heart, perfectly blocking the lightspeed thrust.

Before she could react it grabbed her sword and yanked it past it. She stumbled forward only to feel a blinding pain as an armored elbow hit her square in the face. Not even given a moment to fully understand her situation she felt the demon press its hand against her face as a foot swept her feet out from under her.

The next moment she found herself on her side lying on the ground. She looked up only to find the tip of a sword inches away from her face. As fear crept over her a blast of lightning hit the armored demon square in the chest.

A barrier formed in front of her as she felt several hands pulling her back. Standing in front of her was Kyle with his shield raised while a couple of knights were pulling her back. She saw Glenn with his staff raised and Noah in the middle of loading as many defensive buffs as he could upon the shield knight of the party.

Helen with shaky hands was casting one curse after another. However, all of them had one thing in common, their eyes were clouded with fear. It was then that she registered her own shaking hands and trembling legs.

She couldn’t help but wonder, did her eyes also look like that?