Dreu puffed out his chest upon seeing the level of his second footman. However, his chest deflated as quickly as he puffed it with the knowledge that he did nothing to make this possible. While he was safe in the center of the human formation, the knights took the brunt of the two charges and his footman got the kills during the chaos. Initially, he felt the thrill of eventually commanding a powerful army of footmen against all those who opposed him. Gradually, he recognized that he was still as weak as ever. He had an ax and a shield he took from a dead adventurer which he had yet to use against any demons. If it weren’t for the knights, he would be dead already. For once, he felt completely useless compared to all those around him.
Before Dreu could start to list the examples highlighting his uselessness in his head, the footman stopped him.
My emperor! Please leave immediately through the opening behind you. I will hold off the incoming demons.
At the mention of an opening, Dreu turned around to see two of the beasts plowing through demon infantry. Like the knights, the demon infantry could do nothing to stop the beasts from crashing into them. He then turned to see the incoming demons mentioned by the footman. He watched a mass of demons advancing on their position. At the head of the demons, a demon in black armor wielded a halberd and was mounted on a black stallion. To Dreu, the incoming threat appeared to be the opposite of a Holy Knight he heard so much about garrisoned in the capital. Then, he realized what the footman was relaying to him.
“Let’s break through that opening!” he shouted at the knights as his hand pointed at the opening in the demon formation.
The remaining knights, at the mention of an opening, turned to see where Dreu was pointing. The sight brought out a roar with the knights quickly running towards the opening. Dreu found himself leading the charge and, to his amazement, the two beasts were still plowing through the demons and further breaking their formation. Therefore, only a handful of demons stood between the humans and their way out.
Dreu, taking a lesson from one of the knights he observed earlier, bashed the demon before him with the shield. He brought down his ax on the demon’s head when it was still staggered. Lacking a helmet, the demon’s head fared poorly against the ax and the demon collapsed onto the ground. With the token resistance dealt with swiftly, the humans made their way out of the encirclement. Dreu took a quick glance behind him but he couldn’t see the footman anymore. The new group of demons had surrounded the footman. He also discovered he and the footman couldn’t communicate anymore so the current circumstances of the footman was unknown.
Prioritizing his own safety first, Dreu studied the surroundings until he spotted a small plateau ahead of them. He ran towards it with all the knights in tow. They quickly scaled the plateau that provided them more information on the situation. The demon forces responsible for encircling them remained in position with no signs of pursuing them to the puzzlement of Dreu. Meanwhile, neither the other demon forces nor the Duchess and her forces could be seen anywhere. Only the corpses of humans and demons provided any clues of where the unknown parties went. Dreu looked at the knights and everyone nodded their heads.
Dreu tried his best to not vomit at the sight of the carnage. He felt that there was blood covering every inch of the ground and had given up on keeping tally of the losses on both sides. Based on his estimates, he noticed the demon casualties were about double the human casualties. If it weren’t for the fact they were so outnumbered, those odds might actually tip the balance in their favor.
Along the way, the humans encountered either a few surviving knights or a few demon stragglers. Dreu learned that many skirmishes broke out during the human retreat and they were encountering the victors of those small skirmishes. The knights were a welcome addition while the demons were cut down instantly. Despite efforts from the knights to slow down the demons, the terrain proved unfavorable as most of the demons easily navigated around the skirmishes. After discussing with the knights, Dreu recognized that they feared the Duchess’ forces were growing weaker with each skirmish taking place. Regardless of how he looked at the matter, the outcome was becoming more advantageous for the demon by the second.
During the short break, Dreu summoned his first footman after noticing his second footman was defeated.
How were you defeated? He asked the second footman.
I don’t remember the details but I know I was facing a powerful opponent. This opponent proved to be too much for me.
Knowing the demons were no longer held back by his second footman, Dreu spoke with the knights who agreed to continue moving. Several minutes later, there was a commotion happening at the rear.
“The demons are here!” shouted one knight.
“Get in formation!” screamed another knight.
Dreu noticed the knights were visibly shaken at the mention of the enemy. Morale was wavering for the knights due to how the day was going, though he did notice their morale stabilizing following the appearance of his first footman. Dreu looked to his footman.
To stand and fight is one valiant way to go but you are too valuable to lose your life here. The goddess won’t forgive us if anything happened to you here. I would advise you to continue fleeing.
Dreu was unsure what goddess the footman was referring to but he sensed an urgency in its tone. He climbed a rock to get a good look at the incoming demons. The incoming demons were riding wolves which explained how they were able to catch up so quickly.
You are right! Dreu communicated with his footman. They hope to slow us down so the rest of the demons can catch up to us.
