Dreu sighed at the sight of the ten knights. Including the footman, they only had a dozen members in their party, a far cry from the few hundreds strong earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the demons on wolves were still pursuing relentlessly and hadn’t given Dreu and the other humans a chance for a breather. The demons did suffer heavy casualties in the pursuit but they still easily outnumbered Dreu’s party by a large margin. Knowing their hunt was about to conclude, the demons had no reason to stop or slow down. The small human party entered the small woods by the main path but no one had the assumption they could escape the noses of the wolves. They were prey as long as they couldn’t find more human survivors or reunite with the Duchess. With the Duchess forces nowhere to be seen, the humans were ready to make their final stand in the woods.

“We had a good run,” said one of the knights, "but this is where we meet our goddess."

Everyone turned around to face the demons. The wolves snarled at the humans and would’ve attacked if the demons didn’t rein them in with the leashes.

“Shield wall!” shouted Dreu as the day taught him how to fight alongside the knights.

With him and the footman holding down the center of the shield wall, Dreu braced himself as he waited for the demons to make their move. Unsurprisingly, the demons spread out to surround the humans forcing the shield wall to become more of a circle than a line. Dreu then found himself staring at the leader of these demons who recognized him as its counterpart.

The demon leader wore no armor and was equipped with a blade along with a bow and quiver. The demon’s quiver was empty but none of the humans needed to know where the arrows went. During the first major skirmish between the two sides, they had seen many knights fall to the demon’s arrows that penetrated through armor and shields as though they were paper. At least with the demon lacking arrows, they could fight close combat against the demon as opposed to being easy pickings. Dreu also studied the wolf carrying the demon leader. The creature had a dark gray pelt covered with numerous scars all over the body. Unlike the other wolves, this wolf made no noise and was instead studying him back. From their earlier skirmishes with the demons, Dreu learned that the demons and their wolves worked together so, when facing them, it was essentially facing off against two opponents.

When the demon leader unsheathed its blade, the other demons unsheathed their weapons. Dreu swallowed his spit moments before the demons made their move. The wolves closed the distance rapidly and were greeted by the shields. For two of the knights, they had the misfortune of fighting demons armed with hooked weapons. Once the hooks latched onto the shields, the wolves pulled back with the shields dragged with them. Knights without shields were easy pickings and the human party went from twelve to ten members. Seeing the loss of two comrades and the demons back off to regroup, the humans advanced on the demons abandoning the shield wall.

Dreu charged directly at the demon leader. He knew he stood no chance but, if this was to be his resting place, he would at least go down fighting. His footman charged alongside him when a wolf approached from their blindspot. With the footman stopping to deal with the new attacker, Dreu noticed how alone he felt during his advance. He raised his shield high and kept his ax low. His intention of attacking the wolf while keeping the demon at bay with the shield was thwarted when his shield simply shattered into many pieces. He looked up to see a red mist trail left behind by the demon’s blade. As if in slow motion, the blade came towards him.

< Congratulations! You are gifted the Aegis Armor. >

The prompt window vanished as soon as the demon’s blade sliced through it. To the surprise of everyone present, the blade was stopped inches from the human’s face and, despite efforts to thrust the weapon, the demon couldn't close the last few inches. Due to the momentum of his charge, Dreu kept moving towards the demon and the blade was pushed back as well. As a result, the demon was pushed off balance. Seeing an opening, the young man swung his ax at the demon’s exposed side. In response, the wolf opened its jaw and caught the ax with its teeth. The demon readied his weapon for another strike while Dreu and the wolf wrestled for control over the ax. Before the demon could make its move, the footman sent the demon flying with a shield bash.

The impact of the shield bash also knocked the wolf off balance, freeing the ax. With his ax free, Dreu swung it down with all his strength into the wolf’s skull. The ax was so embedded into the wolf that, despite a few attempts, Dreu couldn’t even make the ax budge. Without a weapon and his shield, the young man frantically looked around until he focused in on the blade dropped by the demon. He then looked up to see the demon staring back at him. The two immediately dashed towards the weapon.

Dreu felt weightless during the dash. He was unsure if it was his armor or the adrenaline that had kept his fatigue at bay. Regardless of what the reason was, the young man easily reached the weapon first and aimed at the demon’s chest. The demon stared back wide eyed before looking down at the blade. Following the collapse of the demon, Dreu also fell on his knees when strength left his entire body. With difficulty, he looked around until he found his footman standing over three demons and their wolves.

It’s over, emperor. You have come out of this victorious!

Using the last of his strength, Dreu smiled and embraced the darkness. Before the darkness fully embraced him, the prompt window showed up once again.

< You have acquired the weapon, Red Mist Blade. >