"Commander, something is going on here!" Shouted the demoness in charge of the aerial division, who was still standing in front of the corpse of the mutated condor-like demonic beast, and the remains of the non-mutated one. "Something is moving!" she then added.
The commander of the beastmasters' guard was still too shocked by what the demon lord had just told him to pay attention to what the leader of the aerial division had just told him, and instead turned to look at the convoy above which numerous monstrous beast were diving on.
"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! EVERY NOBLE DEMON PRESENT HAS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEFENSE OF THE CONVOY!! THE OTHERS MUST TAKE COVER!!" He shouted with a voice powerful enough to resound for as further away the limitation of hell allowed it to travel.
The announcement, however, had arrived too late. All of the guards and leaders of the families that had decided to go through the pilgrimage with the beastmaster faction were already engaging in battle against the monsters in the air and on the ground, and while the noble demons were able to defend themselves, the high demons were not.
The entire fleet of the aerial division was made out of noble demons, and the demonic beasts to which they had bonded with, possessed the same amount of power as their humanoid companions.
From far away in the distance, the deafening sounds of a earth shaking battle arrived one after another like the beatings of a war drum. That, was the place where the battle between the four entities at the demon lord level were currently fighting.
After no longer than ten minutes, the noble demons which acted as representatives of their families, as well as the guards of the beastmaster faction, quickly realized a problem with these mutated beasts. No matter how much they were injured, they wouldn't back down. They also lacked any level of sight, while they had gained an impressive level of hearing, and sensing of any sort of essence which belonged to living beasts.
However, it wasn't the way these monsters behaved that was the strangest detail.. But the fact that whomever fell for their hands, would stand back up, and mutate into a monstrous creature that would jump right back into a fight against their former companions.
Next to the carriage that belonged to the Cruga family, Eken was desperately trying to fend off against one of the condor-like beasts, and to protect her lord and the rest of her group at the same time.
The tactics of the mutated beasts were to dive from the sky, and attempt to grab anything that made a sound from the ground. Once back in the air, they would kill the unfortunate demon or beast they had managed to capture, and drop them back on the ground in order to allow them to join their ranks.
More than once had Eken tried to kill the mutated beasts that dove against her carriage, but the impressive power that they could display made it impossible for her to strike fatally without abandoning her defensive position.
In a matter of minutes, the numbers of the monstrous beast increased. At the same time, seeing their fallen companions transform into abomination and attack them, caused for the morale of the demons to plummet. Requests of help were sent every other second, but no one seemed to be free enough to lend a hand.
Unfortunately, the worst part had yet to arrive..
Standing above the crater of the volcano, one of the demons turned to look at the shortest of the red-clothed individuals, and said "Your insects are terrifying."
The short red-clothed man turned to look at the demon with narrowed eyes, clearly offended by his words, and said "They are not insects.. They are parasites." His tone was as threatening as his expression was serious.
The demon did not bother with the threatening tone of the red-clothed human, and instead said casually "Sure, sure.. But can you hurry up? I don't want to be here when the three demon lords and the Lupa will be too injured to continue battling against each other. Even injured, they could kill us all.." When he reached the end of the phrase, his eyes unconsciously turned to look at the fight that was taking place a few hundred kilometers away. In his eyes, was an underlying and gutting fear.
"Very well.." muttered the short human before turning to look back at the convoy. His eyes then flashed of a bloody red color for a few moments.
While slightly more powerful than their original state, these monsters did not appear to possess any sort of intelligence.. So after about ten minutes, the noble demons who were defending their caravans against them, had managed to maintain their ground. In their minds, as long as they could hold on until the demon lord came back, they would survive.. But then, from underneath the ground around the convoy, numerous horrifying creatures dug their way out of the ground, and approach the convoy.
"What are those!?" Shouted one of the noble demons, causing for one of the monsters on land to hear him, and dash in his direction with a speed that only a noble demon would possess. Once this demon found himself against two opponents with powers similar to his, the fight's difficulty quickly increased of tenfold, causing for a new small injury to appear on his body every other second.
It didn't take long for the members of the beastmaster faction to realize who these monsters were.. As the intact parts of their bodies still wore the clothes of the aerial division of the beastmaster army.. However, nothing that resembled a demon was left of them. Their heads were split into moving tentacles, and their limbs had turned into eight bone spikes which they used to move faster, and send deadly attacks.
The young demons who were accompanied by their beast companions, and that had been chatting happily for the past month, were not sure what to do, and only a few of them had the courage to jump into the battle against these monsters. Some of which quickly found themselves on the losing end, and one distraction away from death.. Or worse. One of those, was the young girl that was accompanied by the wolf. She and her companion were holding off two monsters by themselves, but it was clear that they did not possess the upper hand.. As the powers shown by these monsters was nowhere weaker than theirs.
Eken was not any luckier. She was the only noble demon of her caravan, and was accompanied by a large number of scared and noisy weaker demons. Demons who, with their screams of terror, had attracted the attention of at least three of these mutated beasts and demons.
Her young lord had been entrusted to her, and she was already starting to contemplate the idea of escaping with him.. But the more of her demonic power she used, the more these monsters would attack her in a crazed manner.
In a matter of minutes, she began to be unable to keep up, and soon after, numerous injuries appeared on her body. She had escaped numerous grabbing attempts, and had been forced to take numerous blows head on, countering all of them through the use of her sheer power. That, had caused for her power to run out quickly, just like a few noble demons around.
The idea of escaping safely quickly became a dream, and the thought of losing her life and become one of theses monsters started to settle in. A thought confirmed by the approaching of an attack that she knew she couldn't fully withstand without taking a huge amount of damage, so she crossed her arms in front of her chest, and closed her eyes.
*BOOOOM*
Instead of a powerful attack, what hit Eken were pebbles and dust. When she opened her eyes, she saw a massive red feet press one of these monster's bodies to the ground. She was barely able to take a breath before a similarly big hand grabbed the uncovered half of the monster's body, and ripped it into two pieces.
The body of the demon who had easily killed one of these mutated demons was uncovered as soon as the dust settled, revealing him to be the leader of the Oni Tribe. In his hand was a massive spiked club.
While grateful for having been saved, Eken quickly turned to look at the other two monsters, but all she saw were two clumps of flesh, finely diced into pieces the size of a cubic centimeter. Standing next to these corpses, was Daniel. He was looking at the convoy that was currently being attacked, while holding two swords in his hands. "..of all the factions.. It had to be them." He said with a low voice.
After muttering these few words, Daniel turned to look at Eken, and said "Go in that direction, and help the others. I'll keep your lord safe." His arm was pointing at the back of the convoy.
During the month she and her lord had spent with Daniel, they had come to trust him. So she did not linger for too long, and after nodding, she quickly dashed to the aid of another noble demon who appeared to be struggling against two other monsters.
As soon as Eken left, Daniel turned to look at Sewah, who now was in a berserker state and couldn't hear him. Luckily, the objective of his berserker state was not him, but the monsters that had appeared.
Without waiting any longer, Sewah roared with enough power to attract a few monsters, then dashed in their direction.. as soon as the first one came close enough, Sewah sent his club down on its body at full force, turning it into a bloody stain on the ground.
His body was emanating a thick red-colored demonic power, of which the monsters appeared to be drawn like moths to the flame.
Satisfied by Sewah's behaviour, Daniel turned to look at the individuals that were standing on the crater of the volcano.
These individuals, on the other hand, were taken aback. They didn't expect that a human powerful enough to kill two noble demons in mere moments could be protecting the convoy, and even less than that, were they expecting for the leader of the oni tribe, known as an extremely powerful and evil entity within hell, to be there, doing the same.
The most shocked, however, were not the three humans, but the three demons. The cause for their shock was not the powerful human, but the oni leader.. Who during the signing of the demonic pact, was supposed to side with the faction they sided with, like he had always done.
"Who are those two? They weren't here before." said the tall and slender man after turning towards a muscular demon with hook-like fingers, and narrow slits from which the color of a black pupil could be seen.
"The giant is going to be a problem.. But I don't know who the human is. Does he belong to any of the factions from the outside universe?" Asked the demon back, just as confused.
The third and last human was a beautiful woman in her late twenties. Her eyes were as red as those of her companions, and her hair were as dark as night. Her expression was usually gloomy, but not this time. This time, she was looking at the convoy with eyes opened in surprise.. "Where did the human go?" she asked with confusion, when suddenly..
"Is the view any better here than down there?.." asked a voice that came from behind them.
The six cultivators immediately turned around, and there, they found Daniel. The human they didn't expect to see walk the pilgrimage with the beastmasters.
The faces of the three demons and three humans contorted in confusion. "Human, what are you doing in hell?" Asked one of the three demons. A humanoid being with no wings.. Just two horns fused in what appeared to be heavy armor, but was in fact the skin of the demon. His face appeared exactly like a steel helmet, and from the slits above the nose hole, two eyes of fire could be seen.
"Oh, I am just trying to gain the favor of a demon lord. Killing the bunch of you should be good enough." Responded Daniel casually, and with a polite smile.
The third demon, a faceless dark silhouette with bat-like wings which seemed to have been chewed on, took a step forward, and with an angered voice, said "A human dares to threaten a demon in his house.. I would like to-"
The voice of the faceless demon was proud, but before the echo of his words could stop resounding in the air, his head, his wings, and his arms had already fallen off of his body.. Followed by the rest, which landed with a soft 'thump'.
"Okay, minus one.. Who is next?"
The remaining five, shocked by what they had just seen, immediately prepared for battle.
Meanwhile, down at the convoy, Eken and Sewah had managed to gain a following. Their initial help had allowed another noble demon to free himself of the attacking monsters, and join another noble demon in supporting those who were still fighting.
