Swiper's roar broke the Demons out of their daze and they immediately closed the distance to attack William.
The red-headed teenager only smirked at their advance and held the make-shift weapon in his hand firmly.
Since he was surrounded, William decided to deal with the nearest enemy and break the Demon's momentum.
William thrust his steel pipe backwards to hit the Demon who tried to stab him from behind. This sent the demon tumbling backwards as the pipe hit his chest perfectly. If not for the piece of armor he was wearing, he might have already been seriously injured by William's backhanded attack.
After knocking back his attacker from behind, William lowered his body and spun around, using the steel pipe to hit the legs of the Demons that had ventured within his strike range.
A burly demon roared as he used his hands to grab the steel pipe in a firm grip.
"I got his weapon!" the burly demon shouted. "Kill him!"
Six demons hurriedly closed the distance and engaged William in close combat. The Half-Elf smirked as he let go of the steel pipe, and started to punch, kick, and elbow the Demons that thought they could easily kill him without his weapon.
Even though William couldn't use his powers, that didn't mean that his body had weakened significantly when they appeared inside the Deadlands.
Although he couldn't see his stats, he could tell that his strength was still the same. As someone who had been taught hand to hand combat by Dwayne, the Half-Elf was just as deadly as he was in close quarters even if he didn't have a weapon in hand.
One of the Demons that had suffered from William's punches took out a throwing knife and threw it while the Half-Elf wasn't looking.
However, before the knife could even approach the Half-Elf it was knocked aside by Raizel. She then stomped on the ground and disappeared from where she stood.
A few seconds later, she reappeared in front of the Demon and slashed her blade with fury.
The demon's head rolled off from its body and fell on the ground with a thud. Blood sprayed like a fountain from its severed neck before falling to the ground, twitching.
Swiper, seeing that his men were at a great disadvantage roared in anger and joined the fray.
Raizel braced herself to engage the leader of the Demonic Shelter, but before she could do that, a blur appeared in front of her and clashed with the Demon who wielded a sword that was almost as long as his body.
Lilith unleashed a barrage of attacks, forcing the Demon to step into a defensive stance. After receiving the Amazon's deadly attacks, Swiper realized that the lady with long, light-brown hair was not only skilled, but was also slightly stronger than him.
Raizel, who was the strongest fighter in the Glory Shelter, was at par with his fighting ability. This was why he wanted her to become his subordinate. He believed that if he attacked the people of the shelter, Raizel would have no choice but to submit to his rule in order to save her people.
This was the plan he had in mind, and he was sure that he could pull it off.
However, after the appearance of the red-headed teenager, as well as the lady that was currently fighting against him, he knew that his plan was doomed to fail.
After briefly scanning his surroundings, the Demonic Boar disengaged himself with Lilith. He then took several steps back in order to gain distance from the strong warrior that made him feel that his life was in danger.
"Retreat!" Swiper ordered. He didn't care whether his men heard his orders or not. He simply ran away and jumped into his truck. A moment later, the truck came to life and left the premises, leaving behind his subordinates that had been struggling to their feet.
Seeing that his opponents had lost the will to fight, William stopped his attacks and allowed them to run away.
At first, he planned to kill all of them, but Raizel held onto his arm and shook her head firmly. Although he was reluctant to leave the source of trouble alone, he decided to give her face and stopped his attacks on the fleeing Demons.
Among the dozens of demons that Swiper had brought with him, one had died under Raizel's blade.
William glanced at the dead body, just in time to see it turn into particles of light. He also saw a small orb of light, that he believed to be the Demon's soul. The orb of light slowly turned dark as it flew towards a black tower in the distance.
As someone who had experience in purifying souls, William knew that the soul had been corrupted by an unholy energy.
"Although his body had disappeared, his soul will now be trapped in that tower until a new undead vessel is born," Raizel said with a depressed sigh. "Aside from turning into zombies, there are other ways that the Undead Legion replenishes their ranks here in the Deadlands.
"This is why there was an unwritten rule that the survivors shouldn't fight against each other. Of course, this rule doesn't apply to those who are ambitious. Even in this God-Forsaken world, they still think of ruling above others. They're all a bunch of bastards."
William looked in the direction where Swiper's Group had run away. He still didn't understand much about this world, so he decided to do some investigation first.
"Is there any way to leave this place?" William asked as he shifted his attention to the black tower in the distance.
"There is," Raizel answered. "However… we need to wait for an opportunity to arrive."
William frowned as he shifted his attention towards Raizel. "Wait for an opportunity?"
Raizel nodded. "According to the Diary I read, the way to leave this place will open once the moon turns red. At that moment, the Undead Legion would raze this city to the ground and kill all the remaining survivors. That is when the exit to this world will appear."
"I don't know if I should be glad, or be worried about this revelation," Lilith commented as she walked towards Raizel. "Where is this Diary that you speak of, and how do you know that the information written there is correct?"
Raizel suddenly revealed an awkward expression on her face. She seemed to be fighting an internal struggle inside her heart, but in the end, she decided to answer Lilith's question to the best of her ability.
"I can't show you where the diary is because I don't have it with me," Raizel replied. "However, I can guarantee that the information I shared with you is true. The person who wrote it is someone I trust with my life. Please, believe me."
Raizel's amber-colored-eyes stared at Lilith unblinking. The Amazon Princess held the young lady's gaze and realized that there was no falsehood in the depths of her eyes.
"Fine. I will believe you, for now." Lilith relented. "But, did that Diary tell you when this Red Moon will appear? I don't want to stay in this place for years. There are people waiting for me back home. The same can be said for him."
Lilith used her chin to point in William's direction.
The Half-Elf could only smile bitterly because he shared Lilith's opinion. He, too, didn't plan to stay in this world for a long time. William still had many things to do, and his wives would surely be worried if he disappeared for years.
"You don't have to worry about this," Raizel said with a smile. "The time in this world is different from the outside world. Although I don't know the exact conversion, I'm guessing a year here will not be longer than a month in our own worlds and timelines."
"Worlds and timelines?" William tilted his head to the side. Suddenly a realization dawned on him and his eyes widened in shock.
Raizel smirked because she could tell what William was thinking. However, she didn't say anything and simply waited for the Half-Elf to ask the question that had come to his mind.
"You mean, you, and the other races here, didn't come from Hestia?" William asked. "Also, are they from different timelines as well? Do you mean, some of them came from the past, and the future?"
"Yes." Raizel nodded her head. "Cathy came from a world named Mourncat, and Swiper came from a world called Nethervine. As for the different timelines… there were cases when two people that came from the same world lived in different time periods."
The young lady with long red hair, and amber eyes grinned at William. "Who knows? Maybe you will meet some of them sometime in the future."
Raizel didn't say anything else aside from that and ordered her people to return inside the stadium.. Now that Swiper and his gang had suffered defeat by their hands, they would not be making trouble with the Glory Shelter anytime soon.
