"How do we stop that thing?" I ask Me.
"I... have no idea." Unfortunately, he's as stumped as I am. It's a good thing I have an actual Space Mage to ask these questions, then.
"Marie," I shout, before feeling stupid and contacting her through the dungeon link. She teleports in front of me and I pose to her the same question that I did to Me.
"What the hell is that thing and how do we stop it?"
"I think -and that's only because of the demons running out of it, but I think it's a portal to the demon world? Not that I've seen one before, but unless they're hiding on Tironia somewhere then it's got to be the demon world, right?" She doesn't sound very confident, but it's better than an 'I don't know.'
"Demonia huh?" Me groans and Marie looks confused. What? If I'm going to die then I'm at least making jokes while I go.
I don't know what the demon world is called and at the moment I don't care. I just want it to go away so I start to gather energy as I did before. Hoping I won't miss and hit the moon again.
The demons are a mess of unfinished monsters. Each one different than the last in a multitude of fucked up ways. The fastest of them has large teeth and closely resembles the wolves. They have no eyes or ears and spikes sticking out where their spines should be, but other than that, they look like wolves. They are the first to cross the threshold thanks to their speed.
Then there are the humanoid-looking demons. Varying in size from child height to adult, each one looked like a deformed Goblin. Long ears, sharp teeth, clawed hands. The whole package. Spikes sticking out of their heads like miniature horns are present on their shoulders as well. Some even have the boney spikes protruding out of their fingers. Just looking at them is enough to freak me out and I'm still trying to do this power attack thing. I didn't mean to scar the planet and I'm determined to not mess up this time. The last attack was done in my rage, so technically it wasn't really my fault.
Yeah, I know that's just a bunch of BS I'm telling myself, but I need that right now.
I do feel really bad about that last attack, but I just wanna murder him so badly. Is that so wrong?
Behind the human-sized Goblin-demon thingies, were the slower, larger demons. They had been ambling around the desolate landscape unperturbed until the rushing masses had turned their attention toward the portal. Each one was completely different from the others. Some walked on four legs while most walked on two. A few of them have even more than four appendages and skitter around freakishly on their multiple limbs.
One has no legs at all and is just a mass of flesh. Rolling toward us and the portal, squashing and absorbing demons in its path. A troll-sized demon with no lips and a circular mouth picked up one of the runts running by and ate it before resuming its march.
I was beginning to panic. I'm not going to lie. I was furious a moment ago. After seeing the triplets, and when I thought the King was on the run following my show of strength. Instead, after following him to the eastern forest, it seems he had planned to sacrifice his human troops all along to gauge our strength. King Aldus might have seen a lot, but not everything we're capable of.
"Now you will die. Everyone will die!" the King screams. Demons pour into the mist-covered forest as my family once more leap from the shadows to defend our home and the people within. This time it's different forces that meet our enemies' advance as the wolves, bats and spiders are still cleaning up the human army.
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The Ringmaster and his army of Golems hold the line as the wolf demons crash into them. The demons' levels outrank those of the King's human army as some of the Golems are taken out in the initial charge. Barry is next to the Ringmaster, crushing skulls and launching demons back through the fold. His mythril frame sparkles under the moonlight as his large fists crush skulls.
Golems aren't the only monsters in this part of the forest. Colin the King Mimic and all of his own subjects are out in force. It's been a long time since any Mimic has treaded on the soil of Tironia like this. Bloodthirsty and out for death. Colin throws demon after demon into his trunk and none of them have returned.
The smaller Mimics that were created by Colin, through imbuing regular chests with his weird-as-hell Mimic power, number to 800 chests and they are doing the same as their leader. Me has long-since given up on telling me how dangerous legendary creatures are and has finally learned to accept the chests as family. He does clean them after all.
Standing against the demon army with them are my Assassins. Always there and ever present. They're unable to use most of their stealth bonuses as they can't - and I wouldn't want them too either- teleport through the portal into the demon world. Not that they need to cross planes to attack as thousands of demons are literally pouring out of the reality-altering gateway and into my forest.
Guarding me as I condense more and more power are Noir, Carrie, Dropper, Dum, Dee, Me and Marie. Everybody else has formed around the portal and is fighting.
Even Jack the Swindler and his sketchy associates are out fighting. Ang, Zen, Carn and the rest of the dungeon priests even though they're technically non-combatants themselves are off to the side chanting. Peaches and the Sweets are teamed up with Talia, Lucinda and Ali with the rest of their employed Assassins. The Magi weren't absent either as Mystique and Coral had them take up position at the rear. Launching spells into the portal instead of the battleground, they are sure to hit enemy targets regardless of where their attacks land.
Hana and Mira lead the dungeon-summoned guards in setting up a wall of troops that surrounds the entire portal to make sure no demons escape. Further protecting the regular citizens from loss of life and ensuring the DP Factory will stay strong.
Even the Assassins that make up the City Council are in the fight. Just because they handle paperwork on a daily basis doesn't mean they haven't spent at least some time in the Coliseum with the Ringmaster raising their levels. Further, every scout, gatherer and Syndicate member have also been recalled. Underneath the night sky where darkness lurks the forest has become an Assassin's playground.
Light is nowhere to be seen and has disappeared somewhere. I can't even sense him using my dungeon connection.
With their portal open and the battle in full swing, King Aldus and his men join the attack. The only person who stayed by the portal is Danil, the King's Space Mage. Even though he didn't cast the spell, he's the one left to defend it. Eyepatch A and B jump into the fray and King Aldus follows behind, fixing his sight on me.
Utilizing the forest to their advantage, my Assassins try to kill as many demons as possible by using their overpowered stealth skills.
The demons are quite tough though. The wolf and humanoid ones take more than a few blows before they stop moving. They obviously have high levels, and I'm not surprised, as living in a place like that does that. It doesn't look like it's easy to survive on the other side of that portal.
One of the larger demons has just reached the opening and my family parts as I unleash my destruction beam. It's the mass of flesh that has rolled over its own kind to get at us and who's about to cross the portal that's in its path as my attack lands. Everything but the outer rim of flesh is erased from existence as the beam travels through its body and annihilates everything behind it. I don't even get to congratulate myself though as the gap is immediately filled with more charging demons. Not bothered in the least that thousands of their kin had just evaporated, they kept eagerly advancing on the portal.
I need to find a name for that move. It's not actually a skill or a spell, rather just me condensing energy and releasing it like an arrow at my target.
The never-ending droves of demons keep pushing out into the forest, forcing my family's enclosure back. The lowest levelled Assassins fall and Golems are destroyed as the demons prove to be the first formidable opponents we've come across, and it drives me crazy. I've gotten so used to a fight being over before it’s had the chance to actually get started, that I've forgotten how easy it is to lose people.
Violet, Amber and Blondie spring to mind as I decide to join the fight myself. With that, me and my strongest Assassins jump into the mix.