Arthur focused on retrieving the fallen spear. Slowly extending his aura forward to grab ahold of Paul's weapon, a glimmer of energy collided with his. Black vapor seeped out of the spear as Arthur overwhelmed the foreign energy and pulled the weapon into his grasp.

"It can use aura," Arthur quietly said.

Arthur's spears rose up into the air as he released them from his palms. The next moment, he drew the iron dagger from his waist and tightly clenched it while keeping it close to his body.

It's not magic but instead aura? No, that's impossible. I can clearly feel an overwhelming amount of mana from it.

Welt focused on the figure in the chair as a sense of dread crept up on him. He wanted to confirm more with Arthur, but now wasn't the time for discussion. Paul had already shrouded himself in a dense layer of divine aura that radiated brilliantly throughout the narrow space. Yet the figure in the chair simply smiled and remained motionless. Its gaze pierced through Paul as if staring at someone else.

"It's been a while since I've seen such delightful souls after I've ascended to this plane." The distorted tone that followed each word raised Arthur's alertness to the utmost limits. Even though it spoke, its mouth never moved. "Please, feel free to ask me any questions since now is not the time for me to begin killing."

"What did you do to the people in this house?" Arthur's question caused the figure to rapidly tap the floor with its torn feet, scraping against the worn patches of the wooden floorboards.

It tilted its head up, looking directly at the room's ceiling, marveling at its work as the sound of bones snapping echoed into the hallway. Slowly, another body descended from behind the doorway and stabbed the wall with bone-like blades that extended from its elbows, replacing its forearms.

"Was this person important to you? Were you looking for him? I'll return him free of charge." The figure happily said.

Arthur's eyes trembled in disbelief. The skin on the person in front of them was repeatedly stretched and then sewn back together, creating a terrifying patchwork of live and decayed flesh. While its head had both eyes gorged out and covered with a thick layer of bone. It took a step forward, revealing a cloak made out of human skin that was carefully woven together like a makeshift piece of armor.

With a quivering voice, Arthur asked, "Why?"

"Why, you ask?" The demon's body instantly rotated along with the chair it rested in, tearing the soles of its feet as it painted a bloody trail across the floorboards. "Because they let me."

Welt immediately sprung into action and slammed his staff into the floor, causing Paul to duck in place. This revealed an azure magic circle that slowly spun in place, gathering mana. The second Paul was out of the way, the first outer circle locked in place as a giant frozen spike emerged and shot forward toward the cloaked demon.

The cloaked demon released a tormented wail, slicing the ice spike with its arms as the two chunks dug into the wall before charging toward them. The heavy footsteps left craters on the floor as they collided with Paul, who lunged forward to intercept the cloaked demon. The entirety of Paul's arms violently trembled as the impact from the bone-like blades that came down vertically from the air clashed against his sword, releasing bright sparks as their weapons clashed against each other.

Paul gritted his teeth under the weight of the attack. The wooden floorboards caved in beneath his feet as they fell through the second floor, leaving a gaping chasm where they once stood.

"Paul!" Arthur worriedly shouted.

As Paul made eye contact with Arthur, he smiled, reassuring him that there was no need to be concerned as they plummeted to the first floor. Debris and dust flew in every direction, and a loud crashing sound followed shortly after.

"Focus," Welt advised as the last outer circle of the magic circle stopped, unleashing a burst of frozen spikes that blitzed toward the demon.

It was the best he could do when chaining spells, as the magic circle before him had three layers. The first layer was the core, which gathered mana from the user. The second layer initialized the spell, and the final layer unleashed a follow-up.

But before they could land on the demon sitting in the chair, the wooden doors near the end of the hall shattered, revealing another demonic being. The new figure was stripped of its skin and resembled that of a normal human's body. Its thin frame was unlike anything Welt had ever seen before as it shielded the fiend sitting in the chair.

Arthur glanced at the doors to his left and right as a loud thud gradually grew closer on both sides. Two fists burst through the doors, sending wooden chunks into the air. Arthur leaned back narrowly, dodging the fists that slammed into each other before his eyes.

Without batting an eye, he raised his left foot and delivered a powerful kick to the center of the demonic creature on his left, propelling its body forcefully back into the room it emerged from. Then, using the kick's momentum, he grabbed the other demon's fist to his right and hurled its body over his shoulders, crashing into the same room.

Using the opening created by Arthur, Welt immediately cast another barrier, sealing the creatures within the room and dispelling the barrier that was blocking the staircase. Although Welt had manifested five barriers that were constantly draining his mana. Considering what they were holding back, it was a small price to pay.

Thunderous banging sounds resounded beside Welt as the two doors near the staircase were ripped apart, revealing two more starving demons that were flayed of their skin. Their bloody hands clawed against the translucent barriers, leaving bloodstained marks as the demon giggled in their chair.

"My my, I never thought I would be so entertained despite these restrictions." An eerie melody erupted from the demon, humming a sinister tone that only Arthur could hear. "We should introduce ourselves young one, I go by Javic in human tongue. It has been eons since I've ventured in thy plane."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The alluring voice whispered into his ear, sending shivers down his spine. Arthur slowly opened and closed his mouth, his eyes trembling beneath the pressure emitted from Javic. His vision blurred as he struggled to remain standing.

Noticing the anomaly in his behavior, Welt's hand quickly grabbed Arthur's shoulder, pulling him back before positioning himself in front of him. He took a small blue vial from a leather pouch and brought it to his lips, drinking it to replenish his mana. There was only one creature left standing between them and the demon, yet Welt couldn't shake off the disturbing feeling that something was off.

.

.

.

The sword rang within Paul's hand as he deflected the oncoming attacks by the cloaked demon. His blade met the opponent's as the sword drew inconsistent arcs in the air. Gradually, Paul could feel himself being driven into a corner with each exchange. Streaks of ivory chipped away at the iron sword shrouded in divinity as the blades clashed against each other. Slowly, Paul's weapon was getting more worn out, and with it, so was his confidence.

Dust could be seen falling from the ceiling as Paul delivered a devastating front kick to the cloaked demon's chest, sending it tumbling back several feet. Above him, a thunderous stomping sound made its way toward the broken floorboards as it grew fiercer with each step.

With all his might, Paul hurled the sword through the hole in the ceiling, impaling the frayed demon's neck as it attempted to jump over the hole. Then, with a thunderous voice, Paul called out, "Arthur, my spear!"

Beckoning his call, a silver spear flew down the crevice between the floorboards and landed on the ground in front of Paul. The cloaked demon stepped back as Paul grabbed onto the silver spear and surrounded it in divinity, creating an extra layer on top of Arthur's aura.

"Interesting, I've never seen an aura with such properties before." Paul wielded the spear with both hands, the familiar sensation returning to him as he thrust the spear forward, stabbing the cloaked demon in the shoulder. To his surprise, the muscles around the demon's shoulder tightened, latching onto the blade as Paul struggled to pull it free.

In one swift motion, Paul lifted its body with the end of his spear and slammed it into the nearby wall, tearing the muscles around the blade and setting it free. The cloaked demon rose from the debris and scraped the ground with its blades. It looked over its shoulder at the demolished wall before dashing to a closed door in the adjacent house.

"You dare turn your back!" Paul shouted as he swung the spear at the demon's tendons, but to his surprise, a black energy intercepted the attack and snapped the blade off the shaft.

His brows knit together as he watched the demon burst through the door and escape. The clean cut on his spear left Paul lost in thought, but after an ear-splitting cry came from above, he instantly sprinted back upstairs.

Welt looked back down the stairs as he heard footsteps approaching. Seeing Paul emerge from the bottom of the staircase was a massive relief as they remained at a standstill with Javic.

"Has it moved?" Paul asked, but seeing them shake their heads was enough of an answer.

With the help of his staff, Welt pointed at the three barriers blocking the doorways and said, "That thing hasn't done anything even as we dealt with the other creatures."

Hearing Welt's response made Paul nod. In a commanding tone, leaving no room for refute, "I see, then in that case, create a barrier over the hole for me."

"You aren't thinking of…" Welt struggled to finish his sentence as a smirk appeared on Paul's face.

"I am." The conviction in Paul's voice caused a tired sigh to escape Welt's lips.

Welt stood before them and tapped the empty space, creating a translucent horizontal barrier. With a simple push of his staff, the barrier inched forward, covering the hole in the middle of the hallway.

Paul walked over the hole, stepping on Welt's barrier. He grabbed the sword that pierced the frayed demon's neck and twisted it, decapitating the demon that dangled on the ceiling. Once he reached the end of the hallway, he glanced around the interior before returning his gaze to the demon sitting in the chair.

"What are you?" Paul asked in a demanding tone.

"I'll be seeing you, young one." Javic playfully chuckled, ignoring Paul, who instantly severed its head from the body.

A brief audible thud resounded throughout the hall as the head landed on the ground. Its body and the other demons trapped in the rooms slowly crumbled to ashes. Leaving behind a faint dark energy that seeped into the iron sword as Paul wiped the blood against the doorframe.

"Paul, what was that thing?" Welt stood beside Paul while peeking into the room. Numerous characters written in blood plastered the wall; Welt examined the characters and slightly bent his knees, looking above the door frame to see an oddly constructed cocoon. "What the hell is that?"

"I don't know, but it seems like whoever brought that thing into this world placed a series of heavy restrictions on it." Paul walked into the room, examined the chair that bound the demon, and said, "It didn't say anything this entire time, and it looks like its flesh was merged into this chair."

"It didn't say anything?" Arthur stayed close behind Welt with a worried expression and urged Paul to say something, "What do you mean it didn't say anything? It was talking the entire time."

"Talking?" Paul raised an eyebrow in curiosity and replied, "I haven't heard anything from it since you broke that barrier it created."

Recalling what happened earlier, Welt pieced together the events and walked into the room. He knelt down and stared at the inscriptions that were carved into the floor. "So that's why you were so shaken…we'll have to call the other guards and alert the church in the town."

"I fear those rookies won't be any help. We'll need to send word to the other town for reinforcements or call in the paladins," Paul gravely said.

While the demon itself hardly resisted. Knowing their nature there was a hidden agenda. There was also the one that escaped into the other house, but judging by its speed, it was already long gone.

"What do these inscriptions say, Welt?" Paul asked.

"Assuming that this circle was used to summon it, it seems like that thing gets stronger with fear," Welt answered.

The characters were difficult to make out from the worn-out floorboards and blood that smeared the black ink. But Welt remembered in the textbooks within the academy's library that they were similar to an ancient form of magic identical to spirit summoning.

"Fear? That explains why it was so weak." Paul let out a small laugh before patting Arthur on the head. "I guess you're still a child, so it's normal to be scared of monsters."

Arthur pushed Paul's hand to the side and grumbled, "Scared? I wasn't scared. I'm only terrified of dark and cramped places. If there's light, then I'm not scared."

"If it wasn't you then…" Paul slowly stared at Welt, whose cheeks slightly turned red.

"Whatever! Let's go outside and call the others." Welt ignored Paul's mocking gaze and left the building, with the other two following closely behind.

Welt pulled the buckle to open his satchel and took out a scroll with a magic circle on it. He held onto the ends of the scroll with both hands and tore it down the center, sending a bright red ball of fire toward the sky. As it climbed to a high altitude, a loud crackling sound reverberated through the western district as a crimson light flashed in the sky.