It had taken a few days to hammer out the details, but ultimately, it was decided that they couldn't help by staying in Wavecrest. Tala would remain with all of the newly Adolescent Otters including Samba's children. Mark would leave a small force to bolster the otters as well.

So it was that a mixed army of both men and monsters marched north further into Veridia. Some of the humans were anxious about sleeping near the otters, but as the weariness of marching dragged them to sleep each night, they slowly relaxed.

Their progress was slow. With all of the gathered warriors having less Vitality than either Samba or Mark, it took much longer than they'd anticipated to reach the closest other city to the north.

A few humans hid beyond the walls at their approach, but Mark wasn't having it. He approached slowly by himself and yelled out to them. Samba only knew what he said because they'd discussed this part of the plan.

"Good people of Amberfall! My army seeks to assist Veridia in pushing back the Demon Empire. Have you any warriors with a stout heart that might join us?"

The soldiers looked to each other warily before disappearing to find their mayor. The mayor spoke with Mark for awhile and he ultimately left without additional volunteers.

"What did he say?" Samba asked when Mark returned, but he just shook his head. It wasn't ideal, but they continued their march forward.

Eventually, nightfall hit and they made camp. In the dead of night, a handful of women had come from Amberfall with the desire to fight with them. Needing all the help that they could get, Mark accepted them wholeheartedly.

They passed by two more cities and their numbers slowly swelled with those willing to fight back against the demons. It seemed that most just wanted to believe they had a chance and then were willing to fight.

Almost two weeks into their journey, one of the hunters who'd roamed ahead as a scout came sprinting back to Mark.

"Lord Mark!"

"Lord?" Mark asked and then looked back at Samba who shrugged.

"The demons are just ahead and are attacking Thornridge!"

"Can you get Samba and I close enough without getting spotted?"

The scout agreed wholeheartedly and the two of them followed as fast as they could through the thick forest that surrounded Thornridge. They crawled the last of the way there, not wanting their silhouette to give anything away. Eventually, the battle came into view.

The city of Thornridge was much bigger than those they'd passed on the way here. It butted up against a small mountain, nothing more than a foothill really, that was ringed with brush. A forest surrounded the city on all sides except to the east where a bricked road led out towards the rest of Veridia.

Almost a half mile from the walls of Thornridge, the demons' were posted behind an earthen half wall. The demons closest to their makeshift fortification had gourds on their backs and water spilled out to provide additional protection to the rest of the army in the form of a hovering shield.

Just behind the water affinity demons, another group was ripping chunks of earth directly from the ground and launched them towards Thornridge's walls. A tree had been planted just behind it and several humans that seemed to have an affinity for plants wielded its branches to knock the chunks of earth out of the sky.

The scout said something else, but Samba didn't quite understand it so Mark repeated it in the monster tongue.

"The demons are broken up into the system standard companies. Looks like ten companies are assaulting the city. Four companies siege with four waiting in the wings to pick up when the other run out of Aether. That leaves two more as a reserve force."

"The scout said all that?"

"I added some of my own input," Mark said with a rueful smile. "Ten companies makes a cohort which puts us at about eight hundred troops. Even with the new additions, that's a little less than four-to-one."

"That's not the best odds..."

"It's not. Thornridge is a smaller city on the edge of the Empire. They probably have a cohort of guards to protect it. It's deep in Veridia though so I'd be surprised if any of them have much experience."

"Mark, aren't you a lumberjack?"

For some reason, his face actually turned red from that. "I am, but... I did a four year stint with the army. I never saw any battle then I met Alice and we decided that the coast would be the best place to start a family."

"I'll take the short version for now, but next time we're fishing or drinking, I want the whole story. The real question is what do we do against all of these demons?"

As Samba asked that question, he looked back towards the cohort of demons and his eyes landed on one that was taller than the rest and by a wide margin. He couldn't tell from how far back they were, but he'd bet a Body Orb that was the demon who'd briefly attacked Wavecrest.

The three of them pulled back towards their army and Samba explained what he'd seen about the tall demon. Mark frowned, but there wasn't much else for it. If they weren't willing to help here, they might as well go home. Once they were fully back by the army, the two of them and Elizabeth gathered to make a plan.

"We obviously can't take out a cohort of demons on our own in open combat. What do we do?" Mark asked.

"Is leaving an option?" Elizabeth asked dully. "I prefer fights I can win."

"No," Samba said, already irritated that he'd included her, but she was too valuable. Very few monsters or humans here had any sort of experience in a true prolonged war. "Let me take my templar and smash into their flank before running away."

"There's no guarantee that you'll get out if you do that. The Earth users could easily block you in."

"Oh no," Elizabeth muttered.

Annoyed, Samba snapped at her. "Do you have a better idea then?"

"Obviously."

"Well, go on then."

She laid out her plan. It wasn't any grand or clever idea, but it did show that she had a much sharper insight into war than either of them. Still, it took some time to convince Samba as his involvement was minimal. His irritation at that made him stop and look inward.

Maybe Tala had a point. He didn't want someone else to be standing between him and the enemy.

With the plan in hand, Samba returned to his Otters and got them all sorted while Mark did the same for his people. For Samba, all he could do was wait.

***

Mark, along with a dozen hunters that each had bows, stepped out of the treeline. The demon army's scouts had been killed off first so they didn't even notice until the first arrows were away. With the water shields being thrown up in front, they aimed for the reserves.

Whistling arrows caused the demons to spin around looking for the source of the noise only for gravity to send it plunging into their bodies. A few gurgling screams occurred but Mark and his team had already loosed another volley.

Mark wasn't the best at math, but against eight hundred enemies if they killed or wounded ten with every volley, they'd only need to do that eighty more times.

Only eighty. Mark shook his head as the next volley plunged into the demons who had quickly organized. Four squads in the reserve bolted towards them, eating up the distance between them with remarkable speed.

"One more shot. Straight on," Mark said, edging himself just in front of the lines of hunters.

Their bows thrummed, but the sprinting demons were ready. As soon as the arrows loosed, they leapt into the air, speeding towards them.

"RUN!" Mark yelled, but his hunters didn't need to be told, they were already fleeing. He turned to follow them when one of the demons latched onto his back. Sharp claws gripped his shoulder, but the demon was trying to slow him and not stab him.

Their mistake.

With his increased Strength, Mark ripped the demon from his back and light blossomed from his hands as he used [Midday Sun]. The demon screamed as his blazing hands burned their flesh. With the other demons still on hot on his heels, Mark couldn't finish him off.

He tore through the trees. The screaming demon and his hands that glowed like the sun lit the way, giving them an obvious path to follow. If it wasn't for the trees that they had to dart around, they'd have already caught up to his hunters. As it was, Mark had to slow as he finally caught up to them, not wanting to overtake them.

The demons got closer and Mark could here the rasping of steel as one of them drew their short sword. The demon in his hands had died to his ability during the chase so he spun around, intending to throw the body into the charging demons, only to discover that one was much closer than he'd thought.

A short sword flashed towards him and Mark flinched, instinctively trying to get his hands in front of the oncoming weapon. Thankfully, he still had a demon in hand.

The blade cut through its fellow's body, giving Mark only a small scratch on his forearm from where the blade cut through. Mark kicked the dead demon onto his attacker and spun to catch back up with his hunters.

He couldn't see them anymore through the trees and his head swiveled around the forest, hoping that he'd run to the right spot. Starting to worry, he slowed down just a hair until he spotted a very familiar rock. Mark stopped, spinning around to face the oncoming demons.

They'd rushed into the forest, out of character for the regimented demons, but with Mark stopping to engage, the rest caught up and broke into their squads. Each of them drew their swords and marched towards him.

Mark's wide grin stumbled them and they clearly knew that something was wrong, but it was already too late.

Otters and humans stood up from behind trees and in brush. Samba himself was just behind Mark. He heard him growl in the monster tongue.

"Kill them."

Mark echoed his statement to the humans. "Attack!"

His fists reigniting like two mini-suns, Mark leapt towards the closest demon who flinched backwards. The sudden reversal caused a few of them to stumble, but they wouldn't let any of them get away. He backhanded a short sword away and then plunged his burning fist into that demon's chest. The light cauterized the wound even as it finished killing him.

The demon in front of Mark dropped and all around, otters and humans fought against the surrounded demons and Mark was proud that they were able to help Veridia like this. He stepped forward, dodging a sword and grabbing one of the demon's by the head. His scream cut over the din of battle and the smell of cooked beef assaulted his nostrils.

Mark slammed him down before he moved on to the next one. It only took a couple more moments before there were no more demons left to kill.

"Did any escape?" he asked before repeating the question in the monster tongue.

"No," Elizabeth said, appearing from behind the demons and carrying one of them in.

"Let's clear the bodies," Samba said. The otters moved the dead demons further into the woods, but took their weapons in case any of the humans wanted them. A few who didn't have their own weapon or were using something like a pitchfork took them.

Once that was done, Mark found his hunters who'd recovered by now and gathered them up. "Let's do it once more."

There was some weariness in their eyes, but with the success of their plan, each face that looked back at him was determined. Once he'd seen each of them nod, he started back towards Thornridge.

He only made it one step and stopped when his eyes landed on a tall demon. He spoke in a strange drawl, but it still sent a shiver down Mark's spine.

"I remember you. The human with the pet otter. Now... why did you think it was all right for you to kill off my troops?"

During his small speech, dozens of demons lined up behind him, slowly filling up the spaces between the trees. Those dozens turned to a hundred and then to two.

They were surrounded.