The doorway led into large hallways sparsely lit by flickering torches. Barely any light filtered in from outside. Garn, Jasper, and Casper were already moving fast down a hallway.

“We need to move carefully,” I hissed after them.

“I can hardly see a thing here,” said Garn. He grabbed one of the flickering torches from the wall.

“Wait,” I said. “No torches, in this darkness you would be practically asking to be found out by the enemy,”

Garn turned around.

“What are we supposed to do instead,” he said condescendingly.

“I can navigate in the darkness,”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Garn promptly walking again.

Who does he think he is?! I gritted my teeth. Arguing with someone as stubborn as him wouldn’t get us anywhere. I just hoped we wouldn’t cause this mission to fall apart.

The ground clicked under him.

I pushed him out of the way. I yellow liquid spat down from the ceiling. I stepped back but some of it landed on me. My skin burned.

“What did I say,” I said glaring at him, I felt slightly woozy but I blinked it away.

He didn’t retort back with anything but he seemed to be more careful afterward.

It was strange though. I couldn’t sense the demon general. It had clearly emanated from within the castle but now that I was within it the aura seemed to be coming from all around me. I shivered at the thought of that creature. Can I beat that? I clenched my fist. If I went all out could I beat a monster like that? I didn’t know. The speed, the ferociousness. Even with all my training it was different. I tried to calm my shaking hand but it was to no avail.

The hallway Garn had chosen opened up into a large cavity. A massive pair of doors nearly as tall as the front gates were at the far end. Large statues lined the walls. The statues were giant armoured figures with spears and swords. They were clearly not human indicated by large horns and protruding teeth. One of them even had multiple arms. Their cold expressions sent a shudder down my spine.

“Turn back around,” said Garn. We turned around now with him in the back. Although he quickly made his way to the front of the group again.

I straightened, two mana auras were approaching us from beyond the corner.

I put a hand on Garn’s shoulder. “There are monsters approaching,” I said in his ear.

He backed away. “How do you know that?” but he quieted down at the sound of approaching footsteps and clanging armour. Garn approached the edge in anticipation of the soldier.

An armoured figure taller than all of us walked past. A nearby torch illuminated its goat-like face with protruding horns.

With the hiss of his unsheathing blade, Garn dashed soundlessly behind it and slit its neck. The twins held the weight of the slowly falling corpse while restraining its panicked movement.

The other soldier appeared. When It caught sight of its now-deceased comrade. It reached for the sword at its waist.

I aimed my fingers at it. Why did you attack it Garn? You have to wait for me to finish speaking. Before I could fire a blast at it. Garn threw a small round object at it. It exploded into a large plum of dust on contact. Using my mana sense I could see as they dismantled this one as well. I lowered my hand. I almost forgot that they still had military training seeing how reckless they had been on the battlefield.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Let’s go,” said Garn after the dust cleared.

We traveled past more winding corridors, and up and down long flights of stairs. We passed more guards but avoided killing them to lower any suspicion of infiltration.

After descending a flight of stairs. The air smelled rank. It smelled of both rotten and burnt flesh. I wrinkled my nose at the smell. Garn and the twins seemed unfazed by it. It seemed they were already deeply familiar with the scent.

Cells barred with thick iron bars lined the walls. Peering into one revealed a pile of bones. I sensed a familiar aura. I rushed over to one of the cages.

“Gilgamesh,” I whispered. Gilgamesh lay unmoving in the cell. His back was against the wall, heavy chains were shackled to his hands and feet. A thick ring of black iron constricted his neck.

“Father!” shouted Garn upon the sight of him.

“Don’t shout,” I whispered furiously at him. “We’re literally in the depth of enemy territory the last thing we want is for them to detect us.”

He pulled on the cell door. It swung open with a loud creak. Garn moved towards him, placing a finger against Gilgamesh’s jugular.

“He’s still alive,” he said after a moment of silence.

He fired a stream of fire at the chains. They turned bright red but didn’t break.

“I can’t get them off,” he said, his voice had a hint of fear.

I moved to them. It seemed they were heat resistant, perhaps some sort of enchantment had been used on them. Either way, it was best not to complicate things. I fired a cool beam of air at it. They grew cold to the touch.

“What are you doing?” Exclaimed Garn angrily. “You’re cooling them down,”

“Would you wait one moment!” I shouted at him. He never listened to anything that I said. Ever since I had lost my mana he saw me as someone whose entire existence was beneath him. I cooled my feelings as well as the chains. Now wasn’t the time for this.

The shackles were coated in a thick layer of ice. With one solid kick, they shattered into large pieces.

“The trace amount of water expands when frozen, that frozen water presses agaisnt and weakens the metal and making it more brittle and easier to break. Also if you heat the metal you might burn Gilgamesh as well, ”I said while starting on another chain, ice crystals grew and strained against the thick chains. I glanced over at Garn.

It seems that finally got him to shut up. he started helping as well by freezing another chain. Casper and Jasper broke it.

I inspected the thick iron ring around his neck. I could barely fit my pinky in between the gap of the dense metal object. It was too close to his skin, I guess it would have to stay.

“We’re leaving it on, it’ll be a bigger hassle taking it off now than if we just leave it,” I said.

I hoisted Gilgamesh’s muscled body over my shoulders.

“Let’s get out of here,”

I carried his body up the stairs. His feet scraped the stairs on my way up.

The endless hallways were empty. Garn led the front while Jasper and Casper led the rear.

My body felt restless and an anxiousness filled my heart. That wasn’t weird considering we were in the midst of enemy territory but that wasn’t all. There was something else as well. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread. There was something off. This had felt off. It felt too easy. Most importantly where was the demon general?

The hallway split into two parts, we went left. The massive doors with walls lined with giant statues filled my vision.

“Wrong way,” I said.

We turned back the way we had come. This time at the crossway we went right. We found ourselves once more at the massive gates. The same four-armed giant statue was against one of the walls. I thought I had been mistaken at first but this was the same room. A chill went down my spine.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” I said.

We turned back around only to find that the hallway had disappeared. The all too familiar gates loomed above us. I felt the hairs on my neck rise. Maybe I was just imagining it but the giants seemed to be smiling. A harrowing smile filled with cruelty. But that wasn’t what caused the hairs on my neck to rise. This gate was different. Dark tendrils of mana were emanating through the door from an infinitely dense point. There was nowhere for us to go. We were trapped.

“What are you doing with my toy?” boomed a voice that made me break out in a cold sweat.

“Run!” Shouted Garn. We ran in the opposite direction only to find ourselves in front of the doors. No matter which direction we went in we were once again in front of those deadly gates.

“Did you really think you could escape?” boomed the voice. The voice emanated from all over the room, It might have even been in my head, I couldn’t tell.

“Dammit,” growled Garn under his breath.

The gates opened.

A red carpeted mat led to a throne. Sitting in that thrown was that horrifying being. Its figure was human but its protruding teeth and black claws gave it away. I felt my body shiver.

If it came down to it, in an all-out fight were both of us tried our hardest could I defeat the demon general?

My vision shimmerered. Despite not moving we found ourselves in the room only a couple meters from the throne. What the hell was going on?

“Get behind me,” shouted Garn stepping forward. He brandished his sword.

A twinkling light from the throne enveloped the throne. Daggers of light raced toward us.

The hailstorm rained over us. The beams pulverised the ground into dust. After what felt like an eternity it turned to dust.

I glanced at Garn and the twins, everyone was lying on the ground, blood pooled at their bodies. That wasn’t good. Garn raised himself to his knees, I could hear shallow breaths from him. A thin line of blood ran down from the corner of his mouth.

My arms stung from the blasts. The armour protecting them had been completely blasted off. Dark red bruises covered my forearms.

I stepped in front of Garn.

“Get the others away from here, I’ll handle this,” I said.

“Oh,” said the demon general. “It seems there is more than one of you that isn’t a complete weakling,”

My arms were still shaking but raised my guard. If I played my cards well, if I planned my attacks we might be able to escape this in one piece. I need to stick to the basics. I focused intently on the demon in the throne. He seems to specialize in long-range attacks. I steadied my breathing.

“I can’t go,” said Garn.

“What?” I said. I couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth.

“What are you saying? You’re putting everyone in danger!”

“He coughed up blood straining to his feet. “I can’t give up here, not now not ever,”

“Garn, Why are you being so stubborn?”