I awoke to the city's alarm bells ringing, and was greeted by the voices of Elena and Ember in their battle gear.
"Klein, get up, the city is under attack!"
What the hell?
Quickly, I got dressed and we rushed out of the inn. The streets were empty of their usual bustle, with only the occasional guard or soldier running off somewhere.
We made our way to the adventurer's guild to see what the commotion was about, and found a large crowd there. It seemed like we didn't miss much.
"Adventurers, we need your assistance. Guard scouts have sighted an army from the north. Soon the city will be under attack by one of the 13 demon lords."
The older lady who manned the counter of the adventurer's guild was speaking to the crowd.
"A demon lord? Can we fight it with our power?"
"I've heard they were monsters on par with the six heroes."
"How are we supposed to defeat something like that?"
The murmurs coming from the crowd were not enthusiastic. I don't think I would stand a chance in a fight with this monster how I am now.
"You will all be back line support for the hero Eldridge. Thankfully, he is in the city to visit and has agreed to assist in it's defense."
"The hero!"
"We'll definitely win then! There's no way a demon lord can defeat a hero!"
I think they were too enthusiastic. The demon lords were the 13 monsters I had seen in that castle, and each of them was terrifying.
"The demon lord has brought an army of roughly 10,000 lower class demons along with him. This is an invasion, and all of you will need to fight your hearts out. If anybody wishes to evacuate the city, we are not going to force you to fight."
"So we just need to clear the low class demons for the hero?"
"Precisely."
A loud cheer emerged from the adventurers. After staying for a bit the plan of defense was explained in more detail. The hero was going to move through the middle of the defense force, and attempt to spot the demon lord among their ranks. If anybody saw the demon lord they would immediately disengage and report it.
The enemy wasn't at our front door, but they would be within about three hours. That gave them barely enough time to position people.
My party ended up on the wall near the front gate, and now it was a waiting game.
"Klein..."
"What is it Elena?"
"I'm just worried about you, you have history with the demon lords. I don't want you to do anything that will get you killed."
"I understand, I would love nothing more than to kill this demon lord with my own hands, but I don't have delusions of grandeur, I know the difference in our strength. If we find him, I won't try to fight."
"What experiences do you have with demon lords?"
A confused looking Ember asked this.
"We'll explain later."
The army appeared over the hills, they were marching in large formations and approaching very quickly.
The enemy stopped a few hundred meters in front of the gate, and arrows rained down by archers on the walls. Most of them were blocked or missed, but a few demons in the front fell to the floor.
Just then, a giant fireball flew from the front of the formation, towards the front gate.
A barrier? The fireball was stopped in it's tracks and the barrier stopping it became visible for a moment.
That wasn't all they had, another fireball was flung towards the gate.
And another, and another, and another.
"The barrier is supported by the four towers on each corner of the city, but if it takes too much damage it will need to be repaired."
Elena spoke this as she realized what the enemy was doing.
They just kept coming and coming, about 20 giant fireballs were flung in total, each rattled the entire city. All of them were the size of a small house.
And then, a crack appeared in the air where the attacks struck. It looked eerie, as if the sky itself had splintered in the spot where the fireballs were impacting.
The next fireball would break the barrier.
The enemy knew this, two fireballs came flying back to back. The first impacted, causing the barrier to vanish with the effect of shattering glass. The second looked like it was going to disintegrate the front gate.
Then it disappeared. I looked towards the gate and saw a large formation of mages waving their staves. They had cast some form of mass formation spell to cancel out the giant fireball.
The attacks had stopped, the barrier was broken but the battle had turned to a stalemate with long range warfare. The army rushed the walls.
I guess they didn't want to make this a siege.
Some of the demons jumped to the top of the wall, and there were ropes thrown up that others were climbing. The first wave was coming, and my party braced ourselves.
Elena was nervous, but she leveled up when we defeated the imp lord, so she'd be ok. Ember was holding her flaming sword in one hand, we'd bought her a new shield that was much stronger than the old one.
A group of six demons had climbed the wall next to us, and were smiling as if hunting prey.
"
A burst of fire came from the hand of the demon at the front. Ember stood forward and blocked the spell with her shield. As soon as she realized what was happening, Elena began to chant.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Ember and I rushed the group of six, and in a well coordinated attack managed to take down the one at the front.
Serves them for being cocky.
I slashed forward with my sword, towards another demon soldier carrying a sword. He parried a few of my blows but fell fairly easily. Four demons remained in front of us.
"
I heard Ember yell her skill as she made contact with another of the demons. Her blow was parried, and the flame on her sword engulfed the enemy. He fell to the ground writhing in pain as she finished him off.
"
Six giant icicles appeared from above and impaled the three remaining demons. It was a pretty gruesome sight, and I don't know if I would call it an ice "prison".
We had gotten stronger. It was amazing how far we came from when we fought the ogres on the road between Varillio and here.
After defeating the six demons, I saw another quickly approaching along the wall.
Normally, the first thoughts running through my head would be trying to formulate a strategy to defeat the enemy, but not this time.
We needed to run, as fast as possible. I need to think of a way to get out of this area with my two teammates alive. I have no hope of defeating this man.
"It's been a while, little human."
Shit.
This overwhelming aura is making it difficult to think.
Before me stands an attractive man who looks to be in rough shape compared to the last time I saw him. I wonder what happened, it seemed like he was missing a wing.
Ashken. This is the monster who told me he would rather murder me rather than control me.
"Luckily for you, I've been ordered not to kill you. Somehow you were able to snivel away from your cage, but it won't happen again. You'll be coming with me."
I can't let that happen. How can I come so far just to be captured again and have my mind stolen? I absolutely refuse to let Lilyana's sacrifice go to waste here.
I brandished my weapon, and the demon laughed.
"You think you can beat me? Fucking humans, so conceited. How about you come at me with everything you have, and I'll show you how worthless you really are."
I knew he wasn't bluffing, but I don't have the luxury to not attack right now. I can't run, there's no way I'd be able to escape this thing.
"
I screamed my new skill as I sprinted towards the demon lord.
The skill had the effect of absorbing the light particles from the air around it, and converting them into pure energy. It was truly powerful, and would have killed the imp lord with ease.
The darkened energy radiated towards the blade of my sword, causing the air around the blade to become pitch black. Releasing the attack a few paces from him, the attack struck it's target with fearsome accuracy.
He hadn't even made any effort to block it. Hopefully this was a grave mistake, and I was much stronger than he realized. Maybe it would at least hurt him and allow us to escape.
The attack cleared, and I stood in a defensive position. The demon was just standing there, looking confused.
"You know, that attack might actually be powerful one day, too bad you're so weak. I'm surprised though, that tickled."
What?
I would understand if he blocked it, or took some damage but brushed it off.
There was just nothing there. It was as if the attack was just a breeze that touched him. The demon stood with his army by his sides and a wide grin on his face.
"You're very brave, adventurer."
A hand touched my shoulder, and the man speaking those words appeared in front of me.
"Ashken, king of the Dark Divine. This is where I kill you."
He was a tall man, wearing golden armor that matched his long, blonde hair. He had a giant greatsword on his back, and a strong aura emanating from him.
"Don't get in my way, Golden Hero. I'm only here for the boy."
The hero Eldridge looked my direction.
"What the hell do you want with that kid?"
Gee, thanks.
"Enough talk. If you can walk over my dead body, you can have him."
"That's exactly my intention. The world will have one less hero tomorrow."
As Ashken said this, the hero drew the greatsword on his back, and rushed towards the enemy with incredible speed.
Their swords clashed, and the sound alone was earsplitting.
The instant their swords touched, a crack appeared in the wall beneath them. We took the opportunity to make our escape. As we attempted to, another group of demons appeared in front of us. This was troublesome.
We began our fight with these demons, as the battle between the hero and demon lord continued.
"
The hero's sword glowed, as he struck out toward the demon lord. I can't even tell who's winning, the difference in strength between us is insane.
"
Our fight with the demon group was going well, and I managed to behead two of them so far.
"Do you want both of us to die? Are you an idiot?"
The demon lord was panicking while he talked to the hero.
"If it's to slay you here, I will sacrifice even my life."
The hero's sword had grown in a twisted shape, and was now wrapped around the sword and arms of the demon lord. It appeared they were both stuck.
"
When the hero said his spell, a burst of light came down from the sky and engulfed both of them.
"Noooooo!"
The demon lord was screaming, and it seemed the fight was over.
After the light vanished, the two of them were blasted in opposite directions. The hero ended up leaned against the edge of the castle wall, and the demon lord on the ground nearby.
I need to make sure it's dead.
I walked up to the burnt looking demon, and I heard it cough.
"Ha... Ha... He couldn't kill me after all. That pitiful hero gave his life for you, and now I can take you back and clear my name."
"Clear your name?"
"Yes *cough* the queen pinned the blame for your rescue on me, and my chance to redeem myself is to provide you to her alive."
His hand slowly reached for me, it seemed this moron was too loyal.
He couldn't move enough to fight, I drew my sword and walked towards him.
"My sword's skill
"
This skill had the same effect as
My blade plunged into the neck of the demon lord, after choking on blood for a moment he stopped moving.
With any luck, the damage has been redistributed due to two people taking the attack, and the hero would be alive.
I ran to him with a greater healing potion in my hand. He was far to strong for me to let die.
I saw him sitting up against the edge of the wall, a few droplets of blood on his lip. It didn't look like he could move, but he had a pulse.
Apparently the magical effects of a potion aren't caused by drinking, but can be used by just touching the skin. I dumped the potion on his head, and his wounds cleared.
"Well, adventurer, it seems I owe you my life."
The hero rose to his feet and picked up his sword.
"That demon lord is more than likely alive as well, I must go finish him off."
"I already killed him."
"You whaaaa-"
"I finished him off before I came over here."
"Are you saying you dealt the killing blow on a demon lord?"
Why is he so worried about this?
"Yeah, why?"
"Take a look at your adventurer's card."
Pulling out the card, my eyes went wide.
"Level 60?!"
The hero burst into laughter.
"Levels are generally distributed by the killing blow, this is how the rules of our world work. Party members will gain from it as well, but the bulk went to you. Though I'm surprised you managed to damage him at all, I can't help but think I know why he was after you."
"Why do you think that?"
"You're going to be stronger than me one day. I'm sure they want that."
He wasn't wrong, that is part of the reason.
Either way, now isn't the time to think about that kind of thing. It seemed the battle had been won, and the adventurers were finishing the cleanup on the demon army.
We won.
This was my first real battle in this world, and the victory came down to the fact that I was there. How special can I feel.
After the victory, there was a celebration feast held at the adventurer's guild. It seemed Eldridge had taken a liking to me, so my party was sitting next to him at the large table they set up in the middle.
"Who are they?"
"I guess they're adventurers that were able to help Eldridge in his fight with the demon lord, they must be strong."
"I can't imagine they're that strong, they probably just got lucky."
Whispers could be heard around the table. Some were praise, some just brushed us off, but it didn't bother me much.
The feast concluded, and Eldridge asked us to walk with him for a bit.
"I want you to have this."
He handed me a ring.
"I'm sorry, but I'm into women."
"It's a Phoenix Ring, if you die it will save your life at the last moment. It's a one time use item, but incredibly useful. I was planning to use it in my fight with the demon lord, but the damage split more than I thought."
"In that case, thank you. I hope I never have the opportunity to use it."
He laughed again.
"I like you, you'll definitely grow strong."
The hero seemed excited.
"I have some business in the royal capital, I'd like to spar with you next time we meet."
I doubt I could give him a challenge as a sparring partner, but I agreed to humor him. We parted ways and went to get some rest, it had been a long day.