The battlefield was changed once again. Gone were the tunneling walls. The fortifications were removed. It was a clear field. The traps and pitfalls were all gone. Today there would be just a few monsters, less than ten, but much more powerful on average. Maybe a mid-level Boss, but no raging hordes running amok.

  Earl Donnert had come today. He would be leading the fight against any boss monsters today. Normally, he would only come out for the final boss, but with the outsized hordes and levels of the monsters we faced so far, he decided he should be here. I agreed with him. I expected levels 20s for the lower ranks, and possible a level 45 for the mid-level Boss. I was wrong.

  Across the field there stood six Demon Soldiers and one Demon Sergeant. The soldiers were all level 30. The Sergeant was only level 40. That was lower than the Litch, who had been level 42. Levels or not, these were demons. Demonic power made their level irrelevant. Add ten to their level and you had their approximate power. They also had hundreds of years of experience in fighting. They knew how to use their powers and equipment.

  Any other city would cower before their might, but we had the Earl and a cadre of superior fighters. Guild Master Gorver, Viscount Justinian, Brakford, Captain Willop, Countess Majora of House Templar, and Grandmaster Yuri weapons master of House Templar. Powerful mages were also on the field. Alaster the Blaze, Tayla the Storm, and Wind Razor were here. All in all, a powerful reply.

  The initial plan was simple. Earl Donnert and Justinian, being the two most powerful, would engage the Sergeant. Yuri, and Gorver would take on a soldier each. Countess Majora and Brakford would work together. Brakford as the tank, and Majora as primary damage dealer. Captain Willop would protect the mages, who in turn would harass and engage the last two soldiers. I would act as a floater. Healing when needed, helping if someone gets into trouble, and attacking when the opportunity presented itself.

  The plan set: we started walking toward the demons. We spread out as we walked. All readied their preferred weapons. Brakford and his overlarge shield stood out, alongside Justinian and the huge war hammer he used against the Litch. The Earl had a serrated edged two-handed axe. The serrated blade curved in a semicircle, while the backside had two wicked looking spikes. The shaft was a pure black metal that I had never seen before. The strangest thing was that it put out a ‘holy weapon’ vibe, even if it looked evil. I held Balmung in my right hand and Mjolnir in my left.

  We stopped just short of the halfway distance. The soldiers started jogging toward us, but the Sergeant didn’t move. It just stared at the Earl. The Earl would have to go through the soldiers to get to it, and the Sergeant knew that, so it waited. The Earl and Justinian moved forward.

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  When the Earl started forward, everyone else exploded into combat. Brakford blasted out his Taunt and attracted two soldiers. Majora already cast a cone of cold hitting the soldiers coming after her son. Tayla called the storm; a blitzkrieg of lightning bolts hit the soldiers. One bolt after another pounding damage into them, stopping them in their tracks. Alaster and Wind Razor cast spells equally horrifying. Alaster sent a stream of fire at one demon. Alaster kept the stream going for a full minute, leaving nothing but ash. Wind Razor, true to his name, sent out Wind Blades sharp as razors, cutting up another soldier until it fell apart into small chunks. The rest of the soldiers were all damaged, but still they came forward. Healing their wounds as the came forward. Each had high level Regeneration. That would make our task exponentially harder.

  Gorver was the first to engage with his demon. A straight over the head attack, trying to crush the demon in one blow. The demon parried the blow away to this side. Then counter attacked with a slice that should have cut Gorver in two but was stopped by his magical armor. After the initial exchange the two stepped back to reconsider their opponent.

  Grandmaster Yuri let the demon take the first strike. It missed by a mile. Yuri’s counter strike left a deep cut on the demon’s arm. The demon attacked again and again, missing each time. Another cut showed up on its other arm. The demon was confused as to how it could have missed, so attempted to step away to get some distance. No luck, another attack from Yuri, this time the cut went from the demon’s right shoulder all the way down to its hip. Fire burst from the cut, and the demon howled. It wasn’t regenerating. The fire stopped it from regenerating. The cut would not heal, and the fire was burning it up. Still, it fought on, trying to hit Yuri and missing every time. More cuts appeared on it body, until finally its head separated from its body. Yuri was the first to fell his demon. He immediately moved over to help Gorver, who seemed equally matched with his demon.

  I had initially worried about Countess Majora and Brakford having two demon soldiers attack them. I didn’t need to. They worked effortlessly as a team. Both knew what the other would do and used that synchronization to decimate their opponent. Healing Majora’s arthritis was paying off. She danced as she fought. A whirling twirling ballerina of destruction. Each strike had powerful effect. While Brakford used that shield not only to block attacks but to position the demon to where Majora could most effectively attack. The demons lacked the coordination of the mother son partnership and son, and that partnership had the demons on the defensive.

  The mages had used most of their mana on their first spells. Now they mostly used Mana Dart to distract the demons to help the fighters. Captain Willop stayed near the mages, in case of ambush. Just because we didn’t see them, didn’t mean more demons weren’t around. Everything seemed well in hand.