31 Chapter 31 Demon Tower

Airow took advantage of the porcupine hybrid being stuck on the ground writhing in hysterics, to charge all twenty of his arrows and then stood back and blasted it until it was dead. Cherry's attack was incredibly effective at paralyzing this monster.

Not convinced that was the end of the monsters, they all drew back from the tower and got prepared for the next one. It was only a moment, before the roar of the lion confirmed their suspicions.

The figure that climbed out of the hole this time, had oversized hands and feet, with long sharp claws. It jumped up, from the wall where it was climbing, to perch on the top of the remains. Roaring at them again, it jumped just as Airow shot at it. The bolts missed, flying off into the trees.

Landing softly, it charged at Cherry, who was the closest, baring sharp teeth in a fierce snarl. Guit was able to jump at her, grabbing and rolling with her, out of the way of the charge.

The lion skidded to a halt, breathing a little hard, and immediately got hit by a bolt from Airow. With a yelp of pain, it charged at him, swiping at Grey as it ran by.

She dodged under its paw, stabbing at its chest with her sword. She was still tired, from her black flame attack, so this attack was too weak to really do much damage.

Airow shot six bolts, in quick succession, before jumping into the air to avoid the lion's attack. It jumped up at him, but he merely flew higher to avoid it.

It paused for a moment, looking up at him, then turned to charge at Guit, who was still trying to stand up after getting Cherry out of the way. Guit grabbed her and jumped into the air, flapping his wings hard to keep the two of them aloft.

The lion snarled in rage, then turned towards Argen. Dodging the next stream of bolts from Airow, it pounced on him, knocking him to the ground, and went for a killing bite.

Argen managed to reach for his waist, where his sword was, but instead of drawing it, merely touched his side. Grey charged with her sword, hoping to stab it in the back while it was on top of him, and Airow shot several more bolts at the creature, but both of them paused when three black figures seemed to step out of Argen's shadow. The fact that he was laying on the ground, under a lion that was ravaging his neck, made the visual incredibly difficult to process.

As soon as the first figure realized what was happening, he pulled out a sword and immediately attacked the monster. His dark skin gleamed in the sunlight as he swung his sword at the beast. It jumped back, off of Argen, rolling back to its feet, its mouth stained with blood as it snarled.

"Argen!" cried Airow, moving to rush to his side, but Grey stopped him and pointed to Guit.

"If Argen was seriously hurt, Guit would be rushing to his aid," she said softly, and he realized she was right. The wound must not be that bad, or the new figures he had summoned must be capable of dealing with the damage.

"Is that a dark elf?" asked Cherry, as Guit landed near Grey.

"Yes, these are Master Argen's most loyal subjects. The dark elf is Tom. He is a master with the sword, and loves to fight in the shadows, which is always to his advantage."

"We won't have any problems, with them, will we?" asked Airow, watching as the second, who was a short cat-girl with glasses, rushed over to Argen and started casting a spell. Purple mana rushed from her fingertips to his neck, wrapping around the ravaged area.

"No, they will only attack those who cause harm to our master. You are his allies, and thus their allies. The cat girl is Ni. She can do just about any kind of magic. The last person is E."

"E?" asked Cherry, confused.

"They are a group that has been together longer than I have been alive. They are proud of the fact that their names have three letters, two letters, and then one letter. I don't understand it, myself, but it makes them happy."

"That's good to know," said Grey. "Where did they come from?"

Guit looked uncomfortable as he said, "Master Argen can summon them in times of great distress. But he often chooses not to, as he prefers to avoid conflict."

"It will be nice to know that we have them to help, if we ever need them to, in the future," said Cherry, cheerfully.

The third figure, E, a small fairy, fluttered to his side, and pulled out a tiny bow. Pulling back on the string, she said, "Fire," and let go. The arrow burst into flames as it left her bow, hitting the lion, and catching it on fire.

Tom never paused, swinging his sword and attacking the beast from different angles, constantly. Between the sword and the arrows from the two, it never had a chance. Grey, Airow, Guit and Cherry, watched as it was pushed back, to the very edge of the hole it had crawled from, then, with one last arrow to the face, it tottered back, and fell. A loud scream echoed up, then ceased as it landed.

"How is Master Argen?" asked Guit, as they approached the edge to investigate the hole.

"He will be fine in a few minutes. None of the puncture wounds were immediately fatal," purred the cat-girl softly.

"Thank you," said Grey, as Tom returned to Argen's side as well.

"We merely come when called. Our master does not request us nearly as often as we would wish," said Tom, stepping back into the shadow and disappearing.

The fairy, E, looked each of them over, then flew after him, also disappearing into the shadow.

After a few minutes, the wounds on his neck were completely gone, and Ni joined her two companions. Argen sat up and leaned against a nearby tree.

"You are all welcome to investigate the tower basement without me. I will rest here for your return."

His voice was soft, but otherwise, sounded normal. If they hadn't all seen him bleeding from his throat having been torn out, they would never have known he almost died.