34 Who knew demons could fly?

The big one or rather Hanstol-the demon's skin color changed from muddy-red to bloody-crimson. Stench of blood filled the air. I felt nauseated. It was similar to the transformation of the female demon back in the sacred forest if not worse. Which meant this wasn't good.

"Don't lose focus, this is far from over," Lianne said.

"I know." I know that very well.

All the demons become somewhat infuriated afterward; their eyes had turned red from pure black. But with that knife, my chances of survival increased significantly- at least that's what I thought. Lianne moved back and brought out her bow. She should have just done that from the beginning.

I grinned. "This just got interesting." It was like one of those moments where there was nothing you could do about the things around you. And yet I had to struggle. I wanted to struggle. I didn't want to give them what they wanted. I wanted to live free.

All the demons started attacking at once. There wasn't a way for us both to survive before so when a ray of hope shined (in the form of this knife), it really got interesting.

The big one swung its axes like he meant business and I could tell that he did. Lianne shot down as much as she could but the big one was hard to manage with my beaten up self.

Moreover anger was welling up inside me ever since I saw the female demon here. Although she was not the culprit behind the villages' doom, I couldn't stop myself from hating her. Maybe I was the one being stupid.

I dodged most of the big guy's attacks while trying my best to attack the female one which seemed to have fun playing around. It got me nowhere. Dealing with the big guy was problematic enough but now I had to deal with all of them at once.

"Are you even trying?" The female demon grinned condescendingly. It irked me up, but I didn't have any ways to overcome this.

"Does is look like that I'm not?" I replied as I was trying my best not to die.

"There's still time. Give up this meaningless struggle and come with us. You might even end up dying a quick death…."

Sorry but I'll have to decline. I had no plans of dying, and that much should have been obvious. Maybe these demons were just too stupid to understand that.

"I'm disappointed. I thought you'd be smarter than that." A voice echoed through the forest. "But I suppose just this once I'll help you out my precious Lia." At that moment arrows, came flying down. These arrows looked like they had embedded magic elements- that was the only conclusion I could come up with. Some glowed red, some blue, while some yellow; they were like different elements. What else could I have thought apart from magic?

I was saved by a hair. I took a step back and composed myself. However, I didn't see anyone there beside us. Whoever they were, they were very good at playing hide and seek.

The demons were all confused and glared in all directions. This was the perfect chance to make up a strategy. "Who was that?"

"Now's not the time to worry about that..." Lianne said as she came closer. She and I were now back to back.

There were more arrows falling down than yesterday's rain. A lot of demons were struck as they were too focused on me. The smaller ones bled, but the big guy still remained firm while the female one writhed in anger.

"Serves you right," I said as I smiled. It was a taunt and I betted all my stars on it. Whoever you are, you have my gratitude. I don't know what their end goal was but I liked them quite a lot. After all, they saved me: us.

However Hanstol the demon, still remained dauntless. There was no sign of pain or any emotion coming out of him other than pure anger. Does he not feel any pain? I know that demon kind was tough and a sinister race but the guy in front of me was the exception among exceptions. Not only did he take the arrows head on but also, remained undaunted. The skin that had previously turned to liquid regenerated. He really was something else.

"What are you waiting for, kill them…" The female demon screeched.

"THAT'S ENOUGH… I HAVE SEEN WHAT WAS NECESSARY… HE IS OFF NO USE TO US… AT LEAST NOT YET." The sky became dark as a sinister voice echoed. The voice was cruel and made me wonder how anyone could ever have such a dreadful voice. The voice itself made me shiver. The demons were quivering along with me. Finally we had something in common, huh?

Every single demon kneeled down on the floor and only the female one raised her head. "But my lord…"

"DON'T MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF… RETURN AT ONCE…"

What is this? The voice made me shiver yet felt nostalgic. I looked up and the sky was dark and there were flashes of lighting. But that was it. There was nothing else.

The demons bowed on the ground and answered in unison. "Yes my lord…"

Immediately they retreated. When looked at from a distance, they looked like birds in the sky (Very ugly birds that is). The sky cleared and the feeling of dread disappeared. It all happened so quickly, that I couldn't really believe much of it.

Lianne and I let out a sigh in relief. By some miracle, we'd been saved. Except this was no miracle.

"Any idea what that was all about?"

Instead of answering my question, Lianne took the liberty of explaining something which should have been obvious. "Well, one thing we can be sure of is they really wanted you."

Then again it was understandable as I was the one who asked a stupid question to begin with. Yeah, no shit.