Costly Victory

Having bested one of the demonic hybrids increased the morale of the surrounding soldiers. They looked up to James with vigor. James had a tired, yet grateful look to Francis. James could not do this without the help of Francis' distraction.

After some moment of catching up his breath, James looked towards where Gerald was located. There were still at least 4 other demonic hybrids that had to be killed. If every other hybrid would take as much as power and time compared to the last time, it would be a difficult task. However killing that one beast already lowered the burden in the field. Even some of the other demonic beasts started to be less eager to engage with the soldiers and kept at a higher distance.

The problem now was how to deal with the rest of the remaining demonic hybrids. Having lost one of their own, the demonic hybrids started to go on a rampage. Not thinking about their own safety, the hybrids started to rush into various formations just to take as much as possible bodies with them. Being still with 4, the demonic hybrids still had a considerable power on their side.

Running towards where Gerald was both James and Francis were shocked by the scene they saw. There were many bodies lying on the ground. Even some of the inner circle knights had been slain by the overwhelming powers of the demonic hybrids. Limbs and blood could be seen everywhere.

Trying to find how Gerald was doing, both James and Francis were searching. Looking back at the demonic hybrids, they lost their own pack tactics and just were rampaging. They even ignored their previous target Gerald.

Seeing this behavior, the worst idea popped up in the mind of James. They might have stopped attacking the position of Gerald because they were successful. With this dreadful tough in mind, James arrived at the location where Gerald initially was located. Just as he arrived, he heard another screech. It was the same sound that the demonic hybrids made when they were slain. It would now just be a matter of time before the other hybrids were also slain.

Looking back at the scene in front of him, James could not find the body of Gerald. Panicked by this he decided to search around a bit together with Francis. Walking over several piles of bodies, James saw a familiar person standing a few feet across him. It was Sir Edward. Walking up to him, James noticed that Sir Edward was not really happy that the demonic hybrids were getting defeated.

The exhaustion of Sir Edward was apparent. To start a conversation, James decided to speak up, "Sir, I am happy to see you standing."

Hearing these words, Sir Edward looked with a sad face towards James. It was clear that something was happening. The strong demeanor of Sir Edward was nowhere to be seen. Instead there was a powerless eyes looking to him.

Sensing that something was wrong, James decided to ask, "Sir what happened, why are you not happy to see the demonic hybrids being slain?"

Without giving any answer, Sir Edward looked to the ground in front of him. As James ignored his surrounding after seeing Sir Edward, he did not notice it initially. There was a heavily wounded person lying on the ground. Looking over at the body, the wounds severed could be seen. A deep hole was noticeable in his stomach.

Taking a closer look at the face of the warrior that was lying on the ground, James finally came back to realization who this person was. This person was Prince Gerald. He got heavily wounded by the constant attacks of the demonic hybrids. Still breathing, it was clear that the prince lost quite a lot of blood.

Various thoughts popped up to James, "The prince could not die! He is the key person for holding us together! We cannot let him die in vain!" Yet having no knowledge about medicine James was powerless at this position.

…