The group made their way toward the center of the town, taking care of the stray monsters that either weren't part of any of the larger groups, or those that simply managed to escape them while they were taking care of all those.
It didn't take long until Eiro was able to sense some of the Demons that had made this part of the town their home. There really weren't that many of them, which made sense, considering that most of them would have died during the invasion of the Holy Empire. Being surrounded by sources of their bane so easily, the majority of them must have died. But nonetheless, the fact that there were this many leftover was something that still surprised Eiro.
At the same time, this meant that they were all surprisingly strong. Eiro expected that none of them would end up being 'Lesser Imps' anymore, but there were actually a few other Imps as well. Imp Mages, Imp Warriors, Imp Trappers... Of course, each of them was specialized into some more fitting role for them. They did have 8 years to grow in strength to this point, after all.
But it seemed to Eiro that none of them would end up really being a problem for him to deal with. The Demon slowly let his mana flow through the small piece of wood that he had turned into a ring he was wearing on his left hand. It was a piece of that Unholy Wood, which he was using to access Unholy Energy.
He infused his body with it as well as influencing the Chaos of the armor to become unholy as well. He was practically the opposite to what he was earlier, something of an Anti-Paladin. Eiro soon approached the first small group of Imps, and they turned around toward him the instant they realized he was there.
They immediately entered an attack-stance. The ones that had wings spread them out wide, and all of their tails were stiff, ready to help them react to any sort of attack.
They were acting surprisingly smart about this. Instead of just randomly attacking him, they were careful. But then again, they were most likely able to tell that Eiro was simply a superior demon to them. With a smile on his face, he walked forward, "Hello there. Would you guys mind bringing me to the one in charge?" Eiro asked them, but they didn't move at all, and instead just kept on standing there. It seemed like they didn't really understand him at all.
Eiro took a deep breath as he continued walking toward them. He soon stood in front of one particularly large Imp. He was about three meters tall, and was towering above Eiro while holding a thick greatsword like it was a toy.
Slowly, Eiro crossed his arms, trying to figure out what exactly he should do with these guys. Honestly, if he was able to, then he would love to take them along with him somehow. Although, would they really have a use to him?
He started slowly looking inside himself to figure out some sort of plan of action, when he suddenly noticed something. There were... children's toys laying on a pile near them.
While he opened his eyes wide, his heart beating faster and faster, the huge Imp in front of him swung his sword at him. But of course, Eiro just leaned forward for a second, dodged, and cut off the Imp's arm with his three of swords. He then proceeded to press his right palm right onto the Imp's abdomen, to really feel what was in its stomach.
"Ah... Nevermind." The Demon said, as he pushed his gauntlet's claws, the blades of the three of swords, into the Imp's belly. A moment later, he ripped out some of his internal organs, ripping them up in the process. The huge Imp pressed its remaining hand onto the wound, but as it did so, Eiro stretched his arm upward and pressed his fingers onto its lower jaw as it screamed in agony.
With nothing but a quick tug, followed by the sound of something cracking and ripping, the Imp's lower jaw hit the dirty ground. The Imp fell to its knees, as Eiro took hold of its two horns. With a quick twist, the Imp's neck was broken, and its disfigured face was now staring at the other Imps.
"Erm... didn't you say you wanted to try talking to them first?" Jess asked with a wry smile, turning her head away as the huge Imp fell to the ground and started bleeding out. Eiro looked at the group with a smile, "Yeah, but these guys have a meal-plan I really don't agree with. Just kinda pissed me off. And at the end of the day, do we really need more Imps?" Eiro said bluntly, as he looked back at the group in front of him, "Aren't I demonic enough already?"
Without a moment's hesitation, he walked up to the other Imps and cut them up. Completely and absolutely, to the extent where he couldn't even use them as Undead anymore, not that he really wanted to turn this scum into his soldiers anyway. They disgusted him too much for that.
Not even a minute later, Eiro stood there, surrounded by the corpses of these Imps. He waved his hand around and got rid of the blood that had splattered all over him and his armor, as he proceeded to walk further ahead.
"Urgh... That was... Something." Krog muttered as he stepped past the Imp corpses, "Does that mean we're not taking any of these guys as prisoners this time?"
"Yep, that's exactly what that means." Eiro replied, "We're killing all of them."
"But why? Shouldn't they be kind of useful to you?" Jess asked, just to make sure Eiro made the right choice, and the Demon quickly nodded his head.
"They might be, but not particularly so. Imps don't have any particular special ability that make them incredibly useful to us, different to the others. The Molemen are useful in the village expansion, the Trolls are great as extra security and guards in general. The Blood Wolves will be great for the hunting groups, while the Harpies are perfect for aerial defense and attacks. There's a lake nearby, so whichever those fish-monsters down there are will certainly be quite useful somehow as well, same as the Lizardmen. They all have a reason to be there, except the Imps, they don't. They're just disgusting me right now." Eiro told them bluntly, "And on top of that, I'm just kind of in the mood to kill my brethren right now."
While Jess and Krog just stayed silent for a few moments after that explanation, James raised his brows, "Wait, yeah, these Imps are definitely also from the same monster horde as you, right? Does that mean you know all of them?"
"Kinda, but not directly. It's not like I paid particular attention to any of them, anway. For the most part, at least." Eiro said, "If they had any sort of unique aspect to them, I might be able to recognize them, but it's not like it makes any difference at the end of the day. Just because I know someone doesn't mean that I won't kill them if they bother me." The Demon said in a blunt tone, as he kicked his foot into the ground, making a building near him collapse onto itself, since he pulled away most of the supporting areas of the structure.
There were a few more imps inside, but they weren't anything too bothersome. As the group made their way further into the center of the town, he was able to sense the inside of that castle in the center that belonged to the lord of this place back then.
There were quite a few Imps running around inside there, but that wasn't all. A large part of the castle's interior was reserved for... people. They hadn't killed everyone here when they invaded, they kept quite a few people as prisoners. Something that would explain why there were this many Imps left here after all.
The people were kept as food, and... ways to produce offspring to increase their numbers. Eiro should go ahead and save those guys later as well. They didn't deserve this kind of treatment either, after all.
There was even a nursery in there... And surprisingly, the children were given toys... which explained how those Imps from earlier were able to get their hands on them, even if the thought sickened Eiro just the more.
"We'll split up once we're in there. Jess, I'm giving you some Holy Energy Magic stones, there were quite a few in Zaragon's storage spaces. When I break open the main gates, we're all entering the courtyard. I'll open up a pathway for you to get into the underground section in the center of the courtyard. Kill all the Imps in there. In the north-eastern corner of the underground structure, you will find a lot of survivors... People. Make sure to gather them in one place, but wait down there until I'm back. Protecting them all might be a bit too distracting for you guys when you're outside, so down there you'll have more of an advantage. I can at the very least sense distant enemies, so we should wait for when we're all together again." Eiro explained to them, while the party looked at the Demon with serious expressions.
"Got it. And what will you do in the meantime?" James asked, and Eiro looked at him with a practically blank expression, "What do you think? I'll kill some Imps."
