Something howled from the distance.
It was earthbreaking loud, and then, a few kilometers away from Aldred, a gigantic lava hand burst out of the ground before it pushed away the earth, revealing a blazing abyss of which creatures seemingly from hell crawled out and roared to the sky.
These creatures had various shapes and sizes but most of them stood at 3 meter tall with long tail and an arrow shape at the end.
They glanced towards the mountains and began charging.
"Hell be damned! They are coming towards us!" Strannon Shieldshaper shouted. He was the leader of the group tasked to defend the mountain a few kilometers from Aldred.
"Strannon! What will be your order?" Stath Mistcaller, his trusted friend, shouted.
"We will do as planned. Drop the boulders!"
Stath turned to his subordinates. "You heard him! Drop those boulders!" He then climbed to the small wall that they managed to build. It was lousy, and a single attack would destroy it, but at least Stath could see the whole situation from here.
Strannon jumped to the wall, and stood beside him.
"Should we tell the archers to fire?" Stath asked.
Strannon replied: "No. Not yet."
Stath nodded without any question. He had been with Strannon for decades, and trusted him fully.
The boulders dropped from above, rolled on the wall of the mountain and then crashed to the demons below.
The soldiers cheered and raised their weapons.
Strannon did not smile. Victory was not yet at hand, so there was nothing to be happy for. "Keep your vigilance!"
"Yes, sir!"
The soldiers shut up immediately and returned to their post.
After the boulders fell to the bottom, more demons swarmed to climb the mountain. Their long claws helped them do that without much trouble.
Stath looked at Strannon.
"Not yet," Strannon replied.
Strannon raised his right fist, and the archers drew their arrows to the max.
The demons approached.
1,000 meter
700 meter
500 meter
400 meter
300 meter
"Now!"
The arrows were released and struck the demons accurately on the heads. None of the soldiers were amateurs. They had passed two phase of this treasure hunt with incredible scores. Even though their numbers depleted, their adventures, and all the treasures they obtained along they way made their team so much stronger than before.
Even Strannon became much more intelligent, experienced, and wise regarding leadership, coordination, and how to command an army properly.
But even with that, the demons were relentless and they kept on climbing despite the arrows on their heads.
"Fuck!" one of the soldier shouted.
"Afraid not! Tell the others to bring more boulders, the rest draw your sword and fight!"
Strannon drew his own blade and leaped to the edge of the mountain.
Stath brandished his sword and roared before following his lead.
The others also did the same.
When the demon managed to climb up, Strannon kicked it, making it fall and knocked against four other demons. He rushed to the side and slashed the hands of the demons trying to climb the mountain.
A demon was about to attack him from behind. Strannon frowned as his gaze was locked onto it. But when he saw someone came to his aid, he smiled and turned around.
"I trust my back to you," Strannon said.
"Sure!" Stath shouted before slashing the demon's head.
They continued to fight the demons for hours and this take a toll on their energy.
"Where is the boulders?" Stath asked.
"They are still pushing them, sir!"
"Fuck! Tell them to hurry up!" Stath stabbed a demon in the neck and kicked its corpse off the cliff.
A fiery blade sheared through his shoulder. Stath gritted his teeth, but he did not even let a grunt before he roared and beheaded the demon.
Stath looked at his right shoulder. The wound was charred as blood leaked out and trailed to his forearm.
"Sir, at this rate, we will lose to the demon!" a soldier called.
Stath realized the man was right. The demons were relentless and endless like an ocean.
The soldiers knew this and their moral dropped.
This caused a lot of demons managing to climb the cliff, and the soldiers were pushed back.
"Fuck. We're going to lose."
"Not when I am still standing." Strannon landed on the ground, stabbed his sword down, and a powerful shockwave pushed all the demons off. He then rushed forward as more demons climbed up.
His body was so fast that the soldiers could only see trails of light of where he was. But as they were busy trying to see his moves, the demons were already beheaded left and right.
The soldiers cheered and roared as they fought with greater intensity.
With their leaders at the lead, they would gladly fight until dead.
But then suddenly, an 8 meter tall down flew to the cliff. His black wings retracted before he flicked his hand of which a long, black blade appeared.
Strannon frowned. The aura exuded by this demon was not ordinary. For some reason, his mind was slightly clouded with his past nightmares and it was hard for him to focus.
And then he bit his lip until blood came out.
The demon grinned, showing his black hideous teeth.
"Don't play with my mind, demon!" Strannon charged forward and they exchanged some attacks.
They fought for half an hour until the demon kicked Strannon to the wall then pinned him down. His sword fell to the side.
The demon let out a maniacal laugh as he drew his blade back and about to stab Strannon right by the heart.
"You're too slow!" Stath rushed from the side, and then slashed the demon's thigh.
Strannon released himself from the demon, quickly grabbed his sword, and stabbed the demon in the neck.
The demon gagged, but still managed to raised his sword. Strannon frowned.
And then another blade stabbed to the demon's neck. It was Stath's.
Strannon looked at him and noticed his body was full of wounds. His left arm even seemed to be broken.
The demon dropped its sword and fell to its death.
"Sir, the boulders are here!"
"Drop them!"
All the soldiers began to push the boulders as the archers from the walls shot the demons from above.
They pushed and pushed with all their strength until it fell and crushed all the demons on the way.
This time, they brought more boulders and released more and more towards the demons below.
Strannon stood at the edge, and looked down. He saw another demon with black wings shouted for a retreat.
Stath approached him, chest heaving up and down as he was desperate for air. "Do we win?"
Strannon nodded. "For now."
"Let's look at how the other team fair against the demon."
Stath and Strannon climbed the wall and looked to their left. Just like them, they seemed to struggle with the defense, some structures were even destroyed. They also saw some dead bodies being buried on the other side.
"They don't get it easy, huh," Strannon said.
"Yeah." Stath nodded. He then looked to the left again, and his eyes widened.
Strannon noticed his unusual behavior. "What happened?"
"Look." Stath pointed. "Are they... are they having a picnic?"
On top of the thick wall on the mountain was Aldred, his wives, the soldiers, and even some ants sitting around with kebab, burgers, and other food in their hands.
"Oh, did the demons retreat?" Aldred looked down.
