“You sure have the habit of wreg the base,” Vernie pyfully accused his rade.

  “There are more than enough worthless hands avaible to up this mess,” replied the jurer, his eyes crazed as his body overflowed with power.

  Vernie snickered, his response elig Rexar’s rage who started pag menagly toward him. With an icy gaze, Rexar asked, “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

  Elena and Milo gripped their staff in a spell of e, already eg the dots.

  “Maybe this will answer your question,” murmured Vernie as he outstretched his arms. As he unfurled his fingers akin to a musical ducthly a dozen humanoid creatures materialized from a ghostly mist, fnking him on both sides.

  Milo bnched. “Those are… d-demons!”

  “You bastard!!” Rexar snapped, his fang pierg his lip in his fury. “Are you the one responsible for the demons attag our vilge?”

  “H-How could you?!” Elena cried, her face flushed with grief and anger. “Do you have any idea how much pain and suffering you’ve caused? Every day we lived in fear of our home being raided and our loved ones being killed. Don’t you have a heart?”

  “Answer me this,” said Verh a bizarre grin, regarding the grievikin over his nose. “Do you show passion when you spear a fish hter a pig—no, you people are far less meaningful than these references. Do you feel remorse when you crush an ah your feet?”

  Elena screamed in a rage, her fiightening arouaff—and Rexar poised to unch himself into a reckless charge, but Milo mao stop them both.

  “Rexar! Elena!” pleaded Milo, struggling to hold them back. “You both have to calm down; don’t fall for his provocation.”

  “Calm down? CALM DOWN?!” Rexar snapped, absolutely appalled that Milo could retain any level of posure after what was said. “Didn’t you hear that bastard? He’s responsible for the demon invasions!”

  “I heard him!” responded Milo, “b-but we have to keep our wits about us—”

  WHAM!

  A fist to the face sent him crashing to the ground, and Vernie ughed out loud at the ued sight.

  “You wouldn’t fug uand!” snapped Rexar. “You’re a goddamn human just like he is, so you wouldn’t uand how we feel!”

  Milo bit his lip, the sting from his friend’s words more painful than the blow to his face, but he pushed the heartache aside and looked from Elena to Rexar.

  “…Have you both fotten what Haxks told us?”

  The grip e over the duo loosened as they recalled the s memory.

  — “It’s likely that we’re going to get to the bottom of the frequent demon invasions that’s been pguing Elmridge vilge. But I want you three to promise me something—don’t lose your cool. It’s bad enough that we’ll be fighting on the enemy’s home turf; if you don’t keep a cool head, we’ll be at a bigger disadvantage and I’d rather n bay tragiews to the old woman.”

  Rexar hung his head and grinded his teeth, feeling bitter aful for what he had said to Milo. But before he could open his mouth to form words of apology—

  “The demons!” Elena called as she gripped her staff defensively. “They’re ing!”

  “OHHAIIRRGHHH!”

  An ear-pierg screech had the trio dug their heads and wing in pain. Rubble cracked and crumbled underfoot as the vile creatures charged in on the offehe demon in front—the ohat heaved the deafening howl—gripped one of the many spikes protruding from its hard exoskeleton and broke it off with a deep grunt.

  Rexar watched in horror as the appendage slowly began regeing, then the demon slowly, intimidatingly, tilted its head. Curved horns took root from where its eye sockets typically would be, but Rexar could clearly feel that his presence erfectly captured within the creature’s perception—and when it lu him with its makeshift on, he k to be true.

  Daisuke took off like a bullet, blowing past one of the golems like a violent wind. Several streaks of light illustrating the deyed trajectory of his bde flickered across the golem’s body, but there was little to no damage.

  The jurer guffawed. “What a shame! After the bold remark you made earlier, to think all you could manage is a cool gust of wind.”

  Daisuke glowered at the bastard. Dammit! This is turning out like that fight against the Volturax. But uhat mohese golems don’t seem to have any kind of weakness. In that case…

  Turning on his heels, Daisuke tightened his hold on his dagger and dashed toward the jurer at top speed. As aension of their arm, the golems crafted a sword, mace, and hammer to unch a bined assault, but their bulky forms couldn’t pete with the speedster.

  GGG!!

  Daisuke’s eyes widened in shock while the jurer heaved a face-splitting grin. Sparks flew as the bde of the dagger boriously scraped against the stone cage within which the man was suddenly enclosed. The fsh of light from iron and stone illumiheir expressions.

  “FOOL!” the man spat desdingly, drunk from Daisuke’s rare show of dumbfoundedness. “Assassins are a spellcaster’s greatest weakness; do you holy believe I wouldn’t have an ace up my sleeve?!”

  Daisuke didn’t have time to flinch, scoff, or even curse the man to hell; instead of sustaining its form or crumpling, the stone barrier morphed into a plethora of sharp projectiles aonated like fireworks.

  Unfortunately for Daisuke, his impressive speed wasn’t quite enough to entirely evade the surprise attack. He grunted, his body reflexively folding as a pang of pain suddenly ignited in his thigh.

  “Dammit—this is bad!” Rexar excimed at the sight of Daisuke’s predit, even as a demon ied its erength into its makeshift on, smming it into Rexar’s gau-protected arm. “Haxks is in trouble!”

  Elena and Milo grimaced at the news, but they couldn’t look away; the demons were ruthless aless in their onsught. In addition to fangs, cws, talons, and the hard appendage procured from their bodies, they threw stones and rubble, anything to secure an advantage in the delicious sughter.

  “Hahahaha!” the jurer ughed boisterously at the sight of Daisuke’s bloody wound. He was disappoihat the sneak attack didn’t leave his foe looking like a pore, but the injury would certainly suffice. “With that leg, you won’t be able to move around as swiftly as you did before.”

  Daisuke clicked his tongue, his gaze filled with s. But instead peting with his own sful stare, the jurer cast his rade a telling gaze as he summoned his power, willing all the golems to bio one.

  Despite being engaged with three of the five demons, Rexar didn’t miss the silent message betweewo men.

  WHOOSH!

  A fireball jured from Elena’s wand engulfed a demon coated in the fmmable liquid from several Poison Darts. Like a humanoid torch, the fiend illumihe chamber, filing and screaming as the poison and fmes devoured its vitality.

  While it did little to no damage, Milo had been firing off several Magic Missiles to distrae of the demons. Finally, when the creature could not tolerate the human’s incessant meddling any longer, it broke off two of its appehat grew ih for the occasion.

  Crossing them like bdes, the demon warded off the feeble attacks while closing the distaweeor and prey. But its pn was reduced to shreds, along with its very body, as Ele loose a series of bdes fed of wind.

  Like wild primates, the three remaining demons shed out at Rexar in unison then in turns. They employed feints and bination attacks in an attempt to win the upper hand, but ohing had bee very apparent.

  They’re weak, thought Rexar as he effortlessly tered the demons’ desperate attempts at his life. Then his gaze shifted to find that Vernie was more engrossed in the fight between Daisuke and the jurer than his own. This bastard! Instead of strengthening the demons that he’s in trol of—

  Rexar’s eyes widened as an uling epiphany dawned on him. The demons weren’t meant to win—their unimpressive strength probably hihat they were merely distras. Once Daisuke was thhly defeated by the golems, they would be in line—crushed beh the heel of injustice.

  With a wide swing of his arm, Rexar swept away a demon that had locked ons with him, sending it flying into a high arch. Then he urgently turo Milo and Elena to rey what he had deduced.

  But demoenacious and vengeful creatures, and Milo had taken note of this, which is why he was the only oo notice as the airborne demon twisted its body and unched a razor-sharp projectile from its back.

  The healer’s body moved before his brain could process the selfless response. Rexar groa the import of a jarring pain in his left side as Milo tackled him, knog his body outside of the range of a potentially fatal attack.

  Instead, the projectile pierced a hole through Milo’s shoulder like a bullet from a rifle. He fell to the hard ground with a pained cry, blood staining his attire.