The sound of their paws as they ran towards them, chilled them to the bone. How had there suddenly been such an explosion of werewolves? There were hundreds running through the forest towards them, breathing hard and sending out occasional howls to keep the pack moving.
Taking up strategic positions in front of the gates, they waited for the wolves to get close enough to start attacking. They hadn't managed to get far from the newly rebuilt town walls before the cry went up all along the wall. The wolves were coming.
Airow could see their forms in the dark, undulating as they ran. It looked like they might have to give their forms away regardless. Grey and Guit were down on the ground, waiting with their swords drawn. Argen and Cherry were on the wall with him, waiting with ranged weapons. Shiv and Crow were on the ground, with Grey and Guit, and Wes and Blaze were somewhere.
With the cries of alarm, people had stormed the walls with crossbows and bows, in the hopes of holding off the werewolves.
The first couple of arrows and bolts, fired prematurely, the werewolves dodged. Airow had his twenty bolts charged and ready when they finally reached his range, and fired off a volley. It was this signal that let the others release their attacks.
The few wolves that managed not to dodge, squirmed, not dead from the hits, until they were healed enough to continue on with their charge. Those that Airow hit, stayed down. His bolts, when they hit, seemed to burn like acid, eating away at the wolf until there was nothing left.
Grey swung at the first wolf that got close to her, cutting it open from the neck to the groin, as it tried to jump over her and scale the wall. It fell heavily to the ground, where she cut off its head.
Guit changed with a loud cry, and charged at the thick wolves. They parted like water, around him, dodging his sword swings and claws alike. Jumping at one in fury, he bit down on its ear, and stung it with his tail. As it fell to the ground howling in pain, other wolves turned their attention to him.
As one jumped at him, swiping at his face, Guit ducked under the blow, and swung his tail stinger into its face. It went down as the next jumped at him. He swiped at its face with his claws, knocking it to the side, and he jumped on it, shoving his sword into its back. As it reared back to howl, he jerked his sword out and cut off its head.
Cherry held up her arms as the werewolves hit the side of the wall and began to climb their way up by digging their claws into the stone, and pink magic poured from her hands. As the cloud flowed down, and came in contact with the wolves, they fell back to the ground, spasming as the sensation of tickling overwhelmed them. The cloud flowed as she directed it, down the entire length of the wall.
Shiv whirled, slicing and dicing everything that was around her, leaving a wake of hands and arms laying on the ground as the wolves howled in pain and went into a frenzy, trying to get to her quick form. Her tail flicked back and forth, too fast for their snapping jaws to catch it, and she gave out a laugh as she jumped high, swirling in a spin, slicing throats, cheeks and tongues that got in the way of her sharp blades.
Behind her, was Crow, blasting the werewolves in their faces, as they were driven into a frenzy by her actions, with his double crossbows, loading and firing them so fast, his hands were a blur. Each wolf that was hit, went down, and stayed down.
Blaze was laughing maniacally, moving his hands in a swirling motion, as he built a flame into a roaring inferno. Wes then blasted it over the rushing werewolves with a well-timed wind blast, setting them all on fire.
It was all over in an hour. The fighters stood, panting from their exertions, looking over the corpses of dead wolves. Argen was the only one who had visibly refrained from joining in the fight, but he had been watching Guit closely, and as Airow approached to speak with him, Argen jumped off the wall and rushed to Guit's side.
The former imp had returned to his human form, but in the dark of the night, it was hard to see what he was doing. Werewolves lay all around him, where he had stabbed, slashed, and stung them to death, yet, he remained standing where he was until Argen arrived.
The problem became obvious when he touched his shoulder, Guit was holding a wound on his arm, trying to stop the flow of blood. Argen lay his hand on the wound, and as Guit looked up at him, painfully, Argen forced the hole to close, with his red aura magic.
"Master," whispered Guit.
"No, we shall not speak of this." Argen looked him in the eyes, until Guit nodded. Sheathing his sword, they turned to return to the wall, where the others were starting to gather.
"Is everything all right?" asked Grey, having noticed his rush to Guit's side as well.
"Yes, are we ready to find these demons yet?" asked Argen, "I'm looking forward to a good nap after all this excitement."
"The sooner we leave, the better. I fear what trouble those demons may be getting into the longer we wait," agreed Wes.
"The townspeople can hold off any further attacks. I doubt there are many more out there to trouble them," added Blaze, patting his vest, pleased with himself after his firestorm.
"Alright," said Grey, turning to the forest.
With everyone close on her heels, they ran into the dark, following the path of destruction so many wolves had left in their mad rush to the town. Reaching the tower, it only took a few moments to find where the demons had headed out, through a small tunnel in the basement, and they were off again.
It wasn't long before they heard the evil laughter of the two demons, quickly followed by another explosion.