Eric became more proficient with his shield as time went on, he would swing the shield in front of enemies without even feeling anything in his arms. Once he made contact with beasts, he even started pushing them back with the shield, if a beast was getting a little too dangerous he would tilt the shield over them, threatening to crush them.
But, there was a limit to there being only a single shield bearer in the group. A straggler from Kendrick found their way to the other side of the heroes, where Hinami and Anne were.
A single wolf faced them, growling and making such attempts at intimidation. Hinami flinched, but it was clearly a mistake as it signalled the creature to attack.
Before it could reach her, a stream of water hit the side of the beast, sending it rolling onto the ground, but generally unharmed.
It came from Anne, who had her hands held out to help her aim and control the spell. This time she used a stream of water rather than a spear, focusing on pushing the enemy rather than piercing it in vain.
'...if only I had another circle, I could use it to propel the spell... or just make it stronger overall', Anne complained to herself.
The wolf picked itself back up, it's demonic red eyes glowed as it glared at the two of them.
William noticed but couldn't spare his attention.
"Anne! Please keep it at bay, I'll help as soon as possible!", he shouted, struggling with a deer pressing its antlers against his sword.
Anne stepped back slightly at the sight of the wolf, she prepared another spell, but didn't fire it. The wolf was cautiously watching, likely not ready to fall for the same thing twice.
She then started looking around, perhaps for a weapon in this emergency, and noticed the large piles of rubble scattered around. A particularly large and sharp pillar of wood was behind Hinami after facing the direction of the wolf.
Then, as if to bluff, Anne glared at the wolf and stood firmly with strong confidence. The demonic beast remained cautious, moving slowly to Anne's right.
Anne kept her sight on the wolf and spoke to Hinami.
"Hinami... I want you to jump to the side when I say so, ok?", she said slowly, as not to alert the beast.
Hinami looked at her with concern and confusion, but with no choice to do anything else, she simply grunted in affirmation.
Anne moved further forward but in the opposite direction of the wolf. The beast didn't care, it kept moving to the right, closer to where Hinami stood. It seems like it found the weaker prey.
Hinami was getting more worried by the second, the beast looking like it was ready to pounce.
And then it finally did.
"NOW!", Anne shouted, she shot out another stream of water directly behind the wolf.
It hit and sent it flying with a good amount of force directly into the sharp wooden pillar, it lodged into the beasts body, the beasts own weight dragging it further and further onto it.
It struggled, letting out yelps and whines as it's each effort only caused it to fall further, hastening its own death. An then finally, the body's limbs drooped, no strength to be seen anywhere as its eyes turned dull.
Anne relaxed and looked at Hinami who was still on the ground, her eyes wide.
"What is-?"
"ANNE, WATCH OUT!", William screamed.
She whipped her body around to see a wolf sprinting at her, a sword wound could be seen across its side.
She reflexively created a magic circle she practiced hundreds of time, the water spear. But it wasn't enough, it didn't have the time to move around and attack from the side, from this angle it would only slow the creature down slightly, delaying the inevitable.
Mana leaked out of her, despite pouring a good amount into her spell, there was still plenty leaking out, wasted. For some reason, the feeling of this mana leaking out at the same time as forming her first circle was incredibly vivid, as if she could somehow focus on two streams of mana at once... and control them.
The next moment, another circle appeared over the first. It had the exact same incantations, the same runes she had practiced so many times, all she did was create them one more time, just once.
But even then, it was too late, she couldn't fill it with enough mana to activate this new level of a spell in time.
The wolf propelled itself forward, only a few meters away before it would sink its fangs into the small Anne.
*WHINE*
As if by a miracle, a sudden battered and unamazing sword was thrown into wolfs side, it lost power in its step but was still thrown forward by its own momentum.
Thankfully that was enough, the slight lag in the creatures movements gave Anne the time needed to fill her second circle with enough mana. A moment later, a spear of water at least twice as fast as before, with even more volume behind it, hurled itself straight into the wolf's face. The body of it fell to the floor, a deep lodge in it's head.
Even with the desperate flow of mana pumped into the circles alongside the increase in overall power, it couldn't pierce all the way through. But it did end up killing the beast, which is more important.
Kendrick whistled from afar, a sword missing from his hand.
"You guys really like aiming for the head, huh", he commented.
He went back to his slaughter, using only his bare fists. A slightly red hue could be seen flowing around his body, wrapped around him like clothing.
Anne's first thought was that he looked insane, like a berserker. But that wasn't it, Kendrick hardly seemed excited or mad at all, he even looked bored.
While Anne was relaxed in her thoughts, a drop of water fell onto her shoulder.
And then another.
And then there was an abrupt rain of dark thick sludge alongside clear and light water, scattering across the current battlefield.
***
A few minutes ago, the demon Regal was facing against had escaped his trap and sunk into the muddy, black sludge.
Sludge appeared in puddles on the floor, all around Regal. They are shared the same size, perhaps slight variations from time to time.
"Want to play whack-a-mole? I didn't realise you had such a love for games", Regal said to no one in particular.
No one in sight at least.
"Though if those are all connected, then you've made a mistake"
Regal summoned magic circles, they looked quite similar to what he used earlier, but this time there was five of them.
"5th circle: Water hijack"
His spell from before was now an entire level of strength higher than earlier.
However, before he could send water into the pits of sludge, the demon itself appeared out of one of them nearby.
He clapped his hands together and sent a compressed shot of sludge at a dangerous speed at Regal's back. But it was to no avail, it seemed to hit some invisible barrier and scatter.
The demon showed clear surprise at this occurrence.
Regal turned his head with a frown.
"Ah... that was reflexive, sorry", he said as he dismissed his current magic circles.
Mages had a surprisingly wide variety of ways to defend themselves. The one Regal used is quite difficult to use, but is very useful once one gets the hang of it.
A mage, or anything with mana for that matter, will leak it out in a steady stream, the body taking in the same amount as it releases. The amount correlates to the size of one's mana veins.
If a they control this leaked mana while it's still connected to their rest of their reserves, they can cover themselves with it like a barrier. The barrier doesn't stop anything from passing it, unless of course the mage changes the state of the mana.
It seems to be the only use for this strange ability, but one can change the mana into a solid, forming an invisible wall with glass-like properties.
This also means that a person needs to consciously activate the barrier.
There are more obvious methods such as activating magic circles to create a barrier from your element, but this one is the most immediate method.
However, Regal didn't intend to use it. He activated it on reflex, and since he can't exactly hold back it's strength like how he can reduce the number of circles he uses, it would be impossible for this enemy to break through. At least, not without using more powerful attacks.
The demon was about to jump back into one of the puddles but stopped, turning his head toward Regal instead.
"...who are you?", it asked.
Regal's lips curled up.
"Oh? Finally choosing to talk?", he answered.
"Just your average 8th circle mage. I was here on an errand, expecting to find some weak scout demon, but surprise surprise, I found you!", Regal exclaimed with glee.
The demon shivered at the strange individual who seemed to find this situation fun.
"I've killed humans with 6 circles before...", the demon said, as if hinting a question.
"Well, if it's a mage you killed in this forest, then they probably lacked battle experience. Holed up in the capital, only to be sent here... how unfortunate."
Noticing that Regal truly was just attempting to converse, the demon eased up.
"Oh, but you want to know how strong I am in comparison, right?
Well, I personally think I'm as strong as your mighty demon lord. Though to be more accurate, I'm more powerful than your demonic generals at the very least.
I've fought one before after all. Oh, I won by the way.", Regal bragged.
"...Lord Abaddon", the demon uttered.
Regal widened his eyes.
"Right! That was the name! Wow, he was quite the fighter, I must admit.", Regal nodded.
The demon didn't say anything else. He more or less realised that if what this man is saying is true, then he is fighting an impossible enemy.
"Right... the demon general you serve must be Legion?
It would make sense, he is the current general of the front line, the main reason you guys love to group together with hundreds of demonic beasts is because of him.", Regal continued, but eventually noticed that the demon was becoming wary.
"Ah! You don't need to worry, I won't use all my powers. I'll only use fives circles, just like I've been doing until now", Regal explained.
The demon paled for a moment, remembering that it believed the man was incapable of fighting back in the vortex from before. If he had decided to use his true power, it would be dead.
The demon was... sweating. He felt impending doom. Fear. Now that he concentrated, this man was much stronger than he advertised. Similar to the strange feeling from the large man earlier.
Regal frowned.
"Look, I won't use that barrier trick again from just now... actually wait. I still have a few questions for you, so as long as you answer them, I won't use a barrier, got it?"
Recognising this as it's only way out, the demon gulped and nodded.
"Great! Now that we're finally on the same page, the first thing I should ask... is why you are here. Specifically, why are 'you' here rather than a lower ranked demon.
If I remember correctly, a two-horned Majin is a commander... or something like that", Regal asked.
The demon seemed reluctant to answer, but just like any demon, his life was more important.
"...Lord Legion has decided on a different approach. We plan to attack the humans strongly from the start, and then attack with even more force after that and take the human capital for good", it answered, it's voice croaking and dry.
Regal was silent for a moment, before asking his next question.
"And what exactly is that 'force'? Do you have more Majin ready to assault the capital?"
"...yes", the demon said as it averted its eyes.
Regal sighed.
"Not going to give me the full details huh?"
The demon shot up and panicked.
"N-no, that's not-"
"Relax, I've decided to change the conditions a bit, but this battle will still be in your favour", Regal cut in.
The demon showed concern, it didn't care to hide it's emotions anymore. Or perhaps it's emotions are just a mask, using it to show his enemy obedience.
After pondering for a few moments, Regal looked as though he finally made a decision.
"That'll work", he said as he tapped his fist onto his palm.
"How about this? I'll use any 5th circle magic that I wish, and if you can counter or block it, then I will let you go."
The demon nodded, there was no point in arguing. It was better to accept this as the best case scenario.
"Of course... even a single scratch means that you aren't going anywhere. Maybe I'll capture you, or maybe I'll kill you. Better hope it doesn't come to that."
The demon shivered and prepared itself.