Individually the human soldiers were no match for the demons.
However, this was war. The weak soldiers cooperated with each other under Rufardo's skillful lead and taking down the demons one by one.
Their swords and spears pierced through the demons many times as the demons fall one after another.
Unlike the humans, most of the demons did not cooperate with each other. After all these were low level demons and demonic creatures with limited knowledge.
Adrosiean was not commanding them personally and only letting them fight with their instincts to test the strength of the alliance army.
The remaining soldiers who were previously surrounding the forest and spread out also came back and reinforced the main army.
Although it was only a thousand demons against ten thousand human soldiers, the demons were not in a huge disadvantage.
In fact, they would be in an advantage if not for Rufardo. With Rufardo's skillful leadership, the two armies were in deadlock.
The most troublesome enemies for human soldiers were flying demons. The archers tried to shoot them down but had little effect. The flying demons were nimble and could easily dodge the arrows coming at them.
Furthermore, demons could not be killed with just a few shots from normal arrows. There were also demons and demonic creatures like gargoyles who had high resistance to low level physical attacks.
The archers' normal arrows could not penetrate into the stone skin of the gargoyles. Gargoyles are weak to magic but there were not a single mage among the alliance army.
Mages were rarer than knights. For the kingdoms like Crenoth, mages were extremely valuable force. It was because unlike knights who were only good at fighting, mages are far more versatile.
Mages are useful in not just fighting but also healing and buffing, weapon production, enhancing, investigations and much more. Thus, mages were considered the trump cards for the kingdoms and precious forces for the empires.
Without the presence of the mages, only Rufardo's aura sword slashes could kill flying demons like gargoyles easily. However he was just a single person and it was impossible kill all this many demons in a short period of time.
Far away deep inside the forest, Adrosiean was watching the battle with interest. His eyes were completely black like abyss because of the enhancement from the gem of eternal darkness.
Behind him was an army of three thousands Crimson Cross demonic humans waiting for his orders.
"The low tier demons are more effective than I thought."
Adrosiean said expressionlessly while observing the battlefield.
"But this numbers won't be enough. The enemy leader is a skilled commander and these few demons will be wiped out sooner or later."
In battles, strategy is very important. There were cases of stronger armies defeated by weaker forces in the histories. Although the two armies seemed to be in a deadlock, the demons were slowly losing.
Adrosiean did not allow the demons and forcing them to fight to the death. Thus, the demons did not retreat and were being killed one after another. Looking at the battlefield, Adrosiean extended his right hand.
"I guess this is enough testing for now. Demonic Portal - Low Tier."
This was the same skill that Adrosiean had used before.
A blood red demonic circle with a six pointed star appeared on the ground as a large amount of low tier demons came out. This time, the summons consisted solely of flying demons like gargoyles and screeching devils.
Under Adrosiean's control, the flying demons did not charge at the human army. Instead they secretly flew around the battlefield to surround the human army.
Adrosiean then turned to his demonic human army.
"Go my minions. Kill these humans under my name. I don't want prisoners. Slaughter them to the last."
He gave his command.
"Glory to the demon lord!"
Derroth roared and charged towards the battlefield with the Crimson Cross members.
"Give our lives for the demon god!"
"Glory to the demon lord!"
"For Lord Adrosiean!"
With their leader's leading at the front, the demonic human army cheered and marched towards the human army with an imposing might.
Rufardo heard the commotion and looked over. His eyes widen in shock and felt fear at the terrifying sight.
An army of three thousands demonic humans charging at them from the deep forest was more than enough to make the human soldiers felt numb.
The human army was currently entangling with the demonic army and tired to some extend. If they have to fight these three thousands of demonic humans as well, they would lose and even wiped out.
Demonic humans are stronger than humans in general. A normal demonic human could kill three to four normal soldiers.
Even the trained elite like Rufardo was shaken. But he was in better state compared to the other human soldiers.
"No! Run! This is too much! There is no way we could win!"
"Retreat! We will certainly die if we stay!"
"Please I don't want to die!"
"No! I have a wife and daughter waiting at home. I cannot die yet."
The morale of the army fell into the abyss as some weak willed soldiers turned around and run in fear one after another. With many deserters, the alliance army's formation was fallen apart.
However, before they could run far, the soldiers saw another pack of flying demons blocking their retreat route.
They were the demons that Adrosiean just summoned. The faces of the soldiers turned pale like they lost all their blood.
"Fight! Don't lose hope. Raise your spears and swords if you want to live! This is our only chance of survival!"
Rufardo shouted as he cut down another demon. His armor was stained with the blood of demons.
The soldiers had no choice but to desperately raise their weapons in fear. They gathered their courage and fight back.
However their fighting strength had fallen greatly because of fear. The formation of the alliances army was already broken. Without proper formation and team work, humans soldiers were nothing in front of the demons.
Before Rufardo could send another command and try to revert the situation somehow, his sight was covered by the incoming attack from a giant waraxe.
He quickly raised his sword to defend himself and block the attack. Despite being successfully blocked the attack, Rufardo was sent flying for several meters because of the difference in raw strength.
Rufardo gritted his teeth. The previous impact of the waraxe was very heavy. He felt his arms sore and numb. His glared at his opponent. It was a large armored demon with three horns on it's head.
"This one tough."
Rufardo thought inwardly. He could feel this horned demon was different from the other ones. The strength was completely different.
Rufardo's sword clashed with Derroth's waraxe again. Rufardo's speed was faster but Derroth possessed a lot of raw strength after fully demonified by Adrosiean as well as the buff from the two epic equipments.
"If I got hit by just one attack from that waraxe, I would certainly die without a proper corpse."
Rufardo had a grim expression. Their weapons clashed several times as they fought.
Rufardo felt the grade of the weapon and armor of his opponent far exceeded his own. But Rufardo was not weak. He was part of the strongest elite knight order in the continent.
His sword skills far surpassed Derroth. The two of them were evenly matched against each other.
But Rufardo could not feel joy. Although he could hold his ground against the enemy leader, the others could not.
The alliance army was slowly getting slaughtered by the demons and the demonic humans. If Rufardo could not turn the tide of the battle, the whole army would certainly wiped out.
"If I want to do something, I have to do it now before the alliance army got completely wiped out."
Rufardo analyzed. He could not think of any ways to turn the battle around. Derroth's armor was extremely tough. Even his aura sword slashes could not leave a single scratch on it.
"Then I will have to escape even if by myself. I can't die for nothing. I have to at least report about the strange appearance of the demons. The fate of humanity lies in this."
Rufardo was certain that the demon lord was hiding here. It was the only possible explanation for the appearance of this many demons.
Even if it was not the demon lord, a high ranking demon must be here. This situation was too much of a coincidence. The demonic cultists could never summon this many demons.
Both scenarios were not favorable for the humans on the continent. Rufardo raised his sword and activated his ultimate skill.
"Solar Elimination, Sun Strike!"
His sword shone bright as a pillar of bright sunlight fall down from the sky directly onto the horned demon. The impact was so powerful that a deep hole was created.
"Did I succeed?"
Rufardo murmured as dust filled his vision. This was his most powerful attack. A normal horned demon would be turned into dust without a proper corpse if they directly got hit by this.