Gerald remained frozen in place at the mere fact that he'd come across a demon from the start.
Demons…
Backed and blessed by the Dark Gods to erase humanity's existence for centuries now, they were the bane of humanity.
Whenever a human encounters a demon, both sides only have one thought ringing out in their mind.
Even right now, Gerald's mind was filled with that single thought.
'Kill it or you'll be killed by it!' His mind screamed but his legs were too frozen to move due to past trauma.
He'd lost his younger sister at an early age due to a Demon outbreak, an incident where demons would suddenly attack a place in great numbers.
His parents had taken off for their lives and Gerald was left to fend for his sister and the result? Her death. Devoured whole by a demon while he, Gerald watched, unable to do anything.
He'd vowed to never lose anyone else to demons and above all, to eliminate the demons as commanded by the Gods of Light. Ever since then, he'd done just that. Slaying demons whenever and wherever he encountered them.
'Why? Why then was this time different?!' His mind raced as he thought of the various reasons why he couldn't move his body.
Was he scared? No!
Was it a result of essence exhaustion? He hadn't even used his magic essence at all. The defense had been done by the twin brothers.
While he was lost in his own thoughts, barely three seconds had passed.
"Gerald, move!" Amelia screamed at Gerald making him snap out of his thoughts instantly but it was already too late. The demon was already lounging at him, its deadly claw reaching for his neck.
Boom!
Another explosion rocked the area. It was smaller than the attack the demon had first launched but for some reason, it had more impact compared to the previous one.
Gerald froze in shock as he watched the explosion take place just in front of him. The others were just as shocked too.
Clang!
Bang!!
Explosive sounds could be heard as something exchanged attacks with the demon within the cloud of dust the new explosion had created.
"Huh?" As the cloud of dust died down, it revealed two figures facing off against each other. While one was the blackened body of the demon, the other was covered in silver armor and a black robe. Their sixth member.
Bang!
A spear slammed into the demon's chest, forcing it back a few meters which allowed the figure a moment to turn around. "Darius and Garius, cover for me!" The figure's voice was both deep and commanding in its right.
"On it!" The twin brothers appeared a second later, erecting another barrier just like the last one but with more Magic Essence poured into the technique. Unlike the last one that was erected in a second, this one was well-prepared and would hold even better.
"Amelia, Liyah, keep it busy for a few minutes." The figure barked orders at the ladies as well and without a single word, they sprinted forward. Seeing him face the demon one-on-one, they'd been motivated to face it off. He might be stronger and although they were behind in terms of skills, fighting together as a pair, one could say they had an edge.
Having ordered the others to keep the demon busy, the figure, his hood finally falling off his head and revealing a head full of sky-blue hair and eyes both settling perfectly on a handsome face, turned to Gerald. As he arrived in front of him, a resounding slap landed on Gerald's right cheek.
"Huh?" Gerald was stunned by this action. His hand moved, touching his slapped cheek which surprised him even more. "Jack, what was that just now?" Gerald asked, his eyes betraying his confusion as he stared at the figure in front of him.
"Snap out of it! It's a mental attack." Jack, the sixth member of the party answered. "It decided to attack mentally and whatever memory it seemed to make you remember," Jack turned to the demon once again to see the other four keeping it at bay. "It almost worked."
Hearing Jack's explanation seemed to take a burden off Gerald's back. He sighed in relief, his eyes focused on the demon that had decided to make him remember a tragic past.
"Thank you, Jack," Gerald said with a weak smile and began walking toward the place the others were battling. "Now, let's go kill that godforsaken creature!" His words had only just finished when he bolted, speeding toward the battleground to tip. the scales of the fight even more to their advantage.
Jack watched all five of them face the demon and shrugged. "You're welcome. However, five is overkill. Six is even worse so I'll sit this one out."
After exchanging over a dozen strikes with the demon, Jack had been able to gauge the demon's strength and he was sure any one of them would be able to deal with it one on one. However, it seemed to be overpowered only because the others were first taken by surprise and then because the forest itself felt threatening and so they were generally scared of whatever they found.
Jack could tell that after the battle, they would be more alert to their surroundings and their courage to face the creatures of the forest would naturally reappear as well.
The fight continued for seven more minutes. Gerald, Amelia, and Liyah faced off against the demon with Gerald dealing the most damage to it.
They'd also learned that the demon's first attack could only be activated once every two minutes as it took that long to gather magic essence for the attack.
Whenever it was attacked, a shifting ball of darkness was ready to destroy everything in its path, Darius and his brother were there to block it.
Each of them made up for the other's weakness and after the seventh minute, things changed completely.
"Now!" Gerald was running toward the demon from an angle when he yelled out a command. Amelia and Liyah slammed their weapons simultaneously into the demon's chest, sending it flying high.
Gerald grinned and leaped into the air to deal damage when a certain ball of what seemed to be blood appeared in front of him.