The Midnight Leave: What It Means to Be Human

CHAPTER 18

“Ah, s**t…” Axis muttered, feeling troubled by the events taking place before him. “This isn’t looking good at all.”

“Axis!” Vilda called out to him in a hushed but stern tone. “Bring your a*s over here!”

Axis obediently went over to her as requested, but he knew that while she wanted to escape as soon as possible, they couldn’t afford to leave. As he crouched down along with them to hide amongst the remaining trees and bushes, he prepared himself for the inevitable argument.

“Now’s our chance!” Vilda claimed. “While Demkil’s forces are distracted, let’s head towards our destination right now!”

“Hold on,” Axis interjected, “we can’t leave yet. Those guys won’t stand a chance against that thing now. You both realize that’s the same Demon we were just struggling against a bit ago, yeah?”

“That’s even more reason to leave!”

“No, no, you’re not getting me. That Demon, ‘Churner,’ or whatever the f**k, has some kind of grudge against me. It’ll kill all of those knights, and then it will follow us! Do you know anyone at this place we’re going to that can handle that thing?”

“Well, there is one, maybe two people I can think of, but one of them weren’t there when I left to get you and the others, and the other one I can’t consider very reliable…”

“There you go. We can’t let that thing follow us. We have to weaken it or something…”

Suddenly, the Light Elf chimed in.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no way that you’re actually suggesting helping those Demkil scum.”

“I don’t give a flying hog’s a*s about them,” Axis retorted, “but that Demon will definitely be a problem for us later if we don’t do anything about it now. Anyway, I thought you killed that thing!”

“I didn’t have the energy necessary to kill it, so the best I could do was teleport it as far away as possible. I figured sending it into the depths of the dungeon would buy us enough time, especially since it seemed unable to sustain the vessel it was using. I guess it was able to find another vessel in time, and one better fit for it as well. It’s more powerful than before, so I say we leave while we still can, and quickly.”

Vilda nodded in agreement while the Light Elf wore an expression of dissatisfaction. Axis couldn’t tell if it was because she wouldn’t be able to get payback against the Demon, or she just detested agreeing with Vilda that much. Regardless, Axis still couldn’t relent.

“No matter how far we get, that thing will be able to track us, or me specifically. If that Demon isn’t stopped here, it will follow us to Sanctum and endanger everyone there. That can’t happen.”

Then, Axis stood up and started walking towards the battle taking place. Vilda immediately grabbed him by the wrist to stop him.

“Don’t do it.” She spoke with a stern voice, like any adult would towards a stubborn child. “You’re being reckless again, Axis. You know that you don’t have the power to do anything right now. In fact, you’re currently weaker than those knights facing the Demon now! If you get involved, we won’t be able to help you if the worst were to happen!”

Axis thought for a moment, but not with the intention of changing his mind. After sighing, he turned to Vilda and looked into her trembling eyes. He couldn’t help but wonder why she was still so desperate to save him, in spite of what she had learned about him thus far. He knew that she was on some kind of mission, but even considering that, it didn’t add up to what drove her to risk her own life so many times for his sake.

“It’s alright, Vilda.”

However, because she wanted to save him, he didn’t want her to die; but he also knew that if she continued protecting him, she would eventually die.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done to help me, for not leaving me behind. It’s enough for me that you tried, but there really is no saving me. Surviving along with you did sound nice, though.”

“Axis, what the hell are you talking about?! We can still just leave! Even if the Demon follows us, we’ll be able to deal with it when our strength has returned!”

“No, it won’t give us the time to recover. It has to be stopped now. There’s no other way.”

“Listen to me…!”

Then, Vilda’s ears twitched, as well as the Light Elf’s, and both of them glanced towards the same direction. Though they both sensed something approaching, the Light Elf was the first to comment.

“Looks like your involvement won’t be necessary, after all…”

#

The remaining knights of the Third Squad faced off against the Demon’s new form, a majority of them rigid with terror. Not only was the Monster comparably larger than before, but due to its transformation, the strategy proposed earlier seemed far more difficult.

“What now, Captain?!” One of the knights called out, nearly panicking. “You said the strategy was to deal enough damage to wear it out, but you didn’t expect us all to just jump in and attack, did you?! Please say ‘no…’”

“Of course not, you i***t!” The Captain replied sharply, exposing his own tension as he kept his eyes on the Chimera. “We have to act carefully to prevent more losses. Stay on guard and wait for an opening! We don’t know what this new form can do yet, so once it attacks, prioritize defense and evasion!”

The knights collectively answered in affirmation and steeled themselves as they watched the Demon cautiously for its next move. Though it had only been a couple of minutes since it changed its form, it had not made another move since. Remaining completely still and silent like a statue, except for its “eyes” that slightly shifted between each of the knights as it observed them. Suddenly, even that movement ceased, and it seemed as if the Chimera actually froze.

As vigilant as they remained, the knights couldn’t ignore the confusion spreading amongst them; they started to wonder if something was wrong with, if it was unable to act due to not fully adapting to its new form, if it was the time to strike, or if it was all a trap to bait them. Even Captain Mestard began to question it, daring to take a step forward to provoke the Monster.

Then, the Demon’s aura flared around its still body, before quickly sinking towards the ground and spreading out like spilt liquid. Before its targets could realize it, its darkness was already directly under their feet, allowing its ethereal claws to reach out and capture them all.

“What the…?!”

“I can’t move! Why can’t I move?!”

“It must be the Demon’s influence! I can’t break free!”

As the other knights were either panicking, struggling to release themselves, or both, Mestard internally cursed himself. With his previous experience encountering Demons, he knew it was too reckless to attack straight away. His hesitation only allowed him a single step, which was all it took to spring its trap; in hindsight, he knew he could have attacked first, leaving his subordinates to their defensive positions, and that would have prevented the trap, or at the very least spared the others from it.

Meanwhile, the Demon once again laughed.

“AT FIRST, WE CONSIDERED THE LOT OF YOU NO MORE THAN OBSTACLES IN THE WAY. HOWEVER, UPON FURTHER INSPECTION, A FEW OF YOU SEEM TO HAVE DELECTABLE SPIRITS. IT WOULD BE A WASTE TO SIMPLY CRUSH YOU. FEEL HONORED, HUMANS. SINCE WE’RE AFTER THE SAME PREY, YOU’LL BE A PART OF US WHEN WE EVENTUALLY CATCH HIM.”

When it confirmed that all of the knights were rendered immobile, the Demon finally moved. It leisurely walked towards them, showing no signs that it failed to adapt to its new form. Whether that was truly the case or not initially, it no longer mattered since there was no escaping it. The Demon would devour the entirety of the Third Squad, or else kill the rest it would not, then move on to hunt down Nexus…

Then, the Demon sensed something approaching, but noticed too late; a strange force suddenly struck its legs as it walked, causing it to suddenly fall to the ground. As it looked down towards its legs, it realized that half of both of them were missing, right below where the knees would be. The force powerful enough to easily dismember the Chimera came from the direction of a second group of knights, nearly twice as large than that of the Third Squad. More specifically, it came from the one leading them.

Upon spotting their reinforcements, the knights of the Third Squad rejoiced.

“Is that Head Captain Waldhart?!”

“Hell yeah! Now that the First Squad is here, we might live to see tomorrow!”

The cavalry consisted of forty additional knights, all wielding lances of various designs. The one leading them, riding an auburn stallion and having Demkil’s emblem emblazoned onto the guard of his own lance, was the Captain of the First Squad and Head of the Slayers, Zeke Waldhart. He was known to be the strongest of all the Slayers of Demkil, and fought beside the King multiple times as his right-hand man, earning him equivalent authority. This was the man that caused the Demon to fall, even though he was nowhere close to within range to strike.

As puzzling as it was, the Demon still felt that it had the advantage; it was able to regenerate its legs and stand back up within mere seconds, and the Third Squad was still stuck in its trap. There were more obstacles to deal with, but they still weren’t considered a threat…

Until suddenly, the claws holding its captives were shredded. The Demon was unable to sense anything until after the fact, and still couldn’t determine the cause.

“We’ve successfully freed the Third Squad from the Demon’s influence, Head Captain.”

Then, in the direction opposite of where the First Squad approached from, a third group of thirty knights appeared. The one that made their presence known was the Captain of the Second Squad, Rubia Demkil.

“Even the Second Squad’s here!” One of the knights of the Third Squad exclaimed excitedly. “Oh, this Demon’s f****d now!”

“Yeah, but…” However, another knight spoke discreetly with tone of doubt, “Didn’t the King order them not to get too close to Nexus a while back? Isn’t that why they were sent on a quest to the northeast, in practically the opposite direction of us when we were still escorting it to Swinger?”

“Does that really matter? They just saved our asses!”

Ignoring the commotion amongst the Third Squad, the Second Captain slowly approached the Chimera, wielding her twin swords intimidatingly. The Demon had realized that it no longer had the advantage, as it was far too outnumbered; it was certain that most of the knights were barely average in quality, but the few that were exceptional would become a threat if they cooperated against it. It had wasted too much of its energy already. Gritting its teeth in vexation, the Chimera accepted that it had no choice but to flee.

However, as soon as it turned on its heel away from the knights, it sensed the same force as before. It was able to see, this time, how the one called Waldhart thrust his spear, striking only air. Yet, the Demon’s limbs were once again blown away, and it fell to the ground before it could start running. Though it still had the energy to recover from the damage and continue its attempt to escape…

“Spellcasters!” The Head Captain suddenly called out, and ten cloaked figures emerged from behind his squad.

As they all raised a hand towards the Chimera, chanting in low murmurs, magic circles suddenly appeared to surround it. Lines were drawn between the circles to connect them into an even bigger circle, and then they began to glow. The Demon was rendered completely immobile, unable to heal its wounds. Truthfully, the Magic was weaker than what the Light Elf used against it before, yet Chernos did not have the energy to break out of the bind.

“They actually did it!” One of the knights called out. “Magic really can work on Monsters!”

Then, Rubia Demkil rushed towards the Demon with the intention of severing its head. She closed the distance in a mere second, and if anyone observing her blinked, it would have seemed as if she had teleported.

“Halt, Second Captain.”

Her blades stopped just before making contact with the Demon’s neck. Though she had followed the Head Captain’s command, she had no intention of withdrawing her swords without an explanation.

“Forgive me, Head Captain, but I must ask: why are you stopping me? This is a Demon that cannot be allowed to remain in this world, isn't it? We should kill it now.”

“No,” Waldhart responded flatly, “We shall not kill it. The King has ordered for us to capture it.”