Faralynn and the others reached the gate they were assigned to. Helen was in front with her shield held up. Faynn flanked her on the right and Faralynn on the left. The others were behind the trio.The gate itself was on the rooftop of a 3 story building. Imps, barbed devils and cambions stood leisurely around the building. Luckily, no civilian was caught by them, all have been evacuated in time.
"Is the Impiomancer inside?" Faynn questioned Karynn.
"She is. Careful. She’s quite strong." The priestess said.
"Is there anyone else inside?" Mia asked.
"No. Just her and demons." Karynn confirmed.
Mia then lifted her hands producing dozens of balls of light in the air. From each of those balls she shot a laser beam on the building, piercing walls and windows in a barrage of shining destruction.
The demons outside rushed against the party, meeting Helen in the foreground who stopped their charge like a boulder hitting a huge wave of water.
Faynn and Faralynn joined the line shortly after holding the demons back while Erin shot lightning bolts from her staff to cull their numbers.
When cambions joined the horde of lesser demons, Karynn stomped her staff on the ground. The fire in the lantern on top shone brighter. A light blue hue covered everything in a wide area.
Suddenly, the demons’ skin started to burn with bright golden mana making them scream in pain and attack with ferocity.
"Oh Lady in the Darkness, shine thine light upon us and guide our blades to slay those of wicked intent and fiendish malice! Bless thine faithful with thy grace and banish evil from thy gaze!" Karynn prayed loudly as the weapons of the others shone bright, covered in holy mana.
Mia’s laser beams that were tearing the building down opening huge holes in the walls turned bright gold. So did Erin’s lighting and even Faynn’s blades made of shadows.
Faralynn’s rapier started to pierce the demons skins easier after being covered in holy mana. Helen’s shield suddenly felt sturdier in her hand. The fireballs hitting it felt lighter. Her spear trespassed the heart of a cambion which she had trouble reaching before.
The help of a powerful priestess was fearsome when facing demonic beings. During the war in Nuilynn she barely did anything, but against devils her expertise was invaluable.
That was when a woman wearing red robes flew outside the window using a mana wall to protect herself from Mia’s attacks. She clenched her teeth in anger, looking at the adventurer party that came to deal with her gate.
Two cambions, males, armed with heavy plate armors flew behind her.
When the Impiomancer cast air blades down the three women on the back, hoping she’d kill at least the priestess, Helen jumped in front of them taking the attacks on her shield.
Mia took a step back and took out a mana potion from a pouch on her belt. She used too many mana with her barrage.
It was Erin that counter-attacked with a gold lightning bolt that was deflected to the side, hitting another building, by one of the armored cambions.
The same cambion flew down at high speed, aiming at Karynn with his sword. He tried to cut her head clean off, but his blade hit a wall of solid shadow before it could hit her skin.
On the next moment, Faynn was already on top of the cambion, stabbing at the gaps of his armor with phenomenal precision.
The cambion, however, was not a simple enemy. He was quite stronger than the others. He defended himself well and engaged Faynn in melee combat.
Faralynn was left alone in the front roll fending off the lesser demons by herself. She used her blade to cleave through them and, at the same time, used magic missiles and mana walls to keep the other demons away from her.
Fighting like that demanded a high amount of focus, which she could maintain because of her Parallel Thinking skill that helped her to maintain focus in various different tasks at the same time.
The second armored cambion charged at Karynn as well, while his pair kept Faynn busy fighting with him.
Helen was the one that met him this time with her shield protecting the priestess. However, Helen was still only level 20 and that cambion was surely way above her level.
While Helen gave her all just to match the demon’s prowess, Erin and the Impiomancer traded spell attacks. The Impiomancer in the air dodging her lightning bolts while Erin used mana shields to stop her air blades.
But similar to Helen, Erin was having trouble due to her level 20 level. That was a fight she could not win.
At some point in the struggle, Erin’s mana shield failed and she got a deep cut on her shoulder, which she promptly healed. But that gave the opening for the Flying Impriomancer to target Karynn again who was holding the spells weakening the demons and enhancing her allies at the same time.
Helen fell to the ground with a swift kick on her leg by her opponent. She was in no position to cover Karynn.
When the Impiomancer threw her air blade to cleave the priestess in two, Mia came back into the fray after drinking a couple more mana potions. She raised a mana wall to protect Karynn and immediately covered the field in a large darkness repelling all light from entering their surroundings.
The Impiomancer in the sky lost all sight of what was happening on the ground.
Fighting in absolute darkness, Helen managed to slip away from her attacker when he missed her heart with his stab.
Faynn was the one with greater advantage there. Blending in shadows and fighting with no light was her main weapon.
The cambion she was fighting branded his sword around trying to find her, circling widely trying not to be caught by surprise.
It was useless. He couldn’t feel Faynn and couldn’t see her.
The blade didn’t come from the back, but from right in front of him. It pierced his neck and twisted and then grew in dozens of spikes almost cleaving his head off.
The second cambion could still feel where Helen was and tried to hit her again, but without sight he couldn’t hit his target.
It was sudden. He felt a blade piercing his side and growing like vines inside of him cutting and piercing all his internal organs. He didn’t even scream, just groaned in pain as his life left his body.
The Impiomancer decided to level the ground with dozens of air blades, but shooting blindly at the dark sphere that hid her enemies wasn’t the smartest thing.
An arrow pierced her back.
She didn’t notice when Faralynn snuck away from the darkness and aimed at her from the ground.
She turned as another arrow pierced her leg. She lift her hand to cast another air blade spell at Faralynn, but a laser beam pierced her throat from behind.
Mia dispelled the darkness and attacked her, finishing the battle.
With her death, the gate closed and it was just a matter of rounding the remaining imps and other lesser demons killing them.
"How are you?" Faralynn sat down beside Erin who breathed heavily, moving her arm to make sure she healed her own shoulder properly.
"Fine. Still hurts a little, though." Erin replied.
"That’s the last one of them in the area." Karynn said after Faynn used a shadow spike to kill a barbed devil.
"That was harder than expected." Helen joked.
"You thought it was going to be easier?" Mia was surprised.
"Honestly? Yeah. I mean, it was just a small gate in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t expect demons that strong." Helen said.
"You’re too optimistic." Mia admonished her, and sat by her side.
"Are you ok?" Helen asked, noticing how tired she was.
"Yeah. Just used too much mana. I had to drink 4 bottles." Mia said, looking at the building she almost put to the ground.
"And Karynn, are you ok?" Faralynn asked.
"I..." Karynn’s legs trembled. She almost died there. She wasn’t used to fighting or to violence as a whole. "I think so."
Faynn came to her and hugged her.
"You can rest now." She said and the priestess went limp in her arms as all the strength left her body.
Karynn hid her face on Faynn’s shoulder and tried to hide the tears in her eyes.
"It’s ok, you did great. We couldn’t have done it without you." Faynn praised her.
"Is adventuring always like this? You do this all the time?" Karynn exclaimed.
"Basically, yes." Faynn patted her hair.
Karynn slowly sat on the floor with the help of Faynn. She looked at Erin with her exposed skin and a new scar on her shoulder. She looked at the demon bodies surrounding them. At the destruction left behind after that battle.
Could she truly do it? Follow her lady in battle like this?
Karynn breathed deeply. The fighting replayed in her head. The times she came very close to dying were now vivid. Even though she was not harmed, she shook with dread.