All four of them were concerned. Feros had a terrible personality, but he was still a member of their clan. With their state of decline every member was a precious resource they could not afford to lose. Derek thought quickly, then summoned Gnome. “I need you to lead me to my clansman. Take me directly to him.”

Gnome nodded then entered the ground in front of him. Derek turned to the others, “Belany, I am going to find Feros and bring him back. Is that alright?”

She looked at him seriously, “Yes, go quickly and return. I want us all here when the demons arrive. Damn, Feros, what a terrible time to have to go.”

Upon getting confirmation, Derek wielded his glaive as he ran into the woods below the camp after Gnome. It wasn’t far before he found Feros hiding behind a tree with six demons in the clearing below him. Derek recalled Gnome and used air magic to send a message to Feros, “Pull up your pants then start running to the camp. I will delay them shortly and follow you.”

Feros turned red once he realized he had been caught in this compromising situation but he followed instructions as Derek planted his glaive before stringing his bow.

The demons, four least and two lesser, saw Feros start to run and began to charge after him. Derek drew the bow and released two arrows imbued with the smite spell. They caught the first two demons in the chest. The first, a least demon was killed outright, while the second, one of the lesser ones, was merely injured and knocked off its feet several steps back from where the arrow struck. The other demons, caught off guard by this, were startled and came to a stop.

Derek took that opportunity to grab his glaive and start running after Feros. Once they realized that the surprise attack had come from a single human the demons once again started to pursue but Derek and Feros had quite the head start now. They both made it into the encampment and Derek took his place next to Elton while Feros began putting on his armor.

In that moment, Belany and Hector completed a dual cast Level 5 Sanctuary spell. Dual casting allowed two mages to focus on a single spell and cast it at a greater power level than otherwise possible. The Sanctuary spell was an area of effect spell that would provide a bonus to them and a mallus to the demons. They would receive boosts to their attributes, spell casting, recovery time, and a minor heal over time in the radius of the sanctuary, while the demons would receive the opposite.

Shortly after they arrived, the five remaining demons came running into the encampment and were met by smite imbued arrows and holyfire cones. The injured lesser demon and three least demons went down immediately before this violent volley from the party of youngsters. The surviving lesser demon was terrified by the destructive output they had displayed and started to flee.

Seeing this, Derek and Elton both took aim on the lesser demon. The fanaticism ingrained into them by the sword ceremony made the idea of letting even one go seem anathema to them. Belany saw this and barked, “Hold, Derek, send your dark sprite to track it. I want to know where these things came from.”

The two relaxed their draws immediately, they had learned to follow orders at a young age and military discipline within the clan was taken very seriously. The idea of disobeying an order was just as alien as showing mercy to a demon. Derek summoned his dark sprite. She fluttered before him like a shadow, “Wisp, track that wounded demon to its lair and return to me.”

These sprites were indeed useful, and after bonding were unquestionably loyal. The bonding process was slow and took interaction, similar to maintaining a relationship with a person. He had learned that each of his sprites had a different personality and each had tasks that they could perform as well as assisting his spell casting. Wisp, for instance, was quite good at following things without being detected, while Gnome could sense footsteps on the ground from a great distance.

Wisp nodded in affirmation before flying off in pursuit of the demon. Derek couldn’t help noticing that she was half again as tall as she was when he acquired her. This meant that she and the others were close to reaching maturity. When that happened, their range of utility would grow once again.

The party quickly ate and packed up their encampment. Once done, they collected the hearts of the dead demons while they discussed their plans and agreed to check out where these demons were coming from. While their coming of age trial could be said to be completed, it is not in the nature of the members of the Thorne clan to just leave demons be. Furthermore, they had already run into more demons than they should have at this time of year so they determined that it would be best to explore why.

It was almost dusk when they were ready to move once again. Just as the moon started to rise Wisp returned and informed them that the demon had fled into a cave on the other side of the valley. Belany had Derek lead the way and the group went out on high alert.

Halfway across the valley, they encountered another group of least demons. Because Derek’s sprites could detect them before they detected the party, the party once again had the drop on the demons and were able to kill them all before they could even react. They once again collected the demon hearts before moving on.

Towards the middle of the night they approached the cave lair of the demons. Derek was able to use his sprites to search the immediate area. There were two groups outside of the cave and one just inside. They ambushed both groups outside with little issue and gathered their hearts.

Due to the energies that the spells released, very few of the obsidian arrows they had used in the last few days had been recoverable and the three magic warriors had consumed one quiver each. That left them with three quivers each but Derek wasn’t too concerned. He had materials to produce more if they came close to running out.

Once they finished off the two groups outside, they prepared to enter the cave. They cast light spells on their eyes that enabled them to see clearly in the dark before entering and Derek put his bow back on his backpack and took out his glaive. He knew that with him on point he would have to hold the enemy back and would not have much chance to use the bow.

Once they came inside they found that the first group of demons was another group of least demons with one lesser demon in charge. Belany and Hector dual cast sanctuary as the demons noticed them. Once the spell was cast, Derek approached while the rest bombarded the demons with their ranged attacks and the lesser demon was the only one moving when they met in melee. It was in a sorry state with the effects of holyfire still ravaging its hide. It tried to bite at him with its bear’s muzzle. Derek dodged and swiftly brought a smite imbued overhand slash against its burning neck; easily decapitating it.

He was amazed. These lesser demons were supposed to be on par with a tier five hero but in the last day or so they had killed six at this point. He understood that they had possessed the advantage of surprise in every fight and that their skills were specifically designed to counter demons, but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of confidence and pride start to build up in him.

They proceeded down the cave, encountering demons in slightly larger groups. This forced Elton and Feros to move up in a loose wedge with him to assist in melee against the demons but they were still successful in taking them down. After a while they took a rest to let everyone’s mana regenerate.

They were in quite high spirits. Even Elton and Feros were unwilling to create dissent here. They had collected over sixty least demon hearts and seven lesser. They had been more than successful in this trial and they couldn’t wait to see how many demons they would encounter before clearing this cave system. They believed that with how many they had encountered so far that there must be an open gate somewhere in the cave system. As members of the Thorne clan they had all learned spells to seal these gates. They knew that if they achieved this, the clan would reward each of them greatly. They were all growing more and more excited as they continued to advance.

They ate some food while resting and were quite refreshed when they prepared to move again. Derek couldn’t help but be amazed at how fast essence was gathering for him while fighting these things. He had already progressed well into level nine at this point.

They set off again and shortly came to an open cavernous space at the end of the cave. There were at least four other entrances into this cavernous space and the ley lines above gathered essence spectacularly into this space. The essentia floated in the top half of the cave. It gave off its own pale, milky white luminescence and led from the center of the cavernous space through to the northernmost exit and beyond.

This cavernous space held over twenty least demons and four lesser ones. They were spread through the room and were not clustered sufficiently for holyfire to easily burn them down as a group. The party looked to Belany for instruction. She smiled at them all and said, “What’s the hesitation? Derek draw them towards us. Elton and Feros hold the flanks. When they get close enough we will hit them with the classic, spherical version of holyfire. I doubt this fight will even last all that long.”

When they heard that, the four others just smiled to each other. The previous fights had gone so well they were hoping for one that would really challenge them. Derek planted his glaive upright before him and drew his bow. He whispered to Elton and Feros, “The lesser one closest to us. Then the least around him.”

They nodded and also drew their bows. All three fired their bows, striking the lesser demon he pointed out with smite imbued arrows. The creature was knocked back several feet and did not get up. They then fired their bows again, each killing one least demon before unstringing their bows and replacing them on their packs.

When the rest of the demons saw that they were under attack, they were enraged. They howled in rage before charging at the small group of humans. One spit a corrosive sludge at Derek but his defensive spell was able to block it. Another attempted to cast an unholy spell at them but found it restricted by the Sanctuary already in place. The rest of the demons crowded forward and as the first arrived in front of Derek, Elton, and Feros, they began swinging their glaives. The least demons were carved apart before them. Hector and Belany waited for all of the demons to come within range before they started to strobe out the simplest and most efficient version of holyfire, the point blank, spherical attack.

Due to the efficiency of the spell, they were able to cast it as rapidly as Derek could swing his glaive. In less than five breaths after the demons had entered melee all of the demons in the room had been slain.

When they saw this the party started to laugh with joy. None of them had expected it to go that easy. They began gathering the demon hearts and preceded into the center of the cavern.

Once they arrived Derek felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He shouted, “Everyone, be careful.”

Unfortunately, it was too late. Just as the words had finished leaving his mouth they saw more demons streaming from the four other tunnels that they had not explored.

A low pitched but loud voice could be heard from the northern tunnel, “Ohoho, don’t be alarmed. Since you have come to visit, how rude would I be to not entertain you?”

Lesser Demon-

Class

Lesser Demon

Elemental Attribute

Elemental Affinity

Point Value

Spell Level

Tier

5

Order

-

-

-

Level

-

Water

Good

14 (-20)

Mid 1 (4)

Light

-

-

-

Basic Attribute

Point Value

Wind

Good

14 (-20)

Mid 1 (4)

Strength

33 (-20)

Chaos

Supreme

27 (-40)

Low 2 (12)

Body

35 (-20)

Fire

Supreme

21 (-20)

High 3 (26)

Agility

30 (-20)

Dark

Supreme

27 (-40)

Low 2 (12)

Mind

30 (-20)

Earth

Outstanding

19 (-20)

Peak 2 (19)

Essentia Pool

Mid T5

Malluses-

Hell’s Gate Mountains Seal: -2 to Basic Attributes per Tier, -2 to Elemental Attributes per Tier, additional -2 to Chaos

and Dark Attribute per Tier, Essence regeneration inhibited

Sanctuary, Level 5: -10 to Basic Attributes, -10 to Elemental Attributes, additional -10 to Chaos and Dark Attribute,

Damage over time being inflicted, Essence regeneration inhibited.

Ferus-

Class

Magic Warrior

Elemental Attribute

Elemental Affinity

Point Value

Spell Level

Tier

0

Order

Supreme

20 (+10)

Mid 6 (55)

Level

10

Water

Excellent

8

Mid 3 (23)

Light

Supreme

20 (+10)

Mid 6 (55)

Basic Attribute

Point Value

Wind

Excellent

8

Mid 3 (23)

Strength

9 (+10)

Chaos

Good

7

High 2 (17)

Body

10 (+10)

Fire

Excellent

8

Mid 3 (23)

Agility

8 (+10)

Dark

Good

6

High 2 (16)

Mind

8 (+10)

Earth

Outstanding

8

High 3 (28)

Essentia Pool

Low T1 Mage

Previous Classes-

None

Permanent Enhancements-

Unicorn Tears: +10 to Order and Light Attribute

Equipment-

Runic Armor, Tier 1: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6

Runic Warsword, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6

Runic Glaive, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6

Runic Bow, Tier 1: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6

Bonuses-

Sanctuary, Level 5: +10 to Basic Attributes, +10 to Order and Light Attribute, Heal over time, Essence regeneration boosted.