When Thozronnath finally set down in the ironwood forest, his minions were already waiting for him. Of course, it was hard to miss Kaggant stomping around now that he was no longer invisible, but still. Meeting up with them took only a few moments to find the agreed-upon location and apply [Shapeshifter] to undo his raven form.

The devil did not bother to retake a human disguise, what with a paladin following him and all. Even besides that, part of him was starting to worry about the amount of time he was spending in his human form, it had been practically nonstop since he acquired it. The skill didn’t mention anything about a lingering effect it might have on him, but he was still worried. There had been days recently where he didn’t just look human, he felt human.

That was a problem. That was a big problem. Leave out the fact that he detested mortals, and even if he began living amongst them that meant he was getting complacent. Complacency, when he had no idea how many other devils had gone through the portal, was the same as suicide. He had legitimate proof that Varekoth was alive and kicking, and yet he had still allowed himself to relax during his stay in the city.

This was not the time to be focusing on that though. Thoz knew it would only be a matter of time before the paladin found them, potentially with guards from the city assisting him. He needed to prepare. Thankfully, Thozronnath was the devil of the forest. He’d spent days living in the ironwood and hunting humans, he could pull on that experience now.

Prisaela seemed to have some of her own ideas as well.

“Alright, everyone listen up,” Thoz called to the monstrous minions milling about nearby.

“We have the home turf advantage here, and a chance to prepare. Try not to be completely useless and maybe we won’t give the paladin a chance to kill one of you idiots” he explained.

Then came the careful process of attempting to lay traps. They were in a hurry, yet still needed to be careful. If Thoz rushed things too much the same traps he laid might end up as more of a hazard to himself than his enemies.

Unfortunately, to no one’s surprise, several of the minions of sin were in fact useless at laying traps. Almost all of Kaggant’s skills were focused around hitting something very hard and very often until it eventually stopped moving. He was basically a walking billboard for ‘fight is over here’. Uzdaax basically couldn’t interact with the physical world for now, though his potential for an ambush shouldn’t be discarded.

“Find a tree or something and just keep watch. Stay out of sight and if you spot anyone approaching I want to know right away.” Thozronnath commanded, much to the ghost's displeasure. As Uz flew to the edge of the forest he mumbled something about ‘renegotiating time off’ under his breath. Not that ghosts breathe.

That really didn’t leave Thoz with too many options though. It was down to himself, the slime, and the slut. He did not have high hopes.

Zild, blessed and cursed as he be, could actually function as a living trap himself. The slime didn’t have hands or even really much in the way of a brain to build a trap. He could however spread out very thin and appear as a mud puddle if he didn’t move. An acidic, naturally adhesive, sentient, murderous mud puddle. It was better than no trap at all at least.

Prisaela, on the other hand, was arguably the most useful member of the group. Motivated more than Uz, smarter than Zild, and far more adaptable than Kaggant. She couldn’t do the things they did, but right now was her chance to shine.

“I doubt I have time to set up anything overly complicated” Prisaela began explaining, her hands already working on constructing some basic supplies. Scraping the thin edge of her rapier against a fallen tree branch, she managed to sharpen it to a passable point. Unlikely to do any damage to the armored paladin, but hopefully a big enough distraction to slow him down.

She began mass-producing these spikes and asking Kaggant to place them around the forest. At blind corners, trip hazards, or other potential action points.

[Natural Illusionist] and [Ambush] could then be applied to the spikes, hopefully. The illusions took hold no problem, hiding the danger. The question lay with ambush as a skill and not a tactic. On paper or status screens rather, the Ambush skill would increase the potency of any unseen attacks. Prisaela had no clue if any kind of trap would count as an unseen attack to trigger the skill. It was definitely unseen, but debatable whether or not it was an attack.

Several pitfalls were also dug out on Prisaela’s orders, though Uzdaax had to explain how to keep the sides from just falling back in as loose soil. Thankfully Kaggant made short work of menial tasks like that, even without a shovel his ax blade could move earth in large quantities.

After approximately two hours of prepping their immediate surroundings, Uz came back in a hurry from patrolling the so-called perimeter. The only sign of his presence was a swift and chilling wind disturbing the air before he made himself visible.

“Looks like he found us Master, but I only saw one rider heading this way, he might be alone” The ghost explained, his hollow tone echoing slightly in the empty forest.

“Everyone, try and get into positions. Don’t get seen” Thozronnath commanded, flapping the wings of his emaciated form and climbing into the air, resting on a high branch to observe the area.

Prisaela did a similar move, using the verticality to her advantage, while Uzdaax and Zildoxoxi used their natural abilities to hide in plain sight. Kaggant, meanwhile, had to stomp off into the distance just to find trees big enough to hide his towering form.

The group had a scarce few minutes of tension before the distant clomping of hooves and rattling of armor heralded the arrival of their foe.

It took an incredible amount of self-control to prevent Thozronnath from leaping from the tree in a blind fury when he saw the human approaching. This ‘man’ had nearly single-handedly endangered Thoz’s plans and had succeeded in putting an early end to his operations in Rovale. The hubris, the arrogance, the sheer gall of this human to assume he could get away with crossing Thoz in that manner. It would not stand.

Thankfully the devil had just slightly more sense than he might have started off with as an imp, and he was able to restrain himself on his perch while waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

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Sardan grumbled under his breath as he approached the ironwood forest alone. The cowardice of the guards in Rovale would go unpunished if he died here today, and that was as big of an insult as them abandoning him had been. Yet he rode forward all the same.

An eerie silence fell around him, clinging to the space between the trees like a dense fog. Even Sardan’s horse got skittish, tugging at the reigns and trying to refuse to go deeper into the forest. Rather than distress the beast any further, Sardan dismounted and unsaddled the creature, leaving it free to run back to Rovale should it choose.

If the paladin was going to risk his life here today he was not cruel enough to force an untrained horse to do the same.

From there he pressed onwards, his path funneled deeper into the wood and pointed south by thickets of thorns and handmade spikes. The small deer trails that branched out in many different directions cut off rather obviously with poorly constructed traps and obstacles.

At least he knew he was going the right way.

With a sigh, Sardan drew his shield and latched it in place to his left arm, similarly unstowing his mace once the bulwark was in place. He would move forward prepared for anything.

Or at least he thought he would. Most of the spikes he had seen up until now had been well-placed decoys, and now that he was off his horse and moving on foot those same feet were in danger. It did not take long for him to step down onto a spike hidden behind one of Prisaela’s illusions, a warm rush of blood accompanying the feeling of thick splinters piercing the bottom of his boot and the flesh within.

It was a shallow injury, one he was able to close almost immediately with [Blessing of Health] but it was a frustrating distraction.

After that he moved forward with low sweeping steps, knocking many of the invisible spikes out of the way before they posed a threat to his now damaged boots. This same sweeping motion though also protected him from another trap he was not prepared for. The hidden pitfall. Since he was not taking traditional steps or shifting his weight quickly enough to impale his feet on hidden spikes, once the ground started giving way underneath him the paladin was able to jump back from the suddenly collapsing false ground.

Jumping back directly onto another hidden spike, the wooden trap scraped the outside of his armored boot covers thankfully, instead of impaling their way into the soles of his feet again.

“This is a fucking nightmare” Sardan winced, his entire being focused and on edge by the near-constant danger.

This continued for several more minutes, every time Sardan thought he was coming to the end of the line, another trap would be waiting for him. The entire forest seemed to be letting him know that he was not safe here, he was not welcome.

He’d been going for nearly an hour now, or at least it felt like it. Sardan had begun to debate turning back and fleeing with his life, but he knew that his oath would never allow that. Right when his self-doubt was about to reach its peak, a sensation registered through his [Sense Presence] skill. Like a bug had just bitten the back of his eyes.

That sudden twinge of devilish taste was enough to center him, to assure Sardan that he was going the right thing. Even if he died, it would send a message to this devil that humans would not be an easy target, and he might even save some lives that way.

“I know you’re out there!” The paladin shouted aimlessly into the forest.

“I can smell your filth on the wind.” He continued, not expecting a response but alleviating some of his stress by hurling insults all the same.

The paladin was caught off guard as he stepped down into a puddle of mud a few seconds later and found his foot held in place. He didn’t think much of it either until a system message popped up.

You have suffered a minor injury.

Acid has cauterized your wound: -18 HP.

Mud was not normally corrosive.

Sardan then ripped his foot out of the sticky mire he found himself in with his full strength, taking several steps backward. He then flicked his wrist to activate [Holy Weapon] and glanced at his immediate surroundings.

The mud puddle he had nearly wandered into was now quivering and undulating its way forward, forming a larger and larger mound as it slowly percolated towards Sardan.

“Fuck. Of course, there’s a slime too” He muttered to himself under his breath.

“If you don’t want me to execute your little pet, now might be a good time to surrender you infernal shit!” He shouted, once more trying to taunt the devil he could sense out of whatever hiding it was relying on.

Sardan did not expect it to work even this time, which is probably why he was so unprepared when it did. A look of shock and horror spread across the human's face, momentarily forcing him to forget about the caustic ooze trying to devour him, as a shadow passed over his head.

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Thozronnath let down onto the forest floor effortlessly, his landing soft and silent, but his newly enlarged form difficult to miss. Strategically placing Zildoxoxi between himself and the paladin, Thoz bought himself a few seconds in case the idiotic mortal tried to charge.

With grim determination, he looked down into the eyes of his enemy, finding only terror and confusion. Were humans always this feckless in the face of peril?