The devastation in the lower district from previous disasters was the greatest, along with it being the effective first contact with the enemy, the area became a bloody affair. Malencian destroyers were frequently deployed, and their supporting units mainly composed of whatever can throw a lot of problems at their opponents. What the lower district did have in spades was foliage. It spread quickest in the areas where existing infrastructure wasn''t a major factor. Plants controlled by a dryad would normally have direct combat applications, but not these plants. These plants exist to support the main force in Malencia.
A pit fiend blasts its way through one of many brittle walls of the lower district, a corpse slowly sliding off one of its axes as it does so. A contraption of fungus rests upon its bull-shaped head, muttering into the mushroom as he talks. The mushroom itself flakes off some small pieces of itself, which get absorbed into the ground. After a short while, the pit fiend holds its head against one of the plants, listening to the noise coming from it through the fungal device.
A war cry sounds from the east, more troops to feed into the demon''s axes. The initial waves consisted of the weaker troops, fodder to walk into the many traps set by the defenders. The pit fiend charges to meet the advance, and finds a terrified infantry square. Prime prey for the coming slaughter.
It barrels into the group, breaking spears as it does so. One of the men in the group sounds a horn in desperation, for his bravery he gets cut down to size. Fear dominates their minds, where did this thing come from? Where are our reinforcements? Did they even hear our call over combat? Will they even respond? Thoughts like these plague them as the fiend is upon them, cutting into their rapidly dwindling numbers. The beast is clearly wounded, but shows no signs of slowing down as its blood mixes with those of the men.
Half a dozen decapitations later, a blast of light nearly blows the fiends head clean off. It didn''t dodge due to some supernatural instinct, it was just lucky the shot missed this time. The source is a soldier clad in full plate armor, priests and nuns take up his rear.
"Begone foul creature!" The sight of the paladin brings a moment of hope to the soldiers that are still in the fight, specialists in dealing with heresy are worth their weight in gold within the confines of this rotten city.
"Devastator requests reinforcements in the north of sector D5. Enemy elite spotted." The odd way the demon speaks makes the paladin frown, rand and file soldiers of Malencia had displayed similar levels of speech, were they truly corrupted to the point that their very voice was being taken away?
The paladin wastes no time pondering the implications of heresy. Listening to the whispers of madmen is a bad idea. He charges at the fiend, who has now taken a defensive stance close to the standing armymen of Faerune. The poor bastards are too shaken and dazzled to display their previous bravery, at least they aren''t running away. As the fiend and paladin battle it out, sword against dual axes, a few things become clear. The paladin is skilled, while the fiend is more cunning than is often given credit to the more physically inclined enemies of humanity. It tries to lure the paladin close enough to the fodder so it can always choose to jump the terrified soldiers.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The paladin''s nightmares come to fruition, as the fiend launches an attack into the men. Fortunately the attack is blocked by the priests who quickly form a barrier, the holy knight punishes the demon for this action by chopping off one of its arms, but the demon merely looks a tad dejected that the paladin didn''t even bat an eye at the attack. Either he had more faith in the priests than expected, or he truly didn''t care for his colleagues.
Despite losing an arm, the demon still puts up a though fight with the remaining arm. The defensive fighting style of the fiend is an unusual sight for demons, who usually prefer dealing as much damage as possible at the cost of their bodies. If destroyed by normal means they reform in their own dimension anyway, holy magic is the reliable way to permanently crush them, but since the disappearance of the gods that type of magic has become finite.
The battle still turns against the demon in time, wounds building up. The loud noise of a cart approaching doesn''t stop the intense ''duel'' between elites. The paladin is too focused on inflicting wounds on the demon, while his supports remove his own during the fight. Yet, as the noise of the cart grows louder, a smirk grows on the fiend''s face regardless.
Behind the fiend, a cart pulled by eldritch entities and stacked with liquidators arrives. The liquidators don''t bother dismounting from the cart, instead using the railing to steady their aim.
"Twenty percent charge! Fire!"
*BLIING*
A hail of bullets descend on the field, the soldiers that were watching the duel in awe cut apart as they momentarily forgot that this is a warzone. Some of the priests fall to the barrage as well, not having been in time to defend themselves from the attack. The sounds of thunder and dying comrades distracts the paladin for a split second, a fatal mistake in front of a one-armed pit fiend. The axe of the fiend lodges firmly in the neck of the elite, who tries to grab at the axe in a futile endeavor to get it out. Even if he had the strength to do it, he can''t get a good grip on the axe now covered in his own blood, and he slowly sags to the ground. The fiend doesn''t waste the chance to brutalize the skull of the paladin to make sure he doesn''t get back up.
The short moment of victory for the Malencians is interrupted as the head of the fiend explodes in a bright light. This time, the opening shot of a blast of holy magic was enough. It wasn''t enough to permanently kill the fiend, but a lengthy banishment would have to suffice for now, as the headless corpse falls to the ground. Two more paladins with their retinue''s have shown up to the fight, and the remaining liquidators choose to flee with their cart rather than stand and fight. Listening to their fungal radio for more places they can assist combatants.
As the cart rounds a corner, a group stands in their path. The liquidator at the helm alerts their team to the group of adventurers in their path, intending to run them over before blasting them to kingdom come. They run straight into the small armored adventurer, but instead of crushing him beneath their wheels their steeds crash, and their cart practically explodes into bits like they hit a cliff face head on. A mage between the adventurers blasts the stunned eldritch creatures with lightning, leaving the liquidators stranded here.
In the confusion, only a few liquidators see death coming in the form of a literal rain of arrows coming from a single elf. The sergeant rallies some of the survivors to return fire, but any shots are blocked by a priestess with the adventurers. A man with a longsword beheads the sergeant from there, and the liquidators that tried to run were all stabbed by a wolfgirl.
Asahi takes a short moment to clean his blade while looking at the wreckage of the cart. Something about all this seems familiar to him, and he doesn''t like it. The tactics employed, the weapons, even the way they dress.