Mistaken for a Returnee

It was a bit slow going at first, but they'd made it through the passage and immediately laid down to avoid being seen by the patrolling demons. With the group spread out and lying amidst the broken and burned husks of trees, it was fair to say the demons couldn't-

"Kneeling is fine, but I don't think laying down is necessary." Aldritch told them while leaning against a dead tree.

Sulika and the rest glared up at the giant. "Well, this wouldn't be necessary at all if you hadn't intentionally allowed the demons to call for backup!" She hissed.

"We'll have an easier time fighting them out here. Inside the dungeon, they have the Miasma, unknown geography, and the element of surprise on their side. Out here, all they have are their numbers and whatever defenses they could throw together. Believe me, it's better this way." Aldritch replied, peeking around the tree at the haphazardly thrown together wall the demons were building around the city.

Well, calling it a wall was overselling it a bit. It was more like a huge pile of debris they were stacking around the city. It would certainly keep animals or the undead at bay, but it wouldn't slow any competent hunter down.

Sulika rolled her eyes at Aldritch's calm attitude and pulled a telescopic lens from her bag.

She brought the wooden device to her eye and peered through it for a few seconds before- "Yep… That's definitely a demon encampment." She sighed.

"Now, where's the dungeon…" From this distance, she could see a large part of the ruined city without turning her head.

Like Oladi had said, the city was in surprisingly good shape.

Hundreds of multistory buildings had been constructed in a gridlike fashion to maximize space. She didn't know how many people lived here before the demons invaded, but it couldn't have been any less than Auris city.

Just picturing tens of thousands of people dying, without the guild or anyone even knowing about it… It sent a chill down her spine.

While scanning, she made note of a few landmarks to help orient herself should they get lost: A tower that loomed over the buildings surrounding it, the roof of what appeared to be a rundown temple, a large mansion on the outskirts of the city, and what she assumed to be the old hunter's guild building near the city center.

"Can you tell what species are guarding the walls?" Faeyra asked while reaching for her backpack.

"No, but I imagine it'll be one of the species that were here a few days ago. Demonwolf, Imp, Incubus, Succubus, Troll, Ogre, and maybe a lich." Aldritch replied.

Faeyra's body froze at the word 'lich', but she resumed searching through the bag a moment later.

"Imps, Succubi, Incubi, Trolls, and…" She cleared her throat. "The lich are all magic users." She explained while taking several three-inch long vials of a mysterious blue liquid out of the bag and placing them on the ground in front of her.

The vials were almost identical, except for a strange symbol Faeyra had drawn onto the side of three of the vials. "These are potions of Troll's skin; they'll increase your resistance to a single type of magic for about four hours. They take ten minutes to kick in, so we'll need to drink them before combat for them to have any effect." She explained while handing a vial to each of them.

Aldritch was curious as to the meaning behind the symbol, and why she'd given them to Oladi, Ralocan, and Max.

"What do the symbols mean?" He asked while she searched around in her bag for something else.

Faeyra paused and looked up at him in confusion.

For a second, she was worried she'd given them the wrong potions. But looking at the potion she'd handed Oladi reminded her about the 'symbol' Aldritch was talking about.

"Oh, that. Hemlock is a key ingredient in Troll skin potions, but it doesn't react well with certain races. Elves, Kandis, Gnomes - Goblins are especially vulnerable to it. The symbol is just something I doodled to remind me which potions use the alternative ingredient: ground sumac. It makes the potion a bit weaker than the hemlock version, but it's safe for those races to use... Well, within reason. These are still poisonous plants, after all." She chuckled uncomfortably.

"Fascinating." Aldritch replied. He crouched down beside her and watched as she continued searching through her bag.

"Ah! Here it is." She pulled a larger vial out of her bag and set it aside while sealing her bag with the other hand.

Once that was done, she grabbed the vial meant for Aldritch and held it out for him to take... But hesitated at the last second. "Will this have an effect on you?" She asked.

"Most likely not." Aldritch replied, glumly smiling at her.

"Ah…" She sighed and reopened her bag. "Sorry, if I had another one, I wouldn't mind giving it to you to try. But with my limited supply, I can't justify wasting a potion if it doesn't affect you."

"You're correct. You can't, but do not concern yourself with it. I'm used to hunting demons without potions." His smile brightened and he winked at her.

"Is this the kind that tastes like really strong blueberry syrup?" Zarud asked while holding his vial up to the light. "I'm not a fan of blueberries."

"Could be worse." Max chuckled. "It used to taste like Troll sweat."

"Why in the hells would it taste like that?" Zarud exclaimed.

"Because it's the main ingredient?" Faeyra replied and smiled at the shiver that ran through Zarud's body.

The half-orc pulled a canteen from his bag and poured some into his mouth, swished it around violently from one side of his mouth to the other, then spat it in Faeyra's direction.

"Did you know about the main ingredient? Is that why you gave it back?" Zarud asked while glaring at Aldritch.

"No, tis a surprise to me. I'm used to Troll Skin potions tasting like ammonia." He said without looking Zarud's way.

The half orc blinked in confusion.

Noticing he hadn't understood what Aldritch was saying, Oladi leaned over and whispered something in his ear- which immediately caused his light green skin to turn a shade paler.

Zarud couldn't hold in a gag as he thought about the taste- "What-" He gagged again, "What the fuck is wrong with you people?"

"Most potions don't taste pleasant. That's one of the reasons we don't drink them without reason." Faeyra explained, she was rather poorly attempting to hide her grin.

"Just be glad the recipes have evolved over the years, or we'd still be drinking what Aldritch described."

"I'll die first, thanks." Ralocan muttered.

"What he-Urp- He said." Zarud nodded at Ralocan.

Aldritch shook his head.

Sometimes you didn't have a choice but to cover your nose and swallow whatever you had to in order to survive… But he'd be lying if he said he wasn't glad they hadn't had to experience such things yet.

"So, back to what you were saying earlier. Are we just going to walk right up to them and start a fight or what?" Zarud grumbled.

"Of course not. But I believe it's a waste of your energy sneaking around at this distance. You should save your strength for when we are about a mile out, that's when it'll start to get dangerous."

"I think he might be right." Oladi whispered. "Provided we advance slowly, the treeline should keep us relatively hidden. But the demons have been busy clearing the debris left by the wildfires, so there are large sections of empty land around the city."

"Then we avoid the clear spots and use the uncovered land to approach the city undetected?" Sulika asked.

"That's one method." Aldritch nodded. "However, we're not going to waste our energy hiking around the city either. We're going to walk to the edge of the closest clearing and find a place to settle while we wait for nightfall. Then, once the moon is overhead, we're going to calmly walk into the city."

"... I'm sorry. I thought I heard you say we weren't going to walk up and start a fight?" She replied, growing more anxious and confused with every word out of his mouth.

"Going this way is safer, less chance of being seen too."

"How do you figure?" Ralocan asked, trying to understand the giant's plan. It seemed like a suicide attempt to him, but maybe he knew a spell that could-

"Demons are inherently lazy beings." He said, looking over and seeing Faeyra dig through her oversized backpack again.

"On the whole, they'd rather use their overwhelming physical, magical, or numerical might to beat their opposition to death. Building walls, lookout towers, or setting traps wouldn't even occur to the common demon- simply because they've never needed to use such tactics." He explained, walking over to see what she was doing.

"The presence of such things can only mean one thing: there's likely a high-ranking Demon giving them orders.

But remember, demons are lazy. The high-ranking demon isn't likely to want to micromanage every demon under their command, no. They'd much rather give wide-sweeping orders, and only step in to regain control if absolutely necessary.

As for the dregs and thralls, if they're ordered to guard the wall, for instance, the majority would naturally choose to guard the most vulnerable areas. This is what will tip the scales in our favor."

"Why?" Sulika asked, not understanding Aldritch's plan.

However, Max did understand, and he had to give the Giant some credit.

If he was right, it was a good plan… But if he was wrong, then they were all going to die.

"Found it." Faeyra smiled from ear to ear and pulled a handful of vials from her backpack and a copper pipette.

"What did you find?" Aldritch asked while peering over her shoulder.

She rotated the vials until he could see the labels she'd made for each one. "I wasn't sure what we'd run into, so I brought a little of everything."

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

There were three vials in total, and each one contained a different potion.

The smallest vial held three ounces of Troll's Strength: the pukish green color was off putting to most hunters, but none could deny its effects.

The middle vial held seven ounces of Notice me Knot: A mostly clear potion that would cause unfocused eyes to slide right off of you. Sure, you could still be seen if someone looked directly at you, but peripheral vision was useless against you.

The largest vial contained fifteen ounces of a Lesser Healing potion: the vibrant red liquid would rapidly heal minor injuries and force the body to replace any lost blood. Despite the side effects, it was a remarkable alternative to healing spells.

Aldritch carefully took the Notice me Knot from her hand and held it up to the light.

"I really do love alchemy." He muttered, smiling down at Faeyra.

Begrudgingly, Zarud, Ralocan, Oladi, Derrik, and Max followed Aldritch, Sulika, and Faeyra towards the closest clearing.

They walked with their weapons at the ready, believing they would be spotted instantly and have to fight their way out… Yet, against all odds, they weren't discovered even after twenty minutes of walking.

Had they known what Aldritch was up to, they likely would've saved their strength and walked normally.

No matter his certainty, Aldritch refused to leave anything to chance. It was how he'd survived all those years alone, and how he planned to keep his guild alive now.

Eye of the Dragon hovered over two-thousand feet above the island. With it on overwatch, he could see every source of mana around the island… And he'd been maintaining this spell since they'd left the beach.

Mana sources appeared to the Dragon's eye as balls of light; the brighter the light, the more mana the creature possessed.

The city plateau was approximately eighty-seven square miles in diameter, while the city itself took up about ten of those.

There were three hundred and forty-four mana sources scattered around the city- sixty-five of which were guarding the wall. And as he'd already told them, most of those had formed groups near the places they'd yet to clear of debris.

From what he could see, that left just fourteen demons to watch the other fifteen square miles of open space… Which they were unlikely to do, given the demons' penchant for slacking off.

Even so, he led the group in a wide zig-zag pattern that kept them mostly out of sight until they reached the edge of the clearing.

Aldritch and Zarud stepped behind the closest trees while the others hunkered down behind some debris. Sulika pulled out her telescope and inspected the wall for demons… "Well, I'll be damned." She whispered.

"What is it?" Oladi asked, holding her hand out for the scope.

She hated not being able to send Thalorin out to scout, but at this range his dark feathers would be easily spotted in the sky- safer to keep him nearby where he could watch their backs.

Sulika passed it to her and rolled onto her back to get comfy.

"There are three demons guarding this entire stretch of wall." Oladi muttered.

"Yer kidding." Derrik muttered.

"That's what I saw too." Sulika nodded and closed her eyes. If they were going to wait for sundown, might as well get some proper rest in the process.

"Aldritch was right?"

"Looks that way."

"How?"

Oladi, Derrik, Zarud, Ralocan, and Max all turned to Aldritch and waited for his explanation while Faeyra got comfy beside Sulika and closed her eyes too.

"I may be a newcomer to hunting, but I was fighting demons before any of you were alive. If there is anyone who knows as much about demons as I do- I'd certainly love to meet them." He grinned.

A few seconds passed before Max sighed and shook his head. "Alright, I'll give you that one. The rest of you do what he says and get comfortable. I need to contact Captain Reszu and inform her of what's going on in the meantime."

While Max crept away from the group to contact the third scouting team- Oladi, Derrik, and Zarud took turns eyeing the demons through the telescope.

"I'm seeing two demonwolves and an Imp." Oladi muttered.

"Is that an Imp? I thought it was a redcap, ugly bugger." Derrik said, laughing quietly to himself.

"Two wolves and an Imp is what I saw too." Zarud nodded before passing the telescope back to Oladi. Judging by the way the buildings on this side of the city looked, Zarud was a little concerned the buildings would start collapsing at any moment-

"Remember to wait for nightfall before you do anything." Aldritch said, getting their attention. "The demons won't bother searching for us unless provoked, so you should be safe here until it's time to move" He finished before turning to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Sulika asked- she scrambled to her feet and placed her hand on his bicep. "We're a team, remember? And teammates don't go off on their own, that's a good way to get us all killed."

Aldritch smiled at her. "I know. That's why I'm going to enter from elsewhere. Remember, Faeyra's potions don't work on me. If anyone's spotted while we're entering the city, it'll be the one who can't use Notice me Knot." He gently pulled her hand off his arm and stepped away.

"Well, what if there's more demons inside than we think? What if you're spotted and they attack as soon as they think something is wrong? Do you still think it's a good idea to go off on your own?" She asked, more insistently this time.

"Yes. I do." He nodded. "Do not burden yourself with thoughts of me. Just remember; you are the leader of this group, Sulika. Lead them well, and I'll see you again tonight."

"Where?"

"At the old Hunter's Guild building. We'll rendezvous there and look for the dungeon portal together." He bowed at the waist, keeping his eyes low-

A sudden gust of wind buffeted the trees, shaking the dead limbs and causing dust to fall over their backs. This distracted them for only a moment, but that was all it took.

When they looked back to find Aldritch, the giant was gone… In his place was a crater of superheated soil that soon hardened into clay.

"I can see why he left us." Faeyra muttered, still using her backpack as a pillow.

"Why? Did you have a vision? Is he in danger?" Sulika asked, turning her full attention on the elf.

"Nah." Faeyra shook her head. "But if I could do that," she pointed to the crater of steaming clay. "I would've left us too. He moves faster on his own."

"... You have a point there." Sulika sighed.

The wind rushed past his ears as Aldritch soared through the air.

He wasn't bothering to use his wings this time, just raw force to keep the demons from reacting to his presence.

While it was true that he was leaving to make it easier for his allies to slip inside. What he'd failed to mention, was that he was entering sooner than they would…

Much sooner.

Reason being the Dragon's eye had noticed something strange.

"There he is." Aldritch muttered.

He could see it, the lone incubus laying atop a tall building near the center of the city.

The demon was laying on his stomach near the edge of the building with the tool mounted on a tripod in front of him. The tool appeared to be nearly sixty inches in length. It was thicker on one end, while the other side ended in a smooth cylindrical shape.

Aldritch didn't know what this tool was, but since the demon had taken the time to mount a telescope on top of it, he knew it was likely going to be a problem.

In a single motion, Aldritch bit into his tongue and licked the kite shield emblem on his left wrist brace.

The incubus had been waiting almost thirty hours for someone to arrive, and finally, someone was approaching the city.

He couldn't tell how many were approaching the city, only that there were women in the group.

His kind excelled at locating women.

It didn't matter how far away they were or how many men were around them- an incubus could sniff out a woman's dreams from anywhere.

Without this ability, they'd never be able to feed themselves.

Of course, the boss told him to wait on the ground and command the lesser demons… But no, that wasn't going to happen.

He may have been a demon, but that didn't mean he had to like other demons. In fact, if he wasn't explicitly told not to, he'd be testing out his new weapon on some of the imps wandering around the city.

So, he'd given the fodder the order to 'protect the city or die' and hiked it up to a nearby rooftop to oversee everything.

It wasn't much, especially compared to what he had waiting for him at home, but it was better than nothing.

The roof was thirty feet wide, forty feet long, and was mostly flat save for the short rampart around it. Which was why he'd been able to set up a small tent, cooking fire, a few chairs, and a keg of sustarin wine to pass the time without the other demons bothering him.

He'd just pulled his eye away from the scope to readjust his position when he heard something whistling through the air behind him-

The incubus's eyes shifted back to the rifle in front of him and his bottom lip quivered.

In a moment of surprising clarity, he realized his only method of attack was facing the wrong direction and he was too inebriated to move it in his current state.

But with no other course of action available to him, the incubus did the only thing he could: he snatched the rifle off the floor and spun towards the giant-

Crash!

Aldritch called forth a bit of mana and cast Wyvern's Retaliation the instant before he slammed his shield's spike through the incubus's face.

Three things happened simultaneously: the demon's body went limp as it's head was reduced to meaty chunks. The metal tool was flung away from with enough speed to send it crashing into the side of the demon's makeshift tent, and Aldritch realized the demon wasn't as strong as he'd hoped.

A shockwave erupted from his body just before he would crash through the rampart and fall off. Because he hadn't used much mana in the creation of his spell, the shockwave had minimal effect on the building and acted more like a cushion against his chest.

With his momentum cut almost in half, Aldritch lightly jumped just before he reached the rampart and bounced over it without breaking the roof.

The giant had a brief moment to think while he was in the air: his current landing target was a building pressed against the demon's hideaway.

It was just as wide and long as the first building, but only half the height; four stories instead of eight.

Aldritch cast Eye of the Dragon and scanned the area around Sulika and the others while his body landed on the other roof- however, his weight was too much for the damaged roof to handle.

It caved beneath his weight the instant he landed, sending him crashing through the roof and into the apartment beneath him.

He bent his knees to absorb the impact and drove the spike of his shield into the floor to stop him completely- the building shook violently from the impact.

Aldritch held his breath and waited, trying to will himself to be as light as possible so the building wouldn't collapse on top of him.

"...It appears I overestimated the load capacity of the roof." Aldritch muttered, somewhat disappointed with himself.

If he'd cast a second Wyvern's Retaliation to cushion his fall, then the roof likely could've held on long enough for him to depart.

But it was too late for that now.

He looked around the old, dilapidated room he'd fallen into and wondered where he'd landed.

The room was large and would've been spacious had someone not crammed over a dozen bunks inside the room… Though there were three less now, crushed beneath his body and the falling roof..

Aldritch carefully stepped off the broken bed frame and fully into the room.

The only source of light came from the two small, oval-shaped windows high on the walls to his left and right.

A small table had been shoved into the corner of the room, along with four chairs. To Aldritch's surprise there was a small mountain of decayed food still sitting on plates and in bowls.

"This looks like a barracks. Maybe it was this island's equivalent of the Sentinel's Roost?" Aldritch said and took a step towards the table- his body froze as his foot landed on something solid… He glanced down at the floor and found a broken picture frame lying beneath his boot.

Aldritch bent down and picked up the frame. He shook the broken glass loose, then snapped the wooden frame between two fingers and pulled the faded photograph from within.

The photo was of fifteen men and women of various races, in matching red outfits. Their faces showed exultation. Relief. Happiness…

Emotions they would likely never experience again.

Aldritch carefully folded the photo and placed it into a pouch he kept hidden inside his robe.

"The soldiers were likely getting ready for a meal before the demons showed up." Oakairo replied, directing Aldritch's attention back to the table of food. Though his voice was somber, Aldritch could feel the rage bubbling just beneath the surface.

Aldritch grunted his agreement before bending his knees and launching himself out the hole in the ceiling.

Not willing to repeat his earlier blunder, Aldritch cast Wyvern's Retaliation just before landing, allowing him to land on the demon's roof instead of crashing through it.

Once his footing was secure, Aldritch strided over to the demon's tent and picked up the metal tool-

"It's broken." Aldritch sighed at the state of it.

The slender end had bent almost in half, no doubt after making contact with the steel rod holding the tent up, and the lens of the telescope was completely shattered.

Aldritch tossed the tool aside and made himself comfy beside the demon's fire and used Eye of the Dragon to scan for any additional threats.

Now, it was time to see what Sulika and the others could do… He glanced over at the broken tool and wondered how many other demon's had similar tools of their own?

"Maybe I should see what makes this thing work- just in case."