Mistaken for a Returnee

"Alright, that takes care of… Where's Aldritch?" Max asked. He'd just finished his message to the third scouting team and returned to find one of their own missing.

"He said he was going to enter from a different side of the city." Oladi muttered without opening her eyes; she was using Thalorin to spy on them from the top of the tree she was leaning against.

She would've been fine with using the telescope too, were it not for Derrik and Zarud constantly squabbling over it. So, since Thalorin was still present, and it didn't cost anything to share senses with him. She let the two men keep occupied by fighting over the shiny bauble while she kept an eye on the city.

And it was working… Until now.

Derrik and Zarud lost interest in the telescope almost immediately after Max returned. Whether to maintain face in front of the GM or because they'd genuinely lost interest, none of the women could tell.

"He said, and I quote, 'If anyone were to be seen while entering the city, it'd be me. So, it's better for all of us if I entered elsewhere." Sulika replied in an imitation of Aldritch's smooth baritone.

"Hey, that was pretty good." Faeyra giggled.

"Really? I've been working on it-"

"Ahem." Max coughed into his hand and sent a glare Sulika's way.

The sorceress snapped her jaw shut and sent Faeyra a sideways glance- which the elf responded to with a smirk.

"Did anyone try to stop him?" Max asked, folding his arms across his chest and tapping his right foot.

"I did- didn't help much." Sulika leaned back against Faeyra's backpack and shut her eyes.

"I didn't think you'd be so relaxed about this, Miss Wysarie. One of your team has disappeared and here you are sleeping on the job."

Sulika's eyes snapped open, and she stared at Max; not out of anger or surprise at being called out… But out of confusion.

"Sir, if any of my team went missing, you can bet I'd do anything to find them… But Aldritch; he isn't a member of my team. He's our guild master."

"Right," Faeyra nodded. "We trust he knows what he's doing."

"And what of you four?" Max replied, this time directing his question at Oladi, Derrik, Zarud, and Ralocan.

"We trust Sulika. If she believes he knows what he's doing, then we'll follow her lead." Oladi said, getting a round of nods and agreements from the men.

"Besides, I'm sure wherever he is. He's probably leaned back, observing the city like Oladi. I doubt he's foolish enough to rush in without a plan." Ralocan said, also getting a round of nods from Oladi, Derrik, and Zarud… But Sulika and Faeyra had a different reaction to his statement.

The two of them started to look a little worried.

Aldritch was kneeling on the roof of a seven-story building near the northern edge of the city.

The roof was fairly large, and mostly empty- save for a few ragged chairs, over a hundred glass bottles and other forms of litter strewn about, and more than one body's worth of dried blood smeared across the floor.

A four foot high wall surrounded the roof on all sides, presumably to stop people from falling off during the celebrations that no doubt took place here.

But Aldritch wasn't interested in the roof itself. No, his focus lay a bit further south; in a room just six feet beneath his boots, a group of ten demons were lounging after a long day of guarding the perimeter.

He was on the lookout for more of those metal tools. Even after disassembling and reassembling the one the incubus had, he still didn't know the extent of its use.

He knew the trigger mechanism activated it, and from that he could guess the metal objects he'd found in and around the incubus's tent were projectiles. Why else would the tool have a mechanism specifically for loading them into the cylindrical end of the tool?

However, that's where he hit a snag.

He couldn't get the tool to launch a projectile.

So, now he was on the lookout for other- preferably unbroken- tools that he could examine.

It was just a shame they didn't appear to be powered by mana stones, and so were invisible to his Dragon's eye.

If he was unlucky, a lot of demons would die before he could get his hands on one. But hey, maybe luck was on his side after all.

The first group he'd found was relatively isolated from the others and was relatively large. Surely, they had at least one tool laying around, right?

"I smell mostly Demonwolves. There might be other species in the building, but whether it's alive or dead is another story." Oakairo muttered.

Aldritch nodded- It was common knowledge that demons would just as soon eat their own kind as anything else. A part of him hoped the other species he sensed was already dead, but the majority wished it to be alive and well.

It was more fun fighting multiple species at once.

Aldritch opened his eyes- "Ready?"

"Of course."

There were four unbroken balconies near the roof: two on the north side, one on the south side, and a smaller one on the west.

"Let's go introduce ourselves." He smoothly stood and walked towards the southern edge of the building.

The moment he reached the wall, Aldritch leapt over and dropped twenty feet to the brick balcony below, landing in a crouch- his weight shattering the top layer of brick and causing the bottom layer to flex downward.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The sliding door in front of him was glass, allowing him to see the four demonwolves inside… And for them to see him.

"Guess the other six are in different rooms on this floor. Good; makes this easier to contain."

"Silence." He whispered- his mana exploded out of him, instantly forming an invisible dome of hardened mana that engulfed the top three floors of the building.

The demonwolves inside the room roared at the intruder- yet not a peep could be heard. They tried again, louder and more forceful this time- and even still, their roars went unheard.

Aldritch smiled and placed a finger to his lips.

He stood to his full height and slammed the door open, causing the glass to shatter silently and send broken shards flying into the room.

Aldritch followed the shards without a pause, crashing into the apartment like a storm.

The space wasn't very large, especially not with four large demonwolves and now a half-giant occupying it.

About three hundred square feet of room that combined had a large bed to his right, which dominated a large portion of the room.

An old couch had been pushed against the foot of the bed and a short wooden table sat in front of it; a small ceramic vase lay on the floor beside the table- Aldritch briefly saw a crude painting on the side of the vase depicting a small child and their parents. But he couldn't linger on it.

Finally, there was a wall to his left that partially blocked what Aldritch assumed to be the kitchen; a flimsy looking door could be seen in the middle of the wall, making Aldritch wonder if something might be hiding behind it.

As for the demon's positions; One was laying on the bed, presumably having just woken up from a nap. A larger wolf was sitting on the couch with his feet propped on the small table. And a small demonwolf; about the size of an average sized human, and a lithe female wolf were standing in the kitchen.

Aldritch could see a flimsy looking door on the wall between him and the kitchen and wondered if anyone was hiding behind them.

The closest male demonwolf scrambled off the large bed and flung himself at Aldritch.

Unlike Garr, none of these demonwolves appeared to carry any weapons on their person… or liked wearing clothing, so it was easy to tell who was who.

Aldritch caught the demon with a single hand around its throat and spun-

"Don't break the wall!"

Aldritch stopped his spin and whipped the demon around the other way, using its legs to bat aside the large wolf from the couch. The hit sent him flying across the room, crashing onto the bed with enough force to topple it.

With his move complete, Aldritch prepared to punch the wolf in his hand- only to realize at the last second that it was already dead. The change in momentum during his swing had snapped its neck-

Suddenly, a stabbing pain bloomed on Aldritch's left side.

He didn't hesitate, he twisted his body and positioned the dead wolf in between him and the two demonwolves standing near the kitchen.

The female wolf leapt onto the ceiling and scrambled towards Aldritch while the smallest demonwolf pointed a dark shape his way-

Aldritch realized it was a smaller version of the tool the wolf was holding within its claws. But unlike the almost black tool the incubus had, this one was a metallic silver color that shined almost like a mirror.

He watched as the demon's finger twitched against the trigger mechanism; a flash of light reached his eyes an instant before a piece of metal punched a hole in the back of the dead wolf- and then more pain flowed up Aldritch's side, this time from his stomach.

"Above you!"

The female wolf reached Aldritch and dropped onto his head- except the giant wasn't there anymore.

She landed on the floor beside the couch and quickly scanned the room. She found the giant with his back pressed against the wall beside the door, his body hidden from the smallest wolf's weapon… And she could see blood staining his robes.

The smallest wolf darted around the kitchen counter in search of the giant while the female wolf launched herself at him.

Aldritch noticed all of his and rubbed a blood covered finger across his golden wristguard.

Three things happened at once; the towershield appeared, the smallest wolf found the giant and pulled the trigger, and the female wolf's claws grazed Aldritch's throat…

Aldritch twisted his body in a blindingly fast burst of movement. He spun with his shield in his left hand, causing the bullet to flatten against the bottom of the shield while the female wolf's head splattered against the top… But the giant's move was too wide.

He left his back open to the smallest wolf.

The demon grinned and leveled his tool at the back of the giant's head. And then he prepared to pull the trigger- until the ceramic vase smashed into his face after being launched from Aldritch's right hand.

Its nose broken, clay shards stabbing into its eyes, and the back of its head going numb. The smallest wolf barely had time to register it all before a golden spike pierced its forehead and pinned it to the floor.

Aldritch's eyes locked on the smallest wolf's face for a moment before sliding to the tool still gripped within its right hand.

He pulled it free and turned to see the disoriented form of the largest wolf crawling off the bed.

Apparently, hitting him with his friend's legs had done more damage than Aldritch thought.

Aldritch aimed the tool at the largest wolf's chest and carefully pulled the trigger with the tip of his finger… Nothing happened. There was no flash of light, no launching or metal, nothing.

"I wonder…" He stepped on the smallest wolf's elbow, then bent down and took hold of his right hand- The appendage detached with a tug, followed by a spurt of black blood and a foul odor.

Aldritch placed the tool into the wolf's hand and aimed both at the largest wolf.

The demonwolf shook its head to clear the fog from its mind. It definitely had a concussion, and possible a broken skull- there was a flash of light, followed by a sharp pain in the wolf's chest.

The pain chased away the fog and it leveled angry red eyes on the giant's disinterested golden eyes.

Two more flashes preceded two pieces of metal ripping through both of his knees, driving him to the floor and forcing him onto his stomach.

A fourth flash of light was the last thing the demon saw before a piece of metal tore open his skull…

A fifth flash, a sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth- then nothing. No matter how many time Aldritch forced the hand to pull the trigger, the tool refused to work.

Aldritch frowned and looked over the damage.

"The tools are bound to the demon's mana pool and it doesn't appear to be transferable. At least, not as far as I can tell. The tools also have a limited number of uses… The question is, is it rechargeable or is it rendered useless after expending its ammunition?"

"Need I remind you that there are still six demons left to deal with and only five minutes until your spell ends?"

"I remember, my Lord" He threw the tool aside and cast Eye of the Dragon to get a sense of where the other demons were- and saw six lights lining up on the other side of the kitchen wall.

He glanced over and, sure enough, a second flimsy door was set into the back wall of the kitchen.

"How are your wounds?"

Aldritch pulled his robe and armor away from his chest, allowing him to see the two shallow puncture wounds on his torso- both of which were bloodless.

"Healing irritatingly fast-" He'd barely spoken before two pieces of crumpled metal were forced out of his body and soundlessly fell to the floor, leaving only smooth skin behind.

Just two more invisible scars amongst thousands of others.

The door was kicked open from the outside, revealing an unarmed Ogre leading the charge.

Over its shoulder, Aldritch could see two more demonwolves, an incubus, a succubus, and another Ogre bringing up the rear- None of them seemed to possess the metal tool he was searching for.

"What a shame."