We were surrounded. I had already seen them beforehand and I purposedly walked straight towards their ambush because I didn't fear them in the slightest. Whatever these monsters were, they were only walking EXP bags for me.
The bushes shook, as they emerged. I had already expanded my Aura and my Supernatural Senses and detected over twenty signals of life surround us. They were all carrying demonic energy, so they were either demons or demonic beasts, both things we didn't had to doubt at all at the time of killing them.
The figures quickly emerged, a pack of ten Mutated Demonic Gray Wolves, five of them were two-headed and the other five were three-headed. Were they all as strong as the Alpha?! And not only that! They were being mounted by Imp Warriors, twice as large as normal Imps, packed with muscles and bone and leather armor, and holding Cursed Demonic Weapons imbued with black and red crystals.
"W-Wait a second! These are Imps?! They're bigger than normal!" Eric cried, stepping back and bumping over Chris back.
Chris smiled defiantly against the challenge. "And they've got those big wolves that Blake took care of! So many of them… can we even fight all of them?! Didn't Blake had a difficult time dealing with a single one?! Heh! This is getting thrilling!"
"Why are there demons in here?! Weren't they all exterminated?" Asked Erdrich furiously.
"Must be survivors from the war! Papa said there were many that ended surviving at the end… Could they had escaped to the depths of the woods near the swamps?" Wondered Elizabeth.
"These are only ten wolves though; I feel more presences behind them…" Said Erika.
"For now, we'll take care of them!" I said while using [Commanding] on all my friends. Their stats suddenly began to increase as they felt stronger than before thanks to the Skill's effects.
I summoned Moby right after that, as the large fish splashed us all with water, sparkling our clothes with it and then enhancing our Evasion and Agility.
"Ugh, what with that fish?!" Asked Erika surprised.
"It will make you faster, don't overthink it!"
The Imps didn't waited for us to speak any longer, the first one immediately leaped towards us. The giant three-headed wolf was literally the same I had beaten an hour ago, but it seemed slightly… weaker? Is this because I had leveled up twice and my strength and physical abilities had improved? Whatever was the case, I easily avoided its attack by moving down my body.
And then, pointing my spear at it, I pierced the wolf's chest, its heart quickly exploded inside of its body, as the wolf vomited a mouthful of blood, slowly losing some of its balance and making the Imp mounting it panic.
"Ugraah!" The Imp cried, as the wolf barely managed to keep itself standing.
Even with a heart destroyed, it can still fight? Is this because it has been mutated into a Demonic Beasts? Certainly, demons are capable of surviving even having their hearts pierced.
The wolf roared once more as it leaped towards me a second time. The Imp mounting the beast suddenly charged his large Demon Axe with his Demonic Energy, unleashing a horizontal attack against me.
However, a barrier made of light protected me, as Elizabeth right behind me was raising her staff and conjuring the spell.
"Gryah?!" The Imp was shocked, as I took that opportunity to strike, enhancing my agility and body by the infusion of Blood Ki into my physique, I jumped several meters into the air, reaching over the crazed demonic wolf and then piercing the Imp's head with my spear, reaching deep into its torso, and then piercing the wolf's head as well. A second after, I sliced both of them vertically.
Both bodies fell into the floor right away, as blood sprayed everywhere, my entire body ended covered in the red blood of both demons. However, the EXP was worth it.
While I had slain my first victim out of the ten wolves being mounted by Imp Warriors, the rest of my party continued their fight. Chris pointed his staff against one of the approaching foes as a storm of blazing flames erupted from the ground right below them.
The scream of the two-headed wolf and the Imp were music to our ears, as Chris smiled rather cynically, quickly calling over his Spirit.
"Spirit Technique: Blazing Fox Charge!"
The small Fire Fox gave a small and slightly adorable groan, as Chris' Blazing Fire Aura erupted from his body, both Mana and Ki were infused into his Spirit in a split of a second, as its entire body suddenly grew five times its original size, resembling a furious and enormous fire fox with three blazing tails. This was Chris' new Spirit Technique!
The enormous Fire Fox charged against the burned two-headed wolf and the Imp Warrior, clashing against them in a loud explosion of fire, consuming them and burning them until they ended as black as charcoal.
The explosion spread out further, catching two other mounted wolves and burning their bodies. Although they managed to run away and survive, these Spirit Flames were persistent. Even if Demons were resistant to the fire element, when Ki and Spiritual Essence were added, such flames became more intense, enough to sometimes surpass their resistance against such elements.
"Eric!" Chris called his friend as the two mounted wolves made their way towards them.
"Damn it! I-I know!" Eric cowardly said, although his eyes seemed filled with a sharp confidence.
His spiritual energy and, Ki, and Mana were infused into two arrows he pointed at the wolves and imps at the same time using his Cursed Bow. The combination of all the elements together suddenly generated a flash of blight, both arrows were fired at the same time, impacting both mounted wolves at the same time, and then, exploding!
Black vines suddenly began to grow out of the arrows, entangling the bodies of both of them!