Chapter 850 T.D.O.N.B: Three Nasty Guys

I kept my mouth shut despite knowing where the enemies could be hiding. Most of them were obviously hanging around the lonely mountain, but there was some much closer too.

My family, remind on high alert as they walked through the territory, slowly approaching the first crevasses, with some sharp stones sticking out of the ground further beyond.

- Watch out - Tihana announced suddenly. - They are hiding in the holes.

It made Celestine and Leonel turn to face the closest one, as they suspected the danger to crawl out from that hole. It was literally exactly what happened. A seemingly normal guy just came out of there, followed by three more. They looked like normal humans in black robes.

All three had chains around their necks, and a knife by their belt.

This view confused the shit out of my family. I knew it was very dangerous, not only because those monsters were strong, but also because they were quite the wolves in sheep's clothing.

All of them started chanting something, and one by one took their robes partially off, exposing their torsos. It had demonic symbols carved into their skin. The scars were nasty, but also very fresh, still red. In some parts, their body wasn't looking very human. It was often mutated, blackened, and covered by veins filled with red blood to the point you could see it through their skin.

- What is this? - Carmelita asked me, as she turned her eyes to me.

- Don't let your eyes decide you - I warned her. - They're not what they seem to be.

As I spoke those words, one of them wailed at top of his lungs, before some of the bones in his body snapped, and the right arm started pulsing, twitching, and morphing like a caterpillar shedding its skin.

It looked horrifying, especially when the rest joined him in the screaming.

- Be ready! - I warned them.

At the very same moment, the hands exploded with meat, which made them grow in size, then change. The fingers changed into sharp talons, while the whole limb became something grotesque compared to the rest of the rather humanoidal body. Parts of their necks changed color, and the skin became thicker, reaching through their faces to the top of their heads, where a single horn grew.

Then they all charged.

My warning became crucial for Leonel and Celestine to react properly. They blocked the punch with their shields, despite the powerful impact. Both were sent sliding on the rocky ground, away from the group.

This created a path for the third one to attack the second line, but Tihana and John avoided the heavy swing. The cultist hit the ground, shattering part of it.

It made Carmelita squeak out of fear, as she clung to her staff. She instinctively moved towards me, but since the situation wasn't dire, I also wasn't gonna step in.

- They are going to beat the shit out of you - I pointed out.

I was ignored. Celestine and Leonel couldn't hear me as they were too far away, charging at their separate opponents, while Tihana and John started a dance around the one whom they had to face.

Moving in a weird, contorting manner, the cultist avoided a few first-wide swings from my oldest daughter, while simultaneously avoiding her boyfriend's attack. Since they failed, the monster began his attack, swinging widely at my daughter, but she shadow walked to the other side avoiding the powerful slam with the massive hand.

It was so strong that the wave of wind hit me in the face, and I was several steps away, not to mention in a different direction than his fist went.

John rushed to attack as he saw an opening. He leaped and brought his halberd from above straight at the shoulder of the monster, but the weapon failed to pierce through the skin. It was a powerful hit that would cut in half a normal human being, but not the weird grotesque creature the cultist turned into.

The monster immediately wailed at him, then trayed to grab him, but John gracefully evaded the attack, while Tihana was already charging to add her five cents.

- A little bit of help would be appreciated! - she shouted to Carmelita.

- Y-yes! - my other daughter reacted, finally getting her shit together.

She extended a hand towards Tihana, then closed her eyes, focusing on the spell. Suddenly the two-handed sword started glowing with this fluid-like light enveloping the blade.

John reacted to it, he faked an attack, then retreated to the side, making the cultist attempt to grab him again, but he failed. This created a perfect opening for Tihana to jam her sword into the base of the monster's neck, as she jumped at the last moment.

The weapon pierced through the body, emerging on the other side, slightly above the hip. She then pulled it out, pushing with one of her legs on the shoulder of the creature to do a backflip and land properly before performing a shadow walk to avoid a powerful punch.

The cultist was bleeding heavily, from the wounds and his mouth, but he didn't die yet. He took two more steps trying to chase Tihana, before turning to smoke.

Meanwhile, both Celestine and Leonel had trouble trying to endure an assault of powerful punches each, from the cultists that attacked them a moment before. It wasn't easy, but they were able to stand their ground, although they couldn't counterattack in any shape or form.

Mainly because they didn't want to waste their strength so early. It was much better to just block, relying on the sturdiness of their shields, as both items were made by me, and could easily protect them from such attacks.

The cultist also showed another skill of theirs, and that was the ability to puke with fire. Leonel could just ignore that, but Celestine had to actually dodge, and that was the reason behind Tihana and John deciding to go and help her first.

Carmelita blessed the halberd, so the two were able to deal with the problem very fast, then all three decided to help my son.

That's how their first skirmish ended.