Chapter 852 T.D.O.N.B: Family In Action

They split, approaching all the monsters individually, while Carmelita held her position, at the back.

Since Celestine started the whole situation, I paid more attention to her than the others. She dived down while covering herself with the shield, almost slamming into the demon, who swung its heavy hand. She parried it, then slashed him in the face with the sword.

The attack was precise, and cut the skin, but didn't penetrate too deep despite the blessing.

Meanwhile, Carmelit is ahead her hands busy, still casting more spells. She extended a hand towards the monster her mother fought with, and it twitched, briefly stumbling, just to get slashed another time in the torso.

It responded with an attack, but it was visibly slower so it went wide.

It allowed my wife to hit for the third time. This one wounded the tight of the creature. She jumped, turning in midair, which caused her sword wings to slash the demon two additional times. The beast was pushed by that attack further, but quickly responded puking some fire.

Celestine blocked the attack with the shield, then escaped flying away. Meanwhile, Tihana was dancing around the other monster who desperately was trying to catch her, but my daughter was as slippery as an eel. She dances with the swords, cutting him everywhere, shadow walking to avoid any hits while providing constant damage.

Leonel's duel was a brutal exchange. The monster would pound on his massive shield, but my son blocked all the attacks, despite the heavy impacts, which sounded like somebody would taking their day off a gong. He used every small pocket to respond with a counter-attack, sawing with his blade the flesh of the demon. The blood was everywhere, but none of them seemed to be willing to stop the assault.

John had a more graceful approach. He kept stepping back, while directing each hit away from him, utilizing the long range of his halberd, and making his opponent move in the way he wanted, slowly creating an opening for himself. Then he struck. The dragon roared with rage, as he trusted his weapon, slamming into the monster, who got pushed back. It fell on one knee, creating an additional opening for him, which he seized, by leaping into the air and drawing the blade down, but it got blocked, by the thick forearm.

the edge cut the files, but it got stuck in the dense bone.

The red flames were licking the demon's body, but they didn't seem to do much damage. He would found himself in a dire situation if not for Carmelita, who cursed the monster, making his attack sluggish enough, so the brat was able to retrieve his weapon and retreat by jumping away.

Meanwhile, my wife tried to flank her opponent, who kept puking fire at her. My youngest daughter once again came in handy, as she jammed her staff into the ground, screaming, and ice burst from under the creature's legs, quickly climbing up. This was a good chance for her mother to attack, which Celestine seized with a nice combo, but the flames appeared once again, leaving the toothy maw of her opponent.

It was a desperate arack, as there was not much the monster had in his body. He got finished off by a flashy attack.

My wife screamed rising her blade into the air, and a lance made out of pure light appeared above her, then shot down at an angle piercing through the flesh of the demon.

He turned into smoke.

Just like the rest around, more or less at the same moment. Leaving just us there. I glanced at each of my family members trying to judge how much longer they would be able to last in that place, and through a quick estimation I came up with maybe a dozen more fights.

They had a lot of stamina, but no mana, or other types of energies, which was crucial in their fighting styles. Well, maybe with the exception of Leonel, as he heavily relied on the natural capabilities of his transformed body.

I also caught, in the corner of my eye, that one of the nearby camps was getting awakened. One of the tents was spasming. About to burst as the demon would emerge from it.

A few laughs reached my ears, as the hunters tried to celebrate their victory.

- Pay attention to your surroundings - I warned them, forcing them to look around.

They noticed what I did, so instead of taking a short break, maybe even collecting the crystals, they focused on the group that was about to attack them, already rushing to close the distance.

The daemons were grunting heavily, as they ran on all fours with their tails swirling in the air as if they had their own life, then in the last moment, each of them leaped into the air roaring with those high-pitched, annoying voices.

My family didn't have another choice but to respond with violence. I watched carefully from the same spot, by the side of Carmelita.

This duel was much faster, but my youngest daughter had to pay for it with a stronger engagement. She not only weakened all the enemies but helped to create opportunities for attacks with her annoying magic. This, combined with the knowledge the rest gained from their first exchanges, leading to a much better approach to the battle.

As I said, they were faster. After a brief pause to collect the crystals, and catch a breather, we moved to another camp, slowly clearing the place.

My estimates, though, quickly proved to be quite spot on, as a dozen camps further, the fights became dangerous, and they had to make a hard decision.

Obviously, the score was already much better, but it was also a massive waste to leave when there were plenty of monsters around. Even without saying anything I could see them asking themselves those questions in their minds. It was painted all over their faces.

The awkward silence, as we rested after the last duel added to this feeling I had, but nobody said anything yet. Only Carmelita was going around, healing the minor wounds, and whispering from time to time, as she also could feel the weird mood.