Chapter 452 - Winter Torture

Now, it's 6 in the morning across Ignis. The Guards of the night shift are Patrolling over the walls, carrying torches with a sole intent to attract any nearby Demon.

It's better to face them and get it over with than letting them run wild across the Continent, Pameres Kingdom is what King Michael is specifically concerned about considering how much profit has that domain brought.

The biggest challenge of the night shift is of course staying awake, there rarely are any Clawed Demons after dusk falls behind the Horizon so even when the Guards attract a few, they usually are small in number. Either alone, or at small groups of 2 or 3. A breeze to handle even at night.

Speaking of breezes, throughout the night shift King Michael has blown blank Fire on his palms over a hundred times even though wearing gloves.

The Winter night is harsh and snow just has started melting even though they are close to march. It only gets worse as they patrol the walls towards the morning as cold can overcome most.

Sure King Michael has Fire to keep himself warm but what about the other Guards? This cold, running down their spines can break the toughest souls.

And that's where the King has come to a realization, these Guards don't have such motivation for the sake of Gold. Food expenses are covered by the Castle, these Guards all have houses and families to go to.

Recent losses of Guards have pushed many people towards the value of life itself, and they have a large motivation to protect their families, a motivation gold can never buy.

That's the only thing that can explain this motivation, as the King personally wouldn't hold another night shift even if he was paid 200 Gold Coins a night. It's too harsh to handle, he has found respect for these Guards more than ever thanks to that fact, they too are putting in 12 hours a day.

Blowing Fire once more, submerging his palms in such heat and watching them appeal hot and red, Michael spotted the sun's head slowly but surely rise from the sea. 

He could feel the sun's faint rays illuminating his face, the only bit of skin exposed to such harsh weather apart from his palms before he puts gloves on.

Although the sun rising, his face has been long numbed by such cold and warmth from nature isn't soon to come, not before mid day at least. But what's the point then, as he will be going in the Castle for a nap.

Rubbing his eyes, urging to go and slide in his bed as he isn't used to such 12 hour shifts, the call for battle woke him up.

Right in front of the Kingdom, 150 or so feet away, much like Farmers the Clawed Demons got into work with the rising of the sun.

Giving another look, he can count above 20... thinking it though for a split of a second, his best idea is to demand with a holler. "I need 40 Guards here! The rest of you, remain true to your shifts."

10 Guards were already close to him, spotting the Clawed Demons almost at the same time as the King. So they've already started pulling Arrows back, knowing that there isn't a need for further commands.

Their arrows shone across the sky, piercing the Ice age like punishing cold and warming up the Soldiers of light with the call to battle!

What woke the rest of the Guards up, are the Demonic howls. They are so harsh to comprehend, ears of these brave souls burn despite the muffle that each quick foot tap provides, despite the song that each bow plays.

Three Demons fell to the ground, Iron tip arrows victimising their spines and dismantling their h.i.p.s function.

With the next wave of arrows short to come, King Michael shot a 6 foot wide Fireball from the comfort of the walls, allowing a 3 foot tail to follow behind, raising the odds of taming a bundle.

He looked around, saw the Guards approaching and shouted. "Faster, move your feet. Wake up people!"

Alluring his gaze upon the battle field, he could see a few Demonic bodies collecting blood across the field and could even spot a couple of burned carcasses.

Arrow tips flashed over 100 feet away, he could see blood doting on more than ten spots and saw 5 more Demons drop dead while more than half of the arrows just dug into the snow.

The Guards are tired, sleepy while the targets are over a hundred feet away and dancing across the snow.

The King here has to prove as the best support, so before the Guards could shoot another round of arrows, 3 Fireballs blew from his palms, stretching 5 feet wide each and howling above the white snow.

A Demon leaped, trying to catch the weird glowing thing and next thing it knew, well it didn't know anything. It's dead, with the head blown off and the Fire sunk down to the Rib cage before the carcass forced other Demons to trip.

Two on the sides met a bad fate as well, and with half of the living Demons enslaved by the wave of arrows, 12 or so Demons remained standing, 70 feet away.

Now, battle has become easier although the Clawed Demons closer. With another wave of arrows enslaving the sky, 9 Demons dropped dead with arrows across their spine and limbs.

And the three remaining of course have no aim whatsoever to slow down, crazed beings in every aspect and dialect.

These three are easier to handle, chances of them reaching the walls are slim but from the other side of the Kingdom, specifically from behind. Guards hollered for help.

Blowing Fire from his feet as he made his way to the sky, from a higher vantage point King Michael could count well over 100 Demons just 50 feet away from the walls!

This situation is becoming terrible, do these crazed pieces of shit rise with the sun?

Fire urging 6 feet wide behind him, reaching battle as fast as possible is the primary move! He wanted to tip a Guard on calling for Mogranius, but time isn't something he doesn't have at the moment.

Landing on the ground, with the Demons 20 feet near his Kingdom already, the King wanted to try out what Mogranius discovered.

Time limited, the Demons 10 feet away from where he has dug his feet. An orb formed on his palms, tremendous power blown at once, enough to unleash 10 foot wide Fireballs from each of his palms.

But not blowing Fire from his tongue since he doesn't have time, he bashed the orb against the ground and got a glance of it zig zaging left to right before he blew fire from his feet once more and made for the sky!

An explosion echoed across the field, likely waking up many citizens and last but not least, the King could see tens of bloody limbs surpassing his speeds and flying for heaven.

Luckily, this Atomic Fireball hasn't been super charged or else even the Guards would face some damage apart from temporary blinding.

Although bloody, unforgiving damage just inflicted. As the King looked down, he spotted that half of these crazed beings haven't even been killed.

Over 60 are leaving their wicked footprints across this precious snow, over 60 are a hunch away from climbing the walls and taking the fight with the Guards up there.

A second after, battle cries howled as the back gates opened. Goblin Demons poured all across the battlefield, taking the fight head on with the Clawed Demons, crossing out fear or remorse.

Counting a hundred, the Goblin Demons turned the tides in battle, pushing the Clawed Demons as the two factions collided.

With numbers and experience to their advantage, hundreds upon hundreds of battle axe strikes were to be heard, punishing flesh and bone.

Noticing the clear line between Demon and Goblin, King Michael shot a 10 foot Wide Fireball right at the bottom of the enemy tide, relieving battle stress at a big rate.

Now, the Goblin Demons managed to filter the numbers down to the point of surrounding these Demons from all sides.

Just one minute later, this battle met an end as the Goblins have massacred through the Demons like a hot Dagger through a Rope!

Looking at a couple of them dead, the sub leader of this platoon of Goblin Demons hollered. "Injured Goblins, please stand on the left."

With this command repeated a few times between the shouts of Victory, 40 or so Goblins stood on the left while only 8 with injuries severe.

Severe as in a whole claw mark across their chest, but they are still able to walk laugh and talk. These pink former marauders are tough as nails.

Landing above the blood and snow, King Michael waved at a Guard above the walls and shouted. "Get Ladia here, go wake her up!"

With that command clear at least, the Guard ran down the stone stairs and disappeared in the snowy roads looking for Ladia's.

From the other side, or best called in front of the Castle. The call for battle echoed, several Guards calling for backup.

Looking at the Goblin Demons and the ugly scene they left behind, King Michael shouted. "We are needed on the other side, healthy Goblin Demons, let's go!"