Found

Lucas moved quickly. He launched forward, grabbing the small demon by the throat and lifting it up. His fist closed, threatening to crush the demon's throat. 

"Waiit!" The demon squealed. Despite this Lucas continued to constrict its throat, his expression contorted in fury. "Wait..." The demon's eyes soon rolled to the back of its head and its body went limp. Lucas relaxed his arm, throwing the demon's body to the ground.

He looked down on the demon for a moment, his eyes full of hatred. Finally, after a moment, he calmed down and picked up the creature by the leg.

Lucas was surprised. It was a lot weaker than what he was expecting. Despite its small stature it was still a demon. Compared to the purple one who defeated him in Carmek, fighting this one was like fighting a small unarmed child. Just then the demon's eyes shot open and it began flailing upside down.

"W-What!" He looked up to see his captor holding him in one hand by his ankle.

"You're alive?" Lucas said more confused than anything. 

"I-I'm just a scout." The gray demon said putting his hands up. Well, down. Lucas looked at the demon intently. Besides its monstrous features and gray skin, the way it spoke and acted was too reminiscent of humans. He'd heard the purple one speak before but he didn't register it at that time. It was hard to believe the monster butchering humans could be so human-like. Then again humans killed each other all the time. 

Lucas dropped the demon who quickly scrambled to face Lucas. He had his hands raised and there was a terrified look on his ugly face. Slowly he started inching away. 

"Don't even try running." Lucas told him sternly. He could already see the small demon preparing to flee. Lucas walked closer and knelt down in front of him. "Now I want you to tell me what you're doing here." The terrified demon gulped and quickly he began to speak. 

"My party sent me out to find humans. I'm just a scout, I swear." Lucas had to admit he was weak enough to be labeled a non-threat. 

"Where is your party now?" Lucas asked. 

"We set up camp just outside the forest." That was good. As long as they didn't delve too deep in they wouldn't be able to find them. Plus the cave was hidden away as well. Hopefully they could just wait for the group to pass, assuming they'd leave their scout behind. Lucas had one more question.

"What was that blue sigil you made appear earlier?"

"Ah nothing!" The demon said, clearly getting more panicked. Not having it Lucas reached for the goblin. "Ah it was a message!" The demon squeaked quickly. 

"To who?" Lucas asked seriously. The demon hesitated for a moment.

"....my party."

That wasn't good.

*****

"So there's a group of human hunting demons?" Rua paced nervously back and forth. Her, Stephen, and Lucas had gathered in her room after Lucas had brought in the captured demon scout.

"Yeah." Lucas told her.

"And they know where we are?" Lucas nodded. Rua kept walking back and forth, her thoughts racing on what to do.

"How much time do we have." Stephen asked. Lucas clicked his tongue and turned to the demon tied up on the ground. They had him bound in rope and gagged. Lucas wanted to make sure he wouldn't be sending anymore messages. 

Lucas walked over and knelt beside the tied up demon

"How long till your party comes?" He asked, undoing the gag.

"I-I don't know. They always arrive soon after the message. That's all I know, I swear." 

"There's your answer." Lucas said, re-doing the gag. Stephen clenched his fist nervously while Rua finally stopped pacing. 

"We don't have enough time to leave." Rua said firmly. "If the demons are already out there we can't risk it."

"I'll try to intercept them." Lucas volunteered. "Maybe I can give you enough time to escape." 

"No," Rua shot it down. "It's too risky to leave right now. We know they're coming so we have the advantage here. How many of them are there?" Lucas pulled out the gag allowing the demon to speak again. 

"There's 4 of us. The master brings his hunting dogs as well. If you release me I-" Just then Lucas put the gag back in, cutting him off. Rua continued.

"If that's the case, us 3 should be able to handle them. We'll wait at the cave entrance and ambush them." Both Lucas and Stephen nodded their heads in agreement. Truthfully there weren't a whole lot of options in this scenario. They had been pinned. 

Lucas quickly left to gather his weapons. As he picked up his sword from his room he could not help to notice that he hadn't even had the time to clean it. All his armor was no longer usable. His shield was heavily damaged but still held strong. He began to strap on all his equipment. If they didn't win this battle, everyone here would be at the mercy of the demons.

*****

Lucas, Rua, and Stephen took their places, hidden beside the forest path. They waited in the dark silence. The air was tense. Stephen had his bow ready while Lucas and Rua also brought their respective weapons.

The sound of insects chirping filled the air and echoed through the trees. Lucas held his breath, listening for any other noise. Then he heard it. The sound of leaves crunching beneath marching feet. He looked forward to the torchlight which pierced through the tree line. 

Just as they expected a group of demons carrying torches trudged through the forest and toward the cave entrance. Compared to the scout they lacked any subtlety. Behind them a monstrous beast pulled a cart with a cage top it. Huddled within the cart like animals were over a dozen disheveled humans. They were all bruised and beaten, holding vacant stares at nothing. That would probably be the fate that awaited the children should they be captured.

Lucas watched on from the shadows as they came closer and closer. His muscles tensed and his senses heightened. Stephen notched an arrow and Rua prepared her spear.

"Where the gray one at?" One of the orange demons asked. Just as the little demon had said, they came in a group of three. Two orange skinned demons walked ahead while a red one walked just in front of the cart. The orange demons were about as big as the gray, only much stouter. The red on however was clearly the leader, standing as tall as Lucas and having a pack of monstrous wolves following behind him. The orange ones each bore a mace while the red one carried a sizable staff.

"What does it matter?" The other orange demon spat. "Lets just find the humans and make camp. He'll find us." He brandished the mace in his hand excitedly. Just then the wolves behind the red one seemed to pick up a scent.

"Stop." The red demon ordered. The two orange ones turned back to see what it was. The red one looked around, peering through the trees. Just then he met eyes with Lucas who was hidden among the bushes.

Just then all hell broke loose as Luca burst from his cover and swung his sword toward the red demon's neck.