Chapter 669 Horns
Wolfe caught the feather and tossed it in his pocket for safekeeping while they waited to see what was going on outside. The bell was still ringing every fifteen seconds, and the sound of armoured boots was clearly heard through the castle halls.
Something big was happening, and Wolfe couldn't be sure what it was while they were stuck in a waiting room.
But on the other hand, going out would distract the guards, expose them to danger, and possibly cause even more issues as nobody knew who they were here.
Then the sounds of trumpets started, a haunting sound that echoed through the stone of the building, as if the magic of the horn was calling to the ground itself.
"We need to get the hell out of here." Dana and Rail announced at the same time.
"What is it? Do you recognize that horn?" Wolfe asked.
"Everyone knows that horn. Or everyone should know that horn. Those are the battle trumpets of the Fallen. It's a human realm that borders on the Demonic realm, a proper hell dimension, and they've been known to go on crusades to eliminate everything else from existence.
If their war horns are here, they've launched a full invasion of the Demon Realms again, and we need to go." Rail explained.
Dana nodded in agreement. "There's only one problem. We don't have any way to leave. We can't use transport magic when they're close, they can follow it, and we will bring them down on wherever we try to flee. So, all we can really do is wait here, and hope that they are a smaller force that the King can take care of in a few days time."
Wolfe expanded his senses with [Detect Hidden] and tried to trace any magic that might be coming from the invading army, in order to see if they were a technological enemy or a magical one. The difference could mean that it would be easy to drive them off, or that the castle would soon be undergoing a sustained artillery bombardment.
There was definitely magic being used on both sides of the battle, but strangely, it was all Unholy magic.
"Are we sure that it's humans? I am sensing Demonic Magic on both sides of the battle." Wolfe asked.
"They worship some sort of deity that empowers their magic as humans. They're shamans of a sort, or perhaps we should call them warlocks? But their power is the same as the Demon Kings, only there is so much more of it than one Demon King could be providing." Dana explained.
"Could it be that they all have a low aptitude for magic and their patron just cast a spell to enhance that? It would explain why it's all Demonic power, but it wouldn't require any ongoing effort on the part of the Demon, only an intervention at a ceremony.
I've seen something similar done by a Mana Beast to help witches advance, so it is possible." Wolfe asked.
Dana looked confused for a few seconds, then slowly nodded. "If there really is a spell like that, then it would theoretically be possible. With their oaths and such, I wouldn't put it past them to have one be a Demonic Pact that grants them their power as crusaders."
The others sighed, but Risa looked intrigued.
"It's possible to grant power to those who don't have it?" She asked.
"In a way. The Mana Beast can awaken young witches with a bloodline curse on them that prevents their awakening, and take some of them to Rank Two. It might be able to do it to all but chooses not to, I'm not certain of the extent of its powers. But it can later raise them to Rank Three, and then it lets them move naturally to Rank four and up if they're capable." Wolfe explained.
"That's a neat trick. There are a lot of species of Demons that never really awaken, you see. They have the potential, but their Mana Cores remain nascent, and their women can barely touch mana, much less use any innate spells of their own.
There aren't many of us who can't use at least some magic, so they're the bottom of the heap, even below the Imps, but they're everywhere doing domestic jobs." The big bodyguard explained.
"And you're thinking that if I could cast that sort of spell on them, we would have a whole army of low ranked Demons that would owe us a huge favour? The spell from the Mana Beast is based on Potential, though. They have to have something to work with."
Risa smirked. "That's where you might be in luck. My mother used to say that they were the cursed ones, cast down to be the weakest of Demons for the failings of their ancestors. If it is a curse that keeps them at the bottom, perhaps you can fix it."
Being in the Palace with the new Mana Purification spell in effect would do the same thing if they were cursed, and suddenly a lot of the downtrodden Demons would find themselves 'redeemed' after working here for a few more months or years.
"Well, if that's a possibility, we can talk to the King about it when he gets back, but for now, it sounds like things are getting pretty nasty outside. Hopefully, they send someone to give us an update soon. I can sense a fair bit of what is going on outside, and it looks a lot like the Witches of my world, with their magically stunted members using enchanted blades to fight.
Only a few of them are using powerful magic, the rest are using equipment with spells inscribed on it. That's something that I'm very good with, and if it comes down to it, I can likely do it much better than they can.
With my sort of magical gear, it wouldn't matter if you gave it to an angry bear, they could take out dozens of crusaders with relative ease." Wolfe joked.
"What's a bear?" Nimue asked.
"A beast from my world. I guess they don't have them here, but they're about two metres tall, extremely thick and furry with huge paws, round ears and a short muzzle." Wolfe explained.
"Oh, like Jethro from the caravan." She realized.
"No, they walk on four feet, and they're not quite intelligent enough to be working as caravan guards. Though I have met a few people who were hairy enough to count." Wolfe corrected her.
Dana giggled at Wolfe's correction. "I think that Jethro is a Werebear. Nimue, does he transform into something like that, and look like a rather hairy demon the rest of the time?"
Nimue gave her thumbs up. "Yeah, like that. But he spends most of his time as the animal and only changes back to work."
The other demons chuckled at the thought of a Werebear that spent all his time in bear form, to the point that the others thought he was a bear with the ability to turn human and not the other way around. Some lycanthropes were known to spend most of their time in animal form, but the ones that came to the Demon Realms were rarely like that, in case they got accidentally hunted by the locals for food.
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