Assuming the tent they had spawned was their quarters until the battle began, the party of twelve made their way back. On the way there, they crossed many other platoons in a myriad of different moods.
But all across the camp, one sentiment seemed to echo through everyone. One of finality.
The entire war camp was settled upon a small hill, yet not a single tent went up the hill, all of them on the flat land behind. And Astaroth couldn't spot a single lookout up on the hill, either.
But when he extended his senses, he couldn't feel any demons.
"How far are we from the demon troops?" he asked, to a passing soldier.
The human soldier looked at him, a bit confused at the question.
"Uh… A mile out, over that hill. I'm sorry I'm busy right now. So I can't talk."
Astaroth nodded his head at him, thanking him, and turned to face the hill. He could see lookouts going around the camp, at the edge of it, right before the hill, but none on top of it.
This made him very curious, and he trailed away from his companions, walking toward the patrolling soldiers.
When they saw him approach, two of them lay their hands on their weapons and stopped in front of him.
"Get back, soldier. The hill is off limits," one of them said.
Astaroth stopped right in front of them.
"Why is that? I want to see what we are going up against. Can't I just have a peek?"
The other soldier laughed nervously.
"Listen, pointy ears. If you want to die, be my guest. But we warned you."
Astaroth frowned at his words. If the enemy was a mile out, how would they possibly kill him for just peeking over the hilltop?
He scoffed and walked right by the guards, who watched him go while shaking their heads.
"Call the cleanup team. We'll have another body on the hill in a bit…" he heard one soldier say to his buddy.
'Keep talking, guys. You are only making me more curious,' he thought to himself.
The hill wasn't a tall one, by any measure, and he was up its flank in less than a minute.
He crested it with just his head, crawling forward, and couldn't see them much. So he got to his feet and stood proudly on the top.
Instantly, his senses alerted him to danger. A shiver ran up his spine, and he felt something coming at him incredibly fast.
He couldn't see it yet, and already his body reacted.
The Ad Astra was out in a flash, in longsword form, and he swung it upward.
A loud clang echoed down into the camp, as Astaroth intercepted an arrow with the length of his body, with the blade of his weapon. The arrow came in with a lot of force, and he felt his feet slide back a few inches before he gripped his sword with two hands and shoved the force upward.
But his spine kept tingling.
He quickly understood why, as a rain of more of these arrows came at him, all with equal speed and power.
Astaroth knew he couldn't deflect them all. Instead, he pulled out his Ironbark Shield, making the Ad Astra disappear, and shrunk behind the shield's rounded triangular body.
He barely had enough time to crouch, that already the first arrows were impacting the metallic bark of his shield. Even though he had braced behind his shield, his position didn't allow for maximum resistance, and after the fifth arrow hit the shield, he felt his body lift from the ground.
The arrows that didn't hit him flew well above the camp, disappearing into the distance, while the ones that did ricocheted to the ground near him. As for Astaroth?
He flew off into the air, the ground no longer holding him in place, as many more arrows slammed into his shield until his body lowered under the hill's height. He crashed into the camp, a few hundred feet away from the edge of it, unable to control his flight.
His ears rang from all the metal-on-metal clanking he had just been subjected to, and he couldn't react in time. After rolling a few times, he came to a stop, his ears ringing like crazy.
He saw the surrounding soldiers encircle him, some with weapons drawn, others looking at him with worried faces.
Phoenix pierced through the crowd, reaching his side, and hers was the first voice he heard through the ringing.
"-re yo- a-ight?!"
"WHAT?!" he shouted back, unaware he was screaming.
"I sa-d ar- you al-ight?!" she repeated.
Astaroth shook his head, trying to get rid of the incessant ringing in his ears.
"I'M SORRY! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" he shouted back.
It took him a few moments, during which the soldiers amassing around him scattered once more, seeing he was fine, and wasn't a threat, before he could hear enough of Phoenix's words for them to make sense.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?! The guards said you climbed the hill after they warned you you could die! What the hell happened?!" she howled at him, anger mingling with worry on her face.
"I'm sorry. I was curious as to what we were going to face. How could I have guessed they would shoot at me with arrows that could take down a dragon?" he replied, still rubbing his ears.
Phoenix lightly punched his shoulder.
"You idiot! Stop taking unnecessary risks," she admonished.
Astaroth looked at her with a grin.
"Oh, but it wasn't unnecessary. I saw what I wanted to see. The battle will be exhilarating!" he responded.
Phoenix felt an incredible urge to smack his pretty little face hard enough to wipe the grin off of it. But she held back.
It wouldn't look good if the soldiers still watching them saw her striking him.
"You imbecile. Come on, let's get to the tent. The others are waiting there," she said, helping him up by the arm.
Astaroth looked at his shield, which was lying a few feet away from him. It was dented all over, with many scratches covering its surface, with small dents accompanying them.
'Good thing that shield is extremely durable…' he thought to himself.
But when he inspected it, he gulped.
*Ironbark Shield (Heater Shield)*
Grade: Elite
Defense Power: 20%
Durability: 50/500
**
…
'That was too close… I'll have to get it fixed…'
He also noticed he had lost about half his large health pool, even with all his defences. He suddenly agreed with Phoenix that it had been a stupid thing to do.
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