Seliah, drenched in sweat but alive, called out as she speared another demon. "Sir Damien! They're retreating!"
He looked up.
The demons were indeed breaking formation and scattering back toward the same place they'd arrived from.
Some limping. Some crawling.
A few dragging wounded limbs.
Haldric shouted, "DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE! WE CAN'T HAVE THEM REGROUP!"
Damien raised a hand sharply.
"NO!"
Everyone froze.
"If you chase them," Damien said, "the variants will lure you deeper. They want you in the area. They want a massacre."
The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances.
Haldric stared at him. "How do you know?"
"Because I've been fighting demons longer than a lot of people." Damien stepped forward, eyes sharp. "This wasn't a full attack. It was a probe. They wanted to test your defenses… and see if any strong fighters lived here."
Silence.
Only Fenrir and Luton made sound, the wolf chewing on a demon, and the slime devouring another corpse like a starving glutton.
