014. Demon Lord

"Mwahaha, prepare to die! I the Demon Lord shall show no mercy. All that defy me shall be smote by my dark powers." [Demon Lord]

"No, save us, the dark Demon Lord is going to smite us! Will a brave hero come save us in time?" [Desperate villagers]

"Sigh, Come on oh great Demon Lord Beth its time to stop playing with the kids from the Inn and start out for the day." [Lance]

"Oh, what do we have here? A hero comes to stop the reign of terror of this Great Demon Lord? Well, it won't be that easy for I have a horde of minions that you will have to fight through first to stop me." [Beth the Demon Lord]

As she said that Beth pointed her hand forward then Luc and Jessica suddenly came out from behind the fence of the Inn. Luc had a pair of red paper horns on his head and Jessica had a fake devils tale made from a belt on. When they appeared they looked at Lance sheepishly for a moment then changed it to an evil grin.

"..." [Lance]

"Ahh, the Demon Lords minions have appeared, help us, great hero! giggle" [distraught and terrified villagers ie. kids having a blast]

"Ok, if that's how you want to play it, then let's do this. Oh, good villagers please step back and let me Vanquish these evil doers. This hero of the light will stop them in the name of justice... and because we should have left already." [Lance the hero of Light]

Lance took one step forward dropping the pack he was carrying, then after one more step, he took a large shield off his back strapping it to his left arm, while also sending his right arm through some straps at his waist that was attached to a smaller shield that he brought out.

The large shield was a kite shield that was half as tall as Lance was, its surface was completely smooth and unadorned and reflective like a mirror except for a spike right in the middle. The smaller shield on his right hand was a Buckler Shield that was also totally smooth and mirror-like with the exception of a spike that was the same size as the one on the larger shield.

Seeing this both Jessica and Luc grinned and took out their own weapons.

Jessica reached behind her and took a staff that was taller than herself from her back. It was a dark grey colour and looked like 3 tree roots that were braided together with a large tangled knot at the head where they all came together.

Luc took out a large blob of what looked like metallic clay from a pot he kept tied to his side. Without even looking at the blob he started to knead it and arrange it into shapes. within but a few moments he had created what looked like several double sided throwing knives and even a few wickedly shaped daggers.

For a few moments, all 3 of them just stood there looking at each other. Then all of a sudden Lance started to charge at Jessica and Luc, he crouched down keeping his whole body behind the large shield while charging.

Luc started to throw the knives at the ground in a way that made them stick up with one of the sharp sides up so that Lance would have to run on them. Jessica started to chant and 2 balls of red started to coalesce and spin around her head, after a moment the 2 balls then shot out and charged at Lance.

As Lance was charging he suddenly shot out his left leg and kicked the grass hard pushing him to the side and dodging the knives on the ground. Then he swung his right arm to the side of his head and blocked the red balls that Jessica had shot at him which seemed to have a mind of their own and were able to avoid his large shield.

Having dodged or blocked the attacks sent at him Lance was now upon the other 2. He first used his large shield and did a full body tackle on Luc sending him flying into the nearby fence, while also sending his right arms smaller shield right at Jessicas stomach knocking the breath out of her.

"Woo, yaa, go Hero of Light. Finnish them off, show the evil doers no mercy!" [kids watching from the sidelines]

"Cough, cough, we give, we give, you win this time hero of light." [defeated minion of the Demon Lord, a winded Jessica]

"Hmm, it appears you have defeated my minions, that means you have earned the right to face me in mortal combat! Prepare yourself for utter despair puny hero." [Demon Lord]

After saying her lines Beth walked over to where the daggers that Luc had made before but never had a chance to use had fallen and picked them up. One in each hand she then looked over at Lance and grinned.

Lance looked at her warily trying to decide how to attack. Before he could decide Beth took that choice away from him by jumping right at him. Lance quickly brought up his large shield to block her but Beth fast as lightning slid to his left and slammed into the back of his head with the hilt of one of the daggers. Lance seeing this coming did a quick front roll to dodge the blow.

The large shield in Lance's hand caused the roll to be awkward and slow him down from getting back up, seeing this Beth took full advantage of it and dashed to where his back would be after he got up. She then slashed down at his right temple with one of her daggers but Lance managed to get his small shield up in time to block it and even use the spike to stab her hand a little.

"I win. The Demon Lord is victorious once more! No hero shall ever end my reign of terror!" [A gloating Demon Lord]

"Wait how have you won? We are still in the middle of the fight... Oh." [A confused Hero of Light]

As Lance said this he noticed that he could feel a sharp pressure at the back of his neck. After looking at where Beth's other hand was he realised that it was pushing the other daggers point to the back of his neck.

"No, the Hero of Light was defeated, the Demon Lord has won! The world will come to an end now, woe is us. Giggle giggle. [a depressed and distraught villager]

"Ok, Beth you won, let's get Jessica to heal us and then can we finally head out?" [Defeated Hero of light]

"Fine, but you know the rules, whoever wins the spar doesn't have to carry any of the baggage for the day!' [a relaxed Demon Lord]

"Damn Lance, if it wasn't for the Reflect properties of your shields it would be so much easier for a caster like me to attack you." a slightly annoyed Jessica.

"Now now, you were doing great especially now that you have a spell you can remote control after you cast it, you just need to add 1 or 2 more balls to it and my small shield might not be able to block it anymore. And you Luc nice trick with the knives, when did you come up with that one?" [A smug Lance]

"Last night when I went out for a walk it just came to me, a sharp stone on the sidewalk that is, I had to get Jessica to heal my foot." Said Luc with a grimace.

"Ha, don't sound all high and mighty Lance I still beat you, and I didn't even use my normal weapon." Beth said with a smug smile.

"Whatever, you only win 2 out of 3 matches against me usually, and that was the second one in a row so I'm sure to get you next time. And WHAT THE HELL IS IN YOUR BAGS? Did you fill them with rocks or something?" [A profusely sweating Lance]

"Yep, as much gravel as I could find to fill in even the smallest spaces. hehe." [A beaming Beth]

"Ahh, why did you have to empty out the rocks, that was for umm muscle training, ya muscle training." [Beth]

"..."[Lance covered in sweat and now gravel dust]

"Hey, you two, stop bickering like a couple of grade school love birds and check this out, It looks like there is a Dragons Blood Tree over here." [A worried Luc]

"What a Dragons Blood Tree? Crap that's not good. What the hell is one of those things doing out here." [An unhappy Lance]

"Huh? What's a Dragons Blood Tree?" [A questioning Beth]

"How am I not surprised you don't know what a Dragons Blood Tree is? Ah, whatever. A Dragons Blood Tree is a tree that sometimes sprouts if a dragon has been injured and a drop of blood lands in a particularly fertile area. But the problem is that if the tree isn't found and destroyed and a monster finds it and eats some of its leaves they can get stronger. Even normal creatures can turn into monsters if they eat enough of the tree. Shure some Alchemists, Beast Tamers and other classes have uses for the tree, they even raise them on some farms but if you find one in the wild the Guild has a permanent bounty of 1 small silver for them." Jessica lectured Beth.

"Oh cool, where is the tree? I'm so glad we had to trek through the forest off the path to get to the next town. 1 Small silver get!" said Beth excitedly.

"Over there, it's that one." Pointed out Luc

When Beth looked at where Luc pointed she saw a tree that was about hip height, the bark was blue and on the branches were red/purple leaves that were shaped like long triangles.