Sardan could feel all the blood in his body run cold as ice as a nightmare made flesh let down onto the forest floor in front of him.

When rumor had reached the paladin of vanishing merchants and mysterious murders he didn’t think much of it. The church itself hadn’t even thought much of it when people started the stupid idea of the “Devil of the Forest”. The only reason he was sent out here was to placate the masses.

Sardan had been surprised that there actually was a devil at all, let alone one hiding in plain sight amongst the citizens of the city. That meant it had to be a rank two or three? At worst an evolved rank four?

His own naivety had practically dug his own grave.

A plague devil, a rank five infernal, had landed effortlessly in the undergrowth in front of the human. A wicked shadow cast over him and brought an accompanying chill of death.

In order for a rank five to have the skills required to go unnoticed in a city like that for as long as he did, it would have to have evolved at least twice maybe three times.

Evolved devils were exponentially more dangerous than natural borns of the same rank, even if the extra levels were from lower-tier evolutions.

“Hello, Human.” It spoke to sardan, actually spoke human words. Its voice was like broken glass, its mouth filled with razor blades.

“Have you come to apologize for shooting arrows at me?” The devil asked Sardan, its face twisting with a cruel and knowing grin. The paladin could feel his body screaming in defiance. His muscles were trembling with fear, his skin slick with sweat. Every instinct in his body told him to run. Until the system told him why.

Foreign magic overcome.

Fear Aura effect nullified.

Immunity Duration: 1 hour.

Suddenly, and without warning, Sardan felt the presence of his god again. The guiding light of divinity that he’d come to rely on. The peaceful serenity he associated with his life as a paladin. He wasn’t actually afraid, that was the skill manipulating him. If anything, an evolved rank 5 would be a difficult fight but Sardan actually had the levels for it even if he didn’t have the practice. He could do this. He would do this, didn’t really have a choice anymore.

With a deep breath, the human steadied his resolve and gripped his weapon tighter. Glancing upwards into the eyes of death he felt a grim certainty. Sardan knew better than to scream, a battle cry only alerted your opponent to our intent. Unless you could break their resolve or activate a skill, it was better to be unexpected. So he charged, silently.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thozronnath felt an air of confidence surround him as he felt his fear aura take hold of the paladin in front of him. Honestly, he’d mostly forgotten about the skill since it didn’t seem to affect anyone when he was shapeshifted, and the fact that it was buying him time now was an unexpected bonus.

He taunted the mortal for a few moments, trying to cement the fear in his heart before the skill shattered like glass and the paladin renewed his resolve.

“Fuck.” Thoz thought to himself as the human charged closer, mace drawn and shield at the ready.

At that moment he could think of no better way to signal the rest of his minions to move and assist, so the devil triggered his [Battlecry] skill. Letting loose a roar that shook branches from trees and frightened every bird for quite a distance, but successfully alerting the nearby sins.

Unfortunately, it had already been demonstrated that Zildoxoxi couldn’t be counted on to restrain the human, even with his natural adhesion. So as Sardan charged toward him, Thoz lept backward to buy himself space to operate. His naturally lithe form and large wings added a faint glide to the motion, but the paladin was deceptively quick. Thoz only had a few seconds at best.

He was quick to think on his feet though, and thanks to the [Fear Aura] had been reminded of his newer skills potential. So in order to keep control of the distance between them, Thoz inhaled deeply and unleashed his [Pestilent Breath], quickly filling the air between him and the paladin with a thick and acrid purple smoke. The haze clung to everything it touched and seemed to hold in the air without dissipating naturally. Thozronnath could not see through the cloud, but he heard his opponent retching and coughing from inside.

Though that did not last as long as Thoz might have hoped. It was unclear if the skill was a poison or if it was some kind of disease, but as a paladin Sardan was innately resilient to either possibility. The human recovered in a matter of moments, now more impeded by the fog than any damage it could do to him.

Those few moments were enough time for Thozronnath’s backup to arrive though, and with an echoing roar, Kaggant charged through a nearby tree. Both dissipating the acrid fog and sending a shower of splinters in one move.

There was no visible sign of Uzdaax, but the sudden chill in the air belied his presence all the same. Prisaela made her presence known as well by landing softly among the branches overhead, gladly keeping a distance from the paladin and obfuscating her exact location with relatively minor illusions.

With his minions at his side, and the fight now turned to his favor four versus one, Thoz was much more confident in facing his foe head-on.

“This forest will be your grave, at least for what’s left” The devil tried taunting. Honestly though? It was just horrible. He didn’t have practice at insults or being intimidating, and listening to himself like this even Thoz knew the other devils would have laughed. Sardan took it seriously though.

“If I die here today, then by my oath as a paladin you will join me in death foul beast” He shouted in response. Thozronnath was worried his eyes were going to roll out of his head at the sheer level of self-righteousness flowing through the human at that moment.

He didn’t get much longer to think on his feet though, as Kaggant whirled around with his weapon to bear on the Paladin. Even still, though Kaggant had the highest strength of any of the monsters, his was still less than the paladins.

The blade of his axe struck with a resounding clang, sparks showering from the human's shield, and yet despite the size difference Sardan did not cede an inch. Yet, holding his own was not all the paladin could do. Even while receiving blow after blow from Kaggant’s massive blade Sardan made sure to apply his own pressure with [Multiattack] and [Holy Weapon]. Each blow he struck against the would-be giant left a charred bruise, seared by divine light.

Kaggant was losing. Yes, the human and giant were trading blows, but the giant had no armor, wore no shield, his health was being depleted in every trade, and much faster than anything Sardan was suffering.

Kaggant needn't hold the front lines himself for much longer though, as from behind the enraged Troll swept a tide of creeping black hunger. Zildoxoxi, the sin of greed, spilled forward with what minor intelligence the ooze commanded and crashed upon their foe in hunger. The waves of slime narrowly avoid Kaggant’s own feet as to avoid restraining his efforts even slightly, yet devouring all else in their path to battle.

Where ooze and armor made contact, hisses of acidic corrosion accompanied clouds of black steam into the air. The metal itself rusted and was eaten away while the searing auras of the paladins [Steadying Presence] rebuked the monsters that assaulted him.

It was unclear if Zild and Kaggant would ever win their fight against the bastion of law if left to their own devices, for every blow they landed was bought with three injuries of their own. Thankfully, or perhaps in Sardan’s case regretfully, they were not on their own.

The two monsters fighting bravely, or rather proudly and hungrily, dominated the attention Sardan could afford to put forth in battle. Unable to focus on any other enemies, the human was made increasingly vulnerable.

Thus, the less battle-focused sins found their own chances to strike.

Uzdaax, particularly vulnerable to the divine radiance a paladin or cleric could wield, was frequently activating [Ethereal Realm] to avoid direct sunlight and stray divinity. When he did appear for a brief moment, he channeled one of his newest skills [Cold of the Grave] to directly assault the lifeforce of the man that would see his master slain.

The skill brought a chill to the air and caused crystals of frost to form along the leaves and branches of nearby trees. A cold that Sardan could feel in his bones. Hurting him, slowing him, whispering to rest, to sleep.

Meanwhile, since Prisaela had little available in the way of directly damaging skills she took to applying several more indirect ones. [Natural Illusionist] to confuse the enemy, [Charming Voice] to slow him even if the charm could not control him, and [Ambush] to strike with thrown stones from blind spots and hidden perches. All together assuring that Sardan was never afforded a single moment to rest.

This coordinated effort by the minions of sin gave their master plenty of time to step back and refocus himself on the battle at hand. [Sword of Sin] was summoned in a long jagged form, nearly a greatsword if not for the devilish forms' increased reach. The blade was barbed and looked damaged, the pits and scratches along the metal seeming to ooze with foul acids.

Strangely enough, with his sword attuned to Gluttony, Thoz almost felt like he could hear Zild talking to him through [Telepathy]. While that was indeed a similar sensation, it was not nearly as verbal this time, more intuition than words. With this understanding of his minion’s endless hunger to please ‘Father’ and a wicked desire of his own to make his enemies suffer, Thozronnath strode onto a battlefield in full devilish glory.