Chapter 21: 21- A Fiyavtic

Standing there feeling the rush of the adrenaline and looking at the bodies of the men on the ground, I lifted my hands and looked at them numbly. I was sure that if I wasn't under whatever it was that captain Dunn put me under, I would be panicking at that moment, barely able to stay standing.

"We don't have much time," Whispered captain Dunn with a serious expression, "we took them down fast enough and without much noise, but that doesn't mean that we are in the clear yet, the ones down can still send someone here or someone from outside can come to check how things are, we need to continue."

We all nodded and moved slowly towards the stairway, once we were there, Lambert opened the door quietly, making sure no creaking was made, then he peeked in and listened for a bit, while we waited for him to get back to us with the information about how things were down there.

"Two people at the bottom of the stairs keeping watch, they are on both sides of the door," He finally whispered as he closed the door behind him, "they seem to be arguing about something... Other than that, there is at least 1 other person..."

"Only three people?" Asked captain Dunn after he saw the confusion on Lambert's face.

"Yeah," answered Lambert slowly, "That's all I could feel, I thought there would be more..."

"Same, something isn't right there," Captain Dunn patted him on the shoulder before turning to Mrs Sam and me, "something seems to be off, be careful. Sam lead the way, deal with those two at the door silently."

She didn't reply, just smiled at him before having Lambert open the door for her and then heading down. The stairway was narrow, only enough for one person to walk through it comfortably at a time, two people could take it at once but there wouldn't be enough space for them to manoeuvre, which was quite dangerous for us. So with that in mind, we had Mrs Sam go first, behind her was Lambert who was still doing his job as a scout and making sure that nothing would go south, and then captain Dunn who would be of much more help than me, and finally, I stood at the back of the group, keeping watch in case someone came from above and also ready to join the fight below.

As we made our way slowly and silently, I studied the stairway we were walking through. As I said, the stairway was narrow, it was also low, captain Dunn, who was the tallest among us, had to lean forward a bit as he walked hunchbacked. It was also pretty dark and only lit by a few torches each couple of meters, which from the signs left on the walls were added just recently for better lighting. The stairway wasn't that long too, and we could see the door at its end, 

When we were around halfway through the stairway, we were finally able to hear what the two men guarding the door were saying:

"... just saying that it's probably nothing, we would have all heard it if something happened above us, not just you," The first man said lazily in a sleepy voice.

"And I'm telling you I really heard something, it sounded like the sound of something breaking," The second one grumbled as if frustrated with how careless his friend was being.

"Listen, man, even if what you heard was real, it could have been just the guys upstairs dropping something, the bastards must have been drinking," It was quite clear then that the first person didn't care at all and only wanted to rest.

"You are really!" Sighed the second man.

By that point, we were standing a few steps away from the door. Mrs Sam turned back and gave captain Dunn a questioning look, he seemed to be in deep thoughts for a bit before giving her his approval for whatever she meant to do. Mrs Sam then gestured for us to prepare ourselves before manifesting two of her needles and hitting them against each other. The force was just strong enough to make a sound, but also not too strong to be heard clearly from afar.

Ding!

"There!" Said the second man as soon as the two needles collided, "did you hear that? I'm sure this time, there certainly was a sound."

"Come on man, you are too paranoid, I didn't hear anything," The first man started to sound annoyed, "if you're this worried why don't you go see for yourself then?"

"That's just what I was going to do," Grumbled the first man.

With that, we heard the sound of someone getting up, and after the sound of slow footsteps making their way to the door. I could see Mrs Sam prepare the needle in her right hand as the footsteps stood right in front of the door. 

Click!

The sound of the door being unlocked echoed inside the empty stairway, making me tense up along with everyone else inside. Nothing happened for a few seconds after the door was unlocked, as if the person behind it was afraid of what was awaiting him on the other side. 

Creak! 

The door was finally pushed open a bit, and yet none of us moved, just Mrs Sam leaned forward a bit. Even though the door had opened up for a sliver, no one went through it or even just peeked inside, it seemed that the man still had some reservations about going up the stairs, actually, he didn't even dare look to see what was behind the door. 

'It seems that what's pushing this man isn't some kind of superb work ethic, he's just a coward...' My thoughts wandered for a bit as we waited.

Finally, there was movement from behind the half-opened door, and slowly, a head entered our line of sight. As soon as the top half of his head appeared, Mrs Sam waved her hand and threw her needle at him, and I saw how he froze as soon as it hit him. With him frozen, Mrs Sam moved quickly and quietly toward the door, and in one swift movement, she crouched down and peeked inside, scanning the basement. A few seconds after that, and most likely after making sure that no one was close by, she peeked from behind the frozen man to where the other voice was coming from and threw another needle there.

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As soon as she did that, Lambert caught the first man and dragged him inside the stairway, before covering his mouth and removing the needle from his head. That made it so the man could move again, but Lambert was holding him and covering his mouth, and he soon started strangling him. What he did also meant that the second man that Mrs Sam hit with the needle got frozen entirely.

While Lambert was still holding the man, captain Dunn passed him and went to stand next to his wife. Once he was there he too looked inside the basement, in search of the third person there, but it seems that he didn't see anything.

"The third person is in that side room there," whispered Lambert once he dealt with the first man.

"Still can only feel three?" Asked captain Dunn.

"Yes."

"Okay... We will deal with him after dealing with this one," said captain Dunn as he moved to the second man, who I noticed;  after getting into the room, to be frozen on his desk with a tired and sleepy expression on his face, but with panicked and wide eyes.

Before captain Dunn could make it to the man, Lambert who was standing to the side, shouted quietly:

"He's coming," we all knew who it was that he meant, and we all turned to the side room where Lambert said the third man was, just to see that it wasn't just some man.

What I saw waiting for me when I turned my head was the charging form of a big humanoid heading towards captain Dunn, he was cloaked and was holding a greatsword on his hands, which he brandished on his target. Captain Dunn was already prepared for him from Lambert's warning, so he lifted his hand and his golden sword manifested in it, blocking the attack, but even with that, he still took half a step back.

Even though I felt that I shouldn't have been able to recognise what was in front of me just from what I saw, for some weird reason I did. I don't know if it was the way the assailant moved or something else, but I recognised them for what they were immediately.

"It's a fiyavtic, the demons sent a guard with the kalla," I shouted what I realized in shock.

Fiyavtics were the same specie of demons as Deraan, Zagmuz's bodyguard and the man I punched when I lost control over myself earlier that day. They were some of the most common demons and also some of the strongest physically, they also had strong regenerative abilities and stamina.

Lambert and Mrs Sam reacted strongly to what I said, especially Lambert who took a step back. Captain Dunn though didn't show any reaction, he just pushed forward and swung his sword at the fiyavtic, who brought his greatsword back and met his hit.

"Lambert, shoot whenever you get the chance, Dorian deal with the remaining man so you can free up Sam," Captain Dunn shouted as he pushed the demon back. Weirdly enough, his golden sword shone brighter than ever as he relayed his orders.

There was no hesitation or confusion as we all moved together as if compelled by something to follow his orders. Before even realizing it, I was already moving to the human who was still frozen in his seat, while Lambert grabbed his bow and started aiming at the fiyavtic. Mrs Sam on the other side, just watched intensely with three needles on each hand and with an expressionless face. As soon as I made it to the frozen man, I got behind him and started choking him while keeping an eye on the fight in front of me. 

It didn't take long before Lambert spied a chance. The demon didn't want to stay on the receiving end of captain Dunn's attack without retaliation, so when he reflected his next attack he used a huge amount of force, staggering captain Dunn and making an opening for an attack, something the demon wasn't going to miss. He brought back his greatsword with his arms bulging from the stress he was putting them under with such a mad manoeuvre. It was this moment that Lambert took advantage of as he left his arrow fly.

The arrow flew to the demon's face, straight to his eyes, it was a precise shoot, but instead of feeling any sense of happiness, I only felt distress, and as expected nothing much came from the arrow.

The demon only moved his head to the side once he noticed the arrow, getting his eyes away from the arrow's path, and letting it hit the side of his head. Lambert's eyes flashed with confusion but that soon changed to shock. The arrow that hit the demon's side didn't do any damage, it only went for a few inches before stopping.

"His skull is thick," I shouted as I explained what I knew from Zagmuz's memories, "your arrows won't do a thing to it, aim for the knees, stomach or the neck if possible."

Lambert didn't react to my words, he just pulled another arrow and started aiming, but I knew that he heard me. On captain Dunn's side, even though the arrow didn't hurt the demon, the impact from it still pushed his head back and the shock allowed captain Dunn to avoid, while also giving Mrs Sam her opportunity. She waved both her hands and sent her needles flying like lightning to the demon's left arm. The needles were fast and the demon had no time to avoid them with how distracted he was, so both of them hit. Unfortunately though, he didn't freeze, not even his left arm did.

Under the calm state I was in because of captain Dunn's buff and how I, as Denethor, was still trying my best to keep my emotions calm from the side, my mind kept on moving as I tried to come up with any way to help them with, but that soon stopped as I felt movement from the man I was choking. Looking at him, I noticed that the needle on his head had disappeared, most probably called back by Mrs Sam when she saw that her needles didn't have the expected effect on the demon.

I didn't panic as I knew that the man didn't have much time left for him, his struggle was his last as I just kept away from his arms and strengthened my hold on his neck. Soon his struggle stopped gradually and I kept my hold for a few more seconds before finally releasing him.

Then I returned my attention to the fight that was still ongoing, and tried to understand what had changed in the short time that I was occupied. I noticed that after Mrs Sam recalled her needle from the man I was choking, and with a new needle on him, the demon's left arm was hanging limply on his side, his movements were sluggish and not as energetic as they were before. it seemed that even a fiyavtic couldn't ignore Mrs Sam's needles when she had them as her only target. But even with that, that really just showed how strong some demons were, Mrs Sam's needles, which slowed down 5 people before, were only strong enough to make one demon lose one hand and slow down a bit.

At that moment, the fiyavtic was holding his two-handed greatsword with only his right hand, and he also had an arrow sticking out from his stomach, while the arrow on his forehead was long gone; most likely removed by the demon himself, not leaving even a scar behind. He also had a cut on his side and right leg, but those seemed to be healing already.

I looked around me, searching for something that would help me in the coming fight, and I saw a crossbow on the table next to the stairway's door, the man also had a sword, but I had no interest in getting anywhere close to that fiyavtic.

Grabbing the crossbow, I turned to the fight and prepared myself for this final confrontation.