The guns raged from the outposts while a horde of imps flew down from the sky. Few soldiers carried bows that delivered arrows imbued with heavy mana that exploded and could damage the enemy in an area.

Other soldiers were manning heavy machinery, like tanks and other armored vehicles, being protected by mage soldiers that deployed defensive solid mana shields to keep them safe.

A contingency of soldiers carrying shields and spears made a shield wall preparing to hold off the demons coming on foot.

The army had deployed metal barriers and barbed wire to create a sort of fortification, but it wasn't enough to hold the horde.

The enemy had imps flying and on foot, dretches and barbed devils. The last ones were two legged small creatures, the same size as imps and dretches, with sharp claws on their hands and feet. They had long thin tails and had faces similar to those of imps. Their bodies were covered is barbs and spikes that gave them their names.

The overall level of the soldiers there was really low. Most didn't go over level 10. The army had an intensive training for its regular soldiers. It also had elite squads that they trained heavily inside dungeons making them really strong, but those weren't those men. Those were neither. Those were young enlistees just out of training camp. They were given an easy task in the rearguard to guard the civilians. They weren't supposed to face combat in that scale.

Where did that army of demons come from? They shouldn't be able to pass through the containment zone without the army knowing.

Radio operators were quick to send word of the attack and ask for reinforcements from the front.

"Please be fast." Matthew overheard the radio operator say while he passed the communications tent in his way to the battle.

Seeing the horde of demons engaging in battle brought back the images of that day in hell for both Matthew and Faralynn.

"Not again…" Faralynn mumbled focusing on her breathing.

"You ok?" Matthew asked her holding her hand.

"I will be. You're the one I'm concerned about." She answered noticing how he himself was trembling.

"I know. But we can't let that happen to all those people in there." Matthew said pointing to the building serving as shelter for the civilians. "We can stop that from happening here." He added using those words to steel his own resolve.

"What's the plan?" Erin asked interrupting their moment.

"We'll just get in the way if we join the shield wall." Tina said analyzing the situation. "We stay behind. We shoot down any demon we can see." She said with no real plan.

"Faynn." Matthew called. "We're the most powerful ones around." He said after looking around measuring the soldier's strength with his Identify skill. "Stay close to Lynn and the others. Me and Ffyr will move about."

"Ok." Faynn didn't argue, it was her plan to satay close to Faralynn all along.

Vanessa thought about protesting Matthew's idea. She was going to say that I'd be best if he stayed with them as well. But then she remembered he was now level 35. Way above hers. She couldn't protect him. It's been a while since she couldn't protect him anymore.

Matthew darted to the shield wall at the entrance that was holding the demons out of camp. With Ffyr in his necklace, he approached the soldiers with his Healing Totem skill active healing them from all the small wounds they had.

An officer there who was coordinating the soldiers almost told Matthew to leave, but he soon noticed Matthew's skill and quickly changed his mind.

"Kid! Have you ever thought in a shield wall?" The officer asked.

"Once." Matthew said.

"Grab this." The officer said throwing him a military shield. "Go to the wall. Do what the others do."

Meanwhile, Faralynn and the others positioned themselves along some metal covers and were using their magic to down the imps that tried to approach flying.

Vanessa took a rifle from a dead soldier to have better weaponry for such a long distance fighting. Faralynn was using her bow imbued with holy mana. Mia and Tina were using magic missiles. Erin had her staff and was firing lightning bolts fused with holy mana.

Matthew lift the shield and took out his sword. He put the shield on the back of the person in front of him. He could feel the whole wall pushing backwards as the demons engaged the one in the front.

When a soldier on the wall got hurt or died, he was quickly pulled back by the soldier behind him who took their position. When the tides of the battle turned and there was a small time to rest, the officer gave the order for the ones in the front to move to the back giving the wall to fresh and rested soldiers.

Matthew was quick to understand how the wall worked. It didn't take long for him to assume the front roll.

Using his shield to cover himself and the man to his left, with just enough space for him to use his sword to stab the imps and dretches that approached the wall, Matthew saw himself back in hell. He was fighting side by side with the goblins again. He knew what would happen to the little girl who looked like Sarah if the wall fell there.

He wasn't going to let that happen.

Matthew's mere presence in the front of the wall was already a deciding factor in the battle. While the soldiers had to stab the demons multiple times to kill one, Matthew had only to stab once. It was enough for the demons to take a step back and reposition themselves.

Seeing how the engagement went to a halt, the officer gave the order to refresh the front line. Matthew ignored it.

"I'll stay. I'm good." He said to the soldier behind him when he tried to push Matthew to the back.

The soldier didn't argue. The less you stayed in the front, the less chances you had to get hurt.

The others hurried up to make the change in the wall as the demons sent another wave of fireballs that exploded on the shields.

Soldiers that flanked the position returned fire with their guns and arrows. A couple of grenades were thrown as the demons charged forward once more. The explosions hurting few of them.

Barbed devils threw themselves on the shields. Their thin spiked finding gaps in the wall here and there and hurting one or another soldier.

Matthew resumed his stabbing.

After a while, a cold shiver took Matthew's spine. His Sense Others skill made him feel a big source of mana coming. A powerful demon was on its way there.

"A big one is coming!" Matthew warned the others.

But it was too late. A huge fireball came flying from the demons horde back rank hitting the center of the wall with enough force to send several of the soldiers flying back. The ones closest to the explosion certainly dead.

Matthew, who was in the rightmost file of the wall was burned by the explosion, but his Healing Totem was quick to heal him from those wounds as well as the soldiers nearby him.

He looked to the distance where saw the one that threw the fireball.

It was an image everyone knew too well. A Baalor.

A humanoid creature with two large black bat wings. A body covered by blood red fur. A head in the shape of an ox with only one eye in the center of the head. Two huge steel horns. Sharp claws on the hands and feed. And an incredible big mouth shaped like a shark's.

The top of its head head a crown made entirely of fire. It held a huge sword that was on fire and a large round gold shield. It was wearing chain mail armor with black leather straps. It had hand guards and greaves made of gold. Its greaves left its feet bare for him to use its claws in combat.

Everyone knew what Balors were. They were a race of greater demons, rulers in the hells. They were used as tales to scare children. Their images were used to invoke fear in others. Every time a person talked about a demon, it was their image that they used to illustrate it.

They were also incredible powerful. Their strength was never really measured, since very few adventurers faced one and survived. But it was speculated they were well above level 40.

As the Balor walked forward, the horde of demons opened way for it to pass. The battle came to a halt as the greater demon stepped forward.

Matthew looked around, the soldiers were all stunned in fear. The wall wasn't remade. The officer was on his knees. The morale was gone. Nobody there had the resolve to fight anymore.

Matthew let his shield go and drew his gun and stepped forward taking out his eye patch. His eye shinned bright red.

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