The closest demon was the first to attack.
It lunged at them with its jaws open, ready to tear them apart in a single bite.
But James dodged the bite by a hair and, in the same motion, drove his sword through its side.
His sword tore through the demon without the slightest resistance, and it dropped into the mud, split in two.
But as if that had been a signal, the rest of the pack lunged at them all at once.
"Watch out!" Rosalía shouted.
Three demons leapt straight at James, two at his sides and one head-on.
He blocked the first with his sword and kicked the second, sending it crashing into the third.
But the moment both got back up, they tried to lunge at him again.
"James, duck!" Faust shouted from behind him.
He didn’t hesitate and dropped to his knees.
And an instant later, a blast of fire flew over his head, slamming full force into the three demons surrounding him, wrapping them in flames.
The creatures shrieked and staggered back, rolling in the mud to put out the fire.
"Thanks!" James said, getting to his feet.
"Don’t get distracted," Faust replied, already forming her next spell between her hands.
Then stone spikes erupted from the ground, skewering several demons that had gotten too close to them.
But that wasn’t enough, since there were too many.
For every demon that fell, two more seemed to appear, and little by little the circle began closing in around the three of them.
"There’s too many!" Rosalía exclaimed. "James, hold on a moment!"
She clasped her hands over her catalyst and a golden light began surrounding her.
"Warrior’s Blessing!"
The light shot out toward him and sank into his body, spreading through him completely within seconds.
Suddenly his entire body felt lighter and faster than before.
"Oh... I like this," James said, flexing his fingers around the hilt.
"Then use it!" Rosalía replied. "It’s not going to last forever!"
He didn’t need to be told twice.
James tightened his grip on the sword and charged straight into the pack.
Now he moved twice as fast, and every slash of his sword split one of the beasts as if it were made of paper.
He cut one clean in half in midair, tore open another’s back with a single blow, and beheaded a third before it could even touch him.
The demons tried to surround him, but every time one lunged at his back, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck it down on the spot.
"I’ve got your back!" Rosalía shouted, hand raised, still crackling with electricity. "You handle the ones in front!"
"Got it!"
Between the three of them, the balance of the fight began to shift.
James carved a path forward, cutting down everything in his way.
Rosalía kept him strong while covering his back with her lightning.
Faust swept the creatures aside from the flanks with her spells, not letting a single one get too close.
Little by little, the number of demons dwindled until the remaining ones stopped attacking and began retreating.
Something in them seemed to understand the fight was already lost.
Then, one by one, they turned and fled, disappearing into the trees along the road as fast as their legs would carry them.
"...That’s it?" James asked, panting.
"Looks like it," Rosalía replied, letting go of her catalyst.
Faust, however, didn’t lower her guard.
"We should leave here as soon as possible," she said, scanning the tree line. "The ones that fled could come back... and if they do, they won’t come alone."
"Good thinking," James replied, letting the sword dissolve in his hand. "Let’s grab what we can from the cart and get out of here."
"I’ll help you," Rosalía said.
Both of them approached the wreck of the vehicle, still lying on its side in the middle of the road, and began searching through it to salvage anything useful.
Supplies, a couple of blankets, some money, and anything of value that could fit in their bags.
"At least most of the food survived," Rosalía said, spotting a half-full sack of dried meat.
"I wish I could say the same about the water..." James muttered, picking up the only canteen that had come out intact.
When they finally finished gathering the essentials, loaded up with as much as they could reasonably carry, they climbed out of the cart and made their way back to where they’d left Faust.
The elf was crouched beside one of the corpses, and with a small knife in hand, was cutting the horns off one of the demons.
Beside her she already had a small pile of them, carefully stacked.
"...Uh, Faust," James said, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Gathering proof," she replied without looking up. "It would be a complete waste to leave all of this lying around here."
She pulled off the last horn and set it beside the rest of the pile.
James watched the scene for a few seconds, until a small laugh escaped him.
"You and Rosalía are going to get along just fine," he teased. "You both think about money first."
"That’s not a flaw," they both replied almost at the same time.
They looked at each other for a second, a little surprised by the coincidence, and then looked away, somewhat awkward.
James smiled to himself, but decided not to comment on it.
When Faust finally finished, she gathered the horns and put them into a cloth bag.
"There, now we can go," the elf said, getting to her feet.
"Onward then," Rosalía replied, slinging her bag over her shoulder and looking down the road. "Crystal Lake shouldn’t be too far off."
She pointed toward the path disappearing among the trees, heading north.
"If we hurry and don’t waste time, we should get there before nightfall."
Without saying anything more, James and Faust nodded and set off after her.