87. Ethan moves on the heroines

The forests were covered with a thick mist of magic, and unlike everyone else, Ethan was perfectly able to see through the demonic magic. The demon's magic permeated the place, and it was rather fascinating to watch the three heroines walk carefully. But he couldn't reveal that, so he too pretended to move carefully and slowly.

So, he had to feign surprise when they stumbled on a skeleton he saw hiding on the floor.

"Undead!" Wynn shouted, as the undead skeleton popped out of a hole in the ground. Hannah immediately rushed in to smash them to bits.

But they were undead, and they quickly began to regenerate. Nysta immediately used her ability on Hannah, and the tank's heavy shield glowed with holy light. "Blessing!"

There was only one of them, and this time, Hannah crushed it easily and it stayed dead.

"Are you sure this direction is good?" Hannah asked, still not too happy with how Wynn got Ethan on her side. "Why don't you go with my idea, Ethan?"

Ethan decided to tease her. "Sorry, old lady. I'm the new guy. I'll listen to the lady that calls me nicely."

That made Hannah angry. "You just joined the party and you're already pissing me off!"

"Eh. It's a party to fight demons, not a party to be nice to each other." Ethan said. Suspicion among party members was good for him, and he saw Wynn nod at his words.

Wynn nodded. "Let's keep moving. It's not here. The density of the demon's magic isn't strong. Let's keep going."

Ethan thought about it and decided it may be a good idea to set some traps for these girls. Edmund, as the demon lord, could move incredibly quickly and teleport from place to place, and so, that gave them an advantage against these heroines. So, Edmund, in a form of a magical bat, flew and soon found a few good spots along the path. Then, Edmund deployed his own demonic servants to plant some traps for the group of four. Traps that would put Ethan in a great position.

***

"I have the feeling we're getting close to something." Wynn said. There was a location closer to them that had a higher than expected demonic magic density. Here in the forests, the fog made it hard to see, and they were constantly attacked by skeletons and all. After a few hours of fighting, they were getting quite exhausted.

"Okay, but should we still go ahead?" Nysta said. She used quite a bit of her holy energy fighting multiple skeletons that day, and looked like she could use some rest.

So, it was around that time that they found an old abandoned hut with surprisingly sturdy walls. The space was long abandoned, though the structure still remained. The entire area still had demonic energy, but it was fairly faint.

Wynn, Nysta and Hannah glanced at each other. It was Wynn who suggested. "This place, I think we can rest here. Hannah, Nysta?"

Hannah, who did a lot of the shieldbashing during the day, nodded. "Yeah. I think let's rest. We can set up some protective items and stand guard?"

Ethan nodded. "Alright. I have my own tent and sleep outside in the perimeter. You girls can use the house if you want. Do you want me to set up a fire and cook up some food?"

The girls agreed, and Ethan merely smiled. He pulled out a magical storage pouch, and set up a small fire, and began to cook. The girls went into the old home, and quickly repurposed into a temporary rest area for the day. They set up their bed, and Wynn set up some protective formations around the perimeter.

Unfortunately for them, their foes were from within.

"You're cooking skewers?" Nysta said, as she walked out of the house. Ethan had already set up an area with some coal and started to cook skewers. "Would we attract the undead by doing this?"

"Possible." Ethan said. He also began to boil a small kettle of water. "But I'm not fighting hungry. Anyway, you girls can cook your own food, aye."

Ethan picked up one of the skewers, at began to eat in front of them. The three heroines were in fact, hungry. The use of magical powers drained on their stamina. Hannah stared at the skewers, and felt her stomach growl. She was the most physical of the three, so she had the most to refill. "I- uh- can I have one of your skewers? I'll let you have one of my food once it's done. I'm really hungry."

Ethan looked at the tank and frowned. "If you promise to talk to me nicely, I'll let you have skewers. I didn't enjoy being talked down to."

Hannah's stomach growled, but now her mind had to balance her pride and her hunger. Her hunger won. "-fine, I'll talk nicely." She took out her own food, and placed them on the fire to cook, but it'll be a while before it's done. The other girls did the same, but all of them eyed Ethan's food. Wynn, naturally, also asked.

"Ethan, would you mind sharing one of your skewers as well?"

Ethan handed one over without question. This made Hannah feel a sense of injustice. "How come she just-"

"She talks to me nicely, Hannah." Ethan said. "We're party members, but you don't have to be rude." Ethan turned towards the nun. "You want one, Nysta?" Ethan offered one of the skewers the nun, and the nun nodded.

All three of them dug in and ate the skewers. It tasted fantastic, but it contained a tiny sliver of aphrodisiacs that would accumulate in their body. Their desires would go wild once enough of it was in their body.

"So, how long have you all traveled with the hero?" Ethan decided to talk over food. They were probably in a slightly better mood now that they had some food. Wynn, naturally talked about how they met. Hannah explained how they were childhood friends, and Nysta spoke about how she received divine guidance.

Since it was the first night the four spent together, Ethan did nothing. He stood in guard, and slept alone. But the three girls who received a mild dose of aphrodisiacs had pleasant, slightly dirty dreams when they took turns to sleep that night.

***

The next day, they continued their exploration, and this time they approached an area along a small river. There were many, many more undead here, and so, the four fought them off. This time though, there were a larger of variety of undeads, and some of them were significantly larger and stronger.

"They really don't go down without magic." Hannah frowned, a little frustrated that she constantly needed Nysta's blessing to be useful.  Ethan was aware that there were some kind of holy equipment that would offset this requirement, but he wasn't going to mention it.

"It means we are close." Wynn said, as a magical blast exploded and vaporised a few more undeads.

Then, Ethan felt the presence of a strong demonic presence. A heavy undead knight watched them fight from far away. It must've been one of the Demon Lord's assistants, and it seemed ready to attack. The party didn't know the undead knight was there, because their visions were limited by the demonic mist.

He waited, and pretended not to notice. He wanted to see what would happen next.

The party continued to fight off the undead wave, and they were winning.

Then, the knight suddenly charged ahead, moving with such speed that Ethan struggled to understand. It was suddenly next to Nysta, and it's undead sword immediately attempted to pierce her chest. Nysta, out of sheer instinct, managed to create a barrier of holy energy to protect her, but the sword still found itself through her stomach.

She screamed in pain, as the undead sword attempted to spread demonic energy through her body.

The undead knight was temporarily without weapons, but Wynn immediately fired a powerful bolt of ice and slammed into the undead. Ethan too, then rushed in and used some of his limited dark healing magic to attack the undead.

Nysta's face turned pale, as she tried to pull out the blade in her stomach. She tried using holy magic.

Hannah turned. "Nysta! Wynn, I'll hold it in place and you blast him!" Hannah rushed and used one of her abilities to slam into the undead knight. That caused the undead knight to recoil from shock, and took a direct hit from Wynn.

Wynn's iceblast destroyed the undead knight, and with it, the rest of the undead fled.

Ethan ran to Nysta, and unaffected by the demonic energies of the undead sword, could easily yank it out. But before he did, he waited for a second and pretended to endure the effects of the demonic energy. Instead, what he did was he mixed a bit of a low level demonic curse into the sword, and that demonic curse immediately spread into the wound.

Nysta squirmed, trying her best to fight the demonic energies.

"I'll pull the sword out." Ethan said.

Nysta weakly nodded.

The sword was out.But there was a large piercing wound through her stomach, and likely through her liver as well. Nysta looked absolutely pale and weak, as she scrambled the rest of her healing energies.

Hannah said. "Wait. Don't use potions. It might make the demonic energies worse. What kind of demonic weapon was that?"

Nysta tried her best to use her own healing powers on herself, but she remained weak. Ethan looked at the injured nun and lied. "Nysta, I will use my own type of healing energies, but it will feel different. My form of healing is a type of [Ritual Healing]. Is that alright? You must bear with me."

Nysta nodded, as Ethan called on his [Dark Healer] abilities. The blood was drained out, but unlike regular healing, Dark Healers were always a trade. The wound would be healed, but there are certain consequences for a period of time.

"Alright, I'll start." Ethan's hand glowed a faint grey color. The injuries and bad blood were drained out, and the wound began to close. Both Wynn and Hannah looked fairly surprised. Once it was mostly healed, there were still a dark blob around where the wound once was. "This black stain will remain for a week as a consequence of this ritual healing."

The nun still looked fairly pale, but pulled a straight face. "I- I'll be alright. I just need some rest."

But the demonic energies continued to swirl within Nysta. Her holy energies battled the darkness that now throbbed in her belly. Ethan looked at the party, and back at Nysta. "I'll carry you."

No one was in the position to reject.

The four returned to the old abandoned hut. "Alright, should we continue scouting? Nysta probably needs some intensive care, but Aman's expecting us to find something." Hannah said.

Nysta shook her head. "No. You three can go, I'll be fine alone here."

"No way. This place is not that safe, and you are in no state to be by yourself. I'll stay to look after her." Ethan said. "Why not you two continue. I'm the only one that can help Nysta if she's in trouble. Once you are done exploring for the rest of the day we can meet here and make the journey back to Northengard."

Hannah and Wynn looked at each other, and reluctantly, they knew he was right.

And so, the two heroines left their healer alone with Ethan.