Kamir's plan had failed mostly because Agri had spotted the 10 unarmed elites too soon.
If they were 5 or 10 meters away when they were spotted, then they could have fought, killed some unprepared demons, distracting a large part of Adam's force in the process, and held Adam back long enough for the smaller armored group to rush forward and turn off the barrier. Allowing the smaller, albeit stronger, force to cut through.
Alas…
During the fight against the elites, Agri, along side many of the other peak-tier demons, were injured. They were covered in blood and dirt, with many even having bone and organs visible.
Their wounds an honor to their loyalty and Adam vowed to reward their valor.
Blair's left arm was limping to the side as if there were no longer any bones in it, and a long gruesome opening at her rib cage exposed her inner organs.
The scythe demon lost 3 arms, cut off at different points, while its remaining 3 scythe-arms were chipped at varying degrees. The two flame demons were slightly better off, only having cuts, broken bones, and bruised bodies.
Roh had slash wounds all over his muscular body, with his right arm only hanging by a bit of skin and flesh.
His fight against the last berserker demon had also proved crucial to their victory. His accolades in this small battle were great.
Yet, not as important as Agri, who had a deep cut on her shoulder blade, with multiple bones sliced clean, and another deep cut in her thigh; white bone easily visible on her wounds.
Adam's gaze, drifted towards the large group of imps that waited eagerly at the side. They were the real heroes in this situation, as they had pulled injured demons, like Agri, out of the battle field, saving them in the process.
The subtle understanding of their limits and how to aid in battle was something that still made Adam marvel. Fearless, intelligent, and cunning instinct; Adam was just on the receiving end, as well as benefiting from these kin of his.
Adam knelt down near the Agri's injured body, her every breath was laborious as she kept coughing out blood. Her body released steam that mixed with demonic miasma and mana as she healed.
A demon's physique was a nightmare for other races; their healing made them incredibly hard to kill even in their weakest realm…
Adam had long come to the realization that Agri had saved the nexus point with her keen eyes, alongside the stupidity of charging forward at the first instant.
Even Blair showed signs of annoyance, knowing that Agri had saved her life in a moment of need.
Adam gently stroked Agri's exhausted face, the black serration on her cheeks were gently traced. He had always found this part of hers especially captivating.
"Good job, my little demon." Adam said.
Agri, who initial had her eyes closed as she tried to recover, suddenly opened them once she realized her master was before her.
His touch stirred her awake.
"M-master, eukkk~" Agri tried talking, but her injuries acted up, causing her to choke up.
Adam put his finger on Agri's lip to prevent her from talking, his toned upper body leaned in as he whispered, "Recover fast, for I still have to reward you for your merit."
"Mmm," Agri hummed, the anticipation in her eyes made it seem as if she wasn't injured.
Pulling back from Agri, and ignore the burning envy on Blair's face, Adam felt like he should do something more.
They bled for him, so he had to help them recover as soon as possible.
Varies injuries entered his eyes as an experimental thought entered his mind.
He grabbed a random enemy berserker demon, and cut a large wound on them with a slice of his hand.
"Grughh~" The demon grunted in pain, but didn't make anymore noise after that.
Adam observed the long cut, the faint steam radiating off the demons injury proved the marvelous healing capabilities of hell's residents. The edges of the wound squirmed as if they were alive.
The onlookers were puzzled by their masters actions, not understanding why he was observing something that was otherwise common in hell.
Adam ignored their questioning gazes as he put his hand over the raw wound, pinching it close, before observing once again.
Again, the demon grunted from the sudden pain.
Ignoring the demons noises, he noticed that this time, the wiggling edges worked to latch onto each other, as if trying to forcibly close the gap. This signified that this pinching, or sewing, would speed up the healing process.
Yet, Adam wasn't done.
The next thing he did was pinch the open wound, but this time he also infused his mana.
"Graghhh!"
The pain brought about this was much more than the pinching from before; the berserker groaned and tried to move, the intense pain was like a scorching burn, but Adam's hold was a vice grip.
Like a flame welding metal, the surface of the wound quickly closed back together, causing a hint of satisfaction to finally show on Adam's face.
He now knew that he could use his mastery over demonic mana to forcibly mend the external wounds, and speed up the healing process slightly.
After all, Adam couldn't do much to the flesh on the inside.
The surrounding demons looked on astonished at their masters abilities.
Adam's mind lacked the limitations of most newborn devils; as Adam had been stuck in his own mind for the vast majority of his past life. He didn't have the limitation of past life's magical knowledge like most reborn devils.
Most realms had integrated and studied magical knowledge to a certain extent.
In his eyes, mana was omnipotent.
To a certain degree, he was right.
It was only the limitations of mind and creativity that often held one back; otherwise, who would think to use mana to weld an injury back together?
Of course, this technique would probably only work on fiends, as they had a tenacity that surpassed that of even mythical dragons and titans.
'Maybe one day when I'm more adept at controlling my mana, then internal injuries could also be fixed…' Adam thought before moving towards his injured subordinates.
He decided to help them by closing the external wounds first.
The process of expediting the healing process was painful, but none of the demons minded all too much.
Pain was something that one must learn to endure.
Adam moved through the injured as his thoughts drifted, letting the weight of his small break through in strength finally hit.
Adam sighed, not at all happy about breaking into the middle stage of the lesser devil realm, instead deciding that a reflection of his course of actions was needed, regardless of his anger or pride.
Such a blunder was more humiliating more than anything.
After Adam was done with the 'stitching' he went to bring the tied up berserkers into his dungeon that was still being built.
Initially just an excuse to test his magical influence on his demons, the dungeon could now serve a purpose; holding the 14 demons captive.
He only left orders to the 2 flame demons to overwatch the newly grown population of demons before bringing the limp demon bodies in the dungeon.
The injured nursed their wounds and devoured harvested souls in intoxication; the situation was reminiscent of solder smoking and drinking, covered in blood and ash, after a battle.
Flesh and skin stretched, pulled and morphed back into shape while releasing steam. Bones creaked and sank back into their bodies to put themselves back into place.
The pain was immense, but every demon had blissful or nonchalant expressions as they slowly healed.
Such 'mortal' injuries would take a couple of days to heal.
Once inside the dungeon, Adam ordered some workers to tie the berserkers up and remove their armor.
Soon, the demons muscular bodies hung from the ceiling by a vine rope on their arms. Though, the armor proved hard to remove.
Grunting imps worked to only partially remove some of the armor, mostly on their heads and limbs, but that was enough.
The vines had sharp natural thorns that dug deep into their muscles, drenching the floor below with blood.
The sound of blood dripping rang out steadily.
Seeing half of the dungeon filled with working demons, expanding the dungeon or tugging at the armor, while the other half was filled tied up prisoners, a new idea formed in Adams mind.
Initially, the underground 'prison' was going to be a place to experiment with his demonic mana with, to test of his influence on demons, but now he had a group of 14 mature demons that he obtained
Perfect to test on...
A sadistic grim formed on Adam's face as he observed his new toys to break.