I raised my sword in the air and declared "With my body and soul, I will win this battle."
"We'll see about that," the demon said with a smirk.
I lunged at the demon before me, but another one struck from the side, kicking me hard and sending me flying straight into a third. That one didn't hesitate. Its fist crashed into me, slamming me into the ground.
"Damn it, there are too many of them," I muttered, pushing myself up and wiping the blood from my mouth.
Then I spotted a narrow path, one that the demons hadn't blocked. I grabbed a rock from the ground. The creatures were fixated on me, every eye locked on my movements. Perfect.
I hurled the rock to the side. Their heads snapped toward the sound, and in that moment, I bolted.
I dashed through the gap, spotting a tall tree ahead. Without thinking, I climbed it and settled on a thick branch, hiding beneath the cover of leaves.
"WHERE IS HE?!" one of the demons roared. "STOP YELLING AND FIND HIM!" another bellowed.
I need to find a way to kill them all — all I know right now is that they're all the same, which also means they all think alike.
That means if I fought one-on-one, I could find their weakness.... No, screw that. I couldn't even defend myself against the last one. How the hell am I supposed to do it now with a broken leg?
I guess I'll just watch them for now… I'll see if I can figure something out.
After a while of observation, I came to the conclusion that, these demons are idiots, one of them were checking under the fucking leaves, trying to find me.
Yet even though they were stupid, they were powerful, one of them literally transformed into a small monster just to find me.
And this is where my plan comes into play. Like I said before, one of them transformed into a small monster. All I have to do is trap that demon and take his place. They're so stupid, they'll actually believe it.
I climbed down from the tree carefully, making sure not to make a sound. I watched every step, avoiding sticks and dry leaves, one crack could alert the demon, just like in the movies.
"Where is that human?" the demon growled, frustration lacing his voice as he scanned the area.
"Behind you," I said quietly, gripping the rock in my hand.
"Hah, there you ar— what are you doing with that rock?" he said.
With all my strength, I brought the rock down on him, once, twice, a third time. I kept smashing until the rock was slick with blood, and what was left of the demon's tiny skull splattered across the ground like spilled tomato soup.
"Few… one down, twenty-nine to go," I muttered, collapsing onto the ground.
Then six demons appeared. One said, "Hey, what's going on?" The other shouted, "Hey, it's that human! Get him!"
"WAIT!" I shouted, raising my hands in the air. "I'm one of you!"
"One of us?" one of them asked, confused.
"Yes," I said quickly. "I transformed myself into a human so I could think like him—so we could find him faster."
"Huh, that's actually smart," the demon said, impressed. "Then you stick with us."
"Ok," I said, a smirk tugging at my lips.
Then I started tagging along with them, laughing at their jokes and eating the food they shared. When one of them was alone, I snuck up behind and, with one swift motion, cut their head off. I kept doing that until I was the only one left.
"Now, twenty‑three left," I muttered, cleaning the blood off my sword.
Then I had an idea: what if I lure them all into one place and kill them? I'd totally forgotten I had a flash‑bang in my bag — blind them for a few seconds, then finish them.
"Man, I'm such a genius," I said, standing up from the tree trunk. "But how am I going to gather them together."
(…..)
"HEY, BITCHES! I'M HERE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I ran.
The only way to gather the prey is to become one yourself.
But still, its so embarrassing, running from disgusting demons, I'm glad no ones watching me, or I would have killed myself from shame.
Let's see… one, two, three… perfect. Twenty-three. Now, time to execute my plan.
I had the flashbang in my hand, and my goggles ready to cover my eyes. I turned around and threw it straight at the horde of demons.
BLAM!
"AHHHHHHHHH!" The demons' screams echoed through the forest as they dropped to their knees, clutching their eyes in agony.
This was my chance. I grabbed my sword and ran through them, each swing slicing a head clean off. Only one remained, I left it alive, its arms and legs gone, trembling on the ground.
I stepped beside the fallen demon, pressing my boot against its chest. "How do I get out of this forest?" I asked, my voice calm but heavy.
"I–if we knew," it stammered, coughing, "wouldn't we have left already?"
"Fair point," I muttered.
The demon's cracked lips twitched into a weak grin. "If you have any questions… ask o–our master."
I frowned. "Master? You disgusting things have a master?"
"Yes… we do," it rasped. "He's the one who knows everythi—"
The words died in its throat. Blood spilled from its mouth, warm and dark, before its head rolled to the side and its eyes went still.
"Well….. that was useless, this thing didn't even tell me where, its master was." I said, annoyed.
Then, I continued my journey through the forest, trying to find a way out of this cursed forest.