As the demon's body flew against one of the rocks in the walls of that area, with one of those snowmen already chasing it, Lothur began to act.
Of the eight snowmen protecting this area, one went after the demon, another three went after the fox, who was noticed because of Lothur's act, and the rest went after him.
These creatures paid no attention to the fact that the fox was of a higher level than the silver-haired young man they were attacking. As the one who showed hostility to this space, Lothur was their primary target, so more snowmen were searching for his head!
He did not worry about that, considering it was just part of the challenge of this place.
Lothur moved against the four snowmen attacking him while his Elemental Staff was in his hands.
When he got close enough to one of those creatures, Lothur turned his weapon against the creature's head, hitting it quite hard.
Pow!
Upon striking the red-eyed snowman's head, Lothur could see that his artifact could disintegrate these creatures, noting that these beings depended on elemental laws to function. However, due to the different strengths between him and these beings, he could inflict no more than a bit of damage on their bodies.
The place where the Elemental Staff touched that being melted a little, but only enough for that snowman's cheek to become a little deformed. It was not something that would finish that being's structure in a single blow.
'Oh?' Lothur was not discouraged and thought that as much as these creatures were stronger than he thought, probably peak 2nd stage cultivation, he had a way to act against them.
He could not defeat them in one attack. But he could slowly degrade the defenses of these beings!
'I will destroy their bodies and eventually defeat them!' He smiled and moved, evading the kick of one of those other three individuals attacking him while the other two threw ice rocks in his direction.
As Lothur tried his best to evade the enemy attacks and began to focus his attacks on the legs of one of them, the white fox was beginning to struggle.
It was doing very well before Lothur's arrival. Still, now with this change, it had no alternative but to protect itself against these beings of similar strength to its own. So it was naturally grumpy.
'Bastard!'
'You will pay me for this!'
Unlike Lothur, it did not have a way to destroy the bodies of this creature. It could only do its best to drive them away and perhaps find a chance to reach the pool area, where these snowmen could not enter.
Thus, it once again began to fight these snowmen, whom it had faced twice in the past.
Unfortunately, on those occasions, it had only faced two of these individuals at a time since it had always come to this place in a group with other beasts. But now it had to fight three of them alone, even though it had never won there when it had fought only two...
Pow!
One of the snowmen kicked toward its belly, trying to put an end to this beast's will.
But this creature was not so weak or dumb to wait for the enemy attack. It jumped back and used its tail to counterattack the enemy, causing it to retreat a few meters.
Its attack power was several times higher than Lothur's, so it could make 'life' much more difficult for these creatures trying to finish it off.
That was totally different for the demon facing one of these beings, this blue creature who did not even have the strength to defeat a human without cultivation...
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Its cries became a symphony to those fighting there, to the point that even the creature meditating in one of those blue pools opened its eyes, not understanding what was happening.
'A demon?' That beast, a yellow crocodile, narrowed its eyes at the sight of such a creature. 'Why is someone like that here?'
'There's also this human...' This level 16 beast looked at Lothur fighting four snowmen, ignoring the white fox it already knew well.
However, even though it was curious to know how these creatures had entered this shrine of local beasts, it soon returned to its meditation.
Even for a level 16 beast, it was not easy to get into this place and enjoy the benefits of these pools. Thus, no matter how much it wanted to do something about these beings, it would only leave its pool when it finished its cultivation!
None of those three individuals suffering at the hands of the snowmen noticed this yellow crocodile opening and closing its eyes. They just continued their cunning battles.
...
On the morning of the day after Lothur's first encounter with the demon, the reinforcements requested by Elke's group finally arrived in the mountainous area they were in.
After more than 15 hours since Lothur's companions had escaped from that cave where they had found the demon, they continued their investigative work under Elke's command.
Even with reinforcements in the area, they had their mission to accomplish, something that had been made immeasurably easier with the departure of Lothur and the demon.
The demon was the one causing the phenomena on the animals on that farm that they had been investigating the day before. So when it was taken by Lothur to a place so far away from that area, its connection to those beasts and animals was lost.
Because of this, the beasts and the animals on this farm were already beginning to recover, while the employees of this place fed them with the resources left by Lothur.
"What are we going to do, Elke? Our mission will be over by the end of the day, and we can already return to Peters City." One of the women in the group asked as they rested in a part of the farm.
To finish this mission, they had to make sure there was nothing else strange left behind, that the demon was the only cause of everything, and that once it was gone, everything would go back to normal. Thus, they remained there for now. But after this day, there would be nothing more for them to do, so that person was already thinking about their return to their city.
There was the matter of Lothur, who they knew was missing, but who might be able to return somehow. So this woman wanted to know if they would wait for him for at least a few days or already return.
Elke understood that woman's doubt and knew the others also wanted to return to Peters City.
Lothur was much stronger than all of them, so it would not make much difference for them to wait for him. But, on the other hand, in Peters City, they could continue their studies and training much better than they could here.
With that in mind, she said. "Let's finish our investigations and return. I am sure Lothur will find a way to return in the ten-day period we have to finish the mission."
The others nodded in appreciation to her, hopeful that all this work would not be lost because of Lothur's absence.
They would not blame this fellow since he had saved their lives with the previous action. But still, if Lothur were late, they would have to wait another six months to join a faction!
'I hope he'll be okay...' Elke thought about it as she looked toward the mountain, where the Peters City specialists were investigating the area.
...