You hold on

"Shit!" Again the demon lord swings the black knife and this time it runs along the outside of your arm cutting your sleeve to tatters. In fact if it hadn't been for the leather harness that secures a back-up blade to your forearm, you might well indeed be bleeding. This is not going well. The flames that you thought would destroy the monster seem to do little more than eat away at his robes and at the rate this combat is going you are both going to be stark naked by the time either of you drops. Rising from the demon's groin is a phallus that is almost as long as your arm and curved in a arc that was yet another reminder that this was not a human. You cannot help worry about being taken alive. There is no way that a monster that big would fit inside you - not without causing a great deal of damage.

When the demon stops to step out of his smoldering robes you take a moment to flick a throwing knife into the side of the bastard hammering on Lykiaos, the blade sticks with a satisfying 'thunk' into the beast's ribs, but other than making him pause in his attack long enough to jerk it free and toss it away you don't seem to have helped your comrade-in-arms much at all. On the bright side you see Iola has reached Airlia and is working to free her sister. If you and Lykiaos can keep these two demons distracted long enough at least she and her sister will be able to get to the ward-room that the lovers were talking about. Backing up more you get to the grating that caged the snarling beast-men you saw earlier. You pull Lykiaos sharply back away from the grating; the sudden jerk sends the veteran warrior into a stumble and with a hiss, his demon leaps forward to finish him off.

Bad move. The same scaled claw that had been reaching for your comrade, grabbed the elegant leather boot of the lunging demon with equal enthusiasm and with a snarl the long limb of the demon is pulled down through the rusty bars. With the odds improving again the tenor of the battle changes. The demon-lord who had been toying with you was now assaulted on four sides, and no longer nearly as smug. Instead of toying with you, he is now whirling around in circles doing his best to drive back not just your careful blows but the slow but powerful swings of the odd young man who appears to be fighting using a excavating tool, as well as the jabs from the girl and Lykiaos' steady attacks. With a mighty leap he breaks free of the confines and heads up into one of the tunnels that lead to this underground amphitheater.

"Let him go." You're not sure who had beat you to the words, but all four of you agreed on the best strategy for survival. The other demon is till jerking on the open grating stabbing down at the beastmen that seem to be rending his legs from below. It might be a mercy to kill him off, but you have no intention of getting anywhere near that shit.

"Come on!" Iola is calling you from the alter where her barely dressed sister is clinging to her. "Airlia says that there will be more coming any minute now!"

"Follow us," the strange young priestess points to one of the open passageways opposite where you and your party came from.