“Wait what? Do demons take prisoners?” He asked in shock.

<Not that we’ve ever seen. Anailia is talking to Thera now and it seems the other two are unconscious but it looks like they’re trapped in a cave filled with them. Frankly, we don’t know if they’re just being saved to eat later or if there’s something else going on.>

“Then we have to save them!” He yelled, getting a look from Will as he did and quickly explaining what he’d learned.

<They went the opposite way you ran off. It would take at least a day to get there if you run, I’m sorry Ben but the risk is too great, they’ll likely be dead by the time you can do anything.>

“That doesn’t mean we can just do nothing! I’ll follow my skill and we’ll figure something out on the way so warn us if you see anything ahead. If they die before we can get there then we’ll leave. Will, come on, we need to get going.”

They started running but it was apparent that Ben couldn’t keep up with Will’s speed so again his friend carried him as Ben passed on the information he’d gotten from his god. It looked like there was forty of them in a deep cave system and they were being left alone, save for small, snake like creatures the demons had feeding off them, with Thera getting the worst of it, five being attached to her unlike the others who got one each, and hers were being changed out frequently.

But why is she getting the worst of it? He thought to his god. Are they trying to poison or kill her in particular?

<We can only make assumptions, but since it doesn’t seem to be affecting her health we’ve established another theory. The three of your group who they made sure to secure first were all mages, and from what Thera said the first creature they attached to her exploded like a staff that had too much mana being forced through it, so we think they suck out an organism's mana. It would explain why she has so many feeding off of her in particular, as well as why the other two were being kept unconscious if they were both constantly left without mana, we just don’t know why.”

So you don’t know what these things are?

<We’ve never seen animals like these before, but there are a lot of creatures in the untamed lands that are rare or unusual, it wouldn’t be surprising to have a number of them be capable of things we’ve been unaware of.>

Damn it, and there’s nothing you can do?

<Space mages as capable as Wedrow and Steph are far from common. Even if they have an awakened version of the skill which is rare enough alone, having the mana it would take to make jumps to a place they’d never before been is a whole other issue. On top of that, we’d need to assemble a force to take on the demons.>

If you’re already going to be outnumbered when the war really starts it’s not like you need to bring an army right?

<Normally correct, but these ones are too far along in their development. They can’t be underestimated and need to be thoroughly exterminated.>

What, why? What does that even mean?

Myriad was silent for a moment in thought. <That information is considered confidential, but as an apostle you are allowed the right to know so long as you keep it secret. Would you still like to know?>

If you’re saying I can’t tell Will when it's something he might need to know to stay alive then I can always find another god. Ben told his god threateningly.

<Hmm, you aren’t wrong, but you do make things complicated for me, don’t you? I believe I can get away with only minor punishments on the grounds that it will be revealed to him should he survive anyway, but give me a moment to talk to the others around first.>

Cool, while you’re doing that tell them their rules are bullshit and likely to get someone killed.

Myriad didn’t answer and was silent for a few minutes before coming back to him. <There was enough agreement amongst the ones I was able to talk to that the issue should be minimal, we only ask you and Will keep it to yourselves should you survive.>

Fine, what is it that’s such a big deal you couldn’t just tell us?

<...There’s an invader among them, with more likely to be born as time goes on.>

Wait what? How is that possible? And what does that have to do with their development?

<Huuh, it’s something we only discovered for ourselves after coming to this world, but you could call demons the first stage of their species' lifecycle. We aren’t sure how, but after accumulating enough kills, they’re able to move on to the next stage of their development, where they gain sapience and an increase of power. There is just one at that stage currently, but we suspect more will rise to it sooner than later, meaning they’re already more powerful than the average one that would come through a gate.>

Wait, are you saying when the war starts they send their youngest and weakest through and they’ve still managed to take down worlds.

<...>

Fucking hell. No wonder they didn’t spread this around, that would be pretty demoralizing to anyone who learned just what they were fighting. Any advice?

<Yes, give up. You’re outnumbered and seeking death if you continue this. If they need to extract their mana for some reason then Thera should live long enough to be saved as a near-bottomless supply.>

And Steph and Wedrow?

<...>

That’s what I thought. I’m not just doing nothing Myriad, so you and those other gods can put your heads together and see if you can think of anything for now while I try and work out what I can.

<We’ll see what we can do, for now just stay safe.>

With that his god left to figure out what he could with the other gods, while Ben reflected on what he could achieve after filling Will in.

The fact that he was no fighter was showing its ugly head again. He’d only gotten knife wielding and at the zeroth level there wasn’t much use in it, not to mention his only knife was still at camp, which meant that if he was going to fight it would be as a craftsman. The only question was how.

If they did go back to the camp there was a chance they might be able to grab some supplies, but there was always the chance there were demons still there, especially if they were being led by an invader. There was also the question of how dangerous that one would be. Given that it had presumably grown up in the wilds of this world as opposed to whichever one they’d normally come from, it couldn’t be that smart. He didn’t care what weird rules this universe played by, unless knowledge was passed on, you could only know the things you’d learned for yourself.

If that was the case, then what did Ben know? He didn’t have a way to put his smithing knowledge to use out in the middle of the woods, and as for enchanting, he might be able to pull something off with his magic rings and if he learned the skills Will possessed, but he wasn’t sure he could make a weapon out of that.

Knowledge from Earth? It hadn’t proved itself to be exceptionally helpful in his life yet. He just hadn’t learned anything in his old world that would be useful to his new reality, with the exception of a couple of things that might make him some wealth if he was to replicate them on this world.

If Thera was here he was sure she could cause some chaos with her magic, even out here he could probably create a makeshift staff or two that could handle a single spell, but she was one of the ones he needed to save. Maybe he could work out a plan through the gods once he got to her, but he needed to get through all of those demons first.

So what did he have? Was there anything he was good at that he could put to use, maybe to cull their numbers a bit?

Actually, He thought, inspiration striking him. Maybe my usual way would work here?