Hell.
The only suitable word to the current situation faced by the Imperial Army. Days ago, the Imperial legions emerged from the dark cold void of the Gate. Thousands of soldiers found themselves in a very otherworldly dense forest of sorts. The entire place was filled with large trees, swamps, moist soil, long rivers, and unknown wildlife.
In the first days, they've encountered the locals of this world. The Barbarians lives in a societal structure similar to tribes and speak with almost gibberish sounding language to the Saderans which in result, making proper communications impossible.
But it did not matter. As the Barbarians were soon squashed under the mighty sword of Sadera. The locals barely managed to defend themselves as the Imperial forces used heavy siege weapons and mages as they ruthlessly attacked and destroyed their homes and villages, those who survived were taken and turned into slaves.
To the Saderans, this was it. Their moment in history, many have thought that this world will now belong to his Majesty, Emperor Molt. Every resistance they met ends up being easily destroyed. The morale and anticipation for future conquests were high after the first victories against the savages. Nothing can oppose them now.
Until.
A famed Legate together with his legion supported by Wyverns and multiple mages volunteered to follow a long river which he believed to be leading into somewhere with civilization after witnessing strange small boats with no sails going to the specific direction of the river. His request was granted and they marched on.
As days passed by, steady stream of reports carried by messengers of the Legion arrived at the main Imperial camp. The first reports were nothing out of the ordinary while the latter and last reports were questionable.
The very last messages contains reports of strange shadows and silhouettes being spotted in the distance, strange red dots seemingly observing the Legion at night, Legionnaires vanishing during night patrols, and many more anomalous events.
At first, these reports are rediculed and was simply brushed off as imagination playing tricks on the minds of the soldiers. The suspicions first started after a day with no reports arriving. It was total silence from the scouting Legion, no word at all.
The higher officers of the army started to get worried, many suspected that the entirety of the Legion deserted and went on to carve a name of their own, while some came with a much more worse suggestion. They suggested that the Legion perished after encountering whatever was possibly suggested by the last reports.
Still, with dedication and under the direct orders of the Emperor himself, the conquest continues despite of possible repercussions but having no other choice, they prepare to continue the great conquest while completely unaware that they were being watched since the day they arrived. And as the Imperials were preparing to expand their conquest. . . then the black and grey demons appeared.
Slaugher and carnage erupted in the last night of preparation, the Saderans tried to defend themselves against the red-eyed demons dressed in ghastly cloaks and armed with peculiar black and wooden staves that shoots unseen projectiles. Even with the famed bravery the Saderan men put up, it was all in vain.
Cohorts after cohorts, legions after legions were annihilated by the demons overnight. Even the Mages can't fight the demons, their magic was countered with violent quick attacks. On the night skies, Wyverns frantically flew in a bid to help the troops on the ground but one by one, the flying lizards were snuffed out by a mysterious unseen flying foe.
More worse, when the demons and the army of the Empire got into close hand to hand combat, the demons bested every soldier in melee fighting. They do not use swords, instead, the monsters used their bodies as weapons. Their sharp teeth can simply cut through the skin of any unfornate soldiers that gets near them and their hands can slice a person in half by simply touching. Such in a case of a poor Legate who got his right arm mutilated after a demon bit off his swinging arm as he tried to defend himself with a sword, a second demon appeared and lunged itself towards the Legate and with a simple horizontal swing of a hand that rather resembled a slash through the abdomen of the man, the Legate was split in half.
In a last attempt of defense, a senior Legate ordered all surviving soldiers to regroup and organize near the Gate. For the remaining men, there is no retreat because backing down from battles is cowardly and to a much more worse extent, they can be branded as cowards or weaklings who have disappointed and brought shame to the Empire and its people.
The soldiers threw everything they can against the fiendish enemy in a bitter final last stand. Arrows can penetrate the bodies of the enemy but it cannot kill them or simply evaded the trajectory of the arrows. A Ballista fired a Bolt laced with magic which would increase the effectiveness of the projectile through explosion upon impact. The bolt found its destination and landed in a group of five demons. To the complete shock of its crew and the observing soldiers who saw the impact and the following explosion, the demons simply walked out from the flames as if nothing happened.
In the final grand defeat of the Imperial legions, they have finally discovered what kind of enemy they just fought and lost against. Despite the glowing red eyes, enigmatic weapons and clothing, the extraordinary strength, inhuman speed, and monstrosity exhibited by the monsters. Only when the face cloth covering the lower half of their faces is removed, their exposed faces is a testament of who and what kind of creatures they are. . .
An army of demons, not just regular demons but demons in trappings of a man.
