Dreu sat with his back against the city walls. Ilveroz and Aggich curled up on his lap sounding asleep. Ror rested a few meters away but she never stopped observing her surroundings. Her behavior caused more anxiety within the young man who was still bothered by the warning of the greater demon primates. He might not know a single thing about them but, given what he had seen with the lesser ones, he could only assume the worst. Meanwhile, his other companions were lounging about except for Zog who was giving his best against the poor magic dummies. As Ragellon walked by after the conclusion of her training session, Dreu called out to her.

  “What do you know about greater demon primates?” he asked her when the demonic child was a meter from him.

  “How do you know about them?” Ragellon looked at Dreu in puzzlement.

  “Ror told me.” Dreu gestured to the spider. “Seems like we attracted the worst kind of trouble with our little combat earlier.”

  “The barriers should hold against them,” said Ragellon. “I won’t deny that, with our current group, we’d stand no chance against a greater demon primate. Even one demon primate can be a handful until we get stronger. The demonic creatures we fear are those much further away and greater demon primates will flee if they spot those creatures.”

  “I didn’t really think the plan through when I ordered our attack on the primates, did I?”

  “It’s unavoidable since we have no control over what we face. The barriers only filter demonic creatures by their powers and not their kinds. If you didn’t kill two today, we might kill one in the future, not really changing the situation much. I’m not too worried about our safety.”

  “What would a battle between your father and a greater demon primate look like?”

  “It would be over in a matter of seconds.”

  Braglames is really that powerful, huh? To think Rowan is even more powerful. I think I’m starting to understand how low in the food chain I am. Can I really get strong enough to defeat the demi-god?

  A loud roar shook the ground itself. Dreu looked frantically around but he couldn’t see anything except the vast forest that surrounded the city. Whatever made the roar was some distance away from the city and it sounded more dangerous than anything they had faced so far.

  “Speak of the primate,” said Ragellon.

  The group of lesser demon primates returned but they brought bigger versions of themselves in tow. The bigger ones were double the size of human adults with a more ferocious look. Unlike the lesser versions, these bigger primates couldn’t get as close due to a barrier keeping them further out. The lesser primates, realizing this, quickly withdrew to rejoin the bigger ones. Faced with a group of six lesser demon primates and six bigger primates, Dreu knew that they wouldn't stand a chance the moment they left the safety of the barrier.

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  “Those bigger ones look dangerous,” remarked Dreu.

  “And those are only demon primates. Not the greater one we heard earlier.”

  Ragellon’s words sent goosebumps throughout Dreu.

  “How big are the greater ones then?”

  “We can probably see one from atop the gatehouse or the walls.”

  Atop the gatehouse or walls? Are they taller than the trees?

  Once the two climbed the stairs to the top of the gatehouse, the greater demon primate, towering over the trees, could be seen near the edge of the forest. The demonic creature was easily the height of the towers of the castle in Xante, making it roughly ten times the height of the demon primates.

  That’s a massive difference in height…

  A second roar from the greater demon primate shook the ground once more. The giant pulled up a tree with one hand and tossed it towards the city. Dreu watched in horror as the tree went through the barriers and smashed to pieces from the impact with the wall. The idea that it could uproot and throw trees with such ease convinced him that Ragellon was right about them not standing any chance. Yet, he was still shocked the barriers did nothing.

  “I thought the barrier could protect us,” said Dreu with panic growing within him.

  “The barrier is meant for demonic creatures, not trees, boulders or anything else that the primate gets its hands on.”

  After cursing, Dreu ran down the stairs and herded the demonic children into the city behind the protection of the walls. The children froze from fear following the tree making impact with the walls but, with a bit of guidance, they made it inside the city. Meanwhile, the greater demon primate seemed content just throwing objects at the city. Trees, rocks and anything big it could get its hands on were tossed at the walls. After repeated bombardments, cracks started showing up where the impact was taking place. When Dreu went to gather his companions, he had to unsummon Xig because the demon hornet pursued some lesser demon primates and wouldn’t listen to him. Simple taunts from those primates were apparently enough to goad Xig into attacking. When he was behind the walls with all of his companions, the walls didn’t make him feel any safer about the constant bombardment.

  How long can these walls withstand the assault?

  “Now what?” Dreu asked Ragellon.

  “We wait for the greater demon primate to get bored and move on. As I said earlier, we cannot even hope to wound that thing. Honestly, we'd probably be killed by the the demon primates outside the walls before we reach the edge of the forest.”

  “How long would that take? For the greater demon primate to lost interest?”

  “My father said their tantrums can last a few months at times.”

  “A few months? We’ll be stranded in the city for a few months?”

  “Even if we aren’t stranded, the presence of that primate will scare off other demonic beasts. We won’t get much done regardless. Luckily, we have five years and there is plenty to do in the city itself.”

  "Inside the city itself?"

  Dreu had thought that, since the city was abandoned, it would have nothing to offer them other than providing them with shelter and food.