The green-haired witch Schierke and the black swordsman Guts ultimately didn't accept Annie's suggestion to seize the villagers' cathedral. Instead, they dutifully rested for half a day in the thatched hut outside the village. They didn't even ask the villagers for food or drink, just sitting there waiting around for nothing. Annie was so furious she nearly set the wretched hut on fire!
Thankfully, half a day passed quickly.
More importantly, as soon as night fell, the Legion of beastly demons began peeking out from the edge of the forest beyond the village. Annie's attention was immediately drawn to them, and she stopped bringing up the earlier idea of stealing a house and demanding food and drink.
Soon afterward, just as expected, a great battle began.
At first, Guts and Schierke thought there would be no more than a few dozen beastly demons. Either of them could have dealt with that easily, but who could have guessed...
After they had swung their greatswords and slain twenty or thirty of them outside the village, it was as if they'd stirred up a hornet's nest. In an instant, they were surrounded by an army of thousands of beastly demons pouring out of the forest.
At the critical moment, Guts proved more than capable. With the Holy Light strengthening him, he used sheer force to slaughter hundreds of beastly demons and their leaders. As he fought to hold the line, he bought the witch Schierke enough time.
Finally, amid a series of hurried, drawn-out incantations, the green-haired apprentice witch revealed a level of power utterly at odds with her novice status. Her soul left her body, and somewhere in the astral world she found a powerful being and resonated with it. Then she manifested a mighty barrier of spiritual energy in the real