Together with Sarah, Geirskogul, and his impish subordinates, our little group was making our way towards the assassins' last known location.
Frankly, even with this setup I couldn't' say I felt very confident. But then again, those guys did quite the number against my confidence as things stood, so even if we doubled our group's strength, I couldn't say that it would make me feel safe in our prospects.
I was hoping that we could bolster our numbers a bit more with anyone else we found along the way, as there should have been quite a few people patrolling the area for any signs of more intruders. Magni should also be near the assassins' location as well, so I hoped that despite throwing him to the wolf known as Harja, the oath he swore to me would still apply.
At the worst though, things were quite different from before.
We didn't have to beat the assassins or even drive them off. We only had to get the canister which held Orphne's soul, and nothing more than that aside from everyone staying alive.
Personally, my plan was to simply sneak up to the group, then use [Dimension Magic] to just tear the capsule off of the enemy group leader's hip then hightail out of there.
I was hoping that if we were fast enough, they wouldn't even detect us until things were too late, though if things did end up as a battle, the strategy still applied.
Our entire group was weak against that cold iron sword, but that couldn't be helped. Frigg wasn't around and I wasn't going to poach her subordinates from her behind her back. And the fairies also seemed to have no interest in helping me save Orphne. Or rather, it felt more like they didn't want me to get involved at all.
(Maybe it's their way of worrying about my safety?)
It was true that getting involved meant putting myself and Alicia at risk.
But not doing anything and just letting Orphne die wasn't an option.
In the end, I hoped that because our objective was simple and a bit tangential to any obvious aim our attack would have on the assassins, and that when we run back towards the settlement that they wouldn't bother chasing us since they'd just end up running into a large number of reinforcements, we'd be able to escape scot-free.
It was a lot more hoping than what I liked, but frankly, there were a lot of unpredictable elements, along with that ace in the hole they had known as the cold iron sword.
For a while, we continued in relative silence through the forest before a presence floated down from above.
"Claret! Where are they?"
The moment she was close enough that I wouldn't have to yell, my words probed my ever faithful familiar.
"They are that way Master. Not far."
"Good. And the little fluffballs are staying far enough away that they won't be attacked, right?"
"Yes Master. I made sure to tell them that."
That was one load off of my chest. Those little guys didn't deserve to be hurt by those damn assassins.
There was a few strange fluffballs that were following the elf in the group though. That was concerning.
They certainly didn't look like they were treated well, but at the same time I've never seen fluffballs that seemed so well fed.
Aside from Claret at least.
In the end, I couldn't say for sure that the fluffballs that the elf had as familiars were actually mistreated or not, but I couldn't help but think that they were. And unless if I was told otherwise by those fluffballs themselves, I probably wouldn't be able to believe they weren't.
"By the way, there's dragonkin are attacking those swamp stinking intruders."
"Huh? In that case we need to hurry!"
If those assassins were already engaged, then retaking Orphne's soul without anyone noticing would be that much easier.
I wasn't sure what would have happened from Harja going off to chase after them but it seemed like things might have turned out for the better.
So our little group increased our pace in the hopes that we could reinforce Harja's group.
Though I floated the entire way rather than ran.
It didn't take long before the sound of shouting and violence reached our ears.
Peeking in between the massive trees which made up this forest, I spotted a group of dragonkin engaged in combat against the intruders.
Including Harja and Magni, there were five dragonkin fighting against the four remaining assassins.
But against my expectations, they weren't doing very well at all.
The dragonkin party was engaging the assassins head on with Harja being the centre. The chieftain attacked with her claws and magic, but her attacks were blocked by the short man in black armour, his shield taking each hit one after the next like some stalwart wall.
The other dragonkin flanked Harja and attacked one at a time or in pairs, dashing in to attack in melee but were continuously being repelled by either the man in white armour or by a barrage of magical spells. On occasion they deployed their own magic to mix things up but there was hardly any appreciable effect they had on the group.
The assassins were well coordinated and countered everything Harja and her subordinates tried to do.
But more than anything, the thing which made everything tip against Harja felt like the one thing which was completely out of place here.
That was the fact that for some reason, there were low level storm clouds swirling around just over the battlefield made me rub my eyes to confirm that I wasn't seeing things.
Or rather, looking more closely, it wasn't an actual cloud, but ice particles swirling around in a thick enough formation that it partially blocked the sky above. There was quite a bit of mana dispersed throughout the formation, and the hail stones would probably do some damage if one tried to fly through it.
But that also depended on your defensive strength. Magni wasn't too bad in that department, so it was hard to see outright how bad it would be to fly through that.
Not like I'd take a chance like that in my current state. It would take quite a decent amount of MP to completely protect myself with my shadow depending on how strong and often that hail hits.
Not to mention that the very sound of it would give me away. We were on a stealth mission, and Harja being there didn't change that.
In fact, that Harja and her subordinates were there meant that stealth was even more viable, even if I now had to deal with a quickly moving target.
Continuing to hide behind the thick trunks of the forest's trees, we watched the battle going on and confirmed a bit more of what was going on.
The one who was sustaining that strange hailstorm above the battle was the elf mage. Her wand was glowing with all the water and wind mana that it contained. I didn't know the principal behind it, but it seemed like very little mana was being expended, allowing this sustained spell to continue.
Since this wand seemed to be doing most of the work and at very little cost in MP, the elf was able to split her concentration enough to have the strangely inflated fluffballs fire off offensive spells on a regular basis, preventing Harja's group from making any progress.
But the real threat of all of this became obvious when one of the dragonkin jumped back to avoid a spell from the human mage. It was only a simple bolt of fire, but conventional thought most likely said that it was better to dodge it than tank the hit. That was something I agreed with whenever it was possible, even if the damage would be slight unless if you could get into an advantageous position otherwise.
Despite agreeing with that split second decision, I winced slightly from the result of that dragonkin's outstretched wings used to help accelerate her evasion, causing her to lift off of the ground.
Even though it wasn't by that much, a full body height or so, I was forced to accept the real reason why Harja's group were completely grounded in this battle.
As that dragonkin reached the apex of her swift evasion, along with a flash and crackle, lightning struck the scaled warrior from above. The dragonkin fell to the ground with some obvious burn marks along her wings and back together with black smoke rising from her scales.
While the damage didn't seem to be too great and the warrior rose back up to her feet, the aftereffects were plain to see.
Her movements were dull and her body twitched here and there preventing her body from moving very well.
Falling back, the dragonkin sat out of the fight at a safe distance to tend to her wounds until her body rid itself of the residual effects of being hit by lightning.
Harja didn't say anything about the sight, but her expression said it all.
She was frustrated, and that frustration was building up quickly.
(This isn't good.)
Harja's group was at a distinct disadvantage. They were having trouble, and that weird storm cloud spell was likely the main reason.
I couldn't help but appreciate despite all the problems they ended up having during the last battle, those assassins were pretty well prepared to deal with us. Or at prepared for least vampires and dragonkin.
I had heard that demon lords were usually vampires and demonkin, but looking at how they had equipment to put both of our kind at significant disadvantages despite our higher stats showed that they knew what they were doing.
If we were fighting in an enclosed space, that could delay or even prevent any reinforcements, even as they were these guys stood a strong chance against us.
That very thought made a chill run down my spine and made me want to figure some much more extensive precautions to deal with future incursions.
As for what they were, I'd have to think about it after we dealt with our current problem.
"Sarah, can I borrow your sword?"
"Huh? Oh, sure."
Right out of the little bag which I had given her a year ago, a sword two thirds as long as I was tall came out.
Considering our little party's composition, I was terrified of the prospects of the white armoured man charging straight towards us. Even though Geirskogul and his imp subordinates had halberds, having never seen them actually use them, I couldn't say I was confident that they would be able to keep that man and his cold iron sword away.
Nothing I could do or had on me would be very effective against such a weapon, so I needed to rely on something which could prevent any contact with that weapon.
Adamantium would be much preferable, but I didn't want to take the time to make it from scratch and risk it ending up being quite shoddy. Sarah's sword was tried and true, even if it was more of a conductor rather than an insulator for mana.
It was something I would have to bear.
It was far better than nothing though, as even with that downside I should in theory at least be able to block attacks made by that cold iron sword and not die instantly in the attempt if it came to that.
Hopefully.
The very thought of having to block attacks from that weapon made my hands tremble a bit, but I tightened my grip on the mithril sword and hoped that nobody would have noticed.
But when I thought about it, that sword wasn't the only thing I needed to worry about. That man's shield was enchanted to let out flashes of light magic. It was strong enough to burn out my eyes when he used it before.
I didn't know it it relied on limited charges or simply could be used whenever he wanted. Either way, it was better to presume the latter, and I needed to prepare for it.
For that sake, I took out Elli's shawl and wrapped it around my shoulders and neck over top of my robes.
This thing didn't completely block the light element, but it did do a good job in holding back low levels of it.
I could only hope that it would be adequate enough to at least stave off the worst of that shield's enchantment.
"You guys? Here's the plan. I'll try to steal back Orphne's soul using some magic. If it goes well, that's it and we'll back off."
"What about Harja?"
Geirskogul pointed out the one thing I didn't want to deal with. If we interfered, there was a chance that she'd resent me for that. On the other hand, as the fight seemed to be going, it was possible that she might die if she didn't back off.
That felt like a huge presumption that she actually would back off without at least taking one of those intruders down first. There was also the fact that since the assassins seemed to be at the advantage, they might not just let Harja get away for free even if she was able to swallow her pride and do so.
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I didn't like this situation at all, but maybe there was something I could do.
But Orphne's soul came first, and preferably we'd only interfere once I was reasonably sure of my own safety.
"We'll figure that out afterwards. For now, let's get ready just in case I fail and they decide to attack us."
"Got it."
"Yes Master."
"Okay!"
The other imps nodded as well with their leader's confirmation.
Once more, I peeked from behind the huge tree we were using to block line of sight.
It was possible that they would have already noticed us, as they showed up quite clearly on [Sense Presence] for me. But the skill didn't tell you who you were detecting, only that there was something there of a certain size.
For now, I could only hope that they wouldn't consider us a threat from this distance.
Narrowing my eyes, I focused on the space both next to me and the battlefield that spread out a small distance from us.
That white armoured figure was moving around quickly as he reacted to the changes in the battle.
It was difficult to pinpoint where to tear open space, but a location was solidified after a little bit of waiting.
Magni threw out a large stream of fire as a breath attack, forcing the assassin to stop in his tracks to block the attack. He wouldn't stay there for long, but the second or two which Magni made was enough.
I finished folding the space between myself and him, then split the air itself open, thrusting my hand through the gap. Extending a claw, I quickly sliced right through the figure's belt.
But as if he was anticipating just that action, rather than use his sword to neutralize Magni's fire breath, I felt an intense cold permeate my hand before a sharp pain ran up from my wrist.
Looking down, I saw that my hand was severed cleanly.
Taking a glance at where the white armoured figure stood, I could see a pair of white fingers disappear into the snow by his feet.
Despite everything, I only felt relief. Relief that I got away with only losing a hand. That sword must have undone my dimensional tunnel before it could do more than just barely touch my hand.
That didn't mean that things were good, but at least they weren't terrible for me.
Not yet at least.
"It's her! The demon lord is actually here!"
Even from this distance, I could clearly hear the man's excited voice.
"Then hurry up and let's get this done!"
The human mage yelled back before motioning with a wand.
Intense wind swirled around before being chased by a vortex of fire radiating out from the assassin group.
The spell was quick, but plenty strong enough, forcing Harja's group to back off, if only for a few moments.
That was enough, as the remaining assassins changed their formation. The two mages threw out more spells, blowing off the dragonkins' formation.
The man moved fast. Faster than I had seen before, as if he was holding back before.
(No, rather, he's focusing his energies towards closing the gap more than before?)
Looking back, it felt a bit like this guy had thought he had the advantage for quite a bit of the last battle. He wasted time repeatedly and held back his trump card until he was reasonably sure he could use it against me immediately.
But those sorts of secrets were gone now.
I could see how his aura was focused on his legs, either some spell I didn't know or enchantment letting him speed up his steps and maintain a stable foothold as he closed in on me.
"Don't you dare!"
Claret stretched out her shadow, extending it even faster than the armoured figure was approaching us.
Spurred on by her act of defiance, I did the same, hoping that we could delay or stagger him so I could buy some time.
At the same time, I opened my dimensional pocket and took out a jar of blood, holding it with a levitation spell behind me. Even a sip of the lesser dragon blood could fix my missing hand, and I wasn't about to risk a close range fight without every little thing I could use to keep myself and Alicia alive.
Our shadows raced towards the rushing man while I swallowed a mouthful of blood, refilling my HP and MP. But as I feared, he simply swiped his sword against the ground without breaking or even faltering his shield up stance. Despite trying to anticipate the move and swerve my shadow, the attempt proved fruitless and both of our shadows returned to their original shape, leaving nothing but a chill which ran through my body and a portion of my MP being depleted beyond the simple spell usage.
*Bang!*
A sharp crack rang out from behind, and the white dressed man staggered slightly as his shield jerked to the side. A grey ring with spokes tracing out of it appeared on the dirty white shield along with a trace of a dent.
"Tch!"
Following the tongue click, I heard another shot ring out, causing the man to stagger a bit more before restoring his posture.
At the same time, I took the opportunity to shoot another mouthful of blood to my mouth and swallowed without even taking the time to register the rich flavour.
"Don't let him get close to Elder Scarlet!"
"""Yea!"""
Geirskogul yelled out as the man closed in on us, Sarah's bullets unable to slow him down nearly as much as I wanted.
"Careful of his cold iron sword!"
I couldn't help but warn them. I didn't know if imps were effected by such a material in any special way, but imps were supposed to be partial mana creatures like fairies. I didn't want them to fall victim to such a thing.
The imps swung their halberds down from different directions as one.
But despite the difficult simultaneous angles, he casually deflected Geirskogul's weapon with his own and swung his shield to collectively deflect the other three pole arms.
*Bang!*
Another shot rang out as he cleared the imp's failed blockade. With his arms out of position, the shot sparked off of his chest piece. But rather than stagger, he simply spun with the momentum and returned to his mad dash as if nothing had happened.
A surge of mana grew from behind him and came out as a torrent of wind, scattering the imps and further speeding the white devil towards me.
Surprise delayed my reaction, but I quickly snapped out of it and bent space around me to teleport out of there. I wasn't about to let him get into range to use that damn cold iron sword against me for free.
But he was moving faster than I had originally anticipated, and even with jumping back to increase our distance, the armoured assailant swung his sword. The mere act enough to sap the mana I infused the space around me and forcibly revert it back into its neutral form.
"Shit!"
I raised Sarah's sword in both hands and swung it against the black blade as it fell like a guillotine as he swung his sword back around, now in range.
My superior strength allowed me to knock the cold iron sword away rather than simply alter its trajectory, but even that brief contact made my hands cold and a chill ran up to my elbows.
Even parrying attacks from that weapon hurt me. It seemed like overcoming the vampire weakness to cold iron wasn't something I could really overcome so easily as expected.
I popped anther floating blob of blood and refilled my MP, just in time to parry another blow from the side.
I didn't like this at all. Having to drink blood in the middle of a fight was basically putting me on the back foot automatically.
But it wasn't like beating this guy was my objective. I've been put into close combat against him, but all I needed was that container that held Orphne's soul. It was still on his hip, though the belt that held it there was nearly cut off.
He swung again and again, repeatedly as each swing came only a fraction of a second after the last. I popped globules of blood as fast as I could to keep myself topped off, but I was going through the jar quickly.
As annoying as this fighting style was, at least I had a ton of blood in reserve. As long as things didn't change, I could easily outlast this guy despite how effective his tactic was in theory.
But just as I was thinking that, the next attack came a bit weak, causing the parry to be absorbed more than usual.
I took my blood infusion like a routine, but rather than wind up for the next attack, the man before me thrust the pommel of his weapon towards me, forcing me to lean back painfully as my body was forced to contort itself in ways which wasn't good for it due to my distended belly.
Fortunately, the reduced reach of his attack method meant that despite how awkward my evasion was, it was effective.
Unfortunately, it did touch my mid-battle snack, and the levitation magic cast on it was undone together with an annoying amount of my MP.
But at least I was able to catch it again and vacuumed it up before he could recover.
"Bleh!"
The taste...it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't what I was expecting. It was still the same blood, but the flavour was weak, as if it had long since gone stale.
A quick glance told me that my MP had hardly recovered, as if I took in the blood of some goblin, not a type of dragon.
I couldn't say I was entirely sure, but it felt like my assailer was grinning underneath that full faced helm of his.
I was pissed.
You don't touch a pregnant woman's food!
Anyways, TL;DR, I'm probably dropping Genshin Impact due to all its problems and predatory systems, and I recommend you don't start if you haven't already. You'll be burnt even if you don't empty your wallet in this black hole.
Back to Scarlet's story.
Sorry again in regards to another cliffhanger. My plan was for this battle to end this chapter, but I didn't even get close once I factored in everything required to even get to starting the battle. m(_ _)m
Hopefully this chain of reduced releases will end soon, and I'll do my best to renew my diligence in regards to that. Fortunately, I have a bit more free time for the next little while, though I hope that I don't burn it all on frivolous things.
Hope everyone's doing well.
Good day and good luck! (^o^)丿