Heroine Worship

Chapter 60- Battle of Queens

     Before Valeria and the rest was the fragmented Dark Elf ship. Now, only a large splinter remained on which Bhavana stood. The rest of the pieces were scattered around, with the remaining soldiers clinging on. The reinforcements accompanying Valeria quickly went to work rescuing them, diving into the water to fish them out. Still, the Light Elves did nothing. They weren't Valeria's focus, however. There were much more pressing issues at hand.

     The monster swirled its serpentine body around in the air, then swooped down at Bhavana. Bhavana, whose chest heaved up and down from exhaustion, raised her hand and fired out a spell of darkness magic, launching several purple spears toward the beast. The creature let out a shrill screech and was slightly knocked off-course but Bhavana still got hit, and thrown over the side of the remaining piece of rubble. The others rushed over to help her. It was now or never. The creature was still close enough for Valeria to be able to jump over and finish it off quickly. The gap between her boat and the remainder of Bhavana's was quite considerable, however. Valeria took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Then, with a running start, she leapt over to the other vessel. As she landed, the collection of splinters rocked back and forth underneath her weight, drifting forward. It seemed as if it was nearing the Light Elves' ship.

    Then, the creature let out a cry again, snapping Valeria back into the fight at hand. Valeria readied herself, observing its movements. Strangely, it wasn't attacking outright but coiling its body around the remainder of the ship. Things were bad. If the vessel was shattered, then Valeria would be quickly submerged. With her extremely limited knowledge of swimming, it wouldn't be long until she plunged into a watery grave. Just as the creature's head was coming around, Valeria, with the limited space she had, jumped up into the air, unsheathed her Hidden weapon and, in one swift motion, severed the serpentine monster's head. Just as Valeria crashed into the deck of the Light Elves' ship, the head fell into the water with a splash.

    Valeria pulled herself to her feet, quickly putting her weapon away. The monster's body writhed for a second, then dropped into the water as well— the purple miasma trailing behind it. Valeria narrowed her eyes. Among the cuts Bhavana had made, there were two distinct, symmetrical bruise-like marks on either side of the creature's shoulders. Immediately, Valeria remembered Yue's words about what he had seen in Xiàlíng. Clenching her fist, she looked up at the Light Elves. None of them had been harmed, just as she had predicted. Not a single hair was out of place on any of them. Stepping towards her was a tall, elegant woman wearing a long golden gown with a silver sword at her hip.

    "We finally meet, Valeria," she said in a low voice.

     Valeria gritted her teeth, her hand hovering over her normal sword. This woman wasn't just anybody.

    "So you must be this Odilia I keep hearing about."

     "Indeed," a ghost of a smile passed over the Queen's lips, her golden gaze fixed on Valeria. "I've been wanting to meet you for quite some time."

    "The feeling is hardly mutual," Valeria pursed her lips, wary of the Queen's movements. "What's so special about me that you've come all this way to Nilam just to catch a glimpse?"

    The Light Elf soldiers were beginning to form a circle around Valeria. As she landed near the middle of the ship, she didn't even have access to the ocean anymore. It wasn't going to be easy to get out of this predicament.

    "You can help us banish all evil from Sairesa," Odilia began to explain. "Only with your help can we truly cleanse the planet."

    "Really?" Valeria skeptically replied, carefully watching the group that had formed around her. Then, she got an idea. Perhaps she could get some information out of Odilia by asking the right questions. "Are those infected monsters part of that evil you're talking about?"