Claire Bladeheart Pov:
We were camped up after moving deeper in the dungeon for the past two weeks, the reason for our slower exploration was that we were mapping out numerous extra side caves we had been finding along our way. The number of mana beasts we were encountering was no laughing matter. Even for an S class dungeon, the numbers were simply too many, Vanesy had said it's likely due to the meddling of Alacryans somewhere in here. I was in the middle of sharing some story about the Dungeon encounter he had in Widow's crypt when suddenly.
"Please, hurry let me in!" A muffled voice yelled from behind one of the earthen doors. The two sentries in charge of that entrance quickly verified the man's identity before unbolting the door and hauling the gate open.
The entire cavern was deathly quiet as everyone stationed inside or resting after an excursion was standing up, their hands gripping their weapons and their gazes focused on the entrance.
As the two heavy doors slid apart, the man that had shouted from the other side fell through, his leather armour torn up and soaked red from the blood he was losing.
"get him I'll cover you. " Helen Spoke to the Sentry, her bow ready in hand with an arrow drawn and glowing with a wind spell from Angela.
The sentry immediately pulled the scout inside before closing the doors.
"Get me a medic!" the sentry roared, hoisting the bloody scout on his shoulders. There weren't any emitters stationed here since most were at the Wall, healing the wounded there. However, there were always a few people well-adept at medical treatment, I was the only one With any healing magic due to my beast will.
"Do we have the clearance to go inside?" Helen asked, her neck stretched out to see.
"Being a princess is a kind of clearance, right?" Theodore shrugged, eager to know what had happened.
Tess let out a sigh and motioned them to follow me. "Not everyone, though."
Arriving at the white canopy tent at the opposite wall of the entrances and closest to the exit back to the surface, two guards stopped us from going inside before recognizing who I was.
"P-Princess. What brings you here? Are you injured?" The slightly larger of the two armoured guards asked her, dipping his head to get a better look at Tess.
"No. I know the scout that just arrived and I'm worried about him. Do you mind letting us through?" she lied, giving him a solemn smile.
The two guards exchanged hesitant glances, but eventually, they opened the removable tarp that served as the entrance.
"Claire I could use some help stitching this guy up," Vanesy spoke as she heard me enter the tent.
"How bad is it?" I questioned as I rolled up my sleeves.
"Clawed by a couple of mana beasts by the look of it, Nothing he can't survive." She quipped back.
His back was stained in dried blood, Vansey had been Stitching his wounds closed so only a few of them remained. One of the elder medics came next to me and injected him with a mixture of green liquids.
"Antidotes for the poisonous beasts we've seen so far, You can close him up now." That was all she said before running off and tending to another soldier that had collapsed from exhaustion.
I ignited the first stage of my beast will, This level of damage didn't need me to use my second stage to heal, a comforting warmth and lightness spread from me as Golden flames dripped from my fingertips.
The flames flowed to his wounds and they fizzled from his body, his flesh regenerating before my eyes before they sealed on their own; the wounds that were stitched shut nearly had the fire sep in and snap the stitches once they were closed inside.
"His wounds are sealed." I sighed feeling the decent drain on my mana core as my beast will's powers receded.
"Thanks for that." Vanesy shook my hand as I sat down on the chair next to Tessia.
"Nice to See you again Helen"
"Nice seeing you, vanesy, or I guess I should call you General Glory, right?" Helen stepped up and shook hands with her. Helen and the Twin horns had been on scouting duty for most of our time here so she hadn't had the time to formally talk to the newly anointed lance.
"Haha, please, you're more than fit to take my place and more," Vanesy shook Helen's hand with the familiarity of old drinking buddies.
"Ummm excuse me but do you two know each other?" Tess asked tilting her head.
"Yes we do, A long while ago we partied up to take on a dungeon together." Helen spoke as they started exchanging war stories in another area of the tent."
"What happened to him?" Theodore asked finally speaking up.
"other than the wounds we just treated, dehydration and massive fatigue. The lad isn't injured but it seemed like he hasn't had anything to eat or drink for a few days and by the state of his feet, I'd say he's been running nonstop for who knows how long." the medic lifted the sheets to reveal the scout's bandaged feet, splotches of red already seeping through the gauze.
As we were about to leave the tent, however, a sharp gasp made us turn back around. The scout had gotten up with a series of dry coughs.
"H-How long have I been out?" the scout sputtered in between fits.
"Calm down, soldier. One of the sentries recognized you; your name is Sayer, Right?" Vanesy had her arm behind Sayer's back, supporting the scout.
"Yes, Ma'am," he answered before greedily gulping down the cup of water the assistant had just handed him.
"Well, Sayer, it's been only about ten minutes or so since you'd come back. What happened? Where is the rest of your team?" our expedition leader questioned.
"Dead, Ma'am. I had stayed behind..." the scout named Sayer hesitated. "I had a disagreement with my teammates so I had stayed behind."
"Disagreement?" Drogo repeated.
"I felt terrible for letting my teammates go deeper by themselves so I trailed behind them almost immediately after they had left!" Sayer added, guilt practically etched on his forehead. "But they'd unknowingly walked into an ambush of gnolls far deadlier than the ones up here, Ma'am."
Everyone in the tent was silent as we processed Sayer's words.
"There must've been hundreds of them, Sir. A-And there was this large door behind them. As though they were protecting whatever was on the other side!" the scout stammered, taking another large gulp of water before continuing.
"I think we found it. I think we found the mutant's den! general, I was able to do it." The scout let out another pained breath. "I managed to set up the mass-teleportation gate near the entrance."
"You did good, Sayer." Vanesy, squeezed the scout's arm before heading out of the tent.
"Come on, we should prepare as well," Helen advised, following behind.
Tessia nodded firmly in response, motioning for me to follow.
We arrived back at our team's campsite where Tessia relayed the scout's news.
Vanesy's voice echoed through the large cavern, alerting everyone of the scout's message. Soon, the entire place was filled with a frenzy of movement as over a hundred soldiers scurried around to prepare themselves for the impending battle.
Beside me was Theodore, Strapping on his gauntlets and armoured boots before throwing a couple of punches in the air to limber his toned and built body fit for a brawler you would see in a tavern about to throw people out for spilling his drink and likely break their bones in the process.
I turned to Tess, She had already equipped herself for battle, adorning her toned and slim body in light armour. she wore a tight-fitting black leather wrap underneath a chainmail plate protecting her chest. An elegantly curved, metallic cover decorated with intricate designs of flowing branches rested on top of the shoulder of her dominant arm. Her wrist guards were of the same design as the single shoulder plate armour and the faults that protected her hips and thighs.
Feyrith and Kathlyn were both meditating to top off their mana reserves as well as making sure their boots were in good condition along with their wands.
Curtis was strapping his parts of the full suit of plate armour he had in his ring, getting a good balance of mobility and Protection, He clearly didn't like how flashy the armour his parents had made him bring with him. After selecting to war the shin, gauntlets, pauldrons and chestplate he started sharpening his sword.
I pulled on my light armour that consisted of a chestplate, Thigh armour, and bracers for my forearms. My chestplate had two slits in the back for my wings if I decided to use my second stage. My wings had a nasty habit of burning through anything where they emerged from be it metal or not, leaving my only choice being getting used to having my back exposed or wearing a cloak that I didn't mind burning if I didn't have time to store it in my dimension ring.
My armour had embellishments of a Phoenix's all over it courtesy of my father. He had also given me a new rapier after my old one broke while training with the Commander, My mana fluctuated during a duel causing it to lose its durability enhancement mid-fight causing the blade to snap.
Looking up, I observed as the mages began preparing the connection between the teleportation gates so that we would be able to arrive right where the scout had placed the artifact. As the shimmering portal enlarged, I couldn't help but feel the weight of my body growing heavier by the second.
We'd had done well the past month we'd been here. However, this was the real thing. I had fought mana beasts before all of this, but it would be the first time fighting against a mutant.
"Come on, Claire. You should stretch too. It'll be bad if your body suddenly cramps up while we're in battle."
Tessia's voice shook me out of my daze, her bright eyes looking down at me from beside the fire as she held out her hand.
After about two hours, the gate was ready and teams were already heading toward the gate, eager to be the first ones to go through.
"Let's go," I finally announced. A newfound fire burned in my chest.
"Aye, captain," Theodore responded, a snarky grin on his face.
We approached the mass in front of the teleportation gate capable of transporting a few dozen at once.
"Are you guys ready?" a familiar voice chimed in from the left.
"As ready as we'll ever be," Tessia responded, a confident smile on her face as she locked eyes with Helen and the rest of the Twin Horns.
"Vanguard teams, brace yourselves upon arrival. We're not certain how many mana beasts will be there on the other side," Vanesy yelled beside the portal. The teams he had specifically chosen beforehand would be the ones to lead the charge, as teams like ours would be more towards the rear, fighting any stragglers until the main battle came.
"Charge!" Vanesy roared, summoning her Twin greatswords and taking the lead. The mass that gathered in front of the teleportation gate began dwindling as teams charged in with weapons at the ready.
looked back over My shoulder I spoke. "We'll all get out of this alive and eat a nice, delicious meal. Agreed?"
"Agreed!" they all shouted in unison as we stepped through the glowing gate.
as I stepped through the gate in time to see an augmenter from one of the teams ahead of us get hacked down by a pair of hyena-faced gnolls.
"Grannith!" a woman beside him desperately cried out before the same pair of gnolls jumped on her.
Theodore had already leapt into action with gravity magic lightening his body to make him faster, he had cleared the distance and arrived at the gnolls that assaulted the female conjurer that had cried out for her dead comrade.
Stepping forward and spinning on his heel Theodores armoured boot and Shin made contact with the Gnoll's his Leg weighting more than it logically could have from the gravity magic.
Instantly, the two gnolls' heads were reduced to a pink mist of gore. Blood had only splurted from the base of their necks a second after as he checked on the state of the conjurer.
"Damn it!" he swore, sending one of the decapitated bodies tumbling off with a firm kick. "She's already dead."
"Come on, don't stay in one place too long. Stick together, but we need to move around," Tessia ordered as she looked around us.
It seemed like a fair-sized group of gnolls and orcs had been waiting for us because the few teams that preceded us were all locked in battle with mana beasts.
We were in a cavern about half the size of the main encampment. For a second, I thought we had arrived in front of the towering doors that the scout had speculated was the place where the mutant was, but peering ahead, there was only a narrow entrance to a hallway darkened by shadows.
I felt a chill run up my spine like I was being watched, Instantly my sharpened battle instincts from my training with the commander and Al kicked in, an instant later I heard Feyrith calling from behind me "Claire, to your left!"
Immediately, I whirled around, taking a step back just in time to dodge a crude head of a halberd. My body acting more on instinct than conscious thought Slammed my first coated in lightning into the steel chestplate of my attacker.
A shrill scream rang out from him as he crumbled to the floor, dropping its weapon with a heavy thud. Looking down at the body I could see the darkly armoured alacryan mage, the back of his armour leaving his spine exposed showing the chain of runes on his back.
"Alacryans!!," Theodore Roared out mid-dash. he bolted close to the ground like a speeding cannon as both his fists were tucked close to his chest, ready to fire.
"Hahp!" Theodore exploded up at breakneck speed with the help of a small earthen platform he had raised to accelerate herself. he brought her arms over her head, as if she wanted to dive straight into the approaching Alacryan.
With a resounding thud, Theodore's gauntlet pierced through the armoured body of the remainder of the alacryan mage's squad that was rapidly approaching.
Just as he killed the second one I could see the pale white shield of manna appear behind Theo who had just the Striker it was meant to protect.
Theodore regained his balance, shaking the blood off of his metal gauntlets before bolting off into another direction.
"Bastard!!" The Alacryan roared as he rushed towards us with a sword, fireballs being shot overhead from their Caster.
"You guys handle the Beasts, I got this," I spoke with venom in my mouth remembering The severed head of Doradrea.
The two fireballs barrelling towards me sputtered before burning out from the lack of air due to my Wind mana. a lightning bolt shot out of my rapier, the smell of burning flesh filled the cavern as the Caster dropped dead.
I thrust my rapier at the Sheild who had rushed me, My blade bouncing off the thin white pannel that had manifested before him.
"Die!" He roared as he slashed upwards at me, His blade stopped dead in its tracks as I caught it in my hand. his eyes widened in horror as I slit drove my rapier through his head and let him slide off my blade dead.
An agonizing growl behind me caught my attention. Turning around, I got a glimpse of Tessia taking down a pair of orcs and a large gnoll. She was a flurry of blades as she zipped from beast to beast. Each step, each swing, had a purpose as she slashed and lunged at gnolls as if in a choreographed dance.
"It's about time we stop holding back Claire," Theo spoke as he pried his fist out of the chest of a Gnoll.
"You got that right" I retorted with a smile. "How about we start mobbing them up?"
"Conjurer cross-fire!" Curtis yelled out in warning to the other soldiers that would be in range as he began herding a group of orcs riding atop Grawder.
The rest of the soldiers knew what to do as some began backing out of the way while others veered their opponents toward my line of fire.
Me, Tess, and Curtis All Lined up as We charged mana and entered the first stage of our beast wills. Curtis's hair grew longer and looked more fierce like a lion as he prepared to use World howl. Tess became enveloped in an emerald aura as she rooted the roughly 100 ish gnolls and other mana beasts in place by piercing them and tieing them together with her beast will's tendrils, the mana beasts fell limp from the paralyzing poison they were filled with.
My hair turned golden with the former red still at the tips and my eyes glowed red slightly as I released my first stage. The first stage of my will have me access to two abilities the first was [Phoenix Mercy] that let me heal wounds on myself or those nearby me if I allow it to, The second ability I had called Phoenix fire they were the strongest flames I could make, being much more powerful than the Blue fire stronger fire mages could wield.
The blue flames orbiting around me the size of my had shrunk to the size of a coin as they Shifted to a brilliant gold, the 3 flames flew to my open palm as they pulsed with the compressed fury of my blazing wings.
"World Howl!" "Phoenix Flare!" Me and Curtis shouted as we released our spells.
My three golden fireballs launched forth bursting on impact engulfing the mana beasts in their Radiant flames as their corpses started to turn to ash Curtis's spell made contact Shattering the wall behind the beasts and obliterating their corpses.
"This was an overwhelming triumph, despite the surprise attack that the army of mana beasts laid down on us," Vanesy's firm and commanding voice echoed throughout the cavern. "Let's not let our comrades' deaths be in vain and continue forth!"
A fervent cheer resounded from the soldiers. Tess and I merely cleaned our blades and sheathed it back, Tess's Face was solemn. Her hollow turquoise eyes followed an elf being carried back through the portal we had come through, staring intently at the jagged spear protruding out of the lifeless elf's back.
I didn't know whether Tessia had known that elf, but I couldn't help but empathize with her.
Was this truly a victory if, to some people, the weight of those ten deaths means so much more than a simple number count?
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