~Great Grassy Plains of George Region~
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Amongst the wide green plain, a group of four youngsters were surrounded by 6 three-horn Badger-Snake, or Basna for short if it were Lea's lazy choice of words.
Chaotic it may be, the situation suddenly turned about with the appearance of several skilled mercenaries.
As they mowed the formed encirclement, cries of their joy in battle could clearly be heard. Echoes repeating their battle songs, making other beasts think to avoid where they were.
Safety was assured in no time. But another predicament arose.
"We want the women."
Lea gave a swift glance to the large mercenary band, and could clearly see 19 armed members. She could scarcely imagine their survival if they were to refuse.
Her thoughts incomplete, an unpredictable bad turn occurred.
"I refuse!!" Exclaimed by Ulla as she wore disgust on her lovely face.
Lea, as well as Raize, immediately readied their battle stance. Their overactive imagination ready to fire their practice.
The band of mercenary burst out laughing at Ulla's determined bravery. They favoured women with guts, and they were sure to force Ulla out of Lea's group.
"Not your choice, lass. We saved your a$$3$. The debt must be repaid." Informed the band's leader confidently.
"Alright. We will join you, but only if you do not harm these two." Replied Lea sternly, and pointed at Raize and Bright's direction.
Bright attempted to argue otherwise, but Raize covered his mouth just in time. Glaring at Raize, he was met with a shaking head that indicated they shouldn't add fuel to the fire. In other words, accept the terms quietly.
Despite Bright's struggle to release himself, he was lost due to Raize's [Shrieking Ghosts]. Illusion of purple and black bony humanoids clamping down on his body, and to make it even more frightening, Raize summoned a female with no face, a black disheveled long hair and placid skin colour. She was wearing a pristine silk dress up to her knees.
She appeared 3 feet from Bright only to slowly and softly move towards him. Feeling freaked out, he decided to obey Raize for a moment and stop his struggles.
At this, Raize released his illusions and revealed quite a sweat stained appearance.
Their whole squabble was gone unnoticed by the mercenary band since their whole focus was on Lea who tried to offer them a futile condition.
They are a band of mercenaries. They do nasty and selfish work time and time again. They get what they want, usually by force as they were no gentleman. And they will do so with Lea's group.
The glint in their eyes after Lea's words gave way to their savage and ruthless intentions. Lea concluded that they would never let Raize and Bright alone.
"A deal off will have to be forgotten." She said simply before turning to catch Raize's attention.
He took her signal, and just as immediately, a huge surge of essences spiralled within him. Raging like rapid stream, he quickly felt better. He was no longer sweating nor looking tired. He felt jubilated as he rejuvenated.
With a soft sigh, Lea closed her eyes in deep concentration. She focused her imagination into creating a strong cord to Raize's well, firing away essences like a faucet.
Since the band of mercenaries were observing Lea curiously, they did not notice Raize's dark atmosphere from calling forth his powerful illusions.
Casting [Frank's Guillotine],
[Devilish Sneer] and
[Hell's Reign].
All at once, the band of mercenaries went from sane to insanity, leaving Lea and her companions a chance to call forth and aboard Hamsphant. As they hovered in the air, they could scarcely hear the mercenary leader curse in between his shouts. His hatred-filled eyes memorized Lea and Raize prominently. Vowing to return the favor soon.
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Landing on a barren land as far as the eyes could see, Bright suddenly exclaimed. "Why did you guys leave them alone just like that?!!
"They meant to harm us!! They had bad intentions towards you, Lea and to you too Ulla!" He finished after his savage breathing due to his explosive rage.
In understanding, Ulla nodded in assent while glancing toward Lea and Raize who stood in close proximity to one another. "I agree with Bright. We should have made them unable to act as such again. Who knows who else will fall prey to their wicked selfish desires..." She said softly.
Ulla was not fond of going against Lea and Raize's decisions since she knew best that the two only mostly think of what was for the best. However, the recent incident was not something that should've been left alone simply by scaring the mercenaries to their wits.
When Raize was about to answer in defense, he was stopped by Lea. With a glance to her direction, he simply quietly closed his mouth once again. Giving free reign for Lea to talk, he moved slightly behind her.
Lea looked on Bright and Ulla's unsatisfied expressions and heaved a soft sigh. "I understand. However, I deemed we did not have a chance to initiate an all out battle with the bunch. It was simply faster to get away from them quickly before they could learn more about us."
To her response, Ulla still refused to budge. "Even still....!" She had on a deep frown and gritted teeth.
"What do you propose we should have done if they won and we no longer could escape?" Asked Lea, in her calm tone.
Ulla pondered on Lea's words for a moment. "But you can provide us with infinite essences...!" She said softly in retort. She knew such a reason was unfair to use against Lea.
"I tested the theory once. I tested the theory a second time with Raize who understood my intentions without words. I believe, there could have been a chance something could have gone awry." Said Lea, her ruby eyes distant.
At this, Ulla's light brown eyes narrowed. "Yes, but it was a success wasn't it?!"
With surprise, Lea batted her long lashes. "Yes, it was. And it was enough for the moment."
"Exactly, so----"
"If it would make you happy, I can certainly devise a better plan to completely destroy them." Like a she-devil, Lea proposed to Ulla in the middle of her retort.
Ulla appeared puzzled for a moment and remained to glare at Lea. "How exactly?"
"Simple. Using my infinite essences, I'll find out their base and we'll give them an early Christmas surprise." With a mocking tone, Lea simply explained. It was clear she was increasingly becoming unhappy with Ulla's thoughtless aggressiveness.
"Here I thought we were supposed to lay low?" Reminded Raize.
"Yes, but if all of us were to proceed with half the number upset, we will not survive." Lea concluded, giving a glance to Bright and Ulla's direction. Noticing their expression slightly shifted.
Raize simply agreed in silence. He understood Lea more and more as they spent their time together. Thus he empathized with Lea's struggle to accommodate with the classmates she never interacted with, but couldn't let herself separated from. They were all she was familiar in this new world.
Much like her, they were feeling anxious deep inside of what was to come. They are still quite young, barely reaching 2 decades in their life. Lea's stern hold on them made the journey barely safe, but her efforts alone will not allow them to survive for long. Especially after barely surviving the battle against one of the main characters in the game.
Although it was decided they will not be concerned with the plot of the game any longer, he was anxious about the connection. And he didn't want to be caught off guard when the time came. Better to expect than be sorry. Thus, he secretly improves his skills so others won't feel anxious of his efforts.
Giving a name for each of his creations made the summoning faster and the summoned more stable. He only ever was able to manipulate more than 2 consecutively with Lea's support. Otherwise, he'd be too strained.
Going back into Ulla and Lea's conversation, they decided to make trouble with the mercenaries as Ulla wished. Using Lea's plans, they camped out and waited for the night to arrive. Lea then proceeded to use her Scan far and wide. Her control immensely accurate and focused to where they first met the band of mercenaries. Not for long, she found traces to their base. Then the exact location was found.
When she finished, her legs almost gave way but she supported herself just in time. Even still, Raize was close beside her who immediately offered his arms for a brief support. He knew how much Lea disliked being touched by others, so he simply assured her that he'll set her free once she was stable enough.
She felt uncomfortable, but she didn't want to embarrass him. So she decided to hold her tongue and simply glared at his pair of obsidian eyes.
A minute of beating hearts later, Lea shook away from Raize's hold. He simply shrugged. She then turned towards Ulla's direction, indicating she should come closer for a talk. The latter complied and stood up from her seating posture to walk slowly to where Lea was standing.
Looking at Lea's face that seemed to look better from being pale, Ulla couldn't help but apologize under her breath. "Sorry...."
Lea simply patted Ulla's head. "They are not far. Shall we go?"
And with that, they organized and packed their belongings to set about in the darkness. Travelling on Hamsphant's back, they landed close to the base. They decided to walk the rest of the way to keep their existence hidden.
Using Raize's solar flashlight, the path was easily paved. And before long, they found the entrance to an underground cave.
"I'll lead the way from here." Lea proposed as she was well-adept at reading hidden traps or surprise attacks.
Although reluctant, Raize lent his solar flashlight to Lea with a nod.
After a soft creaking sound, the four made their way inside a very sinister looking dome of a cave. Barely lit up by a torch in the distance, the group continued to make their way around by following a side of the inner wall.
From Lea's previous Scan, she knew the group was somewhere safe a few floors lower. Thus they had to continue making their way with caution until they found the correct stairs or path going down to the next floor.
Bright could feel his mind race. He knew something was very wrong about the eerie silence of the cave. However, he couldn't point out what exactly and thus he kept to his silence.
The aquamarine fox who was left with Hamsphant swiftly sneaked away, towards where Lea was currently at. Seemingly in a hurry. Its aquamarine eyes glowing faintly in the dark, as well as its fur.