Capítulo 41: Nearing Reunion
Bitter nostalgia crept up onto Antani's heart as she saw the tribal huts ravaged and vandalized from the distance. The dark elves didn't have an iota of intention to keep their surroundings clean. What for? The houses were there only to stack up the crates of mind flayer dust that they had accumulated.
On the edge of the forest, team Valhalla huddled together.
Stefano's plan was simple. He considered going for the stealthy approach, but when taking that route, one must always assess the aptness of each party member for the task. All of his party members are anything but stealthy.
Instead of haphazardly running towards the old amazonian town with a battalion of Dark elf soldiers inside, why not draw them out?
"Are you all ready?" Yulia's eyes flickered with excitement. It's not every night you get to blow up an entire drug operation.
The rest of her team gave their okay.
"Alright, then let's do this!" Yulia gestured her hand out, prompting for a hand-stack to further hype the team up before they start their mission.
All of their hands stacked together in solidarity, except for one.
"Must we really do this?" Ellamir shrugged, and found it to be a bit too cheesy.
"Don't be such a buzzkill, come on and join us!"
"Ugh."
With Antani's insistence, Ellamir grumbled but inevitably laid her hand amongst her teammate's.
"Go, Team Valhalla!"
Their hands raised together in unison accompanying Yulia's shout.
Hesitant at first, Ellamir found the exercise to be a good morale boost.
"Gloria, you're up."
Gloria puffed up with pride as Yulia called her name. Her hand balled into a fist and caved into her chest, letting everyone know that it is an honor to start the opening salvo of their operation.
Soon, Gloria's figure turned distant as she assumed her position while the rest of the team separated to enact their own part of the plan.
+++
Left with no sense of danger, the dark elf soldiers would often stare into the forest ahead. It didn't help that lush greenery accompanied by the occasional relaxing breeze would lull them into sleeping on the job.
A certain soldier was already on his way to indulge in a short nap, sitting and resting his head on one of the tribal huts. Until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He immediately jolted back up in panic.
"I wasn't sleeping, I swear!"
"Rest easy, soldier."
The soldier immediately let off a sigh of relief upon looking at a familiar face.
"Captain, it's just you. You scared me half to death."
"And you're lucky it's just me. Had it been our general you would be already on your way to a 100 lashings." The captain smiled, his bearing benevolent, something that you would hardly see on the females of their kind.
Despite their gripe they accepted it as the natural order of things, at least for them. Shahira, the one assigned for this operation and the battalion's general, acted as her other brethren's would - enforcing her power through cruelty.
"I know, I promise I won't doze off again."
Not far from them, a mermaid on a wheelchair suddenly rolled into view, which perplexed the two soldiers to no end. They heard tales that they are formidable opponents at sea due to their commandment over bodies of water but there were no such things around, the only thing they are surrounded by is greenery.
Their song is also another which you should be wary of, their angelic voice able to enchant listeners into a hypnotic state. But with that impish grin on the mermaid's face, it doesn't look like she's going to sing anytime soon.
What was her deal?
"Go and drive her away, I have a feeling that she's going to be trouble." The captain commanded, his brows scrunched underneath his helmet, deeply bothered how the mermaid's innocent face could look so…menacing.
The soldier held his pike tight. "Scram, mermaid! This here is a private dark elf operation, we're going to hurt you if you don't comply!"
The mermaid remained unperturbed by the soldier's warning, which increased the captain's uneasy feeling.
"You asked for it!"
The soldier pointed his pike towards the mermaid, slowly making his advance.
But before he could come any closer…
Two retractable cannons emerged from the mermaid's back, halting the soldier in his tracks.
"Oh crap…"
Each of her cannons fired hagall runes, the hut that was right next to the captain exploded into dust. The booming explosion forced the two soldiers to dive into the ground for dear life.
+++
On the opposite end of the village, Antani and Ellamir lay in wait, ready to cause their own brand of mayhem.
"Well, that's the signal." Ellamir held a single hagall rune, after infusing it with mana, the symbol began to glow; she threw it in one of the houses.
Another loud explosion that is sure to draw in soldiers, forcing them to split their force into two if they immediately want to deal with the threats.
"Couldn't you have thrown it on empty ground!?" Antani didn't appreciate blowing up one of their huts without any regards. She was being sentimental, it was hard for her not to care when the place was once dear to her.
"Empty ground? We needed smoke rising so the soldiers could tell where we are."
"Fine. Whatever." Antani rolled her eyes, she was not having a fight while in the midst of a mission.
"Don't roll your eyes at me, I offered you the rune and you declined. You said I could throw it wherever I wanted!"
"I already said it's fine. Stop arguing with me and focus on the mission!"
As if to mediate before their lover's fight could escalate, dozens of dark elf soldiers had finally arrived, forcing their little squabble to a halt. One that could only be the acting captain spoke up.
"Are you two the intruders!?"
"Aren't you a bright one. What gave it away, was it the decimated hut right next to you?" Antani, still high strung from her argument just earlier, rudely answered the captain.
One of the soldiers whispered something in the captain's ear, suddenly going pale as his gaze wandered towards Ellamir.
"If you're truly princess Ellamir, why are you sabotaging your mother's operation?"
Ellamir didn't want to answer, she wanted nothing more than to transform right now but the moment that she does, the soldiers would all flee in terror, the very opposite of what their plan hoped to accomplish. The magical effect of her armor to instill fear had been upgraded when it became the Drider armor.
"Antani, take care of them for me."
The Amazon unsheathed her sword, "Oh sure, order me around like I'm still you're slave, why don't you? Join me, you lazy ass!"
In order to not worsen the situation, Ellamir decided to not snap back. She had guessed that her lover might be livid due to the state of their previous land.
"Attack them!"
As soon as the captain gave his order, one of the soldiers charged at Antani with his pike.The amazon staved off the pike with her sword, allowing her to get inside his opponents range, felling him with a single stroke.
"Who's next!?"
Ellamir swallowed. Her lover was definitely livid.
+++
"That makes two explosions, are you ready, Stefano?"
The cleric clutched the chest of runes in his arms. "Ready as I'll ever be."
The two immediately beelined into the middle of the village. With their forces spread thin, they encountered little resistance that Yulia was able to strike down with ease.
Right before them was a huge hole, a gaping abyss that leads directly to the Underdark, or to be more specific, a mind flayer's nest.
There is a pulley that Yulia hopped on to, the one that the dark elves used to move their crates about.
"Yulia." Stefano called before the tiefling could make her descent.
"Yeah?"
"Be careful, alright?"
Yulia flashed a confident smile. "I will."
Stefano watched as his mentor faded downwards into the darkness.
He then stood vigilant with his mace ready. Anyone who would dare touch the pulley would have to walk through his corpse first.
+++
With the chest on one arm while using the hellfire in her sword as a makeshift torch on her free hand, Yulia faintly made out the traces of the purple eldritch architecture all around as she walked, a strange blend between sinew and wood.
Yulia could only imagine the kind of struggle that took place in this colony, claiming the lives of its inhabitants. There were dents in the walls everywhere and parts of the floor were cratered.
If you told her a tarrasque suddenly got lost and made its way into the nest, she would've believed it. However, she knows the real reason, Ellamir had informed her so.
Walking past the signs of carnage, she was in awe at how fearsome Ellamir's mother is. But it begs the question…
Is she as pretty as her daughter?
Yulia brushed off her ridiculous thoughts with a grin. Wicked women aren't her speed anyway.
Stopping in front of a huge sinewy gate, Yulia had figured she was already deep enough in the colony to trigger a total collapse if she used the chest. Still, the gate before her differed from the rest that she passed through. Taking a little peek wouldn't hurt, would it?
There was no handle on the purple fleshy gate, when Yulia was about to examine it further, the gate itself automatically opened, as though her proximity was the only needed trigger.
It was a room housing the vat of mind flayer tadpoles, the very heart of the dark elf's modus operandi. The little buggers were swimming in green liquid. Yulia was quite aware of the dangers they posed, once the nasty little swimmers had burrowed from your ear and into your brain, you only have seven days before the mind flayer tadpole finishes its banquet - the dish? your entire gray matter. Afterwards, it would lodge itself to your nervous system and your physical transformation into the tentacled menace would begin.
But that wasn't the reason why kept her distance.
Somebody else had been observing the vat with her…
The taller woman with the wicked air around her spoke, "What do you have there, little tiefling?"
"A chest."
Although Yulia answered modestly, she was bracing herself for a scuffle. She had faced many foes and the accumulated experience she had was practically screaming at her, the woman in front of her was bad news.
The eye patch excluded, right next to the woman was someone who is similar to her friend in appearance, so much so that they could be mistaken for….
Then, It all clicked for Yulia.
"Kyahahaha! Fine then, keep your secrets. It makes the torture more fun when I'm trying to pry for information."
Her question from earlier was now answered, the queen of the dark elves was indeed a gorgeous one but her wickedness was such a massive drawback that the tiefling wouldn't dare hit on her in a million years.
Duty called, and with it her helmet answered, automatically donning itself. Yulia dropped the chest and retrieved her shield on her back. Yulia assumed her stance, for it was now time to smite the woman before her. She pointed her sword towards Zorla, her shield pridefully bearing the insignia of the fallen angel that she served.
"Ah, Zariel's adherent. It's been a while since I toyed with one of her faithfuls. The last one broke only after a year." As if to manifest her wickedness outwards, a miasma of shadows gathered around Zorla, forming into a towering drider. The vileness exuded by Zorla was enough to inspire terror in Yulia's heart. Clad in the regalia of shadows, she sneered at the tiefling below her. "I shall rip you apart from that armor and take you back into my kingdom! You have no idea how much I missed having a slave that could regenerate! Kyahaha!"
Yulia answered Zorla's ominous cackle with a stalwart tone, showing that her courage was enough to brave the malaise emanating from Zorla's drider armor.
"No thanks, crazy and evil aren't my type."
+++
"Hyaaah!" Stefano crashed his mace into one of the soldiers, the impact knocked him out cold.
He was actually doing it! He was fighting!
The elation of being a bona fide adventurer was everything he hoped it would feel!
It was all thanks to her mentor. As expected from Garreth's prodigy. The tiefling was insanely strong. That's why he had no doubt that nothing in the Underdark would ever pose a threat to her.
Stefano gazes at the abyss, patiently waiting for her friend to ascend. She should come back up any moment now.
Then, she heard something. Wait, was that screaming? It's getting louder and louder! Until…
"Aaaaaaah!"
Yulia was suddenly flung upwards, like she was a foreign body rejected by the Underdark itself.
Landing not far from Stefano, the cleric hurriedly ran to her side. "Yulia, are you okay!?"
"Well that's certainly one way to return to the surface. I'm okay. I was just caught off-guard by her strength. She's a fucking monster."
Yulia's tone remained resolute, very telling that despite the strength that the spider showcased, she might be able to match it.
"Wait, who're you talking about?"
Stefano was perplexed by her mentor's words, but soon the answer would show itself. Making Stefano wish that it didn't.
From the hole it emerged, the humongous drider of unequivocal malice. Just looking at it made Stefano feel like he's going to dribble urine on his legs.
"W-what is that!?"
"That is Ellamir's mother." Yulia stood up, taking her stance once more. The dark elf might have dented her armor, but her fighting spirit remained undamaged.
Zorla was ridiculously strong, almost as strong as her fated adversary. A worthy foe for her to bear upon the full might of Zariel.
Their fight from earlier was only the opener to a grand play.
The real scuffle between two heralds of might - one of hellfire and one of exceptional strength - begins now!
+++
Bodies of knocked out soldiers laid beneath Ellamir's feet.
She was about to taunt the remaining soldiers until she felt it. Although a mile apart, it was like the village had suddenly become crowded, too crowded for those two possessing the Drider armor.
Ellamir's eye widened as she stared at Antani in horror, "Mother, she is here!"
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