บท 211: She Defeats the Rhyllos
"Dig?" Liam asked, tilting his head. "Do people have a habit of burying their victims alive?"
"Not anybody good, at any rate." Chelsea said, sighing a bit. "And yet,,I can assure you, these folk are very much alive."
"I never said I was reluctant. Just...curious, I suppose." Liam mused as his hand morphed into a dragon claw. "Digging it is, then."
------
Robin unsheathed her sword as the Rhyllos once more charged into the shield, attempting to charge the crowd of folks before it. After communicating silently with Hikaru, she eyed the beast, making calculations.
Robin glanced to her left and her right. Already, the smaller magic beasts who were smart enough were making their way around the spatial barrier. Only the Rhyllos continued to charge at the shield, as if it couldn't believe there was something that it could not break through.
"Mister Soldier, I will take care of the Rhyllos." Robin said, drawing a line in the cobblestone with her blade as if she were drawing in the mud with a stick. "Do not let the others cross this line. Understand?" Her last word was barked out military style.
"Yes sir!" The soldier barked back out of habit, before realizing what he had done.
"Good. It'll only be a minute." Robin replied as she dashed over to a nearby wall. After ninja-walking up the side to gain height, she pushed away from the wall, stepping on some small barriers that she created in the air in order to slip over the wall she had made.
The soldier stared dazedly at Robin's dramatic exit, or was it entrance? Either way, the growling of the magical beasts soon brought him back to the present.
"You heard the man! we need to hold this place for one whole minute!" He called out to the soldiers under him. "We have our orders. Charge!"
------
Jasmine felt bloated. Even though a mana potion was a mere mouthful per dose, after going through two cases of them, even she would find it hard to keep drinking.
'One more. Just one more left!' She persisted, sending her mana into the slave crest.
"Miss, I am just a nobody. Please go now. I would hate to see you hurt for my sake." The old man said, feeling anxious for her.
"I refuse. If I can save all of you, why would I settle for one less?" Jasmine said with a frown. As a magi, abandoning even one person was out of the question. With a final spurt, she managed to unlock the slave crest, causing it to scatter into magic particle in the air.
"Come on then! Let's get out of here!" Jasmine said to the brave group of freed slaves.
This group had remained behind to help guard her, even though they knew that if a magic beast came, they could not defeat it as they were. Even those who were used to fighting had lost most of their strength with the minimal food they had been given, and the lack of exercise.
'If we hurry, we can make it out before the beasts find their way here-'
Grrrarrrgh.
A low growl sounded from down the hallway. Jasmine took one look, then called out.
"Run! Head to the surface!"
"But what about you?" The freed slaves asked.
"Now that I don't need to free anyone, I can fight just fine!" She said, as magic light swirled about her hand. "Hurry up! I'll hold it off!"
"...Umm...savior?" one of the slaves said. "We'd like to, but....it's been cut off." Another low growl sounded from the way to the exit. Jasmine frowned. 'Blast these brigands and their need for secret hidden escape passages!' She fumed.
"Retreat back into the room." She ordered, coming to a decision. Not only did she shut the door, she also cast an illusion, the door faded from sight, appearing just like the rest of the hallway walls.
And it was none too soon, for the two beasts came about their respective corners right after that.
"Now what do we do?" One of the slaves whispered.
"For now, we wait..." Jasmine replied, monitoring the situation outside. While she could probably handle one such beast, two were a bit much for her mana at the moment.
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Robin swiftly descended, landing on the only thing in the area yet left standing: the Rhyllos. This caused it to buck and jump about as it tried to dislodge Robin from its back. A normal Rhino might have found it difficult to jump. But a Rhyllos was far more flexible, as its defense came not from a thick, heavy hide. Instead, it came from the segmented natural armor that covered its back.
In one fell swoop, Robin struck out with her blade. Ching! And, just like that, the Rhyllos's prided retractable horns fell to the ground, severed from its head.
The Rhyllos paused, feeling its nose was somehow lighter.then its eyes widened as it realized what had happened. But, before it could do anything, silver and gold flashed, then Robin jumped down to the ground.
The Rhyllos wondered why it couldn't move anymore. but when it did move, its vision began to lower as its head fell to the ground, severed, like its horn. Robin stored it away before setting her eyes on the now wary magic beasts. She smiled.
"One minute exactly!" She chuckled before snapping her finger. several wind blades appeared, shooting towards the magic beasts.
"Come one then!" She laughed.
---------
Keith and Christian finished dragging all the men outside, finally escaping from the underground sewer.
"Remind me to get myself a new pair of boots." Christian wrinkled his nose.
"Heheh." Keith snickered. "Ye can find anything here in the merchant city. However, ye'll probably hafta buy from a stall as no one will want you entering their store smelling like shit."
Grrrrrroooowl.
"Calm your stomach, Keith. We'll eat when we're done!" Christian snickered back.
"That wasn't me." Keith replied, seriously.
"Eh, sure it wasn't. And magic beasts grow in the city like rabbits, instead of the forests~." Christian rolled his eyes.
"I'm serious, that wasn't me. Do you honestly expect me to feel hungry after walking through the sewers?" Keith replied.
"Eh? Then who was it?" Christian asked, looking at the captured men.
Grrrroooowwl.
The noise echoed from the sewer opening behind them.
"Well, what do you know? Looks like you're right, Prince." Keith un-sheathed his sword. "It seems like magic beasts do grow in the cities, after all."
"Magic beasts!? Then, Robin?" Christian asked.
"My family can hold their own." Keith replied. "Focus on the beast in front of us."
-------
Jasmine frowned. Those two beasts had been pacing back and forth down the hall, as if they were patrolling the hallway. Then she realized. Of course. They had just stood out in the hallway earlier. The magic beasts already knew they were there. They just didn't know exactly where.
As soon as Jasmine began gathering mana for a magic spell, they'd be able to locate her. And Jasmine's mana source couldn't support a head on battle against two magic beasts, currently. She frowned, pensively. The situation was not good.
Everyone else held their breath, wishing for the beasts to go away. All they heard was the tread of the beasts upon the stone floor outside. No one noticed a pin making its way through the rough dirt wall behind them, slowly widening a small circle. Then water, came through, noiselessly covering the wall in a certain radius.
Tamp. Tamp. Ta-amp.
A hole collapsed behind them, near startling the hearts out of everyone's chest, as they turned in alarm to see the hole. Chelsea, standing there with Liam, who had already transformed his hand back into a human's.
Chelsea waved, then beckoned them all to quietly move over to the tunnel behind her. The freed slaves didn't move before they turned to Jasmine. Jasmine nodded, and shooed them towards the hole with a wave of her hand.
Thus the group quickly left as silently as possible. Chelsea and Liam remained behind with Jasmine.
"Now that that's done, you can relax. Leave everything up to me." Chelsea said in a normal voice.
"Chelsea? How are you here?" Jasmine asked. "And, wait, did you use magic to open the hole?"
"I did." She nodded.
"Didn't you know? There are magic beasts here!" Jasmine hissed.
"I knew." Chelsea replied.
"Then why did you do that!?" Jasmine asked, her anger on the verge of exploding.
"There are no magic beasts that can contend with the mighty aura of a Dragon." Chelsea replied. "Those magic beasts outside are already trembling where they stand."
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