บท 638: Test of endurance
"Sammy, what the hell is going on?" Blue asked as the sounds of approaching creatures became louder. At the same time, a part of the wall opposite the staircase collapsed, revealing a path directly inside the jungle.
"I don't… I don't know," the small turtle replied. He was looking around, and he was clearly frazzled by the situation.
"Can I have Nimbus take us out of here?" Hera asked.
"I… I don't think so. This is part of the deal. If you want to stay here, you have to pass this test," Sammy replied.
"How the hell do you know all of this, but you didn't know this was going to happen?" Shane yelled.
"Because I can't see the future, but I can tell when something matches the memory that helped bring us here!" Sammy snarled back at Shane, meeting her energy, "And stop talking to me. You don't know if they are watching!"
"Fuck!" Hera gasped, "Everybody out!" she called her entire court, Nimbus and Lurize quickly going to her side when the first of the monsters appeared. It was one of the Cherry Mantis, but this one was bigger, around the size of a capybara. Behind it was a swarm of insects jumping and flying toward the group.
"We'll act as the vanguard. You guys make sure to deal with the ones that go past me. Feel free to use long-range spells but don't come in the rain!" Hera yelled as she cast an Elemental Poison Storm in front of them, blocking the entrance to this arena, and jumped in the middle of it. Thanks to the Naga Poison variation, being hit by that rain wouldn't harm her. Instead, it would empower her and her court.
"Ok, we got your back!" Helena yelled and climbed a bit of the wall, using some of her shadows to give her a better footing. That way, she could see past Hera and what was going on in the corridor leading to the arena.
Blue made a cloud above Hera's spell and activated something called 'Storm's Limit.' This would make it so every storm-based spell could not go beyond the size of her own cloud. This was a way for her to minimize her friendly fire. At the same time, she created a pair of large cloud hands so she could attack the incoming monsters together with Mylo, who was already wielding his staff and creating a field of flowers that would damage any monster who touched them. Bonnie and Shane took a position similar to Helena's but at a worse advantage point. They prepared spells and got ready to attack Shane with her relic, the sling, and the ammo pouch, and Bonnie with some spells and the elemental motes. She spent a good amount of time watching Blue practice when they were in the Abyssal Depth, and her fist spells were now changing to match actual fighting moves. Not a full-body attack, but things like jab, straight, cross, hook, and even an odd version of the one-inch punch were now a part of her repertoire. The main reason why she wasn't using those things when facing strong monsters was that it was still very much an experiment. At times things wouldn't work properly, and other times the damage was much smaller than they expected. However, now the monsters should be weak, and they were in a decent position to fight them off. If she wanted to get some combat experience, this was a very good time to do so.
Alex and Adriel had some issues with the entire setup. The assassin wasn't much of a ranged attacker and wasn't that strong when defending, either. Her kit was focused on mobility and strong attacks, which she couldn't do in a space this tight. Adriel, on the other hand, was struggling to think about fighting. Now that he had lost his relic, he had to rethink his approach to combat.
On the other hand, Hera was feeling very comfortable and in her element. She had her entire court out with the magnets attached except for Lurize and Nimbus since the two of them could already move about 130 meters away from Hera without any problems. Armory was analyzing the incoming monster, and Scythe was on the lookout for any sneak attacks. For now, the Cherry Mantis were all just staring at the party, but their numbers increased by the second. When about 40 of them gathered beyond the Elemental Poison Storm that Hera created, all of the creatures opened their wings and flew forward. The first couple who jumped into the rain got hit by several droplets and fell to the ground. Hera's spell wasn't that powerful by itself, but since each raindrop had a different element, there were times when the combination became deadly, especially for smaller creatures.
One of the mantises jumped towards Hera, letting some of the petals that formed its body create an umbrella to protect it from the rain, and tried to slash the Empress. She easily evaded the attack by sidestepping, but to her surprise, it wasn't the end of the attack. As the monster moved its blade arms, it left a pink trail behind it. Five other Cherry Mantises used that trail to move much faster than usual and try to hit her just like the first one. Hera was able to dodge the initial two attacks but had to use Claw to block while the third, the fourth, and the fifth were stopped by Dao and Frost, who jumped in to protect the Empress. Dao let electricity course through him and slashed at one of the monsters, cutting off one of its bladed arms that was just almost as big as the court member itself. Just as the limb flew off, Frost stabbed the creature's chest, piercing it and wounding the one behind it. The first mantis who attacked jumped to defend its kin, bringing down both arms at Frost, but Hera was the one who jumped to stop it, blocking the blow with Fang and decapitating it with Claw.
Two other mantises jumped to attack her, but they were stopped by a pair of Shadow arrows that came flying from the arena. Helena was currently holding a bow made out of darkness. This was an advanced version of what she did with her Shadow Grabbers. Instead of focusing on the number of attacks, she would focus on one big one. The mage wasn't an Archer by any means, but her accuracy was incredible since she was actually controlling the shadows and not just firing an arrow.
As the second wave of Cherry Mantises hit, everyone started helping. Things were still relatively easy. Hera's Elemental Poison Storm was taking care of a lot of the work. For every ten monsters that appeared, Hera, her court, Helena, and Bonnie were able to kill 8 of them, while only 2 reached the arena, and those were quickly dispatched by Blue, Mylo, and Alex. Adriel was focusing more on supporting everyone and telling where the monsters were coming from. His offensive spells, which created small beams of energy, weren't working well by themselves. In contrast, he still could use his defensive and support abilities without a problem. Because of his job as a delivery man, he had a few buffs that could increase one's physical prowess and some spells that made him more aware of the surrounding area. It was nowhere near what Hera or Shane could do with their scouting spells, but it gave him real-time information about what was going on around him. In normal circumstances, he would be using that to ensure that there were no falling debris or a stray attack hitting his cargo, but now it was to make sure no monster sneaked by or tried something else.
About an hour passed since the Cherry Mantises appeared, and the swarm didn't stop. However, it also didn't get to the point of becoming so large that it overwhelmed the party. Even in the worst-case scenario, only 30 monsters attacked at once. At the same time, it was clear that this wasn't a dungeon. The waves were not stacked in some way that made it seem that the monsters had the intelligence or that someone was controlling when they would strike. Instead, it looked more like several different groups of mantises were being lured here, and they would attack as soon as they arrived. During all that time, Hera maintained her Elemental Poison Storm and fought nonstop. Unlike her blades, there wasn't a single wave where she didn't personally kill at least two of the mantises. When the last of the monsters fell, she decided to stop the storm. She still had more than enough mana to keep going, but the ground couldn't absorb all the poison falling from the sky. A few pools were already covering the ground, and if she kept going, the liquid would end up spilling out into the arena. Apparently, Blue's spell to stop the storm would only affect the falling rain, and it would ignore it completely when it fell to the ground. In a way, it made sense with her legacy, but at the same time, it felt like an oversight.
"Hera, go back. Let us deal with the monsters for a while," Daskka, who was in her giant silver snake form, said. During the fight, she used her massive body to hide the Empress and the court members and kill some of the mantises.
"I'm still ok," Hera replied.
"But you get more tired because of uz. Go to the arena, and we keep fighting," Lurize suggested.
Hera looked at them and stopped to think for a moment. Now that he mentioned it, the Empress realized that she was getting tired. It's been a long time since she fought for an hour without stopping. The closest thing to this would be her training sessions, but even in those cases, she didn't have the entire court out. This was one of the downsides of her legacy. Having her court out would take a toll on her stamina. If that wasn't the case, she could probably fight for hours on end, thanks to her skills. Understanding that they could lose about half the fighting force if she pushed too much, she agreed with the suggestion and stepped back. As she moved, Armory and Scythe left their positions on Hera and floated above the entrance to help the rest of the court better. Seeing that shift, Blue and Mylo stepped forward to hold the line while the court still dealt with those that were outside the arena.
Hera barely arrived besides Bonnie and Helena to take a break when a loud popping sound echoed in the forest. Everyone stopped to get ready, but nothing seemed to be happening for a moment, more popping sounds started to happen, and they sounded almost like popcorn.
"To the left! Incoming! Lurize block!" Adriel yelled.
Hearing the warning, the Royal Tutor took a defensive stance just as what looked like a large piece of wood slammed against his sword. The wood moved after bouncing off, and everyone could now see what it actually was. A grasshopper that looked like a sculpture made out of wood.
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Barkhopper - Level 20
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Just as the first monster did its second attack, the sounds of hundreds of popcorn kernels popping echoed in the forest.
Unbeknownst to the party, the elder and the man with a wooden mask watched the group from the walls.
"They are doing well. We might finally have some new blood in the city," the elder said with a smile.
"They have only been there for one hour. It takes much more for them to be able to live here," the man wearing a wooden mask replied.
"That may be so, but they are already doing things very well. Especially the blonde one."
"Which of the two?"
"The one that was leading the group. The other has some potential, and I think she is using this as a training exercise," the elder glanced at Bonnie.
"I don't like that. And the one you are talking about must have a legacy or something like that. She couldn't make those weapons if that wasn't the case. I feel no mana coming from them unless they use a spell," the man wearing the wooden mask said.
"The one using clouds also is on the same boat. Those are not simple spells. I can tell. Either way, we can have two new legacies in our city. Be it because they joined or because we defeated the monsters who killed them," the elder replied.
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