Chapter 18: And it begins

"Alright everyone, be careful. Jasper, Lapis and Agate, stay with me. The rest of you stick with Galena. We'll all comb through the second floor. We'll take the west area, you guys stick to the east. Got it? Now let's go kill this ugly son of a poring."

Malene made sure to stay close to Galena and most especially Cryptos. She gripped her hunter's bow nervously, not wanting to have to face this thing without her brother to back her up. She stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry, you'll be fine. I can't be there for you all the time, you have to learn to fend for yourself. You did it when you were young and you can do it now. I believe in you Sel. Show them what the females of the Surculus clan can do."

She tried to keep from wrapping her arms around him and crying like she did as a child. But she knew that she had to stay strong. He only called her by her childhood nickname when he was either annoyed with her or trying to get her to listen.

"Right. Let's show this creep what we're made of."

They made their way towards the center of the ground floor of the factory, to the gift box staircase which separated them from safety and possible death.

"Alright guys, this is where we split up. Don't let your guard down. And Malene, be careful."

Malene slowly followed the others towards the east side of the factory. It felt weird to walk on a slowly moving conveyor belt, but it was the only path that led from the stairway in the center. The blind huntress kept her focus, trying to detect any and all sounds.

But it seemed as though the building was too quiet.

As they quietly padded their way through the factory, the unnerving silence was broken by a gruff voice and a sizzling magic attack thrown in Malene's direction.

"Watch out!"

She felt herself being pushed out of the way and knocked to the ground. She and her rescuer had barely had a chance to recover when another lightning bolt slammed down on the priest who had saved her.

"Emery, are you alright?"

"Yeah...I'm fine...nothing that a little heal can't fix..."

"Ice wall"

Cryptos' icy voice was heard as he cast a block of ice to buy them enough time to escape. But the blacksmith leader had other plans.

"Alright guys, we can do this. Em, I need some buffs so I can get melee on his ass"

"No way Len! It's too dangerous!"

"We came here to off this dude, so let's get it done."

Realizing her point, the priest cast several supportive spells on his teammates, knowing that this was the most he could do. After all, full support priests were never meant for battle.

"Cryptos, distract him long enough for me to get close. Malene, Go around him and try to get a clean shot. We only have one chance so let's give it all we got!"

The wizard nodded and ran around the icewall, then quickly cast another around himself for protection.

"Emery! I need a Suffragium! Now!"

The priest nodded and concentrated on his companion, enchanting him with a spell to shorten the time needed to cast. The air around the wizard began to glow as he chanted a spell. In the time it took for the ice to melt, the spell was already cast, and the ground began to tremble slightly as the wizard's voice called upon the power of the earth.

"Heaven's drive."

It only took a few seconds for the attack to reach the Stormy Knight. It didn't do as much damage as they had hoped, but it had distracted him long enough for Galena to get close.

"Mammonite!"

The attack was powerful, but it still wasn't enough to bring him down. He reacted by swinging his sword at the blacksmith, knocking her towards the wall. She managed a few incoherent words of encouragement before passing out.

During this short span of time, Malene was trying to find a suitable place from which she could snipe the Stormy Knight. But since she was the one who survived his attack from the day before, she suddenly became his main target. He charged up his energy for an attack which was sure to end her life. In the time that it took for Emery to warn her, a very powerful lighting bolt was already halfway to its potential target, the blind huntress named Malene.