Surprise Attack…
Glast Plains, Rune Midgard Border.
"AUSURA STRIKE!"
The Earth Petite's head blew open instantaneously, covering Chan in a slick red coating.
"Show off," Lulaba chided.
Chan sat down, panting heavily. "Heh, look who's talking! You've always been doing stunts nobody would ever dream about!"
Lulaba has always been known to be doing insane moves in the midst of battle. Her last act was with the Owl Baron, discarding her bow and charging straight at one of the Owl Dukes with a dagger. Everyone knew it was crazy for a hunter to even think of doing such a thing, except for Lulaba.
The duo was only a hundred metres from the Glast Heim east gate. "Okay, we'll stop here," Lulaba said to Chan. The monk nodded as he sat on the ground, meditating solemnly.
Lulaba straightened to her full height, looking out for anyone that might impede their progress. So far so good, nobody in sight.
: Auril, we've cleared the area. Bring in Abyss Well. : A feeling of agreement came in through the Guild Link.
A tingling feeling came around Lulaba's back. She spun around…nothing. But she had trusted her feelings more then once.
She whistled to her falcon, watching the world through its eyes. The sensation of flying filled her as Lulaba shared her falcon's vision. Her sense of sight was magnified brilliantly, revealing more detail then her own eyes could. The falcon scanned the land below from the air, detecting every tremble and shift in the landscape.
Then, it came to the wall of Glast Heim…a slight movement in the shadows. The falcon's vision became even keener as Lulaba fed mana into to her companion. The dark image suddenly formed into the shape of a Gargoyle, already drawing an arrow in its bow.
Everything happened in a split second. Lulaba's vision returned to her own eyes. She drew an arrow with a quick and trained hand, aimed it at the Gargoyle, and felt the familiar twang as she let an arrow fly to its mark.
It was a dead bull's-eye.
Her vision lapsed back into her falcon, confirming that the Gargoyle was shot. Lulaba saw the gruesome picture of an arrow protruding from the front and the back of the Gargoyle's head. Black blood seeped through the wall as the bloody corpse lay motionlessly on the ground.
"Hey, what happened? I heard you fire an arrow." Chan asked as he roused from his meditation.
"You are supposed to be meditating," Lulaba scowled.
"Humph, fine. Don't tell me then, I don't wanna know anyway." Chan closed his eyes again, looking calm and relaxed once again.
Lulaba checked the area one last time, then recalled her falcon. The great bird soared gracefully onto the huntress's shoulders. Lulaba rewarded it with a few pieces of Tarou meat she had in her pouch, and the flacon nibbled gluttonously on them.
"Pig," Lulaba chided.
The falcon nipped her ears with a bit more force then it usually did, as if it knew what she was saying.
Ten minutes later, two wizards and a sage joined Lulaba and Chan. They had cuts and slash marks and holes in their clothing, but no wounds present beneath them.
"You're late," Lulaba complained.
"Sorry, we ran into some trouble," one of the wizards replied. They went to work immediately.
"Alright," the sage said, flipping through an old book, "according to the Tomb of Ancient Rune, to seal an area, we need to concentrate our magic on a strong object, preferably an obelisk or a wall. We'll carve a magic imprint into it and then we'll wait for the Shield Team to do the rest. You've already memorized the spell, so I won't repeat how it's done. After we have confirmation that all imprints are in place, Abyss Legion will invade the city and destroy the Emperium. The Shield Team will activate the imprints once the Emperium is eliminated, making the desired force field. Any questions? Good. Let's move on."
The wizards nodded in unison, following the sage to specific spots of the city. Lulaba and Chan covered their rear, looking out for any wild monsters or enemies coming from Glast Heim itself.
A fancy display of lights sparked off as the first imprint took shape. Lulaba became gradually uneasy. The magic show was like a signal flare, revealing their position entirely to anything close enough to see it.
Chan whistled as the trio of spell crafters made a circle of light heavily decorated with patterns and lines within it. Then, in a second, the Circle vanished.
"Huh? What happened?" Chan asked in concern.
"Don't be an idiot. We don't want anyone to break the spell, so we aren't going to let the fireworks continue. It'll be exactly like screaming, 'Hey! I just broke into your house!' The point is not to be obvious."
Chan was hurt by the Sage's high-strung nature, but he made no motion to betray his feelings.
Lulaba peered around, only glancing at the three spell casters' work for a second. She was too edgy now to appreciate its beauty. She could hear small shuffling sounds all around them. Was the unseen foe planning a surprise attack? Or was it simply walking past them, not noticing their position?
No, it can't be. The magic spell they cast was far too obvious to be ignored at this distance.
Lulaba let her falcon soar into the air once more, surveying the area from the sky again. What she saw wasn't the least bit comforting.
: Auril, we've got a problem. :
The fifty Raydric and Raydric archers draw closer as Lulaba watched them through her falcon's eyes. She returned her vision to her own eyes, nudging Chan with an elbow.
"Chan, get ready."
"Huh?"
Before Chan could dwell deeper in the subject, ten Raydrics sprung from the bushes, brandishing their swords at the group of warriors.
Lulaba already had her bow out, five arrows drawn. She let lose the shower of arrows, every single one of them hitting their mark. Two Raydrics fell to the ground, their armour shells falling with a loud 'thump!'
Chan got back his bearings, charging at the approaching attackers, denting armour with his fists. One Raydric swung its sword at him violently, but Chan caught the sword mid-swing and crushed it into half with his bare hand. He used his other hand to force one of the spirit spheres around him into the Raydric's armour. The Raydric exploded as a psychic wave blasted through it, shooting scrap metal all around the grassy lands.
The two wizards cast the Storm Gust spell and Lord of Vermillion spells into the fray, careful not to hit Lulaba or Chan. The Raydric Archers in the back fired their last arrow before being blown into bits by the wizards' onslaught. Two arrows flew in the direction of Lulaba, heading straight for her head.
The sage saw this coming, and cast his Hocus Pocus spell. A protective barrier surrounded Lulaba as the sage let loose a Kyrie Eleison blessing.
Lulaba was surprised at her own carelessness. She could have easily gotten killed just now, if she hadn't been saved by the sage. But there was no time to thank him. Another Raydric charged at her, swinging its sword with the strength of a bull. Even with the Kyrie Eleison, Lulaba took no chances. She whacked the Raydric with her bow, flinching it just long enough for her to strafe two arrows into its chest at point-blank range.
Another Raydric fell as Chan let loose a mad but controlled flurry of blows into it. The wizards were working up their spells like their pants were on fire. They recited spells so quickly that it all sounded like a blur of noises. Fire, ice and lightning filled the field as their spells rampaged the Raydrics.
Only two Raydrics were left after what seemed like an eternity. Chan was filled with gashes and cuts while Lulaba only had a small bruise from hitting the Raydric with her bow. The wizards and sage was left unscratched.
The sage dispatched the Raydric with an Earth Spike and Lulaba's falcon had a taste of steel as it struck the last one with its beak and talons.
Just as they surveyed the damage, Auril rode on his peco peco, gazing at the destruction caused. "Damn, looks like I missed all the action."
"You're late too," Lulaba said disapprovingly.
Auril didn't bother to answer, so he went straight to the point. "Are preparations here done? The volunteers the King sent are very eager to storm the place ya' know."
Humph, like Lulaba cared the a bit. She wanted to go hunt that girl, the Moonlight Flower, not storm the city of some of the most powerful creatures in Midgard.
Auril continued to drone on, "Alice will be here too, she's supposed to lead us to possible locations where the Emperium may be kept. In any case, hurry up and get the job done here, the Abyss Well guild leader already informed me that the rest of the teams have set up the imprints on the rest of the walls." With that, Auril nudged his Peco Peco around, riding back to Geffen.
Lulaba was still a little suspicious of what just happened. Raydrics don't just pop out whenever they liked. They were manipulated by a stronger force, doing their bidding to the letter, like marionettes…
…Like they were ordered to do so.
Sudden realisation came to Lulaba. This attack was intentional, and such a large group of enemies gathered together to attack them was no coincidence.
Lulaba ignored Chan's request to lend him a few potions. She concentrated hard, contacting Auril again.
: Auril, we have another problem. :
Up in the sky, Lulaba's falcon soared in the air, looking for any prey it could catch. It spotted another moving object on the wall. It looked like it was peering over it, looking at the spot where the falcon's master was standing.
The falcon swooped down for a closer look, and found that it was what its master called an 'Injustice'. Just as it was going to report it to its master, the Injustice disappeared.
