Spirit Child Chapter 30: The curtain rises, a dungeon ni deai o motomeru no wa machigatte iru darou ka fanfic

The counterattack had begun.

Cassandra had told Finn and Riveria about her visions, about the "Fate of the heroes", as if a story was told, Bell and Ais somehow couldn´t arrive at Orario until the last moment. While they had moved towards the battle as fast as possible,
the party had split up, during their way back, Finn had formed plans for various situations.

Immediately, they started to attack the monsters, turning the tide of the battle on the wall. Only moments had separated them from a catastrophe, every adventurer that died, would have created a hole in the defence of the city.

Bell raised his face after jumping onto the wall, landing in a heroic pose. He didn´t did that pose on purpose...he did it so often that it came naturally to him. He got aware of Lily behind him, but he had no time to talk to her. Bell panicked a bit when he saw her in danger and jumped in to save her.
A part of his mind rememberred a very similar scene in the dungeon, when he had fired his fire ball and jumped in to rescue her from a swarm of monsters.

The wave of monsters was pushed back, but didn´t broke. He jumped forward and pierced the first monster with Olympus, before slashing the throat of a next one. On their way back, he had changed the scabbards of his knives that were imbedded in his arm guards. Since he used Olympus with his right hand, the Hestia Knife also was in his right arm guard, so he could draw it with his left.
The adventurers around Bell stared baffled about the ease with which he mowed through the monsters. Except for the long run to Orario, Bell was in his top condition and he wanted to protect the people he loved. A monster tried to jump over the parapet, but Bell kicked it back down, whirling around and defeating two additional monsters.

"Find yourself a safe position!" He yelled to the adventurers behind him.

"There are no safe positions!"

"There is one..."

Bell glanced over his shoulder to Lily. "Behind me.."

With a fierce roar, Bell jumped intot he monsters again.

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"You shitty monsters dare to try to fool the captain!"

The members of the Ganesha Familia on this part of the wall were frightened. Not by the monsters...even when they had fought endless against them through the night... No they were afraid of the screaming whirlwind of death that came to save them.
Tione held one of her kukri knives in her left hand and punched directly with her right, sometimes ramming her fist into a monster and ripping out what counted as a magic stone in it. The fact that they lured them into a trap made her beyond furious.

"The captain didn´t fell for your trap!"

Another monsters head was ripped off.

"He only made you think he fell for it! HE lured YOU into HIS trap!"

When it came to Finn, Tione had slight...very slight problems to contain her anger. She crushed the skill of the next monster with her ellbow, whirling around and send some of her throwing knives flying, dissolving five monsters to ash in under two seconds.
The Ganesha Familia members behind her closed their ranks and charged at the monsters again.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR TRYING TO FOOL THE CAPTAIN!"

But...

They kept their distance to the enraged amazoness...

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Thrum! Thrum! Thrum!

The Modi and Magni Familia backed away slightly, not fromt he monsters but the enormous double sided sword that was whirled around by another amazoness. Tiona got the job to clean up the southern part of the wall, so she did.

"Stay behind me okay? I need room for my weapon!"

She was the complete contrast to her sister, Tiona grinned happily, finally they could face the monsters, without tricks and all that brain stuff, just fist against maw. Urga III was as amazing as her predecessors, the first one had melted, the second got destroyed later. The third one had a core of orichalcum, a gift from Bell.
Bell and Ais went into the dungeon often together, and one day Bell had found this dark ore, not knowing what it was, they took it with them. By chance they had met Tiona at the forge of the Goibniu Familia when they wanted to show it to the smithing god.
Goibniu told them that this was extremely rare, pure orichalcum, but the metal was too heavy for a weapon that Bell or Ais used. Bell saw Tiona´s shining eyes and decided to give the metal to a god, paying half of Tiona´s Urga III with it and using the rest as a core for her weapon.

"Argo, are you sure?"

"Well why not? You can use it and you are important to me too."

Before she could stop herself after seeing his honest smile, Tiona had hugged Bell and gave him a long kiss on his right cheek.

"Thaaaaaank you so much Argooo! *Chuuuu* Oh, sorry Ais."

"Ehe, it´s okay."

Bell had squeaked but Ais only chuckled. Tiona swore to herself that nothing would destroy Urga III.

And just how much stronger the new sword was!

Due to having a core of orichalcum, it was much heavier than the first two. Tiona was a true master with her enormous weapon, cleaved monsters in half as if it was nothing.

"That won´t work you little stinker!"

She raised her left arm, a monster was gnawing at her forearm, Tiona dealt a headbutt and pierced it a second later with her sword. She whirled her sword around again, it produced a deep sound like when something massive moved through the air.

Thrum! Thrum! Thrum!

"Hey everyone, you can follow me, but keep your distance okay?"

"Alright!"

"Thank you, Crusher!"

"We follow you, amazon princess!"

"Our queen!"

"What a beauty!"

The two familias followed the happily smiling amazoness. It was the first time that some handsome adventurers beside Bell treated her like a woman.

She rammed the tip of Urga through two monsters, catapulting herself up and snapping the neck of another with her bare foot. On the side she noticed how Bell and Ais fought, separate from each other.

They really look like heroes!

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"Stay behind me!"

Gareth pushed against a horde of twenty monsters at once, who tried to push him over the edge of the wall...some even clung to his back but didn´t managed to get through his defence.

"Yer littl´ maggots!"

The sturdy dwarf threw all monsters at once from him, slicing and hacking with his enormous axe. Some adventurers who saw his enormous strength and endurance, weren´t sure which one was the true monster. But everyone was thankful to him for saving their lives.
Gareth had the most experience of taking the direct frontline and made sure only a few monsters got past him. He didn´t raised his axe, but moved it from one side to the other, every monster that came in contact vaporated to ash.

Small sidestep...thrust...

Ais was in her element, she barely touched the ground as she flew more over the wall than she jumped. Most party members got a part of the wall they should defend, but not Ais, Finn told her to just move freely. She only glanced shortly to the side as she pierced the first monster, saving the life of that elf friend of Bell. On the side she noticed something at that elf, the sword and her outfit, Ais had seen this before...in the dark times. She had talked with Ryu only a few times...but now she remeberred her as a member of the Astrea Familia.
But mostly she rememberred something else...

Oh! So it is her from back then!

Ais had once fought with this elf over the last potato snack at a stall back then...she never forget a fight about potato snacks...

The small monsters were no problem at all, they were different from the ones of the first attack. Each stab or thrust let one explode to ash, each slash defeated two. Ais attack where the situation demanded it, glancing past the wall.
The enormous monster that was the leader was around two hundred meters away from the wall. In the corner of her hearing...Ais heard singing...a chant.

Buy them time, to lift the curtain...

Finn´s order, she didn´t knew what the latter part meant. All that mattered was to defeat the monsters. If someone would go in a direct line from this part of the wall to Babel, they would pass the Hearth Mansion where Bell lived...and Ais would absolutely defend this city and the home of her beloved.
Not that she would mind if Bell had to move in with her...

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"It´s Nine Hell, make room!"

Riveria jogged up the stairs, followed by Lefiya. These two didn´t jumped to the wall after the attack, Lefiya had only used her short chant spell to save Shakti Varna. Now both had another job.

Riveria...Lefiya...you two will lift the curtain for the last act!

She understood what Finn´s order meant.

They arrived at the top of the tower, there were fights on both sides of the tower, it was right in the middle of the attack. A sea of monsters was on the ground and washing forward to the wall, that they managed to climb Orario´s giant walls was terrifying enough...but that sheer number.
The wind caught Riveria´s cape when she finally climbed up the last stairs.

"Lady Riveria, what do we do now?"

"Our job, Lefiya, lifting the curtain. Come."

Both walked to the edge of the tower, the Ganesha Familia members behind them waited, guarding the stairs just in case. Her plan would only work because of Lefiya´s unique skill. Riveria tapped her staff one time on the ground and closed her eyes, as did Lefiya.

Under Riveria´s teachings she had learned a simple rule.

It was a mage´s duty to weave powerful magic and turn the tide of battle...

To chant their incantations no matter the circumstances. In other words, to put the trust in the comrades that fight at ones side and protect them. Lefiya had learned this lesson again and again, her trust in her comrades was absolute.

"Harbinger of the end, the white snow."

The tip of Riveria´s staff started to glow white, as did the Guardian´s White Torch, the wand that Lefiya inherited from Filvis, looking like ice. Blue light started to emit from their feet, particles of light flowed up in the air, almost looking like snow flakes. Both stood side by side, Riveria turned to the right, Lefiya to the left, to max out the area of their magic.
A giant doubble ring magic circle formed under their feet, symbols, runes and various other things filled it.

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Finn moved with ease and evaded the monsters, stabbing them and clearing the area around Shakti.

"Braver, will you give us orders?"

"Not at this point, Ankusha. You are the commander, I have another job to do."

"Understood."

To take over the command from Shakti in this situation would only confuse the other adventurers, also Finn had other plans...his thumb tingled...he felt something in the air and smiled.

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"Blow with the wind before the twilight. Closing light, the freezing land."

"Blow with the wind before the twilight. Closing light, the freezing land."

The two elves on top of the tower got a bit louder, Lefiya focussed only on the magic, not the army of monsters or her friends in danger. They would protect her, so she had to protect them. Ice formed under their feet, covering the magic circles.

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Bell showed a wild grin as he charged into the monsters, he jumped up and whirled around, landing a kick on one monsters head, slamming it into the ground with his left foot. There was no stop, Bell returned the grip on Olympus´ and rammed the sword through the next monster, following the movement of his turn and slashed a monsters bottom side from throat to tail with the Hestia Knife.
He returned the grip again, blocked a monster with Olympus and stabbed it´s neck with his knife. Bell didn´t charged himself, he had to spare all of his strength for the queen.

In the corner of his eye, he noticed long, blond hair waving in the wind, together with a fluffy tail. The person that was forbidden to fight until now ran to the tower where Riveria and Lefiya were. As far as Bell knew, Finn had stopped at her place for a moment to explain what they needed. It didn´t mattered now that Bell had told them her secret magic.
A perfect moment came, Bell raised his left hand and pointed the Hestia Knife at the long parapet, charging for one second before unleashing his magic.

"Firebolt!"

Due to the charge, a white line of fire rushed out of his knife. Bell had trained a lot how to use his magic in different ways and his beloved knife. The runes on the Hestia Knife flashed when the fire washed along it. It looked almost like a long whip of white fire, washing over the parapet and evaporating easily twenty monsters.
In an instant he moved again, they didn´t had much time.

"Blizzard, the three severe winters"

Bete growled and smashed another monster to the side, even he got slowly tired after fighting for so long. It was annoying, truly annoying. These monsters were so weak that not one of them was even the tiniest challenge...but their number was endless.
He heard two familiar voices chanting, knowing what would come...he grinned.

"Oy weaklings, we have to do our part too!"

He made sure that everyone was behind him, he was still their commander for the moment and...

No way in hell will they yell at me for getting a weakling hurt under my command!

Also he had promised the weakened Lena to be careful.

A orb of green wind and flowing blond hair flew towards him.

"Ais!"

He jumped up and raised his right foot, a maneuver they had done often enough together. Ais channeled some of her wind magic and fired it at Bete, his boots absorbed the magic.

"Okay time to make a ruckus!"

The wind magic encircled Bete like a small typhoon, creating basically countless blades of wind. This followed his jump kick and shredded many monsters, creating a path for the Loki Familia members behind him.

"The flame will soon be released. Creeping war, unavoidable destruction."

Both elves slowly opened their eyes as a red glow appeared under their feet, the thin ice shattered as the blue magic circle turned to a fiery red.

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Finn glanced over his shoulder for a moment, noticing the red glow on top of the tower. The curtain was about to rise, he had explained this specific plan to the party, so that everyone knew what they had to do.

"Ankusha, I need to go."

"Understood!"

He used his spear to defeat the monsters in his way, moving towards the tower. The others would now start to move too.

"The horn of battle sounds aloud, the cruelty of conflict will envelop all."

The glow of their staffs changed to orange, instead of white light particles and snow flakes, now sparks and small flames danced in the air. Riveria´s and Lefiya´s capes moved in the heat that came from below.
Both were completely calm and continued their chants, ignoring the monsters that tried to climb up at the tower.

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"Aerial...Tempest!"

When she arrived at the northern end of the battleline, Ais had turned around and moved back, towards the tower, Tione followed her. Her stabs came almost too fast to see them, every monster just exploded to ash, giving the adventurers time to form a closed formation again.

"Bete!"

"Understood!"

Ais pointed to the ground where the Freya Familia was fighting and looked at another member of her Familia, one of the faster ones.

"Hildrsleif, tower, hurry!"

The Loki Familia really was something else, not only had they much experience in fighting and dungeon crawling, they also had worked a long time on their communication. They didn´t needed to yell out complete orders, sometimes just how they pronounced something was enough.
Ais knew that Bete had really sharp ears and the way she yelled his name was enough for him to understand that she wanted him to follow her. The other Familia members guessed what would come now, Finn called this specific tactic "Rise of the Curtain".
It was the job of the high executives to gather and protect the mages, as well as get ready. And the lower leveled members would form ranks and counter all of the monsters attacks, their job was to defend themself.

Both moved fast along the wall and destroyed every monster on their way. But Ais had to stop at a certain point, Bete and Tione continued to move as Ais stopped. A few strong adventurers fought here against the monsters, one of them much, much stronger than the others, a very tall dwarf lady.

"Ms. Lyon, Absolute Shadow."

""Sword princess?!""

Ryu and Mikoto turned around when Ais landed behind them, looking confused.

"Thank y-"

"We don´t have time, move to the tower, to Riveria and Lefiya. They will explain, hurry!"

Ais gave them no time to answer and continued to move. Ryu looked confused at her friends, as did Mikoto with her party, but the situation here was under control.

"Go, Ryu."

"Mikoto, go."

"Mama Mia...understood! Please take care of the others."

"I will be back soon!"

"You bet!"

Ryu and Mikoto followed Ais, Tione and Bete, they cleared the path for them, but they wouldn´t join them, their goal was the entrance to the tower. The sight of three level six adventurers hacking their way through the monsters...that was something else...Ryu had almost forgotten WHAT monsters were in the Loki Familia. On the street below, they saw Haruhime entering the tower, she was probably running up to the top as well.

What are they planning?

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"Come, crimson flames, the ruthless inferno. You are the avatar of hellfire."

"Come, crimson flames, the ruthless inferno. You are the avatar of hellfire."

The capes of both elves waved faster in the rising heat, but both didn´t started to sweat. It was a very long incantation, but the rule for magic was, the longer the incantation, the stronger the magic spell. There were exceptions to this rule of course, but even Bell´s short chant spell was the strongest after charging himself for four minutes.

"Everyone! Fall back from the Parapet!"

Finn, Shakti and Lily yelled this command at different points of the battleline, the two part-time commander heard the chant and noticed the red glow. In the talks after the first attack, Finn had already talked to them about various tactics they would probably use in a city wide fight and how they would notice Riveria´s magic.
To say it simple, Finn really was a genious and had even thought about the possibility of such a fight like they fought it at the moment. The adventurers moved back as they were told and formed lines at the edge of the wall. For some it got even easier to fight like this, since the monsters could only see them after jumping over the parapet, that gave the adventurers about one second more to react to the monsters.
Those adventurers that used long weapons, like spears used this time, the killing rate rose.

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"Sweep completely, bring a close to the great war."

"Sweep completely, bring a close to the great war."

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Never before in his life did Bell ran so fast, Tiona and Gareth were behind him but he couldn´t wait for them, they also didn´t had the same goal anyway. The amazoness and the dwarf would move to the point of the tower where it rose out of the wall, Bell needed to move to the top. Both of his hands emitted particles of light, after unelashing the flame tongue once, he started to charge and gathered his Argonaut skill in his hands.
The tower was in front of him and he looked like a lawn mower as he hacked his way up to the top, in a speed that he used Olympus more like a ram than a sword and just pierced monster after monster. On his way up, Bell sheathed the Hestia Knife, he needed his left hand free.
The air in the stairway got filled with ash, the monsters didn´t even tried to stop him...they were only in his way.

The time felt like honey as he sped up even more, dared to charge his legs after one second, while his double charge in his hands continued...risky but necessary. He heard the voices of the two elves over his head, without noticing it, Bell also made the path clear for Ryu, Mikoto and Haruhime.
The last monster turned to ash as he arrived at the top of the tower, the guards of the Ganesha Familia lowered their weapons to let him pass.

"Burn them through, Sword of Surtr - my name is Alf!"

"Burn them through, Sword of Surtr - my name is Alf"

The song of these two elves together...Bell noticed on the side how beautiful their voices were, but he had no time...came only right in time. Both, Riveria and Lefiya had a wide stand, it was neccessary now. Bell rammed Olympus into the ground and jumped forward, sliding on his knees the last half meter. If the situation wouldn´t be so dire, what he did next would be outrages.
Riveria only twitched slightly without stopping her chant when Bell shoved his hand under her robe, ripping apart a tiny spot on her pantyhose so that he could touch her bare skin. His other hand touched Lefiya´s bare thigh under her skirt, he had to touch them directly to use his magic, but couldn´t risk touching their necks or ears now to not disturb them, because one wrong movement would mean to slap them. In case they would all survive this battle, Bell would apologize even if he had to do it.
The elves twitched one time when his magic rushed into her bodies again, raising their magic potential very much.

Lefiya´s and Riveria´s eyes widened when they felt the boost and their chant coming to an end. Lines of fire crouched down the tower and along the land in front of the tower. Due to Bell´s magic they were able to spread it over the whole front and over sixty meters away from the walls.

Like they did in the grass lands at the Beol mountains, Riveria and Lefiya added something to this part of the chant for the first time.

"Rea Laevateinn...RAGNARÖK!"

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Loki´s eyes in the chamber of the gods widened when she saw and heard what happened. She had cheered when her beloved children returned and that her cute, adorable, sweet, little Ais looked like a Valkyrie while she fought.
But when she heard the last word of the chant, she got goosebumbs.

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Along the lines in front of the walls, giant pillars of flames burst out, changing into literal tornados of fire. Each tornado was taller than the walls and they cremated the monsters, destroying every single one that charged up the towers, the fire moved forward and atomized land, grass, monsters and everything that got caught in it. That was the reason why the adventurers had to move away from the parapet, the heat was enormous but better than getting killed, yet all of them shielded their eyes from the brightness and faces from the heated air.
It sounded like the wrath of the gods itself, the flames had a slight white color as they washed forward, they didn´t just stopped at the end of the magic´s range but moved further.

Before it could hit the three alpha monsters and the Hydra, every line between the Hydra´s scales started to glow in a deep purple. Three of the five heads moved down and bit into the necks of the alpha monsters, purple color appeared between their scales too and they screamed like never before.

The fire washed over the leader monsters and burned away the Miasma for the moment.

Smoke and ash filled the air, many people on the walls coughed.

"The curtain has risen! Time for the last act! Attack!"

Finn, Gareth, Tiona, Tione, Ais, Bell and Bete jumped down from the wall towards the grassland. It was their job to deal with the queen of the monsters and their body guards. The name for the tactic "Rise of the curtain" came actually from Loki. She told Finn it sounded like a stage play, that a bombastic curtain was raised before the hero would have his big moment.

Smoke parted...the Hydra was unharmed, as were her three guards...new monsters came running from behind...but at the moment the field between the Hydra and the wall was clear.

Authors Note: Thanks a lot for the Reviews. To inform you, the next chapter here will be the whole fight with the hydra, so that there will be no cliffhanger...and it should be a long chapter. Will write as fast as possible.