Alright here's the next chapter, I made more time to work on it so I could get it out faster than I had the previous one. Without further ado, here's the second part of this arc.
Disclaimer: I don't own right of the shield hero
"Gwai gwai gwai gwai gwaiiii!"
Audrey felt herself stirring awake as she heard a rather unusual chirping sound that sounded like it might come from a bird but at the same time not so much, in short it wasn't any type of bird that the bow hero had ever personally listened to though (granted she never really made it a point to) that wasn't the problem with the said sound, what was was the fact the it sound like it was all but quite literally in her face only being mere centimeters away.
Now that she was more alert Audrey could swear she felt something tiny and yet oddly fluffy on her forehead. Figuring it was just a piece of cotton Audrey attempted to push it off of her face with her finger but the moment she felt whatever was on her face she discovered that whatever it may have been it was something that was alive due to three things.
First it was a lot more solid than any piece of cotton, second whatever it was had begun moving, rubbing or maybe nuzzling itself against Audre's finger and finally it began making even more profound "gwai" sounds.
Realizing that something alive was resting atop her forward Audrey quickly awoke gently grabbing whatever she had previously had on her in her hand whilst sitting up to look at what it was.
What greeted the college student's eyes caught her off guard completely. Sitting within her palms was a small sky blue bird waving its wings and making "gwai" sounds excitedly.
"Wh-what if the world?" Was all Audrey could bring herself to say whilst the bird kept chirping happily within her hands. A smile wormed its way onto the vow hero's face looking at the chick within her hands, if nothing else it looked downright adorable. When Audrey began using her finger to pet the chick's head it began rubbing its head against her finger eagerly.
It seemed that the bird-like monster was enjoying her affection to the fullest or rather the bow hero thought that to be the case before the chick suddenly hopped from her hands to the top of her head and continued making its unique chirping sounds whilst Audrey petted it with her finger.
Still unsure of what type of monster had suddenly decided to visit her while she along with both of her party members had been retired for the previous night she decided to pull up the only source of informationshe could get in the form of her hud.
Filolial level 1 (unnamed)
'A Filolial? Wait, does that mean this bird is basically the monster that Naofumi got for me when we last saw each other?' Looking over at the incubator Audrey got her answer when she saw the remains of what was once her monster egg there.
Reaching up and taking her new Filolial in her hands again she smiled at it whilst petting it chick. "So you've finally hatched after all this time."
The monster flapped its wings excitedly whilst letting out more 'gwai' sounds, inciting a giggle from Audrey. "Alright let's head out and see if anyone can tell me something more about you."
The chick let out another excited chirp.
"I take it that means you're excited to see new things."
XXXXX
It took some asking around but Audrey soon found herself directed to a local rancher who informed her that to start a Filolial off Diet wise it was best to start out with uncooked beans while it was small and eventually as it grow it would move on to eat meat from almost anything meaning Audrey could just let it eat any monsters they defeated.
Another albeit a less urgent matter on what name to give what was essentially her newest party member which begged the question of what gender the Filolial was.
Back when she first saw Filo she would have had a difficult time determining what gender filo was if she hadn't heard Naofumi refer to his second party member as "her" and "she".
Luckily the rancher was easily able to identify Audrey's own Filolial as a male so from there the otherworldly cardinal hero was able to come up with the name Mason which the Filolial seemed to take an immediate shine to though Audrey wasn't sure weather it was because it liked that particular name or because it came from her.
Still it meant that she was able to get the info she needed and managed to find a name her Filolial liked speaking of the latter.
Mason lv1
It looked like his new name was showing up in the party member roster so now she just had to find a place to get uncooked beans for Mason to eat.
Sitting him on top of her shoulder Audrey proceeded to give Mason a few more pets causing him to let out more chirps before nuzzling himself against the side of Audrey's cheek.
Finding a food stall that sold what Audrey was looking for which immediately excited Mason. The process of feeding feeding the newly born Filolial earned more chirps from the chick as well as a few giggles from the bow hero as she watched Mason eagerly swallow the beans whole and actually let out what sounded like a burp of some kind; honestly Audrey found it surprising that it had the ability to burp at all, she thought only humans could do that.
"Alright now that we got you fed and named, let's see if our other two members are up yet."
heading back to the Inn Audrey quickly found her teammates looking around the lobby area frantically before the both spotted her and came over.
"We were about to look all over Herba for you when we both realized you weren't in the room we were sharing." Bluebell said.
"Sorry about that, the newest addition to our party woke me up and I had to take them out."
Bluebell and Baxley both tilted the heads to the side while letting out a simultaneous "huh" before Audrey poked at Mason causing him to chirp and move, allowing both of her other party members to take notice of him. In the following moments or maybe more so to the point instantly the former of her first two party members managed to dash forward at speeds that seemed unnatural even by this world's standards closing the distance between herself and Audrey.
The next thing the bow hero knew, Bluebell had somehow snatched Mason up from her shoulder and was nuzzling the tiny bird against her cheek while chanting "you're so adorable!" Repeatedly whilst Audrey and Baxley (along with everyone else present) could only sweat drop at the sight of Bluebell's antics. Still no one could deny Mason was adorable for his size.
While Bluebell was busy ogling the Filolial chick Baxley walked over beside Audrey. "So I take it that's the monster that hatched from your egg then?"
"Yeah, I woke up with the little guy sitting on my forehead chirping up a storm. When I realised what he was I decided to take him out to learn what I could and get home fed and also pick a name for him."
Baxley pulled up his hud and saw the Filolial's name registered in the party roster. "Mason huh."
"Yeah after finding out that he was a male from the local rancher I gave him that name. From what I saw from his reaction he liked it."
"I suppose this means we'll have something more to occupy today?"
"Pretty much." Audrey mused. "Since we're already going to be doing a bit of reconnaissance in the nearby grove to begin with, we now have a reason to hunt some of the moths we heard of."
"Collecting experience points for Mason and leveling him up?"
"The faster we catch him up to our general levels the better."
"That a fair point but from what we were told yesterday the moth monsters were only early to mid twenties in terms of levels, even if we get him the most out of what the grove can offer he won't be able to take part in the mission.
"Yeah but that's still far better then having him remain at level one and I never planned on having him take part in our mission."
"Okay so when do we head out into the grove."
"As soon as Bluebell gets done ogling Mason and we get something to eat."
XXXXX
"Can I please see Mason one more time?" Bluebell pleaded.
"You've already had time to ogle him earlier, now we need to get an idea of this place's layout and level Mason up." Audrey replied with a sigh.
Even though the bow hero initially thought her first companion would calm down after having a chance to ogle Mason long enough, however….she was wrong, very VERY WRONG.
after an entire set of ten entire minutes Audrey actually had to take Mason away from Bluebell who was more than a bit chagrined by it and then throughout the course of breakfast Audrey had to order Bluebell's food for her then practically order Bluebell to eat it since she was too busy staring longingly at Mason rather than eating.
And now instead of paying attention to the group's surroundings and noting the lay of the land Bluebell was badgering Audrey to see Mason again, the only positives that were a factor in this situation was the fact that even if the two of them were too caught up in bickering because the former couldn't get her priorities straight at the current moment in time Baxley was there to actually memorize the lay of the grove.
So far the closest things anyone could use as a landmark were occasional boulders here and there along with a miniature pond. Beyond that there hadn't been much of any type of sign of anything else being present so far but the party hadn't covered that much ground yet.
That changed soon enough when the group stumbled upon another miniature pound and found a handful of what looked to be black colored moths with dark blue wings that seemed to lack legs and were around that the size of a child.
According to her hud the creatures were officially called "killer moths" which were around the level Audrey was informed of. "It looks like we found our first batch of experience points for our newest member." Mason let out an excited chirp whilst both of the bow hero's teammates drew their weapons (a bit the bow hero's relief since it meant Bluebell was actually now focusing on what she was supposed to).
Dealing with the moths was a straightforward task since the three had no levels to gain and discovered the creatures apparently preferred using the edge of the wings to attack their prey since their attack method involved flying at their intended target and trying to clip or graze them with the said edges their wings overall Audrey couldn't have been to sure since none of the group took any damage or were even hit for the matter.
Mason was able to accumulate a great deal of experience points due to the level difference between himself and the Killer moths and immediately shot past level ten with just that first cluster.
Seeing as there were no more enemies around the immediate vicinity Audrey was about to lead the group away to the next area before Baxley asked her and Bluebell to wait much to the confusion before he elaborated further.
"There are a few signs of what happened to some of the others that came here before us, look." Baxley said, pointing at an area of the forest that looked untouched at first glance before both women realized what he was referring to.
Scattered around the ground and a few nearby trees were occasional bloodstains. "There's a trail they're making." Baxley noted gesturing further down the area where the stains seemed to still be visibly present "Whoever this dried blood belongs to went or more than likely fled in this direction."
"Let's see if it leads us to anything." Audrey replied before she led her teammates down the trail the bloodstains created, along the way the group also spotted some actual tracks in the form of footprints. It became apparent that whoever left them behind was going in the same direction that Audrey and others were currently headed in. No one was certain whether they would find their target contrary to what the tavern proprietor told them about it only appearing once every three nights or another adventure who was still alive or even a corpse.
Honestly while Audrey didn't want to be downright pessimistic she had a sinking feeling that if her group did indeed find someone who came here before them they'd were all but guaranteed to be dead judging from the amount of blood the group was finding, it might have been scattered into little stains here and there but they were more the numerous enough to point a clear enough picture that whoever the blood came from had been injured badly.
Soon the group came to a clearing and stumbled upon a sight that made Bluebell gasp, Baxley wince, and Audrey resist the urge to vomit. In the middle of the clearing was what as the bow hero had previously suspected it would be a corpse or rather half of one.
The body was that of a middle aged adventure with the entire lower half from the waist down missing and entrails hanging out for all to see. Just when Audrey thought she was getting used to seeing terrible sights after witnessing the destruction the second wave wrought and the atrocities of the bandit gang that destroyed cadia when they left dead bodies of slaughtered men and raped woman throughout the streets this world seemed to throw another disturbing sight her way.
It looked whatever the party's target was, it really was able to tear those it encountered to shreds just as they were all told back at the tavern the previous day.
Baxley was the first to find his voice again. "I didn't have much hope that we would find anyone alive in this place but even with all that we were told I didn't think our target would be this ferocious."
Audrey almost wanted to chuckle at that statement, her teammate had practically taken the words right out of her mouth. It was now abundantly clear that if her teammate weren't able to defeat whatever this mystery monster was they'd not only be killed mercilessly but be gored and mutilated in the process.
No, that wouldn't happen, no matter what took place when the time for the mission actually came Audrey would not let any of her party member be subjugated to such a horrendous death even if it cost the bow hero her very own life, she might not have been able to do anything to stop Saphera's death after what became of Cadia be she could save her friends if the time came to do so during the mission.
"And yet we'll be the ones facing it." Bluebell noted.
"Don't worry." Audrey said, snatching the sword user's attention before continuing. "I won't allow either of you to die as long as there's breath in my body."
Both of the bow hero's teammates gave Audrey looks that were surprisingly unreadable to the cardinal hero before the trio suddenly heard rustling from the surrounding trees and bushes before numerous killer moths emerged from them and came flying towards the party from all sides.
"Try to stay together, even though we have the advantage in levels I don't want to risk providing these things the opportunity to divide and conquer us one by one." Audrey declared.
"Right/Got it." Came the simultaneous reply of both Bluebell and Baxley. Quickly finding where the biggest group was Audrey utilized her rain arrow skill taking out the said group creating a gap in the circle that the horde of killer moths had made around her party. Bluebell meanwhile had shot off a fast thunderbolt spell whilst Baxley leapt at the first few to get close to the party and dispatch of them a few swipes of his ax.
While the party was off to a good start the enemy was still more than a bit numerous, likely around over forty of them from what Audrey could tell, speaking of the bow hero she wasted no time in beginning to shoot down one after the other in quick succession.
Both Bluebell and Baxley were also doing pretty well in holding off the onslaught of enemies coming after them however they did find themselves having to utilize some caution to make sure no strays got the jump on them and even Audrey had to make an occasional earth wall to stop the advance of some clusters.
"This is proving to be a bit tedious to deal with." Bluebell said.
Audrey grunted as she was forced to utilize a quick dash in order to avoid a killer moth getting the jump on her via ambushing her from behind and taking it out with a single arrow. "True but this is a lot more preferable than the first time we were outnumbered."
"Fair point." Bluebell conceded slicing through three more killer moths in quick succession.
"At the very least this skirmish is allowing us to take care of our other objective while we're here." Baxley mused referring to the need to level up Mason which was true, thanks to the horde of killer moths the Filolial in their party had already just about reached level twenty. Audrey was certainly glad for the silver lining at least.
Using her poison mist skill she inflicted poison status on another cluster of moths that were bunched up together before shooting one down that tried to ambush Bluebell from the rear while she was preoccupied with stabbing another moth through. "Alright let's mop up the last stragglers so we can scope the rest of this place."
"No need to tell me twice." Baxley replied, cleaving one of the last killer moths in half.
Bluebell bashed another one of the remaining moths to the ground with her shield before leaping above it and pointing sword downward and letting gravity take care of the rest as she stabbed the still down moth through its chest. The scene somehow reminded Audrey of a certain game from her own world but she didn't have time to think about that.
After another minute or so the entire horde of killer moths was finally done for. Glancing at Mason's name in her hud Audrey was pleased to see that Mason was now all the way up to level twenty two. "Barring any more huge ambushes from the killer moths in this place, let's finish getting the lay of the land."
With that the party continued scoping the forest finding the occasional group of killer moths here and there but just small groups none like the horde that the party was jumped by back in the clearing, though it didn't really matter another horde would have more or less meant another delay the trio didn't need and the occasional small groups they did encounter mine as well have been gravy for Mason in terms of experience points.
One thing that everyone was glad not to find was anymore bloodstains or mutilated corpses; one gut wrenching sight was enough for one day. In terms of the actual scenery all the group stumbled across was more of the same stuff they have already seen in the form of thick greenery, boulders and another miniature pond, the only new things they found were a shallow creek and a small cave that was empty.
After around another two and a half hours Audrey and the others came to the other end of the grove. "It looks like we've found the opposite side, let's scope the outer edge before we head back."
As the group did just that, Bluebell brought up a question that was lingering on everyone's mind. "Where do you think our target is residing?"
Audrey simply shrugged "Not sure but it might be for the best, it wouldn't be favorable to run into now."
"Maybe but I still can't help but find it odd."
Baxley shrugged "we were informed that it would only appear once every three nights."
"I know but a part of me still thought we'd at least see some sign of where it was likely hiding if not the target itself but we've found next to nothing."
Audrey pondered this within the confounds of her mind; what Bluebell was saying wasn't untrue by any stretch, aside from the blood stains and the mutilated body they stumbled upon before there was nothing that truly stood out. If their target was somewhere within the grove it found one hell of a hiding spot. Even when the bow hero used her scouting skill occasionally she only found more killer moths here and there but not a trace of the party's actual target.
Maybe the scouting skill didn't work because it was still at level one? It was worth testing out the theory. As Audrey opened her hud she drew curious looks from both of her teammates. "Um Audrey, what are you doing?" Bluebell inquired.
"I'm about to level up my scouting skill to see if I can find anything with it that I wasn't previously."The process sucked up almost all the miscellaneous materials she had stored in her bow (not the herbs she collected) but she ultimately succeeded.
Scouting lv 2 of 5
'Now that that's out of the way.' Audrey thought as she leaped onto a tree branch to gain a higher vantage point for whatever it might have been worth and activated the newly improved skill.
There were two things that improved with the skill the first was its max range and the second was that it allowed her to see killer moths that were trying to conceal themselves within bushes or behind trees. Essentially she was now able to find enemies that were using basic hiding spots that anyone could think of on top of any enemies hiding in plain sight.
However in spite of the improvement her efforts bore no fruit in finding the target, whatever it was it was hidden too well for anyone to find any trace of. With the way this turned out a part of Audrey was starting to wonder if the target really was somewhere inside this grove. Either way it looked like the party really was going to have to wait until the third night.
The rest of the way back was uneventful to say the least, all the group found even along the outer edge with the only major difference was that now that was a grass field beyond that tree line and that the party didn't seem to encounter anymore killer moths, Audrey guessed that the reason was that the creatures preferred to stay deeper within the grove, considering that the group didn't stop occasionally running into them until they reached the edge of the place and that they never seen a single one of the moths outside this place only strengthened Audrey's belief in that. Not that it mattered but it did mean one less hassle to deal with whilst returning.
However once Audrey and the others finished coming back recon and training (for Mason) trip they came to an unanticipated sight that had put both Audrey and Bluebell on edge, at the entrance of Herba the people seemed to have gathered in a large crowd for an unknown reason and the atmosphere they gave off was tense. Honestly this was reminding both women of when Mien and Motoyasu showed up in Lute though neither of them really wanted to deal with any repeat of that situation or anything that could be considered even remotely similar in nature.
Still in spite of whatever reluctance any member of the party had to get involved they couldn't just ignore whatever was going on if if truly put the welfare of the Herba settlement in jeopardy after all none of them wanted to see the place turned into another Cadia; a fact that became more and very grimly apparent when an unfamiliar voice called out.
"We know the bow hero is here, either show us where she's staying or at least her corpse if your unusual monster has already offed her, otherwise this matter will escalate in ways you won't like."
Upon hearing this declaration Audrey and the others hurried over to where the crowd of villagers were located and saw the source of the voice was a middle aged man likely within his early thirties. Along with him was a large group of what looked to be various mercenaries both male and female possessing an array of different weapons, all of whom looked alarmingly eager for blood.
"This is ridiculous, who are you to come to our home making demands and threats to us?"
The man who appeared to be the leader of the mercenaries just smirked. "It's part of the job I was given that promised one hell of a reward for me and all my associates here and if you peons must know my name's Berg, soon to be the most famous mercenary throughout the world."
She had not even met this man and Audrey was already deeply disgusted with him. He exuded a great deal of arrogance on par with the king, his daughter, and the other two heroes.
If this man now identified as Berg really intended to harm those living here in Herba Audrey wasn't going to hesitate to send him to the deepest pits of hell. Before Audrey or any member of her party could say or do anything another new voice spoke out.
"How arrogant, are you really so deluded as to think you are in a position to threaten the lives of anyone and everyone around you or do you simply target those you believe you think lack the simple ability to defend themselves? Either way you're a rather pitiful excuse of a man."
Berg's face turned from a self important smirk to being contorted and red with rage as he look in the direction of the new voice and saw a woman around Audrey and Bluebell's age who had a very pale complexion along with shoulder length bleach white hair and red eyes all of which indicated her being an albino.
She wore a shoulderless and sleeveless thick black shirt that wrapped around her chest and upper back with a red circular decorative jewel piece in the front with a see through fabric just below the black shirt that hugged her entire midriff. A medium length black skirt that came down just below her knees exposing that she wore traveling boots that looked out of place considering the rest of the woman's attire. Around her shoulders was a black cloak held in place by a button on the top of her left shoulder and tied around her hip appeared to a dagger that appeared to have a hilt with an ornamental design.
Overall the woman in question mostly looked like a dark themed mage with her attire save for her boots and dagger. Her face didn't portray any type of fear or even wariness but rather simple annoyance at Berg's arrival along with the nemours Mercs he brought with him.
None of that seemed to matter to Berg, the mercenary leader from the looks of it was blinded by rage at the woman's dismissal of his threat to the village along with her assessment of him. "You must really have a death wish to be talking down to me like that."
The woman only snorted. "I highly doubt I'll ever have any reason to fear, respect, and least of all be even remotely impressed by you. Especially when you're threatening the lives of villagers unprovoked simply out of nothing more than a sense of misguided bravado."
Berg let out a laugh laced with bitterness and anger before snarling at the albino woman. "It looks like you get to be an example to the rest of these people."
"Like hell that's gonna happen!" Audrey yelled. Shooting an arrow that grazed Berg's cheek and left a deep gash that caused him to yelp out in pain whilst she and her party members ran out in front of the crowd along with the Albino woman.
"What the?- YOU!" Berg exclaimed as soon as he saw Audrey before regaining his initial smile. "Well it looks like I didn't have to do much to find you."
"Considering what an ass you're making of yourself it's kind of impossible to ignore you even if I wanted to."
"You got quite the mouth on you, not unlike this other lady who doesn't know her place."
"Maybe because her assessment of you is spot on, you're pretty cowardly to show up in a village out of the blue and threaten civilians to extort what you want."
The Albino woman spoke up next. "And as for my place, that's not for any spineless whoreson cur like you to decide."
Before Berg could reply one of the other mercs spoke up. "There's a demi human in with the bow hero."
Berg's gaze shifted over to Baxley and his expression shifted to a more predatory grin. "You're right, it looks like we can make little extra money selling him into slavery. Let's make sure to capture him ali-aagg!"
Berg let out a yelp of pain when another arrow grazed his cheek again leaving a second gash above the first one before he looked at Audrey who was now oozing murderous intent.
"I was gonna ask what you wanted but now I couldn't care less, I'm only offering you one chance to get your asses back on your carts and get the fuck out of village or I'm not gonna to let a single one of you leave here alive."
"Big talk for someone who's going to die!" Berg declared before drawing a sword with an orange colored blade and addressing the other mercs.
"Kill anyone helping the bow hero along with that other lady and capture the demi human, I'll deal with the bow hero personally, everyone else is fair game."
As the mercenaries were about to charge everyone Audrey quickly used her rain arrow skill to temporarily stop them before turning and addressing the villagers.
"Anyone who's able to fight please help us, the rest of you need to get inside now!"
The inhabitants wasted no time between either going inside of whatever house they lived or the nearest establishment they could find and either stay inside or come back out with a weapon in hand. The latter faction only consisted of a small number of locals and other visiting adventurers.
Just before everyone could finish either hiding or arming themselves however the barrage of arrows raining down in the space between everyone and the invading mercs stopped, causing Berg to smirk as he pointed his sword at Audrey. "Let me show you my trump card before I kill you!"
With that a torrent of flame shot out from Berg's sword towards the bow hero who had luckily readied an earth wall spell in advance before the fight even started and cast it making an earthly slab rose from the ground in front of her and the others and block the incoming attack.
"Alright let's hurry and engage them." Audrey said, drawing a worried look from Bluebell before she continued. "I know it's reckless considering we're outnumbered but we can't let the people who live here get dragged into this."
Upon hearing this Bluebell became much more resolute and ran from behind the earth wall while Baxley emerged from the other side as Audrey leaped on top of the earth wall she had just made and began firing arrows and different mercs picking off as many as she could while her teammates engaged those closest to them.
A few enemy mercenaries were easily taken out but a few managed to dodge her shots. Meanwhile Berg once again pointed his sword at Audrey. "Your fight's with me!"
With that he shot another torrent of flame at Audrey forcing her to leap off the wall to avoid the attack before she was forced to use her quick dash skill to create distance between herself and a merc who tried to rush before putting an arrow in their eye killing them instantly.
Bluebell meanwhile had blocked one mercenary's attack with her shield while stabbing another in the heart with a single thrust of her rapier.
A moment later another enemy ran at Bluebell with a spear in hand ready to impale her. However before they get close a purple orb of pure dark magic hit them square in the chest blowing a gaping hole clean through it ending the mercenary on the spot. Bluebell turned to see the albino woman from before with her hand extended outwards.
"Th- thank you miss…"
"Nera, and like yourselves I don't condone such an horrendous act so I'll lend my assistance in ridding the world of those whose lives are detrimental to the welfare of the world."
"Right." Bluebell mused before turning her attention to the other merc whose attack she had previously blocked and was also distracted by Nera's participation in the fighting and quickly disposed of them with another quick thrust of her weapon.
Meanwhile Baxley found himself further on the backfoot as a group of three mercs acting in sync attacked himself forcing him to stay on the defensive as he had to block a short sword swing from a skinny man, parry a thrust attack from and scantily armored woman (think of an armor that's practically nothing more than a metallic string bra and thong-I'll explain the reason in the author's note) wielding a polearm then jump back to dodge a swing from a broadsword user before the short sword user came to attack again.
'Dammit I need to find a way to turn this around before….!' Baxley's line of thought trailed off as he realized he had been pushed back to the other side of the earth wall Audrey had initially created.
He inwardly chastised himself in allowing his individual skirmish to reach past the earth wall since it meant the rest of Mercenaries not preoccupied with one of the party members would have the opportunity to go after any civilians that had yet to lock themselves inside of one of the buildings.
"You know what? Let's loot and burn this place!" One of the enemies shouted out before many others shouted in unison and began running further into Herba.
"Don't you bastards have any honor?"
"We're making the bow hero pay for siding with the shield hero and demi humans as well as putting you, who is one of those very demi humans, in your place. What could possibly be more honorable than that?" The short sword user said and he swung his weapon in a wide arc forcing Baxley to parry the blow.
The female polearm user brought her weapon down in a wide vertical arc forcing Baxley to jump to the side before following up her partner's previous statement. "Besides who says we can't make an extra profit from the valuables here?"
"If news gets out about what you're trying to do every single member of your band will be deemed criminals by the entire country."
Baxley blocked a swing from the broad sword user who grinned. "That won't be a problem if there's no one left alive to tell others about what's happening here. Hell we'll probably be lauded as famous heroes ourselves for taking down the bow traitor."
The hyena demi human felt his blood boil with rage. These people were no better than the bandits he was previously enslaved by, no if anything they were actually worse, at least the bandits who destroyed Cadia didn't put up any type of facade to hide their true nature.
Meanwhile Audrey, getting fed up with Berg had also noticed many of the invading mercenaries running further into the village and in hopes of stopping what they were attempting decided to use her chain arrow to temporarily restrain Berg before taking off after those who had decided to target the civilians and was meant with a sight that brought her much needed relief.
Apparently the silver lining came in the form the villagers and adventurers who were previously arming themselves to fight were now opposing the would-be pilligers.
"Thank goodness." Audrey muttered to herself, it seemed like she and the others could stop Herba from being made into another Cadia after all.
"You plan on burning our home, over our dead bodies!" One of the armed villagers yelled out clashing weapons with one of the mercs.
"No honorable mercenary would ever agree to a job as deplorable as this. These are good men and women in this village so I won't stand by and watch." An adventurer said.
Quickly picking off a few invading mercs here to ensure the defenders would have better odds Audrey turned her attention to Baxley's fight with the trio he was being pushed back by and went through the quickest incantation she could manage before casted a wind trap in a spot Baxley had previously occupied just after he jumped back.
When the broadsword user tried to close the distance between themselves and Baxley the wind trap sprung sending the man sailing into the air.
"What the when did…..!?" The short user stopped when he spotted Audrey taking aim at him and barely managed to throw himself to the ground in time to avoid being shot.
The female polearm user snarled at Audrey but then just as suddenly her face changed into a smirk.
Fortunately Audrey was able to guess the true meaning behind it and used her quick dash skill to evade a blast of flame that hit the spot she had just previously occupied before turning her attention back to Berg.
"I'd worry more about myself than some lowly demi if I were you." He declared before he swung his sword creating a crescent shaped flame and sending Audrey and dodged the attack and returned fire with a small number of arrows in quick succession.
Berg countered the attack via sending out another flame to incinerate the incoming arrows before smirking. "It's no use with the flame brand sword I'm unstoppable even to one of the heroes, you mine as well surrender your life now."
Audrey was finding this man's cockiness increasingly irritating to deal with, he really thought because he countered a basic head attack and had a sword that possessed fire magic he had already won this, that he was so inherently powerful just because of the latter?
Well if that was the case Audrey was going to give him a rude awakening before she ended him. As Berg shot another torrent of fire at her Audrey used a fast tornado spell which clashed with the opposing fire attack and the end result ended up both attacks canceling each other out however Audrey was one step ahead.
Taking aim Audrey decided to utilize another skill while Berg was distracted by their previous spectacle.
"Thunder arrow." Audrey's arrow converted itself into a stream of lighting that flew towards Berg who attempted to block with his sword only for the attempt to backfire on him when his weapon simply acted as a conductor for the lighting to travel through before reaching his hand and subsequently the rest of his body giving him a painful shock in spite of his best efforts causing to him to cry out.
However the damage to the mercenary leader was mitigated enough that he wasn't killed outright. "Da-dammit!" Berg spat out as he found himself weakened to the point he was now being forced to use his weapon as a makeshift crutch so as to not fall over.
Audrey was about to deal the final blow when another thought occurred to her, while she couldn't care less about Berg's personal motivations for his actions and ending him would be a simple task since he was nothing compared to the last individual who made an attempt of Audrey's life she needed to find out or rather confirm how he knew she was even in Herba.
Utilizing her quick dash skill Audrey shot herself straight towards Berg whilst thrusting her elbow out before crashing it straight into Berg's nose breaking it and sending him to the ground.
Groaning in a mixture of pain and frustration Berg attempted to tighten the grip of his weapon only to find it had long left his hands back when Audrey broke his nose. Looking around he Berg spotted his prized weapon laying in the dirt a couple feet away from where he was laying but before he could even begin to make an attempt to retrieve it….
"Chain arrow."
The leader of the mercenary band found himself wrapped up in chains once more before a newly fired arrow found its way into his upper left arm.
"So tell me, who sent you here?"
"Why the hell would-arrrgghh!" Berg cried out in pain as Audrey let loose an arrow right into his arm.
"The faster you answer the question the more pain you'll save yourself before the end."
Upon hearing this Berg for the first time since this entire confrontation began to feel a genuine sense of fear. "Wait, are you saying you're going to kill me?!"
"You're the one who started all this in the first place and last I checked you intended to kill me and Bluebell and enslave Baxley, and that's not even counting the part where you decided you were entitled to butcher every man, woman and child in this village simply to stroke your ego." Audrey spat out with venom lacing her voice.
With fear gripping his heart more firmly Berg was unable to find his voice to reply.
"After all that I don't think you or a single member of your band have the right to complain about what happens to you when you're no better than bandits who pillage slaughter and rape innocents out of nothing more than a sense of self entitlement."
Audrey felt her rage at the invaders rise as she subconsciously recalled the massacre a that had taken place in Cadia the bodies of the slaughtered guards that Motoyasu needlessly offed due to his delusional nature, the raped bodies of the woman who didn't suvive the onslaught, the children who laid dead with torror eched into the face, Saphera who chose to die because of having lost everything and disillusionment with the heroes.
"I think at this point your death goes without saying, the question isn't whether or not you want to die but rather you want the process of it to have a minimal or maximum amount of pain."
"Wi-wait pl-please, I promise I'll never come near you or your party again so please don't kill me, I don't want to die."
"I'm not offering you a choice, now tell me what I want to know, was it the guild master from the capital who sent you?"
Berg felt his stomach grow cold upon hearing Audrey's question but wasn't unable to find his voice and remained silent.
Before Audrey could shoot another non vital spot she heard a scream of pain from none other than her teammate Baxley. Looking over in his direction Audrey saw that he had just been stabbed in the leg by the female polearm user and the about two more mercenaries joined the initial trio in ganging up to capture Baxley.
The board sword user grinned before pulling out a pair of shackles. "Hold his arms."
Baxley tried to stand up to defend himself but the female polearm swung the blunt part of her weapon into his injured leg causing the demi human to cry out in pain and giving the short sword user the chance to grab his primary arm and wrestle his ax from his grip.
As Audrey watched the scene, her mind practically went black.
Do you desire power?
The female polearm user laughed out triumphantly before grabbing Baxley's other arm.
Audrey's hud came up with a new notification. Activate bow of wrath II?
Meanwhile the two other mercs who had jumped in the fight with Baxley grabbed both of his shoulders completely neutralizing the use of his arms and forcing him to his knees.
While the board sword user had now sheathed their weapon and began walking towards Baxley with a malicious grin. "With how much fight you had you auto fetch a pretty high price from the slave trader."
"Dammit!" Was all Baxley could mutter to himself. Even though Audrey had previously helped and gave much needed breathing room with the initial fight with the trio he was faced with the other two newcomers had to jump in and turn the odds back against him
He should have activated his fast guard spell beforehand then that sneak attack the female polearm user pulled wouldn't have been nearly as effective in terms of damage but everything from the mercenary band suddenly showing up out of nowhere to this fight happened so fast Baxley didn't have any time to think ahead so he simply followed Audrey's lead and acted to defend Herba.
Now it might have all been for nothing, in another few moments he would be in chains and taken away to be sold on slave market again. 'I'm sorry Audrey, even though you gave me a second chance, and even promised to help save someone I care about, I won't ever be able to repay you.'
Before the broad sword user get close enough to reach Baxley and cuff him an Arrow longed itself in the broadsword user's hand causing him to cry out on agony and drop the shackles to all the mercs' shock whilst Baxley glanced in the direction that the arrow had come from and was met with a sight that filled him with confusion and worry.
As he expected the arrow had indeed come from Audrey however what the hyena demi human had expected to see was a new bow variant within her hands, while the variants he had seen already varied greatly in shape and size even to the point the whatever was formed could hardly be considered a bow by some peoples' standards the one Audrey current held in her hands was far more ominous looking with an large ebony with red symbols scattered along its surface.
Along with the new bow variant the other thing that worried Baxley was that Audrey's face was contorted in pure rage to the point that it felt unnatural. While Baxley could easily agree that every member of this mercenary band deserved nothing short of being put to the sword without the slightest semblance of remorse or pity he had a gut feeling that Audrey was in a state where she was liable to lose sight of her goal of protecting the people of Herba.
His attention was jerked back to the broadsword when he started screaming to the top of his lungs the reason being that the arrow lodged into his hand converted into flames that engulfed his entire lower arm.
The broadsword users' screams of agony only seemed to grow louder with every second that it was becoming hard to listen to without feeling disturbed by it. Unfortunately for the mercenary his agony was only beginning as he soon found out when the flame began spreading up his entire arm and over the entirety of his body.
All the mercenary could do was writhe on the ground even begging his allies to kill him until death itself finally took hold of him.
Once the flames died down leaving the charred remains of the body the other would be capters starred at Audrey with pure terror in the eyes.
"No reward is worth this!" The short sword user yelled out before trying to turn tail and run away only for Audrey to seemingly blur out of sight from where she was initially standing and reappearing right in front of him and causing him to stop dead in his tracks and fall flat on his butt. "Pl-Please no!"
Before he could say anything more Audrey had already manifested an arrow within her hand but rather than firing it with her bow she simply opted to shove the arrow into the short sword user's eye killing him.
The two newcomers tried to flee but Audrey simply shot off two arrows in quick succession, both shots quickly lodged themselves in each other, the newcomers' spinal cord instantly crippling them from the waist down and in turn causing them to both fall flat on their faces.
Before either of the newcomers could completely process what had just happened to themselves both were covered in flames unable to do anything but wait for the release of death.
The only remaining would-be captor left was the female polearm user who was slowly taking steps back in an effort to put as much distance between herself and Audrey as possible.
The bow hero simply summoned a new arrow and took aim causing the polearm user to weapon her weapon as her face took on a more defiant expression. "You think I'm going to allow myself to be slaughtered like a lamb here? You must be beyond delusional."
Audrey didn't bother with any verbal reply and instead simply let loose her latest arrow towards the Mercenary. The female polearm user saw that it was on a predictable path and smirked.
She had already faced archers before and the less skilled ones tended to have shots that were easy to track and therefore easy to deflect in midair and the arrow the bow hero had just let loose was no different. The female polearm user to see it was headed for her left thigh so it was just a matter of intercepting the projectile with her weapon and possibly go and the attack and put this little rampage of the bow hero's to an end, reap all the extra pay from selling the demi human, and maybe even become a legend for taking down one of the four cardinal heroes.
The moment the incoming arrow was within range the polearm user swung her weapon right into it expecting the arrow to be knocked aside however what followed instantly destroyed all of the inner bravado the female polearm user had just built up. Once the projectile and weapon made contact, the polearm was snapped clean in half whilst the arrow continued on its path to the user's leg causing her to scream out in pain and fall over to her side.
Before the female mercenary could even try to pull the arrow out the arrow itself turned to flames engulfing most of her leg up to the point just above her knee. In spite of the agony she was currently in the polearm user hadn't forgotten how the flames spread over the entirety of a victim's body and god knew she did not want to suffer that fate, acting quickly she grabbed half of her weapon the had the spear head and preceded to amputate her burn leg.
Luckily the blade of fairly long for a spearhead to the process only took a few swipes and once it was over and done with the female polearm user found her situation had a minimal amount of good news and a great deal of bad news.
The only good news was that she avoided being burned alive by the flame that had overtaken the part of her leg the was now severed off but the bad new was that in her haste to save her life she had now crippled herself permanently and that she was very much still at the mercy of the bow hero who was grinning at her maliciously.
"So you crippled yourself, pretty appropriate considering what you did to Baxley, I might have let you live here but considering him you thought you were going to sell him on the slave market…" Audrey trailed off before holding out her hand and reciting a new and far darker incantation than any pertaining to her magic spells.
"Foolish sinner, your transgressions have filled the cup of iniquity to full, writhe in pain as you're roasted alive, and as your dying screams are converted into cries of a raging bull."
An iron bull appeared above the female polearm user before a hatch in its belly opened up and the female mercenary was pulled inside by some unknown force after that Audrey closed her hand.
"Bull of phalaris!"
Flames manifested over the entirety of the iron bull and firmly hugged it as if trying to melt it. Reality might have proved to be a bit more unnerving at least from what Baxley was witnessing when the iron bull was visibly heated up to the point that most of its body turned bright orange with the bottom of the belly turning white.
What was really disturbing were the bellows that came from the iron bull's nostrils as well as the smoke. While Baxley didn't have any sympathy for the woman that took advantage of her allies distraction to more or less render him unable to properly walk or run he didn't want to imagine the state of her body as it was being roasted alive especially when her armor covered next to nothing on her leaving the majority of her skin bare.
Eventually however in spite of what Baxley may have not wanted to happen eventually the bollows stopped and the iron bull disappeared revealing a corpse more grotesquely burned that any other, the sight almost caused the hyena to regurgitate his breakfast from that morning but a new worry took hold of him as he noticed Audrey now standing in place seemingly now oblivious to the fighting going on around her.
While Baxley was glad to see all his near captors wiped out by the hero who had given him a second lease on life he could tell something wasn't right, even ignoring the display of brutality from her just mere moments ago it was clear there was something wrong with the bow Audrey currently had equipped, it had an ominous vibe to it that made Baxley hairs stand up on end.
"Audrey, are you okay?" It might have been a stupid question if it pertained to Audrey's physical integrity but with every single passing moment Baxley spent observing the bow hero it became very apparent that her mental integrity was another story all together.
Unfortunately it soon proved to be much worse than Baxley could have ever anticipated when over the span of a few short seconds Audrey shifted her body turning to the demi human, summoned a new arrow, took aim and fired at him.
Baxley was too shocked to even begin to react as the incoming arrow was on a course for his heart. Luckily an unexpected savior came in the form of a massive black clawed hand swiping the arrow away.
"It seems we intervened just in time, I suggest you come out of your personal stupor less you wish to die an oblivious moron." A femanine voice said, causing Baxley to turn and see the albino woman from before along with Bluebell.
But that wasn't all that he saw; the hand that swatted away Audrey's attack belonged to an unusual monster. Looking at his hud he found its information or rather just its name and level.
Summoned dark familiar lv 51
"Before you ask, it's mine, so you can rest assured it's an ally, the fact it was used to save you from your own idiocy should serve as more than enough proof of that." The Albino woman said. The creature in question had a bulky and somewhat plump body that looked to be made from pure dark magic along with two humanoid arms that had clawed hands, that lower half of its body stretched to the ground and emanated a mass a smoke the concealed the very bottom portion, its head stretched out almost like a tendril like appendage which was devoid of any visibly eyes and the only feature indicating that it was even a head at all (aside from its placement) was a circular mouth of the end filled with rows of sharp teeth.
The albino woman turned her gaze to Audrey before Bluebell spoke up. "Nera please try not to hurt her, we just need to snap her out of whatever's taken a hold of her."
The woman Baxley was now aware to be Nera shrugged nonchalantly. "I'd say that that bow of hers is the problem and don't worry I just intend to restrain her before she can subconsciously attack the wrong side."
Nera glance towards her dark familiar which immediately dashed towards Audrey before its entire body save for the smoke of the bottom morphed into numerous black tendrils that ensnared all of Audrey limbs immobilizing her.
"Zweite life drain." Nere said before a white glow appeared around the tendrils while Audrey groaned as if in pain.
Bluebell glanced at the box within her hud displaying Audrey's name and saw that both her Mp and Hp were slowly draining away prompting her to glance at Nera in shock.
"I bear no desire to harm the bow hero and to that end I'm not inflicting any actual injuries but just the same, your leader needs to be stopped before she can attempt to hurt anyone close to her or any of those who call this place home."
Bluebell wanted to protest but couldn't bring herself to do so. After she and Nera and cut down enough of the mercenaries trying to attack them, they like Baxley had managed to witness the manifestation of Audrey's new bow and with it the new level of brutality she displayed when dealing with the splinter group trying to capture Baxley and also the more feril state she had fallen to since equipping that unnual bow.
Whether she wanted to admit it or not Nero was right, Audrey had to be stopped before she could potentially attempt to attack any of the villagers she and the others were trying to save. Hopefully Audrey would come out of this okay.
Speaking of which as both her hp and mp bars dwindled further down both of Audrey's eyelids Started drooping as her groans grew fainter and quieter until she dropped the legendary bow which changed back to its base form upon hitting the ground.
Moments later the tendrils that had previously held her let go of the bow hero and dissipated whilst a now unconscious Audrey nearly fell to the ground before being caught by Bluebell who had ran to and reached her just in time to do so.
Baxley meanwhile glanced around and saw most of the mercenaries were now slain with the villagers and adventurers mopping up the remaining strugglers and sighed in relief.
"It looks like we got through this without the Mercenaries being able to do too much damage."
"I worked with your other companion to ensure not too many were able to rush further inside Herba at one time and simply overwhelm the villagers and adventurers defending the place as well as dispose of our share of enemies further stemming whatever damage they could otherwise have done."
"I see." A part of Baxley wanted to ask how it was possible with just the two of them but decided not to press for details and turned gaze back to the unconscious Audrey. Walking over to Bluebell who had since put away her armaments and placed Audrey on her back.
"Can you still fight?" Bluebell asked.
It takes everything I have just to stand up or even walk thanks to this stab wound on my leg.
Before Bluebell could give any reply Nera's voice was heard. "Then I suggest you take this, there's still a few mercenaries around trying to pillage this place."
Baxley turned back to Nera and saw her holding out of hp potion which he wasted no time in taking and drinking, in the following moments Baxley felt some of his stamina return to him and relief to his leg as the wound closed up and healed on the spot.
"I suggest you go retrieve your weapon and get back into the fray."
"And what about you?"
"It should go without saying that I'll be doing the same."
Without any further reply Baxley ran back to where his axe was and retrieved it before running into the inner part of Herba and taking a look at the situation. From the look of things the villagers and adventurers were doing a good job holding off any of the mercs still left.
Nera really wasn't kidding when she said that she and Bluebell reduced the number of enemies that would have otherwise reached this part of the village considerably. Still there were a few of them that looked as if they were either gaining the upper hand on the opposition or on the verge of doing so.
Acting quickly Baxley dispatched of those enemies first one by one much to the relief of those who might have fallen at their hand and turned the tide of the larger fight further in the villager's favor.
A few of the remaining mercenaries took notice of Baxley and immediately shifted their attention towards him, more than likely intent on capturing him. Acting quickly Baxley went through the incantation needed for his fast guard spell before casting it on himself. He might have been caught off guard by that sneak attack before but he was not going to make that mistake twice.
One of the mercs reached Baxley swinging their sword down a wide arc only for the Hyena demi human to pivot his body to the side dodged the attack and followed up with in attack of his own in the form of a side swing that went through the opposing merc's neck before decapitating him completely.
Another tried to rush Baxley bringing down their own weapon but the hyena type demi was quick to parry the blow before bringing his axe around and slicing them across the chest.
A trio of bow users all took aim at him and fired; Baxley evaded one of the arrows while deflecting the second one but the last one hit one in the upper arm, luckily thanks to his fast guard spell the head didn't go very far in and the damaged was mitigated.
Before anyone on either side could do anything further though, all the bow users were each killed by orbs of raw dark magic causing Baxley to turn and see Nera once more holding her palm out. "Let's take care of the last of these cut throats and be done with it."
"Of course." Baxley mused as the two began to dispose of the last remaining mercs. Luckily the task proved to be a fairly simple one since most of the defenders were winning or at least holding their own so Baxley and Nera only had to help out those who were having a tough time of it with their own opponents.
Another factor that helped now and even through the entirety of the fight was the none of the Mercs were all the strong individually, it was mainly their numbers and coordination (the latter factor pertaining to the trio that had previously focused down Baxley) that made them pose a threat with the biggest factor being that Berg guy, speaking of which….
Baxley glanced in the direction where the mercenary leader previously was and discovered he was now nowhere in sight, however there were droplets of blood forming a trail of sorts that looked to be leading back outside the village and in the general direction of the grove.
The hyena demi human clicked his tongue and scowled, he wasn't the least bit happy about how the man who was responsible for this entire ordeal had gotten away for the time being.
Regardless he needed to check up and Audrey and the others, he doubted that Berg would be causing anymore trouble, if he got any glimpse of what Audrey had done to the group that had tried to make Baxley a slave all over again he'd know that comming aftwr Audrey again would only result in his own death.
XXXXX
Audrey felt herself stir awake as she now found herself laying in a bed within what looked to be…..the inn room she and her party were using? How did she get here?
Before the bow hero could truly begin to ponder her sudden change in location a chirp snapped her out of her thoughts followed by the feeling of something soft nuzzling itself against her cheek which Audrey could already guess to be mason.
"I'm glad to see you're awake." A familiar voice said, causing Audrey to turn to see its source which was as expected none other than Bluebell who quickly scooped up Mason and placed him back on the dresser. "You really gave us a scare when you went berserk."
"Berserk, what do you mean and why are we back at the inn?"
"You can relax, the fight with the mercenaries is just about over."
Audrey released a great deal of pent up tension that she didn't know she even had before she recalled what she had just heard. "Okay I'm glad to know Herba is saved but going back to what you just said, what do mean by I went berserk?"
Bluebell raised an eyebrow. "You mean you don't remember?"
"I….." Audrey trialed off unable to reply as she suddenly realized she didn't recall everything, in fact the last thing she did have any recollection of was seeing that splinter group getting ready to put Baxley in chains before an insurmountable amount of rage filled her mind before she got that notification and instinctively activated the new bow variant, but everything after that was something of a blur.
"What happened after I equipped my new bow?"
"I take it you at least remember everything up to the point of equipping it?"
"More or less, all I remember from that point onward was feeling like my mind was in a haze and me being too angry to think rationally because of what some of the mercenaries tried to do to Baxley."
Bluebell gave Audrey a confused look.
"They tried to put shackles on him so they could sail him on the slave market."
"I guess that might explain some of what happened with you then."
Audrey simply gave her companion a look that told her to continue.
"Well from what I saw after helping out Nera you had murdered the group that tried ti renslave Baxley as visiously as possible however me Baxley and even Nera could all tell something was wrong with you and when Baxley tried to get your attention you shoot an arrow at his heart.
Bluebell was never one to believe someone's skin tone could change but she soon discovered that it was actually possible to a degree when Audrey's skin began turning ghostly white by the second and her eyes began wide as saucers. "He was saved by Nera who stopped your attack."
Audrey let out a sigh of relief. "...thank god."
"Afterwards Nera managed to restrain and knock you out by siphoning the better part of your hp and mp."
So that was why she felt like she was lacking the better part of her energy. "So is the village overall okay?"
"Yeah, thanks to our efforts Herba was spared the fate of what happened with Cadia."
Audrey felt herself sink into the bed she was currently occupying. "Thank god."
"You said that before a few seconds ago, you know that right."
"Yeah but I can't help but say that with how relieved I am, with everything that's happened it feels like we've dodged an entire swarm of bullets."
"I'm not sure I understand that saying."
"Let's just say it's a metaphor for saying that more than one worst case scenario was avoided."
"Well that certainly describes the situation accurately."
"Gaaawwwiiiii!" Mason hopped onto Audry's bed again and began nuzzling her cheek causing the bow hero to smile and pet him. "I'm glad you're okay Mason."
That was yet another cause for great relief during the fight, Mason was hiding within the folds of Audrey's cloak through the entire ordeal so it was nothing short of a miracle he wasn't hurt especially when Audrey had switched to that other bow.
A knock on the door snatched both women along with the filolial chick's attention. "Bluebell it's Baxley, the fight's over; is Audrey okay?"
"Yes."
The door opened in the next moment and Baxley entered the room. "Audrey, it's a relief to see….!"
The demi human was cut off when in the span of just over a few short seconds Audrey stood up, made her way over to him, and practically crashed into him whilst wrapping him in a bear hug. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"
Baxley immediately came out of his confused state and smiled all the while returning the embrace. "I take it Bluebell told you what happened then."
Audrey calmed down but maintained her embrace around Baxley. "Yeah I didn't mean to try and….." She trailed off, unable to bring herself to finish the sentence..
"It's okay, you weren't yourself when that happened." He assured her as the two released each other and Audrey's expression became more stern
"Bluebell gave me a general description of what happened but I want to hear your side of it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes I need to know just how dangerous the bow I was using really is."
"So that really was the cause of it all." The hyena type demi human mused.
"Baxley please."
Sighing in defeat Baxley proceeded to tell Audrey in detail what she had done to splinter group that had tried to capture him including the part where she had summoned a torture device and used it the dispose of the female polearm user even more brutally than the other would be captors.
Audrey actually found herself a bit shaken as she pictured the idea of anyone being roasted alive inside a metal bull, she had seen a 2011 movie depicting a fictional scene of that happening and more so to the point had seen a few documentaries that described what supposedly happened to them and to say the least it didn't paint a pleasant picture.
Then again considering what the female polearm user and the others were intending to do with Baxley they weren't exactly worth sympathizing with.
"So how are all the villagers and adventurers?"
"They're fine, they just need to dispose of all the bodies of the mercenaries."
"Okay before we cut the conversation to a close I need to know if there's any bad news."
Baxley sighed. "Well there is one bad piece of information."
"Tell me."
"That one man, Berg if I remember correctly, the leader of that Mercenary band managed to slip away."
"You think he fled town."
"Yes and no."
Bluebell scratched the side of her head. "Um Baxley we might need you to elaborate."
"I can be sure he's not in Herba however I don't believe he fled very far, not only are all the carts the mercenaries brought still present just outside the village but I found a trial of blood droplets that looked to be leading in the direction of the grove we explored earlier today."
Audrey sat back down on the bed as she felt all her energy leave her. "Hopefully the killer moths inhabiting the place finish the job I started."
"Even if they don't, I highly doubt he'll be causing anymore trouble for the people of Herba, he's lost every mercenary he had brought with him."
"Yeah plus I shot him indirectly with a thunder arrow and lodged a shot in one of his arms so I can guarantee he's not in mint condition right now." Audrey then decided to change the subject slightly. "How long will he remain there?"
"Likely at least until the following morning if not longer when he feels it's a safe time to come back out."
Bluebell gave Baxley a baffled look. "A safe time to come back out?"
"He went into the grove because he thought it provided the best hiding spot from anyone here that could be looking for him." You then turned to the now displeased looking bow hero? "Audrey please try not to worry about him for right now if the killer moths don't finish him off we'll likely have the chance when it comes time for us to go back in the grove to carry out our initial mission."
"And if neither of those two scenarios play out?"
"We can only cross that bridge when and if we ever come to it. Even if Berg managed to make it out of all this alive he's not in a position to try and threaten the people of Herba."
Bluebell placed a hand on Audrey's shoulder. "It's okay, the people living here won't suffer anything even remotely similar to those who lived in Cadia."
Hearing that put Audrey a bit more at ease but a large part of her couldn't help but feel dissatisfied that someone as fiendish and egotistical as Berg was still alive and had a chance at still retaining some type of future, still her companion was right, she could rest assured that Herba along with all of its people were safe.
Bluebell smiled seeing the hero she now followed ease up. "Come on, let's get back down to the lobby, I think some food will do you good."
"Alright." Was all Audrey said as she stood back up and the group headed back down to the front area of the Inn. Once the party got there they were met with quite the surprise when Audrey felt a small weight crash into her midsection before a pair of rather small arms wrapped around her.
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" A rather young voice shouted.
Audrey looked down to see a girl around the age of at least 10 or maybe 11 tops hugging her waist and pressing her face into the bow hero's midriff.
Audrey and the others then glanced around the area and discovered that their group had essentially become the center of attention with all the stares that were directed towards them.
"It's the bow hero!" One of the other guests shouted.
Both Bluebell and Baxley could only stare dumbfounded at the crowd before them, while they weren't sure what the actual atmosphere was going to be once the left the room and all the fighting was over having their respective leader and hero suddenly beaming the center of everyone's attention was not something that had ever accord in either of their mind.
Okay that's it for this chapter. Yes I know I left it on a moderately anti climatic cliffhanger but the final scene kept found out longer and longer and I just wanted to hurry and post this.
Anyway on to the events, as some reviewers were looking forward to the Filolial had finally hatched and Audrey almost wasted no time in leveling it up as much as she could. Unfortunately if the lack of action on Mason's part due to him still being a chick is anything to go by it's going to be a little time before he does anything fight wise (not too much but….a bit more than you likely think)
As for the use of the curse series, I was actually intending for its first use to come about further down the line but realized while writing this chapter that this was actually a good time to use it here since I wrote Berg and all his cronies not to have any real sense of honer and from a lore perspective it was bound to happen because of two obvious factors.
The first being that the invading Mercenaries were going to pillage and burn Herba to the ground simply to hide their deed (dead men tell no tale afterall) and reap the highest amount of rewards possible due to sheer greed and while Audrey left Lute on a fairly good note with the refugees from Cadia that doesn't mean she's completely forgot what was done to them and likely never truly will for some time if at all (as I tried to convey during this chapter the fate of the settlement was even worse then what was initially depicted during the first custom arc) so seeing someone decide they were simply going to butcher an entire crowd unprovoked for simple gratification similarly to how the bandits did to the people of Cadia of course this was going to piss Audrey off
The second was when that splinter group target Bacley and tried to capture and sail him on the slave market for a quick buck, Audrey was already pissed at the initial invasion of Herba but the group's actions against Baxley were the last straw and as such the dug their own graves.
In other less relevant news I finished watching and long story short there was a minor female character who's armor literally consisted of a metalic bra and thong and while it might have some appeal in hentai or other parady type animes well as one YouTube commenter put it the concept was incredibly retarded in an anime that took itself seriously and had genuine danger to the charatchers since the armor set covered nothing meaning it couldn't possibly provide any real protection. I figured since I was writing the mercenaries to be overconfident morons why not apply the attire to the female polearm user.
In short the look was meant to showcase her stupidity rather than stereotypical fanservice reasons.
Lastly even though the mercenaries have been dealt with (for the majority part) rather easily, aside from that gang up on Baxley in order to capture him they were never that much of a threat to begin with, they're only real advantage was their numbers and even that didn't help them here the arc isn't over by any means. Audrey and the others still have to contend with their target which might not be nearly as much of a pushover as most of the mercs were.