The forces gathered that day exuded confidence. Their expressions were serious, yet they glowed with determination. In disciplined formation, the adventurers all had their position, pushing back against the miasma falling on the minds of the citizens with their mere presence alone. It was not only the Loki Familia getting ready, blocking off every possible entrance to Knossos they knew off.
The blacksmiths of Hephaestus and Golbniu. The adventurers of Hermes Familia. Even the guardians of the city, Ganesha Familia, were all ready to fight, and protect the city. Riviera overlooked the gathering of individuals. Such a colorful bunch, and here they were, all united, for one singular purpose. Nothing made her more proud to call herself an adventurer of Orario than today. She did not have Finn's talent in speeches, nor the ability for her voice to reach all. But words did not matter at the time. Instead…emotions and actions spoke louder than anything else. Thus, she slammed her staff down on the rooftop she stood upon, gaining most of her Familia's attention, and through that, the attention of everyone else.
"Listen up! We all know what we are here for! We are all aware of the plan! So I will not repeat myself! Just know this! Finn is counting on us! So do not let even a single rat escape!"
The Familia gathered roared, shaking the very air itself. Loki Familia, ready to take the front. Hermes acting as a quick strike unit. Hephaestus and Golbniu as special support to keep the gates open during advance, with Ganesha Familia keeping their backs free. That wasn't mentioning the roles Aiz and the others had to play, for high priority targets. Gathering herself, Riveria took a deep breath.
"Commence the ope-"
Before she could finish her command however, their predictions, their scenario, changed completely. Before she could give the starting signal…the manmade labyrinth opened its pathways. All of them. The sudden action startled the many warriors.
"Who activated their keys already?!"
"None of us did! And we only have the one!"
The high elf narrowed her eyes. A mistake? No, underestimating the enemy was a folly. They would be aware they were standing right in front of all their exits. Not to mention…All the gates were opening at the same time. Which meant-
Riveria let out a snarl.
"Stand back! Get ready! The enemy is coming out!"
"What the fuck am I looking at…?" Bete muttered, only seeing darkness. Then, his nose twitched. At the same time, Aiz's ears perked up. The Wind Princess growled, summoning her wind without hesitation, and pushing her way forward, shoving Raul aside. Before he could utter a single complaint, a sudden blast of heat rushed out of the gate they were stationed at.
"Tempest!"
The laser smashed against her wind, dispersing into mostly harmless heat. Yet the mental effect the attack had could not be ignored, as it sent less sturdy adventurers into a panic, only prevented from beaking lines by their seniors.
"Keep it together, everyone!" Anakitty screamed, even as she sweated nervously at the clash Aiz had to perform. As if to make matters worse, the very same sound of the fire attack hitting something hard sounded across the area.
Tiona, Tione, Bete, Gareth, each of them blocked the attacks as best as they could, gritting their teeth at the heat building up. Eventually, the blasts stopped, and silence reigned.
As if someone wanted the people to digest their 'greeting'.
"What the hell was that?!" Someone shouted. It was a natural reaction. After all…most people would never experience this attack themselves. Only those who went down into the deepest known depths of the dungeon knew. The beings that could shoot at you from several floors below you. The ones that made all previous dungeon experience utterly useless, and turned the Deep Floors into a new kind of hell.
Gareth snarled as he cracked his neck, tightening his grip on his axe.
"Buckle up, everyone, this is gonna be nasty!"
Quick on the uptake, Riviera whistled through the air and cut her arm through the air, before focusing her words on chanting.
"Tighten up the defense lines! Plan C! Do not let them through!"
"Easier said than that, stupid elf! Did ya like the tasting?!"
The sneering voice managed to echo through the hallways of Knossos, cackling in delight. Everyone's eyes moved frantically, trying to figure out from where the voice came from. Yet she refused to reveal herself, instead relishing in their confusion, out of sight.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the surface! May I introduce to you, the Pale Bitch, and her giant army of oversized lizards, hahahahaha!"
The ground began to rumble. Some believed an unfortunately timed earthquake occurred. But those with more keen ears knew better. Heard better. The scraping of claws against rocks. The snarling, the growling, of animalistic, feral hunger. Of hardened scales rubbing against each other, as they tried to climb over another. The flapping of wings.
"HERE THEY COME!" Gareth roared, stomping his feet into the ground to ready himself.
Then they all squeezed through the doors of Knossos. It was a miracle they didn't plug up the entrances with how frantic the wyverns and dragons pushed their bodies through. Yet despite their ferocity, their roars and growls, they moved with such discipline that they flowed out like a river.
The concept of monster taming was not unknown. The Ganesha Familia was the premier example. Yet compared to this tidal wave of death, they were nothing more than clowns performing parlor tricks. Even the masked individual of Evilus could only do simple commands. These dragonlike creatures on the other hand? The moment they got free of the man made dungeon, they split up, making sure to go after a gap left by their respective vanguard.
Naturally the adventures in the area did not merely wait. With steel and magic, they cut down the oversized lizards the moment they came out.
Yet when one fell, three more came out. And sometimes, a few adventurers had to team up, waste precious time, just to kill one, for they were either to agile in the air with their wings, or just too tough to take down on their own. Trying to annihilate all the lizards before they could even emerge failed as well. Riviera growled when she saw her magic clashing with furious flames. Just her luck, to have aimed for the spot, where the 'Pale Bitch' emerged.
Clad in black armor, the white woman looked around with a blank look, waving her flag pole like a conductor waved their stick to use music. Immediately, all knew that she was in control of all the lizards. Some fools, some individual adventurers, immediately leapt at her…
Only to be burned into cinders with a mere gesture of her palm. As if that weren't bad enough…
"Kehahahahahaha, Orario! Your queen is back!"
Bete snapped his head up, narrowing his eyes with a growl, as he saw a pink haired punk laugh like a maniac, riding a wyvern of all things as she swooped down and split someone's skull open. He stomped his right foot down, snapping a dragon's neck, before leaping upwards, using the nearby wyverns as jumping points, injuring or flat out killing them as he ascended to the skies.
"That one is mine!"
"Try it, mutt!"
Soon enough, it felt like the front lines were squeezed together with wyverns and dragons. Archers let loose arrow after arrow, some threw up nets to drag them down to the ground, while most others tried to maintain the frontlines.
But they were buckling. Riveria hissed, casting another spell, aiming carefully for the front of a group that about to collapse. An ice storm hit the dragon's head on, one dragon about to bite down on a head. Without paying attention to the adventurers' gratitude, she immediately began to survey the area as she downed a Mind Potion.
"What are we looking at?!"
"Mostly chaff and annoying like regular Wyvern, but there's the Infant Dragon here and there! They're going to mess up the rookies!"
Indeed, the unofficial Monster Rex from the upper floors pushed their large bodies across the weaker adventurers, before a higher ranked one appeared and dealt with it. Yet that meant that one had to move somewhere else. Riveria barely moved her head to avoid a wyvern swooping down, before she grabbed it by the throat and slammed it down.
Mage or not, she was still a level six against most of these monsters. No, in terms of lethality, most of them weren't the issue. If they weren't in Orario itself.
"There's too many of them, some slipped through the net!"
The high elf bit her lip. The urge to look back, to look at the entities that flew over their head, avoiding any projectile sent at them, was high. Yet she choked that urge down. If they sent away forces, their front lines would become even more unstable, and that would lead to more dragons flooding the city. No, she steeled her heart instead.
"The rest of Orario can handle it! Big threats?!"
"They got some Deep Floor monsters as well, I spotted Ill Wyvern! But the worst are-"
Several lights bursted into existence, bending upwards. Riveria saw individuals like Tiona using their weapons, or even arms, to block massive lasers aimed at them. There weren't that many, but enough to occupy most elites in the area, forced to hunker down against these nightmarish creatures.
"Even Valgang Dragons?!"
"How did they even fit through Knossos?!"
"Bete is going after Valletta but she proves to be slippery!"
Riveria noted the werewolf becoming a blur, bouncing from wyvern from wyvern to catch Villetta, but she noticed that he was running out of 'platforms', the wyverns starting to distance themselves from him. And as if that wasn't bad enough…
"Tione and Aiz are going for that pale lady!"
Riveria felt her eyebrow twitch. There was a difference between not staying in the rear and leaping directly at the danger and bad influence from her literal nightmares! The girl really deserved a spanking after this was over…unfortunately, the elf had to admit one fact.
Amongst them all, the Wind Princess was perhaps the only decent match up against the flame wielding opponent. If nothing else, she saw how much Aiz tried to contain herself. Her face was twitching, her inner black wind desiring to come out. But perhaps due to the fact that her opponent was so muted, she was capable of preventing any more coloring of her own hair. It helped that Tione was there to pick up the slack for any stumbling that occurred. Still, controlled or not…this 'Alter' was still strong, controlled or not.
Dodging and weaving, the Alter spun her flag pole with surprising grace. Tione snarled as the flag portion covered her face, only for Aiz to push her out of the way with her wind, before a blast of fire smashed into a nearby building. Then, the two swung their elements at the same time, the clash sending wind and fire alike towards the heavens, ironically taking out several wyverns at the same time. A part of Riveria felt proud of the battlefield awareness Aiz showed in this battle.
Whenever she could, she would cut down dragons at the same time as she swung at the Alter. Whenever it was possible, she forced the collateral of the flames to be aimed at the enemy specifically. Her form was much much sloppier than usual, a combination of the 'Avenger' before her as well as being surrounded by nothing but dragon type monsters…but she kept her sanity.
Sometimes that was all one could ask for.
With a furious ice storm sweeping across the area, the high elf exhaled. No backstabbing Evilus cultists yet. Then again, the dragons were still emerging from Knossos…honestly, how many did they have?! It must have taken years to accumulate these numbers! Still, if nothing else, they maintained this awful stalemate. The few dragons that managed to get through, well, the other Familia could handle the-
"Hey, slave! Use the big gun!"
Riveria felt her eyebrow twitch. Oh, come on!
The Alter slammed her flag down, forcing Tione and Aiz away from her. Then, she pressed her forehead against the shaft, as if uttering a prayer. Yet for a moment, her eyes glowed, her mouth morphing into a hateful smirk. For a moment, her mind was not clouded, allowing her absolute resentment to pierce through the muddled spirit of hers. Riveria's mouth already moved, chanting her protection spell as fast as possible. However…
"This is the roar of my abominable soul…"
"Short chant?! How?!"
"I'm so sick of all those spirits!"
"Everyone, do not attack her and focus on defense!"
Riveria felt like she skipped a few words, in her hurry to form the magic in her soul. Slowly, agonizingly slow, the Avenger raised her flag, forming a protective barrier around her. Just as planned, nobody bothered to attack and give her upcoming attack any fuel. Instead, they forced all their attention to mowing down the air support of hers. With Aiz' Tempest free to aim at them, the air was starting to get cleared up, even as Bete snarled, falling down to the ground after only inflicting a broken rib or two on Valletta, who was caught by another wyvern as she snarled in pain.
Yet…Riveria paled. Despite the fact that they didn't attack this Avenger…
"Something is wrong…why is the thing growing more powerful…?" Someone muttered, also realizing that the magic around the Alter was growing and growing, despite not being touched by anyone. Then, Riveria snapped her head at a nearby corpse, a bisected Valgang Dragon, courtesy of Gareth.
She saw energy seeping out of it, forming mistlike tendrils…and moving directly at the barrier, suffusing it with energy. Her reaction cause everyone else to pay attention, each looking at a corpse and seeing the very same event occurring.
"That attack, is it feeding off the corpses?!"
"STOP ATTACKING THE DAMN LIZARDS!"
It was too late. What a blunder. The energy crackling around the flagpole was immense now, reminded her of the might of a Demi Spirit. Despite the trauma, despite the overwhelming power crashing and destroying her pride and joy, Riveria maintained her determination.
"Via Shilheim!"
"HIT THE DECK!"
The protective shield came into existence, covering the mages and rear guards with her magic. Everyone else ducked behind buildings, behind other protective magic and regular shields. At the same time, all the dragons capable of projectile fire, especially the Valgang Dragons, suddenly focused their fire. Lasers hit laser, creating an even biger laser, a concentrated fire that accompanied the spell that was cast, the moment the Alter slammed her flag down.
"La Grondement Du Haine!"
Pillars of fire. Stakes out of nowhere. Like a distorted shapeless beast, it rushed forward, wishing to incinerate them all. Time slowed down. And they all knew, as the fires of hell aimed for them all.
It won't be enough. Their spells, their cover, all of it. They would all be reduced to ashes. Even as Riveria tried to push more magic into her barrier, she knew it would crack before the fire would end.
There was no time to feel despair, or sorrow, or resignation however. Because one individual moved before those emotions could even appear in their hearts.
"Aiz, don't!"
But she didn't listen. She leapt forward, sword already swung with both of her hands. She snarled, eyes directed at the burning flames, the stakes.
In that moment, she felt static in the back of her mind. All she knew was that behind her were her loved ones…and in front of her were those damn dragons. Led by that Avenger. The flame in her heart burst outward, accompanied by the mocking laugh of the count within her soul. But she didn't care.
She drank from the poisoned chalice and empowered her wind with it. Her hair grew more white. She didn't care. Her muscles screamed in pain as her wind turned black. She didn't care.
"NIZEL!"
All she cared for was to use her hate to smash the attack, that giant dragon's breath before her in complete smithereens. Flames of hate clashed against wind of hate.
Aiz' intentions half succeeded.
It was as if a bomb went off in the middle of the battlefield. That was good, for the force was dispersed instead of being concentrated. That was bad, because the force dispersed meant the wind and flames got everywhere.
Buildings were melting before crumbling down. Many adventures screamed as flickers of flames and wind cut into them. Nevertheless, Aiz made the right decision. Even as all forces, Evilus and Orario, reeled back from the titanic clash…the casualties were kept at a minimum. Not that Aiz cared at this moment, already jumping forward already, teeth bared at her opponent.
Hateful eyes met clouded eyes…and the latter, for a moment, cleared up just a bit.
"What the…fuck is…?"
The sanity, the control, disappeared as swift as it came. Yet that moment of recognition, of confusion, was enough for Aiz to reign back her own hate, if only a little. Instead of being a feral animal herself, she instead fought like an enraged adventurer instead. The flagpole, covered by flames, shot upwards, tip clashing against tip. Then, the two Avengers began to swing their swords, wide attacks clashing over and over, creating a storm of fire and wind around them, as if a barrier was summoned around them.
"Aiz!"
"Leave her be!"
"But-"
"There's more than one enemy!"
She hated it. Allowing Aiz to do this, to taint her soul once more. But…they had no choice. They could not allow this Alter to cast that spell again. Thus, as much as it pained her, to see her protege scream like a berserker, slamming her attacks over and over into the spirit without any care for the strain on herself, Riveria returned her attention to the rest of the battlefield…only for more frustration to bubble up.
As if the ruined buildings, the fire, the frail lines, weren't bad enough…! From the gates of Knossos, humans and the like stepped out. Many were hooded cultists, rushing forward without a care for themselves, strapped with explosives. They were not much of an issue, shot down before they could get close.
It were the others that were the issue. Like a cannonball, the large figure smashed into their backlines, forcing Tiona to divert from her own offense.
"Isn't that-?!"
"Ishtar Familia?!"
"How fucking low are they going to get?!"
Riveria narrowed her eyes at the sight of this all, before clicking her tongue in irritation. With more mind controlled and drugged slave entering the fray, the elites of Orario had to leave the other monsters to the 'regular' adventurers. Most of them were not up to the task. That ignored the damned Valgang Dragons trying to snipe them.
All in all…the Nine Hell had enough of this crap.
With that determination in mind, she decided to risk it all. A moment after, a shining light followed her decision, followed by a massive explosion. The people in the vicinity stumbled backwards, surprised by the blast that took off the head of a Valgang Dragon.
"A bow?!" Valletta screamed, eyes wide with shock.
Riveria exhaled slowly, eyes narrowed as she drew the string of her bow once more. The elves around her gaped at her actions, before Alicia made a step forward.
"Your highness, that is too dangerous!"
"We need every advantage we can get," Riveria ordered without looking at them, instead focusing to get the next Valgang Dragon out of the equation. "Keep chanting, girls. I will not fall to these lowlifes."
She planned to perfect this approach of combat for the next time she would face the Legiones...but perfection was the enemy of good.
And she swore to Finn she would cover for him. What kind of friend would she be if she failed in that?
Thus, she drew her bow, channeling the magic within to manifest an arrow out of mana. At the same time, her mouth moved, uttering one of the many chants she had.
If Concurrent Chanting was akin to balancing a glass of water on top of a ball, what Riveria did in that moment was juggling two glasses of water on that very same ball, all while trying not to spill anything. She strained, feeling the migraine growing. But due to her training, her will and even her desperation, she performed her duties both as an archer and as a mage.
An inferno swept through the air, taking down as many of the airborne pests as possible. At the same time, she took off a leg from another Valgang Dragon, the entity actually dodging at the last moment. She noticed the blank stare of the Pale Witch, only for her to be forced back by a furious Aiz. Clicking her tongue, Riveria created another arrow, all while chanting healing magic at the same time.
Draw, aim, shoot, cast spell. Over and over, the pattern repeated, with an assistant forcing down a potion down her throat, in order to not interrupt her own shooting pace. With her ability to aim for high priority targets with the gesture of her hand, the flow was starting to go in their favor.
She was no Arash. Not in terms of firerate, of precision. He had her beat in that. But when it came to the efficiency of her arrows, courtesy of the artifact weapon created by the best archer in existence? No one would have her beat there, her training and mind as a mage shining through.
Still. All her ace in the hole did was rebalance the scales. They were being pushed back nevertheless at certain points, while gaining ground somewhere else, slowly but surely. The swift assault upon them transitioned into a deadly, grinding battle of gaining ground between each other. Gareth growled, wrestling with one of the Valgang Dragons at the front, a lucky break of having reached one to begin with despite all the interference. In any other situation, he'd relish the chance to show off his strength like this. But with the injuries and even casualties piling up among allies and civilians alike, all he felt was deep frustration.
"What the hell is Freya doing?!"
He saw Hermes Familia hard at work, he saw Ganesha Familia doing double time, he saw Hephaestus blacksmiths pulling out all the stops, he saw numerous less famous adventurers going at it. Heck, he thought he saw Mia going to town with a dragon near the Hostess.
But Mia was the only one affiliated with Freya that he saw. Where was the King and the other elites of hers?
/
Meanwhile, in a different district. A certain cat kind soared through the air, crashing into a building with enough force to collapse it. A moment later, he shot out of it, clutching his left shoulder with a snarl, glaring down at the opponent who just kicked him.
"Allen, report," Ottar asked calmly, rubbing his thumb over a large cut across his cheek. Allen rolled his shoulder carefully before spitting to the side.
"Shut up, boar, just cracked!" He narrowed his eyes, before leaning forward, ready to dash forward. "Damn that masked witch…!"
Of course, in that instance, he had to dodge to the side, his ears twitching beforehand, as the red hand slammed her pulsing, disgusting weapon down where he stood. She raised her arm in defense, as Ottar made use of that opening, cutting into her flesh, but not through, before sending her flying. Ottar narrowed his eyes as he took in the current situation.
The moment the dragons swarmed out, the Freya Familia naturally was about to move in themselves. Disinterest in Evilus or not, there was a difference between leaving assaults to Finn and the others, and defending the city itself. But before they could join the fray, fate had something else in store for them.
Instead, they were stopped cold by two individuals. Two humanoid beings, yet radiating more monstrous auras than even the dragons invading the city at this moment. One of them was familiar from reports. A red haired creature, dressed like an amazon, rolling her arm as it already healed up from their attack. She looked disgusted, at them, at the world itself, sanity clearly in her grasp.
"I'm supposed to go after Aria…damn meddling…I'll just have to get her after I'm done cleaning up here."
"Oi, oi, oi, you think we are as weak as Loki Familia? Think again, fuckface!" Allen snarled, deciding to switch targets due to the provocation. Ottar allowed it, as he took in the situation, while his Familia was fighting as hard as they could.
One of the greatest cards that Evilus possessed…and yet, she was nothing compared to the mind controlled individual that came with her.
Wearing a dragon skull as a mask to hide her identity, the woman wore a black dress for some reason. Other than that, there were no remarkable traits to note, the skull hiding her head in its entirety, aside of some silver hair peeking out. It felt familiar, a memory, a suspicion, tingling in the back of Ottar's head.
The skill she showed was only one more nail in the coffin, yet Ottar didn't make any assumptions until they had proper evidence. She saw how she essentially manhandled Allen and the Guliver Brothers, the latter having joined in later. As if seeing the future itself, she navigated in a way to make those brothers get into each others' way, all while parrying and slashing away at the fastest member of their Familia.
The plants monsters, the Violas, were annoying, but nothing to worry about. No, the two creatures were their main priority.
The Guliver Brothers switched targets, splitting up to deal with the Violas before returning their attention towards Revis. Meanwhile Hogni and Hedin moved to cover the gap, the dark elf cackling as his magic took hold of his mind, while the white elf calmly chanted his magic. Hogni didn't even flinch as his body was cut up by the dragon skull wielder, instead intensifying his assault, making up for the skill discrepancy with quantity alone. It would not be enough, as his wrist was grabbed, before a knee landed into his stomach. He coughed up blood, but still smirked…before pulling at the Creature and swinging her into the air.
Just in time for the lightning blast of Hedin to hit her head straight on, sending her flying to another building. The dragon skull was cracked, turned into dozens of fragments. Smoke covered the creatures head, the long hair now fully visible…and all too familiar.
The elves were the first, the closest, to see what face hid behind the smoke. And despite the mind changing magic, despite the discipline, the two of them paled, eyes going wide.
"EVERYONE, TAKE COVER!"
"Strike forev-"
"Gospel."
A shiver went down the spines of the veterans, of hearing those feared words. Then, a sound deafening explosion sounded, sending everyone flying. Even Ottar was in the air for a moment before he forced his feet down the ground. Yet he got away lightly, compared to his comrades that just fought her.
"Hogni! Hedin!"
The two of them rose to their feet immediately, but the damage was visible. Bleeding profusely all over, the two of them stumbled out.
"We are fine…gah…!"
"The vessel of flesh may be torn, but the spirit is eternally strong…!"
Still, even as they caught their breath, they all saw her. An individual thought to be dead, her visage visible to all the world.
"That face!"
"No way!"
"How many dead people are rising from the grave here?!"
"Brothers, focus, we still have one more here!"
Ottar felt his veins pulse with heat, his eyes narrowed. How the mighty had fallen. Befitting of her title, she didn't utter a word after her spell. The spell that defeated him easily time and time again. Her eyes were utterly blank, a far cry from the usual cool and apathetic demeanor, with eyes that hid pride and self loathing. No, they contained nothing, hidden behind the mist itself.
The body of Alfia may be before him, but the spirit of hers…no, it was not present at all.
"Change of plans. I will handle her alone." He raised his massive sword at the Silence, taking a deep breath. "You deal with the creature."
It spoke volumes of the seriousness of the situation that not a single one of the Freya Familia objected to his command. The moment they moved at Revis, Alfia moved at him. Ottar's eyes barely widened at the sudden speed before blocking her downwards swing with his blade. He tried to break her skull with his fist, but she swiftly landed on the ground, ducking under it, before trying to sweep his legs. He avoided that attack, backing away quickly. That speed, the dexterity…and then-
"Gospel."
The shockwave smashed into him, yet he did not yield. He gritted his teeth, even as the magic felt just as painful, as heavy, as the last days of her life. It was as if nothing changed between him and the strongest of their era.
It made him smile slightly, even as his form began to shift, growing larger and sturdier.
"So it truly is you…Alfia." He shook his head in sorrow, at the state of the great adventurer before him. "They stop at nothing, do they?"
Yet she said nothing. Instead, she silently circled around him, sword in hand, her dead eyes aiming for his weak spots. He chuckled darkly before moving his body ever so slightly. Alfia moved instantly, her sword digging into his flesh. Yet the blade became stuck, before his elbow smashed into her temple.
"You cannot even answer me," he muttered as the woman turned creature was sent flying, flipping in the air before sliding over the ground gracefully. The blood ceased flowing in an instance, before she drew another dungeon made short sword from her dress. Ottar growled before tightening his grip on his massive blade. "I shall fulfill my duty…and send you to where Zard is waiting."
With renewed energy and determination, he swung his weapon with all his might, against another blast of magic of Alfia, the Monster of Talent, all while his Familia fought off the other creature. Each of them filled with rage and will, to come out of top, no matter what. After all…
It would be quite shameful if Hans were to return from the dungeon only to find his entire Familia defeated by just two mere Creatures stronger than most mortals in Orario, accompanied by simple plants.