"Everything will be fine. Trust me."
Lakyus assured the terrified boy as she healed his mother. The spell was cheap as it only boosted the rare of recovery of one's body, not the wounds itself. It was wrong to use the low level spells but she had no choice. Lakyus never expected the raud to happen at the first place. In this type of scenario, it was correct to use the low level spells as the possibility of being in dire situations was high.
She was prepared to not waste the important spells as her team required more attention at this moment.
"Ma'am, take your son and hide somewhere. Me and my team will handle the situation. And make sure to stay from hidden and secured."
The mother nodded and took his son away from the most dangerous location.
Lakyus prayed for her welfare while her sword was vibrating with humming sound.
"Not yet." She said those words calmy as the sword's vibration slowed down.
She ran to the town square where she saw the descent of the blue dragon. From its size, she concluded it to be an adult dragon. While Keno might be able to deal with that dragon, Lakyus wanted to be assured of her victory.
She was about to use her Ring of Telepathy, until she was surrounded by three mages. And from their looks, she could tell that they were not going to be friendly with her.
"Look, what we have gotten ourselves."
"A soft blue rose, how lovely~!"
"I would love to break her well."
Lakyus sighed. Her chances of winning against these three mages were low. Not only she lacked the strength, but also the limited number of damaging spells made her a weak opponent in the combat magic. But she was not scared at all.
"It's finally time, Kilineyram."
As she said those words, the sword at her back engulfed itself in an eerie aura. The mages who perceived the demonic aura around, were alarmed to do anything. Something was not right about the sword.
"Hmm, your vigilance to not act displayed your presence of understanding. If you wish to attack, then do it. But I promise you, that act alone will end with your eternal agony." Her cold words sent shivers down theor spine.
Theor eyes moved from the sword, and then to Lakyus. While the idea of leaving was yet to cross their heads, one of them took his chances. He attacked her with his 3rd level spell Call Lightning. Instead of harming her, the spell got reflected and pierced the caster itself.
"Hmph. I have warned you, haven't I?"
The remaing two did not paid any attention to her words, but watched the whole even with fear and shock. Not wanted to try their luck with her, they left the place without saying anything.
But she was not going to leave them so easily.
Using the ring, she sent her message to Tia and Tina to capture some of these raiders.
Normally, it should be fine to kill them all. But the whole raid looked like the work of an organization. This might be clue for what Tsaindorcus was telling them. Capturing few of them would be very helpful to gather information regarding the whole setup of this raid.
She also advised them to not leak the information of these captured individuals, as whoever sent them, might try to kill them via assassins or through other ways. They were going to meet at town square once they dealt with the remaining raiders on their way.
After giving her orders, she was about to run again. Until she saw the formation of dark clouds in the sky. It was unnatural to see clouds in this type of weather unless... it was created by a wizard. From the looks of its sheer size and the drop in temperature, it was right to assume that this spell belonged to weather controlling magic of 8th level.
"An 8th level wizard..." Her face paled as she realized the gravity of situation. Though she was sure that Keno had figured it out as well, the chances of their failure had significantly increased. She had to act fast.
"Hello there, little one."
An unfamiliar voice broke her stupor as a pale skinned wizard walked right in front of her. Her senses told her that the man in front of her was evil. His body seemed unnaturally pale, that reminded her of liches or vampires. She considered it to be a lich as she could see his shadow, but not the red eyes. Not that mattered to her. She would just dash away from him.
But her adversary had other plans for her. From the corners of her eyes, she saw magical sigils around the escape routes, leaving only the sky for her to escape. She would be fool to go through the obvious. It would be better if she gathered some information out from him. In the mean time, she did not had to go through another trap.
"My name is Lakyus Aindra, the leader of the adventurer team Blue Roses. May I know who am I talking to?" Lakyus started with the introductions as she asked about him gently.
The man narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but decided to indulge her.
"Quite well-manned. Fine by me." The man nodded as he introduced himself as well, "My name is Galvan, the Wyrmspeaker of the Cult of Dragons. And before you ask why I am here? Then it's simple..." He paused for a moment and summoned his familar, pseudo-dragon, right at front of her.
"We are going to break hell." As those words leaked through his mouth, the pseudo-dragon enhanced its size to the level of a single-storeyed building.
Lakyus grimaced. She had to fight through this one as well.
"Kilineyram..."
"Isn't that a demonic artifact? Why does a cleric like you keep this? If you hand it over to me, I may let you go."
"I refuse. I cannot let some homicidal cultist take my weapons." Her refusal met with a glare from Galvon, who looked determined to take it.
"We will see little girl. We will see..."
Just as he finished his warning, the gigantic pseudo dragon swiped its claws with immense ferocity. For Lakyus, it felt like fighting a large flying cat with a scorpion stinger.
The stinger shot right at her groin, but she dodged with ease. Yet the swipe from the claws sent her to a nearby wall.
Her body crashed with web of cracks on the wall. Yet she was fine. The damage from the impact was completely nullified by her magical gown. Virgin Snow absorbed the damage, not the knockback effect.
She used the spell [Pearl Skin] to enhance her resilience. The pain that she felt before vanished as well. This spell also turned her immune to poison effects as the pseudo dragon used its stinger to pierce her chest with the sleeping poison. Under the confusion of the gigantic familiar, she activated another spell of hers.
[Whirlpool, a spell bestowed upon her by her deity. The spell summoned a large pool of water swirling around the beastly familiar with extreme speed. The summoned water was also under her command too, as she used the water to drown the pseudo-dragon.
"No! I won't let yo– Ack?!"
A powerful blunt attack behind his back sent him flying at the cart.
"Take a good look, little wizard. Our leader is not alone."
"Gagaran!"
"Sorry for being late. I was busy with some cherries."
Gagaran smirked, but her smile quickly faded as she saw the wizard being rising high. Galvon glared at them with eyes that wanted them dead. He took out a mask similar to that of a blue dragon head and covered his face.
"Now, scream hard!"
He cast the spell [Call Lightning] at Lakyus, who was still drenched in water. The lighting shot her down instantly, leaving her cold blue.
Or, that was what he saw.
"What is this?!"
The girl whom he thought to be Lakyus was just a water clone. His eyes loomed over the girl named Gagaran, who ran straight at him. He did not waste any time and cast the spell [Forcecage] spell to catch her mid-air.
"Ughh?!"
"Take this, [Vampiric Touch]."
He touched her forehead and smirked.
"Come out, little Lakyus. Or, do you wish to see your friend being a sack of bones."
His words laced with malice, watched any moment around the buildings. As he found the lack of action from her side, he frowned.
"So be it."
He kept draining the muscular warrior, while enjoying her cries of pain.
"Seems like your friend has no love for your life. How sad it is."
Before he could further deal any damage on her body, he froze. He removed his hand and left the place like a puppet whose master had pulled him back. He flew high in the sky, with great speed until he reached inside the dark clouds.
Mentally, he was confused at his own action. He was supposed to kill those trash, but some sort of force compelled his mind and body. A force that he was soon going to meet here.
From the dark misty clouds, a dark silhouette emerged. He was a magic caster clad in dark robes, whom he sensed to be his master. In other words, he was dominated by a powerful necromancer.
"You have some interesting spells in your arsenal. And you have a Blue Dragon Mask too, isn't that wonderful?"
The necromancer spoke with a happy tone. Yet, deep down Galvon understood what future was lying ahead.
"Once I am done with that blue dragon, I will have you to infiltrate this Cult of Dragons. After all..." He paused for a moment and watched the fight between the girl and the blue dragon, and then continued, "... there are many dragons whose lairs are still unknown to me."