MAZE - The Endless Quest

It took just 10 minutes for Tania to get up and speak to the group, “Everyone get ready. All teams are in position, it’s go time.”

No one said anything, they all just prepared themselves, getting the buffs from who they could get. In this case, Helena used the spell called twin elements to allow their weapons to have more than a single buff. Vash cast a minor sound dampening effect. It was nowhere near as good as a full soundproof spell, but it would reach a wider area and also affect those around the group instead of just the individuals. Neria gave everyone a small barrier to block attacks, and another caster, a controller, used a general attribute buff that gave a 10% bonus to all attributes.

Hera summoned her entire court, letting the titled blades choose their own twin elements while using a simple Venom Elemental Strength, and Strength Elemental Strength on all other members of her court. The new buffs, even if stronger, would cost way too much mana for her to keep up for a while. That’s why she was using the two elements that were associated with the Spirit blades she had. Lurize and Vulcan. Casting those spells through them made them cost a fraction of the mana they would normally require. In addition, the Empress also created a pair of rare handaxes to use as her own weapons.

‘Viper, Crim, get outside and check if the coast is clear of both sides of the mountain. Stay hidden,’ she asked the twins who used [Hidden Frontal Screen] to become invisible while scouting ahead.

After a moment, the twins gave back a confirmation, which Hera passed along to Tania, “The coast is clear outside.”

The triton nodded, “Lialtan, Goshkra, the two of you are going around the mountain. Kill everyone on the way then hold down the entrance of the valley. Two people from Kaela’s team will be doing the same. We can’t have people going to ask for help. Beryl, I want you to focus on hiding the bodies. Make a rock on top of them or something. Just make sure that if someone were to look back or from a different direction, they wouldn’t see our trail. And everyone, confirm your kills. I don’t care if you hit them hard enough to maybe kill someone. Slit their throats, smash their heads, or pierce their brains like Hera did. Make sure the people up there won’t get back up to come after us.”

The burly elf and a slender dwarf wearing black clothes and a long scarf that screamed ‘edgy’ both nodded to their leader and then to each other. Everyone approached the entrance of the alcove that was hidden by the illusion, staying just inside it as Tania did. Having recovered his mana, Charmaine tapped every member of the team with a personal silence spell once more. Making sure that their sounds wouldn’t be heard. In addition, if they were discovered by the humans on the top of that plateau, he would cast a barrier similar to the one Hera could use covering the entire area, so Vash and anyone else could use louder spells. Things that made too much light or that were too big were still not supposed to be used, since it would be like a beacon in the middle of the night.

A few moments went by before their leader spoke again, “The underground team started moving. They will have a head start.”

Close to two minutes later, Kaela’s voice came through everyone’s earbud, “Go!”

In a flurry, the teams started moving. The harmony guardians left the alcove and started climbing the mountain with speed. Each of them was using some sort of spell to make things easier. Hera was doing that not just for her but for anyone who was following along by using the stone shape to create a rock climbing path. Vash, Nimbus and another 3 harpies were flying close to the group, helping anyone who was struggling. Once people started to arrive at the top, they would carry those lagging behind.

Tania, a couple of beastman, and an elf, were the firsts to arrive at the top. Hera could hear weak sounds of battle from above as the four killed a couple of humans who were close by. Down below, she could also see Lialtan finding a human and quickly sending them off to the next world with a mighty swing of his sword. Despite his speech earlier, the man didn’t hesitate for a moment as he bisected the guard that he came in contact with.

It took Hera 3 minutes to reach the top, and the people following her were not far behind. Nimbus had already carried Helena, Neria, and Flint to the plateau and they were on the move. Once the Ophidianite reached the top, she took one quick glance around. There were around 500 meters for her to cover until the opening to the valley.

Looking to the sides, there were two humans near the edges of the plateau. They were likely making sure that no one was getting closer to the entrance of the valley and not paying attention to whoever was climbing from the back. However, they were very far away, so reaching them would take a while.

‘Robin, can you hit them?’

‘I think so,’ the bowblade replied.

Hera quickly pulled one of the silence arrow tips and created a wooden arrow. She drew the bowstring and triggered [Seal of Mystic Resonance] to fire more projectiles with the same move. But the actual aim part was left to Robin himself, who quickly found a good position.

‘Fire four more times in succession. Try to get their neck,’ the Empress asked and when she felt the bow was ready, she let go of the string. The first three arrows flew past everyone, some of the team members giving her confused looks. Right after that, another four volleys of three arrows flew past. All a dull blue color that didn’t create any light in the middle of the night.

The silence arrow was the first to strike, which caused the human to yell in pain. However, the magic attached to the arrowhead was already in effect. No one could hear that person, only see how they were groaning and moving around. They turned only to be hit by another set of 3 arrows, one getting their neck and two their chest. The next volley also hit their torso, but the two last ones missed completely. After all, after the third set of strikes, the human was already on the ground, not moving. Still, Hera asked Robin to send 3 more volleys, all aimed at the human’s head to be sure they wouldn’t get up later.

Those who were able to watch that scene gave approving nods to Hera and pointed to the other side, where someone was even farther away, also looking beyond the plateau. The Empress didn’t waste time and created another silent arrow using the arrowhead she had on her. Robin took a moment longer to aim, but again, the strikes were true. But the reaction was different. First, they tried and failed to dodge the second volley before it could hit them. And the third was a complete miss. The human yelled and tried to bang something on the ground to make noise, but the arrow that was still embedded into their back stopped any sound that came from an area around them.

Robin continued his assault, firing arrow after arrow aimed at that human. Thankfully, since they were all made out of magic, the bowblade was able to make them vanish once they missed the target, instead of letting them fall down the mountain due to the proximity of this particular human to the edge. Pulling another arrow, Robin was finally able to imbue an elemental effect on the projectile, and a strength powered bolt flew through the sky at high speeds. The attack hit the human square in the jaw, sending them backwards a few meters, and making them fall from the plateau.

Hera froze for a second, waiting to hear the noise that would create. Thankfully, nothing happened. Which meant both that the silent arrow was still in effect, and that the human didn’t end up tumbling down and causing small rocks to fall, which would generate noise. She only hoped that Goshkra, the edgy dwarf, wasn’t directly under the human as they landed.

Either way, she didn’t have time to waste with that right now. Rushing to meet the rest of the team, she arrived, as they were already halfway through the plateau. Various bodies were already on the ground, all human. So far, everything was working fine, but this was also the easier part. These people were not as worried about someone trying to rescue the people in the camp as they were worried about people in the camp trying to run away. Which was a big oversight on their part. But that hubris was what gave the Alliance this opportunity.

Moving quickly, Hera continued running across the plateau. Helena was using her spells left and right. Before one of the humans was hit, she would take away their sense of touch, and if someone turned around, she would take their sight. Vash, Skyler, Flint, and Roan, each were quickly killing the people standing guard here, and there were a large number of them. 15 or so were already dead, but another 30 were still spread around. All closer to the opposite edge of the mountain.

Charmaine finally reached the point he needed to silence the entire area and did just that. Now, no one that wasn’t in this part of the plateau would be able to hear their noises. This made the Alliance team move even faster, killing everyone in sight and worrying less with potential noise. Movement and light were the only things hindering their progress.

Hera sent her court out, forming the conga line to take out the few humans closer to the right edge of the mountain, while Robin continued to fire arrows at any human who was already engaged in a fight. Suddenly, the people at the very front of the area turned around and saw the incoming attackers.

They screamed, which warned all other humans since the spell Charmaine cast was only stopping sounds from coming out of the plateau, like what happened with those inside Hera’s soundproof bubble. In addition, a couple of them tried to send messages through their communicators, but that also failed. Tania, Kaela, and Bert, the leader of the underground team, each had a device that was activated before the operation started. That was a connection disruptor that would stop any attempts to send messages to each other, or to the various troops that were still in the room. However, there was nothing that could be done to stop the visual effects. Which meant that if one of the humans did anything to create a flare, people would know something was happening in here.

That wasn’t something the humans on top of the plateau considered before they were killed by the Alliance troops. Every single one of them now lay dead on the ground and covered by an illusion that made them look like rocks. On the other side of the canyon, the battle was also about to be over. But a single human tried a last resort. Jumping down to reach the camp below.

‘Nimbus! Grab him,’ Hera yelled in her mind, giving a magnet to the Sentinel, who flew at high speed towards the human. Before he could even start his descent, the bipedal griffon reached him and tossed him back on the opposite side of the canyon from where the Empress was. But that was all Nimbus could do. He immediately was dismissed as Hera saw her mana plummet due the distance he traveled with the magnet.

On the other side, a couple of people from Kaela’s team killed that man before he could do anything else. The Scoutmaster scanned the area and found Hera. Giving her an approving nod for her reaction.

The teams on both sides walked closer to the edge of the plateau now that no human could disturb them and waited a moment. The underground team had to move a bit more before reaching the surface. While waiting, a couple of people on both sides cast slow falling spells on those who couldn’t fly.

Kaela eventually raised her hand, her silhouette illuminated by the starlight, and counted down.

3…

2…

1..

Swinging her arm forward, everyone jumped. Directly below them was the camp where the families were being kept as hostages. The humans in there would be focusing on the troops coming from the mines instead of noticing the battalion coming from the sky.