MAZE - The Endless Quest

While waiting for Kaela’s signal on top of the plateau, Hera approached Helena, “As soon as we land, go after the people. Don’t try to fight, it’s easier for you to move around. Just grab as many as you can and try to hide in a safe location.”

“Yes ma’am,” Helena chuckled, “Sorry it’s just a bit odd having you looking out for me. It was the other way around.”

Hera nodded, “Yeah, but just because I couldn’t do much to help you. Not because I didn’t want to.”

“I know, sweetie. But still, it’s going to take some getting used to.”

“I really hope you don’t get a chance to get used to that,” Hera glanced down at the camp. It was filled with beat up tents, some with visible holes even from this height. It was clear that the people down there were not being treated well. Even if someone wanted to argue that working in a mine wasn’t that bad, the state of the camp confirmed any suspicion of the bad situation the families that stayed behind were being put through.

“Yeah,” Helena glanced down, “I’m really worried it’s not just this.”

Hera looked towards the mage, and after a pause, nodded. Neither of them had to say the words out loud. It was a well-known fact that in times of war, people could suffer more than just physical harm. Since children were involved, they hoped that the humans were a bit more careful not to cross certain lines. According to the Alliance, that is what was happening. During any fights against the army, or conflicts, the humans were being kind. If you could call it that. They were not torturing people or harassing anyone or even mistreating prisoners. Not anymore than usual at least. However, Hera and Helena knew more about the situation. They knew how some of them were willing to performer harrowing experiments on people and on Spirits to achieve their goals. It was hard to trust they wouldn’t do other kinds of heinous acts.

Kaela finally raised her hand and began to count down. Once she lowered her hand, everyone jumped. Those who couldn’t fly already had a buff to allow them to fall slower, while the ones with wings could simply use that. Hera expected this entrance to be both slower and faster than what it actually was. On one hand, they were not going down at a speed that make her, or anyone in the teams, worried about getting hurt when they landed. On the other, it felt like it was taking a long time, even if the whole journey would last less than 20 seconds. The big problem there was that by simply falling, they could reach the ground in less than 4 seconds. The difference was massive and that extra time was just a bigger opportunity for a human to notice them and start attacking, while they could do very little to defend themselves.

Thankfully, humans were not the kinds of people that were used to looking up. That was also the case for dwarves and beastmen. For some reason, if any member of those species heard a noise, they would look around and, more often than not, forget to look up. Elves also had that, but to a smaller degree. Since their culture had a lot of focus on tall structures with interconnected paths, they were less likely to miss the danger that came from above. Tritons and Harpies had no such problems. Both species were very used with three-dimensional fights, even if the circumstances were very different.

Once the team was about two meters above all the tents, the slow fall spell was deactivated. Hera instantly told the titled blades to turn into their full forms, but all of them were far away from Helena. The idea was to use that distraction to allow the mage a chance to hide properly.

Livy was the first to land, her massive frame spooking some of the humans and the children that were nearby. She saw someone turning away from her and rushing towards a specific tent. They were wearing heavy armor and carrying a longsword on their waist. That was clearly a human, but the fact that he moved with such intention worried the Leviathan. Not wanting to give them a chance to do whatever they were trying to do, she rushed forward. Swinging the war axe at the man’s legs. The first strike was a miss, and instead of being able to throw the second one, she had to pivot and block a couple of spells aimed at her head. The man was now too far away and apparently heading to a specific tent. One that wasn’t as beat up as the rest.

Knowing she wasn’t fast enough to reach him now, the Leviathan grabbed her war axe with both her hands and threw it. The weapon spun through the air, and just as two more spells were about to hit her, Livy dropped her bipedal form, becoming only the double-headed axe. Using the momentum of her throw, she controlled the direction and slammed the man straight into his chest just as he opened the tent. The Leviathan quickly came back to her person form and pushed the weapon forward, finishing the blow to bisect the human. Glancing inside, she noticed what looked like a guard tent with some weapons, armor, and an old radio. Something that wouldn’t be able to send messages to a different room, no matter what.

‘Hera! They are trying to send a message to someone!’ Livy yelled in their minds, which was the best way to cut through all the noise.

‘Don’t let them, then! Verdant, Cerulean, go help Livy protect that tent. Twiggy, stay on her head.’

‘Roger!’ the members of the Verdant, and the Cerulean Marquessate all replied in unison and started moving towards the Leviathan.

Livy held back a smile, feeling satisfied with her discovery, but there was no time to focus on that. A woman wearing red clothes came swinging at her, her black hair tied tightly in a bun. Unfortunately, this human didn’t consider that the three meter tall sea serpent was much stronger than her. The Leviathan snorted as she grabbed the glaive with one hand, and just spun the woman around tossing her towards the center of the Alliance team that just appeared.

The human went flying, passing by Glacia, who gave her a ‘love tap’, slowing the woman’s movement with a [Glacial Strike]. Robin and Twiggy were the next ones to go by, but the human still showed no sign of stopping. Finally, after going through Clay and getting another attack from Storm, one without any skills attached to it, the woman fell to the ground close to Hera, Flint, and Roan, who were engaged in their own fights.

For a brief moment, the human struggled to understand her situation, but that was already too much time. As she tried to get up to continue fighting, Vulcan stomped her neck and pulled back, ripping her throat out with his claws. Forge yelled and jumped forward, bringing the thick hammer down on a man’s shoulder before pulling it back and slamming his head, making the human drop. Vulcan could’ve confirmed the kill, but that rule only applied to the plateau. Here, it was more important to neutralize everyone as quickly as possible. The longer the fight lasted, the more likely the humans were to be able to call for help.

Forge moved towards one of the tents, where he saw a human rush inside and found a group of three men, surrounding five people. Those five were all of different species and ages. With the smallest one, a triton, looking no older than 12.

“Take one more step and they are dead!” one of the humans was pointing his longsword at the child.

Vulcan squinted, he could tell that weapon was crap from here. The blade wasn’t uniform; the materials used to make were not properly mixed, which made the steel more brittle, and the handle was too light. Using that weapon would be awful for anyone who knew what they were doing.

“Good! Now you are going to get the radio, or they die! Do you hear me?” the human yelled again, pressing the blade on the kid’s cheek. It wasn’t enough to hurt him, but another triton, likely his mom, pushed the blade forward, cutting her arm in the process to protect her child.

The human just looked down and kicked the woman, before turning back to the kangaroo man that was in front of him, “Go! I’m warning you.”

Vulcan took a deep breath, trying to seem dejected. If his apron wasn’t covering his stomach, they would see the fires of a furnace forming in his belly. He then let out a wave of [Sacred Fire] towards the group. One charged with about ten times the regular mana cost and an enchantment spell he was working on called simply 'Strength'. The humans were hit hard, screaming as the flames fused their flesh and armor together. The tritons, the elf, and the two dwarves also screamed, but it was only out of fear. Vulcan’s skill only harmed his enemies, and for his allies, it was a healing effect. Once the white flames were gone, the humans were still alive, but now on the ground, agonizing due to the pain. While the people from other species were being healed. The cut in the mother triton was no longer visible.

“Sorry about that, folks. Couldn’t warn you without showing them my hand,” Forge winked at them.

Before anyone could reply, another human appeared from behind him, grabbing Vulcan by the throat with a staff. He was pulled back, out of the tent and tried to jump, or to free himself, but that was an awkward position and there was no way to get enough strength to push the human away.

Suddenly, something moved past Vulcan, and he felt the grip of the human fail. Using his elbow to attack, he hit something else instead of the human, but that was enough for him to push away.

“Ouch! What the hell?!” Viper groaned as he appeared. The half Naga was wrapping the human with his tail like a snake.

“My bad!” Vulcan stepped but quickly jumped inside the tent again as a human entered it through the back.

Viper opened his mouth and bit down hard on the neck of the human he was holding. Just as his fangs pierced the skin, Crimson jumped towards the same man. The twins wrapped themselves like a twisted version of the caduceus, with each biting one side of the human’s neck. Even then, it was taking too long for him to drop. Not wanting to waste more time, they used their daggers to pierce the man’s heart from the front and back before dropping him to the ground and moving to the next target.

They saw a woman who had a pair of daggers blocking one of the elves from Kaela’s team and pushing him away. Before she could follow up, Crimson sent out a [Bloody Claw] to intercept. Rushing to her, the twins weaved their paths together, zig zagging to confuse their enemy. That didn’t work as well as they hoped. Once the two Spymasters were crossing in front of each other, forming a line, the woman threw a dagger aimed at them both. However, Viper parried the attack and approached in a flash. He went for an upward swing with his of dagger, but that was just a faint, as Crimson jumped with an overhead attack. Unable to react in time, the woman’s barrier blocked the blow. Which didn’t matter to the twins. The entire court could work very well together as a unit. However, the teamwork of the Spymasters was on a whole different level. They fought not as two people helping each other, but as if they were part of the same body. Crimson would go for a feint, but Viper was the one who followed up the attack. Once one of them showed an opening, the other was there to provide cover. That was too much for the woman who was killed after a few moments.

With their quarry dead, the twins hesitated for a brief moment before continuing, not because of what was going on with them, but what was happening with Hera. She, along with Nimbus and Lurize, was facing against three people who seemed to be a problem.

With a quick nod to each other, Crimson and Viper continued attacking the humans who controlled the camp, trusting that the fight wouldn’t be a problem for their Empress.