MAZE - The Endless Quest

A couple of hours later, the biggest parts of the defense were already set up. Aside from the crafters, who were still making various structures to help with any incoming attacks, the rest of the team focused on resting. Every extra second they had to recover their energy could make a difference in a prolonged fight. And since no one knew exactly how long any attacks on the camp would be, they were all preparing for the worst.

Their plans also had changed a lot. Initially, they were going to split their teams into four groups. Two would take care of the plateaus, while the other two covered the two openings of the valley. However, one of the people here made a different suggestion.

The humans had him working on some better defenses for the place. A spell circle that was supposed to be carved on the rock above the plateau. The idea was to combine two effects, one that made that area have an increased degree of pressure as if they were underwater, and another to push the air away. Not to the point of it turning into a vacuum, but simulating the effects of being high up in a mountain. Lastly, was a slow effect to make those crossing the plateau take longer to reach the valley. With that combination, anyone who tried to reach the center of the valley from that path should asphyxiate before reaching them, and due to the nature of the spells, simple things like air bubbles wouldn’t help. People would require a very specific set of spells to circumvent that.

However, the dwarf didn’t want to help his captors. Because of that, he was stalling for time, just out of pure spite. The actual spell circle had been completed several days earlier, but he continuously made slight changes that caused the magic to fail. Now that this was supposed to help his people, he was very happy to fix those mistakes and share his work. With the combined help of the harpy, and the few explorers in the teams, carving the symbols on the ground was very quick. In just one hour, the spell circles were completed, and each line went almost 10 meters deep. During the next 30 minutes, the people with strong earth based spells covered the carving so the humans wouldn’t know what happened.

With that, people would still be atop the mountain, but closer to the valley. In addition, their numbers would be smaller and the amount of defensive weapons placed there would be reduced. They would also be adapted to be able to turn around the attack on both sides.

Unfortunately, the spell required a specific height for it to work, so it couldn’t be created in the paths leading to the camp. On the flip side, letting the crafters focus on defenses around the valley allowed them to create various traps and arcane turrents directly attached to the walls of the mountain.

Hera had a bit of knowledge about traps, but it’s been so long that she used that kind of thing that the best she could do was follow instructions. Even so, between her and her court, the Empress was a great help. One thing she noticed, however, was that Viper wasn’t doing much to help with the actual construction. Instead, he was with a group of people discussing the barriers and defensive spells that would be used.

The Ophidianite didn’t say anything since it did look like he was contributing to the conversation at first, but once she was called to the other side of the camp, things changed.

“Viper, we have to go,” Hera called as the group moved.

“One moment,” the Spymaster asked the group of mages and moved towards the Empress, “Can I make a request?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Could you give me a royal quest to stay here? I want to help the mages,” Viper replied.

“Really? Don’t get me wrong, but can you help? All the spells you use come from me, don’t they?”

“They do, but they don’t have to. Nimbus has spells that he knows and you don’t. I wanted to lean in on that since one of my skills allows me to think faster than most. That can be useful to cast complicated spells that need a lot of focus.”

Hera nodded, it was the first time the Spymaster asked to do something like that, but the timing was just awful, “I like your idea. But I can’t afford to use that skill right now. Not for this. We don’t know what will happen later and maybe we are going to need to split up,” she placed one hand on Viper’s shoulder, “But I’ll support you with all I have. We can talk about spells as much as you want, and there are Lena, or Skyler and Vash. I’m sure they will be happy to help too. Especially if you are thinking about disruption. Skyler is kind of an expert on that kind of thing.”

Viper was a bit frustrated with the answer, but he nodded. He knew it was a selfish request, and that wasn’t exactly the situation for it. While walking, Kaela saw the Empress passing by and called her over.

“Hera, your spell. How long do you think it will take?”

Hera closed her eyes to get a feeling for the snakes, since they were too far away, they wouldn’t show in her [Treasure Map]. Some of them were already in position, but the ones traveling to the north and south were nowhere near close their destination. In fact, she could sense four groups of two snakes still moving together, which meant they would still take a while.

“Shit. I’m guessing we still have to wait around 3 hours. Maybe less if we are lucky,” the Empress replied.

“Fuck. Ok, keep me posted. And hurry with whatever you are doing. Our army is already marching into the city. If the humans are trying to take this place back, it should happen soon.”

“Should I warn people?” Hera asked.

“Tell your group. And if you are passing by, warn Helena and the people with the families that they have to make a decision. Are they fighting or hiding? But try not to scare anyone. We don’t need panic,” Kaela turned back to the map in front of her, “After you are done with whatever you were going to do. Grab your team and head to the north entrance. You’ll be stationed there.”

“Got it,” Hera nodded and left the area, leaving the Scoutmaster to continue the planning.

In an ideal world, nothing would happen. The team would be here just wasting time instead of helping in the battle. But no one was naive enough to think that would be the case. During this war, the humans were more than willing to go for underhanded tactics. Then again, this was war. It was hard to call anything an underhanded tactic. Whoever won would be right in the eyes of history and all that.

Frustrated with the situation, Hera just walked over to the group of tents where the few hundred of former prisoners were, and where Helena spent most of her time. She was doing her best to show that not every human was bad, and that she truly wanted to help others. The mage noticed the arrival of the Empress, mostly due to the reaction of some people as she walked inside the tent.

“What brings you here, sweetie?” Helena opened a smile, but Hera could tell she was hiding her emotions. There was some sadness in her eyes.

“Bad news, I’m afraid,” the Ophidianite gestured the mage to come closer, “Our army started marching, the battles should start soon. Which means the humans might send someone here to fight us. People need to make a decision, if they are fighting or hiding.”

Helena’s expression turned grim, “Ok. I’ll… I’ll let them know.”

“Don’t be the only one,” the Empress pointed to a few of the other team members who were helping the families, “I have a feeling not everyone will accept that coming from you.”

Helena nodded, “Where are you going to be?”

“North side. I don’t know if you can pick. But if you can, having you by my side would be good.”

Helena showed a weak smile, “Just like the old days, huh? Except we are fighting people instead of random monsters.”

“Old days, you make it seem like it was years ago, not just a few months,” Hera chuckled, “But you are wrong. It still is the same thing. We are fighting monsters. Just a different flavor of them.”

The mage nodded but didn’t answer. A moment later, the Empress walked out of the tent, going back towards the south entrance to finish helping to set things up there. On the way, she encountered Vash and Skyler, gave them a quick rundown of what was going on, and went back on her way.

To Hera, the next hour went by in a flurry. She helped finish up some of the traps, walls, and trenches on the south entrance, stopped by the communal kitchen to get some food, and found her team back at the north entrance. She checked with her snakes once more, but there was no change. All four sets of two were still moving. Maybe they would be lucky and the humans wouldn’t show up until the spell was active.

A murmur suddenly started as the team noticed a group approaching the entrance of the valley. The human army had arrived to recover their lost camp.

Hera sighed, cursing her luck for not giving them more time. Glancing around, she realized how much of a mess this was. The team that came to free the camp was in front, looking imposing and well armed, but behind them, where the former prisoners wearing mismatched sets of armor and holding whatever weapons they could use. Even after raiding the guard’s armory, there wasn’t enough to army everyone, which forced the crafters to spend time making mass produced gear for them.

Their defenses were also far from being well organized. Instead of focusing on making things look good, they just made sure to cover as much area as they could. Roan mentioned this felt really familiar to him since it was the type of defensive battle the beastmen would fight among themselves.

‘Robin, I’m counting on you.’

‘Just tell me when to start, Empress,’ the bowblade replied, his voice cold as the steel of his form. There was no time to play around. Not now. The humans wouldn’t send a random group to take back the camp. They would send a group of their best warriors. A group much like the group Scoutmaster Kaela set up.

This wouldn’t be a fight where they were punching down like it was when they attacked the guards. Hera expected that this time, their battle would be against people of a similar level. And while the humans only had to worry about winning, the Alliance also had to protect the families and their position.

“Hera,” Helena suddenly appeared behind the Empress.

“Lena! Are you ok?”

“Yeah, sorry. Brian didn’t want me to leave.”

“Glad to have you with us,” Flint smiled as he prepared a small shrapnel bomb.

“What about your cousin and his wife?” Nimbus asked.

“They are taking care of the children. Both are too low level for this,” Helena replied.

“Makes sense. Someone needs to stay with the kids. Are they in the mines?” Skyler asked.

“Yeah, it felt like the safest place. We set up some supporting pillars and some stone walls to stop them from exploring the deepest parts,” Helena nodded.

“Head’s up. I think it’s about to start,” Vash was flying just above them. He noticed how more people approached the humans from the side. Likely the teams who tried and failed to go from above.

One of the humans stepped forward and raised a sword, saying something, but he was too far away for Hera to hear it. He then pointed at the camp and all the humans shouted and started running. This was it. It was time to see if all the preparation was worth it.