MAZE - The Endless Quest

“Hera, do you have any news about your court?” Kaela approached the Ophidianite.

“Nothing after the signal that they crossed the barrier.”

The Scoutmaster looked at her watch, “They should’ve arrived at the power plant by now. Maybe something went wrong.”

“Could be, but I know they are still around. If they were destroyed, I would know.”

“All of them are still alive?”

Hera nodded, “Yeah. I can’t tell if they are too injured or not, but if they were captured or something, they can just waste all their mana and they will pop back to me. Even if that forces them to rest for a while.”

“Ok, at least we have that. Let me know if things change. The next signal they sent should let us know they got to the power plant.”

“Will do. How is every-“ before the Empress could say anything else, another large blast echoed through the room.

Another Elemental Meteor had just hit the barrier. Part of the plan was to make the humans think the Alliance was stuck outside, and the constant barrage of a powerful spell did just that. In addition, it also forced them to keep troops around. Even if they realized that there was a team trying to take out the shield from the inside, leaving the front of the city wide open was a recipe for disaster.

However, it would not last long. The barrier was powerful and could take the brunt of the attacks, but the people inside were starting to get desperate. If they saw an opportunity, they would fire back with whatever powerful spell they had. The only reason why they had yet to do that was the barrier itself. In order to make it as powerful as it was, most of the functionality had to be stripped down. In other words, the only reason the shield was this strong was because it affected both sides equally. The Alliance might be unable to enter the city, or do anything against those manning their walls. But at the same time, the humans could do nothing but hope the barrier would last long enough for the reinforcements to arrive.

Hera watched, hoping her titled blades were able to complete their mission soon. That had been the third time Kaela asked or sent someone to ask about Nimbus and the others. Even if the Scoutmaster was completely aware of the time frame of the operation, she pestered the Empress with questions about updates. One could say that she was simply being careful, and wanting to start the next plan as soon as something went wrong with the first one, but Hera knew better. If Kaela was acting like that, it should mean they were running out of time. Maybe a group of humans were getting too close, or the whole battle was taking longer than it should have. One way or the other, they had to finish this quickly and then move on.

The Ophidianite looked towards the city, the shimmering shield that protected it still standing strong. If they would need to break that open, it would take a long time. Her hope was that Nimbus, Lurize, Viper, and Crimson were able to reach the power station soon and turn off the shield generator.

At the same time, in a park near the center of the city, three flying weapons dashed through the area, following a golden beetle. A large rock crashed by their side, forcing the group to dodge, but they continued going forward as fast as they could.

‘Shit, shit, shit,’ Nimbus weaved between the trees, trying to make it harder for the pursuers to find him.

‘Can you stop that! It’s distracting!’ Lurize gasped.

A ball of fire exploded right behind the twins, who did a loop in the air before steading themselves once more.

They really don’t give a crap about burning the park to the ground, do they?’ Viper was turning the [Hidden Frontal Screen] on and off repeatedly, doing his best not to be seen by the humans running after them.

‘Yeah, and I don’t get why. We helped the kid. Couldn’t they at least give us a head start?’ Crimson huffed, she was the most annoyed by the situation out of anyone in the group. They had just done a really good thing by helping a lost child find his family, and what was their reward? Being attacked and chased by a group of humans dead set on destroying them.

‘We are at war Crim. No good deed towards the enemy goes unpunished,’ Viper replied.

‘We can discuss the philosophy later. Look ahead. That’s the power station, right?’ Lurize’s wings were beating extremely quickly, even for a beetle. A few meters in front of them was a hill, and on top of that a building with two towers surrounded by a small fence.

‘Yes, that is the one,’ Viper nodded, ‘Let’s go up.’

‘Are you mad?!’ Lurize gasped, ‘If we try to go up, they will have a clear shot at us!’

‘What’s your idea then? Run across the field? If we go up at least we won’t be hit by the splash damage when the miss!’ just as Viper replied, an avalanche of snow was created right on top of them. The titled blades were able to clear it just as the first bit of snow hit the ground. For a brief moment, they were hidden from the humans, but that wouldn’t last long.

‘Bug, turn into the armor. Grab the twins and ride me!’ Nimbus yelled.

‘What? That’s even worse!’ Viper gasped.

‘We need to be fast. I’m the fastest, but I’ll be exposed. Lurize is an armor, and between the two of us we can burst open the door. We don’t have time to argue, just do it!’ before anyone else could say anything, the Sentinel turned into his griffon form.

Seeing as he just acted, ignoring any arguments, the rest followed along. The Royal Tutor took in his titled form, the full body of his armor shining in the sun as he placed the Zweihänder across his back. Quickly jumping on top of the griffon, he grabbed the Spymasters just before the group dashed out of the park.

The humans were already there waiting for them. Some were preparing spells, but none were powerful enough to be a concern. Even then, Nimbus created a few mana barriers to stop the incoming attacks. The snow might have been tall enough to hide their small forms, but the moment a griffon the size of a horse, and an armored warrior that was almost 2 meters tall, showed up, the snow cover became useless.

They moved extremely quickly through the hill; the Sentinel being able to reach almost 100 km/h in just a couple of seconds. However, a mage appeared by the gate, wearing a white and blue robe and a hood covering his face before the griffon was able to pick up speed. He slammed his hands together and motioned as if he was tossing something to the sky. A massive stone wall appeared right in front of them.

Nimbus thought about stopping for a moment, but Lurize’s intentions were sent to him with a different plan. Knowing what was about to happen, the Sentinel simply covered the front of his body with a couple of layers of mana barriers, hoping to lessen the impact. The Royal Tutor triggered his [Rhinoceros Form] increasing his attributes and the power behind his attacks, as well as [Winged Boost] to move even faster. Or at least that was his intention. What actually happened was something none of the titled blades ever knew to be possible.

Hera’s court could share buffs with each other. If someone got a 10 point increase in Luck, everyone else would receive 1 point in that attribute. This was something they knew since the early days of the court, and the reason why the Empress always looked for weapons that had interesting passives, or skills that increased their attributes. The compound effect of various buffs overlaying each other made them much more powerful.

But each blade could only use their own skills. And their skills could only affect themselves, unless the skill itself said otherwise. For instance, Twiggy and her buff were able to affect Hera and the weapons she is currently wielding, even if they are part of the court, they still get the full benefits of the skill. What everyone believed was that each court member could only use their buffs on themselves.

Until now.

As both Lurize and Nimbus moved as a single unit, acting without even the need for words, something incredible happened. Instead of the Royal Tutor himself getting the effects of his combination skill to become the raging golden beetle that could crush everything in its path, Nimbus was the one affected by both skills.

[Rhinoceros Form] created a metal horn on the Sentinel’s head and covered his entire body in metal while [Winged Boost] created a wind under his wings that increased his speed tenfold. Going from the roughly 40km/h he was currently moving at to almost 400km/h for a single moment.

Nimbus didn’t crash into the wall, he bulldoze through it as if it was made out of paper. The human who created that defense turned into a thin mist after being skewered by the metallic horn. The four continued moving, taking advantage of the momentum for the precious few seconds the skills were still active. Just as he passed under the thick metal gate that was closing, the effects vanished. With the sudden loss of speed, the Sentinel tripped and fell, tumbling with Lurize. But they were now inside the power plant, and the gate in front of them closed before any other human was able to enter.

‘Holy shit,’ Lurize stared at the door, then back at Nimbus.

‘Yeah… We need to talk about that later,’ the Sentinel’s eyes were wide, both still processing what had just happened.

‘Yeah, I want to talk about that too,’ Viper spoke up, ‘But first. Do I need to get rid of the buff? Since you lost yours when you turned into a griffon.’

Nimbus turned back into his weapon form, ‘No, we still need one for when we are about to deactivate the barrier. That was supposed to be me, but we swapped places. We’ll say that my buff was the signal that we went inside the plant.’

As the four of them started to search the building for the control room, Hera, back outside, had two surprises almost at the same time. The first was one of the buffs she cast being dropped. Since it was the second one, it should mean the team arrived at the power plant. The second was a skill, and an upgrade to one of her best skills.

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Skill Acquired

Battle Bond - Legacy - Rank 1

When two members of the court are in perfect synchronicity, they can temporarily share their skills. This powerful connection allows them to channel their active skills through each other. The bond lasts until the end of the battle or until one of the members loses focus.

When a skill is cast like that, it only takes 90% of the original power, while the cost and cooldown increase by 10%

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Army of One - Legacy - Rank 2

When the skill is active, you and your court will function as a single entity. Most effects that would target a specific blade can be shared or redirected to one or more specific members of your court, including yourself. Buffs cannot overlap because of this effect and they are shared with only 19% of their strength.

You can activate and deactivate this skill at will.

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Hera was extremely surprised with the skills, not just the unexpected new legacy skill, but also the first rank 2 legacy skill she had. Still, there was no time for her to enjoy the moment. The Empress quickly rushed towards Kaela to tell her about the progress of the operation. Her team had arrived at the power plant, which meant they could start making the final preparation for the actual assault on the human city.