MAZE - The Endless Quest

#### Author's Note ####

Ok there were a couple of moments here where Hera felt really badass. Was I the only one?

Also, I'm doing something a bit different when editing the chapter, I hope it lower the amount of mistakes but let me know if you see something odd, or if it feels better.

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Not just Hera, her court, Helena, and Yulan, but all the sects there were participating in the Sky Sword Meeting rushed out of the arena. The elders were yelling orders, calling for the servants to bring the weapons from their armories while summoning their own swords. At the same time, the disciples all went in a mad dash towards their sacked buildings. They were not allowed to carry weapons in the Heaven's Edge Summit. Not during the festival. The idea was to protect the mortals and make sure that no minor brawls turned into something more serious. Yuwei, along with everyone who was a part of the first junior bracket, were given the task of protecting the summit. From the little information that was shared, the Demon Cult was here in mass at the base of the mountain. Which meant that would be the most dangerous place during this conflict. Exactly for that reason, the weaker disciples wouldn't be allowed to participate in such a gruesome fight.

Hera's group was reaching the side of the mountain, ready to jump down when Helena stopped and grabbed both Hera and Yulan's arms, "Wait, wait a moment."

"What? Master Helena, we need to go help them. We can't let that the Demon Cult continue their attack. The mortals down there are probably being slaughtered," Yulan gasped.

"No, wait. Are we sure this is the right thing to do?" Helena asked.

"What do you mean?" Hera stared at the mage.

"I mean, what if this is what the Demon Cult is trying to do? Take us out of the summit?" Helena continued.

"Why would they do that? There's nothing of value here," Yulan explained.

" I don't know," Helena sighed.

"Livy!" Hera called.

The Leviathan materialized by the Empress as the court was inside the palace to speed up their movement. Most of the cultivators were already halfway down the mountain, but a few of the stragglers jumped when they saw the sea serpent in her title form. Ignoring the reaction, the Ophidianite asked her question.

"You read more stories about this than I did. Why would the Demon Cult lure people away from the summit?"

"Why? Come on, it's a classic. There is a strange rock here that no one seems to be able to break and a core of a mountain that is protected by all the sects. Of course that there's something hidden inside the mountain and the Demon Cult came here to steal it or take it. It's the most classic of clichés that there is. Especially since we are leaving the weakest people behind. It's a text book revenge story prologue. The Demon Cult kills everyone, steals what they have to steal, destroys all the sects and whoever survives the assault will go on a journey to become strong enough to fight back against them. The survivor will be either someone who has a special power like Yuwei, and her special constitution. Someone who is extremely devoted and hard-working and who gave their life to their sect. Or a nobody that was always bullied and just had a very good day for the first time in what feels like forever. We should look for one of those people. The leader of the Demonic Cult will probably show up right in front of them and make them watch as they do something horrible."

Hera, Helena, and Yuan glanced at each other, but this time, the Orc woman was who started moving.

"Follow me!" she quickly created a portal to the side that led them straight back to the arena.

"Right. You can make portals. Why didn't you make one so we could just reach the bottom of the mountain?" she harassed as she followed Yulan.

"Everyone was running, I didn't think. Just followed," the Orc woman admitted.

Taking a moment to look around them, Hera realized they were not in the arena proper, but on the bleachers. This was the location that Yulan kept sending her opponents during most of the tournament. Quickly rushing to one of the open areas to see the ground below, she watched as the junior disciples, Yuwei included, were toyed with by a group of 10 people. They were all clad in black cloaks that hid their appearance. Most of the disciples were on the ground around them trying to get up, but an unknown force stopped them from moving. One of the figures stepped forward. She grabbed a male Orc that was trying to get up and pulled him closer to her face. From this angle, Hera wasn't able to see what she was doing, but once she tossed the man to the side, it became clear. That figure had given the man a concentrated dose of poison, maybe through a kiss, and now he was convulsing on the ground.

"So the five-person minimum would mean that each of us would have to take two of them," Helena mumbled.

"Yeah. But at least we have the maximum number of people. Even if I don't think we can count on the junior disciples doing much," the Empress triggered her [Observe] and confirmed that all but 1 of the 10 cloaked figures were level 48. Each of them had a name and a title of sorts, something that, in a cultivation story, would mean they were very powerful.

"We can use the same plan we had for the tournament," Twiggy suggested cheerfully.

"The same plan? I like the idea," Hera smiled. Helena answered in kind, also excited at the prospect of using one of Hera's blades.

"Yuwei!" Yulan suddenly yelled and rushed out of their hiding place. The poison user had changed targets and was about to reach the Sun Flower.

Seeing that, the Empress called her entire court out and rushed after Yulan.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? More disciples for us to play with?" the figure who poisoned the man let out a sinister cackle, her voice somewhat melodic, but parts of the laughter sounded like someone dragging their nails on a whiteboard.

"Even a disciple will be more than enough to deal with the likes of you. Nevertheless, this Leviathan will entertain you now. Be glad for the honor," Livy announced, already playing along with the setting.

Hera couldn't help herself and joined in, "Now, now. Don't be greedy. There is enough for everybody," she glanced at the 10 cloaked figures, "Even if this lot will only be good for a warm-up."

"You dare?" The tallest of the figures, who also seemed to be a man by his voice, growled and pulled back his hood. He had a shaved head and his skin was a mossy green hue, almost like he had come from a swamp. Across his neck and forehead were various tattoos depicting some type of sigil that emanated a sickening aura.

Livy stepped forward, holding Eira in her hand. Even if the Orc man, who was called Drakvar, the Iron Fist, was the biggest member of this group, he still paled in comparison to the Leviathan, who was a good 80 cm taller than him. "Calm down, little one. You're fighting me."

Drakvar snarled, "What makes you think you have the right to challenge me?"

With a smile, Livy lowered her head, baring her teeth at the man. "I'm stronger."

In a flash, the Leviathan disappeared and shoulder-checked the burly Orc. The impact sent him flying to the walls of the arena. Now that she was in the center of the group of cloaked figures, she swung Eira around, the attack causing all the remaining nine figures to jump back. As they spread out, everyone on Hera's team jumped on top of one of them. Only two were left unattended. The first had a metallic glove and a thick smell of iron coming from him, but he wasn't alone for long. Yulan and Yuwei jumped on the opportunity to fight, taking advantage of their excellent teamwork, honed across years of travel.

Xivrok, the Bone Warden, was the only invader that didn’t seem to be picked for combat. That was very much intentional. Hera had seen that he was only level 45, and she felt an energy from him that she had only felt once before. It was during the very first explorer test when she fought against King Gwendelan, or as he was known, the Skeleton King and his warriors. Because of that, the Empress figured Xivrok would use some kind of necromancy. And if he was truly the summoner type, the junior disciples would be more than enough. If not, they should at least be able to stall for time until the other fights were over. As a matter of fact, the Empress was able to get a sense of the power of every single one of those invaders, and her court made sure that each of them would have the advantage in the matchups. Hera herself rushed straight to the woman who poisoned the young Orc. It was clear that she utilized toxins, which made the Ophidianite her natural enemy.

Selrith, the Venomous Kiss, cackled once more as they were split off. With a flick, she removed her robes, revealing her skimpy outfit. Clothes that hugged her curves and had openings that showed her jade-like skin in places dangerously close to being inappropriate. It didn’t even look like proper battle attire, more akin to what someone would draw in an erotic game. Her face was sharp, and her makeup was immaculate. Blood-red lips contrasted with her black hair flowing like liquid shadow, "I'm flattered, but I don’t like women. Although," Selrith looked Hera up and down, "I might be willing to make an exception."

"I’m not that desperate. But if I ever lose any semblance of self-esteem, I’ll let you know," Hera looked Selrith up and down, doing the same thing the Orc woman had done to her, "No, even then, I’ll love myself too much to touch you," Hera shrugged, Pyro was sitting on her tail and already preparing an [Inferno Burst] to start the fight.

The Venomous Kiss’s eyes flared red as sinister energy came out of her body. "No one rejects me. One way or another, you’re going to be on your knees when I’m done with you. Like all those before you."

"Yeah, that’s not going to happen. For one, that fragrance you’re wearing is making me nauseous, and I don’t even want to think about what the rest of you smells like. And two, you seem like the type who just lays there and does nothing." Daskka covered Selrith’s face in a dark mist as Hera ran over and struck the woman’s back with a venomous cutlass she had just conjured before the Orc could even react. With a smirk, Hera continued, "I like people who can keep up."

Selrith growled in pain, her body twisting as she pulled out a couple of daggers, going straight for Hera's face. Stepping back, the Ophidianite evaded the attack while flicking her tail towards the Orc woman. Pyro activated [Inferno Burst] just as the Venomous Kiss narrowly evaded his tipped blade. But that didn't matter. A torrent of fire spread out, hitting the woman, who was only able to dodge after large parts of her skin burned from the intense heat. Selrith yelled as some of her clothes burned away, revealing a tattoo on her skin that followed the exact same pattern as her outfit.

"You bitch!"

"Only when I want to," Hera continued her attack, swinging her cutlass a couple of times but finding no purchase. In response, Selrith spat a green liquid that ended up hitting the floor.

'Hera, watch out,' Twiggy called. Every step taken by the Orc woman was leaving behind footprints of that same strange goo.

"Too late." Selrith made a gesture with her hand, causing all the mucus she left behind to evaporate. As she controlled those vapors, she shoved them all inside Hera's nose. "Now, let's see how beautiful you'll be as you squirm on the ground."

Hera wasn’t expecting to be attacked that way, and if it were up to her, she would have tested the waters first to confirm if the poison this woman used would be dangerous to an Ophidianite or not. But apparently, she was going through a trial by fire. Which was a very apt description of what she was feeling. Not the type of fire that hurt or charred her skin, but one very similar to eating raw peppers, specifically the type used in those hot sauce challenges.

Selrith walked closer to the Empress, a smug expression on her face. "You're handling this much better than I expected. But soon your head will be beneath my feet."

Once the Orc woman was close enough, Daskka, in her silver mist form, wrapped around the woman to make sure she wouldn’t try to dodge. Following that up, Hera sent Pyro and the cutlass up, both aimed at Selrith’s chin, and triggered [Grasshopper Stab] twice. The impact made the Orc woman's head explode from the back. Thick green blood covered a large part of the arena, but the color quickly changed to red as the energy that turned it into venom was no more.

With one of the enemies down, the Empress looked around to see who else might need some help. Ignoring the drop of the dissolved member of the demon cult.