The Xuthos’ gate now starts to be seen behind the strong wooden bridge with big chains on its sides, which moves up and down, filtering everyone who wants to enter Xuthos. Ermis stopped his step.

[Ermis] “Ah, finally we can reach Xuthos.“

He puts a smile on his face, then he sees that Silas looks weird, he is so enthusiastic. Then he moved his eyes to Nik. Nik, just be himself, no expression, and stay cool.

They continued walking and arrived in front of the bridge. There were two soldiers guarding the entrance with a lance and a shield in their hands, also hiding their identities by putting a mask over their faces. Ermis also sees some soldiers roaming near the gate. Those two soldiers then do an inspection of Ermis, Silas, and Nik to ensure they are not a threat to Xuthos.

After the gate’s soldiers finished the inspection, they did not find any threat from Ermis, Silas, or Nik.

[Soldier] “State your business here!”!

[Ermis] “We are soldiers from Roxandros. We want to meet the Queen of Xuthos to deliver news to her.”

That soldier asked them to wait until the Queen accepted them. The other soldier called a red-feather soldier who happened to be patrolling nearby to inform the Queen.

After waiting for a short time, the soldier came back to them and said that the Queen had accepted them into the Queen’s palace. The soldier takes Ermis, Nik, and Silas to the Queen.

They entered the queen’s hall. Ermis was amazed by the queen's charisma. Her brown hair matched the gold crown and red dress she wore. On the left side of the Queen, there is a gray-haired, hunchbacked old woman who uses a wooden staff to help her stand.

[Queen] “Welcome to Xuthos! What happened at Roxandros that made the King send all of you here?”

The Queen greeted them warmly.

[Ermis] “Our Queen has a serious illness. The King sent us to ask for help from Xuthos’ soldiers to get the materials to make the potion for our queen.”

[Queen] “What kind of help do you need?”

[Ermis] “The potion will be made from Nemean’s claw and Lamia’s hair.“ The Nemean's very fast movements make it difficult to catch. Meanwhile, Lamia, if we are careless, she will manipulate and suck blood until the person dies. Therefore, we need help from Xuthos to catch them.”

Ermis then explains the strategy to the Queen. At midnight, they will go to the Forgotten Temple first, which is Lamia’s habitat. Then they move to the Nemean Forest to surround and catch it.

After Ermis explains the strategy, the queen asks Ermis and the team to rest before starting the mission.

[Queen] “Nice strategy. I will order our soldiers to help you. I’ve prepared a room for you to rest before hunting Nemean.”

The queen calls two soldiers to lead them to the room.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Night finally arrived.

Everyone is ready to start finding Lamia. Before departing, Ermis takes a hand mirror. All the soldiers go to the Forbidden Temple. It is located outside Xuthos but still close to Xuthos. They only need around one hour to get there. The temple is very dark and cold. Some of the temple’s walls are already cracked, and it seems quite dangerous to enter. That temple has 2 levels. Ermis, Nik, and Silas go to the second level and explore different edges of the temple.

Ermis hears a voice that calls his name, and he follows that voice. He keeps following that voice until he reaches a room that has so many pillars. He saw a beautiful woman there. He came closer to her and held a mirror in his hand. His leg started shaking when he took the first step. At first, he steps carefully. but the closer he got, the more he lost his guard. That’s Lamia’s act. After three steps, he drops the mirror as he enters his imaginary world. Ermis feels like he has already finished his mission, and he goes back to Roxandross, seeing the Queen already cured. Ermis falls down in his imagination. When Lamia almost sucked his blood, Nik and Silas came and shouted.

[Nik & Silas] “Captain!!”

Lamias stopped for a while, and Ermis gained consciousness. Nik ran to get the mirror from the floor and throw it to Ermis before Lamia ran away.

[Nik] “Take this, capt!”

Ermis caught the mirror and held it in front of Lamia's face. Lamia’s lower body turns into a snake slowly as she enters her imaginary world forever. Ermis then takes Lamia’s hair and leaves the temple quickly because the wall starts to ruin.

[Ermis] “Let’s get out of here!”

They reunited with other soldiers. The sun starts to go up when they leave the temple. Then they move to Nemean’s Forest in a hurry.

When they have arrived, Silas sees a lion's footprints and then follows them until he stops in front of a cave. Then he went to Ermis’ position to tell him and the others..

[Silas] “Capt, I found the cave. What should we do now?”

[Ermis] “Where is it?”

[Silas] “That way, capt.”

Silas pointed north.

[Ermis] “Everyone, let's divide into two groups. The first group will stay here and catch Nemean if it comes outside. The other group follows me, Silas and Nik entering the cave. I’ll be bait for Nemean when it comes up. Confront it and catch it! Remember! Be careful and stay alert! Its claw can tear you into pieces.”

All the soldiers obeyed him. They are about to enter the cave. There are three hallways inside the cave; Ermis enters the middle one, Silas enters the left one, and Nik enters the right one. They are followed by some soldiers. They continue to move in silence, fearful that the Nemean may hear them. The middle hallways end in an enormous place.

Just as they reached the place, suddenly they heard a lion roar, approaching them swiftly.

Some soldiers were bleeding because of Nemean’s attacks. The rest of the soldiers try to catch Nemean, but it is too fast. Ermis then provokes Nemean and makes it follow him. He kept running until he reached the cave's mouth.

[Ermis] “Spread the net! The Nemean is coming!”

He shouted.

The soldiers in front of the cave spread the net. Nemean is trapped, it can’t move anywhere. Ermis took this opportunity without doubt to kill Nemean and take its claws. Then he asks soldiers to pick up all the soldiers who are still inside the cave, including Nik and Silas.

[Ermis] “Thank you everyone. Let’s get back to Xuthos.”

When they arrived at Xuthos, Ermis, Nik, and Silas went to the Queen’s hall to say thanks for her help and would return to Roxandross. They leave the castle. Outside the castle, many soldiers in full armor surrounded them.

[Ermis] “What happened here?”

Ermis felt bewildered, so did Nik and Silas.

Sound of footsteps coming from behind. It is the Queen.

[Queen] “Catch them. Don't let them return to Roxandros.”

The queen ordered her soldiers to capture them so she could carry out her mission to take over Roxandross because the king was definitely not in a state of alertness.

The sound of swords clashing and shouting sounds extremely loud.

A fight between three people against many soldiers was not an easy thing for them. Sweat mixed with blood began to drip. At one point, the three of them led this dispute and succeeded in cornering the Xuthos. The leader of the Xuthos army saw that conditions were getting worse for Xuthos. He and several other soldiers retreated and quickly secured their queen.

Ermis, Nik, and Silas. immediately left Xuthos and returned to Roxandross using the fastest path.

Ermis gives the potion materials to the shaman when he arrives at Roxandros. After taking the potion, the queen awoke right away and began to slowly heal. Now that his wife is back, the king starts to smile again. He planned a ceremony in Roxandros to celebrate Ermis, Nik, and Silas and designate them as honorary soldiers.