Sylvi headed toward the safe house, moving as fast as she could with Ashlyn in tow. Not wanting to make a bad situation worse, she took several opportunities to confirm they weren’t being followed. She didn’t see any signs of a tail and decided to take a bit of a risk heading directly back.
Sylvi slowed as they approached the cavern that contained the safe house. She scanned the area, at first not noticing anything amiss. Then, she spotted them; a pair of Chixel were loitering about, doing their best to look inconspicuous, but their gazes lingered on the safe house. She wouldn’t have even spotted them without her ability to see in the dark and stacking buffs to her perception. Knowing what to look for, she spotted several other disguised groups surrounding their target. Fortunately, there didn’t appear to be tier 2 soldiers amongst them, and they appeared to have only concealed weapons.
Sylvi discreetly pointed them out to Ashlyn. Unfortunately, they didn’t have many options; there was no way for them to sneak into the safehouse without being seen, even with their umbral abilities and stealth skills. It also didn’t seem likely that they could take out any of the groups without another group noticing almost instantly, as they had tactically placed themselves so each group had a line of sight on another.
“We need to go in fast and incapacitate as many of them as possible while fighting toward the house,” Sylvi said, and Ashlyn nodded her assent.
With her target identified, Sylvi moved in like a predator, Ashlyn right behind her. The first pair of soldiers didn’t even put up a fight, getting impaled by a pair of short swords while their attention was firmly on the safe house.
They continued stalking forward, moving with both speed and stealth. Unfortunately, these sentries were more vigilant of their surroundings, and they noticed their fallen comrades moments before Sylvi was upon them.
They were almost evenly matched in levels, but it quickly became apparent the Chixel soldiers had underestimated the actual danger. Their eyes widened with fear, and they flinched under the furious onslaught. Sylvi, fueled by adrenaline but still under control, launched an all-out offensive, her short sword sinking deep into the Chixel’s chest. Ashlyn, moving with alacrity and precision, quickly dispatched her opponent.
Despite the swift and brutal nature of the engagements, they hadn’t gone unnoticed. The sound of fighting had drawn the attention of the other groups of soldiers. Several of them quickly converged, easily outnumbering them several times over. The path to their destination was blocked, and the situation appeared grim.
Sylvi remained calm and hoped Ashlyn would, too. She did what the Chixel least expected, charging headlong into the largest group of them. At the last possible moment, she used her magic, creating a large area of darkness in the middle of their ranks. Not expecting the sudden lack of light, her opponents started panicking and breaking ranks. Sylvi slew them like an unseen reaper, plunging her blade into the backs of her foes. The screams of terrified and dying Chixel echoed throughout the cavern.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t keep this much Umbra active long, even with the low light. While they were still disoriented and terrified, she started heading towards the house and shouted for Ashlyn to do the same.
The final few Chixel who might have been able to intercept them hesitated, unsure if they should fight what had just slaughtered so many of their compatriots. Their indecision was a decision, and Sylvi made it to the house with Ashlyn right behind her. Several houseguards had begun to come outside to see what the commotion was all about, and Sylvi motioned them inside.
“This whole operation is fucked, and we need to get the hell out of here, now,” Sylvi told Ettes and Vallo, who had crowded around the entrance.
“This one doesn’t understand…” Ettes began, but Sylvi quickly cut her off, not having time for inefficient chatter.
“They knew about your agent and that you would try breaking your friends out, and they were just waiting to get some proof against you. They were probably hoping to have their own agent led straight back here to wrap this all up with a bow,” Sylvi explained, though she was grabbing items they would need. She ensured the pair of parachutes and several vials of poison were among them. She also got her bow, quiver, and several enchanted items she had wanted to bring to Imri.
“There is nowhere to go; the platforms are too well-guarded,” Ettes said.
“I’m not going to a platform,” Sylvi said simply as she gathered the last items and topped off her mana from a charged crystal.
“Then where are we going?” Vallo asked.
“To the surface. Ettes, I’m sorry, but I only have a way off for my people,” Sylvi said.
“Do not apologize; it is this one's fault we are in this mess. We will fight our way to another safe house, hopefully disappearing among sympathizers of the cause,” Ettes said.
They quickly coordinated, leaving out the various tunnels simultaneously, with the group of three humans using the one with the shortest route to the surface. Unfortunately, the enemy had enough time to regroup in the two minutes they had been within the house, and they immediately encountered resistance.
Javelins rained down on the chokepoint at the house exit, forcing Sylvi to duck back inside. She nocked an arrow to the bowstring and held several more arrows in her hand.
“Ashlyn, take Vallo’s hand and guide him through the Umbra. I will lay down some suppression fire. Keep going up toward the surface; I’ll be right behind you,” Sylvi ordered.
She used a large amount of mana for a second time, creating another large area to obscure the exit and a bit of the walkway in both directions. She moved out and stepped to the side, leaving just enough room for Ashlyn and Vallo to pass by her. She sighted the enemies above her, too many for her to take out on her own, their javelins at the ready.
Sylvi didn’t hesitate, using Mark of the Hunt on the nearest ranged combatant. She immediately followed it up with an Empowered Shot but didn’t use any mana on it, wanting to save it for Umbra. Before the first arrow had even struck its target, she was moving to fire a second shot. She moved with a speed that would have made YouTuber archers envious, firing three more arrows at nearly the speed of a semi-automatic rifle and with a similar amount of power, thanks to the enhanced bow. While her technique still needed some refinement, she made up for that with raw attribute points.
Each of the arrows struck true, killing or seriously injuring four of them. While the Chixel had the numbers to saturate the entire area in javelins, their self-preservation instincts kicked in under such a furious barrage of arrows, causing them to duck for cover in nearby dwellings.
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Ashlyn and Vallo moved up the walkway and towards the surface. Sylvi killed one last Chixel who was foolish enough to stick their head out of cover before promptly having it removed by an Empowered Shot.
Sylvi stopped feeding the umbra mana and sprinted after the pair. Fortunately, it appeared they had gotten through the enemy line, with them being spread throughout each of the entrances. She could only hope that Ettes and her people were having similar successes. She caught up to the pair of teenagers as they were just about on the surface.
“Now what?” Ashlyn asked.
“Get to the edge of the city,” Sylvi ordered.
“But…” Ashlyn started to object, but Sylvi cut her off.
“That’s an order, move.”
The young woman looked like she wanted to object, but she nodded and obeyed. Fortunately, they didn’t have far to go; the nearest edge was only several blocks away. The three of them sprinted as fast as they could, each of them having enough stamina to maintain that pace for longer than most professional runners before the integration.
They took a path that followed a canal that eventually turned into a waterfall at the city's edge. Befuddled gardeners watched the trio of humans sprint past them, unsure of what to make of the strange circumstances. Sylvi could hear the soldiers behind them sprinting just as fast in pursuit. They shouted in the Chixel language, probably imploring one of the gardeners to detain them.
They were breathing hard and sweating when they reached the edge, but they had made it. Sylvi took out the two emergency parachutes and handed one to each of them. They weren’t overly impressive, being far smaller than a typical parachute and looking closer to a fitted sheet with straps than a proper parachute. If there were other options, Sylvi would have gone with that, but this was the best she could do with the limited time and resources.
“But there’s only two,” Ashlyn argued, looking angrily at Sylvi.
“You two go. I’m going to take as many of them down with me before I go,” Sylvi said, resigned to her fate.
She didn’t want to die. She wanted to be back in Celestia, with Caroline holding her tightly. She wanted to keep fighting for Celestia, making it a safe haven for all. Unfortunately, she wasn’t about to let one of these kids sacrifice themselves for her. It was her time. She double-checked that she still had the vial of poison, just in case they tried to take her alive.
“Take mine,” Vallo insisted, trying to hand her his parachute.
“My decision is final. I’m the one who stays; you two go,” she said, ignoring the gesture and beginning to fire arrows into the oncoming pursuers. They slowed and ducked for cover in the nearby plants as the lead Chixel was hit in the chest.
“No, listen,” Vallo shouted in anger. “No one needs to die. I’m not sacrificing myself; I don’t need it. I’m a Shape Shifter.”
It took Sylvi a moment to comprehend what he had said. Relief hit her like a truck, and she couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, let's get the hell out of here,” she said as she accepted the bundle of cloth.
They sprinted the final few meters after only a brief hesitation. There was a small amount of resistance as they crossed near the edge like they were running into a gale. Fortunately, it wasn’t designed to stop people from getting to the edge but was likely a field designed to keep the air within the city. With finality, they leaped off the sky city of Trosano.
Unfortunately, Sylvi also didn’t have time to create a deployment method for the parachute, forcing them to do it manually. She held onto the leather cords that were wrapped around her and snapped the makeshift parachute around, allowing it to catch the air. It billowed out as it met resistance, and she winced as the force of slowing her fall wasn’t properly distributed. She held on despite the pain of nearly having her arm wrenched from its socket.
She exhaled again as the parachute worked well enough to slow her fall considerably. She was still falling at a terminal velocity that would result in a painful landing, but she was fairly certain it wouldn’t be lethal, especially when accounting for her greater system-enhanced survivability.
Sylvi looked around and saw Ashlyn’s parachute working as well. It seemed a bit more effective for her, as Sylvi was descending at a slightly faster rate. She saw Vallo below her, free-falling into the clouds. He disappeared, a strange bird appearing where he had once been. In his bird form, he entered a controlled dive.
She saw several javelins come hurtling down towards them from their pursuers. Fortunately, they fell well short of their targets, as the trio had already drifted considerably from their jumping-off point.
Due to the sheer number of platforms coming and going from the city, they passed within a few meters of one. The Chixel on the platform stared in disbelief, having only seen them briefly as they transitioned above the clouds. If Sylvi had a free hand, she would have waved at the stunned soldiers.
A moment later, they were in the clouds and out of sight of any Chixel above them. As she descended, she reviewed her system prompts.
New Achievement
Escape Artist 6: Escape dire circumstances without getting caught. Rank varies depending on the difficulty of escape and the consequences of failure.
.3% increase to all primary stats (.05%/rank)
Achievement Rank Up Horde Slayer 5 (+2): .5% increase to all primary stats (+.2%)
Sylvi Vesik has reached level 23 (+3) in Twilight Huntress (2F) Sylvi Vesik has reached level 23 (+3) in Human (1E) Sylvi Vesik has reached level 10 (+2) in Trailblazer (1E) Primary Stats Strength 119 (+3) Agility 159 (+6) Constitution 128 (+3) Intelligence 111 (+1) Willpower 135 (+2) Charisma 105 (+1) Secondary Stats HP 179 (+13) FP 238 (+21) MP 157 (+4) Attack Efficiency 283 (+25) Mana Efficiency 182 (+6)
Sylvi had just enough time to review the changes before she spotted the ground. She was descending a bit faster than she had initially thought. There wasn’t a convenient open field but the stone forest that surrounded the area. She did her best to angle her descent towards a slightly less dense area, but her makeshift parachute was far less maneuverable than she was used to. Fortunately, she avoided completely slamming headlong into a trunk. Unfortunately, the stone branches shredded the material, and she plummeted the last few meters at near-free-fall acceleration.
She hit the ground hard but did her best to roll and distribute the force evenly. Despite her best efforts, she felt her knee buckle and give, and agony lanced throughout her entire body. Next, her shoulders hit, and she felt her collarbone crack under the force, bringing another wave of agony. She rolled several times before she slammed into a tree and finally came to a stop.
She likely had several broken bones and possibly some internal injuries, but for now, she was alive. She downed the strongest healing potion she had left, but most of the small vials hadn’t survived the impact. She was fortunate the glass hadn’t caused further damage.
Despite the grievous injuries, she lifted herself up, using the tree to support her. She then began hobbling around, hoping to find her companions before the Chixel did, and hopefully in better condition.