Chapter 74: The Chaotic Night
Sword clanging against his hip Lucas ran through the streets with Gelm, Aurora, and their charges close behind. For just under 48 hours they’d been serving as additional security for Dungeon of Season’s representatives whenever they weren’t within castle Bertros. They all knew the monsters could take care of themselves well enough but while in the city they were visiting politicians, not warriors. As such they were assigned a security detail to see them back to their temporary residence. At least before everything went crazy.
“Shelters just up ahead you guys don’t worry!” Lucas said trying to cheer his charges up.
Practically ignoring him the blue skinned lamia said with a finger to her temple “Yes ma’am! I’m with Aki and Iseri right now! How is the Master!?” she paused for a moment before looking relieved “Glad to hear it. We’re being taken to a shelter within the interior wall by some of the adventurers we traveled with. Yes ma’am... good luck.”
“So... do you all... do the mind talk thing?” Gelm got out through labored breaths, he’d been responsible for relaying the news to two other groups across the city and just caught up with the group.
More than keeping up despite her lack of legs the lamia named Navy answered, “All lamia are able to contact madam secretary or our respective tribe leaders should we wish to.”
“What about... Sol? Does he... hear all of you like... all the time?”
“I wouldn’t dare try to contact the Master personally! That is a privilege only his [Named] may access. All my information is sorted by lady Noire first.” A small smirk spread across her face as Navy elbowed the red skinned oni named Aki “Better than these lugs though! They don’t even have a [Boss] to relay to.”
Acting as if the current emergency had nothing to do with him Aki argued back “Just you wait until the Master lets us loose on the 5th floor! When one of us becomes a proper [Named] they’ll run circles around all you serpents! Oh wait... you can’t run can you?”
A lance made entirely of water drawn from her scales appearing in her grip Navy glared “What was that devil boy? Need me to clean those damn ears of yours?”
Iseri snorted “If you could reach em short stuff.”
Rounding a corner Aurora groaned “It’s hard to take this seriously when you’re acting like this... Why are all Dungeon of Seasons monsters like you lot all the time?”
“”” We take after our Master.””” they all responded in smug unison.
Keeping an eye on his surroundings for hidden assassins Lucas asked without looking “Speaking of is he okay? Mulan and Almar aren’t with him.”
“Madam secretary said she’s taking care of Master personally and taking him to the northern shelter. Almar and Mulan were with the other representatives and are heading our way. Though it sounds like they may go out hunting for the assassins after dropping all of us off. Don’t know why we aren’t invited...”
“The citizens are worked up enough about the murders as is. Letting a few dozen monsters hunt in the streets won’t exactly help matters.”
All three monsters sighed again, tired of being pushed to the sidelines this whole trip. Each of them had been hoping to make themselves personally useful to the Master after passing Noire’s application tests. While they did have important tasks to see through and got to speak with him one on one several times each they didn’t feel as though they’d done much. They were warriors first politicians second yet all they’d done is watch the [Named] handle all the fighting. First the bandits, then the S class, and now the assassins. Each of them would be better equipped to find the unknown group than the knights but were being led away from the scene.
“Hey Lucas! Why don’t we just go hunting ourselves?” Aki asked running up to him “You guys fought a [Commander] during the war before our creation and have the royal knight captain’s trust so you shouldn’t hold us back. C’mon man we should go help people instead of cowering inside somewhere. That’ll change people’s minds about us!”
Biting his lip Lucas looked his towering new friend in his yellow eyes “I don’t disagree Aki but these are my orders. Like you said I have Captain Eli’s trust, I don’t want to just throw that away. I respect the man too much.”
“Tsk, can’t argue with that now can I?” the honor bound oni grimaced.
“That’s why I said it that way.” Lucas smiled back.
As Aki let out a chuckle Navy slithered up and whispered, “Actually I just came up with a way we both get what we want.”
Struggling to meet the beautiful woman in the eyes Lucas stammered “O-o-oh yeah?”
Giving a wink that would knock any man dead Navy said “How about we take the scenic route? Lead us in the general direction of the shelter while taking the back alleys. We see something shady going down we help ou- “
At that exact moment a scream was heard from an alley next to them causing everyone to halt. Blocking their view was a fancy looking carriage but it didn’t take much inference to understand what was going on.
“Help! Someone, anyone! Please help me!”
Not even bothering to grant them permission Lucas activated [Quick Foot] and leapt over the carriage alongside Aki, Iseri, and Gelm. While clearing the obstacle he unsheathed his sword, Gelm revealed his hidden pair of daggers, and both oni materialized long bat like weapons they’d told him were called kanabo’s on their travels. As they landed Aurora and Navy blocked both sides of the alleyway to prevent the assassin’s escape. Aurora raising an enormous [Ice Wall] and Navy a [Water Wall].
Sword raised Lucas took in the scene. On the ground were two well dressed young adults, one man and one woman. Taking them to be nobles based on the clothing and carriage Lucas turned his attention to their attackers. They numbered 3 in total and were all wrapped head to toe in dark cloaks. From their builds alone Lucas figured the large man in front to be a melee fighter and the two in the rear to be mages.
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“Let them go.” The young swordsman said calmly while motioning for his allies to keep their distance. If the mages could cast a spell fast enough they couldn’t protect the nobles.
“And that... is why you always prepare your [Ward of Silence] dipshit.” The tall man in front said with an exaggerated groan “Otherwise you get every young adventurer showing up with his daddy’s sword trying to be a hero.”
The female mage scratched her neck “Sorry Boss... it slipped my mind.”
Stepping forward Lucas said seriously “Let them go. Now.”
Dropping his prior northern accent the man mockingly said, “Let them goooo!” before raising a hand lazily and saying “[Storm Spear].”
From the irritating man’s hand materialized a spear entirely constructed of blue lightning. No sooner had it been solidified than the spear was sent barreling toward Lucas who barely raised his sword up to block. Sure enough he managed to catch the spell but when the spear met his blade it simply dissipated into the sword and traveled up Lucas’s arm. As the magically generated electricity coursed through his body Lucas let out a scream and dropped his sword.
The two other mages behind the man began preparing spells of their own as he laughed at Lucas’s pain “Oh no! My opponents are always clad in metal armor! Whatever shall I do?”
“[Gem Canon]!”
“[Poison Volley]!”
Body still convulsing from the prior attack Lucas could hardly stand on two feet let alone dodge. It was an immensely frustrating feeling not to be badly damaged but limited by one’s own body. Luckily he had two monsters ready to back him up.
“[Repel]!” Aki and Iseri called out, leaping into the air with their glowing kanabo and swatting the spells out of the air. The true aim of [Repel] was usually just to divert a ranged spell away from oneself but the oni managed to send the enormous ruby shard and blob of poison back at their casters despite the confines of the alley.
“[Lesser Barrier]!” both mages cast quickly in surprise.
Lucas and the oni grinned soon as they cast and he picked up his sword. Everyone knew [Barrier] magics had a cooldown and could only be used in one direction. And they’d just used both of theirs on the enemy right in front of them.
“[Vital Strike]+[Backstab]+[Pierce]” Gelm yelled in quick succession as he carved through the female mages back.
“[Falling Star]!” Navy cried swimming out the top of her [Water Wall] with speed only a Water Moccasin subspecies could manage. Her water spear’s tip glowed a deep purple before slamming into the earth mage’s shoulder blade. [Falling Star] was a technique that amplified in power of a spear the longer it dropped altitude. As she’d just fallen about 20 feet Navy’s blow made a resounding crack and sent the earth mage straight into the stone street.
With everyone raising their weapons in a circle around the last man standing Lucas said again “Surrender peacefully and we won’t need to hurt you anymore. Let’s make this easy for all of us.”
The tall man visibly rolled his eyes “[Blizzard]+[Tornado]+[Hailstorm]+[Thunderstorm]”
Instantly the alleyway became a nightmare of cutting winds, chunks of ice, and electrical discharges. Aurora must have used a counter spell as the hail quickly disappeared but it wasn’t before everyone was struck by a few bolts of lightning.
Voice cutting through the localized storm the man laughed “What do those clubs only work on small scale spells? Had me worried for a moment!”
Struggling to keep his eyes open with such high winds battering his body Lucas barely caught sight of the nobles. Fortunately Navy and Iseri had managed to get on top of the innocents and were protecting them with their bodies. Both were experiencing thunder strikes meant for two targets but seemed to still be conscious.
Gripping his kanobo Aki made a massive swing and called out a skill name Lucas couldn’t hear. Whatever he did seemed to work though as a wind force strong enough to push back the weather mage’s own spells was generated. The wind and rain weren’t completely eradicated but the [Hurricane] was little more than a summer storm now.
“Tsk, you’re no fun. [Lightning Construct]+[Cloud Cover].”
The man’s form was suddenly obscured by a thick layer of fog still in his image. Aki leapt forward and slashed through the clone only for it to dissipate into the surroundings. Lucas turned around and put his back to the Oni as the other monsters continued covering the nobles.
Only a few seconds later a voice said “[Barrage].” From behind Aurora at the end of the alleyway. From an invisible bowstring flew several arrows of pure electricity that ripped into Aurora, Navy, and Iseri’s backs. Each and every arrow that pierced them was made even deadlier when the man cast [Discharge] a second later causing them all to explode where they’d landed.
“Lucas!” Gelm called falling onto the man’s back and placing a dagger in his shoulder.
Recognizing the technique Lucas screamed “[Positioning]!” causing both his and Gelm’s bodies to shuffle around the alley until they changed places. Now on top of the irritating man Lucas used [Force] to amplify the impact of his sword and swung for the man’s neck.
“[Cloud Cover].” The man said only able to travel a few feet out from under Lucas before the strike made a small crater in the ground.
Raising his hood to cover his face once more the man quietly said under his breath “That actually wasn’t bad brats...” before loosing another arrow [Barrage] directly into Aki’s back. To the oni’s credit he managed to send over a dozen of the arrows back at the weather mage with [Repel] but even as his large body blurred with speed he couldn’t catch them all and fell to the ground once the attack was over.
With only Gelm left to back him up Lucas realized how bad things looked. With buildings and innocents around the monsters hadn’t been able to go all out like usual. The same was true for him and his party too. Best he could do was hope a few other adventurers, or better yet knights, had heard the fight.
“[Vital Strike]!” Gelm yelled lunging one more time for the man’s neck.
“[Storm Spear].” The man said with a tinge of enjoyment as the weapon materialized and was sent directly into Gelm’s body.
Enraged as he saw his friend convulsing wildly on the ground Lucas screamed “[Hurricane Slash]!” and sent a blade of solid wind toward the man without a single thought spared for taking him alive.
“[Greater Barrier].” The man cast walking forward slowly to kick Gelm in the stomach.
“Bastard! [Charge]!” Lucas cried as momentum was magically created behind him, literally throwing him towards his opponent.
“[Forecast].” The now obviously smiling man cast, his eyes flashing red.
As Lucas flew through the air sword first the man smoothly reached a hand towards his neck and removed something. Then as Lucas passed him by, too fast to stop his own body or cancel the skill, the man reached the same hand forward and pressed something into Lucas’s neck with inhuman speed.
Landing beside the unconscious Aki Lucas panted as he felt a dull pain in the back of his neck begin to pulse “What did you-?”
“Go ahead and drop that sword, spin around 3 times, and then faceplant for me kid.”
Completely on its own Lucas’s body instantly threw his sword, spun around 3 times, and finally let itself fall to the ground face first. As his consciousness faded out Lucas could only panic, trapped within his own body for the first time in his life.
The man bent down in front of him and smiled “Happy to see it works! What do you say we fix this scene up a bit eh new best friend? We have a busy week ahead of us after all.”