Chapter 120.
“Defending the tower.”
What the hell was that? Kalysto thought as her fingers itched with need just thinking about the missing window. Did that really happen, or was it a product of my imagination? Her face reflected all the confusion she felt as she unintentionally dropped Sandra’s body.
“...You’re nobody! Maybe in your world your existence had some value, but here you’re nothing more than a simple...!” Darla continued to rant. And before the priestess slapped the wizard again, Milo grabbed her wrist tightly.
“I hope that kind of behavior won’t happen again in my presence because in that case I won’t answer for any accident that may happen to the saintess during the journey," whispered the mage, their faces just inches from each other as he used his height to intimidate the priestess. “And just as the saintess dared to remind Miss Luna of her position, I remind you that I am a Marquis and the first mage of the court, and therefore I am far above a mere saintess who happens to no longer possess the backing of the temple and has even fallen from the king’s grace. So at this instant any attack on any of those under my care will be considered the attack of a commoner on an aristocrat," his voice sounded low and silky despite the threat it contained, and the strength with which he was squeezing the saintess’s wrist. “And we both know how that would end, don’t we?” He looked at her as if she were nothing more than a mere insect that had dared to soil his shoes. “And I’m sure the new pontiff would be delighted to hear about the saintess’s extracurricular activities," he sneered. “I wonder if that would help to get you locked up again, but this time for a much longer period?” Darla’s face lost all color as she tried unsuccessfully to break free. “Even after receiving the two prophecies from the goddess, the temple is in no condition right now for all the criticism it would receive or to get more enemies in case word spreads that its main saintess goes around attacking the heroes when they are wounded..." a mischievous smile spread across the handsome mage’s face. “... especially when there is already another saintess who can replace you.””
“The king would never allow...!” she growled right after breaking free. But the priestess’ words died at the sudden chuckle that escaped from the mage’s mouth.
“Oh, poor deluded woman!” -He scoffed and approached her again. “The priests of the temple are not the only ones who grow zhalem flower, which is said to poison otherworldly beings," he added in a low voice, sure that Kalysto could not hear him from that distance.
“Why would the marquis say such a thing?” She questioned, fear reflected in her eyes, and Milo smiled, knowing he had her right where he wanted her.
“Because the destroyed temple of light in the capital of the Kingdom of Vatha is not the only place where the zhalem flower is planted.”
“What?”
“Inside the king’s palace it is also harvested," he replied calmly, enjoying watching her break and lose her facade right in front of him, “and I know that like the heroes who came with the summoning ritual, you are not of this world.”
Darla’s face lost what little color she had left, and she took a step back as if the man in front of her had physically struck her.
But before any of them could say or do anything, one of the knights rushed in and announced:
“Sire, the kingdom of Bhallys is under attack! The demon king and his army are destroying the capital! A whole horde of monsters, commanded by an orc, are heading towards the tower! And the prince of Bhallys demands to borrow the saintess and allow him to take her to his kingdom! They plan to leave as soon as possible!”
“What?” Darla and Milo asked at the same time. And while the priestess’ voice sounded loud and shrill, the wizard’s resounded with annoyance.
“Are they planning to enter the tower? But it’s impossible, they can’t! They are monsters!” Darla questioned.
Completely ignoring the presence of Darla, Kalysto, and Sandra, the knight turned to his superior. And seeing him roll his eyes in annoyance at the saintess’ interruption despite the importance of the situation, the knight cleared his throat before speaking again.
“Sir, we await your orders!”
“Where is the Duke of Brincy?” answered the wizard.
“Preparing to meet you and the prince when you are ready, sir,” Milo nodded.
“The saintess will go with the prince and the hero of the kingdom of Bhallys as support and in honor of the alliance between our peoples! The rest will go with me to stop the invasion of the monsters!” He commented as he approached the knight and walked towards the exit of the tent, completely forgetting the presence of Kalysto and Sandra.
“What?” Darla complained immediately, unwilling to move away from the precious magical object the goddess showed her in the second prophecy. “But I must be there to prevent the demon king from conquering the tower, taking the cursed treasure and escaping!” She lied.
“That won’t be necessary," Milo assured her, throwing aside the cloth that covered the entrance to the tent, acting as a door.
“You need me to find and block the secret exit that the demon king will use when he finishes conquering the tower!” Darla replied, following him.
“The demon king is not in our kingdom, but in Bhallys," he growled in annoyance at the continuous interruptions of a woman whose presence he could barely stand under normal circumstances. “Besides, if it is true that you know it, you only have to tell me where this supposed secret exit is and I will block it myself,” a small and thin smile full of superiority was drawn on Milo’s face while he arched an eyebrow and watched her carefully.
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Darla closed her mouth and as soon as she opened it again to refute him, no sound escaped her lips, then closed it again shortly after.
Milo’s smirk of superiority grew at her prolonged silence.
“So the saintess doesn’t know either?” He pressed with some amusement as he saw the saintess’s face flush red.
“Sir?” The knight interrupted them, wishing they would stop competing with each other and focus on the real problem.
“Maybe the goddess will show me once it happens!” Darla insisted, trying not to give ground.
“Or maybe we’ll take care of conquering it long before the demon king and his army get here. And since they are a little more than half a day away, we should hurry," he finished, then approached one of the guards passing by and pointed at him. “You! Take them to the infirmary and as soon as they are healed, take them back to their tent!” He ordered, pointing to the two young women inside. “I want all the heroes ready and in good shape by the time we leave!”
Half an hour later, the prince and most of his men departed back to their kingdom.
An hour and a half later, the rest of them had ascended the small hill on which the giant tower stood. The only construction the heroes had seen in this world that was as tall as a thirty story building, where the same orc that had attacked them earlier was opening a portal right next to the entrance of the tower while some of the creatures that had come with him entered it and the rest guarded the entrance.
“Stop that orc from finishing summoning the portal!” Ordered the commander of the knights of the kingdom of Balsahty, tightening the reins of his horse as he unsheathed his sword.
The rest of the knights, with the exception of the duke who stayed in the back watching everything, advanced towards the battle with a war cry.
Meanwhile, Milo and the rest of the court mages who came with him, surrounded the heroes.
“Heroes from another world. All your training has been for this moment! Today we will enter that tower and conquer it!” Milo exclaimed, trying to get them excited, but when he saw that only the court mages and the small group of duchy knights who had stayed with him responded to his command, he watched them with narrowed eyes. “Understood?” Seeing that they still did not respond, he turned to Kalysto. “Miss Luna?” he questioned with an arched eyebrow.
Kalysto took a deep breath before turning around, looking at the rest of her comrades.
“All right, guys! The sooner we get all this shit over with, the sooner we can go eat and rest! Koden and Rita, I want you on the front with me! Oscar, watch our backs! Edward and the wonder twins, you’re the second group! Stay alert, kill anything that comes near you and don’t trust anything!” Then she turned to the two missing heroes, who were looking at her with their arms crossed and defiance shining in their eyes. “Sandra and Emanuel, stay as close to the court mages as possible, don’t let yourselves be killed stupidly and don’t get in the way of the rest of us!” She then turned around, facing Milo while ignoring the protests of the last two heroes. “We’ll need potions before you throw us in there like cattle to the slaughterhouse. And Rita and I will need extra mana potions," she added, stretching out a hand, ready to receive them.
“Cattle, slaughterhouse? -questioned the mage without understanding the meaning of that phrase.
“It’s just an expression of our world!” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “So, are you going to give us those potions or let us die in battle?” she insisted, knowing well that in the original story everything had happened so fast that they had not been given enough time to prepare them properly.
With a wave of Milo’s hand, one of the court mages approached them and held out a small enchanted leather pouch with ten mana potions and four health potions to each of the heroes.
“Thank you," said Kalysto with a practiced smile full of false kindness.
Milo narrowed his eyes at the sight of her, doubting her honesty, but he had more important things to do, so leading them all towards the small army of outnumbered monsters, the battle began.
Half an hour later, things did not seem to be going as well as the knights of the kingdom of Balsahty had planned, although they had succeeded in preventing Gal’oth from opening a portal as had happened in their previous encounter, even without an army to back him up, the orc was a formidable foe who had already taken the lives of fifty knights with his mace.
And Kalysto hated that mace.
It reminded her how close she had come to death a month ago at the hands of that same orc.
“Miss Luna, focus! Stop staring at that orc as if he was your sworn enemy of a lifetime and had murdered your entire family!” Milo scolded her.
“I am focused," she objected, conjuring a small magic circle from which emanated an ice stake that pierced the skull of the hobgoblin that had been about to attack her by surprise. “And that monster and I have unfinished business to settle!”
“And I hope that unfinished business doesn’t spoil our plans to get into that damned tower or I’ll drag you there myself if I have to!“ The mage replied, sending a flare of fire at a group of wolves that rushed to attack him. “Since when can you cast non-verbal spells?” He questioned her, surprised to see how much she had grown without him noticing.
“And I wasn’t supposed to be able to?” She replied with a frown, “Ice daggers, ice manipulation!” She conjured, materializing her daggers and turning them into thin, sharp swords, and without Milo noticing she gave Rita a glance, pointing to the spot where Enho, a level 13 knight, and Jack, level 17, were fighting three orcs.
Rita nodded her head, sending a signal to Koden who turned to watch Kalysto as the fire mage had just indicated, while a group of orcs with fire resistance ran towards the court mages to attack them as four packs of wolves attacked them from different directions, completely surrounding them.
“Ice creation!” Kalysto thought as she froze twenty wolves, leaving their heads ready for Koden and Oscar to cut off. stealth! And jumped in front of Koden.
“You know what to do!” She whispered to him after deactivating her skill, and the young man nodded his head as he began to do as he was ordered while Kalysto grabbed Rita by the waist and jumped over the collection of bodies she just froze, taking advantage of the fact that the attention of all the mages in the court was on the orcs. “It’s time for your revenge” she whispered to her new friend who watched the two knights who had tortured and killed Rita’s father on the king’s orders, according to what she and Oscar had heard a couple of nights ago.
****
By the time Milo realized she was missing, it was too late. The figures of the two had long since been lost amidst the sea of bodies fighting to the death.
“Where the hell did she go?” He growled, suddenly realizing that he couldn’t see the other fire mage, either. But before he could activate the spell that helped him track the mark he had placed on them, a huge black wyvern appeared, unleashing a gigantic puff of fire at the soldiers and landing right in front of the entrance to the tower, blocking them from entering.