After hearing the half-giant’s words, the group had to consider the possibilities and implications.
“Why would they come here for refuge when they could just leave the country? That wouldn’t make sense to anyone.” Sophie shook her head.
“We’re not part of Ecragurne, not to mention that they could trade information regarding Gervais’ plans in exchange for asylum.” Valerie theorised.
“Again,” Osmond sided with Sophie. “That wouldn’t make any sense. They could have done the same, making a deal with the royals of another country. Thornfell is far too weak to protect them against the rest of the Argent family or the Exiled Court.”
“Are you sure about that,” Valerie asked back as she nodded towards the corpse-filled battlefield. “Because as far as I can tell, we just destroyed a thousand-strong army without suffering any casualties.”
“Technically speaking, it was Regis.” Osmond corrected as they watched the dark elf raise his hand toward the battlefield, a thick mist of Amaranth rising from the bodies, floating toward him.
“I did,” Regis sighed. “And it cost me several months’ worth of preparation. And all our landmines.”
“Got to admit it though,” Cruz whistled as she looked at the destruction left behind by the explosions. “I thought it was a stupid idea at first, but it turned out to be a lifesaver. Still, what are we going to do with the... bodies?”
Everyone watched with gaping mouths as the dark elf cut his finger, letting a few drops of his blood fall on the ground beside a corpse. A moment later bright amber-coloured runic circles filled the battlefield as the ritual of corpse sacrifice activated on an enormous scale. Several different coloured orbs appeared above the battlefield as most of the corpses shrunk and withered away into dried-out husks. The chestnut-sized glowing bubbles floated over to the dark elf, bursting into a colourful mist that sank into his body.
“Regis,” Letty called out to him worried when he didn’t move after nearly a minute. “Are you alright?”
“It’s no wonder they say that a shardwaker can only truly grow in war,” the loremaster said with a distant voice. “It wasn’t even a thousand corpses, yet I gained so much from them. I don’t even dare to think what the old monsters gained back in the days when stuff like this was commonplace.”
“I take it you still can’t 1v1 the archdemon for us, can you?” Cruz joked, earning a rueful look from the rest of the group.
“Even if my attributes got pushed a few points higher, I’m still a long way from the threshold of the fourth tier, not to mention the skills I would need to raise for a breakthrough.”
“Yeah, yeah,” the tomboyish wood elf rolled her eyes. “So what are we going to do now?”
“We should check up on Zola and her people.” Quentin finally spoke up after staying quiet for so long.
“Zola? Why?” The others looked at him puzzled.
“The shapeshifter that tried to get through the gates was disguised as the messenger she usually sends.” Regis explained as he realized what made his friend so worried.
“Do you think they’re in trouble?” Amanda asked as she hefted her two-handed warhammer over her shoulder.
“If they were able to copycat the guy, that would mean that they got into touching distance,” Osmond replied. “The question is where did they get to him?”
“The more important question is if they had someone else infiltrate Mistfield as well or not.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Quentin sighed as he turned back toward the gates, watching as the rest of Thornfell’s guards had arrived.
“We can use the outpost’s gateway to check up on them,” Regis said. “But it’s best to split up.”
“What? Why?” Letty looked at him puzzled.
“Someone has to stay here and make sure things go smoothly in Thornfell,” the loremaster explained. “If we don’t come back within an hour, go to Rust-well Keep or White-spire Keep and tell them what happened. Better yet, go and tell it to Master Felix.”
“It’s for the best if Osmond visits the mage guild. If I go, they’re going to freak out,” Valerie remarked with a sad sigh. “The only reason they didn’t attack the last time I visited was you being there as well. For a bunch of supposed scholars, they sure are squeamish when it comes to infernals.”
“It’s not like you can blame them for it with all the demon trouble occurring recently.” Cruz noted as the group gathered their earnings before heading back behind the gates.
“I know, but it still feels... bad.”
“So who’s going to stay?” Osmond asked the important question that made everyone stop for a moment.
“Quentin and I will go,” the dark elf stated. “You will obviously stay in case we need you to bring the news to Master Felix if we’re stuck in Mistfield or something.”
“I’ll go too.” Amanda and Valerie joined in.
“I’ll go as well,” Cruz volunteered. “You stay here Letty.”
“Why should I stay? I’m a tier-two as well. I can fight too.”
“No arguing. We both know you’re more specialised in control spells and alchemy. If we drop in and it turns out to be a battlefield, we would be hard-pressed to keep them away from you.”
“Fine,” Letty growled, clearly annoyed by her sister’s over-protectiveness. “But promise me you’ll get the hell out of there if there’s any sign of trouble.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Don’t worry,” Regis said before kissing her. “Even if we get cut off from the local portal, I can still use the gateway spell to get us out of there.”
“Okay,” she nodded with a slight blush from his public show of affection. “Just… be careful, please.”
“Alright love birds,” Cruz cleared her throat. “Time to go.”
The team headed toward the stairs leading up to the guard post’s secret room, only to stop for a moment when Grego and the rest of the guards caught up to them.
“Milord,” the guard captain nodded. “We came as fast as we could, although... it seems we were still too late for the fight.”
“Sorry about that,” the dark elf replied with a small smirk. “I got a bit overwhelmed by the sudden attack and started blasting.”
“No worries,” Grego let out a chuckle as he dropped the formal attitude. “I take it it’s up to us to clean up your mess and keep the pass safe until you return from... wherever you’re planning to go.”
“They tried to get through the gate by sending a shapeshifter disguised as the messenger Zola usually sends, so we decided to check upon them just in case.”
“Just the four of you? Don’t you want to take at least a few guards with you in case there’s trouble over there as well?”
“If we show up with a squad of guards, that could cause unease for the people of Mistfield. And in case something really is off, we can move faster as a small group.”
“Fine,” Grego relented after hearing their explanation. “Take care of yourself. We’ll do our best to clean up this mess by the time you’re back.”
Regis looked at the others, earning a slight nod as the group of five headed upstairs to the secret room to use the gateway.
“I hate to be that girl,” Amanda sighed. “But I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Come on,” the tomboyish elf patted her companion’s shoulder as the runes of the gateway lit up. “It’s going to be fine. We might even get a cup of tea from Zola.”
It wasn’t fine. The moment the teleportation circle spat them out in Mistfield, they were greeted by a sea of flames and burning buildings surrounding them with distant screams resounding through the air.
“Duck!” Quentin yelled as he yanked Valerie down while lifting his shield above her at a slanted angle, a crimson-tipped spear skidding off the surface of the shield.
“You just had to fucking jinx it!” Valerie growled at Cruz as they took in the sight of the battered main square of Mistfield that was full of lesser imps.
Regis pointed upwards as he recited the arcane incantation of the 'elemental orb' spell, infusing it with the element of light. A pale yellow orb the size of a basketball flew up a few meters above them where it stopped. As the Imps stepped into the twenty-meter range of the spell, the Orb began to spit out bolts of light that struck the creatures, killing most of them in a single hit. It gave them some breathing room and a few moments to assess their situation.
“What are we going to do now? Mistfield is a goner.” Cruz remarked as she smashed in the head of a lesser demon that managed to tank a few shots of light bolts before reaching them.
“We have to get to the manor,” Quentin said. “Regis installed one of those domain hearts there. Its barrier should have kept the demons out.”
“How the heck are we supposed to get there” Valerie screeched as her whip sent another demon sprawling on the ground. “There’s gotta be hundreds of the fuckers here, which means there is going to be even more over there. Shit!”
Her question got interrupted as a troll-sized demon smashed into the group, sending them flying as Quentin failed to tank the creature’s rush attack with his shield.
“Keep it busy for a moment!” Amanda yelled as the dark elf cast 'ray of light' straight at the face of the oversized demon.
While the beast was screaming in pain as its eyes got incinerated, the half-giant blacksmith took a swing at its kneecap, making it fall on the ground, only to get its head bashed in by a skill-empowered hammer blow.“We got to go,” Quentin said as he scrambled back up onto his feet. “Or they will overwhelm us.”
“I’ll cut us a path,” the dark elf claimed while pointing his staff forward. “Stay close and keep up!”
Saying that, he summoned the same elemental orb spell as before, but this time he didn’t send it flying. Instead, the orb stuck to the tip of the blade staff, spitting out dozens of elemental bolts as he rushed toward the Vidal manor.
“Amanda, you’re up!” Regis said when the spell began to fade and the blacksmith took the call in strides as she used her ‘bull-rush’ skill to send the incoming imps flying.
By the time the lethal skill reached its end, Valerie was already prepared, her whip gathering the blood of their fallen enemies, turning them into what seemed to be a horse-sized apparition. It was made entirely of blood, large serrated spikes covering it as it rushed ahead, destroying everything in its path.
“The hell is that thing?” Quentin couldn’t help but ask as he watched the strange summon shred the imps apart.
“It’s a Crimson Hellion,” the infernal answered. “I got it from grandma last month, but there wasn’t enough blood or a reason to summon it yet.”
“That looks fucking epic!” Cruz remarked as she punted an imp into the air, swatting it away with her staff like it was an oversized baseball.
“How long will that… thing stay?” The paladin looked at the rampaging blood creature with obvious disgust.
“About a minute, or until the power in the blood runs out.”
“There’s the manor.” Regis pointed at the steadily nearing building that had a faint golden white barrier surrounding its premises.
“Looks like they’re still hanging on.” Cruz noted, seeing the soldiers poking out from behind the barrier with their spears, trying to kill as many imps and lesser demons as possible.
The dark elf took a deep breath and summoned his third elemental orb spell, draining his arcana reserves in the process. The orb shot forward, stopping just a few metres before the edge of the barrier, spitting out wave after wave of elemental bolts at the enemy in range. The crimson hellion rushed forward with a last spurt of savagery, bursting apart like a blood-bomb. Boiling blood covered the imps, scalding and melting them away as if doused in red hot acid.
The guards behind the barrier were surprised by the appearance of the glowing orb that rapidly decimated their enemies and downright frightened by the sight of the crimson hellion exploding not far ahead. Their stupor only lasted for a moment as one of them recognized the group that was running them with weapons swinging left and right.
“Make way!” The soldier said to the others as Regis and his companions arrived in front of the barrier, the dark elf opening a human-sized hole in it using a skeleton-key wand he pulled from his satchel.
The team slipped inside before the barrier closed itself, a moment of relief and a wave of heavy coughs filling the air as they tried to catch their breath.
“Lord Regis,” the guard called out to him, trying to help him steady himself while looking at his fellows. “Inform Lady Zola that his lordship is here!”
One of the still dumbfounded soldiers snapped out of it and turned around to run inside the manor. As the loremaster and his friends finally got their strength back, they could finally have a look around. The normally empty and spacious area in front of the manor was now packed with panicked and tired townsfolk along with injured soldiers.
The people looked at them with a mixture of curiosity and fear, especially Valerie since she was an infernal, sporting a rather noticeable pair of horns and a tail. Trying to turn his attention toward what mattered more, Regis looked at the barrier that still held bright and firm against the onslaught of the demons and imps that surrounded it.
“Looks like the barrier is holding fine.” He noted while pulling out an arcana potion from his satchel to drink.