Hera ran through the open field, heading towards the red tower. She couldn't take the image of the crazy elf being impaled out of her mind, but if she focused too much on that, she would end up dying here. It took less than a minute for her to cover the area between the city and the tower, and as soon as she arrived, she punched one of the people who were trying to attack Alex. The assassin had already incapacitated another two, but Hera worried that others affected by the madness would charge at the unconscious once. Then again, she had no way of saving everyone here. When she looked inside the tower, all Hera could see were the 200 or so people fighting against each other. It was hard to tell who was affected by the madness and who wasn't. Hera could even see some people using spells against each other, unsure if they were trying to kill someone or not. Another issue was that the ones still in control of their bodies didn't want to do any fatal damage to those under the mind control of the centaur. Because of that, they could not perform as well as they could.
Alex pressed the button on their communicators, "Lena? Bonnie? Blue? Can you hear me?"
"A…ex… W…re…ou?" someone's voice came through, but it was weird and choppy.
"Guys? Can you hear us?" Hera tried asking while pushing someone else away. They tried to claw at her, but she stopped with the glaive, only to freeze before making any follow-up attacks. Alex was the one who had to step in and knock them out before they could get up and start attacking again.
"Don't let them get up," Alex told her before turning back to the inside of the tower, "How are we going to find them?"
"I… I can try a sensory net. But that might attract some people," Hera replied.
"Just do it. It's not like things can get worse," as Alex spoke, Hera gave her a look, "Yeah, yeah. I know, but still."
"Fine. Just be ready for anything," Hera sighed before using a sensory net to scan the area. Luckily, most people around were too crazed to notice that spell, but a couple turned to them and dashed towards the explorer.
Alex intercepted the attackers, pushing them away and knocking one of them out. Doing so allowed Hera to get a better view of the area. Unfortunately, she couldn't find Blue and the others. She was already familiar with the type of feeling she would get if she met one of their friends with the spell. Hera figured their friends might be in one of the corridors, which weren't covered by her spell since she was trying to get a sense of the entire tower. Moving quickly to the second floor, Hera used the spell again, this time focusing on the openings by the sides of the tower. Even if the hallways were extremely deep, her spell was able to cover at least halfway through the end of most of the corridors.
What they didn't know was that each time she used that spell, the spike of mana attracted monsters who were still outside close to the red tower. A group of creatures that were very similar to velociraptors with colorful feathers was passing by the red tower, and instead of continuing their course, they jumped inside. The monsters started attacking indiscriminately, biting and clawing at the people who didn't even seem to mind the attack of the creatures. Hera glanced at them to see if they were anything they could fight against.
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Feather Raptor - Level 46 - Starved (Claw affinity)
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"Shit. Try not to attract their attention, and let's find everyone. We need to get out of here," Hera told Alex as they went around the tower.
"Hey, look up there," Alex pointed to a corridor three floors above them. There was a white smoke by an entrance, and it seemed that it wasn't moving, just staying there almost like a solid wall.
"That looks like one of Blue's clouds," Hera nodded.
They dashed to the side, trying to avoid all the monsters and people around. A couple of humans came out of one of the hallways trying to grab them, but the duo was able to toss them over to the ledge and towards the pit in the middle of the tower. It was unlikely that the fall would kill them, but if they hit the ground in an odd way, it was a possibility. Hera looked down, hoping to see the two moving again, but Alex pulled her arm. They didn't have time to check if people were alive or not. One of the raptors was already climbing the stairs heading towards them.
"Close your eyes!" Hera told Alex and used a blinding flash spell, adding a spore field on the monster so it would get distracted and allow them to run. Thanks to the spell, they were able to pass by the monster and reach the next floor, and it was a straight shot to the next one. Getting close to the wall that might be created by Blue, Hera tossed another spore field, aiming at the entire center of the tower. If she could make people stop hitting each other and just start sneezing, maybe someone's life could be saved. Maybe she could atone for what she had done, even if it was a little bit.
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Alex kept pushing Hera forward, ensuring the explorer wouldn't lag behind too long. They finally arrived at the corridor with the white barrier and seeing it up close made it clear that he was one of Blue's clouds.
They tried to push through the barrier, but it was solid. There was only a tiny layer of soft cloud before it became almost like a magnet pushing them away, "Blue! Lena! Bonnie! Can you hear us?" Alex called as she pushed the wall again. Unfortunately, there was no response. In a close inspection, they noticed that this seemed to be a spherical cloud, not just a door-like barrier. This probably meant that the group was completely encapsulated inside this cloud and not simply on the other side of a protective field.
"Daskka, turn into smoke and try to go inside," Hera told the snake, who quickly obeyed. Daskka turned into a puff of purple mist and started moving around the barrier, looking for a small gap where it could go inside. At the same time, Alex activated her hiding abilities. They didn't want to attract more attention to them, and Hera had just the spell for it. She used the Selective Memory Filter on the two and told Alex not to move.
They stayed there for what seemed to be a lifetime. The screams of the people in the center of the tower echoed through the chamber, cries of help, barbaric roars of feral creatures that could no longer be called people, and the roar of the raptors enjoying their feast. Occasionally, a spell or an attack made by someone who still had control over their bodies would make some noise, but it was clear that whoever they were, they were focusing more on their own survival than on helping others. Hera heard noises coming from the staircase leading to this floor. She couldn't tell if it was coming from a monster or a person. Either way, it was a bad omen for them. The spell she was using worked when people looked away from her, and unless she had a way to distract whatever was coming, there was a chance that they wouldn't be able to evade a fight. She didn't know what she was more afraid of, seeing a monster she had no way of beating or someone who wouldn't stop until they killed her or died.
Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from the cloud barrier and pulled both Hera and Alex inside in a single swoop, "Hera! Alex!" Blue gasped as the two of them entered the cloud barrier that was covering a five-meter wide area. The place was cramped since there were five people inside this protective field. Blue, Helena, Bonnie, Alex, and Hera.
"Are you two OK?" Blue asked.
"Yeah. We managed to grab everything and come back. What the hell is going on? Are they crazy too?" Alex pointed at Bonnie and Helena. They were standing still, looking like they were in some trance. Both had shadows covering their eyes, mouth, nose, and ears.
"Sort of. That scream or whatever it was affected them too, but Helena was able to hold herself together for long enough to cast a few spells on Bonnie and her. According to Helena, this will make them unable to see or hear anything, so they're just gonna be alive but unable to perceive anything else. Helena lasted long enough to test the senses she needed to cut off to make Bonnie stop," Blue explained.
"And how about you?" Hera asked as Daskka appeared on her shoulder, returning to her solid form.
"Stormcloud made this barrier around my ears the moment that scream started. The rest was all muffled; apparently, if I make a cloud dense enough, it could stop the effects. I just can't be sure if it worked since I can't ask Helena anything. And you two?"
"Technically, I'm still under the effects. But because of one of the skills I got from the legacy, that madness is only affecting Ooze," Hera patted the chakram on her waist.
"I just wasn't affected by it," Alex shrugged.
"OK. That's weird. But what's the plan?" Blue gave Alex a confused look.
"Can you move this barrier? There are some monsters back there, and I don't know if they are gone or not. Not to mention the people," Hera glanced at her glaive. Most of the blood had already dripped out, but there was still a stain on the blade's tip.
"I can. But move where? You are not thinking about going outside the tower, are you?" Blue asked.
"No, I'm thinking about heading to a doorway. Then we can enter my private room and just wait it out there. In the best-case scenario, the guild solves this problem, and we can just leave. Worst case… we get stuck there for a while and have to figure a way to leave here after it's filled with monsters," Hera was trying to keep her thoughts away from the second case, but it was easier said than done.
Blue looked to the side and then nodded, "Yeah, I can move. It's just going to be a bit slow. Can you guys carry them?" she gestured to the other two party members.
"Sure, it's not like we are carrying a bunch of bags already," Alex rolled her eyes and walked towards Bonnie, who should be the lighter of the two since Helena was a bit taller and had more bulk to her build.
Hera picked Helena up and got ready to walk along with Blue. Little by little, the controller pushed her cloud barrier until they reached one of the doorways. There, Hera touched the doorway and activated her private room inviting the rest of the party to join her, "Alex put Bonnie's hand on the door. Then you go inside. We'll wait a little bit before going inside. If Bonnie is still feral, come back out, and we'll talk about what we can do," Hera adjusted her grip on Helena.
"OK. Can we go inside without you?" Alex asked.
"Oh… no. I have to go first. Hang on. Let me bring Bonnie. Since Helena's spell is still in effect, we don't know if it will keep going when she enters. Wait two minutes. If one of us doesn't come out, go inside," Hera put Helena down and picked Bonnie up. She touched the doorway and transferred to her private room. A few seconds passed before Bonnie entered as well, without the shadow covering her face.
"Hera? What happened? I remember hearing something, and then everything went dark. Then I saw the notification about your private room," Bonnie was looking around.
Hera explained what happened, and the rest of the party joined midway through her explanation. Helena dropped the spell that was affecting her, regaining her senses. Any effect of the madness was completely gone. Hera continued explaining what was happening outside, or at least what she had seen. When the subject changed to how they managed to reach the hotel and come back, Hera stared at her glaive and started to shake, "I…I killed someone…."