Hera was with a group of about 90 people going around the mountain towards what was once the farm. Now that area was completely covered in igneous rock, lava that had cooled down during the past weeks. She glanced back and saw the people who were following her. After talking with Elrich, he assembled this group that would be competent enough to perform the task that she wanted. According to her experience, there was a chance that the volcano tribal would notice the movement of troops. That's why she requested people who were not only combat capable but also could move unnoticed. They were the worst of the worst, robbers and murderers, thugs and gangsters, psychopaths and sadists. Unfortunately, this group was the only one willing to attack the village itself. That wasn't entirely true. Some of the civilians were willing to go to great lengths to protect their city, but Hera didn't want random people that wouldn't be able to follow her orders or carry their own weight during a fight, much less those who could become a hindrance for the operation.
To make matters worse, most of those people here only accepted to be a part of this team because they were promised a pardon from their previous crimes or to have the bounties on their heads lifted. If she didn't need people who could move stealthily, Hera would never have accepted this group. Yet, here she was, leading a band of criminals, so she could kill innocent people and kidnap the general's family.
"I guess I'm in the right place," Hera sighed.
"Why?" Daskka asked.
"Because I'm a murderer. So it's only fair that I'm leading these people to do some more awful things," Hera smiled, trying to play it off as a joke, but her feelings couldn't be hidden from her court. However, none of them said anything. They didn't know what to say to help the Empress.
After about one hour or so, the team was already climbing on top of the trail left by the lava. They would wait until the traps in the first outpost were triggered and then head up. Hera considered waiting for the signal before coming out of the woods, but the people behind her were starting to get restless. Maybe it was because of the dungeon, or perhaps they had more respect than Hera imagined, but they all treated her exceptionally well. She never once felt threatened by them, even when they were asking questions aggressively. As soon as Hera told them to back off, they apologized and stepped back. Then again, this could all be because they also wanted to save their city. The explosions went off, and loud yelling could be heard from the other side of the volcano. Hera didn't waste time and quickly gestured for the team to climb the mountain.
Following the igneous rock, the trail took about half the time that it took the volcano tribe to come down the path that crossed both outposts. In theory, even if the army decided to come back, they shouldn't be able to intercept Hera's team. Not before they arrived in the city. Hera also had the option of calling Nimbus and going off on her own, but doing that would cause her to arrive much quicker than the rest of the people following her, which wasn't the best option. During their march to this side of the volcano, Hera explained to everyone how the rock might be cooled off, but there was a chance that it would still have some hot spots, so they would have to be careful when moving. Ideally, they should avoid any parts of the ground that seemed to bulge or were not as flat as the rest in case it was a pocket of gas or, worse, hot lava. Going up the volcano wasn't that much of an issue. They took the amount of time she expected, and there was little to no noise caused by them. Even when someone was groaning and starting to complain, everyone else quickly stopped them.
When they arrived at the top, Hera gestured to the team to split off and start to spread out. Their plan was first to infiltrate the village and then attack on her signal, a scream coming from Ooze. More than half of the team managed to sneak inside the volcano in a few minutes. However, Hera started to realize that there was something wrong. In some situations, the volcano tribe would gather all their people close to the town center. Doing so would allow them to protect everybody in case of an attack. But even in those situations, the threat of an actual attack was so small that some of the tribesmen would stay behind in their houses. Or at least, that was how things went when one was fighting alongside Bonpei. This time, even those villagers who should be in their homes were nowhere to be seen, and this wasn't happening only on the outskirts. Hera herself was about halfway to the center of the village, and there was no way that everyone left here without a reason.
Hera used her sensory net while sending Ooze, Beam, Core, and Armory to the sky while Lurize went forward to see if he could find anything specific. Scythe had left her ears and was now a few centimeters behind her. Since it was a dual-type blade, there were some unique features to her Court member. First, the two pieces could never be more than five meters apart, or they would essentially be destroyed. Second, in a weird way, it was like they had two minds. Each of the earrings could tell Hera things individually, and they even had their own senses. It was possible for someone to be hiding from one of them but not the other. At the same time, it was still a single blade. So, while they had effectively two minds, both earrings would perceive what the other was seeing. Because of that, Hera decided that they would be her last line of defense, so to speak. Having both earrings around her head would allow her to, in essence, have eyes on her back.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Even with all her preparation, not a single one of her blades noticed the volcano warriors approaching from behind the tents, and her sensory net struggled to notice the difference in the details in the area. The heat from the ground was too strong, making everything foggy to her spell. It was only thanks to a gust of wind that pushed some of the heat away that Hera was able to see a few warriors getting close to her. She quickly triggered Ooze's skill but also made it scream in two breaths. This was the signal that something went wrong and that they would have to run.
Unfortunately, the people from the volcano were ready for them. When the team from Bonpei scrambled to leave, the platoon from the tribe circled in, cutting off their exits. They used some spells to raise the lava around the mouth of the volcano and bar anyone from escaping or getting inside. At a quick glance, Hera could see about two or three hundred tribesmen appearing from the tents. Some were even hidden under the soft rock in the ground. The only thing that made her feel somewhat relieved was that not all of them seemed to be part of the army. Only half looked properly armed and wore battle garments from the tribe. Still, she was in the middle of a battalion of creatures that could take 5 people each, while each of the 90 she brought along would need to be, at least, at a 4 to 1 advantage to proceed safely.
"I knew that hiring humans was a bad idea. You have no honor, no respect. And after this, you no longer have your lives," Releon, the general of the volcano tribe, spoke as he emerged from the troops.
"Are you so confident that you sent your troops down the mountain without you?" Hera stepped back, taking the chance to gather her team so they would, at least, be together for the fight instead of being alone in the middle of the enemies.
"They can handle themselves for a while. But when one of my scouts noticed the movement of this band of thieves, I decided that this required my personal attention. I'll have plenty of time to guide my people to victory after I'm done with you all," Releon spat his words, almost like he was disgusted by even talking with someone like her.
"And what makes you so sure you will win?" Hera asked, trying to gain some more time so she could get closer to the rest of the group. Since she was spearheading the formation, she was the one who was farthest away from the rest. At least the bulk of her team had managed to converge near where the volcano tribe was pulling lava from the ground.
'Daskka, can you stop that? Or cool it off enough so we can run through it?' Hera asked inside her mind.
'I can't. That's too hot for my mist. Maybe you can change a spell to ice? Using that thing Bonnie uses,' the snake looked back to the path they took and then returned to Releon, 'You saw where Lurize is, right?'
'I did. I hope his plan works,' Hera replied.
The moment the tribesmen appeared, Lurize was behind their front line. His reaction was to get closer to one of the tents and pretend to be a regular weapon. To their luck, he was currently just a few meters behind the general. Maybe her court member would be able to kill Releon with a sneak attack. If not, Hera could only hope that the attack would hurt him enough to give her a fighting chance. She had no prospects of winning this particular fight. No, what Hera was trying to do was find a way to run. Even without the kidnapping plan, Bonpei had an actual fighting chance. And she knew for a fact that it would take longer for the general to reach his army than it would take her to go around the mountain and back to the city. This was all counting with Nimbus, of course, but there was no reason for her not to use her mount when she was far enough away from anyone who could destroy it in a single hit.
"Enough. You already said too much. You chose to betray our contract, and now you're siding with the people of the city who betrayed our trust. I hope you're happy with what you just said, for those were your last words," Releon lowered his stance and created a large two-handed flaming sword in his hand. He was about to lunge forward when Lurize made his move.
During that discussion, the blade floated close to the ground, carefully passing by the volcano warriors until he reached the general. When it became clear that the moment to talk was over, Lurize shot up, aimed at Releon's neck. The blade gave Hera an indication that he was about to go. This allowed the Empress to activate Armory's buffs, as well as a poison mana reinforcement on Lurize to increase his attack. She even triggered her [All In], risking the reduction in attributes. It was the first time she tried to use that skill with one of her blades, but if it worked, then the blade should be the one to feel the loss in attribute, not her.
Lurize shot up too fast for any of the tribesmen to notice. He was inches from Releon's neck when Hera triggered her poison needle spell making the origin point the tip of the zweihanders' blade to help even more with the attack. At the same time, the general noticed the attack and moved his own sword to parry the incoming blow. He was faster than the blade, even though Hera was sure that she would've reached him if she was the one swinging the weapon, and instead of Lurize hitting Releon, he was parried. The sword staggered for a moment which allowed the general to grab it by the hilt, making Hera feel like there was a giant hand grasping her own spine.
"You think these cheap tricks will work on me?!" Releon roared with anger as he slammed Lurize against his knee, snapping the blade in two and making Hera's court member vanish in the air.
The Empress was filled with anger seeing one of her blades being destroyed like that, but Daskka was quick to speak up, 'He's not dead. It will just take some time before you can summon him again.'
"Your filth will no longer stain these lands! Wipe them out!" Releon yelled as the entire encirclement collapsed on top of Bonpei's forces while, at the same time, Hera could feel the penalty for her [All In] affecting her.