Hera stepped out of the fountain again. They talked a lot about what kind of strategy they could employ while fighting against the armors. Shane and Hera also had a different conversation about the guides they both knew and met during the challenge. Those were Peaches, Capri, Kelpi, Celina, and the kobold sisters. It was a shame they couldn't help the others all that much, and all the ideas put forward by everyone else when it came to combat wouldn't work for Hera and Shane since their enemies would be different. Still, it was interesting to know how the challenge worked for everyone else. From what she gathered, the armors could wield several weapons, but each had some unique abilities. They seemed to vary between challenges, but inside it, there would be only four variations when it came to the skills the armors would show. It didn't take long for them to realize the trick to it. The feelings each of the enemies would give off were related to their skills. So if one of the armors looked like it was afraid and could use fire spells, all the ones who looked afraid would use the same fire spells.
Still, they talked a lot about how to circumvent the fighting altogether. Bonnie wasn't exactly someone who could fight very well, and fighting against those statues alone scared her. In every one of the challenges, except for Blues, the house and the tower attached to it seemed to be important places. Either it would teleport people to where the item was located, or it would be where the item itself was. That was Hera's first destination.
When she arrived inside the challenge area, the guides didn't come to meet her, but they let their presence known by making a window appear in front of her. It was like a postcard with all the guides smiling and Hera hiding under the makeshift bunker she created when the ceiling of the underground courtyard collapsed. Under it, there was a single handwritten message.
'Waiting to wipe the floor with you again.'
"I really want to smack them," Hera sighed.
"Me too. Let's beat them this time!" Daskka announced.
"Calm down. Remember the plan. We won't be going in for a fight. Our goal is the item," Nimbus tried to pet the snake, but she slapped him away with her tail.
"Don't tell me to calm down. They are toast!"
Nimbus scoffed, "And what are you going to do about it? You are the one who does less during fights."
"I was keeping you all safe!" Daskka flew towards Nimbus, stopping right in front of his face.
"Stop it, both of you!" Hera pulled her two court members apart.
"Nimbus, she's getting hyped. And I asked her to focus on healing," Hera turned to Daskka, "And you need to cool off. They are taunting us exactly to cause that reaction. Let's not play in their hand."
Daskka grumbled, but she backed away from Nimbus. The snake floated around the room, trying to see if there was anyone around. When they confirmed that the coast was clear, the group moved towards the house, but instead of going to the entrance, Hera headed to the tower in the back. Going for a more direct approach, the Empress asked Nimbus to fly around and see if there were any entrances from the outside. He did that while under the effect of a memory elemental armor. That way, if something were to show up, he could try to make them forget where he was. To give him some more breathing room, the rest of the court was going up, making a conga line to extend the distance that he could be from Hera. Because he was a named blade, this was less effective than doing it with the rest of the court, but every little bit could help. He did a quick lap around the tower and couldn't find any entrances, but the roof was in a cone that would allow Hera to stand on top of it, even if she had to make a small alteration to the structure.
'Are you ready?' Nimbus asked as he flew down to the ground.
'Yeah. Beam me up!'
'No one is wearing any red shirts, right?' Daskka asked, and they all turned to Core, who was the predominantly red court member.
'You will be missed,' Ooze said.
'Don't kill me off!' Core snapped at them.
'Ok, guys. Joking aside. Be ready. We don't know when we will find more of the guides here,' Hera chuckled and turned to Nimbus, who picked her up in a princess carry and flew towards the top of the tower. When reaching there, the Empress used a stone shape spell to push a small piece of rock inside the structure to create a ledge where she would be more stable. The next step was to create an entrance to the inside of the tower by using the exact same spell. She hoped to be able to sneak inside it, but it would depend on the entrance she created and if the guides wouldn't be right under her.
Once done with that, Hera got a vision of the place and looked through it. There was nothing suspicious about it. No guides, no statues, just a normal empty room.
'Let's go,' Hera whispered, 'Daskka, get ready for anything. Ooze, go in first and let us know if there is anything inside.'
The chakram floated around a little, checking all the sides until they felt sure enough that the area was clear, 'All clear, Hera.'
The Empress jumped down inside the tower, with Nimbus coming right behind her. However, the moment her feet touched the ground, it collapsed. Not in a way that showed the age of the place, but as if it was a trap made to open when someone touched it. Nimbus reacted quickly and grabbed Hera before she fell. On the floor below, six armors were looking up. Two were painfully obvious. Laika was in a full astronaut suit wielding a two-handed axe, and Kelpi was in an old diving suit with a pair of double blades in his hands. They were opposite of each other. Besides Laika, there was one armor with a cowboy hat, leather pants, and a jacket with frills. That should be Jackie, who had a halberd by her side. Next was someone with white armor and two blue lines going through the sides, wielding a katana and a samurai mask.
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It was hard for Hera to tell who that should be, but the color scheme matched with Berthellemy. The last two were further back in the room, and the light didn't let her see them properly. In the corner of the chamber, there was also a small box on top of a podium. From this distance, she could already use her [Observe] on it.
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Cratic Treasure
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All the armors were waiting for Hera to come down before attacking, giving her a moment to give orders to her court.
'Daskka, can you make enough mist to cover the entire room? Then stay close to the treasure and wait for my signal. The rest of us will be fighting together. We will be doing what we practiced with the Synchronized Battle and the Battle Dancer skills. Armory, focus on the Attack Pathing. Try to see where they are coming from and tell us.'
'Yes, Empress!' everyone replied at once just as Nimbus continued to float towards the ground.
"Hey, guys. Any chance you could take it easy on me?" Hera smiled at the guides. They all turned to the two figures hidden in the shadows. One had a spear in one hand, a wooden mask in front of the helmet, and some arm and leg braces made out of grass. It was a very odd tribal look that clashed with the metal armor underneath it. Hera guessed that would be Johnny since that setup matched his room. Behind him, someone was wearing the same armor the four statues were wearing outside the challenge without any alterations. That should be the guide of this room. She couldn't tell if he was wearing the basic armor because that was what they wanted or because they had to hide from her for now. While looking around, she realized that, looking at the armors. She couldn't tell what any of them were feeling.
"Hang on... why can't I tell what you are all feeling. Is that another gimmick?" Hera frowned.
Laika stepped forward, pointed at Hera, then at her helmet, and made an X with her hands.
"I just asked a question. You didn't have to talk smack because of it," Hera shrugged. The longer she stalled, the longer Daskka would have to create mist in the room.
Laika shook her head and started doing some mime. First pointing at her face, then at Kelpi and making an X with her arms.
"You and Kelpi? Guides?" Laika shook her head. Hera thought for a moment, "You two... You have suits? Like to live outside.... Close enough? You don't need to breathe? Oh, ok. Now my face? Air plus my face? What? I don't get it?"
Jackie stepped forward and put her hand on Laika's shoulder while shaking her head. Laika slumped her shoulders almost as if she had given up on what she was doing altogether. With that, everyone got in a fighting stance, ready to attack.
"Ok then. Let's do this," Hera pulled Fang and Claw from her waist and sent out a few paralyzing bolts at all the guides in the room from all of her blades.
The first to respond was Jackie, who nimbly dodged the attack and dashed at Hera, swinging the halberd only to be intercepted by Nimbus' tonfas and receive a kick in her stomach that pushed her away. From behind her shoulder, Kelpi jumped over Jackie and came down with a spinning attack with both of his daggers. Core and Lurize deflected the attack just enough to change his trajectory and allow Nimbus to step back. Hera wasn't just waiting around. With the Sentinel at her back, she used the stone shape spell to deform the ground away from the center of the room, forcing everyone to move slower or risk being caught in a bad position. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to do so without letting Berthellemy get close. He performed an upward slash at the Empress using his katana, only to be met by Frost's handle. As a follow-up, Hera and Ooze went for a pincer attack, with the Countess activating her slow enchantment on all of her blades.
Laika came swinging her two-handed axe in a wide arch. While the weapon was still moving, Armory told Hera to duck and Nimbus to return to his weapon form. That caused Kelpi, who jumped at the Sentinel, to pass by the area he was in and get in the way of Laika's attack. He managed to evade the axe by a hair, only to be met by Nimbus' talons as he returned to his humanoid shape and stomped the fish guide. Hoping she could neutralize one of the enemies, Hera made a bunker using her stone shape that was too close to Kelpi's body to allow him to move around. She glanced to the side, worried about Johnny and the guide of the Seven Islands, who were still in the back, closer to the treasure. However, no one seemed to notice a small black mist trail hiding behind the podium where the box was located. Just as the fight started, Daskka turned to her gas form and let a large amount of black mist around Hera and the others. Right now, she was quietly gathering mana for a large spell.
Hera wasn't sure how long she would last, but she needed to give enough time for Daskka to finish her spell. The Empress stood up, her Sentinel standing by her side, and readied her daggers for the next attack, smiling at Johnny and the new guide with a smug expression. They were too close to Daskka, and when it was time to get out of there, the snake might have some trouble grabbing the box. Her taunt worked with Johnny, but not the new guide, who just stepped in front of the treasure while still holding his sword and shield in front of it.
The spearman jumped in the air and came crashing down on top of Hera, only to be blocked by Frost as the Empress put away her daggers to help the glaive withstand the attack. For some reason, Johnny was feeling like one of the big threats in the area. Maybe during each run, one or two of the guides would be stronger than the rest, and the weight of his strike seemed to support that theory. Nimbus came to her rescue, activating his [Frozen Ash] aura around the both of them while also pushing the spearman to the side. Berthellemy came with an overhead swing aiming at Nimbus just as he gave an opening because of his attack. To stop him, Hera let go of Frost and pulled her daggers again, holding the katana above the Sentinel's head with her weapons in an x shape.
'Mum! I'm Ready!'
'Close your eyes!' Hera yelled mentally to her court and cast the strongest floodlight she could muster at the moment. Using around 200 thousand mana for a spell that originally would require just 50 points.
None of the guides expected that. Only Peaches and Berthellemy knew about Hera's floodlight spell, and none of them ever saw her create such a powerful version of it. It wasn't just the tower, but from the outside, it looked like there was a second sun inside the tower for a brief moment. At the same time, Daskka triggered her spell. It was called hidden mist, and it would create a large area covered in black mist that would help Hera and her party to hide from anyone else. At the same time, she returned to her solid form and pushed the treasure box out of the podium. Before it reached the ground, Ooze was already under and quickly brought the item back to Hera.
The guides were swinging wildly, trying to hit Hera or any of her court, but she was in the air being carried by Nimbus, who flew towards the opening in the upper floor just as Ooze and Daskka arrived with the box.
When they left the tower, the Sentinel turned into his griffon form so they could reach the fountain as fast as possible. Hera glanced back and saw the guides jumping to the top of the tower after her, but they were too far away to hit her now.
"And this is how an explorer does their job! I don't have to beat any of you. Just get this," Hera shook the treasure box with a smirk.
Johnny tossed his spear at her while the rest of the guides jumped to the ground, ready to chase the explorer, who was surprised by the reaction. She half expected them to give up when they realized she had won.
'Go!' she yelled, and Nimbus started flying at full speed towards the fountain. It didn't matter how much the guides struggled. Hera won this challenge fair and square, and they wouldn't be able to catch up with her. Or at least, that was her hope.