"DAMN IT! DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!!!"
Roth furiously punches the cells stone wall. His barrage of punches was so strong that it slowly chips away the stone, piece by piece. Mina looks around the cell letting Roth get his anger out. She kneels down to inspect a broken collar that has been melted on its hinges. She looks back at Roth as he is holding his fist against the wall. His teeth clenching and his other hand clenching tightly as if he's about to burst open his glove. The muffled explosions from the surface rumbled the underground.
"We... are too late..."
"Big brother...?"
"The Fidelity got to them first... we... we ignored so many people that needed help just to- just to...TO FAIL!"
She stares at him with worried eyes.
"Why... why doesn't anything go right! We do one thing, and another problem takes its place! It feels like we keep doing more harm than good! I... I keep getting people killed no matter what I do...I let this city met its demise. Because of me, these kind people will suffer. All because I accepted to help capture a single man. A single FUCKING MAN!"
Roth rests his forehead against the wall trying not to burst into tears of anger and frustration. He closes his eyes trying not to cry, but suddenly feels something behind him. Mina hugs Roth from behind holding him close.
"You didn't cause this, the Fidelity did. All of this is the Fidelities doing, not yours big brother. Like you said to me before, people will die, that's the business and price of being an adventurer. So don't blame yourself, okay? You're not alone anymore, we can get through this, together."
Roth's face was frozen hearing those words, he buckled under the weight of what she said and fell to his knees. For some reason what she said calmed Roth down. Still continuing to hug him around his neck now.
"Thank you, Mina... that... that really means a lot..."
"Hey, we're in this together. You got my back and I got yours. We're unstoppable together!"
She puts her fist out to give him a fist bump. He looks a little surprised but slowly smiles and indulges her. He gets up and dusts himself off collecting himself again. "Thank you Mina, I think I've calmed down a bit now."
"So what's our next move boss!" She giggles and gives a funny salute to try and cheer him up more. He smiles and signals her to follow him. They slowly ascended the spiral staircase to reach the entrance, only to be stopped by a blockade of burning debris. The flames made the small little entrance that they had left, now collapsed.
"Oh no! We're locked in now!"
"Ughh don't worry I'll get us out. Just put up a barrier for yourself really quickly, okay? "
" Oh um...okay?"
She surrounds herself with a small bubble barrier for herself and waits for Roth. Roth takes a deep breath in and aims his palm towards the ceiling while his other grabs his wrist. A glowing symbol floats above his palm and takes his aim, steady. A low hum begins to form and soon turns to a fast high pitch whir. Then a massive fireball shoots out erupting the entire ceiling. The roof explodes out shrapnel into the air like a massive volcano. Mina cowers from the blast as chunks of rock hit her barrier. Roth stands there unphased as no debris falls on him somehow. He reaches out with his hand to Mina with a confident attitude.
"I need you to hold on tight and don't let go no matter what, alright?" She nods and grabs his hand as he swings her onto his back. She grabs tightly on his leather chest armor near the neck opening and wraps her legs around. She almost looks like a little lemur the way she was piggyback riding him. She's a little confused and hesitantly asks Roth.
"Ummmm... what exactly are we going to-"
"Hang on!"
He then suddenly shoots up to the air through the hole at incredible speeds. Mina screams and she clings for her dear life. Roth was swaying side to side and was nearly corkscrewing around. He was trying to get his balance but kept spinning. He suddenly began to control his movements and soon was beginning to float in the air above the city.
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[PERK UNLOCKED: FLIGHT MOVMENT]
Roth moves side to side, up and down, his flight maneuverable abilities were now becoming easy. He was flying like an actual superhero. Though he wasn't technically flying, he was using wind magic on his boots to propel himself forward like a jetpack of sorts. Mina on the other hand was terrified and was closing her eyes shut super tightly. Roth chuckled feeling a rush of adrenaline and encourages Mina to look. She slowly opens one eye and sees the forest where they were before. It was beautiful, until she turned around to see the city. Half the city and some random spots on the unburnt side were engulfed in flames.
They both looked down to see people running through the scorching city. Roth was just about to descend until Mina yelled in his ear. "Big brother look out!"
He quickly looked up and saw the giant beast with its razor mouth wide open screeching as it was about to clamp down on the two of them. Roth evaded the snapping attack but now was descending fast and spinning. Mina was getting dizzy as she screamed at the top of her lungs. The beast swiftly maneuvers and did a complete one eighty and folded its wings to dive bomb them. Roth stabilized himself as he falls head first towards the ground still facing the beast. Roth conjures another spell of fireball and waits for an opening. The beast still flying towards them still focus, finally opens its mouth to bite them. He quickly shoots the fireball into the wyvern's mouth, making the beast close it quickly. Its eyes flickering quickly on what just happened. A flash of light shoots out between its teeth as its body twitches and steers off course.
Roth quickly rotated himself back upright hovering himself again. The wyvern's body fell fast and hit a bell tower making the most aggressive gong sound in the universe. The tower collapses on itself as there were people near it quickly escaping the collapsing monolith. He checks on Mina to see how she see's doing only to find her eyes still dazed from the spinning. He sighs with relief and slowly hovers towards the streets. The beast lays inside the ruble as its tail lays slithered outside.
"We have to keep moving now, Mina, you can let go now."
She lets go slowly stepping side to side still dizzy from the spiral fall. But finally manages to sober up, "Okay... I'm good now, let's hurry back to the guild to see if they are in trouble."
Roth agrees and leads the way with her next to his side. The whole area feels like being inside an industrial oven. With everything on fire, the whole place is unrecognizable. The whole city feels like a maze now for the amount of time the fire has spread. Soon both hear shouting and screaming. As they turn around a corner of a still intact house, they finally reach the main thoroughfare. Many scared lives were running past the two, one even bumped shoulders hard into Roth and didn't even acknowledge him. Roth looked at the direction the people were running from and saw the other end of the road completely ablaze. Women and children running and crying. Adventurers who were in the lowest ranks tried to fight but were in pure despair and abandoned their fight. Two wyverns swooped down attacking the fleeing citizens. One landed on a roof top and roared into the smog filled sky. The other still circling above as if it were scanning which prey to take. Several knights were directing the traffic yelling everyone to evacuate.
Several mages were with the knights as they casted many spells at the beasts. Ice, and rock to try and penetrate the thick armored scales. Other soldiers had crossbows and were making good hits, but it still wasn't enough. One knight noticed Roth and quickly ran towards him at full sprint.
"Are you Roth!?"
"Yes... I am. I can help. Just let me-
"No! You need to head straight for the castle! Follow the thoroughfare, it should lead you straight to it! Everyone is ordered to evacuate to the castle for protection! They said they needed you in the defense line!"
"What about you mister?!?" Mina said with a worried felt heart.
"Go!!! Now!!! Don't argue just go to the-"
He was cut off midsentence as a loud screech can be heard as the wyvern swooped down and grabbed him with its large talons. The man screamed in agony as he was being flown away. Roth was mortified what he just witnessed but he can see the knight reaching for something. The silhouette of the knight shows him sticking his hand out. His faint screams can still be heard but suddenly-BWRAM- The entire wyvern is engulfed by a massive explosion in the sky. Roth was stunned, he didn't know how to process what he had witness.
"We have highly grade explosives on us that detonated only by mana infusion! If we get swopped by them, we are ordered to kill them no matter the cost! Go kid, they need you! Don't stop for anything!!!"
Another knight passed by explaining to him for reassurance. Roth was hesitant but agreed to go to the castle. The two quickly dashed through the thoroughfare as fast as they could. There were so many people on the road, he was surprised the knights were actually holding them back. Scared screams as cries can be heard as he pushes his way through the crowd. A house suddenly combusts into millions of pieces as a wyvern passes by shooting out a massive fireball from its breath. The poor souls who were too close from the proximity of the blast were disintegrated in seconds. The others that were just in the right range lit their clothes on fire. Several women and men wriggled in agony screaming for help. One managed to grab a stranger's foot begging for help.
"LET GO OF ME! STOP YOU IDIOT, STOO-ARGHHHH!!!!!"
The poor bystander was set on fire as well from how much the flames were so potent. Just as how gasoline would stick if set on fire. Roth and Mina endured their screams and still kept on pushing. Still pushing forward to defend the castle walls, hoping that he can end this disaster once and for all.