"Sweetheart! How are you?" Shala's shrill voice echoed through the empty corridors of the Colosseum.
"Ahem," Snowflake looked around, while everyone looked at him curiously. It was a rather delicate moment and they had just heard someone (a woman!) scream sweetheart to Snowflake.
The white-furred cat pulled away from the others, to prevent them from eavesdropping on the conversation. They had already heard too much.
"Mom, everything's all right, thanks."
"But are you eating enough?!" another scream, followed immediately by a powerful (and angry) voice:
“Woman! I gave him one of the most powerful Communication Seals in the universe, why are you screaming like a lunatic!? He can hear you perfectly!"
"You, shut up! " Shala yelled again.
Snowflake rubbed his ears, trying to ease the pain. His mother's shrill voice had completely deafened him.
The only way to quickly end the call was to give Shala what she wanted: “Mom, don't worry, everything is fine for now, but I'm in a bit of a hurry,” Snowflake said uncertainly.
"I know! I know! Go have fun with your friends! Mom is looking at you and if there are any problems, she will come to help you! "
The other voice took over again. “Nobody should interfere with the growth of our so- Shala! Put your foot down immediately, and do it slowly! Those marble slabs cost me an arm and a leg. And get out of my toilet now. You've done enough damage already!"
“Honey, we'll talk as soon as you get rid of this situation. Be careful, there are other problems ahead,” the mother said, apprehensive.
Tuuu Tuuu Tuuu
His parents were exactly as he remembered them. Sighing, Snowflake thought wistfully of his mother. Shala had raised him as a person, not as a Celestial Star Tiger. She had spoiled Snowflake, but she had taught him to be independent of court etiquette. This would forever remain David's gripe, but Shala didn't seem to care much. His son had grown up as a true Celestial Star Tiger.
Once that stupid war was over, he would surely call his mother back and talk to her longer. But this was not the time.
"Come on," said Snowflake as he approached the others.
The cat darted off, followed soon after by Lumia, who was traveling at high speed in the same direction.
…
Helial no longer looked back, but explosions raged behind them, threatening to reach them at any moment. The battle between the Immortals was taking a violent turn and, if they didn't leave soon, they would surely be involved.
Only thanks to the Formations that lined Orma from top to bottom, half of the city had not yet been destroyed. Cesar and Aure had taken the fight as high in the sky as possible but, at their level, it was impossible for collateral damage not to reach ordinary citizens.
The streets of the city were flooded with Goblins who were screaming and crying, desperate for a way out. Helial remembered having seen such a scene before, a few years earlier, in the village where he lived with Lumia.
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"There is no danger ahead of us for now," Lumia communicated through her Divine Sense.
"There isn't fucking anything," came Snowflake's message to confirm.
Their Formation had found no problems for now. Orma stretched for tens of kilometres and they hadn't even left the innermost area, they still had a long way to go.
To avoid being ambushed or tracked down, they had decided not to proceed too quickly. Therefore, they were all moderating their speed and constantly looking in every direction.
Circe also reported shortly after.
“We haven't found anyone behind us yet, there is probably too much confusion to notice and they haven't brought any ground troops. When you have twenty Immortals, it would be stupid to worry about having a backup plan.”
The witch of Orma was right, why on earth would they have to deploy ground troops? It would have been completely irrational ...
"There is someone in front of us on a mount," Lumia warned, "it seems to be pointing straight at us." The girl prepared to attack.
"Stop!" cried a familiar voice from the top of his mount.
With great relief, Snowflake and Lumia stopped and sent a thought to Helial and the others with the Divine Sense: "It's Caliban."
They stopped and waited for the rest of the Formation to arrive.
But as Caliban got closer, Lumia and Snowflake noticed that the Goblin's mount was a giant golden cockroach.
The girl looked at it in disgust, while Snowflake curled his whiskers, wondering how such a being could be cooked. Maybe it wasn't the right time to think about that, but the battle had tired him so much that he would gladly have eaten the cockroach right then and there.
“The perimeter of the city is controlled by a lot of undead troops and low-level trolls to exterminate the civilians who try to escape. Fortunately, they were smart enough to understand that the Immortals would destroy the entire city; and they want it whole. The warriors are engaged in the main battle, so all enemies above the Fifth or Sixth Phase shouldn't be in the perimeter.
"If you really want to leave the city without fighting them, you would better use the sewers. No one but the Goblins knows the immensity of the Capital's sewer system. Even if someone wanted to chase you, it would be nearly impossible to keep up with you. The original blueprints are in the Merchants' Guild and I have a copy. Let's go together and get safe before all hell breaks loose here."
Caliban had appeared out of nowhere and was giving them a quick explanation of what was happening to Orma right now, as well as a plan.
Helial thought about it for a moment.
Manoeuvrability within the sewers would be limited. Tunnels were often narrow and long, with no junctions, and if someone actually went looking for them, they would find themselves crushed in a vice. The idea of jumping into a mousetrap didn't appeal to him much.
If Undead and Trolls had somehow covered the aqueduct and sewers with their men as well, to avoid even a single survivor, then it would have been very difficult not to run into them. Also, the chances of meeting someone of a higher level would have been greater. 2While exposing his doubts to Caliban, Helial heard yet another explosion coming from the centre of Orma. Cesar, Kari and Lostro were locked in a fight to the death; the shockwaves of the battle would have been enough to kill anyone below the Fifth Phase.
“Caliban, the best thing is to break through the perimeter. If the warriors entered the aqueducts, they would be concentrated in the main points; instead, the circumference of Orma is too large to cover in a systematic way. There must be some weaknesses in their ranks. If they have no warriors in the Eighth Phase, anyone we meet, even with great sacrifices, will be killed. At the moment, me, Snowflake and Lumia are able to face a warrior in the Seventh Phase each if we give our maximum. The likelihood of meeting more than one in a small group like ours is ridiculous. "
Lumia and Snowflake listened in silence, casting worried glances from time to time in the direction of the explosions.
Suddenly, Circe picked up Caliban, irritated, and yelled in his face, “We have enough fire to make our way through the perimeter, you idiot! We are not going to risk our lives on a bet in the face of a safer escape route. Our lives are at stake in this negotiation, not money!" Caliban almost shat his pants.
Being lifted by the Witch of Orma and receiving her screams an inch from his face wasn't really his greatest wish.
Only Helial and his party weren't frightened of Circe, but the Witch still had great authority among the Goblins!
Caliban, for his part, was no expert in strategy and could not help but shut his mouth and follow them.
Sitting on his huge golden cockroach, Caliban joined the central part of the group. He felt pretty useless now. He had thought he had a perfect plan in hand to escape the enemy and outflank it, but the others had more experience than him and had rejected his plan almost on the spot.
A lot had changed since the first meeting with Helial, when the human was still ignorant and the Goblin had introduced him to a new life. However, Caliban thought, it was thanks to him too that Helial had grown so much.