We behold the enemy position for a good couple of minutes, looking at the unnatural movements of, what we presume to be, the undead underlings and the leaders in their towers. They are clearly beefing up their position at quite a staggering rate. Then again, if your labourforce doesn’t need rest or food… That’s not too hard of a feat to accomplish. As for any actual bandits, we don’t really see any that look like the bandits we fought before. As for goblins, there do appear to be some but those are mostly on the stone wall in the distance, and presumably within the fort or somewhere else.
As for the miasma spewing portal, after looking at it for a while I notice that there is a faint flicker in it, every second or so.
“Should we go closer to see what’s happening with that portal?” My sister asks.
“There’s no way we can cross this wide open area without being spotted, even with my skill.” Hilda replies.
“That flickering is not giving me any good vibes, at all.” Carol says. “It almost feels like…”
“They are bringing stuff through it?” Max asks.
Her girlfriend nods in return.
“Yeah… That’s what I was turning too.
As I was keeping my eyes on the portal while my party was discussing, I noticed that the flickering suddenly stopped before the miasma around it suddenly expanded massively, the purple surface of the portal also lighting up considerably. Just a second later the entire treeline around the encampment got blasted by a shockwave. Dust rising up from the dirt in front of us.
A booming disembodied female voice swiftly followed, for the entire area to hear. “There are intruders about. Find them!” Followed by screech that made everyone cover their ears. It kept ringing in my ears for a couple of seconds longer and I could see that it also affected Carol, Sam and our doggos quite a bit.
The screech had pulled my attention away from the portal and from the look of the faces of the rest of the party, whatever was coming from that direction wasn’t good.
When I turn back around I see what they are looking at. Hundreds, if not thousands of red and purple flying creatures appear to be lifting off from the center of the fort and start circling around in the air above.
“Oh shit.” My sister calls out.
“I suggest we get the fuck out of here.” Hilda beckons. “They’ve not found us yet and I would like to keep it like that for now.”
The ball of flying creatures gradually starts expanding outwards, it will not take long before they reach us. As for the undead servants on the ground, those are also slowly but surely all walking outwards towards the edge of the forest.
“Y-yeah… That might not be a bad plan.” I nod and turn around toward Sam, she gives me an approving nod. “Let’s go report back.”
Suddenly, a loud metallic clang shocks both of us. My sister is standing between me and the open ground, a big black bolt, oozing with the purple miasma stuck halfway through my sister’s left shoulder. She grunts in pain.
In the distance, on top of the wall now stands a red humanlike form, menacingly staring at us with in its hands a big black bow.
The figure slowly tilts its head, almost as if it finds something curious, before it rightens its head again and grabs another bolt from its back.
“Don’t just stand there and look, you dolt!” My sister janks me back with her right hand and pushes me in the direction of the forest. “Run!” The rest of the party, apart from Sam, are already quite a bit further away from us.
“Lize, take my wolf.” Sam says as she directs her wolf to go to my sister.
“Thanks.” With the bolt in her shoulder she has a bit of a harder time to get on the wolf but she still manages to get away before another one of those black bolts just pierces three trees before it gets jammed stuck in the fourth, just barely missing her and showing the immense force behind the shot.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Sam grabs hold of me and pulls me onto my wolf. Luckily both of us are not that heavy so she manages to easily run off with us on her back. It’s still not ideal as the forest is rather dense so it’s hard to maneuver at speed but at least it’s faster than running. As for Hilda, Max, Carol and Nikki, Nikki, Carol and Hilda are riding the dogs too while Max opts for running. She’s probably the only one in the party who can truly keep up a similar speed as the wolves for a prolonged period of time thanks to her carrying a minimum of gear and having a maximum of muscles.
We run for an hour before we reach the ruins we came across yesterday, but instead of stopping we just continue on. The break in the forest gives us a clear view of the skies behind us and it is clear that we are not in the clear yet. There’s still dozens of flying creatures looking down on the forest from above. Their number has clearly thinned considerably but it’s still better that we keep running for now just to be safe.
So into the next forest we go and we keep running for another hour before my sister calls out to us. “Please… Can we stop for a minute…” We halt our wolves and as we do, my sister slumps off the wolf she’s been riding. She lands on her side and starts crawling towards a tree to lean against it. Blood dripping down from beneath her breastplate and onto the forest floor.
I jump off my wolf and run over to my sister. Instantly turning into my angelic form to heal her. Lise is not in great shape. She’s sweating profusely, biting on her teeth and wincing constantly. The bolt still stuck through her shoulder, the same dark energy still seeping out.
“Fucking hell, Lise.” Hilda also rushes over.
“Babe!?” Nikki runs over as well. “When did this happen?” She looks at me while I’m just pouring mana into my healing spell, the bolt’s energy actively fighting off my healing.
“Didn’t you see?” Sam asks.
“No, we were too busy getting away.” Hilda shakes her head.
“I… I saw a bolt going for Ami… Jumped in front of her…” My sister says with labored breaths. “There was so much… power… behind that shot… It surprised me… Didn’t put enough force behind my shield… Bolt just pushed it out of the way…” I can see my sister increasingly having issues staying conscious.
“Why is she not getting better?”
“I’m doing all I can.” I reply. “That bolt needs to go out. It’s fighting my healing.”
“Yank… y-yank it out…” Élise bites on her teeth. Biting away the pain for a moment so she can straighten herself against the tree.
“Lise, it’s completely through your shoulder…” Hilda replies.
“I know that.” My sister replies.
“I don’t know if we can…”
“It really needs to go.” I clarify. “I really can’t heal her like this. Whatever that magic is, it’s almost completely counteracting mine.”
“Pffff.” Hilda blows air between her teeth and looks at the back of the bolt. “At least it’s smooth so it shouldn’t keep hanging anywhere.” She looks at Max and my girlfriend. “Can you two give me a hand.”
They both nod.
“Lise, this is going to hurt balls.”
My sister nods, starting to look very absent as she takes something from one of her pouches, it’s a leather strap. She puts it in between her teeth and then looks at me, giving me a nod as well. After that she bites down on the strap and closes her eyes.
Our tree party members, understanding the assignment, count down from three and then pull at the bolt with all their strength while I just keep the healing spell going.
Nikki holds back my sister as she cries out in agony. Her cries of pain only muffled by the leather strap in between her teeth. The couple of seconds it takes for our friends to pull out the bolt last agonizingly long.
But in the end Max, Hilda and Sam stand there with the bloodied bolt in their hands, leaving a gaping hole in my sister’s arm.
The wound in her shoulder, finally slowly starting to close. My sister however, is unresponsive.
“Ami, she’s not breathing!” Nikki calls out to me while she quickly holds her fingers against her lover’s neck. “She has no pulse either.”
Without wasting a second I immediately switch to my resurrection spell instead of my heal. As blue light starts to surround the lifeless body of my sister.
It takes long, way longer than usual before anything happens. But then finally, after a full five tense minutes of me casting my resurrection spell, my sister violently awakes, coughing up blood.
“Thank the Goddess.” Nikki embraces her partner.
My sister groans in pain. Breathing heavily. “Nikki… wait… It hurts a lot…”
Nikki doesn’t move however. “You were gone for five minutes.”
“I was dead for five minutes…?” My sister slowly pushes Nikki away from her and then looks at Hilda. I can sense the fear in my sister’s eyes. “That’s not good, is it?”
Hilda stands there with the bolt in her hands. The black steel bolt, still, even now, oozing with purple miasma. “This is even worse than we have imagined.” She looks down at the bolt. “Way worse…”