"So, how long are y'all going to act like childish malcontents? Not that I care, but it's been a week already."
Flora said, as the rest of us ignored her, like we've been doing for the past week.
"Are y'all really holding a grudge over nothing?"
Jurea stared at her angrily.
"You tried to kill Jay!"
Flora cocked an eyebrow.
"No, I didn't. First off, I was about to sacrifice my plan for the greater good, and even if I did use it on him, it wouldn't have killed him, just made him brain-dead."
"That's just as bad!"
Flora rolled her eyes.
"Point is, it was just a contingency plan, and I have one for each of you."
Eric looked up from what she was doing.
"You do? What are they?"
"They wouldn't be very good contingency plans if you knew what they were. You could then plan a contingency for them yourself."
"Shut up Patty!"
For the entirety of the past week my voice has taken Flora's side!
"So, she's still siding with me, hmm?"
Flora smiled, and I realized I said that out loud.
I looked at Lyra, she didn't even turn around.
Great! She's so used to it, she thinks it's my normal behavior.
She probably thinks I'm insane.
That's different! You're real.
Shut up Patty!
There's no way this is a dream! You're just trying to get in my head!
Shut up Patty!
"Look, Flora, if you want us to forgive you, maybe try not being an unrepentant asshole."
"Why would I need your forgiveness? I did nothing wrong."
I can tell from her face that she is dead serious too.
I was going to comment some more, but Lyra decided to chose that time to speak up.
"We're nearing a town."
We rolled up on the town of Holzdorf, at least according to the sign we passed.
On the sign was a symbol Haydn told us meant the people were peaceful to witches.
I was expecting someone to come and greet us like in Feuerdorf, but no one did.
My gut started to churn.
"All of you, take out your weapons."
They all did - except for Lyra.
"Why are we arming ourselves going into a town?"
Eric asked.
"First rule of horror movies, if it feels bad, it is bad."
"What?"
"If you come across someplace and get a bad gut feeling, be prepared to fight then flee."
She nodded, and we continued on.
Now, ever since I've came to this world I've seen some jacked up shit, but when we entered the town I had to reswallow my vomit that came up.
The sight that greeted us was the definition of nightmare fuel.
People burned to a crisp while they were still alive, still in the positions of fear.
Others ripped apart by plants, their guts strewn about.
Some frozen solid, then shattered - half a lady's face was near someone else's corpse.
Burst boils covered others, their faces contorted in a look of agony.
And the list goes on, boiled alive, blood burst from their skin, bone growth that exploded out of their bodies, and etc.
The worst part was that none were spared.
Men, women, and - God damn it! - children were killed.
"Witchcraft."
I turned to Jurea when she said that.
"What?"
Anger and sadness were etched onto her face.
"This was done by witches, I've seen it before."
Before I could respond, a horse came from behind a building.
Its rider training a crossbow at Lyra.
"Stop the wagon, right now!"
Lyra tugged on the reins, and Marey and Ted came to a brisk halt.
The man was dressed similar to Rupert from Hadyn's memories.
A witch hunter.
"You so much as breathe, and I'll fill you with so many holes your own mother would be hard pressed to recognize you!"
The muscles in my legs tightened, ready to pounce on this asshole.
His finger was twitching on the trigger, and my claws were ready to rip and shred.
The tense air built, ready to...
"Karl, that's enough!"
A woman rode up from behind him on a bird mount.
She stopped beside him and stared him down, as eight more men on horseback appeared.
She looks of Arabic decent, she's wearing the typical gear of a witch hunter except she's also wearing hijab and has a metallic looking whip on her side.
She looks to be in her late thirties - early forties, but still swole as fuck.
"They could be working with the witches!"
"And what, they sent them back to an already decimated town to lead us back to their hideout? They're obviously merchants, something easily verifiable."
He looked like he wanted to say more, but he couldn't think of a comeback.
The woman turned her attention towards us.
"I'm sorry about Karl, he might not admit it, but this stuff gets to him. As it does to us all.
Well, anyway, can I see some identification?"
The lady rode over to our wagon.
"Sure."
Lyra passed her the ID plates.
The woman looked over them, then passed them back.
"Yup, just as I thought. Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm Fayza, and these are the men under my command."
"If I may, what is someone like you doing someplace like here?"
Lyra asked.
"I work here."
Flora decided to elaborate on the real question Lyra wanted to asked.
"What she meant to ask is, what is a sandeater doing this far up north, and why is she in charge of a group of men in Hexeia!"
Going by the look Fayza gave Flora, I'm assuming sandeater isn't a term of endearment.
"There are witches down south as well, and I came up here to kill witches. The majority of witches with power reside here, and after showing the ruling class here what I'm capable of they knew better than to turn me away.
As for the exact reason I wish to kill witches, that's none of your business - heathen pig."
The two of them stared each other down.
"But what happened here? It looks like none of them had time to defend themselves."
Eric asked.
"If you must know beast, it's because these people were traitors to their own kind!"
Karl spat out.
"What?!"
"You saw the mark on the sign, right? There's different ones popping up all across the kingdom, but they all mean the same thing, that they're defying the law and trying to make peace with those fucking monsters!
They let the witches that did this into their town with open arms, by disabling the local protection spell, and this happened!"
"If they let them stay, then why...?"
"Because it is what they do! The only ones I regret this happened to are the children, they were innocent and had no say over the stupidity of their parents! If even one of those assholes survived, I'd kil..."
Fayza stopped his rant in the middle.
"That's enough Karl!"
He angrily stared at her, but kept his mouth shut.
Fayza turned her gaze back on us.
"Now, y'all are headed for Fischkopfstadt, correct?"
Lyra nodded.
"Yes, we were told this was the safest route to Meerburg, via the river."
Fayza nodded.
"Believe it or not, but whomever told you that was correct. Going straight south to Meerburg is suicide unless you have a small army. Now, before..."
Karl, or as he will forever be known as - la douche, cut her off again.
"It wouldn't be so dangerous if we were tougher on them! If only we killed the fucking brats, they'd be exterminated by now!"
One of the other men spoke up.
"We're not monsters, we don't kill kids! Witches have relations with humans all the time, and the resulting kids could turn out to be witches or humans!"
"Oh, stuff it Baldawin! Does it look like they spared children! The very next witch brat I see I'm go... ooow!"
Before he finished what he was about to say, or before anyone could react, Fayza unfurled her metal whip and lashed him on the arm.
Blood sprang from the wound as he put his hand over it stop it.
"Don't you dare interrupt me again, unless you wish for the next injury to be an eye... or your cock."
Fear filled his face.
"You can't do this to me!"
The man called Baldawin responded to him.
"Yes, she can. Insubordination is not tolerated."
La douche looked like he wanted to say more, but after looking at her whip he thought better of it.
"As I was saying, before you head out, I wanted y'all to be extra vigilant out there. We have reports that a giant might be working with the witches."
"Why would a giant work with witches?"
Lyra asked.
"We don't know, but you shouldn't worry too much, it's unlikely a giant is around here.
One more thing, it's just a formality, but I'll need each one of you to touch this ball."
She pulled out a witch finding orb that Flora has.
Each of the men inched their hands ever so closer to their weapons.
She passed it to Lyra who - after nothing happened - in turn passed it to each of us.
We then returned it to Fayza.
"I thank all of you for your time, and I wish you safe travels."
"You too, and for what it's worth I hope you catch the monsters who did this."
Lyra said.
"Oh, we will, and when we do I'll make sure they suffer ten times what they made these people suffer."
When Fayza said that her eyes went cold, like serial killer ice cold.
I knew then that whatever had sent her up here to kill witches was both personal and really bad.
And I regret that what I feel in this moment is joy, joy that the witches who did this were going to suffer.
Yeah, but I don't want to be that kind of guy.
Lyra urged the horses forward.
As we continued travelling through the town, we just saw more death and destruction.
The ones that really stuck out were the people that was squashed into a viscous slop.
They were on an indent in the ground, an indent that looked like a big footprint.
"Maybe working with a giant my ass!"
Flora exclaimed.
"You can keep your opinions to yourself."
Jurea responded.
"Enough!"
Jurea looked at me.
"What?!"
"Look around us! We need to stop fighting and work together. So, Flora I forgive you."
"But she..."
"But she's an asshole, I know, but an asshole who has saved our asses once or twice before."
"Only once or twice?!"
Flora said, trying to interrupt me.
"Don't push it. Anyway, we'll move past it, okay?"
They gave Flora a hard look before aquicencing.
"Now, Flora, what did you mean before?"
"That there's definitely a giant working with the witches, and one that's at least twenty feet tall."
"How would you know the height? There's just an imprint."
"That footprint is around three feet long, with that I can extrapolate that it is around twenty feet. What I can't tell you is its gender."
"And why did they lie about a giant's involvement?"
"They didn't lie, just implied that they didn't know for sure."
"Fine, why'd they do that?"
"To avoid public panic, most likely.
Giants normally reach fifteen feet (some can grow bigger though), have a subcutaneous armor, are violent as fuck, and aren't afraid to die."
I felt some energy leave me.
Hey! I didn't ask a question!
Great, now I have to worry about her stealing my energy without me even saying anything!
Wait, since when could she do that?
"Add the fact that the giants started a war three hundred years ago, and you got trouble."
Jurea said.
"There was a giant war?!"
I asked, shelving my internal questions for later.
"It was two hundred and fifty-nine years ago actually, but yes, there was a war. A bloody war that caused the loss of thousands of lives, and the near extinction of regular giants."
Flora corrected Jurea matter-of-factly.
"Wait, giants are endangered? How?!"
"By... killing them. It's kind of self-explanatory."
"No, I meant how's that possible? You just explained that giants are unstoppable killing machines!"
Flora shrugged.
"Our racial ability is stronger than theirs."
"Ha... ha, humans don't have a racial ability."
Flora looked at me like I was a retard.
"Yes, we do, every race got something. From giants being sturdy, elves having an affinity for magic, Dalians' crafting magic, all the way to dwarves' affinity for the earth."
That's right! I keep forgetting this place isn't like Earth, it's magical! The people here could have eye lasers, telepathy, or eye lasers!
Shut up Patty!
Oh, really? Sorry then, I guess.
Shut up Patty!
I refocused on Flora.
"So, what have y'all been holding out on me? Is it eye lasers?!"
"No, it's violence, unprecedented violence."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Are you shitting me?! That's not an ability!"
"Of course, it is! Can you think of another species better suited for it?
Sure ants will sacrifice themselves to win, but will they sacrifice the entirety of their species to win like humans will? Yeah, no.
Will any other species poison the only source of water for hundreds of miles just to win? No.
None of them can even fathom the lengths we will go.
I heard of one guy who snuck into the enemy's home and summoned an arch demon which killed everyone in a thousand mile radius before being killed."
That does make sense.
We did after all build weapons capable of destroying the entire world, then went ahead and used them.
I don't know whether to be proud, or ashamed of my kind.
"So, what does this mean for us?"
"It means we got to get the fuck out of here, ya!"
Lyra said as she whipped the reins, urging Marey and Ted into a full gallop.
___________
Three days later we are still riding hard, just like when we went through the goblin woods, we barely stop.
Speeding along, hoping to avoid a conflict with a twenty-foot giant.
All of this time I have continued training with Jurea, with the focus on how to fight spell casters.
"What is the first rule of fighting magic users?"
As we fight she quizzes me.
"Get in close, as fast as you can."
I dodged a swing, and swung two of my own.
"Why?"
"To strike before they can sling a spell, and most magic users don't train their bod... ow!"
Her fist caught me right on the snout.
"Focus!"
"That's easier said than done, especially when trying to talk and fight."
"Sorry, but that's the point. Being able to talk while in close combat gives you an advantage over witches.
If you can't get close, get them talking.
They can't cast if they're thinking about something else, especially if you make them mad."
I can do this! I just got to channel my inner Flora.
Be the asshole.
"You mean like how mad you get when Flora talks about..."
She reddened when she realized what I was going to say.
"Hey! I thought we agreed not to talk about... umph!"
While she was distracted I gut punched her.
She didn't fall over however, after all, punching her felt like punching a concrete wall.
Damn her too high durability stat.
My hand is numb as fuck.
Jurea straightened back up smiling.
"Great job! Using my embarrassment against me. Next time don't hold back, I'm a Mid-rank, so I can take it."
Oh, I will.
I'm already thinking of possible ways to cheat, to bring her down.
I don't even care if it's in a morally grey area, I'll show her Jamal Hendricks isn't a push-over!
Jurea stopped smiling, pulled her hammer out, and swung it.
Oh, shit! She knows what I was thinking about, but isn't instant karma only supposed to affect bad guys?!
A millisecond later I felt a presence coming at me from my left.
I planted my face to the deck, just in time for Jurea's hammer to sail above me and smack a hairless monstrosity straight in its face.
"What the fuck?!"
I said, as I stood up, and got a better look at it.
It is completely hairless save a mane running down its back, its head is shaped like a naked mole rat, it has two big round ears, four eyes, five fingers ending in claws, digitigrade feet that has three toes each, and oddly enough its dick looks human... ish.
Not that I notice that sort of thing.
"Shit! It's a curse beast!"
Flora screamed.
"What is that?!"
"Humans who witches turn into,"
She pointed at it.
"that!"
"So..."
"So, where there's one, there's more, and a witch isn't far behind. We have to go, now!"
Flora yelled that last bit to Lyra.
Who had already urged the horses to go faster.
"I'm working on it! They're going as fast as they can."
She replied.
I turned on my 'Empath Aura', but felt nothing malevolent towards us.
"Maybe this one came alone?"
More burst out of the surrounding forest.
Following us on two feet at first, but then adopting a four footed gait to catch up to us.
And catch up they did.
Seconds later they were scratching the wagon.
"Alone huh?"
Flora stared at me.
"My empath ability isn't working!"
"Damn! It must be their innate magic resistance!"
One jumped up, only to be greeted with an arrow to the throat.
It fell down, and got ran over by its fellow monsters.
"Doesn't look like they're resistant to arrows."
Eric stated as she started taking out arrows, and firing them in rapid succession.
Each arrow finding its target.
God damn! She's a ninja!
Unfortunately, if the arrow didn't hit a vital area, the beasts just ripped the arrow out and kept following us.
One got ahead of us, semi climbed a tree, and jumped as we were passing.
It hit the wagon, causing it to lose balance and tip over.
We grabbed the railings as the wagon slid on the ground.
When it stopped we all crawled out, bloody, but okay.
The same unfortunately could not be said for Marey and Ted, the crash had killed them on impact.
They did not deserve to die like this.
Just this morning I had fed them some dry fruit.
Those damn assholes!
I kill them all!
Flora grabbed my arm.
"We got to go! We'll lose them in the forest!"
We took off running, with Eric providing cover fire while she ran.
We made it into the forest with them hot on our asses.
But funny enough they weren't catching up, even though they just out ran a wagon.
Which means...
"Shit! They're corraling us!"
Flora summed up my thoughts on the matter perfectly.
She is after all probably the smartest out of our group.
"We have to split up!"
Never mind, she is a fucking idiot!
"That's the dumbest shit you have ever suggested!"
"Just shut up and listen fucktard! These fuckers may have been human once, but their intelligence has dropped way down since then. So, that means if we split up, the slave and Lucile might be able to escape."
"You mean you're talking about Eric and Lyra getting to safety, not you?!"
"Keep up, idiot! The slave will eventually run out of arrows, and be overrun.
The other one we were hired to protect.
You, me, and the gong farmer are the powerhouses of this party, so we can hold these bastards off while those two use their agility to escape via the trees.
The dumb mongrels will probably follow us."
Eric notched an arrow, and then let it fly.
"I'm not abandoning y'all!"
She said.
"Yes, you are, both of you. I hate to admit it, but Flora is right. We can hold them off."
I grinned at Flora.
"So, you do care after all Flora."
"I don't give two shits about the slave, this is about logic. If we end up captured instead of outright killed, the odds of escape are much higher with someone on the outside."
Good to know she'll never change.
"You two go... NOW!"
They broke off, shot up the nearest tree, and disappeared.
We three kept running until we ran into a clearing.
All around us were more curse beasts, and all the way on the far side are three women in cloaks.
You could sense their malevolence even from this far away.
"Oh, it's just two normies, and their pet. I was hoping for more witch hunters."
One of them spoke, her voice being projected by magic.
"Yes, it is regrettable."
The final one waved her hand.
"Kill them."
The beasts charged us.
The first ones up met with Jurea's hammer.
Too bad for them they had given her time to get strong, one swipe smashed five of them in one go.
I threw acid in one's face, and then ripped its throat out.
One thought it could sneak attack me, it thought wrong.
I Batman punched it, then reached around to throw it face first into a tree.
It died on impact.
Flora meanwhile was holding back, using us as cover.
Typical.
"Wow, those two are strong!"
One of the witches said.
"Indeed, and that pet is not common, that's for sure."
The other responded.
"They are putting up more of a fight than those snotty humans at Holtzdorf!"
The vivid memory of those dead people, especially the children, flashed through my head.
Anger boiled up.
The kind of anger that allows you to rationalize ripping someone's fucking head off!
This is the day they die!
"Rooooar!"
I broke through the beasts in my way, ripping and shredding myself a path to those bitches!
"Jay, no!"
Jurea tried to stop me, but I ignored her.
They had to pay!
I can already taste their blood!
Jurea ran after me, those beasts hot on her tail.
I didn't activate 'Dash' because I want them to see me as I rip out their throats!
Rage coated my vision, making it hard to see anything besides those vermin.
Unfortunately I was too preoccupied with my rage to pay attention to my senses, so out of relatively nowhere a giant foot appeared and smashed the ground.
Which caused me to fly up into the air along with some earthen debris.
The rest of the giant appeared, fist ready to smash me.
If I hadn't let my rage take over, I'd have remembered that they were working with a giant, and that magic can make things invisible.
Just when its fist was going to connect, Jurea appeared, and body checked me out of the way.
She took the hit for me, flew backwards, and hit a tree.
She was bloody, and wasn't getting back up.
"No!!!!"
The giant tried to stomp on me, but I was ready this time.
I activated 'Transcendental Travel', and let her foot phase right through me.
When the dust cleared, she saw, and crushed me.
Unfortunately for her that was just my mana clone.
I jumped onto her back, deactivated 'Combat Camouflage', and started slashing and biting at the back of her neck.
None of it hurt her however, that sub... whatever armor she has is super tough.
She tried to swat me, but I used 'Transcendental Traversal' again, and leapt off of her.
Mini status.
------------------
Energy : 467/1,087
Health : 830 /1,200
Stamina : 206/706
Extra energy : 3,000
------------------
I can't keep this up.
The damn giant was coming at me again.
"Hey, you giant ass bitch! Is it true that the only small thing about your kind is y'all fucking brains?"
Flora was standing there, with her shit eating grin plastered on her face.
The giant took the bait, and stopped to stare at Flora.
"You're dead, HUMAN!"
"You aren't the first who's thought that, but you're welcome to fail like all the rest."
Great going Flora! Now I got to protect you, while fighting a fucking giant!
I started running towards Flora, to protect her.
"Aaaargh!"
The giant charged at her.
Instead of panicking, Flora just calmly lifted her staff.
"{Inertial carry}{force bubble}!"
The two spells hit the giant's left leg, causing her leg to be blown back, dragging her along with it, and dragging her face along the ground.
The three witches and I had our mouths open, and looking between Flora and where the giant was.
"Hey, fuckwad! Stop trying to catch flies, and protect the gong farmer. Y'all cleared enough of the chaff, I'll handle the rest!"
Shaking myself out of my stupor, I ran past Flora to Jurea, and reabsorbed her after healing her a little.
"That beast can heal?!"
One of the witches exclaimed.
"Never mind that, it just teleported that bitch away! I claim dibs!"
"No fair! I want it!"
"We can decide who gets it after we kill this bitch. Beasts, kill her!"
The remaining beasts came at her, and Flora stood there smiling.
As they came sections of the air exploded into flames, it didn't kill them, but they were getting injured.
What the fuck is going on?!
I felt some energy leave.
That wasn't a real question, stop stealing my energy!
Like the dumb beasts they are, they just kept charging.
"{Flare}!"
A blinding light erupted from her hand, confusing the beasts.
When the light ceased, Flora's hand was in front of one of the beasts' face.
"{Icy scatter shot}!"
A flower-shaped ice ball formed in her hand, then shot out in many directions.
Due to it being so close to its face however, it acted like a shotgun blast to the face, and shredded its face.
"{Flame vortex}!"
A weaker version of the flame spire Rebecca used flew out of Flora's staff, leaving a swath of flames in its path.
Lighting more beasts on fire.
Four of them jumped at her at the same time in different directions.
Just as they were about to shred her...
"{Air shield}!"
An air shield moving way faster than mine spun them harmlessly around her, then flung them away.
Most landed with a sickening crunch.
You can use a defense spell for offence!
More energy left me.
That was a statement!
Flora flipped the witches off.
"This fucking bitch is getting on my last nerve!"
One of the witches lost her cool, and started towards Flora.
Flora saw her and grinned evilly.
"{Ice spear}{inertial carry}{FORCE BUBBLE}!"
An ice spear formed, and shot forward at blistering speeds.
A literal bullet made of ice.
The witch coming at Flora stopped, grinned, and waved her hand.
Probably expecting it to fall apart, and when it didn't, her smile faded.
"What?! That's impos... Aaaah!"
The spear impaled her through the shoulder, and dragged her back amongst her sisters.
They ran to her, tried to rip apart the spell, and when that didn't work, they just tried to rip it out.
"Aaaaaah! Stop, stop! You're killing me!"
When they touched it, the ice spear dug further into her shoulder.
"The bitch enchanted it!"
"She enchanted a spell?! But that's impossible!"
"Hahahahaha! You fucking moronic bitches. I'm a fucking genus! And if you're wondering why you can't rip my spell apart, it's because I made it super dense. I thought killing y'all would at least be a little bit challenging, but I guess I was wrong! Hahaha!"
"I'll kill you bitch!"
"Not if I kill her first!"
This time they came together.
"{Fire rain}!"
The fire rained down from the sky, coating the wood in flame.
One of the witches started ripping apart the fire mana before it hit them, while the other dragged their fallen sister to safety.
"You stupid cunt! You'll burn down the entire forest!"
Wouldn't be the first one.
"Not my problem."
While they were distracted, Flora ran up to the witch who was busy tearing apart her previous spell.
And put her palm in her face.
"{Heat wave}!"
The witch used a blast of air to push them apart, but not before Flora let loose a blast of concentrated heat onto her face.
"Aaaah!"
She screamed in agony, her face burned beyond recognition.
The final witch hesitated before attacking Flora.
Meanwhile I am fighting off the rest of the beasts, while being pissed off with Flora!
All of the battles we've fought in the past she was holding back, even when we faced a bear!
If we make it out alive, I'm gonna kill her!
As I'm fighting for my life, the witch finally engaged Flora.
Shards of ice so clear it looked like glass flew at Flora.
"{Ice bulwark}!"
A sturdier than normal wall of ice formed in front of her, blocking all of the shards.
She drew a glyph in the air behind it, and pressed it.
It exploded, sending chunks of ice towards the witch.
A thick briar of vines surrounded and protected her.
A chain of craggy rocks exploded out of the barrier, charging along the ground at Flora.
"{Spark feet}!"
A burst of flames propelled Flora up by ten feet in the air.
"{Flame javelin}! {Spark feet}!"
She shot a spell, then used the spark feet to land softly back on the ground.
God damn it!
How many spells did she keep to herself?!
I started to feel the drain of energy.
Don't you dare answer that! It wasn't a question!
"There's no fucking way you're a normal human mage!"
"Yeah, no duh, bitch witch. I'm a fucking genus! {Encapsulating ice}!"
Flora hit the ground with her staff, sending a stream of ice to capture the witch.
The witch tried to leap out of the way, but was too slow.
The ice crawled up her body, stopping at her neck.
Flora started walking up to her, when a fireball came out of nowhere and almost hit her.
She dodged it, and retreated a few yards.
"Oh, Manny, Manny, what have I told you a thousand times before? Oh, yes, that not every trine is warrior material, but I could always use yet another acolyte."
Three more witches came into view, the one in the middle is the one who was speaking.
She also waved her hand, and melted the ice holding the other witch.
"I keep telling you, it's Hermangild! And she's no normie! She took out both Anka and Grete!"
"Or maybe they're just as weak as you."
The two witches behind the lead one laughed.
"Now, watch how it's done."
The three of them gathered their power, and released it as a deadly beam of fire.
Just as it was about to vaporize Flora, she swiped at it with her staff, and it faded away.
Then, she flung another ice spear at their shocked faces.
The new trine - when they regained their senses - tried to take it apart, only to be disappointed.
Unfortunately instead of impaling one of their faces, Manny used a air burst to push them out of the way.
"What the hell?! That's impossible!"
The lead witch screamed, the disbelief written on her face.
"I told you Hiltrud, she's not normal! We have to work together!"
They all got up, and charged together.
I was finally done with killing the beasts, and was headed over to Flora to help out.
When the giant came crashing back.
After seeing Flora was fighting four witches, she decided to attack me!
Mini status.
------------------
Energy : 167/1,087
Health : 430 /1,200
Stamina : 0/706
Extra energy : 45
------------------
I'm running on fucking embers here!
She tried to stomp me, I dodged, and threw a blob of acid at her face!
She shielded her face with her arm, wiped it off, and went right back to attacking me.
Stomping, and trying to strike me with her fists, but I was dodging so far.
Jumping, twisting, and ducking.
I got away and ran towards Flora, too bad I don't got enough energy for dash.
I ran face first into some beasts I must've missed.
Flora meanwhile was taking on those four witches like a pro.
Destroying whatever spell came her way, and then shooting out six times that amount back.
"You're going to run out of mana eventually!"
"A lot of talk, not a lot of proving, cunt! {Godly lightning strike}!"
The witch ripped that spell apart, then sent one of her own.
One which was rapidly destroyed.
"How the fuck are you doing that?! You aren't a witch!"
"Yeah, but I saw it done once before. {Water ball}{godly lightning strike}!"
They dodged her spell, but didn't see the next one in time.
"{Flare}! {Water ball}{freeze}{force bubble}!"
The witches shielded their eyes, and so one got hit in the face with the fast moving chunk of ice.
The other three started going all out on her.
Rocks, plants, fire, water, air, numerous other elements was flung at her.
Each evaded, blocked, or destroyed, but she's sweating profusely while gasping for air.
For all of the time that I've known her, Flora's agility and stamina sucks!
The rest of the witches released a massive amount of pure mana at her.
She blocked it, her staff getting cracks in the crystal.
One of witches ran up from behind her.
"{Air shield}{icy scatter shot}!"
A wind sphere filled with razor-sharp ice surrounded her, slicing up the witch's arm.
She pulled back in pain, then Flora hit her in the head with her staff.
She then turned her back on the other two.
"{INERTIAL CARRY}{FORCE BUBBLE}!"
What the hell is she doing?!
I felt the giant's stomp coming before I turned to look.
It's too late for me to dodge, and I don't got enough energy for transcendental traversal.
Flora's spells hit the giant right in the chest, shooting her backwards.
"Not again!"
I looked back, and saw Flora being bound with vines.
She'd used the last of her mana to save me.
It was a clean shot between me and them, I just have to reach them before they can react!
Just after I got a quarter of the way there, vines erupted from the ground, and entrapped me.
Hiltrud came up from behind her, with a flaming sword.
I tried absorbing her, but either I was too far away, or somehow they were blocking it.
"Any last words?"
Flora smiled.
"I would say go fuck yourself, but I'm not cruel enough to tell you to fuck someone as ugly as you."
"I'm gonna enjoy this."
She lifted the flame sword-high, but before she could swing it down a rope of vines held her wrists.
She turned to see Manny.
"What the fuck are you doing?!"
"What does it look like? Preventing you from doing something really stupid, like normal."
"This bitch injured your trine, and mine!"
"Exactly! She took on six witches, and we only beat her because she ran out of mana.
Imagine what spells we can do, using her!"
"Our high priestess will be furious, if we put us gaining power over the safety of our coven!"
"So."
"So?!"
"Imagine if we had her to use as a focus, we could accomplish the forgotten and forbidden rituals of the past. The ones in old tongue!"
The fire sword wavered.
"We could summon the goddess! We could lay waste to the kingdom, and it would be ours! The Mother Supreme will be pleased, so pleased that she might decide to make us high priestesses!"
"You're still thinking too small. We could conquer the entire empire! A place large enough for two new Mother Supremes. I'd rule the South, and you the North."
"But what about your trine sisters? I doubt they'd be happy to let her live."
"Leave them to me. They're loyal morons, nothing more. I helped them once, and now they trust and obey everything thing I tell them to."
"What if one of the rituals kills her?"
"We don't have to do the dangerous ones first.
We can breed her first, there's plenty of human slaves we can force to do it."
"Can you imagine if we found a male witch to breed her? The strength of that witch alone!"
"So, do I have your support?"
The sword dissipated.
"Yes, fucking yes!"
"Glad to hear it... Mother Supreme."
"You two!"
Hiltrud pointed at the two remaining witches on their feet.
"Go find Basha, and dispel the spells this mage put on her. And knock that tame out! It keeps trying to teleport the mage somewhere, and it's taking all I have to keep ripping the mana apart!"
The witch with a swollen eye that was blackening as we speak, hit me with a dark sickly colored orb of magic.
I blacked out.