Rescue. Part 5
'I still have time. I need to see who attacked the Port Melen base before—!' Adonis said in his heart while running at his highest speed to the entrance of the second base - located somewhere under the hill.
A few minutes later, when the entrance was already visible to the captain of Apollo Familia, he felt that someone had caught up with him.
However, before he was able to turn his head to see the identity of the pursuer behind him, a cold female voice sounded to his right.
"...?!"
"There is no need for us to fight, Adonis," Amazoness started with a matter-of-fact yet very persuasive tone while running perfectly alongside the Apollo Familia's captain, making him scared due to the sheer speed demonstrated by a girl.
"Return Freya's children, and we won't interfere with whatever you are doing."
Responding to the wheat-colored adventurer running alongside him, Adonis only frowned and started reaching for his sword on his waist.
"Thunderfury, a simple and brute Amazoness like you will never understand the beauty of celebration created by my Lord," the man said, full of righteousness. "If they fit the requirements of the lord, then it must be their fate that guided them to be a part of this great celebration."
"It seems I can't reason with you…" she only regretfully replied, slightly shaking her head before closing her eyes and making the temperature of the surroundings suddenly drop.
"!!!"
In the next instant, blue lightning flashed in the place where the girl just was…
Crack!
An Amazoness disappeared from his right, only to reappear right in front of him with lightning-infused daggers in her hands going straight to his heart.
'Wh-What is this speed?!'
A captain of the Apollo Familia barely dodged a deadly thrust, leaving some blood on his chest due to how fast and deadly her first attack was - an attack with intent to kill.
"You must be thinking about my "Lightning Jump" skill…" she started speaking, disappearing from her previous spot in the air before another sound of thunder blasted his eardrums.
Crack!
Clang!
"But I am not the type of person to tell the—" she started speaking, only to make another attack mid-sentence.
Crack!
Clang!
"—enemy how my abilities work."
Crack!
Crack!
Clang! CLANG!
Another deadly attack to his head from an expected angle was parried. Drops of sweat started forming on the forehead of a muscular man.
Crack!
"You're not bad," Malika said at some point after their short confrontation turned into her numerous attacks being either dodged or parried by her opponent. Adonis's reaction time was simply much faster than any other Level 5s - a peak Level 5 that perfectly countered Freya Familia's executive.
"It doesn't matter what you say, rural girl," Adonis started, with his right hand on his sword, appearing much more confident now that he knew that Thunderfury was not as fast as he previously thought.
"I also don't tell others of my abilities, but since you dare to trifle with Lord Apollo…" he started while carefully looking for any other attack by the Amazoness.
"Fire Cookie!" a man chanted his no-chant magic before numerous reddish brown cookies started appearing in his left hand.
"—Die!!" a man yelled, sending the cookies like explosive projectiles, similar to how ninjas send shurikens.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
A red flame immediately started raging where the cookies landed and exploded, each of them making a flame circle with at least a 1-meter radius.
It was clear to both of the participants that if even one of the deadly projectiles landed on Malika, she would be finished.
Crack! Boom! Boom!
"Fire Cookie!" "Fire Cookie!"
Crack! Boom! Boom!
Crack!
As more and more cookies were sent by the opponent, Malika knew that she had to use one of her own trump cards….
'There is no time for me to play around with you….'
Clouds immediately started surging around the battlefield, the temperature dropping even further than it was before.
Adonis even felt like his hair started involuntarily standing up and trying to reach the sky.
A few consecutive lightning jumps allowed the girl to get close to the opponent before he replenished his ammunition, making a fake move and forcing him to defend with a sword.
Another lightning jump. She now was behind his back. However, his swift movement still stopped her dagger.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
More and more attacks, seemingly pointless from Adonis's point of view, were setting up the stage for something truly grandiose.
Only a moment later, a huge column of electricity started surging around her - as if a colossal bolt of lightning had struck her own body. Her own eyes began shining with blue sparkles as well.
Malika's own vision started to get blurry, her own consciousness barely handling the pressure.
Despite all of that, she used all her strength to concentrate the electricity from the huge column in her right dagger.
30 milliseconds later, a huge, at least 10 meters long, blade of electricity appeared in the air, going through the body of Amazoness.
Her opponent only had a split second to try to parry the attack…
"...N-No—!!!"
"Electrocution!" a strong, metallic voice resounded throughout the battlefield.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
CRACK!
Crack! crack!
The whole sky turned bright blue for a moment, moisture completely disappearing in the air.
Lightning bolt thicker than anything else before it hit the captain of the Apollo Familia, draining a considerable portion of Malika's mind power.
A lengthy setup, multiple conditions, but the raw power of this attack was enough to compare to a strong spell of an average Level 6, immediately turning the tide in a battle between two first-class adventurers.
The intense battle was suddenly over…
"Lord Apollo… ugh… will avenge… me… cough…" dying man only tried to say with both a resentful and happy smile, while his charred body still had tiny sparkles of electricity visible on his body.
However, his quiet words were not heard by anyone since before he finished, a girl jumped close and then sat down near his head, after which a pair of sharp daggers landed on his chest.
"Thanks for not dragging this longer than needed," Malika only coldly told him before wiping off the blood of her blades with the help of his own clothes and then sheathing them.
'Mia can't handle Atlas by herself… I must help her first before we go inside the base. Love and others also should've stalemated the other 3… I will get to them after Mia….'
Only a lone, strange gauntlet was seen falling off the burned hand when an Amazoness dashed in the direction of the closest fight.
***
"!!"
When Gin saw a huge rock falling on top of himself and Alfia, he didn't hesitate.
The moment his eyes registered the movement above him, he immediately made a decision and pushed a girl who relied on his support out of the rock's way.
Not only did he push her to the side, but he also landed on top of her - knowing that no matter how much he would push her away, some debris could still land on her weak body.
Less than a second later, a huge rock shattered on impact, with a heavy sound echoing throughout the floor.
An unlucky and dangerous encounter was avoided by the children. However, due to how close their faces were to each other, a strange thing happened for a brief moment when the boy landed - staying unknown to both of them, if not for the…
[Ding! You have completed a hidden task, |First Kiss|. Rewards: Mind Power +100.]
[Ding! You have completed a hidden task, |Young Passion: Have your first kiss before the age of 12|. Rewards: Unlock all Shikai or analogous powers that are currently in a "Locked" state.]
A vital force immediately flowed into the boy's body - an obvious consequence of his mind power increasing in total volume at least 2 times compared to before and being replenished simultaneously.
In addition to that, a boy felt like the connection between him and his sword grew much stronger - making it so that at any time, he could feel where his sword was located even when his eyes were closed.
A piece of new rare knowledge regarding how exactly his Shikai worked also flowed into his mind.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
With all of that happening in a very short amount of time, deafening and unnatural sounds of a thunderstorm were heard throughout the floor.
Not a moment later, before the children could even stand up, the whole place started shaking again in a much stronger manner.
'This is not a natural phenomenon,' a boy only observed in his mind before the whole underground base started collapsing.
Luckily, before the walls and ceiling broke completely and forced the whole place to be buried under the huge mass of earth, Gin was able to react in the most straightforward manner.
"Cure everything, Minazuki…" a desperate voice was heard in the dark corridor before a sword that appeared in his hand a moment before that started disappearing in the air, turning into a mass of green gas that slowly materialized itself as a one-eyed green manta ray with a massive wingspan of at least 10-12 meters.
"Minazuki, swallow us!" a boy only cried before a monster closed his single eye and swiftly swallowed all 4 children present, along with some miscellaneous rocks, inside himself.
A heavy pile of rudder and earth started burying him and everyone else underground.
***
A lonely cat-girl was seen standing over the battlefield full of corpses.
All the members of Apollo Familia have died during the brutal besiegement of a single Level 5.
Their tactics were almost successful - considering a heavy cut on the girl's abdomen, from which a little blood still went out, albeit slowly.
It was not an easy task to fight more than a dozen of second-tier adventurers all by oneself - even when one's abilities were perfectly fit for the job.
Moreover, any other Level 5 would have died a long time ago.
After all, opponents don't wait for their turns like in movies and tv shows but always try to encircle and sneak attack from behind.
"My dress is now soaked in blood, nya," a cat-girl looked around the grass field and, after confirming that all her opponents were dead, fell on her back, laying now completely exhausted on the soft, wet ground.
"Meow. I want to sleep, but I have to get up.... otherwise Mia will get all the credit," she mumbled while looking at the slowly-moving clouds. "But I can't move, nya… So maybe just lay like this for a moment…."
"!"
Suddenly, a Level 4 archer that barely survived a battle and regained his last, dying consciousness decided to consume his last strength to shoot an arrow at the immobile cat-girl's head.
'Lord Apollo, I've tried my best…!'
"Explosive… Spear…" cat-girl only very weakly said before firing the last explosive projectile from her forehead.
Boom!
A weak arrow collided with something in the air - exploding barely 10 feet away from the head of the cat-girl. Some small wooden debris even fell straight on her face.
'Can't… Meownd down…'
At that moment, everything in her field of vision started to turn black…
***
"!"
'Lady Freya, I can't die here,' a human adventurer with a shield thought before defending against yet another thrust of the mighty halberd. 'I promised you that my death would serve to save you….'
With his shield now missing some parts and discarded due to losing its weight balance, his chances of defending against two of his opponents were slim to none.
A single one-handed sword was lifted in a defensive position as he took a few steps back against a two-handed axe and a halberd.
After losing his shield, it was not even 30 seconds before different wounds started appearing on his body.
His armor was now cracked in multiple places.
There was no doubt in his mind that he would be the ultimate loser in this confrontation.
CLANG!
Another life-or-death moment that he barely survived, his guard now at its peak.
'There's no other way…' he said in his mind before starting to involuntarily remember how he ended up where he was today.
An unimportant man who thought he was nothing more than a small fruit merchant all his life was recruited by an alluring and charming goddess of love and beauty.
He was not one of those foolish people who thought they had any chance at marrying the goddess. On the contrary, he knew that a mere man like him had no chance from the very beginning.
No, his dream was much more straightforward and more realistic than that.
He wanted to die to save her - save a goddess who saw that he was not a simple merchant.
That day she saw through his very being and gave him an opportunity to manifest all his potential as an adventurer.
She let him grow. She let him be proud of himself. She let him see a different way of life.
She let him become something more than everyone expected of him.
Just for all of that, he was willing to pay everything.
He even foolishly made a promise to the goddess on the first day they met - a promise to trade his own life for hers when a need would arise.
He never forgot that promise - remembering it every time he would have a tough battle, serving as his ultimate goal.
If he dies today, who will save her when the time comes?
He can't trust that anyone else would not hesitate to trade their own lives for Lady Freya, unlike himself.
He knows Mia and others either won't do it or would hesitate longer than him. That's why he collected all his resolve and assumed an offensive stance before charging into the axeman.
"Protect my soul, Divine Shield!"
Betting everything on the luck of his blade, he activated his strongest defense. His whole body started surging with light as if the second layer of skin created of pure gold covered his entire body.
Divine Shield was finally activated now, leaving no choice for a man but to start his own reckless offense.
With a small sword held tightly in both hands, Bodvar dodged a swift strike from the long halberd, only to accelerate and aim his own sword at his opponent's neck - betting everything on catching him by surprise when their weapons would do no damage to him.
It was now or never for the fruit merchant. Everything will be decided in the next 20 seconds or however long his magic spell would last.
***
'I am very close to mind down,' a woman wielding a heavy sword thought after she started regaining her sense of reality with the release of 'Battle Trance.' (Pic)
"!"
Clang!
CLANG!
CLANG!
It took her all her mind reserves to keep both 'Avatar of Valkyrie' and 'Battle Trance' active while she fought a Level 6 werewolf, even suppressing him to an extent; however, the moment her combat skills would become inactive, she knew that she would be dead in less than 10 seconds.
'Alas, I can't win today… Although, it's not a bad ending to die after a rare opportunity to go all out… I'm sorry, Emma… looks like your elder sister will make you cry a lot today… hahahah… Maybe after my death, you will finally realize how dangerous it is to be an adventurer and go back home… Maybe a mother would finally regret her words when she hears of my death….'
Small tears full of regret and unwillingness started forming in the corners of her eyes, becoming more visible with every second as the blue markings of 'Battle Trance' on her face faded out.
At the same time, the werewolf, who was not yet injured to a degree where he had to run away, immediately seized an opportunity seeing his opponent's weakness and the disappearance of the extremely dangerous phantom behind her back.
Like a predator looking at his now defenseless prey, he saw that he was now free to attack. That's why he instantly activated his "Feral Frenzy" skill, making him lose his rationality and gaining an extreme boost to his Agility.
The fate of the exhausted young woman who tried to block the werewolf's heavy swipes with a slow two-handed sword was apparent to any outside observer…
***
"—Nice shot! HAHAHAHAHAH!" Mia Grand cried in both laughter and pain after withstanding yet another blow from her opponent and still standing firmly on her legs.
Her Diamondform was already over, with only the smallest patches still defending her strong hands and head, when she tried to block yet another attack with a deadly spear from an unknown direction.
Standing in the middle of the tar lake, she had almost all her mind drained by the magic spell at this point.
She didn't land a single hit on a real Atlas before her speed became too slow for any effective attack.
She has been defending herself for a good majority of their confrontation.
The only good thing was that the Malika was also seen fighting in the distance, but by the sounds of it seemed like either she or her opponent had already won.
"C'mon! Bring it on, boy!" a dwarf yelled into the fog, seeing the moving silhouettes of multiple Atlass who were water clones, of which she destroyed at least 9. "Is that all you've got?!"
Hearing her blatant provocation, the Knight of Knights decided to fulfill her.
"Demi Ymir, your pointless banter bears no strength. If you want to die, I will fulfill you…!"
After those words, everything seemed to stay still in the fog.
The "clones" have started rapidly disappearing one by one.
Wild, enchanting music, as if someone was playing a Celtic harp, was heard by the dwarf.
"Oh noble and holy bird, bless this weapon. We always hallowed thy teachings—"
A strange feeling arose in her chest…
"—your loyal servant. Always live in harmony and—"
'What is sudden melancholy and a sense of despair?' a dwarf could only think before…
"Lance of White Crane!"
When the last word of the chant left the lips of the spearman, an attack more potent than anything else before was already less than 1 meter away from Mia's head.
A rotating spear, enchanted with some dangerous-looking green fog, went straight at the back of her neck with a speed that didn't allow Mia to appropriately react in time.
She only had time to instinctively pour all her mind power into concentrating more Diamondform on her hands, lucking out on the position of her hands in a way that deflected most of the impact.
CRACK!
Her hands were immediately covered with extensive and heavy cracks; the sound of the collision almost blasted Mia's eardrums.
Her last reserves of mind power automatically went straight to regenerate her arms, preventing her from becoming a cripple otherwise.
Now she really had no strength to taunt her opponent. The last attack, even when deflected, left her no more than 10 seconds of Stoneform's worth of mind power.
Tar now was absolutely impossible to move.
Even barely standing and not falling to the ground turned extremely difficult.
A heavy attack was barely deflected, but with the Diamondform completely gone, she didn't have a way to block the next attack.
However, before the final swift thrust straight at her heart arrived, her opponent started losing momentum. Something strange briefly shone in his eyes.
***
"Trash! Trash! What a trash you are, Adonis," a goddess sitting on a chair somewhere under the Daedalus street gnashed her teeth in anger. Her whole plan was now ruined by a single mistake.
"How did they even choose the kids if they ended up kidnapping Freya's children… Since when did she let people so young go outside her manor at all?!"
A beautiful woman removed her hood before violently smashing the small table in front of her with an angry fist.
"Now, with Poseidon men out of control and all Apollo men dead, I can only use these wastes for the ritual… at least I have everything needed for the ritual at hand," she reassured herself while nervously hugging her own shoulders. "Apollo should be kept hostage just in case…."
"I curse you, Adonis. Now, my plan can't start tomorrow. They will all start searching for Apollo and me everywhere soon. With Zeus's and Hera's Familias still in the Dungeon, it will take them at least 2-3 days to find me, not even talking about their preparation for any of my actions…."
"However, they can't prepare for anything if I start the ceremony right now…" a goddess finally said with a sudden, ugly smile. "I must release the vampires before the sunrise… yes, right," a goddess finally regained her composure. "I still have time to finish the ceremony and get my sweet revenge."
Not even a few minutes later, a general assembly was called in the Daedalus underground base.
A beautiful woman with blue hair appeared in front of all the cultists kneeling on their feet and spoke with a sweet voice like honey:
"Today is the day when I will grant all your wishes! After this ceremony, you will all become my closest and most important subordinates - both in this life and, most importantly, after your reincarnation. So follow my words, and after this is over, I will use my Arcanum and fulfill every single promise to all of you!"
"Thank you!" "Long live the mistress!" "Lady Callisto!"