749 Learning from the past

"Ok. I'm in position," Hera told the group through the communicator. She was flying with Nimbus and a rare venomous pike in her hand, which was made by her [Venomous Arsenal] skill.

"I'm starting to run then. I'll tell you when I'm ready to strike," Alex started moving to get some speed before walking in the air.

"Give me a countdown when you are ready. We both attack on go," Hera replied.

"Do you mean 3, 2, 1, and then go, or 3, 2, and the 1 is go?" Alex asked as she started flying.

"I mean 3, 2, 1, and then go. What kind of psycho makes one do the same thing as go?" Hera gasped.

"HEY! That is a perfectly normal way to count," Bonnie huffed.

Hera chuckled, "Ok then. I'll start my thing then," she raised one hand, thinking about all the blades that once were part of her legacy, and called, "Return to me," activating the [Blade Graveyard] skill. When she got the skill, the Empress talked with Daskka about activating it. Since it was something that had a very long cooldown, she didn't want to use it by accident. Because of that, they came up with a few phrases that were required for the skill to trigger.

From the cloud above her, weapons started to come down as if they were rain. It wasn't just half a dozen either, but hundreds instead. The same ones that appeared during the legacy trial. All the blades that were ever used by the previous holders. However, as they got closer to Hera, each would disappear into small puffs of mist. Only a few remained behind. They were the court members who were part of the Empress' court once upon a time. Beam, Brute, Executioner, Swift, Ooze, Scythe, Armory, Frost, and Core.

As a trick that Dusa suggested, Hera smiled at them and said, "I order you all to know our plan," this was a way for the resurrected blades to understand the situation right away. After all, giving this order was the same as injecting the knowledge of the situation directly into their minds. They had tried that before during one of the times she used this skill to meet with the previous members of her court.

'Empress, we might not be able to count on Daskka here,' Armory said, noticing something wrong with the snake.

Hera glanced down. The herald was tightly wrapped around her waist with her eyes closed, "Daskka? What's wrong?"

"Sorry, mum. I'm just really scared of that thing," the snake wasn't even able to look towards Scryotra.

Hera patted Daskka's head, "That's ok. In my vision, this monster was called Naga's bane. Maybe it's just your Naga part that is sensing the danger. Would you rather be inside the necklace for this?"

"Can I? I don't think I'll be able to help like this," Daskka looked up.

Hera smiled and pulled the herald up, giving her a quick kiss on her forehead, "Of course. I just want you to be ok. Don't worry. We got this."

Daskka nodded and turned to mist, returning to the necklace. The Empress put her game face on and asked, "Armory, Dusa, can you see any other issues with the plan?"

'Only that we have a single shot,' Armory replied.

'I-I-I tried coming up with another way, but this was the best I could do. Sorry,' Dusa shook a little bit while still being on top of Hera's head.

'I'm not complaining about that. You are doing a great job, Dusa,' Armory's voice was warmer, letting her disciple know she had her approval.

"I'm starting the countdown!" Alex's voice came through the communicator, "3…"

Hera didn't even have to say anything. Nimbus and the rest of the court got ready to attack. They were flying above Scryotra, waiting for Alex's signal to begin their dive. The monster had finished destroying Zaxalam and continued its rampage, searching for small outposts and any signals of the Naga civilization to destroy. They had followed the guardian beast for a while, trying to see if it would get tired or if they had a chance to stop it. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Even after all the attacks on different settlements and fights against several guards, the monster moved at the same speed as it was always moving. It even continued to search for more Naga when it had already destroyed all the settlements. That's why the idea of waiting it out was discarded. They had already waited for a while, trying to follow Scryotra around. Luckily, this dungeon was smaller than the actual room, which meant they didn't have to spend too long waiting for the creature to move from settlement to settlement.

In the end, they just waited for the guardian beast to find something that would distract it for long enough to give them a chance to strike. Hera was already flying that entire time, and Alex followed along while the rest stayed close enough to help if their sneak attack didn't work. The Empress was diving along with her entire court, all moving in tandem and activating every power-up skill they had, except the [All In]. If this attack failed, having her attributes reduced would be a problem. She also covered each of her blades with a different elemental power aura to boost their attack even more. All the weapons, with the exception of Armory and Scythe, got ready to attack, aimed at the back of the neck of the praying mantis. They all focused on a single spot, but Hera was the opening act. She used the [Grasshopper Stab], pumping 3 million mana on the skill. Which increased the power of her strike 300 times. Adding that to a weapon break on the rare venomous pike, the attack strength would be multiplied another 9 times. Maybe that would just result in an attack that was 309 times stronger than it should, but it could also be 2 700 times stronger. It was a shame that the system never specified the details of how this interaction would work. Still, it was the best attack she could create at the moment.

"…Now!" Alex said and sent out her attack. A jade-colored wind blade. She was following it along with one of her daggers inside the scabbard she got a long time ago. The assassin jumped along with the wind, riding her strike like a surfboard. Adding several strikes in an x shape directly in front of her, she continued moving at an incredible speed until she was about to hit Scryotra. Only then did Alex jump away, running with the wind and getting far from the monster.

At the same time, The Empress threw the pike, aiming at the small gap in the neck of Scryotra. The orange weapon flew through the air, and its speed increased thanks to Nimbus' dive. Alex's attack struck first, but the venomous weapon created by Hera hit not even a second later in the exact same spot. The pike exploded in contact, splintering in thousands of small poison shards that covered the back of Scryotra's praying mantis head. The rest of the court didn't stay behind and came crashing down on the same spot, trying to decapitate this part of the monster. However, even after all that, they only managed to make a small mark in the guardian beast's carapace.

'RUN!' Dusa called as she realized they had failed.

Nimbus continued his dive, moving away from Scryotra's main body and towards the woods. He didn't even need to look back to know they were in trouble. The guardian beast was already looking around to see what attacked it. Hera and the griffon were far from being small targets, especially when Alex was able to hide amongst the wind itself. The guardian beast had a moment of hesitation while looking at Hera. It could be seen that she was close to a Naga, but not quite the same. Still, the anger it had over that species took over, and with a roar, it started trying to spit out acid.

Thankfully, the Empress was already in the middle of the trees, which allowed her to evade the incoming attack. Nimbus was flying as fast as he could, trying to get as far away as possible from the creature. The main problem now was that none of them could see Scryotra. The monster was facing them, which meant they weren't able to see it. Even the acid was hidden as it came out of its mouth, only when it was far enough from the main body that it appeared. This meant that Hera was only able to see the acid when it was already about to hit the tree line.

"Hera! Don't stop! It's right behind you!" Bonnie yelled through the communicator since she could still see the monster.

"We are trying!" Hera yelled back and flung a few spells, but it was hard to know if any of them were making contact. The only thing she knew for sure was that her poison wasn't getting inside Scryotra.

Nimbus made a hard turn to the left to avoid getting closer to one of the mountains. That move put them dangerously close to one of the monster's pincers, and a spray of acid that hit some of Hera's blades. Beam, Core, and Frost, specifically. They noticed how the acid might hurt others and jumped in front of it to protect the other court members. After all, they were just part of the graveyard and would forget everything that happened today after the skill duration was over. Hera did notice their actions and the intention behind them. Even if it wasn't something she liked, she couldn't argue against it. Even if she did, it would be for nothing. The next time she used the [Blade Graveyard] skill, they would have forgotten everything about the argument.

During that brief moment when Hera was distracted, Scryotra stopped attacking. Or at least stopped attacking the area she was currently at. The Empress looked around, trying to understand what was going on, but the answer came through her communicator.

"I managed to block its sight. Get out of there!" Helena's voice was strained.

"Nimbus, let's go," Hera said, gesturing to the top of the trees. Her eyes stopped when she noticed a very long vine wrapped around one of the branches. Pressing the communicator, she said, "I had an idea! I'm not sure if it will work. Did you block its hearing, too?"

"No, just the sight," Helena replied.

"Ok then," Hera closed her eyes and thought about a whip with a blade in the tip of the handle. Moving away from the trees, the Empress saw the guardian beast looking away from her. It looked very confused as if it couldn't understand what was going on. Hera did her best to crack the whip as loudly as she could and as close to Scryotra as possible. The monster flinched, and a small scar appeared on the side of its body.

Seeing that it was working, she cracked the whip again, making Scryotra hurt itself even more, now opening bleeding wounds around the scorpion's body.

"Oh crap, that was a good idea!" Legan gasped, "Let's aim for that opening. If its exoskeleton was strong, the insides should be weaker."

"Good call," Bonnie nodded and started sending spells at the wounds. Alex also joined with a similar attack as the first one, but this time it wasn't as strong.

While that was going on, Helena was just focused on removing Scryotra's sight. Hera decided to try her move again, but this time, she only spent around 500 thousand mana on the [Grasshopper Stab], making her attack 50 times more powerful. This time, the explosion did considerable damage, but as the guardian tried to fight back, the Empress cracked the whip again. That was the cue for it to flinch and stop. Even after killing Dormina and the other Naga, the pain the monster felt at the hands of a whip was still engraved on its very being.

Thanks to that easy way to stop Scryotra, Hera and her party continued to attack repeatedly. Some of the Empress' court members even jumped inside the monster to destroy its organs. After a couple of minutes of a relentless assault, the guardian beast of the cultists finally fell to the ground, too injured to continue.