Chapter 173: Being a bait

"Dana, can I ask you something?" [Diana]

"Sure, what is it?" [Diana]

"Why are Randy, Aeron, and Alaric following us?" [Diana]

"That... Sigh... Tell me first, how did you know?" [Dana]

"Obviously, the forest is telling us about it" [Calypso].

"I see, I guess the forest also told you about the one who's trying to capture you?" [Dana]

"They didn't, although they did tell me about suspicious movements. So I'm bait... Do you want me to trap them?" [Diana]

"Please do so" [Dana]

"Okay! Calypso, help me, will you?" [Diana]

"This should be fun" [Calypso]

According to the forest and the various animals that live in it, there are two small but agile wyverns coming our way, and a bunch of suspicious people they have never seen before moving in a group to capture me. From Dana's reaction and what I know so far, they must be from the Empire. I'm bait and Aeron, Randy and Alaric are here to help me catch these people.

"Mr. Scorpion, please hide here" [Diana].

"I will"

"You poisonous centipede. Hide in that tree with the others! I'll lure them to you and then you'll know what to do" [Calypso].

"Free food!" "Human flesh, fresh! Yummy!" "My many stomachs are already growling!"

"Ms. Poisonous Ivy, I'll use you to catch them, can you please concentrate all your venom?" [Diana]

"Just remember to be careful"

I also tell the forest to let The Hanging Treant know what has happened. There's no such thing as unnecessary backup, and once the Hanging Treant is here, they might as well surrender on their own.

"Incoming! That's a fast wyvern, but... Gungnir! Roar with thunderous strike!" [Dana]

I'm still preparing, and it's sudden, but thanks to Dana, who keeps watching, I quickly get into position, safe behind my trusty older sister's back.

Dana's Gungnir, devouring every bit of Thunder Mana Dana provided, sliced through the wyvern from head to tail. It shredded the swift wyvern, sending its guts and bones scattering everywhere. The wyvern rider, wearing armor, stumbles to the ground, where Dana quickly stomps on his neck. The wyvern rider's neck is covered in armor, but that doesn't matter as Dana uses her earth magic to amplify her powerful stomp. It's not enough to kill the guy, but I guess Dana kept him alive on purpose, maybe she wants to interrogate him later.

As for the other wyvern, it accelerates and begins to target me. I'm well prepared to counter it, but

"Berserk!" [Randy]

"Cool!" [Diana]

Randy jumped out and simply sliced the wyvern in half, and as for the rider, he greeted the rider with a barrage of blows to the stomach. The sound of the metallic armor being destroyed is quite frightening as the loud bang echoes through the forest, but considering that it's done to protect me, I feel safer than ever.

According to the forest, there are two wyvern riders and a bunch of...

"GASP" [Diana]

"Get your filthy hand out of her!" [Randy]

"Scorpion! Now!" [Calypso]

Someone suddenly appeared behind me..I can sense a strong space mana. Teleportation. Still, it's not only coming from the person trying to strangle me, but also from the device she's carrying.

"Poison doesn't really work on someone from Aru Village, don't you remember, Little Diana?"

"True... But this will!" [Diana]

Inspired by Mr. Savel's icy breath, I blew one myself. I twisted my neck up a bit, facing the face of the one who was trying to strangle me, and the icy breath coming out of my mouth hit her right in the face, freezing her and causing damage to her eyes, where she screamed in pain and reflexively let go of her grip.

Dana, without missing a beat, lunges at the lady from Aru Village, stabbing her right in the thigh, it's a clean hit, but, Dana is quite careless as the lady fires off a powerful space magic, distortion happened, sending Dana flying straight into a tree.

"You're in trouble, aren't you?"

"Where are the others?"

"How should I know?"

"There's five more of them, but bring it on" [Randy].

Randy rushes in, and with one swing of his axe, he manages to force the five people from the Aru Village into a defensive position. They start throwing various spells at Randy, but again, a single swing of his golden axe dispels the spells.

Just as two of the men are about to attack, Aeron and Alaric join in. Aeron, wanting to capture one of the people from Aru village, just uses his sword and slashes all limbs, leaving that person armless and legless, where as Alaric, with his nature of an assassin vampire, went straight for the carotid artery and killed the guy from Aru village.

"How!? There's no sound!"

"You can thanks Diana for teaching me that" [Alaric]

"You're welcome" [Diana]

We all regroup. Randy asked what happened to the others, and it looks like Aeron's men have already subdued them all. That just leaves these three people from Aru Village, and it doesn't look good for them.

"You think that's all the Empire will give us! Think again!"

The ground shook, and with it, a giant mole appeared and grabbed me. It's similar to the golem in Emas, in that it's been modified, and I can also sense THE THING coming from it. More importantly, it's imbued with the teleportation circle. It resonates with the lady from Aru Village. I can tell that they're also retreating along with this giant mole. I tried my best to free myself, but it didn't work. The other one wanted to help me, but the three from Aru Village prevented her from doing so.

"I'll just cleanse THE THING and then let it go haywire!" [Diana].

As the teleportation circle activates, I quickly clean up THE THING. It goes a bit haywire, but that doesn't stop the teleportation circle from doing its job. I desperately try to use a powerful explosion spell. I don't care if I get caught in my own spell, better than being kidnapped again, but then

"Devil King Fire? Valerie!!! Mr. Hanging Treant" [Diana]

"I'm glad I trusted you" [Valerie]

"So am I" [Hanging Treant].

Valerie, with her control over the Devil King's fire, can even melt magic spells. She carefully tries to consume the mole without hurting me, but that's impossible since her control is still weak. No worries, I simply strengthen myself and quickly fly towards them. Apparently, Valerie is here because the kids from the orphanage wanted some wild mushrooms, and since she happens to know a thing or two about it, she went looking for one, and that's when Mr. Hanging Treant met Valerie and told her what happened

"You're not getting away!" [Dana]

"Still nosy as ever!"

"Tchh! We are at a disadvantage! That stupid Flint!"

"Tchh! I have to retreat again and again! My pride won't let me!"

"Just do it! We don't care about your stupid pride!"

"Curse you both!"

The teleportation spell activated, and the three of them disappeared.