Chapter 18: Towards Safety i

It had only been a few hours since then. Isbeth, Roy, Cerise, Selen, and Pyra had seen the giant rocks falling from the sky. [Meteor], a Tier 5 spell capable of leveling entire battlefields through the shockwaves generated. There were three of them flying towards Viscor, the Balros Army retreating in their direction rapidly. From Pyra’s observation, the scouts should arrive in about ten minutes so she had to act fast.

“Gather around me!”

Pyra shouted towards the three and held Selen closer to her. She dragged the five behind a conveniently placed boulder and ripped open a scroll that she had pulled out of her bag. A thin translucent bubble began forming around the party of five obscuring them from sight. Pyra hurriedly placed a few rocks with glowing blue sigils in a circular formation around them before whispering a few words to the rest.

“Stay still, they can’t see or hear us but if even a foot is outside then we’ll be in trouble.”

Roy didn’t buy it though.

“What makes you so sure that they won’t find us?”

“If you want, I can kick you out and have you fight them.”

Roy couldn’t argue against Pyra. He knew she was right, he couldn’t win against them alone. A man against an army? Only an idiot or some kind of Hero would fight against them alone.

However, there was just that kind of idiot in their party.

Cerise struggled to escape Roy’s hold but ultimately failed. She hadn’t eaten in days and her hunger had overpowered her rationality.

“Calm the girl down! If she gets out there, we all die!”

Cerise’s sharp claws dug into Roy’s arms. They didn’t pierce the skin. She put more force into her claws, and yet, the man’s skin blocked all her attempts at getting free.

Pyra raised her brows at this revelation.

“What’s a blacksmith like you doing with [Bronze Skin]?”

“Shut up and help me will you?”

“Ah right.”

Cerise was furiously trying to kick her way free now.

“Roy! Let me go!”

Isbeth exclaimed, her voice filled with haste and panic. Roy dropped Isbeth onto the ground and shifted Cerise to his center, both arms wrapped around the girl preventing her escape.

Isbeth rummaged through her bags before pulling out a small maroon bead. She pulled down Cerise’s collar and threw the bead into Cerise’s mouth. The strange pill dissolved in the girl’s mouth and she stopped struggling.

Cerise closed her mouth, a tasteless liquid was trickling down her throat. It was strangely filling despite practically having no substance. Her hunger abated, she simply stared back at Isbeth who was currently shrugging.

“Do you like it? It’s something I created for emergencies, sorry for the lack of taste.”

“Can you two stop talking? They’re almost here!”

During their little struggle, the Balros Army had approached three minutes earlier than Pyra had expected. They were a little ways away but keen ears do wonders for finding trouble. They sped past where the five were hiding, the cacophony of voices and heavy footsteps rushing to escape. The five held their tongues for those short five minutes. The entire army of 10,000 passing by none the wiser to where they were.

It was at that point where the first [Meteor] landed in Viscor. The following shockwave blasting dust and dirt in clouds. The searing heat being felt even behind the wards Pyra set up.

“Brace for impact!”

Pyra yelled amidst the chaos, her voice only being heard from within the bubble as the deafening winds drowned out all noise outside.

The second [Meteor] landed besides the first, the impact leveling another big chunk of the city. And then the third. The three [Meteor] spells destroyed everything. Selen closed her eyes knowing it wouldn’t do much about the predicament.

The Balros Army weren’t that lucky either. They didn’t have the protection that Pyra had set up, thus, half of their forces were blown away in the shockwaves despite their heavy armor. The five could spot some areas where there were still soldiers standing, either with a Mage to cast a defensive spell or behind the cover of terrain like they had.

“Damn. They still survived.”

Pyra wasn’t pleased but wasn’t displeased either. Half of that army, nearly 5,000 of them were wiped out by the blasts. But who had enough Mana to spare for three [Meteor] spells in the first place? Those things take several tens of thousands just to cast one!

Selen who was quiet for quite some time finally spoke.

“We should take this chance to take them down. They’re still weakened.”

Pyra vetoed the idea.

“No. Five of us can’t compare to 5,000. Plus they have a plethora of Mages. Keep hiding. Halfling or whatever your name is, pass around some of those pills, we’ll be here for a while.”

Isbeth gave Roy one of her sustenance pills and popped one into her own mouth. She even gave one to Selen who held it cautiously in her hand, but when it came to Pyra’s turn she didn’t give any.

“My name’s Isbeth, call me that or I won’t give you one.”

Isbeth was rather petty to the upstart woman. She disliked being called anything other than her own name.

“Fine, fine. Isbeth, could you give me one of those pills?”

“I could.”

“…”

“Just kidding, let bygones be bygones I guess.”

Isbeth handed the taller woman one of the orange pills. She was petty but not to the point of being a total jerk about it.

“I only have a bag left of these so we can last for a few days.”

The five of them waited for the remnants of the Balros Army to regroup and flee. Roy leaned against the boulder while the others stood around. Pyra took out a small brown pouch and put her spear inside of it. Noticing this, Isbeth decided to bring it up as a topic of conversation.

“Is that a spatial enchantment?”

“I can store an entire person in here. The weight doesn’t change though.”

“I see… Can you let me see it for a bit?”

“No, my precious.”

Pyra tucked the bag away beneath her robes and took out a lightweight staff instead, swinging the bladeless weapon against an invisible enemy for her daily routine. The others opted for more passive activities, Isbeth sorting her supplies, Roy doing stationary excercise, and Cerise and Selen simply sitting watching the soldiers move about forming ranks.

This continued for nearly five hours before the Balros Army finally left. But unlike their predictions, the Balros Army marched towards the remains of Viscor, leaving their escape route much safer to travel on.

“Looks like we’re in luck today! C’mon, we need to get out of here. Shame about the [Oscillation Barrier] though.”

Pyra deactivated her wards and stored the magic stones back into her bag. She swapped her staff for her spear before departing with Selen.

“I don’t know what you three will be doing but me and Selen will try to meet up with Hashan. Don’t die otherwise I’ll kill you for making Larc’s sacrifice pointless. Bye.”

Pyra and Selen floated in the air for a moments before Pyra rocketed away.

“Sorry about Pyra, she cares a lot for others around her so forgiv-“

“Selen!”

Pyra was back and grabbed Selen by the arm. Both flew away this time leaving the three standing there dumbly.

Roy spoke up first.

“To Helios then?”

Isbeth nodded.

“Helios it is. But first let’s loot some gear shall we?”

Isbeth eyed the heaps of bodies on the ground, unfortunate enough to suffer heavy impacts or impaled by dropped weapons. Their armor was wrecked but they ought to have some money on them right?

Isbeth and Roy both had a sparkle in their eyes, they moved quickly sorting out usable weapons and armor, occasionally finding valuables such as a ring or a potion. They couldn’t carry much but they should do them well for a few days.

Cerise sat on the rock watching the two zooming around picking up what seemed to be bits of metal and glass? She wasn’t sure but there was something that changed within her after she ate that pill. She checked the boxes again but as she couldn’t read, she couldn't even understand a bit of it, but the thought of checking them calmed her somehow.

Name

Cerise

Age

16 Days

Race

Lesser Devil (Scarlet)

HP

53/53 (+.018/s)

MP

105/105 (+.03/s)

SP

34/37 (+.021/s)

STR

15

INT

26

WIS

19

CON

18

AGL

27

LUK

2

Current Ailments | [Hunter’s Eyes] Sealed (96%)

Skills

Level

Proficiency

[Demonic Vitality]

1/10

58.9%

[Rendering Claw]

1/20

3%

[Hunter’s Eyes] {Hunter’s Mark}

3/10

3.9%

[Blood Bound]

0/5

N/A

[Twisted Fate]

N/A

N/A