“Wasn’t this place supposed to be chill?!” Hera jumped to the side, tumbling forward and brining her tail down with Pyro attached to it on the head of a Deep Blue Crocodile. It was a level 40 monster, much weaker than her, but that wasn’t the problem. Even after killing this one, there were a dozen more coming out of the water.

“Should I start taking people to the statue?” Nimbus asked as he created a barrier inside the mouth of a crocodile to stop it from trying to bite people.

“Better not. We don’t know if the area around the statue is clear,” Hera replied, she could see the statue of the lion, but they should still be a few kilometers away. The thing was just massive.

“Maybe we arrived at their mating season?” Vash suggested as he flew above a group of the monsters, all of which tried to jump and bit him.

“Get. The. Fuck. Off. My. Tail!” Vulcan snarled, hitting a couple of the crocodiles in the head and breaking the skulls.

‘Mr. Vulcan, are you ok? What’s the influence?’ Twiggy asked, making sure to keep an eye out for everyone.

“I’m fine, it’s at 13%. This is not the influence making me pissed. I’m just tired of this damn gators coming for my damn tail!” Forge swung his hammer again, killing another crocodile.

‘Those are crocodiles, not alligators,’ Glacia flew past him just as Vulcan jumped back from a group of monsters. She was a falchion with a blade made out of cold iron and was eternally covered in a thin layer of ice, making the blade even sharper. The hilt appeared to be a carved-out chunk of black ice, resembling the kind one would see at the bottom of an iceberg. Her voice was soft and nurturing despite the intimidating appearance.

“Do you think I care what they are?” Vulcan yelled, but the frozen weapon just kept going. She reached an area close to the water and swung in a wide arc while spinning. The attack killed a couple of monsters and injured many others, but the main part of her idea was about what she left behind. Using the [Frozen Whirlwind] skill, she froze all enemies in range and left an aura that would continuously freeze part of the ocean. Blocking the crocodiles from coming out of the sea.

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Glacia - Falchion - Ice

Attribute Scaling:

Empress Attributes: 852

Strength X 19.5, Agility X 17.5, Charisma X 16,

Endurance X 3.5, Intelligence X 3.5, Luck X 3.5

Active Skills

Glacial Strike:

Channel the power of frost into the blade, delivering a freezing strike that slows the target’s speed by 50% for 5 seconds.

Cooldown: 3 minutes

Frozen Whirlwind - Seal of Glacial Protection

Perform a spinning attack, creating a whirlwind of icy winds that damages and freezes all enemies within range for 3 seconds. After using Frozen Whirlwind, Glacia leaves behind a frigid aura for 8 seconds. Allies within the aura gain increased resistance to cold. Additionally, enemies touching the aura have reduced speed.

Aura size: 5 m³

Cold resistance + 20%

Reduced speed: - 30%

Cooldown: 4 minutes

Passive Skills:

Frozen Heart:

Grants resistance to cold-based attacks and effects, reducing incoming cold damage by 20%.

Chilling Blow

Successful critical hits with the Frostbite Falchion have a chance to freeze the target in place for 2 seconds.

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‘Nice going Glacia!’ Twiggy cheered.

‘I’m at your command, Twiggy,’ the falchion replied, obviously happy with the praise.

‘Go to Viper, he’s better when he’s dual wielding,’ Twiggy looked to the corners of the battlefield. Viper and Crimson were there, clearing the monsters who were trying to sneak around them. The problem was that the pair of half Nagas required two weapons to be effective. And having only one of their bodies out right now wouldn’t be enough. For that reason, Twiggy, being the commander of the court, had also sent Storm towards Crimson. She was a longsword, but except for Glacia, it was the closest thing the court had to a dagger now.

Her plan was working pretty well. The red Spymaster was thriving, using a mix of the battle dancer, and the dancer skills that Hera had to weave around on the battlefield. Each movement would cut a piece of the crocodiles, mostly parts of tail, arms or legs, but she could also add some tongues, mouths, and even heads in the mix.

“Viper, cover me for a moment!” Crimson called just as Glacia landed on her brother’s hand. When he got closer, the half Naga simply held Storm in front of her, with tip pointing to the sky. Hera wasn’t sure what kind of material was used to make Storm’s blade, but it was transparent and there seemed to be lightning trapped inside it. The current always flowing back and forth in a closed circuit. The guard had the appearance of a classic golden lightning bolt, while the handle was soft and covered with rubber, likely to isolate all the electricity coursing through the weapon.

For 5 seconds, Crimson held that position and the energy inside the blade started to build up more and more.

‘Ooh, this is going to be a really good one. I can feel the clouds above wanting to join in,’ Storm’s voice was loud, and she had a wildness to it very similar to Livy’s.

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Storm - Longsword - Lightning

Marchioness Verdant

Attribute Scaling:

Empress Attributes: 852

Agility X 21.61, Strength X 18.11, Luck X 11.61,

Endurance X 4.11, Intelligence X 4.11, Charisma X 4.11

Active Skills:

Crackling Strike

Unleash a swift attack infused with lightning, dealing high physical damage and having a chance to chain to nearby enemies.

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Tempest’s Fury

After channeling for 5 seconds, Storm creates a swirling storm around you. Enemies caught within the storm take continuous lightning damage and have their speed reduced.

Cooldown: 2 minutes

Passive Skills:

Storm’s Blessing

Dodging an attack while wielding Storm’s Whisper generates a small burst of lightning damage around you, potentially damaging nearby enemies.

Seal of Chaotic Furry

Each successful attack made by Storm builds power within her. After a certain threshold of power is reached, every attack will have a chance to send out a chain lightning to a nearby target. The more power is stored, the stronger the chain lightning will be.

Verdant Marquessate heirloom

This skill can only be used if the user is in an awakened state.

Awakened Wind Fury: The wind can understand your intentions even better than you do. With this skill active, the weapon creates 2 wind clones to follow up your attacks. The wind clone attacks deal between 80% and 150% of the damage dealt by the original. Your luck stat influences the number and damage of the attacks.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Duration: 1 minute

Cooldown: 30 minutes

Mana Cost: 3 000 000.

Verdant Marquessate skill

Ever-Evolving Tactics

Members of the Verdant Marquessate grow when exposed to varied scenarios, gaining an ever increasing scaling bonus depending on how many different creatures they faced.

Extra scaling per creature + 0.01

Additionally, when facing a new type of enemy for the first time. Members of the Verdant Marquessate receive a 10% bonus to their damage for 10 minutes.

Current extra scaling + 0.01

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When the 5 seconds passed, Crimson raised Storm to the sky, releasing a torrent of crackling electricity from the blade, activating the [Tempest’s Fury] skill. The Spymaster tightened her grip on the longsword and started moving again, attacking the crocodiles while the lightning continuously struck at them.

‘Let’s fucking gooooo!’ Storm yelled as the power coursed through her.

Crimson also took advantage of the blood all around her to use her [Bloody Claw] a few times, sending out blades of electrified crocodile juice towards the others. Yet, despite the dozen of kills made not just by her, and the court, but all the Harmony Guardians, the number of monsters didn’t seem to get any smaller.

“We can’t take this for much longer. It’s better if we bail!” Skyler yelled.

“How? Those fucking things already have us surrounded,” Flint yelled back.

‘Hera! I can open the way,’ Sun impaled one crocodile, tossed it aside and moved closer to the Empress. His voice carrying like that of a champion in an arena.

The Ophidianite looked at the spear for a moment, trying to remember his skills. Sun was forged with something called sun-touched metal. Apparently, it was part of a meteorite that went close to the sun and was able to survive. The shaft had an iridescent shine to it on top of an orange structure, and the blade was pure white, the same color that people saw when looking straight at a light. The base had a yellow globe that emitted a faint glow. Before, that was a permanent effect, but now Sun was able to control the intensity of that light or put it out completely.

‘The Solar Flare. A cone shaped burst of radiant energy. It’s one of the skill in the court that has the highest mana cost. Only losing for Pyro’s Inferno Burst, but,’ Twiggy started speaking, but Hera cut her off.

“Fire is not as good against those things. Thanks Twiggy. Ok, Sun, let’s try that,” she held on to the spear, and felt the skill she wanted to activate.

But before that, she triggered Twiggy’s [Silvered Strength] and the Cerulean Marquessate Heirloom [Bathed in Eternal Silver] to increase not just the court’s scaling, but also her strength stat. In addition, she covered Sun in a radiant elemental strength spell to increase his power even more.

“Everyone, we are running at my signal!” the Empress yelled just before pushing Sun forward and triggering his [Solar Flare] skill.

“What’s the signal?” Flint yelled, but he was interrupted by what came next.

A light so bright that almost burned their eyes appeared as a massive cone of pure energy blasted in front of them. This cause a pause in the combat, with everyone surprised about the attack. When the light finally vanished, there was a 150 meter long mark on the sand in front of them, and only some carbonized pieces of crocodile remained.

“That’s the signal. Move it!” Skyler yelled and bolted with all her might, followed by Neria. Flint and Roan were faster than the two, and Vash has flying above them.

Seeing that, Nimbus realized that the two women would end up lagging behind the group. He quickly rushed over and tossed the two up before turning to his griffon form and running to catch up with the rest.

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Sun - Spear - Radiance

Attribute Scaling:

Empress Attributes: 852

Strength X 20.3, Endurance X 18.3, Charisma X 13.3,

Agility X 4.1, Intelligence X 4.1, Luck X 4.3

Active Skills:

Solar Flare:

Thrust the spear forward, unleashing a burst of radiant energy that damages and burns enemies in a cone-shaped area.

Cooldown: 1 minute

Mana cost: 2 million mana

Burning Aura - Seal of Eternal Radiance:

Sun creates a burning aura around himself. Enemies within the aura take continuous fire damage, and Sun’s attacks with deal bonus radiant damage.

When taking damage while Burning Aura is active, the duration of the aura is extended slightly. Additionally, defeating an enemy while Sun’s Fury is active grants a temporary buff to your Charisma while the aura is active.

Cooldown: 3 minutes

Extra radiant damage: +30%

Charisma buff + 10%

Duration: 30 seconds

Passive Skills:

Unyielding Spirit: Taking damage while wielding Sun’s Fury increases your attack power and grants a temporary shield that absorbs incoming damage for a minute

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They continued running for a few minutes. The statue getting closer and closer, but the crocodiles didn’t seem to lose interest. And some were even starting to gain some ground.

‘Don’t stop. I can slow them,’ Clay, the last member of Hera’s new court, said. He was a chain whip. A sword composed of various segments that could be detached from each other to increase its reach. Basically, no one used this kind of weapon for actual combat. The reason was simple, it was too hard to control, and too easy to hurt yourself when using it. To make proper use of something like this, they would need to control the entire body of the chain whip all at once. The time and effort that would take for someone to learn the basics of how to wield it would be enough to become an experienced user of a different weapon.

But this wasn’t something Hera had to worry about. Clay was made out of various minerals that strongly resembled dirt, everything in shades of light brown with some darker parts in the middle. A rope of weaved roots connected all the segmented blades together, held in by an enchantment to increase their flexibility and their resistance. The hilt was a stylized bear’s claw carved from petrified wood. Showing how the maker of this chain whip had practice in creating decorations.

Clay made a circular motion, extending the reach of the blade from that of a longsword of maybe a meter to seven meters and slammed the top of the whip on the ground, creating a large fissure that snaked towards the crocodiles. The moment it hit the first of the monsters, more fissures appeared. Every time a new creature was stuck by that attack, another crack on the ground would appear, a bit weaker and smaller than the one before. The chain reaction didn’t stop and continued until the rupture seemingly hit all the creatures. That wasn’t enough to kill most of them, only the first three or so crocodiles perished. However, the openings in the ground were more than enough to slow them down, letting the Harmony Guardians finally escape this ambush.

“Clay, that was awesome,” Hera said with a smile, without stopping.

‘I only did my duty, Empress,’ Clay replied as he flew back towards the group, ‘And if I may. Next time we find ourselves in a situation like this. Especially on a beach. Roll in the sand. That way, my skill will be able to give you a proper buff.’

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Clay - Chain Whip - Mud

Verdant House

Empress Attributes: 852

Endurance X 32, Strength X 15.5, Luck X 8.5,

Agility X 3, Intelligence X 3, Charisma X 3

Active Skills:

Earthen Cleave

Unleash the chain whip in a powerful swing, shattering the ground and dealing earth damage to enemies caught in its path. Each successful hit creates a small fissure on the ground, slowing enemy movement for a short duration.

Mana Cost: 300 thousand mana

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Crushing Grip

Launch the chain whip forward, wrapping around an enemy and constricting them with dense mud. This deals significant physical damage and reduces the enemy’s speed for a short duration. Cooldown: 45 seconds.

Passive Skills:

Unyielding Ground:

While wielding Clay you gain increased resistance to physical damage and a chance to deflect incoming melee attacks with a well-timed block.

20% physical damage reduction

25% chance to deflect attacks with a parry

Earthen Resolve:

Successfully blocking an attack with Earthen Maw grants you a temporary buff that increases your armor, creating a layer of mud around your body that does not hinder your abilities.

Seal of Tectonic Might:

The more earth covers your body, the stronger your attributes become.

1% attribute increase for each 5% of your body that is covered in earth.

Verdant Marquessate skill

Ever-Evolving Tactics

Members of the Verdant Marquessate grow when exposed to varied scenarios, gaining an ever increasing scaling bonus depending on how many different creatures they faced.

Extra scaling per creature + 0.01

Additionally, when facing a new type of enemy for the first time. Members of the Verdant Marquessate receive a 10% bonus to their damage for 10 minutes.

Current extra scaling + 0.01

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“I will keep that in mind. Sorry for not remembering everything right away. I’m also getting used to the change,” Hera smiled, trying to be clear that she wasn’t trying to forget what they did.

‘It is understandable. We don’t remember everything about each other either,’ Clay nodded.

They continued running for a few more minutes before reaching the statue, and by following the map given by Ka’mal, they soon arrived at the doorway to the room where they would meet with the supply caravan.