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MAZE - Chapter 964 -Inside the tent
🕑 Added 2024-11-07 12:22:29 +0000 UTCInside the tent, Hera looked around. Everything was a strange shade of green, thanks to the smoke coming out of the human's backpack. Despite being an Ophidianite for a while already, using her infrared sight was still a bit odd. Either way, she could still see the three remaining humans on the other side of the tent. The one who activated the backpack was slamming his fists against the tarp. He had already tried to open it from below, but no matter how much strength he put behind his back, the tent wouldn't budge.
The other two also attempted to escape, but quickly realized the tarp was actually a barrier, and it wouldn't be as simple to free themselves. Instead, they turned toward the Empress and slowly walked in her general direction. By the way they were moving, it was pretty obvious they were struggling to see. Each step was slow and calculated, only taken after making sure nothing in their surrounding area was an immediate danger.
Hera and court, on the other hand, had no such issue. They all could use her [Ophidianite Sight] to see everything in the same infrared light as the Empress. Viper and Crimson moved to the side, flanking a Soldier of Strength whose weapon of choice was a pair of gauntlets. The pair vanished as they got closer, thanks to [Hidden Frontal Screen]. By creating strange movements in the mist, the twins slowly guided the man away from his companions.
At the same time, Livy and most of the Blades were moving to intercept the one with the katana. But the Leviathan's approach was much less subtle. She gave a few moments for the Spymasters to be far enough away before charging the man at full strength. With a body slam, the Soldier of Strength was tossed backward, but he landed on his feet, already in a stance prepared for the next attack. Livy went for a wide swing with her war axe. The human jumped over the attack, only to be met by Storm and her [Crackling Strike].
"Let's fucking go!" the longsword shouted, as the blow connected to the man's leg. The damage wasn't that great, especially considering his regeneration, but the real value of the attack was in the brief stun it caused. That was enough for Robbing to send a couple of arrows coming from deep inside the mist toward the man. Sun also joined, flying through the air before hitting the man's shoulder. His big attack was on cooldown, but with [Seal of Eternal Radiance], he could increase the power of those around him. The last to join that small battle was Eira, who also was unable to use her more powerful skills at the moment, but that didn’t mean she couldn't assist with the barrage.
Yet, the Soldier of Strength was able to parry most of their attacks, dodging the ones that he couldn't met with his blade. The court was only able to make small cuts on his skin that were quickly recovered thanks to his regeneration. As the seconds went by, Livy and the others started to become frustrated. They were several levels higher than this man, but even with their combined efforts, he was able to keep them at bay. It didn't help that they were not fighting at their full strength, with Nimbus gone and part of the court facing a different battle. In addition, everyone was also feeling the pain caused by the toxins. They might be just beings made out of mana, but that didn't mean they were immune to those effects. And if they were struggling like that, Hera would also be affected by this.
On the other side of the tent, Viper, Crimson, Shadow, Glacia, and Clay attacked the man with the gauntlets. The twins, along with the Alabaster Duke, kept disappearing between strikes, all of them able to blend with the environment better than the other fighters. Clay took the position of a defender, using his segmented blades to block any counterstrikes coming from the man. While Glacia focused on attacking the joints. Even if a Soldier of Strength was able to recover, if she could break a ligament or a nerve, it would take a while for him to get back to his feet.
The man blocked the incoming blows, moving quickly with martial arts designed to defend against weapons. He wasn't able to intercept all the attacks, but even the ones that hit him were a far cry from being dangerous. Twisting his body in the right direction, he was able to minimize the damage he would receive from the blades at first, but things quickly turned dire as the damage piled up. Viper and Crimson were the most dangerous threats to him, especially once it became clear that they were able to interrupt his connection with the Strength daemon ever so slightly. To make matters worse for the man, Shadow was able to trigger his interruption abilities, causing the skills used by the Soldier of Strength to stop. If it was a passive, it would just be turned on again as soon as the effect was gone, but for a buff or an attack, all the energy put into it would be gone.
Frustrated with the situation, the man slammed his gauntlets together, covering his entire body in bandages, making him look like a mummy. Clay and the others didn't think much of this new skill, but it quickly became clear that their fight had become considerably more difficult. Now, every strike was met by several layers of something close to toilet paper. By themselves, they were essentially worthless, but there were too many compressed together. So much so that by the time the attack reached the man's skin, most of the power behind it was gone.
However, the man became slower as he activated that skill. The thick layers of paper also worked against him when he attempted to move. That resulted in a stalemate, neither side being able to damage the other enough to finish the battle.
'Empress! You need to leave!' Lurize gasped, noticing some of the poison creeping inside her.
'No. I can still handle this,' Hera frowned. She wasn't hurting, but her entire body felt like it was being covered in filth. The sensation was strange, like an itch that she couldn't scratch, but it wasn’t unbearable. The poison in the air wasn’t as potent as her own, and because of her resistance to that kind of attack she wasn't worried about the situation.
'Are you sure?' Daskka asked. The snake had already shifted into her purple Mist form, trying to help heal the incoming damage.
'Yeah. We need to figure out a way to deal with this toxin. Maybe I can…' Hera turned to the side and triggered a fire spray from her hand. Her poison, after all, was flammable. That spell only existed thanks to poison spray which worked as fuel for the flames.
Unfortunately, the effect was less than effective. The flame burned away some of the toxin, but only the parts it touched. All the other gas in the area was completely fine.
'In hindsight, this is a good thing,' Hera mumbled to herself.
'Did you just try to blow us all up?' Twiggy asked, her voice a half laugh.
'That wasn't the intention, but yes,' Hera admitted.
'That's awesome. But we should find a way to protect ourselves first,' the tiara chuckled.
Just out of curiosity, Hera fired another poison spray to the side. She saw the orange liquid splattering on the ground, barely interacting with the mist. But her senses told a different story. The liquid had attached itself to some particles as it fell, almost as if it grabbed them on the way down.
'Lurize, is poison supposed to be a good binding agent?'
'Not really. That's why you're able to wash away poison in some circumstances. The whole idea of people washing hazmat suits before leaving a quarantine zone is because of that,' Lurize replied.
Hera shot more poison into the Mist, 'Then why is this happening?' She passed the feeling along to the Royal Tutor, the one person in the court who knew more about poisons than anyone her.
Mr. Beetle stopped to consider what she was saying. He was a poison spirit, after all, and this was his area of expertise. Even then, it took him a moment to realize what was going on. 'Holy shit. Your poison works as a oil!'
'When I'm using a fire spell, yeah. It is kind of like oil. But what does that have to do with anything?' Hera asked, feeling her skin begin to burn slightly. It wouldn’t take long before she started feeling the full effects of the toxins. Even with the high concentration of poison inside the tent, the fact that she was already feeling this meant the humans had created something truly nasty.
'Exactly. Your poison doesn’t act like poison. It acts as fuel. So it’s a great binding agent. If you can make an airborne version of it, we should be able to spread it and make the toxins bind to your own poison,' Lurize’s voice was practically brimming with excitement.
Hera smiled, "That's the easy part." She triggered [Toxic Mist], creating a thin layer of orange fog around her. Just as the Royal Tutor said, her poison started grabbing the toxins as it spread, turning to a dark brown shade. As soon as she realized what was happening, she called to the court, 'Lurize, Viper, Crimson, Livy, I need all of you to use my [Toxic Mist] and start moving around. We need to cover everything with my poison.'
The circus tent was large, with a 15-meter radius and a height of 5 meters. There was a good chance Hera could cover the entire area by herself, but time wasn’t on their side. She couldn’t wait around. Hera’s eyes darted to the two Soldiers of Strength, who were still engaged in their own battles. But the third human, the one who had triggered the backpack, was in the back, still holding the device, trying to hide from all the fighting. If they could capture him, and the device, they might be able to develop better countermeasures against these chemical attacks.
With [Toxic Mist] still active, Hera rushed toward the third human. He barely saw her coming through the fog before she struck him in the stomach, cutting off his air supply. Grabbing his neck, she quickly sent poison needles from the palm of her hand, telling the specific poison designed to put him to sleep.
She glanced back and saw that the majority of the tent was now covered in the brown smoke. Her own poison, mixed with the human toxins, was spreading quickly. With a quick message through the communicator, she instructed Vash to open the tent so she could leave while carrying someone. It took a moment before the performer could make that specific rule work, after all, it was the first time he had used the Legacy in an active battle. But eventually, the opening of the tent allowed for Hera leave carrying both the human and the backpack.
Once outside, she recalled her entire court and fired a simple fire spray into the tent. The flames ignited instantly, turning the entire structure into a massive ball of fire. The two Soldiers of Strength, who hadn’t been able to recover in time, were caught in the blast. But despite the power behind the explosion, the stage created by Vash still held strong. The Legacy had proven itself once again, as the circus tent's magic barrier protected those outside from the chaos inside.
The Harpy flew down to check on Hera, and both of them noticed Anaya starting to wake up. With a glance back toward the now-destroyed tent, Hera had an idea that could delay the next chemical attack and walked toward the assassin.
Comments
Eric M
Please tell me she isn't going to be weak and let Anaya go. I'm sure she isn't a brainwashed drone, she's complicit in everything happening, along with the plan to kill thousands indiscriminately - really doubt there weren't a lot of elderly and children that were caught up in these previous attacks that were mentioned. Those would be war crimes in our world.
