Nora watched the blonde-haired demon in the sky as she slowly descended. She had no idea why she hadn't been able to sense her before now even with her magic sense already active. It was already an impossible task dealing with the lone dark elf and yet, a demon with similar strength had now joined the fray.
She wasn't the type of summoner that was predicated on strength, to begin with so this situation couldn't get any worse because this was rock bottom. Most of her summons was specialized in stealth, tracking, hunting, and defense. The reason she was chosen to lead a scouting team was based on her adaptability and survivability and not her strength in actual combat.
The Darknar forest wasn't a place that strength alone could manage, especially when one decided to live here long term. All the safe zones in the forest were a different type of barren land and even for demons that could go years without eating, it still wasn't wise to stay in the safe zones for an extended period.
The safe zones create an isolated space that interferes with the monster's mental state. While demi-humans and demons could resist this, they would need to leave the safe zones for about an hour each day to survive. Of course, this specific information was only for the safe zone they reside in and she didn't have much information on the others.
There were probably safe zones that didn't interfere with the mind, but for the ones that did, it meant they needed more than just the ability to fight to survive there. A scout needed a variety of skills in their arsenal when venturing into the Darknar forest.
However, depending on their potential, one could only learn a limited number of skills and spells. And while potential did not affect one's ability to learn a secret technique, such Techniques were insanely rare and there were very few people that could actually learn one.
Due to these limitations, most nobles would only use their limited spell and skill slot to learn useful abilities that would increase their fighting strength and not their adaptability as Nora had. Due to that, she had been one of the best candidates to lead the scouting team for this generation.
Liz watched the girls below her hesitate and sighed softly. They were obviously terrified and that was all because Rain had toyed with them for an unnecessary amount of time. Her original job had just been to seal the safe zone and make sure no one could escape but she had been forced to interfere due to how long this had gone on.
Liz gracefully landed on the naturally cracked ground of the safe zone that constantly emitted a faint heat and melted every ounce of snow that fell on it. However, the moment her feet touched the ground, it froze around her feet.
This phenomenon only served to frighten the girls even more as they all took a step back. Fiala and Lilou wanted to raise their bows and take aim at the snow demon but their instincts were screaming at them that if they did that, they would no doubt end up just like the Dire Ape on the ground.
Liz ignored the frightened scouts and approached Rain with a stern expression on her face. "Why are you messing around, we still have three more of these safe zones to clear out."
"Hehe~ sorry, I thought they would be stronger but they're so cute I just can't help messing with them. Tehe~" She said that playfully while trying to act like a klutz, Liz however, wasn't buying it.
"Don't tehe me, we only have a brief window to do this before the others are out of the forest and the other scouts start paying attention."
"Awww.... fine, you're no fun at all."
Liz's brows twitched slightly and immediately relaxed. She smiled softly and spoke seemingly to herself. "Fine, you can stay here and have fun. I'll go and handle the rest myself and I'm sure Lord Ty would only praise me."
Rain paused abruptly like she had been struck by lightning. She turned back around stiffly and laughed nervously. "Hahaha... I was just kidding, haha, watch I'll end this immediately."
Nora heard their brief conversation and a sense of terror the likes of which she had never felt before reached into her heart and gripped it. Her expression paled and her hands trembled. Cold sweat ran across her spine and she reflectively took a step back.
"Boss, we're already out of time. They won't expect your mound. You have to escape now."
"W-what..."
"Lilou is right boss, this is your only chance, they're still looking down on us, so please, if you care about us at all you'll do it."
Nora tried to resist the urge to just run away even though she knew deep down, that they had no chance regardless of her presence here. The girls saw her hesitation so against their screaming instincts, they took action in a bid to force Nora's hand.
"Flaming Arrows."
"Piercing Arrows."
"Explosion Arrows."
"Piercing Arrows."
Fiala and Lilou used every type of enchanted arrows they had on their hands and even boosted it with skills while Mia boosted their attack power and accuracy to the max as well as casting an attack spell of her own.
"Poison Javelin."
A dark purple liquid was formed in the air and fired like a projectile in the dark elf's direction. Rain smiled at the incredibly slow attacks that were now headed her way. If she wanted to she could easily avoid every one of these attacks but she could sense that the girls had a plan in mind and her curiosity got the better of her.
"Over tier magic - Water Barrier."
Drops of water were extracted from the air around her and formed a sturdy barrier in front of her which absorbed most of the attacks except for the exploding arrow which exploded on impact and with a loud boom it created a fog of hot steam.
"Now!" Fiala yelled as she fired more exploding arrows at the water Barrier that was surprisingly still intact.
"Summon Mound - Phantom Steed." (Intermediate Class)
Nora cast another summoning spell and a Large quasi-real, horse-like creature appeared on the ground in front of her. The horse mane, hooves, and tail were engulfed in a ghostly blue flame but it was equipped with a saddle, bit, and bridle.
Nora quickly mounds the steed and Mia cast the spell silence and Haste on the Steed. The steed neighed loudly and ran off into the woods. The girls made a sigh of relief when they saw Nora disappear deep into the forest and turned back to face their fate.
Rain saw the phantom steed running away from the safe zone and chuckled nervously. "Oops, looks like I got careless."
Liz almost dropped an ice pillar on her head but ultimately controlled herself. She sighed in resignation and said. "It's fine, Lord Ty asked us to let at least one get away but we were not supposed to show our faces to them. Lucky for you I've been using a concealment spells on us. Once she's out of range she would only vaguely remember us and will not be able to describe our appearance to anyone even with the aid of magic."
"Oh, so there's nothing to worry about then haha..."
"Well for me yes, I did a good job, but you seem to have forgotten that lord Ty has been watching us since the beginning so he saw you mess up... Tehe."
Rain's complexion seems to drain in an instant upon hearing Liz's playful remarks as a sudden realization seems to have dawned on her. "NOOO... why didn't you tell me earlier... Alright fine, I'll just have to finish this quickly and handle the rest."
Liz was a little surprised by Rain's reaction and how effective her simple tactic had been. It was normally hard for her to talk some sense into Rain unless it was something she wasn't interested in. She was a little too free-spirited that she always tends to get them in troublesome situations.
She was also able to either talk or fight her way out of almost any situation which made it hard to scold her. However, her recent infatuation with Lord Ty seems to have become quite useful in situations like this.
"Alright girls looks like playtime is over, I'm guessing you've already said your goodbyes."
Mia was about to retort while trying to buy them time so maybe they could figure out a way out of this predicament when the dark elf suddenly vanished. The ground she stood on shattered a second later and she could no longer control her field of vision that was now staring at the sky and soon the trees that were now upsidedown, followed by the ground where she saw the rest of her body still standing stiff.
Her mind was fading, she saw the same thing had happened to Fiala and Lilou, and everything soon after that went black.
Liz walked over and tossed a small box over to Rain. She easily caught the box and stores the headless Corpses inside, along with their heads of course. She then took out something from within the spatial storage box. It was a black glowing and ominous-looking crystal that resembled a magic crystal.
"Be careful," Liz advised and Rain nodded. The two girls then activated the Flight spell and took to the skies. They hovered around a hundred and twenty meters above the safe zone and Rain stretched out the arm that held the black magic crystal.
With a light flick of her wrist, the crystal shot down like a bullet and was plunged deep into the earth's surface. Rain then disabled the sealing spell on the crystal and immediately she raised her left arm to pinch her nose.
A foul, dark and deathly aura exploded out of the earth and encased the safe zone in a negative and corrupted aura.
"It's bad even from this distance, lord Ty really is a genius."
"Of course he is, that's why I like him." Rain said as she puffed up her chest like she was the one that had been praised. Liz sighed rolling her eyes as she took out a. parchment from another spatial box in her possession. It was a communication scroll and she cast a concealment spell before using it. After communicating with the person on the other side she turned back to Rain and spoke.
"We've corrupted two safe zones so far, and it looks like the trolls are still in the forest so we are making good progress. There's only three more to go, the next one is south of here, let's go I'll handle this one."
As the last words left her mouth she took off flying south in breakneck speed, leaving Rain slacking. "Hey wait for me!" Rain yelled as she took off after Liz as well. The safe zone wasn't necessary that far away but would usually take hours if one were to run through the forest.
However, it would only take a few minutes through the sky. While flying through the Darknar forest was faster. There were also more dangerous monsters that ruled the skies. Although they were rarely seen, those that saw them would need a miracle to escape. It was why they flew so close to the forest without ever going too high.
They arrived at the next safe zone within ten minutes and stopped a few meters away. Liz floated closer carefully and just as expected. There were five predatory beastmen gathered around a campfire in a safe zone that had a small frozen lake in the center.
Liz didn't bother getting any closer. She raised her slender left arm and rubbed the exquisite necklace on her neck. It was something Lord Ty had lent her specifically for this mission's success. A faint smile appeared on her face as Rain finally caught up to her.
The thick clouds got darker and silvery-white lightning began to crackle. They danced across the clouds and soon gathered on a single point. The five predatory beastmen sensed the sudden change in the weather and raised their heads to look up.
They were bestowed with a wonderous sight of a godly beauty that stood amiss a storm of lightning and thunder. It was like the goddess of storms was staring at them. They all stood rooted in place as a faint smile appeared on her perfect features almost taking their breath away. If they were to die today, they felt like it would've been worth it to see a goddess smile.
The lightning danced across the clouds, gathering on a single point, and as if reading their minds, it came down upon them and before they knew it, everything went white.
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