The night air hung heavy with tension as Velian and his group huddled together in the safety of a new hideout. The room they occupied was dimly lit, the flickering candles casting eerie shadows across their faces. Daphnia, her usually vibrant eyes now filled with a mixture of concern and determination, sat in a corner, her hands wrapped tightly around a warm mug of herbal tea, which Velian brewed specially for everyone so they can recover their mana.
Velian, his brow furrowed, paced back and forth in front of the group, his mind racing with questions. Kyla, a stoic and battle-hardened warrior, leaned against the wall, her arms crossed, observing the exchange.
The other two members of their group, still recovering from the attack, lay on makeshift beds nearby, their wounds tended to as best as possible given the circumstances.
Since they were frozen using Daphnia's magic, none of them were heavily wounded but all three of them were still shivering because of how cold they were inside those little ice blocks.
"Who were they? And did they take our prisoner?" Velian demanded, breaking the heavy silence that had settled over the room. His voice carried a mix of anger and concern, each word echoing with an underlying urgency.
Daphnia took a deep breath, her voice trembling slightly as she began to recount the events that had unfolded earlier that day.
"It's not they, Veli, It was just a single man," she started, her voice barely above a whisper.
"We were trying to find a new place to hide, but suddenly he confronted us and I tried to contact you, but for some reason, I couldn't," Daphnia said and took a dip out of her head and looked at Velian again.
"He had this ability to harden his skin, like some sort of impenetrable armour. It was unlike anything I had ever encountered. I tried to stop him from taking anyone, but I failed because he was fast even though he was tanky,"
Velian's eyes widened, his mind trying to grasp the implications of such formidable power that is able to break Daphnia's magic. "And your ice magic? Did it have any effect on him?"
Daphnia's gaze dropped to the floor, her voice filled with a mix of frustration and defeat.
"No, Velian. My ice magic was useless against him. Every attempt I made to freeze him in place was futile. It was as if he was immune to my powers. Every time I force his arm, he was like a wild beast,"
Kyla, ever the positive person, stepped forward, her voice steady and commanding.
"We cannot afford to dwell on what has already happened. Our priority now is to gather as much information as possible. We need to find out who this man is, who sent him, and why."
Velian nodded, determination etched into his features.
"You're right, Kyla. We must act swiftly and strategically. The prisoner we captured earlier, she may hold the key to unlocking this mystery. We will question her, extract every ounce of knowledge she possesses."
"From here onward, I won't leave this group, even if it means, I will lose my target, because you guys are more valuable than my mission," Velian muttered, but inside he was fuming with anger because this is one of the things he absolutely hated.
As the group exchanged glances, a newfound resolve seemed to fill the room. The shadows danced on the walls, mirroring the flickering flame within their hearts. They would face this unknown threat head-on, their determination to protect their own burning brighter than ever before and to take the renege for their fallen stepfather and contact burned bright within them.
With their wounded comrades slowly recovering, and the prisoner locked away in a separate room, Velian knew that their path forward would be fraught with danger. But he also knew that together, they possessed the strength and resilience to overcome any obstacle, even one as seemingly insurmountable as an adversary with impenetrable armour.
Leaving the group to rest and recover, Velian visited the captured succubus, because he had so many things to question from her.
He wanted to kill that blazing sun woman with his own hand, but seeing how she was taken back, Velian didn't understand what their aim was.
"Even if they took one prisoner, I already got another one, did they underestimate me by sending her? This might be actually disadvantageous," Velian thought and looked at the woman, who was still closing her eyes with a knife stuck to her head.
"Wake up! You have a lot of things to vomit," He held the knife and send some of this flame into her brain causing her to shout, but Velian quickly shoved something inside her mouth leaving her eyes wide open with tears coming from them.
"Shut up! I don't like your voice, so don't shout,"
"... ugh"
"I'm pretty pissed off, so I hope you will answer my question without trying to fuel up my anger," He said and removed the piece of clothing he shoved inside her mouth.
"Tell me everything from 0 to 100, don't leave anything, if I see you hesitating, I might as well kill this whole kingdom to find your princess, is done with playing games,"
It might have been rather easy for anyone to think, that Velian was trying to bluff to make her confess, but in reality, he wasn't.
He was genuine when he said, he is going to kill everyone because he had already sent the message asking Delviny to prepare the army and he had his own destruction magic, so without waiting for the princess to come out, if he kept killing everyone, then they will have no option but to reveal what they were hiding inside this massive city.
"I won't fall for your-" She couldn't even finish her sentence, as Velian hit her face with his bare hand causing her nose to bend in a strange shape.
"I'm done, I will kill half of this country, so you will regret what you did, I don't care whether it is a child or woman because you're the one who made me do this," Velian said and left the room leaving the flabbergasted woman on the spot with her nose bleeding.
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