‘Hera!’ a voice called, but it wasn’t enough to wake her up.
‘Empress!’ another voice came, only able to make her shift positions.
“HERA!” Livy opened the tent and yelled inside, making everyone wake up.
“What? What?” the Empress jumped to her feet, ready to fight.
“We have incoming. A lot of them,” Livy explained.
‘I believe the plan was to call her more quietly. We needed confirmation if this is enough to wake everyone up,’ Shadow added.
“Well, you took too long, And Robin is freaking the fuck out. Also, it’s better to warn everyone and give them a bad night than having them die while they are sleeping,” Livy huffed and looked at the Empress, “Come check this out.”
‘I would just like to say. I’m not freaking out. But even my mastery over the arcane energies of my arrows is failing when facing this murky waters,’ Robing grumbled.
Hera rubbed her eyes and walked outside, with the rest of the caravan slowly getting up behind her, “What is going on?”
‘There are a number of monsters circling us. But they are underwater. Robin attempted to hit them, but his arrows weren’t able to get deep enough to harm the creatures,’ Shadow explained.
‘That is not entirely correct. My arrows can damage them, and I can let one fly deep enough to hit the creatures. However, the issue lies in the speed that is lost when the projectiles break through the water. Which, in turn, gives a chance for the monsters to evade my attacks.’
“Ok, ok. But why is that a problem? I’ve seen some monsters roaming around. They stayed in the water, why are you… oh,” Hera stepped out and instantly saw what was happening.
All around the container, there were dozens of glowing pale green eyes staring back at them from among the reeds. Those would be the only source of light in the middle of the dark room, except for the torches the caravan had. Some monsters would try to get closer but stop when she turned towards them. As if they were trying not to move while being watched. It was clear those creatures wanted to hide, but maybe they were too used to fighting against other monsters in the bog, and the glow in their eyes was never a problem. Not until now.
“Fuck,” Hera mumbled, “Do we know what they are?”
“They are called Drowned Kappa,” Flint replied, he was also looking away, trying to keep them at bay with his eyes since they seemed to be trying to move only when no one was looking at them.
“Kappa? Like the old Japanese monster thing?” Hera tilted her head.
“Yeah, but as far as I know, they are from the MAZE, but more common in rooms close to that part of earth.” Flint shrugged.
“Ok… In how much trouble are we?” Hera asked, also joining in looking towards the creatures.
“Just a bit. Kappas are not aggressive. They are more towards tricksters. Sure, now and then one will kill someone and eat them, but they are cowardly,” Flint shrugged.
“That doesn’t apply here,” Remy said through the communicator.
“Why not?” Livy asked loudly, the titled blades didn’t have their own communicators since they would always drop it when changing forms or going back to the court, but they could hear everything that Hera said when she allowed it to, so they could be a part of the conversation.
“The Drowned Kappas are more like deep sea monsters. They live in the dark, and are attracted to light. Once they see a prey, they never give up. You can tell they are going to attack because of their eyes. When they use… something to make them glow, it means they are preparing to attack,” Remy explained.
“And the light we are seeing is that something?” Flint asked.
“It seems like it,” Remy said.
Hera thought about calling Storm and letting her lash out at them, but that would cause another problem. There was some kind of giant monster living in the bog, and any big electric attack would lure it. The monster would should be level 50, the maximum level of layer 15. Some powerful groups were sent here to get rid of it, but the creature pulled them under the water and killed a few of their members. The rest had to flee. Even tritons would struggle to swim in this water since it was denser than a lake or an ocean.
“Remy, you know a lot about them, right? What was the plan to deal with these if they showed up?” Vash asked. He wasn’t a part of this shift, but with all the yelling, everyone else also got up to see what was going on.
“What we are doing now. They only attack when they think they are not being seen. So we would just stare at them and head to the next room,” Remy explained.
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“Even if that meant you got no sleep?” Neria frowned.
“Yeah. The other team was supposed to be already waiting for us at the entrance of the next room. So if we had to leg it, we should. We then would cross to the next room where there are people instead of staying in a place filled with angry monsters. Worst-case scenario, someone gets the crossing debuff and would have to wait for whoever long before they could leave the room, and the odds of the 4th crossing fucking us over are pretty small. The problem might start at the fifth,” Remy continued.
“So you would be willing to have someone stuck in a high level room?” Roan got out of the tent.
“If it came to that, yeah. And if someone got stuck in the next room. Well.. We knew this was a risk,” Britta left the tent right after him.
“Impressive, but that is not an option right now. Sleeping in the next room would be too dangerous and we then need to go straight to the actual camp we are delivering the supplies. We can’t risk 6 crossings in a day, Hera was already hit by the debuff once,” Roan sighed.
Britta, Drew, Veronica, and Kalahan stared at the Ophidianite for a moment after that revelation. It was somewhat uncommon to meet people who got hit by the crossing debuff.
Before they could ask anything, Skyler changed the subject, “Remy, you know a lot about those things. Right?”
“I wouldn’t say a lot.. I read about them when we got the mission.”
“Ok, so what can we do? Is there a way to scare them off?”
“No, they are pretty nasty when it comes to hunting prey.”
‘What about luring them in? Can we taunt them into coming after us? That would turn those pitiful hunters into our preys,’ Pyro suggested.
“That’s an idea,” Hera nodded and turned to Remy, “How about provoking an attack? Can we do that?”
The ferret beastmen thought for a moment, “Yeah, if we show them we can see them. When they are seen, they stop trying to pretend to be hidden and go for it.”
“Ok… and how do we do that?” Skyler asked.
“We can get closer. Or attack them, but then not all will think they are being seen. If we had a way to make a really bright light, that could work, but it had to be like. In the level of sunlight,” Remy replied.
‘I believe this is my cue,’ Sun appeared on the top of the tent, Hera already felt her mana being pulled towards the spear.
“Not yet!” she quickly yelled.
‘But why? I am, quite literally, made for this job.’
“Yes, but give us a chance to set up first. It’s better if we get ready for a fight,” Hera sighed.
‘Very well. I’ll wait to show my power,’ Sun replied and floated back towards the Empress.
“Randolf, Drew, Veronica. I think it’s better if you all enter the container. Or at least one of the side seats since the front is a bit too exposed,” Skyler turned to the only three that didn’t leave the tent. Before waiting for a reply, she turned to Britta and Kalahan, “For the rest of you three. And I’m talking to you too, Remy. What do you want to do? , or stay with Randolf and the others to protect them?”
“I’ll stay here. Even if they are higher level than me, I can repair the walkways, or the tent if it gets hit,” Britta puffed her chest.
“I’ll stay too. Two healers are better than one. Even if the one is weaker,” Kalahan nodded.
Remy looked back to the tent, “I’m with them. I’m an offensive spell caster, and my mana is fire. I can also use a lot of lightning two elements that won’t be as useful here. With them, I can at least be a defensive line if one of the kappas sneaks by.”
They nodded at each other and looked back at Skyler, who just stared at them for a moment before gesturing with her hands for them to go, “Ok, then. Move it. I’m not evaluating your choice. Just pick a lane and go!”
The three scrambled. Remy and the caravan drivers all moved to the back, and with Nimbus, Lurize, and Livy looking over them, they jumped inside the container. Which was the safest place to be right now. There were various spells and enchantments to protect anything that was inside. The biggest danger would be getting stuck there if the rest of the Harmony Guardians and the rest of Remy’s team were killed. But even then, they could likely stay there for long enough until the rescue arrived. As long as they could at least send an S.O.S out.
With that out of the way, it took only a couple of minutes for everyone to be properly set up and ready for a fight. Flint and Britta made a few traps around the container, some nets that would make it harder for the kappas to approach, and a few barricades to top things off. Hera also joined in, but mostly with Daskka’s help, creating a layer of mist around them, while leaving a radius around the walkways completely clear. Almost like the eye of a hurricane. For now, the herald made sure that the mist was thin, but she could make it thicker at a moment’s notice to make it even harder for the monsters.
“Everyone ready?” Hera asked. Getting a yes from almost everyone. Robin was the only one who said no, since Britta had made a few arrows for him. They waited, but unfortunately there was one problem with the idea of giving arrows to the bowblade. He couldn’t hold them by himself. And having someone else load it for him was just a waste of their numbers.
After giving up the idea for the moment, he got into his position above the tent to relay everything that was happening to Twiggy so the two of them could command the entire court. With the exception of Storm. The longsword was too easily excited, and since the massive creature could appear if they used lighting, Hera decided against having her out.
With everyone finally ready, Sun took his stage and fired his Solar Flare into the sky. A large cone of pure radiance exploded, washing out any color in the surrounding area. When she used it before, Hera didn’t realize this was so bright since it was the middle of the day, but here, at night in a place that was constantly rainy and cloud, the contrast was stark.
The moment the skill was over, splashing sounds could be heard from the water. The three dozen Drowned Kappas jumped out all at the same time and started walking on all fours over the water. Hera noticed the creatures were nowhere near what she imagined they would be. They had long segmented fins instead of limbs, their body was longer than that of a person since Kappas were supposed to be bipedal, and there was a long tail that moved as if it was a scorpion. On their back was a shell covered in loose skin that kept flopping in the wind, and their heads were elongated and distorted. The top of their skull was almost a horn that sharply dipped back and together with their ears formed a bowl like shape that still retained water. Inside that were their gills, constantly breathing through that same water over and over again.
Hera summoned a long venomous glaive to attack and prepared herself for the first wave of monsters to collapse against the barriers made by the crafters.