Chapter 63: The Tables Have Turned (1/2)
In the captain's cabin of a quiet ship in the harbor of Wyrport, three monsters in human guise sat around a table.
Garl clutched the table in excitement, staring intensely from the hood of his robe at the map. On it, a wave of red dots, stretched out in a line, approached a single purple one.
”Looks like the team of chosen will be unnecessary.” The shark-toothed woman commented absentmindedly. To all appearances, she held no real interest in the moving colors on the map.
The misshapen figure glanced over at her before returning its attention to the map. ”Indeed. It would be good to take her alive, but simply removing her from the field will improve our overall chances of success.”
The Anhilite Priest, known simply as Smiler, scoffed wetly, ”What can one little girl do against the might of a true god? Our success is all but guaranteed.”
Without taking his 'eyes' off of the map, Garl replied. ”Do not underestimate the power of a natural born Oracle. Powerful ones can change the course of history for entire countries with a well placed word or action. Even though our target is still immature, her foresight could lead our enemies to victory. Besides, our leader has made it a priority to capture or kill them whenever we encounter them.”
He gurgled a little, as if clearing his throat. ”The presence of an Oracle was one of the two factors that our leader predicted could lead to our failure, here. The other was a potential intervention by the Court of Night. Since, the Lord of War was killed by some unknown Rank 4 caster, their involvement was deemed unlikely at this time.”
The woman shrugged, ”I still think it was a bit hasty to enact our plan so quickly after he was defeated. After all, it was entirely possible that whoever killed that vampire could become involved in this as well.”
”It was agreed that the potential benefits outweighed the risks. Now, if we just remove the Oracle from the equation….”
It was then that something unusual happened on the map. The purple dot stopped, and was quickly approached by a large red dot. Right before the dots intermingled, a green speck shot past, seemingly eliminating the red dot. Soon afterwards, the trailing line of red disappeared in a fast moving wave.
”What?! What happened?” Garl screamed hoarsely.
The shark-toothed woman chuckled slightly. ”It seems you were right about Oracles. This one appears to have gone straight to a person capable of defending her.”
As they watched, the green and purple dot traveled back behind the green defensively line at a high rate of speed. As soon as they crossed it, they disappeared from the map.
Garl growled in rage and stood up quickly, toppling over the table and the map. He set about wrecking much of the nearby furniture, while the other two watched him warily.
Smiler turned to the woman, ”What does it mean when those dots vanish from the map?”
”Usually, it means that the life form it represents has died, or been rendered incapable of independent movement. However, this map is not omniscient. It can only track signals from creatures within the range of its synchronized servitors.”
She received a blank look.
”Put simply, they moved out of our range of detection.”
Garl finished his path of destruction, and after visibly calming himself down, walked over, righted the table, and resumed where he left off.
”It's no matter, the chosen will take care of it.” He said with conviction. Although, to the other two people in the room, it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
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”Alright, now that we have decided what to prioritize, the better questions would be how to go about dealing with that monstrosity.” Mike pondered while placing a hand on his chin.
Victor raised a hand, ”I actually have an idea of that.”
Mike, the silver-haired woman, and Tal who had wandered over after he landed, all turned to look at the mage expectantly.
He continued, ”After watching you in action, I can tell that you have an almost inhuman quantity of mana. So much so, I can only assume that you have several skills or titles that contribute to your overall Mana attribute.”
”What are you trying to say?” Mike asked, trying to steer the conversation away from his skills and more towards a practical solution.
”Why, if we arm you with a decent chant, your magic should be more than capable of dealing with these demons, even the Mali'kalith.”
Mike gave him a blank look, ”The what now?”
”The Mali'kalith, more commonly known as a Greater Gluttony Demon. It is ranked in the Yon class primarily due to its size and durability. I very much doubt that anyone here besides you could do much damage to the thing. Thankfully, gluttony demons are known to be both slow and stupid, so we should have ample time to teach you a proper chant.”
Tal pulled Mike's sleeve. ”Should do it. Strong.”
Mike nodded his thanks for her positive appraisal, ”Works for me. What do I need to do?”
At little ways away, Mike heard James give a command to the archers. ”Once they get in range, fire at will. Focus on the lesser demons, you won't be able to do much to the big one.”