Chapter 78 (1/2)
Vur and Tafel stood next to each other as they stood on top of Grimmy’s head. Lillian, Paul, and Michelle were hanging in the air, held by one of the black dragon’s claws. Lindyss flew in front of Grimmy, a pair of translucent batwings sprouting from her back. Grimmy hovered in the air above the Leonis territory. Soldiers were rushing out of a castle towards the farmlands surrounding it. A sea of flames blazed in the western most tip of the farms, heading east towards the castle.
Lillian’s eyes glowed with a white light as she scanned the land beneath her. “I see Grandpa!” she shouted and pointed towards the wave of soldiers rushing towards the fire. Her eyes narrowed. “He’s fighting against a group of fairies. I have to help him!” Lillian scrambled up Grimmy’s claw and steadied herself as she conjured a white bow and nocked an arrow made of light.
Paul squinted and shielded his eyes from the sun with his right hand. “Can you really hit them from here?” he asked. “Grandpa barely looks bigger than an ant.”
Lillian released her arrow in response. It screeched as it ripped apart the air in front of it, homing in on the dust-sized fairy below. It left behind a trail of light in the air like a shooting star across the night sky.
Lindyss raised an eyebrow as the arrow struck its target. “Not bad,” she said as the arrow smashed against the fairy’s body, knocking it into the ground. The soldiers in front of the fairy froze before looking up into the sky, following the trail of light. “It’s a shame they’re resistant to magic.” Lindyss shook her head and the fairy started to crawl out of the hole in the ground that its body had created.
Lillian’s grandpa stepped forward and beheaded the fairy before its body could climb all the way out. A worm lunged out of the fairy’s carcass towards the man, but he punted it away with his shield. Another arrow of light flew through the air and struck the worm’s body, disintegrating it with a white flame.
“It seems like the humans can take care of themselves,” Grimmy said as he flew closer to the combat area. A few of the humans were casting water spells to douse the burning farms while the armored men fended off the fairies. Arrows of light knocked the fairies in the air to the ground, preventing them from escaping the swords’ range. A rune formed on Michelle’s forehead as she chanted a spell. A few moments later, pillars of white light rained down on the battlefield, healing the humans and blinding the fairies.
“The infected ones haven’t started using magic yet,” Lindyss said as she flew alongside Grimmy. She rubbed her chin with her hand. “I wonder why. Maybe this is a weaker breed of worms? If that’s the case, you can leave the three humans here while we head to the underground tunnel system.”
Grimmy nodded. “You hear that, kiddies?” he asked the three humans standing on his claw. “I’m going to drop you now.” The trio screamed as the foundation they were standing on vanished, causing them to plummet towards the ground. Lindyss conjured a cushion of air beneath them, stopping their descent inches away from the ground.
“We’re going to find Stella?” Vur asked. His hands closed and tightened into fists.
Lindyss nodded. “Ideally, she’d be unprepared because she’s currently possessing someone,” she said as she flew towards the west. Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not letting her get away this time.”
Vur frowned. “Is she really a bad person?” he asked. He looked down at the lightning elemental hanging on the end of his necklace. “When I helped free her, she gave me Sparky as a present. And she seemed to really care about Rella, Bella, and…” Vur paused and furrowed his brow.
Tafel took Vur’s hand into her own. “Even if she was nice,” she said and stared him in the eyes, “it doesn’t pardon her for what she’s done. I just became the demon lord a few days ago, but I’ve read a lot of reports about missing people. She’s kidnapped over a thousand demons and humans over the past ten years. And with this worm business, I don’t even want to think about how many are dead or wish they were dead.”
Vur sighed and nodded. “I just want to know why she suddenly changed from nice and caring to evil and cursey after Auntie showed up,” he said and turned to face Lindyss’ back. “What exactly happened between the two of them?”
Lindyss continued to fly forwards without pause and Grimmy took a sudden interest in studying his nails.
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