Upheaval 11 (1/2)

Hilda, Lichter, and Drea had been following the directions that Xera had left for them by burning images into the floors and walls. That was fine in and of itself, although why the succubus had chosen to leave behind pictures of dicks rather than arrows was- No, it was actually completely understandable, all things considered. But while the phallic graffiti did technically serve its purpose in guiding the rest of the ‘rescue party,’ they didn’t get far before they ran into serious resistance.

Which was how Hilda found herself upside down and lodged halfway through a steel wall.

“Slimes… Why’d it have to be slimes?!”

The Stonekin dwarf grumbled as she dislodged herself from her predicament, landing on the ground with a heavy thud. The reason for her complaint was that slimes were a bad matchup for Berserkers like her. They had high endurance and an innate resistance to physical blows, which was her main way of un-aliving things. This meant that, even though she would win in combat against them eventually, it would always take way too much time, unless she had a massive Level advantage.

So when faced against two Queen Slimes that had bodies of liquid steel, her chances of a quick and easy win became non-existent. The monstrous pair in question had taken on the appearances of well-endowed women that had amorphous blobs for lower bodies. They smiled and giggled mischievously before they charged at her once again, bouncing off of the walls and ceiling of the metal passageway in an erratic manner as they closed in on her.

“Rearm!”

The massive axe Hilda was stubbornly holding onto disappeared in a flash of light, and was replaced by a pair of runed swords. One of them was a white mithril blade that crackled with electricity, while the other was a pitch black obsidian longsword that smoldered with unnatural heat. Even if those things could nullify her brute strength, she would still make them contend with the arsenal of magic weapons at her disposal. Smiling widely beneath her helmet, she charged forward to meet them head on.

Over on the other side of the wall, Lichter was not faring much better as he faced down a squad of five suspiciously well-armed and well-trained harpies in mid-air combat. The auditorium he wound up in gave him a good amount of maneuverability, but the same went for his opponents. The half-bird half-human monsters actually seemed more adept at fighting in these relatively cramped conditions than the Paladin and were practically flying circles around him.

This air superiority seemed to be due to the fact that one of these feather-headed beauties had been trained in the ways of the Shaman. Enhancing her allies with her wind-based magic amplified their already formidable flying skills, allowing them to make drastic turns and rapid accelerations with but a single beat of their wings-for-arms. At the same time, they used the talons on their birdlike feet to wield swords, bows and spears with mind-boggling dexterity. Their sheer speed and surprisingly good teamwork allowed them to keep hitting the Paladin without him being able to land a single blow in return.

In fact, their cooperation was so good that if the High Elf didn’t know any better, he’d swear he was the boss monster, and the harpies were the adventuring party that showed up to kill it. And they might have just accomplished this feat if it wasn’t for three small details.

One - Lichter was still under the effects of the sound-dampening Elixir of Greater Suppression. This nullified the power of their voices, which was arguably their greatest weapon. Two - even if he was taking damage and they weren’t, it was like a praying mantis fighting a battleship. His stamina and endurance would win out in the end, at which point a single well-placed blow from his mighty hammer would turn any of them into mush.

Third, and perhaps most important of all, he wasn’t alone.

A shadow passed over the harpy Shaman in the blink of an eye, producing a single, barely audible slicing sound. A breath or two later, the winged magic user fell to the ground while her head, which was no longer attached to her body, landed a few meters away from her still-twitching corpse. With the air manipulator out of the picture, Lichter was finally able to catch up to the Ranger harpy that had been taking pot shots at him the entire time and crushed her like a bug against the wall.

With their formation well and truly fucked, it took less than a minute for the Paladin to catch up to and subsequently splatter two more of them. The fifth and final one was impaled from behind by Drea, putting an end to the pointless confrontation. One that would have lasted much longer if it wasn’t for the Stalker’s assistance.

“Good work,” said the High Elf with a small nod in the spider-demon’s general direction.

“We’re wasting time here!” she hissed. “We need to catch the target-t-t-t-t before he escapes!”

“That is not our mission here, demon,” he replied in a stern manner.

“Maybe not yours… Tktktktktktk….”

Drea gave off an ominous-sounding chitter as she slinked back into the shadows, thoroughly reminding the Paladin why he hated working with demons. As an inherently good person, it was impossible for him to get along with beings that were quite literally born evil. Still, the contemptuous assassin had a point, and they were definitely wasting time here. He landed back on the ground and ran out of the auditorium, back into the hallway where Hilda was still struggling with her Queen Slime problem.

“Amplify Magic!”

He was just about to leap in and give her a hand when he heard a very familiar voice from the deep end of the passageway. He turned his head to see that the succubus that had gone ahead earlier was using yet another ability she shouldn’t have at her disposal. One that manifested itself in the shape of six rings of yellow light that looped around her elbows, knees, scalp and waist, decorating her like some sort of chandelier.

“Amplify Magic!”

She used the Skill a second time, wrapping one of the Queen Slimes in similar-looking rings of light that orbited around her undulating body. Although this seemed like she was empowering her enemy, that assessment could not be further from the truth. At least, not when said enemy lacked offensive magic of their own.

Amplify Magic

Description: The djinn’s natural affinity for magic allows them to easily magnify the effects of almost all Spells and Skills.

Requirements: Level 5 Djinn

Type: Active

Activation Time: Instant

Cost: 300 MP

Range: 15 Meters

Effects: Increases magic damage and healing done by 10% per Level of this Skill.

Increases magic damage and healing taken by 10% per Level of this Skill.

Increases the duration and effectiveness of all temporary Status Effects by 5% per Level of this Skill.

The effects of this Skill will last 15 seconds.

While normally a double-edged sword, this Skill practically shone when used against magically-neutered targets like Steel Queen Slimes. It allowed Xera to take advantage of all of this Skill’s aspects without increasing the risk towards her allies.

“Scorching Ray!”

After prepping the stage, the winged demoness unleashed a devastating beam of white heat that shot out of the skull-headed staff in her hands and struck one of the Queen Slimes dead on. The bulbous woman screamed in pain as the dull gray color of her ‘skin’ rapidly began turning red. She immediately tried to retreat, but a well-placed body slam to her center of mass from Hilda made her crash into the nearby wall. This allowed Xera to keep her Spell trained on her target for a few seconds longer. The thermal overload caused the slime’s body heat to increase until she started to visibly bubble over and lose consistency until she exploded into a shower of molten steel a few seconds later.

Seeing her ‘sister’ die in a such a visceral manner snapped the other Queen Slime out of whatever battle trance she was in. Realizing that any further opposition would only lead to a rather horrible death, the monster immediately retreated while she had the chance. She willed her body to become completely fluid and escaped through one of the drains in the floor.

“Oy!” shouted Hilda as she stomped on top of the opening. “We’re not done here, ye droopy cunt!”

“Yes, we are,” said the succubus as she walked closer.

“What’d ye mean ‘yes we-’ Lass! Ye’re safe!”

“By the Goddess!”

It was at this point that both VIPs spotted the small, trembling figure standing behind the succubus. The dusky skin, bright crimson hair and fuzzy-looking triangular ears were very much like the catgirl they came here to rescue. At the same time, her lively yellow eyes seemed dull and vacant. Her thousand-meter stare combined with her blank expression and uncharacteristically meek attitude gave off the unmistakable impression of ‘damaged goods.’ The fact that she was wrapped up in what appeared to be a soiled bed sheet was indicative that her stay here was anything but pleasant.

“What did they do to you, child?!” asked Lichter as he rushed to her side and grabbed her by the shoulders.

Keira, however, did not respond. In fact, she barely even seemed to register his presence.

“These assholes,” growled Hilda while punching the wall. “I’ll turn ‘em all into mincemeat for daring to lay a finger on my cute disciple!”

“That is not our objective, you raging cuntwaffle,” spat out Xera. “The target is secure, and we need to vacate the area. Now!”

“She’s right, Hilda,” said the Paladin as he picked the barely responsive Keira up in his arms. “We need to prioritize her safety first.”

“So these sick bastards can come after her again?!” protested the dwarf. “She won’t be safe until we put every last one of ‘em in the ground!”

“My Master is already working on that,” interrupted Xera.

“He… He is?”

“I’ll explain on the way, come on!”

The succubus began feeding the rescue party the cartload of fresh bullshit that Boxxy had prepared for them, but Drea, who was following behind while clinging to the ceiling, didn’t hear a word of it. She was still way too conflicted to do anything but move her body on autopilot while she processed this sudden turn of events.