“Don’t chase,” he said to her. “They want us to follow them into an ambush.”
An ambush the Rangers would soon discover they couldn’t set up. Tempeste dove away from the tree she hid behind and pushed her blazing lightning Spellsword Saber into the back of one Ranger. She never pulled the blade free, just left it stuck in the Ranger to allow the thundering bolts of electricity to shock and zap away their HP.
Guy grinned. The Rangers went to set up their ambush in a space where Tempeste’s team already set up there’s.
He pointed the tip of Asteria’s Sword at the action ahead. “Now, we chase!”
Chapter Thirteen
A Ranger fell to their knees, convulsing from Tempeste’s Spellsword Saber lightning enchantment. Her surprise attack drew the startled gazes of the remaining Rangers, their bows now aimed to shoot Tempeste. She mimicked Guy’s technique and swung the Spellsword Saber to deflect the arrows, holding her ground to make herself the most appealing target to fire at while her party members leaped from the trees to strike the unsuspecting Rangers.
And what a show they put on.
Zuran stayed in the treetops and repeatedly cast Ice. Now and then, he would lock a Ranger’s legs in a block of ice to keep them from moving. Once frozen, Zuran cast several Fireballs and sent them raining down on the Rangers, igniting many of them in a blaze of flames. It forced three Rangers to flee from the tree Zuran hid in and bunch close to each other. The Rangers lifted their bows to shoot at him. Zuran cast Firestorm and lit all three ablaze in one spell cast. The burning Rangers were in dire need of water, so the Spell Lancer Kam gave it to them.
The faun attuned to the water element, twirled the Heavy Lance, and struck the Rangers until he got AP, allowing him to use Elemental Attunement. His Heavy Lance inflicted water damage on the burning and flailing Rangers. Upon getting another 100 AP, Kam used Astral Swipe and released a wave of boiling water with one stroke through the air. The rush of hot water crashed into the Rangers, dousing their flames, and left the three with 50, 51, and 41 percent HP.
Xanthe and Henrietta preyed on the Rangers Kam’s lance was unable to finish. Watching the shadow angel and human woman bring their weapons down onto the weakened Rangers was something else. Henrietta yanked her two-handed axe, the Autumnfall Cutter, out of the head of a dead Ranger.
Henrietta has attained level 6!
The human woman smiled. Then looked ahead and grimaced. “We have more coming!” Henrietta used the Autumnfall Cutter to point.
Ulysses has attained level 4!
Guy’s party pushed the last group of Rangers toward Tempeste’s party. The Rangers thought they were moving to escape, much like the previous group. Tempeste greeted the fleeing Rangers with her lightning imbued Spellsword Saber.
“Hold the line, and we shall be victorious!”
Tempeste clashed with the last wave, her Spellsword Saber’s edge sending each man down, twitching from the electrocution. She cast Lightning on the Rangers, stunning them with the shock’s effect. The paralyzing stun held the Rangers in place for Zuran’s Fireballs from above to rain down and burn them. As the Rangers burned to death, Zuran cast Icicle and hurled icy daggers down on the Rangers, freezing them into ice sculptures. The frozen Rangers idled long enough for Henrietta to carve and split their bodies to pieces with multiple axe cuts while Kam pierced the others with his Heavy Lance from behind—
“Ugh!” Kam raged.
A Ranger got AP, blasted the faun with Barrage, and removed a swathe of his HP. The Ranger followed up by sinking another arrow into Kam’s chest and two through his face. The faun spiraled backward in a mist of blood, landing back first.
Kam | HP: 21/428
He was still alive, but not for long.
Henrietta came to Kam’s defense, shielding him from the arrows meant to finish him. The outcome was not desirable.
Henrietta | HP: 8/295
She staggered with arrows stuck in her armor and arms. Despite leveling up, Henrietta’s level was too low to play the role of a defensive Berserker. Tempeste’s party was losing its advantage. The Ranger positioned himself to take aim at Xanthe. Tempeste put her body in front of the shadow angel. The Ranger just grinned, leaped to the side, and retook aim. The Ranger was targeting everyone who was at a lower level than Tempeste.
Tempeste opened her Inventory screen and pulled out a rare potion.
Muddle Potion
Confuses victims with pleasurable thoughts.
Useable by: Land-dwellers
I never used this before. I suppose this is as good of a time as any to do so.
Tempeste held the bottle in her hand and pitched it at the Ranger. It soared through the open air, fell and smashed on the ground, splashing the Ranger’s legs as a mysterious vapor rose in the air to be breathed in by the remaining hostile forces. The Ranger just looked at the Muddle Potion’s fluids making a mess of their limbs, shrugged, then retook aim at Xanthe. They then lowered their bow. The Ranger laughed and waived their body about, ambling aimlessly as if they were drunk.
The potion worked.
Xanthe stood with Tempeste, giving the woozy Ranger a long stare. “What did you do?”
“Gave us an advantage we cannot waste.” Tempeste moved to the intoxicated Ranger. “With me, shadow angel!”
Tempeste put the Ranger to her Spellsword Saber’s tip. To the side, Xanthe twirled around the Ranger, slashing them rapidly with her twin scimitars, the Steel Edge, and Heavy Kilij. Xanthe got AP and graced the Ranger’s eyes with an exotic wiggle of her limbs and belly, and put them under Alluring Waltz’s hypnotic spell. The remaining Rangers who inhaled the vapors of the potion laughed for no reason, making them easy targets for Tempeste. With the Ranger under Xanthe’s control, she ordered them to shoot their drunken friends as Tempeste cut, cleaved, and electrocuted their HP away. When the charm faded, Xanthe drove her Steel Edge and Heavy Kilij through their back, pulled the blades out, shook off the blood, and slashed open their throat.
The final Ranger keeled over dead, granting Tempeste 750 experience points and 1500 for her allies.
Rachael has attained level 12!
Zuran has attained level 14!
Kam has attained level 13!
Ulysses has attained level 5!
Henrietta has attained level 7!
The final Ranger was a party leader, unveiling to Tempeste’s new friends why the PKers preyed on people to level up.
Tempeste studied the Verte Woods trees, now stained with red and perforated with missed arrows. She spotted no signs of hostile targets and felt no arrows plunge into her body. Tempeste removed the arrows that had sunk into her flesh, offered a hand to Henrietta, and pulled her up. Henrietta was free of battle wounds since she had leveled up. Tempeste grabbed Kam’s hand next, helping him up to his feet. Like Henrietta, Kam looked surprised to see that his wounds had magically faded upon reaching a new level.
Tempeste sheathed the Spellsword Saber to her side. She kept her grip on the hilt, just in case. “Is that it?” she asked.
The faun, Kam, placed his Heavy Lance on his back. “Seems like it, for now.”
Guy, Rachael, and Ulysses approached Tempeste’s gathered party, staring in awe at the fallen Rangers.
“What do we do with the dead?” Ulysses asked.
Tempeste looked at the Rangers’ unmoving corpses, painting the land with gore. “Do not permakill them. It will only encourage them to seek revenge. Let the village’s healers resurrect them, then take them into custody. Feel free to plunder the spoils from their bodies.”
And that they did. Ulysses looted the Rangers for their gear. Since they were all Rangers, there was plenty for him to select—new bows, armor, and accessories.
Ulysses raised his hands in triumph a moment later. “Holy fuck, I hit the jackpot!”
Guy chuckled. “Now we need to get you some levels so you can actually use that stuff.” He turned to Tempeste next. “So, question—what was the potion you threw at the Ranger
s?”
“A Muddle Potion,” she said. “I bought it from the trade broker a while ago. It is a rare potion craftable by alchemy.”
Guy looked impressed. “And handy too.”
“Indeed,” Tempeste said. “Sadly, I cannot synthesize one as I do not know where to locate the ingredients. And nobody has found the man who had put it up for sale.”
“What are they?” Guy asked her.
Tempeste opened her alchemy screen to review the potion’s crafting requirements.
Muddle Potion
Alchemy level required: 35
Shadow Angel Pinion x1
Woozy Mushroom x2
Solvent Crystal x1
“Shadow Angel Pinion and Drowsy Mushrooms,” Tempeste revealed. “If you ever discover them, bring them to me.”
“I’ll keep an eye out,” Guy said. “So, where too next?”
Tempeste gestured to the pathway she had traveled on to reach René’s Cove. “Follow me,” she said, walking toward it. “The path back to my airship is just ahead. If we are quick, we might be able to spot the PKers who took Nijana.”
Tempeste led the two parties through the Verte Woods, being the highest level amongst them. The PKers were gone, but the monsters were not. It surprised her to see that Guy stepped up to lead his party with her. Despite his level, he was neither afraid of the beasts that lurked nor did he back down when they attacked. Paladins were much more robust than she thought, so long as their adversaries were not using elemental magic. She admired how Guy wielded Asteria’s Sword to strike down monsters, brought it up for parrying, dashed to shield Rachael using his body, then do the same to Ulysses, and remained vertical the whole time. There was something majestic about the human, confidence Tempeste had never seen. She felt safer knowing that he would be accompanying her back to Lumière.
The sun started to set and paint the skies with a beautiful orange glow when Tempeste brought the group to the Sirocco. The beasts in the Verte Woods yielded everyone with a reasonable amount of experience points as they were level 20. Since Henrietta and Ulysses were the lowest levels, they were the first to level up, reaching levels 8 and 6, respectively. Xanthe arrived at level 14 shortly afterward.
The last group of monsters awarded Guy with enough experience points to attain level 17. Guy spent the next minute dancing triumphantly. Rachael rolled her eyes and facepalmed. Tempeste just smiled and stared at Guy.
The Lumière Kingdom’s flagship remained right where Tempeste left it, idling in the forest’s clearing. She checked the Sirocco’s status rating as she approached.
Overall Structural Integrity: 100%
Fully repaired.
One by one, everyone climbed to the primary deck of the Sirocco to the surprised looks of the airship’s aeronaut crew. The dead men were now full of life and were ready for launch. Captain Bordeaux got word of Tempeste’s arrival, raced up to the top deck, and stood with a shocked look.
He likely was not expecting Tempeste to be standing with Guy, Rachael, Ulysses, Kam, Xanthe, Zuran, and Henrietta. It was quite the ensemble.
“Thank Asteria, you are still alive,” Bordeaux said. “A group of people killers—”
“Player killers,” Guy cut in with one finger raised to Bordeaux—
Rachael playfully punched his shoulder. “Let the man talk, geez!”
“I swear,” Guy snorted. “By the time this story is finished, everyone will be calling them player killers!”
Bordeaux cleared his throat, giving Guy a disapproving glare. “As I was saying . . .”
“Oh, right.” Guy spun to Bordeaux, laughing. “Sorry, bro, carry on!”
“The people killers ran past us a few hours ago,” Bordeaux continued. “I thought they got you, but just recently, we spotted a few of them retreating.”
“Any signs of a carriage operated by them?” Guy asked.
“No,” Bordeaux said, shaking his head, then looked at Tempeste. “But now that you are back, Lady L’Aignelet, we can search the area.” The captain faced Guy and his entourage, standing behind her. “So, these are the star-dwellers?”
“Well, we three are,” Rachael said.
Bordeaux eyed the group closer, wincing. “Land-dwellers among you too, I see.”
“Traveling companions that we picked up on our journey,” Guy said and offered his hand for a shake. “Name’s Guy Sutherland and—”
“He’s not the captain of the Seraphim,” Ulysses interjected. “That’d be me, Captain Ulysses Archambeau.”
“You are their leader, then?” Bordeaux asked Ulysses.
Ulysses opened his mouth to speak.
“No,” is what Tempeste said, cutting off the star-elf. She faced Guy instead and presented him to the captain. “Guy Sutherland is their leader. He is a Paladin.”
Bordeaux gasped and glanced at Guy’s information closer. “A Paladin . . . praise be to Asteria.”
“You were right to send me to find him, captain,” Tempeste said. “He has agreed to speak with the king.”
Chapter Fourteen
Remy and Pierre chased the second team of people killers (Averyl still loathed that term) a Medic, and a Spell Lancer, forcing the fae princess turned Cleric to keep up. The three ran after the group through the Guillaume Meadows and entered its highlands. Averyl huffed and puffed the entire time. She had not recovered from the stress of flight.
Pierre shot out the Spell Lancer’s legs, and they fell. Remy put the Spell Lancer to his blades repeatedly while they were down, then stopped after they died. They could not permanently kill anyone. That would only enrage the people killers to return the favor.
The trio found the Medic hiding behind a large rock drinking an MP potion. The Medic never finished that drink when the three unleashed their might. They forced him to run. But with no MP, the Medic could not heal themselves, and with Averyl’s Chastisement spell, the Medic’s HP trickled to zero, and he slumped over dead.
“They are weak,” Remy said as he observed Lumière’s army slaughter a third and fourth group of outlaw people killers. “This is our chance.”
“Wait!” Averyl pleaded and panted to her party leader. “Allow me to catch my breath and recover MP.”
Remy grunted angrily at Averyl and stared at her with a grimace. “Better be fast then!” He eyed the path ahead leading into the Antoinette Mountains, the direction the fleeing people killers were retreating to.
Averyl sat and drank the last Greater MP Potion she had. It had felt like ages since she had given her body a rest. As Averyl finished drinking the blue liquid, Remy clenched his twin swords, dashed ahead, and slashed at the retreating people killers. Pierre looked at Averyl as she remained seated, shrugged, then joined Remy with a blazing flintlock in each hand.
She sighed and shut the Inventory screen. Averyl stood, gripped her Silver Wand, and focused on keeping their HP high with Starlight Recovery. She kept a watchful eye on her MP. Potions were no longer an option to recover MP, only her passive fae racial trait, making her MP tick upward, 1 point per second.
“Haha.” Remy laughed at the dead below his feet. “Not so tough now!”
The guardsmen from Lumière fell back to give their healers the chance to recover MP or drink HP potions. Remy insisted on advancing without their support and pushing Averyl harder than any other healer. She would protest, but feared the repercussions that could follow. After all, the elves did not have to take her in, then give her the largest chateau to live in. This was the price of Averyl’s escape from her father’s men.
Periodically, her party would encounter people killers who attempted to focus their wrath on Averyl. She simply buzzed her wings and flew in the air if her flight time would allow it, cast Chastisement on them, then healed Remy and Pierre with Starlight Recovery from above.
“Fucking bullshit!” one Berserker had cried out at Averyl, his axe unable to strike her as she flew circles above him.
“Such language!” Averyl smiled and waved at the furious axe-waving elf.
They really hated her tactics.
Averyl waved her glowing white Silver Wand, cast Chastisement, and made the angry man’s skin bubble and boil. Behind, Pierre’s bullets and Remy’s swords ended his life.
Obtained: 1500 Experience Points
They slew a party leader. A smile graced Averyl’s face as her fluttering wings buzzed.
A moment of calm had arrived, and Averyl floated back to the ground, slowed the flapping of her wings to give them a rest, and briefly looked at her experience points progression.
EXP: 3388/3797
She was close to level 16.
Pierre holstered his flintlocks and stood with Remy as he studied the rocky landscape they ventured through.
“Which way did the others go?” Pierre asked him.
Remy aimed his index finger at the trail leading into the Antoinette Mountains. It was a direction Averyl had hoped they would not have to walk. The hesitation that froze Pierre’s body suggested he felt the same. The volcanic lava giving the path up ahead its red glow was not inviting, to say the least.
Averyl stood with the two men. “Ugh, is this not enough?” she asked. “The army has fallen back to the city by now. Should we not do the same?”
“No,” Remy said firmly. “We must make them pay.” He strode ahead with his twin swords expecting an ambush. “Follow me.”
Averyl did not, and neither did Pierre, who shook his head at Remy. “But—”
“What’s wrong?” Remy stopped and faced Pierre. “You scared, boy?”
“The corruption changed these hills,” Pierre said. “They are not the same ones from my childhood. Small volcanoes, lava, falling rocks, and Asteria knows what else created many dangers.”
“And it might be where the people killers’ hideout is,” Remy said. “Think of their stunned faces when we walk in and ruin their secret hiding spot. Us, two aeronauts and a pixie, did something the royal guardsmen did not have the balls to do.” Remy shifted his gaze to Averyl, shooting her with a conniving elven smirk. “What do you say, healer? Are you ready?”
Mirror Princess: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 2) Page 12