Gladly, none of us were fatally hurt by the fall. Which ans that nobody is actually hurt, as Mom’s healing triggered imdiately.
The imdiate healing is nice and all, but the mont of injury still hurts a lot. Ugh.
"Your Highness! Are you okay?"
The officers rushed to my aid, but I was already getting up.
"Yeah, we aren’t hurt, thanks to my mother’s healing. Though, man, did that impact hurt. But they are still passed out..."
Lovelace is tending to Ingela, and the priestesses are just there, so I go to the High Priestess.
"Ingela’s not waking up, but she isn’t injured or anything... oh, found it."
"AAAHH!"
Ingela’s terrified scream shook everyone to the bones.
"Ingela? Are you okay?"
"Aurea? Lovelace? Are you really you? Am I... back?"
"Yes, you’re back, and we’re really us. At least I think I am . What did you do, Lovelace?"
"She was under a mind effect, so I deactivated it."
’Deactivated’ ans she ate it. But she can’t simply say that in this place. Even though the officers are trustworthy people, certain secrets are best left secret.
"Then please do it to the girls as well."
I do a gesture with my head to point to the priestesses. Every ti one wakes up, another terrified scream.
"Now that everyone’s back, please tend to my curiosity. What were you seeing?"
"Now’s not the ti, Aurea. We need to head back, for the monster keeps advancing towards the capital."
"Advancing towards the capital? A monster? Strong enough to send you packing?"
The officers in the room are having a hard ti dealing with the information presented by Lovelace. After all, they firmly believed that nothing could survive a confrontation against a combat group ford for Ingela, Lovelace, and .
"Well, there’s always a bigger fish in the ocean."
Though my words are a common proverb back on Earth, they don’t make much sense in this world, simply because no country was near any coast.
Now that I think about it, it IS weird that no country is based there, but let’s leave it aside.
"Well, on my side I can summarize it as a nightmare and leave it at that. We have now the information that the monster has a sonic attack that induces people into a sleep state plagued with nightmares."
"I agree with Ingela, as that also describes my experience."
Ledda agreed with Ingela, and behind her the acolytes nodded vigorously.
"Okay, now it’s my turn to have a question. Why are we here?"
Ingela is looking around curiously. Which makes sense, as she was high in the air monts ago.
"The floor you conjured dispelled the mont you fainted, and we went all down, so I created a portal right below us."
"Oh, I see."
Right that mont, a portal appears in the office, and Yawarete walks in.
"Yawarete, that’s great! You’re the missing piece."
"Huh? Aurea? And Lovelace and Ingela, too... What are you doing here?"
"Long story short, we’re battling a powerful monster and need soone who can easily deploy a barrier against sound. Are you too busy right now?"
"Does this have sothing to do with the mana draining phenona in Altenfeld? I was heading there to investigate it after a ssenger ca to the palace."
"Bingo! The monster is the cause for that and for the desertification of the Barren Wilds as well. It’s an elental being who sucks the mana out of the environnt and probably feeds it to the Adventuring System. It’s coming towards the capital as we speak."
The sudden revelation shocked everyone present, as the only people privy to that information about the role of the monster in the Barrens were , Lovelace, and the Royal family.
"Say no more. What are we waiting for?"
"Lovelace, what’s the location of the thing?"
"It’s already past Alderbury, heading to Treehollows."
"A portal to Treehollows then, please, officer!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
We’re coming back, and with reinforcents.
:::
We simply rushed through the governnt building in Treehollows. But before heading out, I saw an officer coming through the portal to update the people there on our mission.
Like last ti, we run the streets northwards as the bells sound the evacuation signal.
"Ledda, do you have offensive light spells that don’t require so much ti and so many people to cast?"
"We do, but they aren’t as powerful."
"It’s okay. It would be one thing if the spell were strong enough to wipe him out, but as it is, it heals faster than you inflict damage. I’m thinking that hitting it with higher frequency attacks to slowly chip it over ti would be a better strategy."
"I see."
"But Aurea, that would an rendering us defenseless. We can’t have our defenses up when they fire, as the shields could block our own attacks."
"Damn, Ingela. You’re right."
"I think that we should continue the sa strategy. The guy was getting smaller every attack, and it had to stop sucking mana to focus on us. I think that the way to win this is by hitting it until it doesn’t have enough mana to heal itself anymore."
"Yeah. Agreed, Lovelace. Ledda, forget what I said, keep with the earlier strategy, and we will make sure your casting is not interrupted."
"Yes, Your Arch Holiness."
Ugh, again with that title. As if being ’Your Highness’ wasn’t embarrassing enough.
The north gate is full with people fleeing into the city after hearing the bells. Most of them have witnessed the effects of the encroaching danger, and the bells only confird their biggest fears, so the chaos is spreading through there.
"Let’s jump on the rooftops, and from there to the top of the walls."
At this point, the priestesses are already used to the unreal things my gravitational magic plus Lovelace’s strengthening magic are able to do and simply follow with the flow, jumping easily over the crowd.
As we did in Alderbury, we run northwards to put so distance between us and the town. The monster is at the sa altitude as before, but it locks on us from up high, striking with a tentacle before we can even cast the portal.
Round two is about to begin.
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