Tree of Aeons Side story- Lausanne and the demons

Side story- Lausanne and the demons

End of Year 133/beginning of Year 134 ~ city of Perhimpunan, of the Sultanate of Timurtengah, Eastern Continent.

Lausanne stared at the Aivan templar. Its been a few years, 6 years since they released her from their ho imprisonnt, but sohow, the sight of templars still triggered her, a little, little bit. Even if her stay was pleasant, a prison is still a prison.

Greetings Lady Lausanne. The templar of Aiva handed her a magical letter. A ssage from Grandmaster Engka.

She frowned, but this wasnt the first ti she received a letter from Engka. Engka had convinced her, as part of her release terms many years ago, that she would assist with demon-related matters. No matter, the letter magically unlocked itself the mont she touched it.

Investigate the village of Dimusnah. Demon sightings suspected. Local Temple did not respond back. More info at City Temple. She frowned. At first, this didnt seem like sothing that needed her assistance. But then she pondered it and a gut feeling told her it wasnt so simple.

Her husband and the rest of the Playing Swords were there too. A few mbers changed. Two died. Her husband frowned. Engka has so task for you again?

Yeah. But investigate this village of Dimusnah. Any idea where that is? Lausanne repeated the contents in private to the rest of her adventurer team.

One of the team mbers unfurled a map and they soon found it. It was a few days from the city, it was a small village that bordered the central canyons.

Lausanne nodded. Alright, thanks. Ill be going. She walked with her husband to sowhere quiet, and gave him a hug. Ill have to go do this.

Ardi just smiled. Take care alright. Its very close to the start of demon-season. Dont bite more than you can chew. He said that every ti Lausanne went out on her own, but he knew Lausanne wasnt reckless. Clueless occasionally, but not reckless. Well be taking on missions around here.

It wasnt right for her to ask her team to go with her for her personal bargain with the Temple.

-

As Lausanne walked up the steps into the Aivan temple, two templars stopped her. State your business.

Lausanne nodded and flashed a special Aivan-Ring. They nodded and let her in. It was her first ti in this citys temple, but they all had a similar layout. The High Templar was at the top.

The High Templar was already waiting. The High Templar was the lead military officer of the temple in this city. Every large Aivan Temple had one. Greetings Lausanne. There were two other templars in the room. We believe demons from the rift have been spotted near Dimusnah, and Engka believes youre the best person to investigate. We would have sent templars, but were shorthanded at the mont.

Lausanne shrugged. All the High Templars always sounded like they were a bit irritated at her. They, of course, didnt know her Aeonic origins, or else theyd all attempt to kill her. Instead, Engka had constructed an elaborate plan to drown out news about her origins, so they only know that shes an elf from the Highland Cities of the North. It was easy to fake her origins when she left the Central continent so many years ago.

Well arrange a carriage to get you to a nearby town. And heres a docunt for you. The High Templar said and that was the end of the conversation. The docunt was magically sealed, but it was more elaborate. There was a small guest eting room where she sat, and opened it. It seed that Dimusnah was already destroyed, but they didnt know what, so essentially, they needed soone who had a scout or rangers abilities to track the demons. There were no known markings or footprints.

Lausanne made the journey that night, and in two days she reached the nearest town. From there, she would have to walk. The mood in the town was strange, and she noticed how sparsely populated it was.

She was the only one in the inn that day. Have they disappeared?

No. Most of them have fled the town. The innkeeper said. The sudden destruction of Dimusnah was scary.

Huh. It wasnt a secret.

And no one dared venture near.

Lausanne just glanced at the map again. This was a sparsely populated part of the continent anyway. If demons wanted to hide away and bide their ti, this was the perfect place. But that implied they could think, and Lausanne was relatively sure not all demons can think. Could this generation think? At least to a limited degree? The very few hints she got seed to imply it.

She continued her journey the next day. The area is dry, almost-desert like. There was so vegetation, but most of them were small. There were cactuses too. Still, a village existed here simply because of the mines and the minerals that wash up on the shores of the canyons rivers. It would take her a day and so to finally arrive, at her speed.

It was early morning when she arrived at the village and saw the destroyed village. There was visible charring on the floor, as if so intense fla burned through the entire area. She touched the charred dirt, sniffed it a little. Demons. Unmistakably so.

But there were no footsteps of creatures or demons. Well, there were fleeing villages, but the ground burned wherever they fled. She looked at the shape and angle of the charring. Whatever it was, it attacked from a higher altitude. Possible the height of a walker.

Could be so kind of ranged attacker, or flying. Lausanne said to herself, as she examined the ruins. She looked at the direction of the fla... and went the other way. If its a tall demon like a walker, there should be so footsteps or imprints on the ground.

Nothing. There were more flas and charring, but no footsteps.

Most likely a flyer. She paused. She briefly rembered one of her many dream-spars, where she fought flying creatures. This seed to match it. Had the rift opened? It was about ti. A generation of flying demons would be frightening.

She ntally inford Warden to prepare so extra throwing spears, and adjusted the three wooden spears on her back. If they really are flyers, shell need them soon enough.

The trail of flas eventually ended at the edges of a canyon.

Where did they go? Lausanne looked at the river, and at the edges of the canyons as far as she could see. It was dry. There were no monsters either. Upriver then. Thats the typical answer.

She began walking along the canyon. If they were hiding, they must have found a cave or sothing. She looked at a map, and there are parts where the rivers hidden underground. Or perhaps on the other side of the tributaries. Vines extended from both her hands, and she used them like long feelers.

At her level, she could stretch it from one side to the other side, and shed be able to use her vines and swing along the river, using the canyon walls as her anchors.. That would be a faster way to travel along the canyons.

She steeled herself, and began moving. There was nothing. The canyons were vast, and as she moved upriver, she noticed little shiny things in the river. Gems. The reason why the village of Dimusnah even existed.

Nows not the ti for that. She said to herself. Maybe on the trip back, once she located the demons. It took about an hour, then she thought she heard sothing. A soft growl. Almost imperceptible. She reeled in her vine and it pulled her to the canyon walls. A few vines popped out of her body and allowed her to latch onto the wall like a spider.

Then she saw it, a hole in the wall right at the river waters edge. This was almost three hours away from the village

There were easily five of them, three of them were massive. Large, winged, and they were in different colors. Black. Dark Brown. Reddish-black. Horned. But they also had glowing red eyes.

Dragons...?

Lausanne paused, and she stared a little longer.

No. Demons that resembled dragons. But why were they hiding?

It was then she saw smaller dragons. The smaller dragons stepped out of the hole and dived into the river. A while later it erged.

What was it doing? Using her vine-legs, she crawled closer, then she saw it half-hidden inside the hole. A larger, wingless dragon. The smaller dragon walked next to it, and it spat out so gems. This larger demon-dragon ate it, and it glowed.

Then it laid an egg.

Lausanne felt chills. This was a breeding demon, like Sabnoc! Sabnoc latched on magical locations to grow massive armies. She looked at them, and sensed their magical power. They were not weak. Not as strong as a walker or a champion, but certainly more of the demon-elite or demon-general tier.

It made sense why the village was destroyed so easily. These demons, they are only a few of them, but they needed soone at least level 50 or 60 to fight them. The demons did not spot her. She used a bit of her druidic powers to move the rock around her, like a natural camouflage.

She waited, and watched them a little more. They were eating the gems in the river, and they would also feed the gems to the wingless demon in the cave. What made them suddenly attack the village? Were they spotted? Were they instructed by the demon king to hide and multiply until the ti is right?

She waited till night. The demons still didnt spot her, and she noticed they were constantly eating.

Then, two of the large demon-dragons flew away. Only the wingless, one larger demon-dragon and two smaller ones were left.

If she wanted a chance, this was it. She waited for the two large demon-dragons to fly further away. She took a deep breath, and reached for two wooden anti-demon spears.

She leapt out of her hideout, and quickly activated her [Anti-demon suppression aura].

The demons turned, and her wooden spear glowed in a bright green light. [Spear of Destruction] She landed right on one of the smaller demons. It was unprepared, and the spear went through the head. It collapsed there and then. The wingless demon roared, and its breathed a jet of fire. The other larger one quickly took flight and opened its mouth.

She threw her other spear at it, accelerated by her power. [Flying Spear]. The demons firebreath clashed with the flying anti-demon spear. But she had no ti, she quickly leaped away to avoid the wingless demons fireblast.

She cursed. She should have attacked the wingless demon first. She thought she could take that one later. The wingless demons firebreath continued to streak across the canyon walls, as it attempted to chase her down. She called on Warden to produce more throwing spears, and she flung it at the wingless demon. It wasnt moving, only its head was.

But the other, larger flying demon was already flying into another position. She turned and quickly used her vines to change directions. There was another jet of fire.

She landed on another side of the canyon walls. The demon was still flying, and it breathed fire into the canyon. It intended to coat the entire canyon with fire. Ugh. She grunted and the flas started to coat her surroundings. The wingless dragon was still there. She couldnt get it. She made a mistake!

The demon-dragon kept breathing fire. If she wanted to fight it, she needed to get it down, lower to the ground. Or... she had to fly up there.

That area of the canyon would be entirely blanketed with fire soon, she needed to do it now. She used her vines and attached itself to the canyon walls, and with so magic, transford herself into an arrow and shot herself into the sky at the demon. Then, with another spear, and a vine attached to it, flung it into its body.

This ti, the demon aid its jet of fla at Lausanne instead of the spear, so the spear managed to pierce the flying demon.

[Steelwood Barrier]. The jet of fla burned the wooden barrier, but she was fine. She landed on the ground, and then activated [Constrict]. The vine exploded into a massive tangle of vines around the demon, and she planted her feet on the ground.

[Entrench]. The vines linked up with the roots Lausanne created in the ground, and with the roots supporting her, she pulled the constricted demon out of the sky. It crashed into the ground with a loud bang, but it wasnt over. It breathed fire again.

[Steelwood Barrier].

A barrier blocked the flas, opening a space for Lausanne to quickly move ahead. She had to do it now when it was on the ground. [Super-antidemon rootstrike]. Three massive roots erged from the ground and it skewered the large demon-dragon. It then disintegrated, and left behind... gems and so other things.

A roar, followed by another. The two large demon-dragons were coming back. She had to get the wingless dragon first! She suspected the wingless dragon to be sothing like a birther, so she needed to get rid of it, else the demons would continue to multiply. She used her vines and her abilities to speed up. She needed to get back to where the wingless dragon was.

But it was gone. Only the smaller one was there, and it roared.

Ugh. Lausanne decided a demon was still a demon, even if its small. With a vine attached to a spear, she flung it and the smaller demon. It died instantly from the attack, even though it did try to fight it off.

She heard the roars again. If the two large demons are back, itll be another hard fight. The mature demon-dragons were just below a demon walker in offensive ability, but thankfully their defenses were rather weak. But wheres the wingless one? If its wingless, there should be footsteps.

She looked around and activated a common druidic ability, which was to borrow animal-like abilities. [Scent of the Prey], and she followed it. It went even further upstream and it didnt manage to go very far. It was large, but not very fast. Lausanne used her vines to slingshot herself at the wingless demon. Its a grounded demon, so she should be able to use [super anti-demon root strike] once she gets in range.

The demons head turned and it spat a huge amount of fire. It charred the wooden barrier around her, but not good enough. She was almost there. It had a massive tail and it moved to strike. It smashed into the charred barrier, but the barrier was still intact. There was another tail that ca at her from the right. Did it always have two tails? The tails smashed right into the wooden shield and knocked her into the canyon wall.

Ugh. She didnt see that coming, and ntally thanked Warden for a protective shield that helped absorb the impact. Still, the shockwave hurt. At least it wasnt a walker-class enemy, and at this distance, she could counterattack.

Five anti-demon roots erged from the floor and pierced the wingless demon-dragon, and it roared. Almost like it was in pain, but it turned and breathed fire. She sensed its energy dissipating, and yet it kept breathing fire into the narrow canyon. Lausanne leaped and then used two vines to latch on to the top of the canyon walls, and launched herself up. The wingless demon wasnt moving. The five roots were still firmly planted in its body. She retrieved another wooden spear from Warden and flung it at the wingless demon.

This ti, it smashed into its body and then the body cracked. Then the cracks lit up, and the wingless demon exploded. It left gems and other things splattered all over the canyon floor.

Yet, its not over. Not yet. Theres two more larger demons that should be on the way. She heard their roar, and again. They were... fleeing?

She didnt expect that. Or did sothing else call them?

Ugh. Lausanne found a place to stop and just do a short self-check. Parts of her skin were bleeding, and so parts burned. Shell need a day or two to heal them. One of her prized wooden spears broke too. Still, now she had ti to think.

Strategically, they would need a whole lot of archers and mages. Way, way more. Anti-demon arrows would need to be the default equipnt.

She was in no condition to chase after the two large demon-drakes. The battle used up quite a bit of her energy, so she decided to head back instead.

A templar was already waiting for her at the nearest village. Lady Lausanne, youve located the enemy?

Yes. Identified as winged demons that can breath fire and perhaps other elental attacks. She gave a long list of observations of what shes seen, things like size, attack patterns, types of attacks and so on. The templar nodded and quickly started to compile it into a docunt that will go straight to the Grandmaster.

Once completed the templar left, and Lausanne rested in the village. She wondered whether the two large demon-drakes would return, but shes too tired to care.

[Summon Spirit Bird]. Lausanne looked at a small ethereal bird. Keep watch, little one. The bird nodded and flew off.