MTLNOVEL Chapter 788: The Steam
"Remember, no rushing… The powerhouses are for the heralds and priestesses to handle, we have to mow down the numbers and find the gateway they have hidden, wherever it is…"
"If I had to guess, it would probably be hidden somewhere in the steamy region, right? That's what sounds the most logical, the constant steam obstructs senses and even the sunlight, hiding something in there would be easiest, and I heard that they have been packing that region with all sorts of foul beasts and monsters as well"
"They probably took steps to further conceal it from prying eyes, if I had to guess, I would assume that they dug into the ground and established an underground space, if he we get close enough to it, I might be able to sense the air currents within, but then again, they probably packed that place with countless measures to conceal it completely"
"Seeing how their soldiers use unknown ways of power, and even are from species we never even heard of before, it is only natural to expect them to know just about every manner in which they can accomplish just that, they know what we all are about, but the opposite is not true, so be careful"
The ground shook violently, and soon, a powerful gust of wind washed over them all, coming from far away.
"They began the hostilities, let's go"
Whilst the most powerful members of the two groups of worshippers engaged the enemy head-on, the people from Tamaris had been put in charge of finding the hydra's golden head, the threat of the undead seemed to be close, and the best way to emerge victorious was naturally to not have to fight them at all.
Although their living soldiers could surely be a threat, everybody knew that the real danger came from the undeads themselves, those who had seen it vividly remembered the ease with which they had marched upon the continent, the simplicity with which they had walked through the defences of Tamaris, they had had plenty of warriors worthy of the title of hero fighting on their side, but the undeads had still grasped victory without much trouble.
There was no telling how much more powerful they had become since then, how many years it had been in the main world, how far they had conquered beyond the reaches of Viridis, for all they knew, the empire of death could have already spread out to the entire world, or it could have remained the same as when they had left, the livings who had successfully ran away from death did not know anything, and so, there was Fear in their hearts, for The Unknown permeated the opposition.
In their venture to find the portal, they had spread out to cover more ground into multiple groups, currently, Milo, Helena, and Toby were forming a trio, right now, the archbishops, crusaders and the likes had split up into two groups, the death hunters as well, splitting their leaders to direct the rest, Ilona and William were accompanied by the brothers, Saul and Zola, the four disciples of Syklon remained as a quartet whilst the elemental champions and combat-able talent holders had formed a few other groups, all to search the region flooded with steam as efficiently as possible.
Taking advantage of the fact that a great chunk of the invaders would be occupied elsewhere as they endured the full brunt of the realm's strongest natives, but naturally, the soldiers in white weren't complete fools, so they must have been prepared to be attacked as the trio had the way blocked as a something blurry came barreling through the steam.
Followed by more of the same objects, without hesitation, Milo stepped forward and punched them all away, realising that these were fist-sized bullets of some sort of energy.
Still, all were deflected without issue.
Somebody whistled from within the steam, though they did not show themselves.
"Did you just deflect my bullets with your bare fists? I don't think I even spotted any energy reinforcement… Big boy, brown hair, brown eyes- Accompanied by a big girl with brown hair and dark blue eyes- And some dark haired guy with glasses and a bow…"
"How lucky must I be? I just ran into three of the priority targets, and not small ones at that… Golden Boy, Wind Girl and System Guy!" more bullets were fired out, this time twice as many, each twice as fast as before, but once again, Milo punched them all away without breaking a sweat.
"Milo, Helena and Toby… Most importantly… I heard from you in particular from father a great deal, where is that golden mana of yours?" a single shot tore through the air, this one, moving strangely without losing any of its dreadful swiftness, being once again twice as fast as the previous ones, but it did not change anything, the energy bullet was slapped into the ground all the same.
"Why don't you show yourself? Since I can understand what you are saying and judging by you referring to a 'father', you must be the one claiming to be his daughter, right?" spoke Milo, eyeing the steam, each bullet had come from different places, and so had the voice, so he did not believe that the hidden enemy was actually giving her position away when speaking, it was just misdirection.
"I do not 'claim', there is no one else more worthy of being called our father than him, and why so afraid to speak his name? Scared of six letters? I suppose you would be! You did run away with your tail between your legs last time… Boohoo, so many of you, and you couldn't even give the coup de grace to a gravely weakened version of him! Oh, and one fool even managed to die… What was that failure's name again? Something that starts with a G-"
A blade of wind wide enough to bisect a dozen people standing side by side tore through the steam at a low altitude, cutting off the daughter of Loimos in her attempt at a provocation.
Helena cast another spell in the same instant, a furious blow of wind that pushed the steam before the trio in a wide area, revealing the position of their enemy, who managed to swiftly evade the rapid wind sickle.
'Looks like the one Molc described' thinking this, Toby, was already firing arrows at the young woman, she countered them all by shooting right through them, the condensed bullets of energy easily overpowered the simple arrows.
The otherworlder wasn't shaken, and instead tried to focus on the enemy.
"She's protected from appraisal like the rest" he said to the other two.
'How do they even know about that ability of mine? I wasn't involved that much back then…'
"But it worked on her bullets, they are made up of soul energy!" he quickly followed up, everyone tensing up as they knew that anything made from soul energy would do far more than just blast a hole through them if it landed, their very soul would be pierced.
The one proclaiming herself a daughter Loimos formed a small smile, her eyes beginning to glow sharply, taking on the appearance of what looked like targets.
'Like I was taught, be decisive and deceptive…'