Chapter 244 - Cloud Barrier (Patreon)

The team entered the Wooly Plains and stood inside the tunnel. Hera walked outside and tossed one feather she got from the first time they came to hunt the griffons to the sky. The feather went up and kept going, much farther than it should, considering the strength she placed in the throw. After a few moments, the quill vanished in a plume of smoke, and a loud cry came from the top of the mountain. Hera quickly rushed back inside the tunnel.

"They are coming. We should wait for them to land before going outside," Hera joined the rest of the team. The dwarves all seemed nervous. Even Naka's usually stoic expression showed some signs of worry.

"We should do things the same way we did before," Blue said, "We stay close to the tunnel and lure one of them to the entrance. If things go south, we run away."

"I agree. What do you think, captain?" Hera asked, trying to change the mood inside the tunnel.

"Yes. It is a good idea, but can you lure only one of them?"

"Leave that to me," Hera replied.

Naka nodded and returned to her usual demeanor. That seemed to calm the rest of the team, who little by little shaved off some of their worries. Unfortunately, when the cloud of griffons covered the sunlight coming from the cave's entrance, all the anxiety the dwarves had lost returned in a rush. Hera gave up on changing the mood right now. That would only be possible after they saw the griffons being defeated.

After a minute, the shadows gave way to the sunlight, and the constant flapping of wings stopped. If one were to pay attention, they still could hear feathers ruffling and the griffons cries, but would all be coming from far away. The team carefully walked closer to the entrance, with Hera and Blue in the front.

Just a couple of meters outside the cavern, a Sky Ruler Spawn was eating some meat from a grey package. The monsters worked fast. Maybe a sheep was unlucky enough to be passing by just as the entire flock came down from the mountain.

"Wait here and don't leave the tunnel. I'm going to bring it here so you guys can see it. Let's use this chance to do some tests for our plans. We'll do it one by one to be sure of what works, and Lija, you will be the last one since your part is pretty much guaranteed to work. But if it tries to call for help, I'm finishing it off," Hera told the rest of the team. They all nodded in agreement. Lija was the only that already showed how her spells would work during the fight. Other guards and mages had their air spells blocked by her barriers, and to test the silk fall, they only had to jump from a high place.

The mage understood and just nodded in response. Hera gestured for Blue to move out with her, "Blue, stay close to the tunnel, in front of the door but a bit far away. Are you confident you can kite it around?”

"One moment. Pyrrick, can you buff us? For now, I think it's better to be safe than sorry," Blue asked.

"Of course," the mage waved his hands in the air, and the Humans' attributes increased by 90% for the next ten minutes.

Hera couldn't get enough of that feeling. It was as if each cell in her body had just eaten a bowl of ground coffee. She wanted to run and plow through the griffons but held herself back, turning towards the mage with golden hair, "Ok, Totrak, let's try yours first. Then we can see how effective Pyrrick's debuffs are."

"After that, can I try to hit it?" Lija asked.

"I thought you couldn't hit them," Blue turned to the dwarf.

"That's what our ancestors tell us, but no one knows what actually happens. This would be a good time to experiment."

"Sure. Just be careful and don't come out of the tunnel. Lerryn, get ready to heal her if anything goes wrong, ok? Who knows if they reflect the spell back or something," Hera replied.

"Ready?" Blue turned to Hera.

Hera nodded with a smile, and the two left the cave. She avoided using her [Hide] since it wouldn't help get the Sky Ruler Spawn's attention. Before attacking, she triggered the [Observe] to see how monsters would appear now that she had the bonus from the hunter skill.

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Sky Ruler Spawn – Level 5 – 15% (Wind Affinity)
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It wasn't as bad as she thought. The window was still small, and it didn't block her vision. Thankfully, it wasn't like her Relic's window that was getting ridiculous. Focusing back on the situation, Hera pulled back her chakram and tossed it towards the griffon. Despite all their training, there was one thing they forgot to practice, which was fighting while under the effects of the buffs.

Her weapon went much faster than she expected and only nicked the griffon's legs. The creature roared and jumped towards Hera. Thanks to the buff, all she had to do was jump backward to avoid the attack. Her movement was so quick that it could be compared to when she used her [All In]. With the monster chasing her, Hera quickly rushed towards Blue, letting the controller get the creature's attention. To be sure that the griffon wouldn't reach the dwarves, Hera stood by the tunnel entrance. If worst came to worst, she would kill it before anything happened.

"Go for it, guys, and feel free to take your time. This oversized bird can't hit me now," Blue said with a smile. Thanks to Pyrrick's buffs and her own electric buff, she could even toy with the monster without worrying about getting hit.

Totrak understood that this was his cue and activated the spell that would make the air more viscous. A spell he had named 'Solid Air.' Hera and Blue already had the marks that would allow them to move around freely while inside the spell area. The griffon, on the other hand, was having trouble. Not only could it not move very well, but when it tried to jump around, the creature would instinctively use its wings to get more height. While inside the solid air area, it couldn't apply enough force with its wings to give a boost to its jump, making it seem like it was a newborn trying to fly.

After about a minute, Totrak stopped the spell, allowing the griffon to move freely once again. Even with the air returning to its natural state, the creature was already tired. Trying to move in an area under the effects of that spell made everything harder. The simplest of things, such as breathing, became a struggle that took most of your strength. The entire team had felt that effect on their skin during the training.

"Pyrrick, you're up," Hera commanded as the monster regained some of its mobility.

The older dwarf took a step forward and pointed at the Sky Ruler's Spawn. Hera could see how his hands were shaking. Despite Totrak's success, it was clear that they were still scared of the monsters. Fighting against the griffons was the same as fighting against the boogeyman or the monsters under a kid’s bed. They would hear stories about how the Sky Ruler is terrifying and could kill any dwarf ever since they were kids. Facing their fears was never something easy, and if the roles were reversed, Hera had no idea if she would be willing to do the same for strangers. The dwarves could want to open the doors to their kingdom. But they were only here because of her, and she knew that.

Pyrrick quickly finished the spell, creating several glowing lines that wrapped around the griffon's body. The debuff hit, affecting not just the creature's speed but its strength, and it even seemed to have more trouble seeing where Blue was. Some of her punches that should've been easily evaded hit their mark, making the monster tumble to the side. Hera activated her [Observe] to make sure the debuff took hold.
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Sky Ruler Spawn – Level 5 – 20% - Weakened (Wind Affinity)
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"Ok, that one works too. Lija, let's see your attack," Hera said. She didn't even have to check on Blue. Her friend had a large smile on her face and was even dancing around the monster.

Lija gulped and nodded. She rose both of her hands, creating a large earth spike in front of her chest out of thin air. She pumped more and more mana into the spell, and the construct became large enough to impale the entire griffon.

"Blue! This thing is going to be massive. On my signal, jump towards the mountain but don't get in front of the tunnel. Lija, when I call Blue away, count to two, then let it fly," Hera called out, and after making sure both had understood the plan, she waited for Blue to get a clear escape route and yelled, "Now!"

The blue-haired woman jumped back, with streaks of lightning wrapping around her body. The griffon was too tired and weakened to keep up. After counting down, Lija sent off her spell at a breakneck speed. Seeing that giant, pointy rock shoot out of the tunnel, Hera couldn't imagine how anything could survive an attack like that.

As the spike got closer to the Sky Ruler's Spawn, a spinning cloud appeared around the creature. The fog spun so fast that it shredded the rock to pieces as if it had just hit a titanium wall. When there was nothing left from the spell, the cloud vanished with the griffon now staring straight at the tunnel. The creature roared, making some of its feathers around its neck glow with white light, and started rushing towards the cave.

Blue pivoted and dashed towards the creature. Naka and the guards stepped in front of the mages and braced for impact while Hera moved over to the entrance, taking steady steps forward while tightening her grip on her handaxe. When the griffon got close enough, Hera swung her weapon in an uppercut.

Her strike split the Sky Ruler's Spawn head in half, even cutting a large part of its neck. The rest of the body tumbled forward, but Hera didn't budge. She stopped the corpse, using her own body as a bumper.

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[All In] effects deactivated, the cooldown will now start
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After being sure the monster had actually perished, Hera turned back to the dwarves.

"Is everyone ok?"

The mages were still shellshocked by the situation, but the guards just nodded.

"That was a risky move," Naka said.

"I know, but even without the buffs, I could stop one of them. With the buffs and it being weakened, I was positive I could block the body," Hera explained.

"So this was an informed decision? Well done," for the first time, Naka seemed impressed with the human.

Blue rushed over and checked on everyone. None of the dwarves were hurt during the attack, and now they were walking over to the corpse of the Sky Ruler's Spawn.

"Did you really kill it?" Sevaris asked.

"We killed him. Without the mage's help, we wouldn't have finished it off so easily," Hera replied.

"This means that our plan worked. Even though we cannot harm the monsters, we can help these who can. We finally have a way of killing those damn things," Naka had a large smile on her face.

"Yeah. We just missed one thing. We still don't know if Ganek can share his hunter bonus, but the buffs already are a big help," Hera nodded.

"We can test that on the next one. This time we won't be in the tunnel. Have you seen any other monsters around?" Naka asked.

"I didn't, but last time there were several of them spread around the plains. Most were in groups of at least two, but there were a couple of loners moving around," Blue replied.

"Very well. Are you all ready to go?" Naka turned to the team.

They all nodded, now with a much brighter disposition. The mages even had a spark in their eyes.

"Question, do you think I could create a stone wall to block them as they attack you two, or would make them attack us instead?" Lija asked.

"I think that is too dangerous. If you incur their wrath again, this might not simply put us in danger but also disturb Blue's and ... Hekaria‘s flow in combat," Naka replied.

"Seriously?" Hera huffed.

"What?" Naka turned to the explorer with a confused expression.

"You know what? Forget it. Let's just move," Hera walked away from the tunnel, frustrated that not even after praising her, the captain didn't stop with that immature thing of calling her the wrong name.