Chapter 483 - Flame Princess (Patreon)

Hera's Status

"I got it!" Hera gasped. She was already heading back to Bonpei. She spent about 1-hour resting and recovering while a few of the members of her court continuously cast the Luminous Light Litany to lessen her injuries. During that time, she realized that having all my blades use that spell was very effective but also extremely mana hungry. However, if just one of them was chanting, they could keep up with her passive regeneration for at least a minute before the spell's cost increased. This meant that she could, in essence, have the healing spell constantly active on her. While doing that in a fight wasn't exactly efficient, it was perfect for when she was just walking around. This was helping a lot, and she felt her condition improving as time passed.

That wasn't the only thing that Hera was doing. She had an idea about how she could use the elemental motes to imbue a spell with multiple elements. Because of that, she asked the blades to change who was casting the litany every 30 seconds. The remaining of her passive regeneration was being used on her tests. She was very carefully trying to create a poison needle with some ice mana inside it. Her intention was to use this as a way to attack the volcano tribe more effectively. Poison spells were still her primary magical attack, and she didn't want to change that, not when using it would make her even closer to Daskka. That being said, against people made of fire, her poison wasn't effective. It would force her to make them very slow-acting, and she wouldn't be able to focus her power correctly. But if she could somehow put a little bit of ice inside her poison, she might be able to not only offset the issue of her poison being burned away but even damage them more by being able to remove the heat from inside their bodies.

After around 40 minutes of trying, Hera finally was able to create a  small capsule of ice surrounded by a coat of poison. not just that, she also combined both effects in a spell that she was calling 'Frost Poison.' This would work exactly like her poison needle but with the added effect of having ice inside it. Because of her ability with poison, Hera also could tell that the spell could have a delayed effect. She might be able to cast it and set a timer for how long it would take before the poison itself actually started to cause problems for the targets.

'We are arriving at the city, Empress!' Scythe said as they were floating above the canopy of the forest.

"Great. How are things looking?" Hera looked up.

'Bad. Really bad. Half the city is on fire, and the volcano tribe is still coming,' Scythe replied.

"Have they encircled the city? Or do we still have a way to get there from the back?"

'From what I can tell, the back is still open. They seem to be pushing through the gates and focusing on that area.'

"Okay, and that's where we are going to go. For now, stay up there, Scythe,  and let me know if anything changes,"  as Hera finished speaking, she started to pick up the pace. It was a shame that she couldn't move as fast as she wanted since her ribs still hurt a lot. Her healing spell wasn't enough to take care of that.

In just a few minutes, the explorer and her court were already on the city's outer wall. Hera noticed a small team of volcano tribe scouts approaching and sent out her blades to deal with them while at the same time preparing her frost poison to test its effectiveness. Core and Beam were the first to attack that group, using their long-range attacks to do so. Hera also tried adding some other elements to the blades when they were using their abilities, but that didn't work. Not that the concept wouldn't work, but the way she was going about it didn't feel right. Apparently, if she wanted to change the elements of the skills her blades possessed, she would have to try something else later. Either way, the attacks were enough to disrupt the scout's movement, and the battle started. Most of the volcano Warriors engaged with the blades trying to fight off these odd constructs that were on their way, but a couple of them noticed Hera on the back and saw how there were another two constructs floating around her head. That was enough indication that she was responsible for this, and they wouldn't let that go.

Hera got into a combat stance, already triggering her boots, But despite having the glaive in one hand, she wanted to focus on spells for this fight. She had to know if her plan would work. Aiming at the one closest to her, she tossed a few of the Frost Poison needles at them and just let the projectiles do their magic. At the same time, she started gliding backward, getting ready to evade the attacks. Her combat styles were a blessing in disguise. Since she learned how to dodge and evade with small movements, the seemingly broken bones wouldn't be that much of an issue. Even better, before the first scout reached her, she could already feel the poison taking hold of her target. Trying to see if everything still worked the same way, she triggered her poison control to make it stronger and remove even more heat from the scouts.

Before the first of them even managed to reach her, they were already turning into rock, and their extremities were starting to crumble. The second one got closer to Hera as she activated an elemental ice armor. Seeing the frost gathering around their target, the scout stepped back, worried about what could happen. With a smile, the Empress lunged forward and slammed her hand inside the volcano tribesmen while shooting a volley of Frost Poison inside him. The scout staggered back and fell to the ground, crumbling into small pieces of rock.

"Did you want to make the poison that strong?" Daskka asked.

"Not really, but it seems it's really working," Hera gave a devilish smile.

"Mum… you are not going to go crazy, are you? We just talked about this," Daskka asked.

"No. I'm just happy the spell worked. I have to talk to Lena and Bonnie about this… I don't even know what they are doing these days," Hera sighed as the first scout she hit with the spell fell to the ground and died. Looking up, she saw that another two of the scouts were killed by her blades, leaving only four left. She tossed a Frost Poison at them and stayed back to watch the results.

"Are you sure? You are still fighting people."

"I know. But it's different. These are constructs, and it's been some time since I understood that fighting them is not the same as fighting a person. That's one of the reasons why I was going so heavy lately. Just fighting against them felt normal, like I was doing any other dungeon," Hera explained while watching the volcano warriors turn slowly into ash. The spell was working, but killing them took too long. Maybe she could figure something different to be the killing blow.

Either way, the blades finished off all the scouts without much of an issue. Now that they didn't have the pressure of fighting against an entire battalion and that Hera could properly use poison, this became much easier. It also helped that this group didn't seem well organized and felt much weaker than the rest. Taking a moment to think about that, it would make a lot of sense for Releon to have a skill that would strengthen those under his direct command. In fact, there were even moments during the past months when she could see something like that happening. All of a sudden, the volcano tribe would become stronger or would be able to push Bonpei back with ease for a few moments.

With all the scouts dead, Hera turned around and ran to the back entrance of the city. She was still gliding thanks to her boots, and she wanted to keep going like that. Being able to push forward and move at a decent speed without overexerting yourself was a godsend, especially with her injuries. What she really wanted now was a way to fight without moving her body too much. Speeding through the buildings was easy enough, and what was going on in the city was something that she had seen several times before. Some people were running away while others were heading towards the fight. It was the type of situation that one would expect in the middle of a war. Instead of focusing just on moving, Hera decided to try to make an improved version of her frost poison without stopping. Instead of just having a piece of ice mana inside the poison, she put an actual ice spell there to be triggered by her poison control. It would cost more mana, but if it worked, using it would devastate the volcano forces.

As she was running, Hera tried to use her new version of frost poison on a few of the plants around the city. Just like she was expecting, when she activated it, the ice would create a tree-like structure from inside the plant that exploded outwards.

This time, she was really satisfied with the results. Not only would this be incredible against the volcano tribe but also against other enemies she faced in the future. After running for a few more minutes, she finally arrived at the location where the command center should be. Elrich was there giving orders to some troops while someone was patching up a wound he had on his arm. In front of him was a table with a map and several meeples representing all the troops.

"Hera? You are still alive! I assume the operation was a failure," the general tried to get up, but the medic behind him slapped the back of his head and told him to stop moving, "Fine, fine."

"Yeah. They were ready for us. We got ambushed, and I think I was the only one who came out alive. I could say that I tried to save the rest, but honestly, I was too worried about myself to even think about helping others," Hera admitted.

"Don't worry. I can tell you've been through some shit. Are you still willing to help us?"

"I am, and I think I have a great way to do so," Hera smiled, "Can you show me where the troops are located?"

Elrich pointed at the map, explaining the current situation. Bonpei had lost a part of the city, but thanks to her idea of creating barricades between houses, they were still able to hold on. The volcano tribe controlled the entire northern section of the town, but they struggled to move past that. Instead, they seemed to focus on destroying the houses to open up space for the rest of their army. According to Elrich, it appeared like Releon had joined in a while back, and the general was inside Bonpei, in the middle of the battalion who was pushing forward.

"And we don't have any troops there, correct? My plan involves destroying the entire part of the city."

Elrich sighed, "You know, it would be nice to have a plan that doesn't involve you doing something bat shit crazy. But yeah, that part of the city is gone already. Go nuts."

"Great!" Hera smiled and left the tent before the general could say anything else. She quickly moved between the buildings looking for one of the tallest structures in the town. About 50 meters or so from the area controlled by the volcano tribe, there was a water tower that could work for what she wanted. To get on top of that, she raised a stone pillar behind the water tower and then glanced over it. From this point of view, she could see the entire city and the mountain behind it. The volcano tribe's army was almost entirely inside Bonpei's walls, with just a few groups on the mountain path leading to the outposts.

"Guys, I need you to go up as high as you can. Go a bit forward too. I want to cast a spell on top of the main army," Hera told her court as they all flew up, making the conga line to increase the height they could reach.

When Beam managed to reach the limit of the range, Hera looked up and then started to prepare a flaming poison rain. Taking a page out of Blue's book, she first created the point of origin and then increased its radius more and more, as much as her mana would allow her. Even if everyone said this was a bad idea, she used the mana stones to make something gigantic, or at least gigantic in comparison with the usual size of that spell. In reality, Hera could only make a circle with a 30-meter radius, but she hoped it was enough. When most of the spell was ready, she used her frost poison instead of the regular poison on it and let the rain fall.

As soon as the flaming droplets started to hit the ground, cheers could be heard from the volcano army. Some called this a blessing from the mountain, while others yelled that the gods were by their side. Hera could feel her poison spreading and even bouncing to other people thanks to the bracelet that Risli made her long ago, and the explorer never went hunting without. She saw how the tribesmen started to circle and allow everyone to receive the fiery blessing from the skies, making her job even easier. It took about 10 minutes for her to feel her poison spread across most of the army. She knew that some people were still clear, but that didn't matter, she had enough to work with, and it had to work. Right now, she only had 10 thousand mana left, and her next spell should eat all of that up.

Taking a deep breath, Hera activated her poison control to trigger the ice mana inside the poison on everyone at once. It was like watching fireworks. Some of the volcano army started to gasp, feeling the heat leave their bodies, but others, the weaker ones, were shown mercy in the form of large ice trees emerging from their bodies, killing them instantly. What was once a scene of desolation and flaming destruction was now a park of frozen fauna and screaming warriors. Those who survived the initial attack didn't get very far since the cold from the trees would remove their speed and, eventually, their life.

"I wonder if I would be called Frost Princess now," Hera chuckled to herself.

"They are weak! Charge!" Elrich's voice echoed throughout the city as Bonpei's army dashed forward.

Hera was tired, and she didn't have any more mana. She sat on the water tower to recover enough to go down and let the armies fight. She did everything she could for this dungeon run, and at the moment, she was done. If Bonpei were to fall even after everything, she deserved to lose the dungeon. Not to mention that the effort to come here and make the spell only worsen her injuries.

Luckily, her worry was for naught. After another half an hour, the notification of the dungeon quest appeared in front of her. She just walked back to the exit and waited for Elrich to show up with the chest containing all the loot dropped by her enemies. All of this was worth 5 thousand gold, counting the rewards for the dungeon, a couple of potions of heat and cold resistance, and a weapon.

It was a pair of bladed tonfas with a light gray grip and a body made out of dark metal. In front of them, on the shorter part of the body before the handle, there was a hawk's head made out of some red gemstone that seemed to glow with heat. On the longer part of the body, on the outer side, a pair of deep blue blades came out, going all the way to the back. When Hera gripped them to test, she noticed how the actual edge would go a few centimeters beyond her elbows.

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The Flaming Frostguards was bound to you.
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"What the…" before Hera could even finish that sentence, Daskka jumped out of her neck and started to float, almost as if she was jumping in excitement.

"Mum, mum! You can have a titled blade now!"