Chapter 795 - A spell to change the tide (Patreon)

After talking with the guide, Hera actually used the bathroom before leaving. She was already here after all, and aside from relieving herself, she could brush her teeth and be ready for the day. Even if there was a rampage going on, it would still take several hours before her shift started. 

When she was done, the Empress walked out of the bathroom only to see Skyler sitting on her bed, staring at the door blocked by the floating weapons. The elf pointed to herself and then to the bathroom, asking if she could go in. With a nod, Hera told her court to move away. And started to get dressed. A folding screen in the corner of the room allowed her to do that without worrying about someone seeing her. Adding that with the court working as her bodyguards made her much more comfortable. Hera also kept the soundproof bubble in the bathroom and around herself to avoid disturbing anyone else. 

When she was ready, Hera waited for the elf to leave the bathroom. It didn't take long, and Skyler understood the Ophidianite's idea and also got dressed. Soon, they left their hotel room and finally could talk properly.

"I'm sending a text to our group chat. Just to let them know we left," Hera said.

"Good call. How did you sleep?"

"I just passed out," the Empress chuckled.

"Same. Oh, and sorry if I snored a little bit," Skyler sheepishly said.

"Don't worry about it. It was fine…" Hera looked away. "On a different note, would you mind if I cast a soundproof bubble around you when you snore?" 

"Was it that bad?"

"You and Flint might have been fighting for the who is the loudest prize," Hera admitted.

"Shit!" Skyler groaned, "Look, I'm sorry. I usually don't snore. But when I'm really tired, my body just relaxes a bit too much." 

"No worries. But can I?" 

"Oh yeah. Sure. I don't know why you didn't use that spell on Flint before."

"Honestly, it just never occurred to me," Hera replied, "Since we are on the topic of spells. Do you think you could help me set one thing up?" 

"Sure, we have time. Do you mind doing that over breakfast? Or… whatever meal they have for us right now," Skyler asked.

"Of course," they headed to the dining room that was being used as a canteen for the people protecting the Core Spire; as they walked, the Ophidianite realized something, "Hey… this was supposed to last just a bit over a day, right. The rampage, I mean."

"Now that you mention it, you're right. The prediction was that it would either last around 30 hours or… oh…" 

"Yeah… It's like 34 to 35 hours since the rampage started. So that means.." Hera didn't want to say it.

"That we should be stuck here for a week," Skyler sighed. 

"Yeah. At least we are making some good money."

"That's true," the elf tapped a few things in her tablet, "We already got over 91 thousand gold. Just from one day." 

"If that week thing is true, we should get more than a million gold. Not counting the ranking rewards," Hera nodded.

They continued discussing what they could do with the money while getting a meal. They had a choice of lasagna, soup, or fried rice today. As they ate, Hera explained the plan for using her Pool of Styx spell and how she intended to set it up. Skyler helped her make the proper spell circle, and eventually, Neria and Roan joined the two. With the group of four, they could develop a working version of the spell in the shape they wanted. All they needed was a way to set it up.

Unfortunately, Hera couldn't just do it right now. She had to talk with the people in charge of the defenses so everyone would be aware of what they were doing. If she had just sent the snakes, people might have thought they were monsters and attacked them. But they would first finish their meal and grab some coffee. 

When they arrived at the building being used by the Alliance as a base of operations, the mood was troubling. The clerks talking with the people tried their best to act like everything was normal, but they couldn't avoid making some worried expressions when they thought no one was watching. To their credit, Hera wasn't looking at them directly when they did that. This was just information sent to her by Daskka, Dusa, or Chris. The one weapon she decided to carry along with her while in the city today. 

Hera ended up finding the same clerk she found the day before. He looked at his notebook with a serious expression, "Hey there. Sorry to bother you, but do you have a minute?" 

"Oh, hi…. Hera, wasn't it?"

The Empress nodded, "Yeah." 

"Is it urgent? I'm kind of in the middle of something." 

"I just wanted to know who I can't talk to about a room-wide spell I want to cast. I can handle pretty much everything. I just need people not to kill the snakes I send out to make it," Hera replied.

"Right… how does that spell work again?" 

"Basically, it's a combo buff and debuff. Every monster in the area of the spell will have their attributes reduced by the difference between their attributes and mine. As long as mine is higher. Then, for every 10 points that the spell reduces, a person in the area of the spell will receive a flat 1-point boost to one of their attributes. That caps at double their current amount. But that will require an absurd amount of monsters in the area." 

"Oh… that doesn't sound all that great. I mean, maybe the bats will give a decent buff, but the rest won't. You are focused on what? Strength?" the clerk glanced at Hera's weapon.

"Nope. I'm not focused. All my attributes are at 110," the Ophidianite replied.

"What? What do you mean?"

"All my attributes are at 110. That is their flat value without any skill or buff being applied. That is the attribute that will be considered when the monsters are being affected. If one of them has a 40 endurance, it will be reduced by 70. I just don't know if attributes can go to the negatives. Still, locking them at 1 is already a benefit," Hera stopped for a moment, "To be fair. I don't know if it can get that low. There is a chance that it can only reduce their attributes to half of what they currently are. In that case, the endurance might only go down to 20 at most. I never got a chance to properly test that. But since there is an upper limit for the buff, it makes sense to have one for the debuff, too," she looked toward Skyler, who nodded in confirmation.

"That is… holy shit. That can really help us right now. Does it affect only monsters and people? Or can you specify more? Actually, hang on. I need to call someone," the clerk got up and rushed to a room in the back. After around two minutes, he returned in a rush, "OK. Please, follow me." 

"Sure. These are the members of my team, by the way. Skyler, Neria, and Roan," Hera introduced the group.

"Oh, nice to meet you. I'm Dave." 

"Dave?" Roan asked.

"Yes. What is the problem?" 

"It's not a problem; I just never heard about an elf named David," Roan replied, getting a smack on the back of the head by Skyler.

"Elves can have any names. Stop being a prick!" 

"I didn't mean anything bad by it! You lot just live for the fuck, I know how long. I can't imagine what it is like to be 'Dave' for that long. Like it's not a bad name, but it doesn't carry the vibe of a wise and centuries old sage. Can you imagine? 'I am the great wizard, Dave."

"He is not wrong," Dave added, "Thankfully, I just go by Dave. My real name is Daverin'astre. But most people butcher it. Or get hung up on stupid things like the apostrophe."

"See! I wasn't wrong!" Roan protested.

"It was still bad to say," Neria added, with Hera nodding in agreement. 

After a few moments, they arrived at the conference room where the people in charge of the defenses of the city were gathering. They had several holograms spread around, including a large map of the Core Spire, with marks and arrows as they tried to remake some of the plans.

"Dave? Who are they?" a triton woman sitting in front of the map asked.

"She is the one who can make that spell." 

"I thought it was just one person. Why are there four?" the woman tilted her head.

"They are part of the same team. Even if we were asking Hera here not to share what we are going to talk about. I doubt she wouldn't tell her team," Dave glanced at the Ophidianite, who nodded. If whatever was happening here would affect her team, Hera wouldn't think twice about telling them.

The triton rubbed her eyes, "Fine. Hera, what is that spell, and how can it help us?"

Hera approached the holographic map, "Can you put another layer on the map? That way, I can draw on top of it, and it's easy to remove it." 

The triton just tapped a button on her tablet and gave the go-ahead. 

With a nod, the Empress made an outline, "My idea is to make a spell circle that will affect this area. I can make some mana snakes that are able to follow my orders, and as long as I have a map large and detailed enough, I can draw it and have the snakes set everything up."

"I'm not asking how you are going to do it. I'm asking what it is," the triton groaned.

"I'm drawing to show the area of effect. And before anyone thinks I'm joking around. I'm not. I understand that it looks like a penis. But I tried to envelop the city on the spell, too, instead of leaving only the spire. It's not my fault that this is the shape," with that out of the way, the Empress explained the spell just like she had explained it to Dave. Even using the same example of 40 endurance. In the end, however, she had already cleared up one thing: "The reason why this helps is because my attributes are all at 110. I have a skill that lets me increase all of them at once at a cheaper cost. Been doing that since level 2."

"How specific can you be about who is getting the buff? And the debuff," the triton asked. 

"I can specify one or the other. I can say every person gets buffed. Everyone else will get the debuff. Or the opposite. Decide that monsters get the debuff, and everyone else gets the buff. I can be very specific about it, too. Say that only blond people gets the buff, or those with scales, or feathers. Same with the debuff. I never tried with a piece of clothing. Something like everyone wearing a hat, but it might be possible. Also, the buff will only consider the monsters that are present in the area at the moment of casting it. If another monster walks into the area, the attribute bonus won't change." 

"But if a new monster enters the area, will they be affected by the reduction?"

"Yes," Hera nodded, "I had to swap a few things about the spell, but I managed to make it work at the cost of a smaller radius. But with the scale of the spell, this won't matter. Also, I've tested it before, and monsters that are under my level will always be affected by the spell. If they are above, there is a chance they are able to resist the effects. This spell is made to make easy fights easier. Not to fight strong enemies."  

The triton heard the explanation intently, but at the end, she glanced at Hera and shook her head, "Look. I appreciate you trying to help. And I don't know if you are already aware of the situation we are in. Truth be told, the rampage is not going well. The attacks are more intense than we expected and we will have problems if this keeps going for too long. People will get tired, and we will have to sacrifice some ground. Even so, I don't feel comfortable letting someone, who I don't even know which species they are, cast a spell at this scale. Especially if it's something you are trying for the first time. Not to mention, you might be trying to sabotage us, or worse. I don't know the agenda of your kind. I don't even know if you are part of the Alliance."

"I'm an Ophidianite. And I've cast this spell before. But as I explained, the bigger the area, the better. Also, why would I sabotage this? If I do that, I'm in danger too."

"Still, I don't-"

"Sapphira, let her do it," the dwarf at the head of the table said.

"Vazor?" the triton gasped.

"Hera is not just an Ophidianite. She is the leader of her people. She even has a chair on the council table. Thrain told me about her while we chatted. She deferred her right to participate in the decisions because she wanted to be here on the ground. She also sacrificed a lot for our cause already. More than most. We can trust her," the dwarf explained. 

Hera just raised one eyebrow," King Thrain told you all that?" 

"His tongue gets loose when drinking with friends. Or family," Vazor explained.

"Fine," Sapphira groaned, "We have another meeting room across the hallway. A smaller one. You can use that one to prepare the spell you need. You can access the best maps we have available. Make the drawings and when you are ready. Give us a heads up so we can send the messages to leave your snakes alone." 

"Thank you," Hera smiled and turned to Vazor, "And thank you for the vote of confidence. I won't betray your trust."

The team left the room and walked across the hall. Now that they all understood that things were not going as well as they hoped, everyone wanted to help the Empress prepare the spell. After all, even if it would only help against the weaker enemies during a rampage, every little bit counted.