Chapter 801 - Flight of the bumblebee (Patreon)

Just as Hera and Vash were starting to fly into the formation, both riding Nimbus for now, one of the mission's commanders approached.

"Hey, you two. Do you think you can take a wide area by yourself? The back of the spire is mostly open, and even if there are going to be fewer monsters there, we need people who can take care of it all."

Hera turned to Vash, "I think we can do that. Maybe being away from the front line will be better."

The harpy nodded, "Yeah. If there are fewer monsters, I can support you better."

The Ophidianite turned back to the commander, "We can do that."

"Great, go around the pillar. There is someone there to help you organize. Back there, you probably won't have to worry about hitting our Forge Lord by accident, but be careful nonetheless."

Arriving at their spot, there was a very brief conversation with the person leading that area; in the end, Hera and Vash were responsible for taking care of the region directly opposite the city. That should be the easiest place to defend since everyone was expecting the monsters to come along with the army, but for that reason, it was also the place where the least amount of people would be.

Either way, for Hera and Vash, this was a good place. The performer could set up a stage in an area using his role skills. That was something he wanted to do for a while, and the Empress had seen it once before, but unless they were dealing with a defensive mission, it wouldn't be worth it to have something like that.

Now, however, he had his chance to shine. Vash quickly used the [Personal Stage] skill to create the area where his skills would shine. He created what was a mix of a circus tent with an obstacle field made for a bird. There was a large pole in the center, holding up a half tent going about 30 meters in the sky, together with another long stretch of tarp covering another 100 meters in front. Several large rings floated around, waiting for whoever was going to jump into them. Trumpets, trombones, and tubas, along with drums, cymbals, and xylophones, appeared. Spotlights came from all around the tent, mixed in the small string lights that illuminated the entire setup. In the back, there was also a small stage together with a mixing station like one would see in an electronic concert. The music quickly started with an upbeat rhythm like a modern musical. In the middle of it all, Vash was dancing and singing, flying through all the rings, almost as if he was warming up for the show.

Creating this wasn't instant, taking the better part of an hour while everyone else watched and waited for the incoming monsters. Only a few of the monsters, who should have been the scouting party, appeared, and none of them reached the back of the spire.

"Well… if the idea was to not attract attention, that ship has sailed," Hera mentioned.

'That's true,' Nimbus nodded, speaking on the Empress' mind while in his griffon form, 'but I kind of want to follow him along those rings. It seems fun.'

"Really?" Hera smirked, "Hey, Vash! Nimbus wants to participate. Can he join?"

"Of course! Just don't use the rings I haven't crossed yet. But this is the whole point of this skill. Each time you pass through a ring, you get a buff. They run out quick, but pack a punch!"

Without even saying anything else, Nimbus started following the rings. It was a good thing that Hera now had a tail. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to hold on to the Sentinel as he picked up speed. Each time he crossed a ring, both he and the Ophidianite received a considerable buff from an 80% increase in damage to receiving a barrier that reduced damage by that same amount. The downside was the duration. Vash wasn't kidding when he said they ran out quickly; each of them lasted just for 30 seconds, and with each second that they went by, the buff would decrease proportionally. Additionally, if they did a flourish or performed in some way while going through the rings, another of Vash's skills would trigger, which would increase the power of the buff.

"Vash, does this tent stop rain?" Hera asked.

"Normal rain, yes. If it has something else, it will damage it, but I can fix things if needed. Why?"

"I have another spell that can help." Hera cast a small Elemental Poison Storm near the edge of the tent just to see what would happen.

After a moment, Vash nodded, "OK, this is not that bad. I can probably repair it with my mana regeneration without worrying too much. As long as it doesn't cover the entire tent."

"How about this then?" Hera dropped the spell and cast it again, this time surrounding the tent while making sure that no rain would fall directly on top of it. She couldn't do much with the droplet's trajectory. After all, this was rain. Wind or any other factors could shift their direction as they fell, but there was essentially a large donut-shipped raincloud above their heads.

"Ok, this is not awful. But it takes more than half my regeneration," Vash said.

"Are you ok with that? This hurts monsters; it also can trigger ailments, and if a few different stack, I have another skill to make them even worse. That spell doesn't care if you are a friend or foe, so be careful, and if you need me to drop it, just say the word. I can move around since it world to give me a buff instead of hurting me because of my species."

The harpy, who was still flying around, stopped moving and just stared at the Empress for a moment, "You are one scary lady. Do you know that?"

"Why?" Hera frowned.

"Your best abilities are about making you stronger while making your enemy weaker. And you have a literal army by your side all the time. I'm just glad you are on my side.

"It's not an army. A squadron at most," Hera huffed.

The other people who were covering this area heard their shouted conversation and understood that, unless they were inside the tent, they would also be affected by that odd rainbow-colored rain.

Hera tried to maintain the spell, but even with her current mana pool, something this big, spanning an area of over 150 square meters, was too much for her. She had never used this spell on this size before, but she would still get a 5% buff to her attributes. It was a small thing considering the other buffs she had available, but when they stacked, every small increase became larger.

As they were getting used to all of the differences the buffs were making, they heard some yelling. From the opposite side of the spire, the monsters started to appear. Screams and the sound of battle echoed, and slowly, the monsters started to spill out to the back.

Hera and Vash were the last two to face any of them, but that didn't take long. The whole circus tent was attracting the creatures, which also helped the other people defend the area. Not only were they less likely to be swarmed by the monsters, but they also allowed them to pepper the creatures with long-range attacks as they moved along.

Now that the monsters have started attacking, Hera warns the court that this would be a strange situation. She didn't give them the magnets and allowed the Sentinel to move as fast as he could, dragging the court members when they reached the limit of her range. It was better to do that than to risk being completely out of mana by accident in the middle of a fight. Still, she asked Nimbus to be careful and move at a pace that the others could follow.

A dozen Cloud Serpents approached, and the court quickly killed them all off. With the Sentinel, in particular, eating one and using his claws to kill another two at the same time. The rest were killed mostly by the titled blades and Hera, who was using a large venomous glaive because of its reach. Gale, Tide, and Autumn also killed one each without any trouble. The entire fight lasted just a few seconds before the snakes, who looked like they were made out of clouds, were dead.

"I'm going to assume that this is just for the rampage, and there were no extra feelings in the mix. For my sanity, ok?" Daskka shuddered. Seeing a bunch of creatures very similar to herself being killed that quickly wasn't exactly a great feeling.

Hera chuckled as she dove inside Vash's tent while asking the system not to show one particular notification. It was clear that this would flood her view if she let it stay.

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Ailment Mastery triggered X 67
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A large group of Cloudwing Striker dove from above, trying to pierce the tent, but the magically created tarp just bounced them back. All the while, they were being hit by the various elements of the Elemental Poison Storm. Hera passed through a ring to boost Nimbus' speed and flew towards the monsters, finishing them off just as the wave of creatures appeared. This time, it was the Ember Wyvern's turn. They were much more resident than the rest of the monsters and didn't seem to mind the rain, even if Hera could tell they were getting poisoned. The problem was that the poison was flammable by default. Which meant that the moment it entered their bodies, it would just become more fuel for their internal fire.

There were only two of them, but it was more than enough to give Hera trouble. Especially when fighting in the sky. The wyverns were used to fighting like that, and the Empress was not. Realizing that she decided to go for a brute-force approach.

'Nimbus, go back to the tent; let's fight while getting buffed.'

The Sentinel didn't say anything but followed the plan along. Pivoting to the left once both wyverns were behind him to get some distance before diving. As he did his fly-by, most of the court slammed against the monsters, opening large gashes on the side of their bodies, even if not all attacks were successful.

As he dove, Nimbus passed by a small swarm of Gloom Bats. Due to their speed, it felt like bugs were hitting the windshield, with Hera even needing to cover her eyes so as not to be blinded by the gore that was splattering all around her. Most of the remaining bats were killed by the wyverns who were hot on the Sentinel's heels. He spun around as he arrived inside the tent, already passing by one of the rings. That bumped the buff to an 85% speed increase, which made passing through a few other rings even easier. That wasn't something Nimbus was doing by himself, but Vash spent long enough with Hera to understand some of the plans she might come up with. To help with his skill, the harpy weaved the rings together, making them dance around Nimbus, who was speedily crossing them, accumulating the various buffs they would give.

The Sentinel pivoted just before passing through the final ring, just as Hera prepared to toss a pair of venomous javelins with her 'break combo.' Vash took a chance to shine the spotlights on the monsters with a specific light that increased the damage taken by those under the light. With a loud crack, both javelins hit the monster square in the head, exploding with the impact and ripping the two to shreds.

Hera let out a heavy sigh. In order to kill the wyverns, she had to use a lot of mana to make sure those creatures were gone. She would have to either fall back for a while or stop the Elemental Poison Storm.

As she pondered her choices, she noticed something coming from the clouds in the distance. It was a large group of flying monsters, Gloom Bats, Skystone Watchers, Cloudwing Strikers, Cloud Serpents, Ember Garudas, and even more of the same Ember Wyverns she just killed. Leading that battalion was a single creature with wings made out of motel rock, large fiery claws, eyes that glowed red with the same heat as the caldera, and pearlescent white skin.

"Of course," Hera let out an even stronger sigh. She didn't have to wait for her [Observe] to know what that was. She told Nimbus to move towards the stage, where the mixing table was, grab the microphone that was set up on the side, and yell, her voice being carried by the invisible speakers that boosted the sound of the music, "WENDIGO!"