Chapter 114: Operation Extinguisher – Part 2

Chapter 114: Operation Extinguisher – Part 2

"YOU ARE SURROUNDED! LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS OR BE SLAUGHTERED!" Caterina's voice booms through the entire fortress at the same time that three new [Gate] scrubbers overlap, then the soldiers by the walls begin to react, but I have no time to waste right now.

I [Equip] a large blue gem about the same height as Hana, and I notice a hefty drain on my MP just to cast that spell, then I use [Redirect Mana] on the gem, causing a suffocating torrent of Water mana to pour out of it.

The emellanat of the cage melts instantly, and the now red-hot metal splashes down around me, my [Wind Armor] and [Rainbow Shield] protecting me from any droplets, then I cast [Dust Storm] throughout the entire room, blinding everyone, and summon the girls at the same time that I [Equip] my helmet.

My Storm is instantly interrupted, but the spell still lingers for a few more seconds, and with Alissa, Yunia, and I using our [Sense Presence], it gives us the perfect cover for cleaning this room of the Wicked filth.

"MOVE, AND YOU'RE DEAD!" I roar, then I cast [Rush] and dash towards the leader. The mages start casting spells, but the room is now flooded with Water mana, disrupting Fire magic quite heavily.

Alissa goes for the soldiers who are too stupid to protect themselves, quickly dispatching them with arrows shot through the slits of their visors.

Hana engages the largest soldier among them, but he's still blinded by the dust, so she manages to shove a sword into his throat with ease.

Roxanne pulls out the golems and tries to explode the head of a mage that's chanting, but the [Dead Zone] in his robes saves him from an instant death, so she just casts [Ice Lance] instead and quickly finishes him off.

Ciel casts [Wind Storm] and shreds another mage who was casting something.

Lina uses [Rush] and caves in the head of a third mage.

Dragon-Aoi squashes the nearest mage just with the weight of her body.

Yunia [Rush]es another soldier and ends him in one strike.

The golems pull out emellanat shackles and necklaces for the three unmoving mages and collect their staves with [Telekinesis].

As I reach the lead mage, I sense him throw something towards me, and [Battlefield Perception] triggers, so I activate [Wind Shield] and try to dodge it.

I feel the enchantment drain a large amount of my MP, then something hits my shield and hurls me back across the room as the sound of an explosion makes my ears ring, and everyone is thrown to the floor from the shock wave.

My back crashes against the door and cracks it, but my armor is fine, and the padding absorbed most of the impact, so I don't feel that much pain aside from the shock, allowing me to immediately [Heal] myself and [Rush] the leader again.

Roxanne aims the next [Explosion] at him, but his [Dead Zone] and her dizziness makes her aim quite a bit off, and she misses him almost entirely, though Alissa still hears his scream of pain.

The dust clears, and I see a writhing wall of vines before me covering the wounded lead mage and pulling him away towards safety.

I cast [Earth Bullet] and get in one last hit on his face before he's out of reach. Even with his wounds, he's still far from being incapacitated, so we need to chase him ASAP.

I stop before the wall and use [Searing Blade] to cut open a path, but the writhing mass immediately starts covering the opening. I think we need more firepower to destroy the wall completely before it's safe for us to cross through it. I don't want to risk the girls getting crushed by the wall because we were too reckless.

The room suddenly bursts into flame as the last opposing mage manages to finish a short spell, so Roxanne and Aoi have to focus on dousing the flames before they can overwhelm us.

I turn around and cast [Torrent] around me as I dash towards the mage and drive my sword into the back of his head without hesitation.

We quickly finish off the last of the soldiers, then we focus on the writhing mass of vines, which now covers most of the walls of the room.

Alissa is tracking the escaping mage, but he's still well within range of her [Sense Presence], so we have plenty of time.

"Following him seems like it'll be difficult. Let's leave this room while we can," I suggest through [Bind], and the girls agree.

The golems are responsible for keeping the surrendered mages safe, so they use [Telekinesis] on the prisoners to bring them along as we burst out of the room through the cracked door.

Alissa detects the Celestial Horns above us, cutting an opening into the roof, then the tree trembles as something heavy hits it at the bottom.

The lift isn't working, so we just destroy it and use [Fly] to reach the floor with the last mage, a garden of dangerous-looking vines and exotic plants.

"YOU ARE SURROUNDED! LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS OR BE SLAUGHTERED!" Caterina's voice booms once again through the entire fortress, and this time, it seems to be coming from the inside of the tree.

"Golems! Cut open a path for us!" I order.

They drop the prisoners on the floor and [Equip] huge saw blades which they then spin and throw ahead of us, cleanly cutting down the flora where they pass. The blades open a path through the nasty little forest and reveal a mansion at the center of a lake.

We immediately [Fly] forward, but one of the prisoners suddenly shouts, "Watch out! They're territorial!"

Then we see the large, tooth-filled maw of a man-eating Venus Flytrap rushing towards us.

Roxanne explodes it, and Hana cuts through its stalk, but then more maws shoot towards us along with vines that have poisonous-looking flowers growing on them.

Fucking distractions!

I summon a wind, a nature, and a fire elemental-wife. The first two protect us from the deadly flora while the last one razes this infernal place to the ground.

We catch a whiff of a very large [Fire Magic] spell being cast in the mansion, so we hurry to get past the forest because we don't have a lot of time.

"Watch out, his home is well-defended!" The same prisoner warns us again.

Then [Battlefield Perception] triggers before we can even register what's coming, and the uncomfortable fact that my [Wind Shield] was easily pierced rings alarm bells inside my mind, so I cast [Earth Wall] in front of me, but even that isn't enough as a javelin pierces through the spell, my enchantment, my blessings, and even my armor, and stabs me in the lung. The shock wave of the impact makes my bones tremble, then we're shaken violently as the boom of the ultrasonic javelins catches up with them, but I'm not the only one who's been hit.

Aoi and Ciel lurch violently and are thrown back as two other javelins strike them in the chest, then I look down and see a glowing red gem on the shaft right behind the blade of the javelin, which is thankfully not fully embedded into my chest, and the realization of what it could do sends a shiver running down my spine.

I use [Searing Blade] to cut through the javelin at the blade and quickly back away while the girls and the golems all cast spells on the other javelins to try to yank them out of our two wounded wives.

The red gem glows and bursts with flame as the enchantment activates, erupting with a wall of white flame so hot that it burns my eyes and almost cooks me inside my own armor.

YOU WRETCHED BASTARD!

The two other javelins are also successfully removed before the enchantment activates, averting a repeat of what happened to Roxanne in our first fight with these Wicked scum.

I cast [Telekinesis] on the part of the javelin's blade that's still buried inside of me and pull it out, then we form into a single file and continue forward as I heal myself, but Aoi and Ciel hang back for a moment since their wounds are deeper.

"Wounds?" I request a report from the girls through [Bind].

"Simple, we'll be fine!" Ciel responds while Aoi simply growls in anger.

Alissa focuses ahead, her eyes searching for the source of the javelins, and she finds three small holes in the wall of the mansion ahead of us.

CRUSH THEM!

"[EXPLOSION]!" Roxanne screams, and the facade of the mansion is blown into a cloud of dust and steam, then she casts the spell a few more times to make sure that the javelin shooter is completely destroyed. If they're made of darksteel, it's possible that they could survive a few of her spells.

The tree trembles repeatedly as our men make multiple new holes in it and pour in, then the muffled sounds of battle start to become noticeable to us.

As we reach the mansion, another defensive measure triggers, and uncountable jets of dark red flame gush out of the mansion in all directions like flamethrowers, sticking to everything they touch, and blocking our approach as [Abyssal Fire] consumes everything, even Okross.

I summon five fire elemental-wives, and they forcibly extinguish the flames with relative ease since enchantments don't have a mage protecting the spell from being interrupted, but it still costs us precious seconds.

Then the Wicked leader's spell finishes, and everything goes white.

"[STAR]!" Roxanne shouts through [Bind], and a scalding heat washes over all of us, making our prisoners scream in pain.

"IS HE SUICIDAL?!" Ciel shouts in disbelief.

"HE'S A FIRE MAGE, HE CAN SURVIVE THIS!" Roxanne explains.

I ask the girls for help and remain silent for a few seconds until Lina makes a good suggestion. "I also don't know how much knowledge you have in the lab; I can't bargain without knowing what I'll be getting in return," I firmly assert.

"You're welcome to come in and inspect the lab," the leader replies with an evil grin.

I remain silent as I stare at him, stalling for as long as I can, then I notice the leader starting to sway as his eyelids droop tiredly.

I sigh dramatically and facepalm, feigning tiredness. "Alright, just give me a count of how many researchers you have. One researcher for one spared life seems like a good deal, no? But don't fret, as we can still bargain later on for more pardons with whatever else you have in there."

The gruff elf spends an awkwardly long moment thinking about it, then he nods and barks to his men, "Count the damn scholars! We'll trade them for your filthy asses!"

The girls give the signal, and our men start getting into position, then we just wait until we hear the first thud.

"Hey... the fucker passed out," a weak voice cries out.

"It's the smoke. If he wasn't so fat, he'd have lasted longer," another appeases the first.

Then a second thud follows.

"Hey... another one."

"My head hurts..."

"Headache...?" A skeptical voice asks out loud.

Alright, let's end this farce.

Then I give the signal, and we act out one of my favorite memes, to the collective dismay of the wives.

"FBI, OPEN UP!" I shout and cast [Torrent] on the barricade at the same time that the rest of the wives blow holes in the walls, opening up a few more paths into the main refining area, then we rush in and start blasting.

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