4-64 Havoc IV

4-64 Havoc IV

“Say, Lilian?”

“Yes, Lyra?” Lilian, the Dryad, responded with an amicable smile while having three would-be rapists trapped inside an earthen mould with only their heads sticking out. The three would-be rapists were tearing up and snot was oozing off their noses as they whimpered and begged for their mercy.

“Please... have mercy...” one of the thugs pleaded but was woefully ignored by the two women.

“Do you think Aera would be fine?” Lyra asked as she went around retrieving her arrows from the corpses of the thugs and ruffians she slew.

“Why wouldn’t she be? She’s with Aedan after all.”

“Yes, but Aedan’s... ain’t as strong as he was. Should Aera lose herself, do you think Aedan alone would be enough to contain her?”

“Erin’s not here, dearie, and if Aedan couldn’t handle her, then no one else can.”

“Please... we’ll give you anything... just let us go...” the thug continued to beg.

“I know... but I still think we should have stayed together. What if any of us encounter a Demoid far removed from the common expectations? Do you believe any of us can take it down without working together?”Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

“I see your point, Lyra, but we have discussed this. We cover more ground if we split up and our priority here isn’t the extermination of the Demoids but the rescuing of the survivors. If we encounter something we can’t beat, we run.”

“Erin wouldn’t run.”

“She wouldn’t but we’re not her. We don’t have her luck nor her skills.”

Lyra sighed as she plucked the last arrow out of a corpse. “I suppose you’re right... But I can’t shake off this bad feeling I have.”

“Please. We won’t—”

“Oh, be quiet!” Lilian hissed at the thugs and snapped the thugs’ heads with her Earth Magic by tightening the holes around their necks. “Ah, oops. I didn’t mean to do that. How embarrassing.”

Lyra stared at Lilian with a sullen frown. “Embarrassing, really?”

“I’m truly embarrassed that I lost control of my spells for a moment there. It is very unbecoming for a seasoned Mage such as I. But anyway, good riddance, I say.”

“You can be very terrifying at times, has anyone told you that?”

Lilian tittered. “Erin certainly has and so did Aedan but the latter was quite... frivolous when he told me so. I don’t believe he finds me as terrifying as his words suggest. In fact, I think he was trying to flirt with me. He did say it was sort of charming.”

“Alright, enough. I don’t need to hear your love affair memoirs.”

Lilian simpered. “Why the diffidence, Lyra? You’re not a novice to love.”

“All this talk about love is making me want to fuck instead of fight and I have not fuck yesterday, so I’m a tad muddled right now.”

“Ah, that’s terrible. Do you need my assistance?” Lilian asked, slowly pulling her gown off her shoulders.

Lyra rolled her eyes. “Not now, Lilian. There’s a time and place for everything.”

“Alright alright, Lyra. As you say.” Lilian pulled her gown back up her shoulders.

The Demoid immediately ceased its tantrum and focused its gaze on Lilian as if the pain from the explosion had been forgotten in spite of the injuries it sustained from it.

“Spirits be damned,” Lilian uttered as her gaze met with the Demoid’s.

The Demoid roared and leapt at the exposed Dryad.

“Lilian!” Lyra shouted and rushed towards her companion while quickly knocking another arrow into her bow.

Lilian raised a wall of earth between her and the Demoid but the latter easily broke through the earthen wall. Even so, Lilian only smirked. The wall was only a means to slow the Demoid down. She produced a small pouch from the valley of her bosom and scattered the contents at the Demoid. She conjured a small flame of Essence Flare and that tiny blaze was all it took to set ablaze the Demoid with the aid of the Faerie Dust.

The Demoid seemed to realise its blunder but it was far too late in changing its course of action. And so, it was determined to bring at least Lilian down with it as the cyan flames engulfed it. Its cries of agony and death resonated sharply through the streets. Due to the Demoid’s deafening shrill, Lilian lost the window to make her retreat. The burning Demoid plunged itself at the Dryad in its final breaths.

However, Lilian was not alone. Lyra released the string and sent an arrow into the Demoid’s side-eye. It shrieked even louder as the arrow pierced into its eyeball. Lilian sent the Demoid tumbling away from her by raising the ground below the Demoid’s feet. To prevent the Demoid from getting back up, Lilian shackled it to the ground with vines that sprouted from the exposed soil under the ruined pavements.

The Demoid broke free of the vines with ease but Lyra barraged the Demoid arrow after arrow until the cyan flames eventually saved the life of the Demoid. Lyra stopped riddling her mark with arrows when the Demoid was no longer moving.

“Is it dead?” Lyra asked without lowering her bow.

Lilian peered at the Demoid that was now nothing but ashes. “It’s as dead as it can be.”

Heaving a sigh of relief, Lyra turned her attention to the guard, who had clambered his way to another hiding spot while she and Lilian were engaged in combat with the Demoid. “Come out,” Lyra said after lowering her bow.

Hesitantly and slowly, the guard limped out from behind a rubble pile. “P-please... don’t hurt me...”

Lilian smiled at the guard. “And why would we hurt you?”

“...No reason... No reason at all. It’s just...”

“Lying is futile against a Fae, do you know?”

The guard’s face began to pale and he did not limp any close to Lilian and Lyra.

“The Spirits are avoiding you like animals would avoid flames. The Spirits don’t usually do this unless the person-in-question had committed some heinous crimes.”

“Y-you’re mistaken, Fae. I am not what you think I am. I-I’m just a guard...”

“Then why were you hiding from us? Do we look like thugs out for blood and gold? In fact, you already knew we meant well since you have been watching our movements for some time even when we were saving people from those alley thugs. You couldn’t have not known we meant well which leads me to believe that our intentions ran contrary to yours.”

Hearing Lilian’s words, Lyra raised her bow and aimed at the guard.

“You’re mistaken, Fae. I’m just a city guard.”

“Are you truly a city guard? You don’t look like one, if I may say. The armour is too big for you and your wounds don’t match the ruptured parts of your armour. Your legs are in terrible condition and yet, your greaves are whole. There are dents and torn slits on the chest plate but there are no bruises or even a shallow cut on your torso as far as I can tell. Now, do you wish to keep lying or do you wish to come clean?”

Left with no way out of the farce, the presumed guard could only scowl and utter a curse under his breath as his hand crept behind his waist, reaching for his hidden dagger.

However, Lyra saw through his skulking hand and released the arrow into the presumed guard’s head. The man’s face was stuck in awe and disbelief as the lifeless body collapsed to the ground.

“How cold of you, Lyra,” Lilian remarked with a titter.

“I don’t want to hear that from you,” Lyra retorted.