Side story- Lausanne and the demons

Side story- Lausanne and the demons

End of Year 133/beginning of Year 134 ~ city of Perhimpunan, of the Sultanate of Timurtengah, Eastern Continent.

Lausanne stared at the Aivan templar. Its been a few years, 6 years since they released her from their home imprisonment, but somehow, the sight of templars still triggered her, a little, little bit. Even if her stay was pleasant, a prison is still a prison.

Greetings Lady Lausanne. The templar of Aiva handed her a magical letter. A message from Grandmaster Engka.

She frowned, but this wasnt the first time she received a letter from Engka. Engka had convinced her, as part of her release terms many years ago, that she would assist with demon-related matters. No matter, the letter magically unlocked itself the moment she touched it.

Investigate the village of Dimusnah. Demon sightings suspected. Local Temple did not respond back. More info at City Temple. She frowned. At first, this didnt seem like something that needed her assistance. But then she pondered it and a gut feeling told her it wasnt so simple.

Her husband and the rest of the Playing Swords were there too. A few members changed. Two died. Her husband frowned. Engka has some task for you again?

Yeah. But investigate this village of Dimusnah. Any idea where that is? Lausanne repeated the contents in private to the rest of her adventurer team.

One of the team members unfurled a map and they soon found it. It was a few days from the city, it was a small village that bordered the central canyons.

Lausanne nodded. Alright, thanks. Ill be going. She walked with her husband to somewhere quiet, and gave him a hug. Ill have to go do this.

Ardi just smiled. Take care alright. Its very close to the start of demon-season. Dont bite more than you can chew. He said that every time Lausanne went out on her own, but he knew Lausanne wasnt reckless. Clueless occasionally, but not reckless. Well be taking on missions around here.

It wasnt right for her to ask her team to go with her for her personal bargain with the Temple.

-

As Lausanne walked up the steps into the Aivan temple, two templars stopped her. State your business.

Lausanne nodded and flashed a special Aivan-Ring. They nodded and let her in. It was her first time in this citys temple, but they all had a similar layout. The High Templar was at the top.

The High Templar was already waiting. The High Templar was the lead military officer of the temple in this city. Every large Aivan Temple had one. Greetings Lausanne. There were two other templars in the room. We believe demons from the rift have been spotted near Dimusnah, and Engka believes youre the best person to investigate. We would have sent templars, but were shorthanded at the moment.

Lausanne shrugged. All the High Templars always sounded like they were a bit irritated at her. They, of course, didnt know her Aeonic origins, or else theyd all attempt to kill her. Instead, Engka had constructed an elaborate plan to drown out news about her origins, so they only know that shes an elf from the Highland Cities of the North. It was easy to fake her origins when she left the Central continent so many years ago.

Well arrange a carriage to get you to a nearby town. And heres a document for you. The High Templar said and that was the end of the conversation. The document was magically sealed, but it was more elaborate. There was a small guest meeting room where she sat, and opened it. It seemed that Dimusnah was already destroyed, but they didnt know what, so essentially, they needed someone who had a scout or rangers abilities to track the demons. There were no known markings or footprints.

Lausanne made the journey that night, and in two days she reached the nearest town. From there, she would have to walk. The mood in the town was strange, and she noticed how sparsely populated it was.

She was the only one in the inn that day. Have they disappeared?

No. Most of them have fled the town. The innkeeper said. The sudden destruction of Dimusnah was scary.

Huh. It wasnt a secret.

And no one dared venture near.

Lausanne just glanced at the map again. This was a sparsely populated part of the continent anyway. If demons wanted to hide away and bide their time, this was the perfect place. But that implied they could think, and Lausanne was relatively sure not all demons can think. Could this generation think? At least to a limited degree? The very few hints she got seemed to imply it.

She continued her journey the next day. The area is dry, almost-desert like. There was some vegetation, but most of them were small. There were cactuses too. Still, a village existed here simply because of the mines and the minerals that wash up on the shores of the canyons rivers. It would take her a day and some to finally arrive, at her speed.

It was early morning when she arrived at the village and saw the destroyed village. There was visible charring on the floor, as if some intense flame burned through the entire area. She touched the charred dirt, sniffed it a little. Demons. Unmistakably so.

But there were no footsteps of creatures or demons. Well, there were fleeing villages, but the ground burned wherever they fled. She looked at the shape and angle of the charring. Whatever it was, it attacked from a higher altitude. Possible the height of a walker.

Could be some kind of ranged attacker, or flying. Lausanne said to herself, as she examined the ruins. She looked at the direction of the flame... and went the other way. If its a tall demon like a walker, there should be some footsteps or imprints on the ground.

But the other, larger flying demon was already flying into another position. She turned and quickly used her vines to change directions. There was another jet of fire.

She landed on another side of the canyon walls. The demon was still flying, and it breathed fire into the canyon. It intended to coat the entire canyon with fire. Ugh. She grunted and the flames started to coat her surroundings. The wingless dragon was still there. She couldnt get it. She made a mistake!

The demon-dragon kept breathing fire. If she wanted to fight it, she needed to get it down, lower to the ground. Or... she had to fly up there.

That area of the canyon would be entirely blanketed with fire soon, she needed to do it now. She used her vines and attached itself to the canyon walls, and with some magic, transformed herself into an arrow and shot herself into the sky at the demon. Then, with another spear, and a vine attached to it, flung it into its body.

This time, the demon aimed its jet of flame at Lausanne instead of the spear, so the spear managed to pierce the flying demon.

[Steelwood Barrier]. The jet of flame burned the wooden barrier, but she was fine. She landed on the ground, and then activated [Constrict]. The vine exploded into a massive tangle of vines around the demon, and she planted her feet on the ground.

[Entrench]. The vines linked up with the roots Lausanne created in the ground, and with the roots supporting her, she pulled the constricted demon out of the sky. It crashed into the ground with a loud bang, but it wasnt over. It breathed fire again.

[Steelwood Barrier].

A barrier blocked the flames, opening a space for Lausanne to quickly move ahead. She had to do it now when it was on the ground. [Super-antidemon rootstrike]. Three massive roots emerged from the ground and it skewered the large demon-dragon. It then disintegrated, and left behind... gems and some other things.

A roar, followed by another. The two large demon-dragons were coming back. She had to get the wingless dragon first! She suspected the wingless dragon to be something like a birther, so she needed to get rid of it, else the demons would continue to multiply. She used her vines and her abilities to speed up. She needed to get back to where the wingless dragon was.

But it was gone. Only the smaller one was there, and it roared.

Ugh. Lausanne decided a demon was still a demon, even if its small. With a vine attached to a spear, she flung it and the smaller demon. It died instantly from the attack, even though it did try to fight it off.

She heard the roars again. If the two large demons are back, itll be another hard fight. The mature demon-dragons were just below a demon walker in offensive ability, but thankfully their defenses were rather weak. But wheres the wingless one? If its wingless, there should be footsteps.

She looked around and activated a common druidic ability, which was to borrow animal-like abilities. [Scent of the Prey], and she followed it. It went even further upstream and it didnt manage to go very far. It was large, but not very fast. Lausanne used her vines to slingshot herself at the wingless demon. Its a grounded demon, so she should be able to use [super anti-demon root strike] once she gets in range.

The demons head turned and it spat a huge amount of fire. It charred the wooden barrier around her, but not good enough. She was almost there. It had a massive tail and it moved to strike. It smashed into the charred barrier, but the barrier was still intact. There was another tail that came at her from the right. Did it always have two tails? The tails smashed right into the wooden shield and knocked her into the canyon wall.

Ugh. She didnt see that coming, and mentally thanked Warden for a protective shield that helped absorb the impact. Still, the shockwave hurt. At least it wasnt a walker-class enemy, and at this distance, she could counterattack.

Five anti-demon roots emerged from the floor and pierced the wingless demon-dragon, and it roared. Almost like it was in pain, but it turned and breathed fire. She sensed its energy dissipating, and yet it kept breathing fire into the narrow canyon. Lausanne leaped and then used two vines to latch on to the top of the canyon walls, and launched herself up. The wingless demon wasnt moving. The five roots were still firmly planted in its body. She retrieved another wooden spear from Warden and flung it at the wingless demon.

This time, it smashed into its body and then the body cracked. Then the cracks lit up, and the wingless demon exploded. It left gems and other things splattered all over the canyon floor.

Yet, its not over. Not yet. Theres two more larger demons that should be on the way. She heard their roar, and again. They were... fleeing?

She didnt expect that. Or did something else call them?

Ugh. Lausanne found a place to stop and just do a short self-check. Parts of her skin were bleeding, and some parts burned. Shell need a day or two to heal them. One of her prized wooden spears broke too. Still, now she had time to think.

Strategically, they would need a whole lot of archers and mages. Way, way more. Anti-demon arrows would need to be the default equipment.

She was in no condition to chase after the two large demon-drakes. The battle used up quite a bit of her energy, so she decided to head back instead.

A templar was already waiting for her at the nearest village. Lady Lausanne, youve located the enemy?

Yes. Identified as winged demons that can breath fire and perhaps other elemental attacks. She gave a long list of observations of what shes seen, things like size, attack patterns, types of attacks and so on. The templar nodded and quickly started to compile it into a document that will go straight to the Grandmaster.

Once completed the templar left, and Lausanne rested in the village. She wondered whether the two large demon-drakes would return, but shes too tired to care.

[Summon Spirit Bird]. Lausanne looked at a small ethereal bird. Keep watch, little one. The bird nodded and flew off.