Chapter 26 – …Best Served One Sided
“This the place, Mina?”
I look over to Mina next to me. We stand outside of a rather big mansion, at least for this place it’s definitely the second biggest home I’ve seen, behind the one next to it. It’s got almost a southern plantation house look to it… Surprisingly fitting…
“Yep. Look at the second story balcony, there’s a bunch of white robe jerks up there.”
I look at the second story and there is indeed. They’re just walking across it, not scouting or anything… Which makes sense… they’re probably not expecting three sexy demons and a hot harpy to rush in and kill that Sanctity guy.
“Let’s go. If any of the cultists try to stop us, I’ll use [Affliction] to keep them occupied and weak. If any of them resist, just kill them.”
I’m just about to head in when I spot something out of the corner of my eye. The glimmer of armor? A slightly booming voice rings out, not loud, just deep like a bass drum, with a tinge of classical southern drawl;
“Alright. What’re you four skulking about for, huh?”
I look up to see…
“Guh! Miss guard lady!”
Lulu lets out a shocked squeak upon seeing the nearly 8-foot tall giant of a woman, Rochelle Steelfist. She gives us a slight smirk before kneeling down and patting our heads,
“Now, we don’t condone acts o’ random violence against our citizens, ya hear? However; I just so happen to be in need o’ some fine deputies to help me clear out some trouble makers. Who knows, a few o’ the hooligans may just attack us, and need to be put down! Well, what say you, ladies?”
…
Why the fuck is she kinda hot.
“Why the fuck is she so hot?”
I turn to face Mina, who realizes that she said that out loud and covers her face, embarrassed beyond belief. God… My entire party is fucking adorable.
“God… Everyone’s so cute…”
Now I look back at Rochelle. Is everyone just gonna say what I’m thinking?
My head shoots to Alice, expecting her to speak up, but I just see her nodding her head to Rochelle. Okay, I guess it was just a coincide-
“Can you guys read minds?”
Okay. I give up.
“Ahem…”
I clear my throat to also clear the flowery aura surrounding everyone here.
“Ms. Rochelle… you were saying?”
Rochelle snaps out of it and nods her head,
“Ah, yeah. So, I got with me a warrant for the arrest of a few key members o’ this little cult gang. If you can tell me which one wronged y’all, I’ll leave ‘em to ya. The others though, will have to come with me, unless they attack you with enough force to severely injure ya. Not like that guy with the little embers, I mean actually injure ya. If ya kill anyone who isn’t strong enough ya hurt ya, yer done. Got it?”
Lulu nods her head, and Alice answers her,
“Sanctity Orion. He nearly would have killed me, if it wasn’t for my friends here saving me.”
Mina nods her head,
“She was… Fatally wounded… Luckily, Lily knows healing magic.”
Alice adds on,
“I’m the daughter of Alfred and Kaleth Drakea of Gulfhaven… I had just finished discussing a deal between the commerce guild and my family back home for grain when they attacked me… I escaped with a life threatening wound and barely made it to their hotel… They thought that if I were dead, the commerce guild would go looking for another person to deal with, and they would swoop in and get grain for cheap…”
Rochelle looks at her for a few seconds before reaching out and gently rubbing her head,
“Those cultists aren’t the sharpest swords in the armory, are they? I’m sorry you went through this. I’ve failed as the guard captain, but I’ll right that wrong today. Get in there and kick some ass, y’all. Send em to Leek or whoever the fuck they worshippin’!”
Alice flinches slightly at the disrespect thrown at Leander,
“The cult may have sullied his name, but Leander was still the hero that saved the world.”
Rochelle rubs the back of her head, embarrassed,
“Sorry, I didn’t mean any offense by it. I’m awful with history, y’see. Anyways, You girls wanna sneak in, or just go through the front? It’s all fair game.”
I think for a second. Honestly, the only one who poses a minor threat would be Orion, and he wasn’t able to kill human Alice quickly enough to not let her get away. Of course, he could’ve just been toying with her, but even if he’s somehow level, what? 150 or something? The three of us, plus Rochelle would be able to kill him easily.
“Let’s just go straight through the front. If that Orion guy is the strongest guy here, it’ll be pretty easy.”
Rochelle nods her head.
“Alright. I’ll go get rid o’ that gate real quick. Follow me.”
We nod and follow closely behind her, watching as she confidently strolls up to the gate. She reaches out and taps it, causing a large spark of electricity to course through her body. She rubs her chin, unbothered by the sparks passing through her.
“Hmm… They cast quite a few wards on the gate… I won’t be able to just open it by hand.”
She reaches down and draws her sword, holding it to her side before a golden light begins to coat her sword. Her muscles begin to bulge before she suddenly slashes, causing a flash of light.
“[Sword of Judgement]!”
I flinch back as the air pressure hit me, but that’s nothing compared to the sheer destruction wrought upon that poor iron fence. Shards of the fence now paint the walkway up to the house, with a few chunks having dug into the wooden wall and door. Immediately, several cultist start to mobilize in the house and around it. The ones that were up top seem to be rather confused, which is perfect.
“Alright. Let’s go. Run in, and make sure to announce that you’re deputies! After that, if they attack you, it’s their fault!”
We nod and start running in, reaching the first step of the mansion within a couple of seconds. Just as we get there, the door opens to reveal a cultist wearing a bit different of robes to everyone else. Instead of just being white cloth, there’s a bit of silver armor scattered about in key areas. Instead of waiting, Rochelle charges ahead of us and states:
“Guards! Drop your weapon, now!”
The man raises his shield, only to receive a punch from Rochelle. The shield immediately bends, along with the arm that held it, slamming into the man’s face and sending him flying backwards. As we run in, Rochelle tells us,
“That Sanctuary guy should be upstairs you guys can deal with him, I suppose, so go on ahead. I’ll take care of everyone downstairs.”
We nod and head upstairs. I cast a weak [Affliction] on anyone who attempts to get in our way, knocking them out and making them sick, before we reach a set of double doors. We let Alice go up ahead. She stands in front of the door and takes a deep breath before lifting her leg up and kicking in the doors. From the room, I hear someone shout,
“Leander’s grace! What the hell is going on!”
As we walk in, we see the man who nearly killed Alice. He has black slicked back hair with peppering throughout it, and a patchy beard that is slightly well groomed. He goes to stand up, but Alice holds up her hand. A tentacle shoots out from her palm, and slams into his knee, snapping it with ease.
“Gaaaaaaah! Fuck! What the-! Haaaaah! It’s you! That blonde bitch from before! How the fuck are you alive?!”
Alice walks over to him as a shadowy purple dagger appears in her palm,
“You could say it’s intervention from a higher being. At least, higher than you that is.”
Checking the man’s status, he’s level 27, which normally would be such a small difference in stat strength that a fight between them would take a while, but that quick strike to his knee was smart. Why let an opponent fight you at full strength, after all?
She walks towards the man, a look of hatred and anger on her face before she says,
“It’s gonna be sad when you realize the one you worship is no god.”
Before he can say anything, she throws the knife and embeds it in his throat.
“KAHK! GHA! AGGGGHH!”
Blood dribbles down his throat, eventually pouring as the conjured dagger disappears. He slowly leans over, clutching his neck. It’s funny. Had I seen this in my previous life, I’d likely be scarred permanently. But now, I just can’t help but think about how happy it makes me. I walk over and take Alice’s hand.
“Feel better now, Alice?”
She squeezes my hand before leaning back into me. I wrap my hand around her waist, bringing her close to me in a hug from behind. She turns around and hugs me back,
“Now I do…”