Rescue Mission
"It's better if we stay. Blue put up a cloud outside but don't block the entrance for us, but block the sides so they can't see what's going on. Do it just on the stairs and make something that will hurt. I'll make a flaming poison rain right in the door to make sure everyone who comes in gets hit. The tripwire is still on the floor, so be careful," Hera gave orders before anyone could even realize, and her voice carried in a unique way. It wasn't like she was just talking, but the voice seemed to arrive directly inside their minds. She noticed the hesitation in the group when the invaders screeched and jumped into action. This surprised everyone, including herself, but at the moment, no one would stop to talk about it.
Blue poked her head out and followed Hera's instructions. She made a large cloud covering the front of the house but leaving a considerable hole directly in front of the entrance. That way everyone could see the monsters coming when they climbed up the stairs. While making the cloud, she could see one of the Dream Invaders already heading her way. Not wanting to be the first one to get hit, Blue jumped back inside, leaving Sunny, her cloud griffon behind. Thanks to Stormcloud's connection, the griffon could now perform some tasks and even create clouds according to the controller's instruction. It's been a while since Blue wanted to test that out on a tense situation, and at this moment, it felt better than letting the invaders attack her while she was alone. Even better, Sunny could jump inside the cloud without being hurt by it, so it already had a perfect place to hide and vanish after its job was done.
As soon as Blue jumped back inside, Hera created the flaming poison rain outside right above the door. She considered putting it sideways to pepper whatever tried to come inside, but if things went south and they had to run away, this could cause problems, and the spell would give the monsters some cover which wasn't an option. Not wanting to stop there, Hera also followed it up with a spore field to make them start to sneeze if those creatures could even be affected by that type of thing. For her final trick, she created the shape of her sensory net and tried to use the same structure to activate her paralyze spell. She wasn't sure if that worked, though. On the one hand, the spell felt different, and the mana was similar to the paralyze spell, but there wasn't any notification about a new spell. Before she could spend too much time thinking about that, the first of the Dream Invaders appeared on the threshold of the door. It was already singed and battered from the cloud that Blue had made since inside it was a heavy thunderstorm, and now its fur was beginning to burn thanks to the barrage of fiery poison. The 'paralyze net' that Hera created was covering the entrance as well, but it didn't seem like there was much effect going on.
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Ailment Mastery triggered
Dream Invader ailment bonus effects x 3
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Dream Invader - Level 16 - Poisoned - Burned - Allergic (Strength affinity)
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Hera wasn't sure what allergic meant. Not the actual definition of the word, but what the allergy would do. The monster didn't seem to be sneezing, nor there were any red spots visible on his skin. Then again, it was almost impossible to see its skin under all that fur. Still, thanks to the [Ailment Mastery], the monster was in really bad shape. It already seemed to have trouble breathing, and after taking a couple of steps inside the house, it already seemed like it couldn't keep standing and fell to one knee. Seeing that, Alex held off on using her scabbard. Leo was the one who attacked the beast putting it out of its misery. The body slammed into the floor with a heavy thud before it started dissolving. However, while the corpse was still there, the second monster appeared.
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Ailment Mastery triggered
Dream Invader ailment bonus effects x 4
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Surprisingly, the creature came inside already falling to the ground. It tried to get up, but even after slamming its claw on the wooden boards to keep it steady, it wasn't able to do so. Leo killed the monster yet again and looked to the rest of the group, "This is going great. I think we were worried for nothing."
Just as Leo finished speaking, another two monsters came through the door. Only one of them triggered Hera's skill, and it only gave a 2 times bonus. Both creatures arrived while the second monster's body was still around, and the floorboards started to bend with the weight. Hera didn't wait and went for one of the beasts. She used her poison spray, hoping to poison the invader since none of them seemed to be affected by her mana. Following that up with a slash aimed at the neck, her handaxe got stuck partway through the monster's throat, and a claw tried to hit her coming from behind her target. Hera had to jump back and let go of her weapon just as Alex sent her jade wind blade flying at the monsters. The impact pushed Hera's Axe deeper into the monster's neck, but it still wasn't enough to cut its head off. Hera's handaxe, on the other hand, took a considerable beating. Despite her care, the Victorious Odd Handaxe was already battered, and the months of constant use were showing. Adding Alex's new attack to it made it clear that the weapon wouldn't last long.
Before Hera could approach the monster again, another two beasts walked in. Blue jumped one of them, catching it with an arm lock that not even the beast could shake off of. Alex put her dagger back on the scabbard and started fighting the one that tried to attack Hera. Tiger body slammed the last one to enter and made it fall to the bedroom downstairs. Leo took advantage of that and went after it, wanting to get the monster while it was still disoriented. Hera went towards the one that Blue was fighting since neither of them seemed to be able to attack each other. The one with her weapon stuck to the neck wasn't moving. Despite it still not being dead, it lost too much blood to do anything else aside from struggling to survive. Hera used a couple of wind feathers to hit the monster and followed that up by making a stone pillar on the side of the house that would slam against the beast. Just like how it was in the forest, she was worried about starting a fire in this place. That's why she avoided using any fire spells inside. Hera made a note to figure out offensive spells from other elements in the back of her mind. She couldn't have poison and fire being the only two things she was good at. Almost as if it was a response to that thought, another two notifications popped up letting her know that her [Ailment Mastery] triggered again, but this time she couldn't feel her poison in any of the creatures.
Alex seemed to be doing well against the invader. The monster was slowed down for some reason, which gave the assassin a much easier time evading its attacks. She was slashing the beast, again and again. Large chunks of fur covered in blood fell to the ground with each strike. Hera and Blue didn't have the same luck. The monster they were trying to kill was pushing them back even while being grappled by the controller. The beast kept rotating, evading Hera's attacks and putting Blue and between it and the explorer leading them to the kitchen. Leo was still on the top floor, attacking the creature that was seemingly stuck in the staircase. By his side, Tiger was using his tongue like a chained mace. Slamming it on the monster with a powerful impact. The sound of the cracking wood boards could be heard even in the middle of the chaos that had ensued. Before any more of the monsters died, another two invaders came ruining through the door. Hera saw the notification again, but she couldn't pay attention to it.
The next monster to enter took two steps inside, and the wooden board gave out, sending it crashing into the bottom floor. Seeing that, Hera had an idea. She quickly created another sensory net using the mana from her earring and tossed it outside to double-check how many of the monsters were outside. She didn't create that wide of a net in her hurry, but it was enough to see one last invader running towards the house.
"Everyone, get ready to leave the house! Blue, drop the cloud," Hera yelled while slamming her chakram on the back of the invader that Blue was still holding. At the same time, she stopped both her pollen field and the flaming poison rain, "There is one more coming. Leo, get Tiger and run outside as soon as it gets here."
"What are we doing?" Leo asked while looking at the entrance.
"Break the floor, burn everything and lock them in," Hera replied.
"Oh, that's nasty. I love it. I have a thing that can help," Leo smiled.
"Good, just get ready to leave," as Hera finished speaking, the last invader came inside the house, jumping over the hole in the ground but making a new one right in front of it.
"Now! Leo and Tiger, then Alex, then you and me, Blue," Hera commanded, her voice going directly into everyone's head again.
The first pair left without an issue. They were fighting the monsters that were already stuck on the lower floor, so there wasn't anything trying to stop them from leaving. Just as they passed by the holes on the ground, Leo dropped an orange bead of flame on the wooden boards. Nothing happened and the bead just rolled around the room. Alex was dealing with two monsters, but the assassin had ways to evade attacks and run away. That was one of the perks of being someone focused on stealth. The monsters went after her, but seeing that, Blue took a deep breath and yelled, "Fight me!"
She wasn't just asking them but using a skill that forced her enemies to focus their attacks on her. Hera understood why she was doing that. Since she and Hera would be the last ones to leave, it was better to have the monsters focusing on the duo.
"Blue, hold your breath," Hera asked before making a spore field in the entire room. She made it as dense as possible to annoy the monsters. Blue was waiting for it, but even so, there was so much pollen that her eyes began to water.
They bobbed and weaved through the monsters, attacking and evading the strikes. Thanks to Blue's shoulder guards that could let out mist, she managed to reach the entrance unscathed. Hera, unfortunately, wasn't so lucky. The Dream Invaders clawed at her repeatedly, and she only managed to avoid the most dangerous attacks. The rest scraped her armor with a couple of attacks, even managing to pull a small chunk of the scales on her chest piece. Hera finally jumped out of the house and created a flaming poison rain inside before blocking the circular opening off with a stone wall. Hera tried to block off all the air inside, hoping that the monsters would suffocate with the smoke if they didn't burn to death. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to make an air-tight blockage, but since the building didn't have any other ventilation aside from the main door, the monsters inside should start having trouble breathing soon.
"Can I do the thing now?" Leo asked from the bottom of the staircase.
"As long as you don't make the door burst open," Hera replied between grunts.
"I don't think it will," Leo replied and snapped his fingers. There was a slight rumbling and some loud noises coming from inside the house. A small stream of smoke started to come out from the gaps on the entrance, followed by loud screeches coming from the monsters, "It's basically an incendiary grenade. Just an explosion of flames.
Seeing that reaction, everyone ran to a house nearby to hide from the potential reinforcements. A few minutes passed, and several notifications about her [Ailment Mastery] skill appeared. At one point, one of the notifications let her know that she had triggered 10 ailments at once in one of the monsters. She had no idea how that happened since the monsters should only be burned, poisoned, and asphyxiated. However, her attempt at a paralyzing net was still inside and the allergies that were triggered by her spore cloud had developed into something else. Unfortunately, Hera had no way of knowing that unless she went inside to check. However, she felt her poison mana vanishing before waving the notification away, just like when she killed the penguins. Since there weren't any monsters around, Hera carefully went outside and got close to the house they had destroyed. She used her pulse spell to see if there was any movement inside, and she couldn't feel the monsters, but there were several gold coins on the ground as well as the fire and rubble of what once was the wooden floor.
"I think we are clear," Hera called the group.
Just to be safe, they agreed to let a few more minutes pass before reopening the house. When Hera took down her stone wall they had to wait for the smoke to clear out, with Alex and Hera using some wind spells to help push out the fumes. Inside, the fire wasn't that bad. It was almost as though while trying to get out, the monsters broke most of the wood inside the house, making it easier for the fires to destroy it all. When it felt safe, Hera made a stone staircase inside the house to pick up the coins. Then the group headed to where Hera had seen the sprite before the attack, confident that the threat was gone.