You need a hero
Aground 20 minutes after they got the message, Vash was already able to see the group being assailed by a pack of Myradions. The monsters had surrounded the people who were huddled around a large carriage and were doing their best to fend off the creatures.
"We need to move faster. I don't think they can wait much longer," Vash said as he came back to the team.
"How far are they?" Flint got up but still couldn't see the group being attacked.
"I would say, about two or three kilometers."
"We should get there in about 4 or 5 minutes," Skyler replied, refreshing the buff that Nimbus was currently having.
"I don't think they have that long. There were three people on the ground, and only one facing the monsters," Vash replied.
"Shit," Flint groaned, but he still didn't move, just stood there.
"Hera, how fast can Nimbus run?"
The Empress turned to the Sentinel, 'While carrying you all, I'm at my max speed of 40 km/h already. If I carry just you, Hera, I could get to around double that with all the buffs on me.'
"He's already at max speed. The only way to make him faster would be for him to drop you. Even then, that's two minutes."
"What if you awaken him? With Vulcan? Doesn't that double his stats and skills?" Neria suggested.
"We never tried with the titled blades. But maybe."
"Then do it! Go on ahead, and we run the rest of the way there," Flint almost barked the order.
"Are you telling me to go alone?" Hera blinked, unsure if she was hearing it correctly.
"You are never alone. Isn't that the point of your legacy?" Flint huffed.
"Fair," Hera turned around and summoned Forge, "Vulcan do you need-"
Before she could finish the hammer replied, 'Nope.' And gave Nimbus a soft hit on his bottom.
'Hey!' Nimbus protested, but his body suddenly shifted. He didn't stop running, but his griffon body grew, clouds formed under his wings, and small sparks of lighting appeared with each of his steps. His beak became longer and curved while his eyes grew sharper.
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Sentinel Nimbus - Protection
Bladed Tonfa - Griffon
Total Stats: 608
Strength: 102 (204) Endurance: 203 (406)
Agility: 156 (312) Charisma: 40 (80)
Intelligence: 46 (92) Luck: 60 (120)
Mana: 6 621 395/ 6 621 395
Sentinel Core: 9 365 621/ 9 365 621
Weapon Scaling
Empress Attribute 112
Endurance x 23.9 (47.8) Agility x 19.6 (39.2) Strength x 14.8 (29.6)
Luck x 11 (22) Intelligence x 9.7 (19.4) Charisma x 9.2 (18.4)
Passive Skill:
Defender
Fire and Ice
Cold Burn
Call of the Wind
Wind Front
Active Skill:
Griffon's call
Frozen Ash
Griffon Form
Mana Shield
Share the Pain
Awakened
Awakened:
The Scaling and Attributes are doubled.
All skills have their effects doubled, as well as the duration. The cooldown is reduced by half.
Nimbus becomes the personification of a griffon. Clouds wrap around his form, increasing the protection he can provide.
All of his attacks and skills deal cold, fire, and wind damage.
Extra Skill:
Cloud Sentinel:
Nimbus creates a cloud around himself. Anyone damage dealt to an ally who is in the area of the cloud will go to Nimbus instead. In addition, the clouds are able to reduce any incoming damage to Nimbus and his allies by 20%
Passive radius - 1 meter
Mana cost for each extra meter - 1%
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Daskka knew that Hera wouldn't have time to read the status window. Instead she just forced the information inside the Empress' mind. It wasn't a good feeling, and she could only do this with this kind of thing, but they couldn't go fighting without knowing the capabilities of the Awakened Nimbus.
After a brief moment for Hera to gather herself again, she jumped on top of the Sentinel, dismissing Forge while summoning Viper and Crimson. She slashed the side of the harness that was currently attaching Nimbus to the carriage, and the two of them just bolted.
In that initial burst of speed, the Ophidianite almost fell from the griffon, but before she could even use her tail to grab onto something, a cloud appeared on her back. Not only was this giving her the support she needed to withstand this speed, but it was also quite cozy.
'I got you, and be careful with the eyes. I'm picking up the pace,' the Sentinel said. Despite the situation, it was clear he was enjoying his new powers.
His speed was staggering. Forget double. Nimbus was moving at a pace that could rival some race cars. Or at least that was the impression Hera got. She only got a handful of seconds to realize how much she trusted the Sentinel. After all, if she were to fall or be dropped at the speed they were going, she would likely die. Her attributes wouldn't matter. Yet, she was comfortable. There wasn't a single thought in her mind that Nimbus could harm her, even by accident. It felt nice to trust someone like that, and she had even more people who she trusted as much.
Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as she saw the group of monsters attacking those few warriors. There should be over 50 Myradions, including a chieftain. Against them was a small team of 5 people, 3 of whom looked human. And another 3 people in the carriage, seemingly hiding from everything. According to the S.O.S., this team was escorting some supplies. That meant that some of the people here should not be battle-ready and just be in charge of the shipment itself.
A couple of seconds passed, and the Empress got a better look at things. Of the 5 people, only one was still standing, and they all were very hurt. Blood was splattered on the back of the carriage, and small pools covered the floor. All the while, the Myradions cackled, making a sound very similar to that of a hyena but less human-like. Their voices had some reverberation that messed with one's head. Thankfully, the Empress not only had a title that protected her from this kind of thing, but her attributes were also strong enough to fight back against whatever effect this cackle of Myradions had.
Nimbus slowed down, not to pass them or to hurt any of the people who were already fighting. Hera jumped up, standing on top of the griffon, and created a [Venomous Glaive] on her hands. The Sentinel jumped over the Myradions, and, at the same time, the Ophidianite jumped off of him, doing a flip to keep her back to the people being attacked.
Just as she landed, the Empress yelled, "Hydra's Coil!" using a new command phrase to summon her entire court.
Lurize, Livy, Viper, Crimson, and Vulcan all appeared in their bipedal forms, creating a semi-circle of protection around the injured team. Gale, Ink, Tide, Autumn, Chris, Ember, DJ, and Juuchi, the katana that had joined the court recently, all popped from her back, quickly passing in front of Yarnball to get a magnet before flying out after the monsters. Dusa was the only one who didn't do that since she was already on top of the Ophidianite's head.
'Vulcan, attack or defense?' the Empress before she started moving.
'I'm at 20%, I'll defend,' during the last few days, they tested a few things out and discovered a couple of things. First, the more Daemonic Influence he had, the quicker it would increase. Second, if Forge was focused on making something, the influence would grow at a reduced rate. Lastly, there was one way to lower the influence without using the [Daemonic Form] skill. And that was to let Vulcan fight freely without worrying about strategy, objective, or whatever. If he could just go wild and act as if he were in that form, the Daemonic Influence would slowly go down. Unfortunately, that only worked if he was below 50%. After that, going on a frenzied state would only halt the growth, not reduce it.
Hera glanced back and saw three humans and an unconscious man on the ground wearing robes. A short-haired woman in leather armor, who was trying to feed a potion to elven men leaning against the carriage, seemed delirious. There was another man on his knees throwing up, but Hera couldn't tell his species. In the middle was a blond girl who should barely be 18, maybe 19 at most. Wearing heavy armor and holding a longsword. She was the one who was the most injured, yet she was the only one still standing. It was clear that at some point, she decided to take the brunt of the attacks to protect the others. All in all, she was lucky. The Myradions had one very bad habit of playing with their food, which allowed her to last this long.
All the monsters roared and started cackling even louder, angry about the presence of this new group and how their hunt was being interrupted. However, Hera didn't even acknowledge the noise they were making, even if it almost made the blond girl drop her sword. The Empress reached for a small pouch around her waist and tossed it to the human girl, "There are some potions here. A healer is on their way. Don't worry, you are safe now. Give me just a minute, and I'll help you tend to everyone's wounds."
Hera turned around with fire in her eyes. Not exactly angry with the monsters. After all, they were just that. But her entrance, the creature's low level, and the starry eyes of the girl pumped her up. Since she was appearing like a knight in shining armor, she might as well play the part properly, "Wipe them out!"
Most of the court was already engaged with the monsters. Each of the 6 flying weapons was about to kill one of the Myradions. Nimbus didn't waste time. He quickly changed back to his bipedal form, which was almost the same. He still had a muscular bare chest that had a grayish blue color and the loose white pants around his waist. However, his wings had a considerable difference. They were bigger, and clouds formed the feathers on the inside. In addition, those clouds circled his form, showing the area of effect that his awakened skill created.
Usually, Livy was the juggernaut of the team. The unstoppable force that just mowed down the weaker enemies like they were made out of paper. But now, the Sentinel was simply more powerful. He needed one single attack to kill any monster. At one point, he created a box of mana barriers around one of the Myradions and simply started pressing the barriers against each other, essentially turning the protective spell into trash or, in this case, a meat compactor.
Hera didn't want to be left behind and used the [Grasshopper Slash] to dispatch a few monsters in an arc around her. After that move, she spun around, using her tail to cut the throat of another creature before tossing the glaive with a broken combo. Livy was doing her best to keep up with Nimbus, not wanting to be outdone by a defensive expert. She swung the battle axe with force, not just cutting but also crushing the monsters as she attacked. At times, she would even let go of her weapon completely, only to rip the Myradions apart with her bare hands.
Crimson was the less flashy of the bunch, but she was almost as deadly as the rest. Taking advantage of her stealth ability and the [Dorohla Style] tailor-made to the body of a Naga, she vanished in the swarm of monsters, leaving behind a trail of dead and badly injured creatures.
After arriving, Hera and her court took less than a minute to kill all the 50+ Myradions. The chieftain, who was supposed to be a stronger version of them, died before anyone could even realize which creature was different. By the end, the Empress was even slightly frustrated. Not because the fight was easy, but because she got really close to being able to kill 1 monster each second.
Turning back to the injured group, Hera asked Daskka to use her purple mist form to help with the healing while she talked about what happened.
"Are you all ok?" the Ophidianite asked the one human who defended the rest of the group.
"I-I am… Who are you," the blond girl asked, still shell-shocked.
"Hera Quetzaveth, the Ophidianite Empress."