Chapter 35.

Enora woke up to a pungent smell she knew and hated all too well : the smell of the most disgusting meat ever. At least that is how she felt about it, but even without memories, she could say it was the worst. Sitting up, she observed as Rose slowly moved the flesh over the flames, making sure it was roasted to the point of making the taste disappear. "Good job.", thought she before standing up and nearing the crouching girl.

- Where's Nick ?, asked the tall warrior, not seeing him around.

- He went to scout around in the closest caves and tunnels., answered the girl while smiling lightly at her. He'll be back soon.

A few seconds passed in the crackling of the flames until the girl spoke again :

- Are you two together ?

Enora gasped a bit when hearing this. Her face must have been saying it all, as her interlocutor continued with a mocking expression :

- I command you both for your attempt at being sneaky, but I'm not deaf.

- Oh …, said Enora in a daze. Well, you know … it's not that really. We're not 'together'.

In front of that interrogative and still a bit innocent look Rose gave her, the tanned woman sighed and chose to be as truthful as possible.

- We're not together, we're just doing stuff to relax a bit.

- Mh, okay., concluded the blond, then focusing on cooking.

"Is that it ? I don't need to do 'the talk' ? Wait, she doesn't look surprised or shocked in the least, did she … how old is she ?", wondered Enora.

- Do you remember how old you are Rose ?

- Nineteen I think, you ?, asked she in return.

- Twenty six … nineteen really ?

The woman had a hard time wrapping her head around that new information. It was surprising enough that she never thought about asking that to begin with, but nineteen ?

- I don't look like it right ?, she playfully smiled.

"No. No, you don't.", confirmed Enora in her head. The conversation was cut short then as Nick came back from his early patrol. He sat on the other side of the bonfire, calm. It was obvious that he had not met anything suspicious. He said hello to Enora and waited for breakfast to be fully cooked. The three of them stayed silent for the whole time and kept going while eating before the tactical briefing began.

- Okay, so there are around twenty Grey Devils in the mine, and an unknown number in the camp., began the tall woman. As we said yesterday, the best way for this attack will be to take over the mine and wait for the enemy there. What else ?

- We should be as fast and efficient as possible for this first part., said Rose. We don't want the camp to send reinforcements while we're still battling the workers.

- Yep, that would be a disaster., added Nick while nodding. However, we can't exert ourselves too much on that first phase. The ones in the camp are definitely armed.

- So, how do we do ?, asked the girl.

- Well, no magic other than wild, and only in short bursts when necessary., answered he calmly. As long as we manage to get rid of the workers, we're good.

- The next part is the challenge., continued Enora. I don't think there will be an Ash Troll in the camp, but we can count on at least ten guards.

- We did ten before., noted Nick.

The woman shook her head.

- Not in a defensive way we did not, and not after twenty others first. But considering the width of the mine, I'd say we can take them on if we're careful. Those damn little shits can use formations, but that would be difficult against our magic. You both agree on the plan ?

They nodded. Enora was very conscious of the simplicity of their strategy, but they were not actually strategists themselves : they did as well as they could. She focused entirely on the mission ahead while packing her stuff, still only slightly surprised to have been found out by Rose earlier. She was not ashamed though. Nothing to be ashamed about, but embarrassed to have failed so easily at their concealment attempt.

Nick seemed very concentrated on the nearing battle, as well as Rose. Naturally so, as it was a very risky one. They quickly travelled to their objective, encountering no patrol or scout on the way. Obviously, the enemy camp had chosen to keep their fighters inside for defence purposes.

When they arrived an hour later, they crouched on the edge of the tunnel, observing the movements of the monsters ahead. Still, as many workers as before, twenty, and, this time, guards were positioned here and there. Five or six of them, meant to intimidate any possible intruder. They were walking around slowly, taking regular absent looks at the tunnels. It was not really efficient, even more so since said guards were not positioned at the entrances of the cave. It seemed like their orders were to make sure the workers kept working.

- Looks like they are a bit tense., whispered Nick. We could wait for the guards to be sleepy : it would dull their reflexes.

- Why not, let's wait some time., accepted Enora.

Rose silently agreed, and so they sat in the shadows of the grey path, staying alert and ready. Two hours passed before one of the targets began to lean against a lone rock, with a heavy head and weak arms. A few more minutes and two others showed similar behaviours. The perfect moment had come.

Without words, the three warriors swiftly came out of the darkness like some monsters themselves, drowning their muscles with wild magic. Their speed was so high they all had a hard time actually controlling it. Thankfully they were attentive of each other's actions, meaning they did not all attack the same Grey Devil. Enora stopped first, impaling one of them with her wooden spear. Blood and brain matter splashed on the stones before the pile of flesh hit the ground. Then she looked around. At that point, Nick was ten meters to her right, crushing a worker's neck with his left hand while his right held a dark silver spear bloodied by a guard's internal organs. To her left, Rose managed to sneak behind a guard, jumping on its back and madly stabbing its neck and face. All this was done as quietly as possible.

The trio was trying very hard to be spotted at the last moment. The tanned fighter kept on going in her killing spree, covering herself in gore at every step, as did her companions. It was relatively easy, even when the workers realised what was happening, only twenty seconds after it had started. By that time, six of them had been massacred, including the guards. What was left : half the workers equipped with shovels and pickaxes of poor quality, the other half empty-handed.

The Grey Devils tried to defend themselves though, with shrill screams and panicked steps. Yet, such a disorganized assault could hardly scare three experienced mages, even if they did not have any martial training. With no surprise, though, a few of the workers managed to use their colleague's death to slip through and run to its allies. The camp was alerted, and soon many armed monsters began to march towards the mine.