Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 735: Caught In The Crossfire

As the party stumbled into a clearing with numerous bushes of spider lilies, Dandy quickly began collecting them, all the while, the rest kept an eye on their surroundings. At first, nothing happened, no sound, no sight of a horror, absolutely nothing at all. But that's where everyone's concerns grew. Why wasn't this place guarded? Where were all the horrors that were supposed to be plaguing this place?

"I don't sense any lingering presence of any horrors either; this place has been left alone for a while now," Erika said, her fingers running through the soil.

"But it kinda matches what Lumine said. The scouts never ran into any horrors inside this place, just the projectile reached them, nothing else," Aria reminded, her eyes scanning their surroundings with Mel.

"Yeah…" Walking backwards towards Dandy, Raven tapped her on the side. "How long will this take? I don't think you should be here with us with so much uncertainty."

"Don't worry, I can turn into mist if the situation demands it."

"That won't keep you safe against a horror, sister," Aria joked, trying to remind Dandy of their last private conversation.

'Ughh, this girl!' Shaking her head, Dandy shrugged the thought of joining Raven's harem off. She wasn't interested, but after Aria had put that thought in her head, and now that she was reminding her of it, the idea kept bugging her at the moment. Sneaking an upwards glance at Raven, Dandy felt the general draw of the opposite gender as well as his fae charm, but being a dark elf, she was much more immune to the feeling and decided to brush it off again. 'Who even asks something like that of a stranger? Join a harem with me? Whatever…'

As her mind returned to the picking, the others kept watch around the perimeter diligently. But then, as a sound broke, a sound as sharp as cannon fire, everyone flocked in front of Dandy and with Amedith at the helm with his shield, they awaited whatever was fired at them. A rifle round was what they expected because of Lumine's retelling, but what came was much larger, as large as a house.

A beam of light, tearing through everything in its path, was headed right for them, but it didn't stop there, as numerous others, much similar to that one, were also right behind it in a horizontal fashion. Blocking off any direction that they could dodge, Amedith kept his shield up, Raven conjured a horror that had possessed a knight to shield the blow as well, and although Erika tried to use Asmodia's powers to erect a wall of crimson mana, her magic, surprisingly, failed out of nowhere.

"BRACE YOURSELF!" Screamed the magus as the projectile made impact with the horror first. However, tearing right through its shield, the blow came onto the holy shield and with his feet dragging back through the mud, Amedith found himself struggling to keep the blow from knocking him out of the way.

Thankfully, grabbing the magus's feet with roots and necrotic hands, both the elves helped him remain as firm as a wall. Raven, too, helped by preventing his upper body from arching backwards by pushing against his back. However, even as the projectile lost its power and the golden orange light from it dimmed, another projectile sent the two holding the front line dragging back a few feet.

"LET ME HELP!" Pushing against Raven's back, Flitza dug her talons in the ground and with her added upper body weight as a dragon, she kept pushing forward to help diminish the effect of the projectile on both the men's bodies. "AUGHHH!! ASMARETH, GIVE ME STRENGTH!!!"

Her scream echoed alongside the grunting of the men for a few more seconds until finally the second projectile was diffused as well. Left panting from the sudden weight being lifted from their chest, both Amedith and Raven looked at each other with a knowing glance.

'That has to be that fucking rifle…' That's what they wanted to say, but they didn't have to, as it was already as clear as day.

"Dandelion!" Quickly turning around, Raven walked over to the frozen elf. Staring at her while she simply glanced into the distance, struck by the sheer force of the projectile and the devastation that it had brought. "If you have what you need, then I'm getting you and then coming back later with just my party and nobody else!"

Grabbing her hand, Raven quickly tried to teleport away, but for some reason, the necklace refused to work.

"What the hell is wrong with things these days?!" He screamed, shaking the necklace and coincidentally snapping Dandy out of her trance.

"Wh-what happened?" She asked as if her memory of the past minute had been wiped completely.

"Doesn't matter, we're leaving!" Gesturing for everyone to gather in position, Raven directed the group back to where they'd come from. Hopping on the birds again to shorten the ride, he led the charge with Amedith by his side and Dandy in the middle of the group. Also conjuring a handful of horrors to block any enemies that might try to follow them, the hero wasted no time in getting out of those brambles…or at least he tried.

For the forest out of nowhere spun under their feet. The spiraling trees confused the lot, and adding further to the confusion were the fallen trees rising back up. Everyone was left aghast, and with Erika, the most learned in magic in the group, also being confused about what was happening ever since Asmodia stopped responding to her voice after those projectiles came flying, escaping the place seemed hopeless until, out of sheer frustration, Raven looked to the skies and took his fae form.

"I'm getting us out of here!" His voice rumbled with rage as he flew towards the sky, and with one screech from the very depths of his monster part, he tore through the branched ceiling, along with causing a tear in the brambled woods as if a storm had sundered everything in its path.

Watching for the first just how strong that monstrous hero could be, Flitza finally realized that the story about Erika sinking an entire city into the hells was no mere rumor. For if the sheer screech of this man could cause more chaos than those feared projectiles, then there was no hope for her or her god, not now, not ever.

'C-curse you, they were right about our god if this is what Athenia's chosen can do without breaking a sweat.' For once, she saw light, but would that break her vow to her god? Well, that had to wait until the escape was over.