Before Valerie’s simulacrum could connect her attack, she was forced to stop and jump away. Matthew shot at her from the sky, while Ffyr used wind magic to guide him safely to the ground.The sounds of the guns awoke the Carrancas around the fortress. They were now outside.
Mia and the others ran uphill to see what was going on after hearing the sounds of battle. From there they saw Vanessa and Matthew standing outside the fortress just shy from the wall. The Carrancas were getting up and walking towards them growling deep roaring sounds.
In the sky, Kaoru flew, being carried by a giant bird.
"What the fuck is happening?" Catherine asked.
"Matthew and Vanessa sneaked into the fortress to grab the sword." Eric explained while dressing his jacket. "We have to help them." He added and ran towards her girlfriend.
"Let’s go!" Faralynn shouted and ran, urging the other parties to go as well.
Mia followed with no hesitation.
Miroslav, the pretty man from Kaoru’s party, looked at his party member Raphael waiting on what he was going to do.
The gold knight drew his sword and sighed while picking up his shield.
"You know Kaoru will not shy away from such a fight. Move." He ordered.
Both charged behind Faralynn and Mia.
Catherine looked at her husband. Kleb smiled at her. They had family waiting back home. There was no reason to go help them and put themselves at risk. But unlike Claudio, Catherine had a heart.
"I’m going." She said to her party, a group of another 5 adventurers, not counting her husband. "You guys stay. Wait for the party. If we don’t come back, explain to them what happened."
Kleb called to him a large white wolf that was resting near a tent. Both hima nd Catherine mounted the wolf and also charged forward.
Matthew prepared himself to fight the Carrancas that were surrounding them.
When the first one attacked, it didn’t aim at Matthew or Vanessa. It punched the wall where Valerie’s simulacrum was.
Her feet sunk into the wall and its red bricks flew away at high speeds.
Then the simulacrum smiled. Scales grew from her exposed skin and her eyes changed into the eyes of a lizard. Large wings grew from her back.
Then she blew fire from her mouth that covered the Carranca that screamed in pain.
The Carranca’s scream called the others who ignored the humans around them. All of them charged at Valerie’s simulacrum.
"What the hell is happening?" Vanessa asked, breathing relieved.
"I have no idea." Matthew answered.
They stood still while Valerie’s simulacrum flew and cut the head of a Carranca clean off its neck, sending warm red blood all over the dry sandy ground.
"Carrancas are protective spirits." Catherine explained as she reached everybody. "They protect the believers from the dangers of the world."
"They wanted us away from the fortress because they were protecting us from her." Kleb added.
Kaoru and Charles landed by them.
"You should’ve waited." Catherine admonished Matthew and Kaoru.
"You should’ve explained better." Matthew protested.
"What now?" Kaoru asked. "We just watch?"
Valerie’s simulacrum fought the dozens of Carrancas, dodging their attacks and countering with deadly blows from its halberd. But she wasn’t unharmed. Each blow she eventually took from the giants sent her flying away visibly harming her.
"There were 33 of them. How powerful is she to hold herself against 33 level 65 monsters?" Eric questioned.
"112." Matthew was succinct, using his Identify skill. "Dragon Rider, Shihan, Weapon Master..." All were Tier 4 classes. "She’s a monster."
"Not to mention that her equipment is top notch." Catherine added. "It’s not farfetched that she’ll win."
"Then we fight." Kaoru smiled widely.
"She’s right. It’s better to help the Carrancas now than to wait for them to die and fight that thing on our own." Kleb agreed.
"Give me." Kaoru extended her hand to Vanessa asking for Orpheu’s katana.
"No!" Vanessa was protective.
"I have the Heart of Sword skill. Having a powerful sword like that with me will make me a lot more powerful." She explained.
"She’ll return it after the battle." Charles put his hand on Kaoru’s shoulder. "We can find another way to decide who keeps the sword, but for now let her use it. It will help us."
"Matty and I can fight for it after all is said and done." She smiled.
Matthew chuckled.
"You can trust her." Miroslav added. "She never breaks a promise." He said proudly.
"Alright." Vanessa said after Matthew assented with his head.
Valerie’s simulacrum cleaved through the biggest Carranca becoming covered in its blood.
At this point, Faralynn shot an arrow on her wing trying to bring her down to the ground. But her arrows just bounced off of them.
Catherine threw her chakram covered in electricity at the simulacrum as it flew through the air dodging them and the gunfire from Matthew and Vanessa.
When a Carranca jumped in the air and tried to slap her down to the ground, she just quickly spun in the air, cutting the giant’s hand with her halberd.
Miroslav used magic missiles, using his guitar as a medium to fire them. The instrument worked the same way as Mia’s wand did. Mia herself tried to hit the simulacrum with laser beams, some of them hit her target, but none could really harm it.
That’s when Eric lifted a huge boulder from the floor. Using all his skills to increase his Strength, he threw it at Valerie calculating her path and trying to hit her at a future point.
The boulder flew by her just shy of hitting her, but forcing her to change direction abruptly in the sky.
At this moment Charles used a wind spell to lift Kaoru in the air who, using Orpheu’s katana, slashed the simulacrum’s wing sending it to the floor.
When it landed, a Carranca was ready and stomped her with force causing the ground under them to crack.
Even under its feet, the simulacrum was not defenseless. She used the small axes she had on her waist to carve out through the flesh of the giant and then breathed a cloud of fire burning the creature to a crisp.
Other Carrancas stepped forward and hit her hard with punches. But, to every blow she took, she also counterattacked with expertise. She slashed using an axe in each hand carving her way outside the circle of giants that tried desperately to keep her contained between them.
When she had the opportunity, she picked her halberd back, using its long handle to fend off the giants easier.
At some point, her fur cloak was grabbed by one of the Carrancas who used it to swing her in a wide arc and hit her body on the floor with tremendous force that made everyone feel the earth shaking.
Valerie unfastened her cloak and rolled away, dodging the attack of another Carranca. The cloak then disappeared in a mist of mana in the hand of the Carranca who held it.
The simulacrum used another fire breath to force the giants surrounding her to back away. Then she turned to the ones at her back and charged with her halberd held up high.
Charles froze the floor in front of her, making her slip. The simulacrum managed to use her wings to prevent her from falling and still kill another Carranca.
Ffyr was flying high and used that moment to hit a couple of fireballs on her Northern Star’s back.
While it stumbled, Kaoru and Matthew approached her, both wielding two swords, and flanked her, keeping her busy enough for one of the Carrancas to kick her and send her flying in great speed at the fortress wall and open a hole in it.
Charles threw a lightning bolt at her at the same time Catherine’s chakrams hit the simulacrum.
Suddenly two axes flew at high speed aimed at the fat man, but Raphael stood in front of him, using his shield to stop both of the weapons.
Kleb’s wolf jumped at him, becoming ethereal and possessing his body. Catherine’s husband’s body changed, growing a thin layer of white fur and giving him claws in each of his fingers.
Kleb then charged forward at great speed howling like a wolf himself and slashing at the simulacrum with his claws.
Miroslav lifted a mana shield around the Totem Warrior to protect him from Valerie’s counter attack. A single blow from her halberd’s blunt end sent the man flying away, Miroslav intervention being crucial to prevent him from suffering deep injuries.
Mia was the one to act next, covering the simulacrum with laser beams. But she just brute forced her way out the wall through the laser beams, dodging Catherine’s chakrams and Faralynn’s arrows.
Charles covered Raphael’s sword in electricity and the Paladin charged, meeting the simulacrum at an odd position as she dodged the ranged attacks against her. He brought this sword covered in electricity and holy mana down at the simulacrum’s head.
Valerie raised her halberd quickly using the shaft to protect herself. When the blade met the simulacrum’s defense the earth shook again and a thunderous sound reverberated through the field.
The simulacrum then used a knife to stab Raphael, easily penetrating his Vital Shield and the chain mail he used under his gold tabard with a black cross.
The man grunted as he felt the blade in his gut.
Vanessa surged from behind the simulacrum and stabbed at her back. A place protected by armor, but that her Sneak Attack skill showed her where the Vital Shield was thinner.
This forced the Northern Star to turn around and attack Vanessa with a series of slashes from her halberd.
Vanessa was fast enough to dodge those attacks, but any mistake would cost her life since she neglected all her other Stats for Agility.
Miroslav rushed to heal Raphael while Ffyr used a wind spell to push Vanessa upwards out of the Simulacrum’s reach.
Before the Northern Star could fly up to catch up to Vanessa, a Carranca drew near and, with a precise punch, pinned her against the fortress wall.
Valerie cut the giant in half in a single motion after that, getting bathed in blood.
She slowly walked forward in the direction of the others while cleaning her face from all the blood. She was now visibly hurt. Her pauldrons fell to the ground and disappeared in a mist of mana. One of her greaves fell off at some point in battle. They were close to defeating her. but the number of dead Carrancas was mounting. Without them, could they really win?