Chapter 73: 72. Awakening as the Storm

"Captain Baek, what do we do?"

"Hold and contact Mirsha for confirmation on the situation. I may be the one who accepted the mission and the one acting as a leader, but at the end of the day, she is the one leading us."

"Okay." A man wearing black armor touched his earpiece to contact someone east of the perimeter they had around the mysterious daemon village, "…Mirsha, what is your status?"

Mirsha, a woman with flowing red hair and a staff received the call and answered with a lowered voice, "We are on the clear; the other two areas have reported that we are ready to go, but something is wrong."

"What is it?"

"70% of the scouts have yet to return or even make contact. I have lost all contact with Piskis, and he is not one to act like that. I fear that something had gone awry."

In the Scorching Forest, there had been many deaths happening for the past weeks before their arrival. Baek, however, thought they had avoided such a fate.

A month ago, the Hunter Association posted a request to investigate the cause, a group of scouts accepted the mission, and only three people returned from the twenty-seven.

All of their accounts were the same; they caught a glimpse of a Village. 

Many suspected it to be a dungeon outbreak, but there were no such signs. Nevertheless, it was clear that they needed to take action. They needed to move in and destroy the enemies from their roots and protect the people they wish to protect.

Mirsha, a B+ Hunter, undertook the job. She was a LVL 121 Hunter who wishes to take the A-Rank Hunter Exam... and possibly earn more money. This mission would increase her value in the eyes of the Hunter Association.

'I need to trust on the plan; if we can clear this Village as soon as possible, we can then prepare for whatever is happening outside the perimeter. If we turn back now, the Village daemons might notice and kill us all with whatever is out there.'

Lowering her head, Mirsha stared at the picture she had on the locket that she wore. She smiled at the small family picture she carried with her. A sweet-sounding voice echoed in her ears.

Mirsha took a deep breath, 'I have not seen Lucia for a while.'

She feels terrible leaving her side, but this is her duty as well as her job. She prayed to the God she believed in so that she will return to her side.

"I am going home." Mirsha took in a deep breath, and her eyes quickly changed; she stared at the Village before her and contacted Baek and announced, "We stick with the plan. If we turn back now, we might get caught in a pincer attack."

"Good point," Baek confirmed.

"I will begin. Get ready."

"Understood."

Mirsha took a step forward and held on to her staff. A bright red sphere-like gem began gathering the MP of the world. She activated a skill that should use 50% of her MP, but the mana usage got cut in half with her staff.

A fire erupted right above the staff, and using it as the medium to further increase her firepower and embracing the environmental effects, Mirsha began the plan, "Fire Magic: Dragon's Dance!"

From her staff, the flow of Fire Magic exploded with power. The fire danced, and the strings of flames weaved the form of a serpent that flew to the air reaching thousands of meters high. The fire dragon could be seen from several kilometers away.

The Dragon roared and split into hundreds of balls of flames falling from high above. The rage of this spell was the entire Village, and once it falls, the daemons would turn to Hell.

The Hunters waited for the party to start.

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However, something unexpected happened... the daemons within the Village began to move. 

'What the? Did they foresee us? That's impossible!'  Mirsha was in disbelief.

Their loud cries and shouts echoed; their panic was apparent just from their voices alone.

The humans got ready to intercept the daemons, which will be fleeing from the spell. However, none of those daemons ran away from their Village. Instead, they watched the balls of fire drew closer.

No daemon sought to leave the premises, the Hunters laughed, thinking, "Stupid beings, are they simply going to wait for their death?" 

Dragon's Dance a unique spell Mirsha received from the system after she reached LVL 100. Like every human, she receives new spells that play according to their greatest strengths and stats every 25 levels.

This was her most potent AOE spell. Furthermore, the temperature it held was intense beyond what one could imagine.

She cannot see the daemons inside the Village, but as these balls of fire appeared from above illuminated the skies, one could only imagine just how hot it was.

'Idiots.' She said with a deep voice. She watched as the flames descend, and when her emotions reached their peak, she thought that it was already a done deal. The Hunters would rush to clear the Village, and they will be victorious, but then, she saw it, a small figure rising from the Village like an eagle.

'What is that?' She was unsure; her eyes were not strong like a Warrior's; thus, she called Baek, "Baek, what is it that? Baek? Baek, respond!"

Baek could not respond quickly enough that it made Mirsha worried, but before she can issue a command about something wrong, Mirsha heard Baek speak, "… I-it is a little girl."

As he said those words, the wind around the area began picking up. The lass he spoke of went to meet the balls of flames, and as she reached a hundred meters away from the Village and fifty meters away from the fire, she made her move.

Calling the wind a smile crept onto her face, and as she released a broad smile, she conjured a spell!

"Storm Shield!" A maelstrom in the middle of the air appeared; the wind raged and howled like a whirlpool. The wind picked and created a plate-like barrier in an attempt to fend off the fire.

The fire quickly met with the Storm Shield, Lilith poured two-thirds of her mana into, and then…

BooM!

A muffled exploded echoed, causing the shockwave to rock the area, a clash should have happened, but the next event that transpired was not what anyone expected.

The Hunter's expression changed, "Take Cover!"

The fire scattered like the shrapnel of a shotgun shell. It reached everywhere except the Village. Furthermore, as the Hunters became disoriented from the sudden counterattack, a childish roar echoed!

"KILL!"

It was only then that the daemons of the Village rushed!

Moreover, upon the wake of the Empress, a slaughter was already about to unfold. As the daemons bravely charged forth, Mirsha grasped onto her locket as she roared and met the enemy.