Chapter 35: Chapter 34 – Mission 1 (part two)

"We move on foot from now on" Akira

Hina shut down the engine and grabbed the shield. They moved forward Hina leading the way and Akira close behind holding the hammer.

"You are entering the Hive territory. Expect demon guarding patrols soon" Foxx reported via MIRC. She and Mira were probably watching realtime from Akira's point of view.

"Understood"

In didn't take long for them to hear the approaching enemies. There were 3 of them coming from the front fast. The demons were big as a large dog and a meter  long. Their appearance looked like a very sinister hedgehog with many 10 CM spikes coming front their backs and of course 4 pairs of short insect type legs. 

Hina put the shield in front and prepared for the attack. Once the hedgehog demons reached 20 meters they jumped in the air and rolled their head to their tail taking the form of a rolling ball of spikes. Somehow they accelerated in a instant probably using some skill of sort, and shot at them with a great speed.

"Shit" Akira said and quickly hid behind Hina and her shield. She kneeled down on her left knee, her right foot firmly on the ground acting as a support. She barely managed to embrace her mother from behind when the first demon hit the shield

Bang, splash

Screeechh

The impact made Hina hiss in pain. The hand holding the shield went numb. If Akira wasn't supporting her from behind she would probably have lost her balance.

They didn't have any time to react as the second impact blasted in.

Bang

"This time Hina cried. She probably had a broken bone. Yet with a great effort they retained their defensive position. The third demon missed them and its trajectory send it far behind them.

"Quickly okasa exorcise" Akira

"EXORCISE" Hina

"EXORCISE" Akira. 

The first demon was impaled on the shield and the second one was 3 meters in front of them still on the ground and trying to undo its ball formation. Hina switched hands and took the shield with her good hand. The demon was squirming in pain still impaled on it. 

Spell timers 8..7..6

The second demon finally regained its form and hissed:

Screeech . Saliva dropped from its mouth. 

Akira was looking at the demon in front of her with eyes fill with hatred.

The demon was looking at them with eyes filled with malice and was growling...until it didn't. It vanished along with the other one.

"Return into positions and prepare to intercept the 3rd one" ordered Foxx

Hina made a 180 turn and Akira took the same position as before.

Not long after their heard the familiar 

Screeech .. Swishh Bang... 

The demon hit them and impaled itself again on the shield.

Akira made fast asses of the situation. More sounds of approaching insect legs were coming. 

Akira made a quick judgement

Fight

Run 

Or Hide?

"Okasa drop the shield and come"  Akira dragged her mother near the wall

"Quickly put a cloaking illusion on us" Akira

"CLOAKING ILLUSION" Hina cast and a semitransparent white wall appeared 1,5 meters in front of them

[Cloaking illusion 20 000 SU (Active, RARE): the spell creates an illusion field over an object or person making it invisible to the most of the demon senses and detection spells. It hides smell, sound, soul signature. High leveled demons might be able to see trough the illusion spell if they focus their attention on the area. Illusion field diameter - 3 meters The field moves with the object or person that is connected to. Duration - 5 minutes. Mana cost 150. Cast time 5 seconds Cool down - 1 hour] 

Akira sighed in relief. They were probably safe for the moment.

Soon the demons arrived 5 of the ant types and 2 of the hedgehog type.

Demons stopped nearby looking confused. Obviously they lost their track. The demons  started sniffing around like hunting hounds.

"What are we going to do? whispered Hina her face grimacing from the pain

Akira saw the limping hand of her mother and rage started to build inside.

"We are going to kill those bastards" Akira

She made quick assessment Mana:  [720/960] 3 shots of exorcise left

Okasa [510/900] 2 shots left

"Okasa we will begin with the big ants"

"EXORCISE" Hina

"EXORCISE" Akira. 

The demons didn't pick their position. Two of them were marked by the spell rings.

After 25 seconds they hit again:

"EXORCISE" Hina

"EXORCISE" Akira. 

Another 2 ants were marked by the spell rings and vanished soon enough.

Hina was out of mana

"EXORCISE" Akira cast her last shot and wasted the last ant demon.

What remained were the 2 hedgehogs

Akira threw a rock at the distance and one of the demons run to check its location

"Okasa we are moving towards that one. Slowly. We still have 2 minutes of cloaking"

They moved about 50 meters and approached the demon who was sniffing around confused.

Soon they were 4 meters close...

Akira took a deep breath, tightened her hands over the hammer handle. Then lifted it up and aimed at the demon's head.

swoosh .... BANG. Splash...

The hammer hit the demons head with its sharp edge that sunk deeply into its head. Green goo splattered around from the impact. It went limp and fell on the ground legs twitching....

"Prepare to intercept the other demon" Foxx commanded and Akira reacted.

She took a baseball position and looked at the rushing demon. Once it reached 20 meters it made the familiar leap in air and shot fast at her still in the air.

Akira eyes focused, her mind went sharp, trained reflexes kicked in and she swing her heavy 150 kg hammer like a baseball bat.

B A N G

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The hammer connected and the demon flew sideways. It hit the concrete wall.

Akira's boots slide over the concrete ground for 20 centimeters just from the counter force of the impact.

BANG... splash

The demon remained pinned on the wall hanging on its back spikes, still twitching. Green goo  started to drop from its wound where the hammer hit.

Akira was breathing heavy. But she made quick scan of the surrounding. All looked clear. No sounds of approaching enemies

"Okasa lets move back to the truck now. Can you walk? Akira

"I am fine, Just my hand hurts. I think it is broken" Hina

Come lets go..

They arrived in brisk walk where the truck was parked

"I will drive. Get in Okasa"

"You will drive??"

"I can drive, just don't have a license for that here on Terra" Akira shrugged her shoulders

Shortly after Akira started the engine and pressed the gas. The path back was confirmed safe from obstacles so Akira accelerated to 40 Km/h and they were out in just 5 minutes.

"The guardians of the hive rarely leave their territory" Mira

Akira pulled the truck aside and stopped.

"I think we are safe now" Akira "Lets have a look at your hand"

"What is your HP status, Hina? Foxx

"572 of 800" Hina reported

"She will get her hand healed in about 30 minutes from her natural regeneration" Mira

"The regeneration will fix her bone fracture?" Akira

"Yes of course"

"Cool! We wait here for 30 minutes" Akira

They stood silently. Everyone was in deep though replaying the events in their heads.

"I have made an assessment of your battle together with Mira. As we were unfamiliar with your Exorcist class until now, we avoided giving you any advice. Now we have gathered preliminary data I can offer you an advice" Foxx

"The first part of the battle was well executed, but you are still vulnerable at your current gear and attributes"

"The second part when you exorcised the enemies hidden by a cloaking spell was a textbook work of proper executed battle" Mira

"I see. You are actually right. We killed 7 of them with much less danger and efforts" Akira agreed.

"Well according to my system reports the 3 hedgehog demons are still alive. No kill message yet" Kornelius

"They are? What a tough bastards!" Akira

"We are going back and finish them" Hina said with determination

"What? Are you sure okasa?"

"We did the hard part with the fight. Now we just need to finish them" Hina shrugged

"Right of course okasa! We will recover some mana and once you are fit to go we drive back inside. Akira

They waited for 45 minutes. 

Hina's hand healed and she was good as new.  With 540 mana reserves  recovered, Hina drove the truck back to its spot in the tunnel.

Soon they arrived at the battle area.

The demons were in sorry condition and probably won't last  long. In sorry condition they were, but still alive for a shot of Consume and Exorcise.

"I think you are lacking on mana reserves. You should probably level up further" suggested Mira

Akira checked her messages

[ + 10 x 2400 SU; Balance 25 500]

A massive haul of SU for such a short time

"okasa what do you think? We can level up several times, get more mana and continue or return home to rest?"

"I am in a  good condition, My hand is good as new. If that trick with the Cloaking works, we should probably keep going" Hina

"Yea we got 24 000 SU just from 15 minutes fight. Plus I really want that Tactical map upgrade" Akira

"That!.. The mission is for 3 Months, you don't have to rush" Mira sounded distressed

"I am getting it today!!!" Time to level up" Akira

It took 2 x 2000 for them to reach level 10. 

Further up a level cost 5 000. So they moved up to level 12. Of course all 30 free attribute points went to soul.

[-24 000 SU balance 1500]

 

 

"All right. Okasa what do you think about a midnight dinner until we wait our mana to regenerate?" Akira

"Well of course. Lets go out in the forest. This tunnel smells!" Hina

So they drove out again and set up a sheet on the ground in a forest meadow. The moon was shining and the summer weather was warm. Akira bit the last of her sandwich and laid on the ground watching the countless stars twinkling in the sky. She could not recognize a single constellation. It reminded her that she was far away from home, from Earth, from Caroline and Christine. What are they doing now? Have they moved on with their lives? May be Caroline had found a new lover? She was a good looking woman when he left them a month ago. What about Christine? How was she handling her death? She hoped that her little girl was fine.

"Don't worry my sunshine, Father will come back home soon. You just hold on there" Said Akira and a tear leaked from her eye and rolled over her cheek.

"Don't cry my little dragon, we are going to save my granddaughter and my daughter in law soon" Hina

"What granddaughter?" Akira

"Well if Caroline was your wife and Christine was your daughter it makes them my daughter in law and granddaughter" Hina smiled

"It is not that simple, okasa" Akira snuggled into Hina's embrace

"It is to me, dear. It is!" Hina

The fireflies flew in the sky. The warm embrace of Hina made Akira relax. 

"There is still beauty in this forsaken world" Akira

Foxx and Mira we watching trough Akira's eyes. The projection was happening directly in their minds. Mira eyes watered, but a faint smile show on her face. Foxx was sitting next to her nephew in the bed of their luxurious room far away in a distant multiverse. She hugged her tight and both daughter and aunt enjoyed this short respite from the horrors of war.

to be continued....

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