Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Assault on the ruins (IV)

"Mother..." the vampire knelt down, nervous.

"Tell me what you've seen," Krovledi urged him, without giving him permission to get up.

"An elf with a bow and a big cat. Her power isn't higher than mine, but she uses purifying spells. One even pierced the roof," he explained.

Krovledi frowned. She knew that, with that level of power, the elf couldn't have killed Fangorm. However, purification spells are a weak point for vampires. It couldn't be ruled that she could deal with a vampire of a much higher level than hers if she caught him by surprise.

"Don't tell me that stupid vampire was over-confident, and let himself be killed," she cursed his death son.

"Goldmi... You shouldn't have come... Please, leave..." Elendnas wished. He was tied up, but he could hear them clearly. What other elf with a big cat could be but her?

"If that's the case, then we'll put an end to the problem. Warn the rest, we'll leave immediately," she announced.

She glanced sideways at the elf. The only explanation she could think of was that someone wanted to save him, although apparently that someone wasn't very powerful. However, as a precaution, she intended to send her subordinates first. She also made sure once more that her collar worked, that she could run away whenever she wanted.

In the past, the vampiress had been much more confident in herself. However, her losses against Goldmi and Gjaki, while they were still in the game, had sapped that confidence. Her second defeat against Gjaki, when she was already physically in Jorgaldur, had completely broken it.

Once again, Life Detection found nothing. There was nothing there when they entered, just an empty room with no other entrances.

"The floor. There's something there. It's strong," Goldmi informed after another Detect Mana.

The barrier in the room hadn't been very powerful, but the one on the floor was. There was something there they didn't want them to discover.

Without hesitation, she tried to use Decompose Mana, but that barrier was beyond her capabilities. She would need a lot of mana and hours of work to achieve it, perhaps days. However, they didn't have that much time.

"I don't think I can disable it," she finally acknowledged after trying for a while.

"It'll have to be broken the hard way. The surprise factor is over. Let's wait for the reinforcements to arrive," Gjaki sighed.

They left the room to find a safer place to wait, when one of the Bats detected movement. The door to another room had opened, from which vampires began to emerge. The last to leave was Krovledi.

"So there you're... Finally... After all these years," the silver-haired vampiress murmured, after stopping suddenly. "Get ready. They're coming, and there're many."

Goldmi nodded, and started backing away with her sister, while Gjaki hid, waiting for an opportunity. They reached the place where they had entered. Then, she placed some Light and Wind Abyss in front of the entrance. However, she couldn't put in too many, as her mana pool were somewhat depleted right now.

It didn't take long for the first vampires to appear, and they were greeted with arrows bearing Purifying Touch and Piercing Arrow. These were surprised by the attacks, since they hadn't yet seen the archer. Therefore, some arrows pierced their flesh.

The effect of Purifying Touch made them burn from the inside, so three of them couldn't help but scream in pain. However, they were only wounded, and were soon replaced by those who followed.

The next few arrows had a harder time piercing the vampire group's defenses. Not only were they prepared, but there were more than one capable of placing barriers to counter the attacks.

Goldmi fired a few more. She tried different targets, with little success, so she backed away again, and stepped outside. Although the sun was beginning to lose its strength, it was still daylight, so fighting outside gave her an advantage. Besides, her winged sister could lend a hand, and the forces of nature were at her disposal.

Following her mother's orders, the vampires covered themselves, and followed the elf. As it could not be otherwise, they fell squarely into the traps placed next to the entrance. However, the effect wasn't as devastating as on other occasions, since several vampires managed to neutralize them in a short time. The ones that had fallen inside were bruised, they looked a little burned, but nothing too serious.

They went out after covering themselves, and with caution. They discovered in time one last Wind Abyss that the elf had placed after crossing. Although, thanks to that, she managed to buy some time, while harassing them with arrows as they tried to defuse the trap.

Thus, mounted on her sister, she had managed to gain distance, and reached the area of trees. There, the forces of nature were most powerful. Also, since she had come out of the broken mana shield, it would be easier for the goshawk to help them.

Meanwhile, Gjaki observed the exterior with a Bat, and the interior in person. She wanted to attack Krovledi by surprise, but she had kept ten vampires with her, surrounding her. Also, Gjaki could sense how her enemy was surrounded by some kind of mana protection, which she couldn't get through without being discovered.

For that reason, she was thinking of going out to help Goldmi. The vampiress was worried that her friend would have to face too many enemies. During daytime and with the help of nature, she could probably at least hold them off for a while, which would be enough if she could finish off Krovledi. If not, she would be in danger.

It was when she was making up her mind that another Bat finally saw what she had been waiting for. She had sent it as far in that direction as possible, and, at last, her waiting had paid off.

Due to it, she decided to stay. However, without being able to attack by surprise, her enemy may escape. Also, some of the ones next to her weren't that weak, so they could be a problem. Therefore, she decided to wait for a better opportunity, and do what was necessary at that moment.

She moved away to enter a room. She needed to get out of Darkness to carry it out Although Gjaki didn't stop watching at any time neither her friend nor her enemy through her Bats.

She was also trying to explore the place where Krovledi and her subordinates had come from, which wasn't the same one they had examined before. In fact, they led to the same place, but she didn't know that at the time.

As in the previous case, a barrier covered it, which prevented her Bat from going any further.