How the Emperor trapped a Witch

Chapter Twenty-three: A deadly enemy

"Tia!" Alaric yells in surprise as his blade barely stopped short of my neck, I could feel the cold radiating off it and caused goosebumps to form while I held very still. He quickly withdraws his sword before pulling me into his arms and hugging me tightly. "Your okay!"

"Y-yes I'm fi-ne." I grunted as my face was smushed into his chest while my mind instantly noticed how firm it was. "Your- squish-ing me!"

Alaric finally lets go after my comment and checks me from head to toe, immediately noticing the bleeding on my left arm. He puts pressure on the wounds as I hissed in pain while Kimbra came over to wrap them. The others were in defensive positions, aiming their weapons towards Suli and Jewel.

"It's okay!" I tried to reassured them. "They aren't going to harm us."

"They already did." Alaric's harsh voice caused me to flinch, his face hidden by his hair as he stared at my arm.

"Well, yes but-" I couldn't refute his comment. "There was a reason for it. Their not our enemies. Trust me." 

Alaric didn't look at me for what seemed like an eternity before finally meeting my eyes, an unusual look on his face. "I trust you Tia."

I sighed a little, not realizing that I was holding my breath and turned towards the cave entrance. "You can come out: Suli, Jewel."

Everyone tenses as Suli stepped out and even Kimbra had her hand on the hilt of her sword. 

"Suli has told me a few things." I blurt out to ease the tense atmosphere. "I know what has been causing monsters to attack villages."

**********

I finished explained about the creature and notice Kimbra and Alaric looking at each other.

"What?"

"We've seen a creature like that before." Kimbra says, her face pale. 

"It was extremely difficult to destroy." Alaric adds, he has been sticking closer to me then before. "And if this was able to fight on par with a Fenrir... Then it is on a completely different level."

It was like ice cold water was poured onto me; I could see from their faces that they weren't joking and I knew from Suli's memoires and injuries- that it was way worse then what I was imagining.

"How did you fight against it before?"

"It took 20 rank B, 30 rank C, and 10 rank A adventurers to face it. A little over half of them survived: many of them severely injured. You have to hit the core, but that is easier said then done since it can move it's core around it's body when it senses danger.

"Okay." I rubbed at the headache that was starting to form at my temples. "Then we are going to need a really good plan."

"Tia?" Alaric takes my hand in concern while I looked up at him.

"We have a Fenrir, a silver wolf, and a 163 year-old Witch. Combine that with the five of you-" I started to smile. "And we have an even better chance at winning this."

:::::::

I crouched down behind a rotting fallen tree and carefully peeked over to look at the large clearing : one side the beginnings of a mountain and the other a steep drop of a cliff ending in fog. The entire area was dead, there was not even a single blade of grass on the dry cracked ground and the trees rattled their bare branches in the wind.

I could see this being a scene from a horror movie and it was freaking me out. 

I clenched onto my retrieved wand as I waited for the signal and Alaric seems to notice my distress.

"It's going to be fine." He whispers into my ear and pulled me back into his chest, his heartbeat and warmth calming my nerves. "You stay safe."

"Okay." I whisper back, taking a deep breath. The plan was to have Suli lure out the creature from it's den to where we were waiting to ambush it. Alaric had carried me over here which allowed me to rest a bit before our battle. Now fully charged- I would be able to handle anything that was thrown our way.

I was planning on join in the fight, but Alaric stubbornly refused so I was to help on the sidelines which might be better anyway. I only had a few attack spells which could be any use against it: Suli had found out that the creature was vulnerable to water and fire attacks, earth only fueled it.

Minutes past as we waited, tensing at each sound that echoed in the clearing. Alaric however, seemed content as I was in his embrace; I knew that it I should be the one comforting him but I couldn't muster the will power to move.

CRACK! SNAP! CRACK CRACK! 

The sounds of branches breaking and hurried footsteps shattered the eerie silence of the clearing before Suli jumped through the dead trees and landed heavily on the ground. He slides a little in the dirt before snarling at the location he had come from. 

Thunderous thuds could be heard from where he was staring at and I quickly get up to kneel behind the rotten tree again, Alaric besides me. 

It was the smell that came first. A rotten smell of decomposing meat combined with the strong smell of excrement and ammonia threated to knock me right off my feet and instantly gave me a headache.

"Filter." I carefully hissed, creating a small barrier of clean air around my mouth and nose then did the same for Alaric. This would allow him to be close to the creature, since if it was this bad when it was far way from us: I didn't want to even think of how bad it was going to be actually having to fight it.

I reached into my pocket of my dress, lightly touching the small stones. I had given each of the others a stone pair with a small drop of their blood on the ones I had, to make it easier to remotely heal and assist them. I quickly sent magic to create 'Filter' for them as well.

Each one of us was extremely important for the plan to work. We couldn't afford to lose anyone.

I held in a gasp as I finally started to see the creature.

It was grotesque, long spider-like legs protruded from it's misshaped body that resembled a sack of potatoes: random lumps all over its body. It's skin was an strange shade of green while it's face resembled a boxers face after being brutally beaten up.

The center of its body, under the skin- was a glowing purpley-black sphere which was the core.

'Oh man....' I wince internally at the sight. I glanced down at it's thick trunk-like legs that resembled a half hearted attempt of a 3 year old playing with clay and saw that with each step- black ooze spread out and showed why all the plants here was dead.

'This is not going to be easy.'