The Maid and Her Princess

PvE Event! (part 3)

III.

The Cel'Row swarm quickly dispersed, as if there was an invisible hand guiding them all. Fear's giant hand, she thought wryly as she watched the brown blobs bump into each other. Their thoughts were all single minded, as usual, but even the ones who were harassing the adventurers on the ground began to take off. The sphere, or wyvern, was blinding to look at, so Madoka glanced at Audrey instead. She was quite mesmerized by its illustrious appearance, clearly unable to hide the greed that sparkled in her eyes whenever she came across shiny things. It was not until it roared again when the both of them snapped out of their thoughts. Should she just shoot it down? There were a lot of adventurers around, after all. Distant shouts and commotion broke out under the monster's movements.

"Silver rankers and below, get out of here! Avoid the Cel'Row as best you can!"

Madoka was able to pick out Drezgor's voice booming out commands amidst the chaos. The crowds began to separate and drag their injured back to the camps set up. Right, there were still some bumbling creatures attempting to flee to the mountains left within sword distance. Based on Audrey's unhurried expression, Madoka guessed the Guild's affairs were probably none of their business, even if they were Silver ranked.

"Can I explode that?" Audrey asked innocently. Madoka groaned, then touched the storage talisman. Any alternative to that would do, but the sharp images of dead Cel'Row and even the Goblin King's head distracted her. The laser rifle came to her mind, so she traded Magnolia, bolts quiver and the crossbow for it. "Oh, you're gonna shoot it. That works too."

"You guys better get out of here," a hulking figure spoke to them. It was Juujee! Familiar bone armor clung to the big man. Madoka ignored him and aimed the rifle at the sky, peering through its sights. The gun was quite heavy, but not as heavy as Magnolia. "An Artifact cannot pierce its skin. We have to hurry—"

As he was ranting and before she could ask him how he knew that, a loud clanging noise resounded in the air. Madoka watched as the shadow of a massive bolt made by Knotting strands bounced harmlessly off its wing, shattering into pieces. It let out an even more angrier roar, scaring the remaining Cel'Row out of its way. It seemed to be observing the people below, or, perhaps...? A bad feeling crept over Madoka's skin like the slick morning mist.

"Excuse me," Audrey interrupted Juujee's warnings. "Do you know how to kill it, then?"

The man was about to protest again, but the sky lost the golden sphere's blinding light and fell gloomy above them as if the sun tucked behind a storm cloud. Both of them looked up and Madoka immediately scanned the sky with her guard up. She suddenly felt a rising killing intent fall upon her like rain, instantly making the hairs on her skin raise.

"Move it!" Madoka roared and grabbed the rebellious princess, then dashed away from Juujee. Immediately the earth split apart behind her, like it was letting out a last hurling breath as the shattered dirt spread like pieces of broken glass. A purple haze...? Audrey's startled screaming stopped when Madoka landed gracefully a distance away. She placed Her Highness on her feet from her shoulder on a clear patch of grass. The crater was dissolving, sinking into itself. "Audrey, got some bad news. Poison...!"

"Huh," Audrey's squinted, then she nodded. It was evident that the princess could also sense. "That golden ball might be the Eye that the Witch has sent, maybe?"

"Yeah," Madoka propped the laser rifle up, scanning the sky. The bleating Cel'Row swarms had mostly cleared out, revealing the vast grey sky. No presence of the Golden Wyvern or the Uracksheegal. How did something so bright simply vanish? A thought-shard clinked on the ground near the blast zone. Others scattered on the pieces of destroyed land, but none of the Adventurers on the other side of the crater seemed to pay attention to them. Madoka could only pray to the kind gods that no one got swept up in the blast as she scooped the thought-shard up.