A Sword For Gold

Chapter 25 - The Last Stand

"What now, Vaelia?" asked Maraxus.

"Do we engage them?" Cora followed up.

Vaelia pursed her lips, thinking and strategizing for a moment as the figures of Alyria Desolas and her army of monsters and followers in the horizon became clearer and clearer, before finally taking a deep breath as she reached a decision on how to approach the current situation or crisis.

"There's no way we can fight them head on," she finally said, "However, my sister will clearly need more time than this in order to find a way to open a gateway with the Master Key."

"What's the plan, then?" asked Baros.

"Kaleb," said Vaelia, pointing to him, "Go to my sister. She's in a cave in the middle of the jungle, and you won't miss it. Warn her of the incoming attack. The rest of you, we will do our best to hold them off."

"How, though?" asked Maraxus, as Kaleb turned to the jungle and ran as fast as he could to deliver the news to Velenya Martel so that she could also pick up the pace in forcing their way out of this island before they could be swarmed by an army of monsters and vile sorcerers.

"We're outnumbered a hundred to one. Do you have a plan, Vaelia?" asked Cora, as she began to nock the Infinite Arrow upon her bow once again.

"We can't defeat them or kill them," stated Vaelia, "But we can slow them down. I will manipulate the winds against them to keep them at bay for as long as possible. As for you, Cora, you will have to keep firing as many arrows as you can. They don't have to be explosive. Besides, they will still be deadly considering the strength of my winds, so do what you must to reduce their numbers as much as you can. For you two boys, you have to cover us. We're going to be busy looking at the front, so we can't afford to have any enemy sneak up behind us."

"Got it," they all responded in unison, as Maraxus and Baros drew their swords, sticking by Vaelia and Cora's sides, covering them from all their blind spots, and making sure that not a single enemy would lay a finger on them. They stood together, backs to each other, as they prepared to make their final stand.

"You ready, Cora?" asked Vaelia, as she began to summon forth the energies within her once again, establishing a huge aura of power throughout the scene.

"Only when you are," answered Cora, as she began to pull back the bowstring, preparing to fire the Infinite Arrow at their many enemies.

"Here goes," prompted Vaelia, as she brought her hands up, with a firm stance, and the wind responded to her by blowing harshly towards the sea, and more specifically, towards Alyria Desolas and her army, slowly pushing them back with the force of winds that surely belonged to a storm or even a cyclone.

"I can only manage this for five minutes, Cora," warned Vaelia, "Make the most out of it!"

"Way ahead of you," assured Cora, "I've learned some new tricks."

Cora shot the Infinite Arrow, and as it sailed through the winds, she smirked slightly, as she snapped her finger firmly, and sure enough, the arrow that sailed through the blowing winds suddenly multiplied tenfold, and with the amplification brought about by the winds, several enemies and monsters were brought down from the skies and into the sea as Cora skillfully dealt a ton of damage with her new trick.

"Whew," Cora panted, as she willed herself to stay on her feet, having expanded a lot of energy into that previous attack with her multiple arrows.

"You alright, Cora?" asked Vaelia, concerned, "Please be careful. You may be able to use it, but the Infinite Arrow is still an Unwieldable in the end. Don't use up too much of your energy."