Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

The stun didn't last forever, and their prey was beginning to recover. The ones that had survived, of course.

The goshawk simply flew up, as she was wrapped in the wind to deal with any insects that might be in her path.

The lynx Jumped nimbly to reach the tree where her sister was, and climbed up.

Eldi relied on Climbing to get a spear with a rope and stick it into the tree he had been up. He climbed up it, Weightlessness included. While doing so, he was throwing Fireballs.

Gjaki jumped over the half limp bodies of a pair of alligators to reach Eldi's position and use his rope. She also climbed up with little effort.

Goldmi had it easier. She simply kept firing, albeit using more mana.

After a while, dozens of those beings had been slaughtered.

"Heh, this's better than the old tactic," the vampiress congratulated herself. "Too bad it couldn't be carried on in-game."

"It's normal that it couldn't be done in the game. There, the laws of physics didn't work like... Okay... It doesn't matter," Eldi stopped under the gaze of his companions.

They both started laughing, while he sighed. He hadn't been able to help but try to explain it, as he had often done with his nephews in his original world. Also, it had happened more than once in the game. In those days, they had often hinted at him to stop talking and focus on the game. They hadn't been always subtle.

Goldmi continued firing for a while longer, as did Eldi, until the mana beings were either defeated or slipped away. Now, they had to find another place to repeat the operation, or hunt them down bit by bit. If they did it in the same place again, many fewer would come, as there weren't that many left.

"What're they doing now?" Eldi asked.

"They've discovered a glypto, and are hunting it. I guess they'll follow us later," the elf informed about what her winged sister was telling her.

"How weird. Are they enemies or not? There's no doubt that they're following us, but for what? Maybe, we should camp and set a trap for them," Gjaki proposed.

"That seems fine to me. Let's see if they attack us or not," Eldi agreed.

They had detected a group of six adventurers who were following them. They had changed direction several times, and these had done the same, although they didn't get too close. Sometimes, they watched them from afar, but made no intention of getting closer.

Therefore, the group looked for a place to put up their tent. The protection shield insulated the interior, so the mana beings couldn't detect them, which was more than enough in the dungeon. If they didn't detect living beings, they wouldn't attack.

It might not have been night, but in the dungeon the difference between day and night blurred. It wasn't uncommon for adventurers to lose track completely. So, it wasn't too strange to set up camp.

The goshawk kept watch over the adventurers, while the group had left the tent with Darkness. They trusted that, under the spell, they wouldn't be able to track them, whatever method their stalkers had been using.

"They're setting up their tent," the elf informed on behalf of her sister.

"How weird! What do they want?" the vampiress asked again.

She was used to being chased, that someone wanted to kill her, that her enemies set traps. However, she had never encountered anything like this. They were simply keeping the distance.

"Let's see what they want. We can't go on like this," Goldmi proposed.

Her two companions looked at her surprised. They didn't expect her to be the one to suggest it.

"Oh, come on! Is Gjaki the only one who can take the initiative?" the archer protested.

"No, no, of course not," her vampiress friend quickly denied.

"Of course not," her high human friend also denied.

"Hmmph! Shall we go or not!?" she insisted, while pretending to be indignant.

"If even Goldmi says so, there's nothing more to say," Gjaki agreed.

"What does 'even Goldmi' mean?" the elf asked, suspicious.

"Uh... I..."

"Someone will get no dessert today...!"

"Don't be like that!" the vampiress protested.

While his two companions argued, he was glad he hadn't talked too much. The desserts the elf archer cooked were really delicious.

The lynx, for her part, looked at the vampiress with some empathy, as she knew how she felt. Although she also knew that her sister would not carry out her threat. In fact, actually, all of them knew.

When they arrived near the other group, three of them were chatting and preparing food, while the other three were inside, or so the goshawk had seen. However, they themselves had pretended to be somewhere else more than once, so they acted cautiously. In the game, they had been surprised more than once.

Goldmi confirmed several times that Life Detection didn't find the other adventurers in the surroundings. She couldn't detect them inside the tent, so she couldn't be completely sure. They might, like them, have some means of hiding.

Therefore, she cast Radar once, questioned the plants through Track, and even hid through One with Nature. If there was any problem, she could intervene by surprise.

Gjaki placed several Bats watching the surroundings. She even left a couple of hounds waiting behind a tree, not far from the place. She also checked that Infrared Vision found nothing.

Eldi activated Bat's Hearing to detect any danger, and Sharpening Senses.

When they were as prepared as they could, Eldi, Gjaki and the lynx approached cloaked in Darkness, while Goldmi watched from a distance.

They left their shelter to attack all three at once, and caught them completely off guard.

The lynx knocked a mage to the ground, and put her soft, clawless paw on her mouth. She stood over her, baring her teeth menacingly. The mage was petrified, unable to react, not daring to do so. She knew that, before she finished invoking a spell, that feline could break her neck. She was terrified.

Eldi dealt with an archer. He put his hand in his mouth and a knife to his neck.

"You better not move a finger," he threatened him.

Gjaki, for her part, took down a light warrior with ease. Before he could react, he found himself immobilized. A precise hit with a bit of mana to one of his nerve points had paralyzed his muscles.

It was a mixture technique of her home world and this one, which Gjaki had mastered through Master Martial Arts. She could only execute it if she caught her enemy by surprise, but it had come in handy in the past. At the expense, of course, of some imprisoned vampires she had trained it against.