The Legend of the ruthless Empress Freya
Chapter 86 The Beginning [Dark Forest War II - Part II]

-- POV General --

In the dark night, the adventurers camping in the clearing had suddenly been attacked by flying beings. It had already been going on for more than 10 minutes, but the attack still did not stop. Stones were flying from the sky, thrown by the same people who were taking care to create as much panic as possible. Among the adventurers, in addition to Sarah, her group of 3 and the twins, there was a group of 2 men and a woman hiding their faces but easily recognizable by their identical red outfits. They were fighting with swords and doing the best they could to avoid projectiles.

"Take cover everyone ! Protect yourselves first and foremost and don't look to fight back just yet !"

Sarah shouted across the clearing to those who could hear her to take cover. Only the twins were mages and with their fire element, aimed at Trioa and her subordinates in hopes of hitting them. They were not listening and were focused on their target, protecting themselves with their fireballs. Deafening noises resounded as a rain of stones continued to fall on them. As time went on, trees were destroyed, small craters appeared on the dry earth and the adventurers were overwhelmed.

Trioa and the members of her section were not trying to kill these humans but rather to disorient them and push them to separate. In this deadly cacophony, each of them took refuge behind what they could. As the group of three hid under the trees, a lone figure wearing a helmet crept up beside them.

"Let's regroup quickly !"

The green-eyed leader kept yelling at the top of her lungs, but no one was listening to her orders except her main group. The twins were busy throwing fireballs in vain at those flying half-humans that were twirling in the untouchable skies.

Suddenly the attack ceased as the air section disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. The calm had not returned, however, for where the group in red was, the sounds of swords were heard among the trees.

"Chief ! There are people in the fores t! We...we don't know how many !"

The woman in red was named Claire and she in turn shouted as needles came out of the night to reach her. Sarah and the twins, who were no longer busy sheltering or attacking, turned their heads in her direction before hurriedly joining her.

Claire did not know it, but there was only one person and not several. The figure running through the night, jumping, sliding and throwing poison needles was obviously Luna, the Commander of the Intelligence Section. She was careful to stay far enough away so as not to get hurt and use the night to her advantage to launch stealth attacks, from all sides.

"Find them !"

Sarah was beginning to lose patience as she still didn't understand who they were and how they managed to be so coordinated. The attack had begun after it was already dark and was taking place in several places with incredible precision and timing. Luna always hidden in the thickets, forcing them to stay alert without giving them time to rest mentally. Fearing a sudden attack was a psychological strategy to exhaust and manipulate them.

"I don't know who they are but we underestimated them !"

So far, this strategy was not very incredible but the stubbornness of humans to see other races as inferior, prevented them from thinking properly. With this kind of thinking, the Empress' army had a clear advantage, that of being underestimated. Without thinking, all the adventurers were now grouped in the forest, trying to find their attackers. The twins June and May were still scanning the sky with their brown eyes, waiting to detect the slightest movement in the clouds.

The 9 humans were crouched among the trees and all looked at their leader who spoke with extreme anger.

"Damn it ! They waited until dark to attack us. Do you have any idea how many of them there are ? In the sky I could count at least 5 dirty beasts but there might be more ! Raaah I will kill them all !"

Her hands were shaking, her eyes were bloodshot and her teeth were grinding. The twins who were by this time calmer were starting to talk to calm her down.

"Chief, they took advantage of the surprise effect but now we know they are there. From now on...

.... we will take the advantage and we will be more vigilant. They must have killed the others this way but we are more powerful although much less numerous."

June and May looked at Sarah with a big innocent smile that made her shiver for a few moments. The level 28 twins were the only mages of the adventurers and were therefore the most dangerous not to mention the highest levels. If Sarah was hysterical, sadistic and impulsive, June and May were calculating, cruel and thoughtful.

This time it was quiet, but those first two attacks had still managed to hurt a few humans. Even with their high levels and strong bodies, they had exhausted themselves dodging projectiles in the night. Most were out of breath, covered in dust, sweat and dirt. No one was serene, and as Freya had predicted none let their guard down.

"We have to find them ! Until we kill every last one of them, they won't stop. If the battle drags on, we will be at a disadvantage because of our numbers !"

Sarah thought while taking great care to check around her warily. She sensed that there were beings hidden in the woods but not knowing where and how many made her sick. As everyone thought of a strategy, grunts on the opposite end of the place from where they were could be heard.

"What's going on again ?"

The humans were to the north of the clearing and without time to confer, the bushes to the south were moving. Like a thunderous roar, powerful and deafening, the loud growls were coming from there. Little by little beasts were coming out of the forest, taking care not to come into contact with the humans. There were tigers, bears and wolves, intimidating the group of adventurers by their numbers and their wild looks. The creatures were not there to attack and stood still, their lips curled up and their fangs protruding.

"How many the hell are they ?"

Sarah could see their yellow eyes in the night and it wasn't hard to figure out that they weren't there to have fun. The leader had an ominous smile on her face as she drew her sword to point it at the beasts under Emilia's orders.

"Let's kill these ones already, they look like the perfect ones to start with !"

The whole group of humans nodded as they moved towards these hostile beasts. Their steps were slow, hesitant as the adventurers feared a sudden attack from behind or in the air. Suddenly, as they reached the middle of the clearing, still facing the many beasts, they fled into the forest from where they had come. Sarah, blinded by her desire to kill, ran after them while shouting her instructions.

"Above all we stay together, we are not on our own ground ! These fleabags must know the forest like the back of their hand, I wouldn't want any stupid mistakes !"

Sarah didn't want any stupid mistakes, but when she had ordered them to follow, she was the one who had made it. Only the twins had sensed something suspicious and stopped. As they watched their companions quickly disappear into the thickets, June and Maya spoke to each other.

"Big sister, I think this is a trap..."

"...Yes big sister this is a trap, this is not normal."

The twins had accepted Sarah's authority, but certainly didn't want to consciously run to their deaths or into a critical situation. They were standing there in the middle of the clearing, alone, when suddenly three rather powerful auras appeared from nowhere accompanied by many weaker ones. June and May turned around, to see three figures slowly emerging, followed by about fifty soldiers of all races.

The first one to come out was a beautiful snake woman with scales as black as night, the second one was a young woman with hair as red as fire and the last one was a beautiful blonde woman with red eyes and sharp fangs. Opposite the twins stood the Commanders Nixia, Naïa and Thorunn accompanied by their two respective sections.

"Humans ! Tonight you will not leave this forest alive !"

Nixia had spoken calmly but her voice was filled with anger towards those who had come here to kill and capture their own. Beside her, Naia and Thorunn said nothing but took up positions as their soldiers surrounded the two young women in the clearing.

"They had planned for some of us to stay here...

...we also fell into their trap."

June and May did not tremble in spite of the tense situation and watched their opponents. They were level 28 and very powerful, but facing three level 20 half-humans and a large number of soldiers, the situation looked very difficult. Without another word, the 5 of them went into battle knowing that this would be the last fight for some of them. But who ? No one knew.

____

"Damn, the twins didn't follow ! Too bad for them, they'll be fine ! June and her sister should have followed orders !"

Sarah was running through the woods followed by the other 6 who had obeyed. Not that the group in red absolutely wanted to follow her orders but being the weakest, staying close to the strongest was a necessity. They were 7 to run before arriving in a second clearing, larger than the previous one. This was the place where Kirk had died more than a month ago, at the hand of the Empress herself. The beasts had stopped in the middle and joined the entire army that faced the most powerful adventurers. In front of the crowd stood the Lieutenant and then in front of them the Commanders Ralph, Emilia, Ynir and Persea. Caipy was at the back, Luna was still in the forest and Trioa was hiding in the clouds to intervene at any moment.

The scene was unimaginable for these humans. For the first time in their lives, they were witnessing the very first war of an Empire. The adventurers were speechless, the half-humans and other races in front of them were armed, perfectly positioned and guided by four people dressed in black, mysterious and scary at the same time.

"This is impossible ! Who are you ? Did you kill my brother ?"

Sarah lost her composure as she realized what was happening. They had all come to capture some subraces and kill others, but they had never imagined that they would come across this. Fear was beginning to take hold of them as well as anger and as the humans shook, the female Commanders stepped forward in silence.

"Don't come any closer, you filthy trash ! Answer the question scums !!!"

There was too much information in the minds of the humans, especially the leader, who was slowly coming to understand. She had all along greatly underestimated the inhabitants of the forest and now the situation was only getting worse. Claire and the two men next to her were trembling and had not accepted the mission to fall into a situation like this.

Although all of them were more powerful than the Commanders, the number of soldiers was frightening to them while for the first time humans feared those they were martyring. Intimidation worked wonderfully, so much so that the woman in red whispered words to her two companions that she never thought she would utter.

"Le..let's hide in the forest..we can figure out how to get out of here once we are sure we are safe. For now they..."

She didn't have time to finish her sentence as the trees behind them disappeared behind a wall of wood, plants of all kinds and brambles.

"You're not going anywhere !"

Persea had spoken these words from where she was as she looked with contempt at the humans who were now deprived of any possible retreat.

"Hahahaha~ show us what you have ! No matter how many of you there are, you will all end up impaled on my blade and nothing and no one will stop me from hurting you all !!!"

Sarah was laughing hysterically and seemed to have lost her mind. Her hatred was growing by the second and preventing her from thinking rationally.

While in the first clearing Nixia, Naïa and Thorunn were fighting, in the second clearing it was the turn of Commanders Ralph, Emilia, Ynir and Persea to fight. Freya, Vig and Alayna were not there and while the adventurers were ready to throw themselves into the battle of their lives, they were unaware that a creature from another world was watching them with a frightening smile.

The Empress was hidden and waiting for her time to appear and turn the tide and change destiny.

____

FULL STATUS

Name : Freya

Age : 0 years old / Mentally : 25 years old

Sex : Female

Course : Ice Demon Wolf of chaos - Adult

Race : Major Demon

Titles : Blessed by Titania, Goddess of endless Chaos and eternal frozen Hell.

Dragon tamer

Ruthless slayer

Level : 33/70

Exp required for next level: 100 / 34 000

HP : 90 000 / 90 000 MP : 45 000 / 45 000

Strength : 425

Defense : 421

Agility : 435

Stamina : 428

Speed : 427

Intelligence : 425

Charisma : 410 (imperial she-wolf)

Attribute points to allocate : 0

Married to: Gaya

Daughter : Shiro

Empire (menu)

Subordinates : 387

Humans killed : 148

Elements: Ice / Chaos

Skills (all):

Attack - Demon Claws (Lvl 5)

- Bite of hell (Lvl 5)

- Infernal ice spikes (Lvl 6)

- Fighting techniques (lvl max)

- Mastery of the katana (lvl max)

- Demonic aura of the empress (lvl 5)

Defense - Ice demon wall (lvl 6)

- Demonic cloak (lvl 5)

Pain Resistance (lvl 3)

Attack/Defense - Domain of the Ice Empress "frozen wrath" (lvl 1) - (under condition)

Others - Humanoid form

- Ice creation (Lvl 5)

- Storage of chaos (Lvl 4)

- Devouring chaos (Lvl 5)

- Analysis

- Second soul (Lvl max) - unique

- Telepathy

Mana detection (lvl 1)

Passives - Commander (lvl max)

- Natural Aura of the Ice Empress ]

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