The Saga of Eden

Chapter 1, part 9

Everyone else laughs out loud after hearing Eden’s question. “Why so formal, Eden?” Astraka asks.

“Are you son of a farmer or son of an all-talk-no-bite noble?” Lela teases him between her laughs.

“Hehe, sorry guys, I haven’t had much time talking with strangers much, so sometimes I don’t know the right thing to say.” Eden smiles awkwardly, quickly trying to correct his mistake. Eden can hold a normal conversation well enough, but not so much when he has ulterior motives.

“It’s ok, Eden. Everyone has their hiccup moments.” Astraka says kindly. “From my appearance, surely you would have guessed that I’m a wizard?” Eden nods. “Well, yeah, I am. I’m especially specialized in the Arcane, like the 4 elements. You want to guess my Ultimate Skill?”

[Ultimate Skill? Is that like a technique you can master naturally, costs a lot of stamina but is extremely potent? Is it? Maybe I should assume so for now.]

“Uhm...Massive Fireball?” Eden finally responds.

“Haha, close, but good guess. I can summon a Water-elemental serpent-like arcane beast to fight for me.” [Well, that was not close at all!] “The beast is more powerful the higher Level I am, but I think I have hit my limit, so it will remain a Level 70 beast.”

“Little Nara here is a priestess, specialized in healing, and she has a similar Ultimate Skill to mine.” Astraka points towards his niece and continues. “She can summon 2 Battle Angels to fight for her and protect her. This works well into exploiting Narila’s weakness, so that’s why we accepted the job in the first place.”

“As for Harmani, he’s a melee martial artist; his Ultimate Skill is a pretty strong fire attack that doesn't cost much stamina. It can be useful against enemies weak to fire. As for Lela here, I already know her specialties and Ultimate Skill.” 

Eden can hear Lela whisper, “That’s kinda creepy...” behind him. Perhaps Astraka heard what she said, or maybe he chooses to ignore it. Either way, he continues talking to Eden.

“So what about you, Eden? What’s your Ultimate Skill?” Everyone then turns their attention to hear his answer. “I’m aware that you’re a swordsman, and I don’t judge. But I was guessing it has something to do with your Ultimate Skill.” Astraka says.

[Hmm, What IS my Ultimate Skill then? Do I even have one?... By their definition, this one must be it, right?]

“Nothing fancy, actually. I can replace my normal attack with a seemingly same attack but multiple times more powerful.” Eden explains. “It costs me a bit more stamina but not too much, but I can only use it 3 times a day.”

“Ooh, I’ve heard of that type of Ultimate Skill before.” Lela suddenly speaks. “An old colleague of mine had a similar Ultimate Skill, but he’s not Talented, so I guess that’s why he can only use it once a day.”

Ok, Ultimate Skill sounds so wordy, I can’t get used to it. Let me just change it...there.

“This Ult is quite useful in long fights when you want to surprise the opponent.” She continues. “The best thing about it is that the multiplier increases the higher your statuses like strength, agility, yadda yadda yadda, which is directly tied to your Level. I thought that his Ult was already pretty good, but it’s gonna be devastating in your hand, Eden.” 

“...But, since you’re wielding a sword, you’re basically handicapping yourself and your Ult, so...” Lela shrugs nonchalantly.

“U-um, everyone?” Nara finally speaks after the entire night being quiet.

“Oh, Nara, my cute little priestess sister!” Lela responds with her unusually sweet voice which Eden notices she only uses when she’s annoyed. “I will forgive you for interrupting me, so what is it?”

“W-we’re almost here. My ward spots 2 demons guarding outside, they will spot us if we move too close.”

Everyone immediately stops making any noise and puts on their weapons, armors, and equipment. Then they put the rest of their belongings in a concealed spot on the side of the road. Lela also takes off her makeup disguises, surprising everyone else who has not seen her like this before, except for Eden.

“Why now?” Eden whispers.

“We’re fighting demons, not bandits, no reason for me not to take it off. And it’s gonna be a tough fight, I need every advantage I can get.” Lela shrugs. The other 3 look at Lela for a few seconds then turn away to hide their belongings while Eden lingers on for a bit longer. 

Wait...Astraka and Nara, I can understand, but Harmani, though... I thought Lela is pretty for human standards. Is she? Or is Harmani gai? No, wait, what was the word again? Fai? Gal? Gan?... Nevermind, does Harmani not see women that way? Let me check...Ah, ok, he does see women that way, Lela is just not his type. He prefers kind, gentle girls and...ooh, now this is interesting info!

Before they continue on, the 5 of them remain where they are and wait for Astraka to create the magic traps. Magic traps work much differently than regular traps made by Rouges and Artificers, which require a considerable amount of stamina (yes, stamina is required for all skills, be it magical or physical), while regular traps have no stamina cost. In addition, while magic traps need no stamina to upkeep, trap setters must concentrate and keep them active at all times, otherwise the traps will not work. Hence there is always a limit on how many magic traps someone can maintain at the same time. On the bright side, magic traps are much more versatile and effective than regular ones, even capable of disabling the wings of a demon. Regular traps tend to rely on quantity over quality compared to magic traps.

“Stop. I think 2 traps are enough.” Eden suddenly says after Astraka is halfway done. “You need to recover your stamina, and 4 might occupy too much of your attention.”

“Good thinking, Eden,” Astraka says while he exhaustingly breathes. “But are you sure they’re enough?” 

Eden just nods. “Trust me on this.”

The group begins to slowly skirt around the 2-story tall building and avoid the demon sentries from spotting them. Back when they were planning the attack, Eden found it odd how they chose a human-looking building as their hideout, how there’s one conveniently built in the middle of nowhere, and why these demons are arrogant enough to stay in such plain sights.

It was only when Eden took a closer look at the drawings Astraka made that he realized Narila did not intend to do any of those at all. The inner rooms indeed show the house of demons: they were full of blood, darkness, and bones. Eden would have vomited at sight had he was a few years younger. And who drew these rooms? Astraka during his recent failed assault, but in turns, he manages to reveal their location to Ella. [Perhaps they were using an Invisibility spell or something similar, and Astraka disenchanted it.] Eden thinks. That was why they transformed the exterior to look like a human building.

[But why didn’t the demons just leave and find a more secure location?]

“Stop making plans in your head and start bringing them to action, pretty boy,” Lela whispers in his ear, snapping Eden out of his thoughts. 

They’re here, very close to the left of the building. Eden nods at Lela and takes one magic trap while Lela holds the other.

{Lesser Conceal Movements.} Lela touches Eden’s shoulder and whispers. 

Eden is a bit confused why Lela is mumbling her skills instead of just casting it. [Can’t she activate the skills without speaking the name out loud?] There is no time for questions, the two of them slowly crouch towards the 2 windows on their side of the building. Their movements are completely silent even though Eden isn’t the best person for stealth; this is the result of Lela’s skill. Eden and Lela slowly attach the traps into the sides of each window so that they would stick and no one can see the traps from the inside. Then they carefully walk back to the rest. 

“Ok, time for step 2. Are you ready?” Astraka whispers.

After seeing everyone nod, the group stops all their attempts at keeping quiet and runs towards the door. The Demon Sentries only manage to alert the rest of an attack before the two of them are decapitated by Eden and Lela. The front door is locked, but Harmani quickly gets into position in front of the door, pulls his left arm back, and suddenly makes a devastating blow at the door, blasting it open immediately.

“Hurry up and secure the room. Let’s go, go, go!” Astraka shouts.