Chương 142: 134. The elves

Ophelia looked over the two men and the tiger in the car with her. She was part of the assault team with Myhur, Darius, and Bakari. They were half-panicked, watching a dark elf approach the mansion. The car was lightly hidden behind an illusion made by William, and they were supposed to attack once the alarm was raised, assuming there was one.

Thankfully, the guard hadn't noticed the man yet, but that would soon change—not to mention the group of elves they'd seen quickly moving in the alleys behind them, approaching the side opposite of where Sam and the rest were.

"What do we do?" Darius rumbled.

"Are we going all in?"

"Not a good plan," Bakari said.

"If your William is alone inside, he'll die if the entire mansion is roused."

"I'll do it," said Ophelia.

"I'll deal with the elf. You wait here." She threw the door open and got out of the car. She started toward the front gate. As she walked, she ruffled her hair and smeared her makeup slightly, and turned down her aura as much as possible. Coming closer, she saw the elf marching toward the guard, resolution in his eyes. She'd left her rapier in the car, and now the emptiness next to her hand was bothering her—but the dice had been thrown, no turning back.

"Hey, you!" the elf shouted to the guard, his hand going to the small of his back. He was clearly nervous and didn't even feel her approach. Ophelia grabbed his wrist from the side, leaning into him, locking the hand holding something behind his back.

"There you are, honey!" she shouted. The elf was clearly taken aback.

"You told me we would party while your family talks. Why are we here?" she asked.

"Is that your mansion?" The elf was confused while the guard watched them with a frown.

"Not your mansion, kid," barked the man.

"Screw off."

"I—I'm not—" Ophelia turned toward him, drunkenly running her hand through his hair, once again stunning the man. She then whispered into his ear, schooling her face into something flirtatious.

"Attack now, you'll die," she hissed before continuing, louder, "Oh, come on, you promised me a mansion," she whined, channeling Tom's girlfriend as much as she could. The elf tightened his muscles for a second, then relaxed.

"This is the mansion of my friend, of course," he said awkwardly.

"And you will let us in," he added in a commanding voice to the guard.

"Kid, you'd better fuck off while I'm asking nicely." The elf took a step forward and then let himself be pulled back by Ophelia.

"Come on, that's no fun," she whined again and started dragging him toward the car and into a side alley. The guard kept his eyes on them until they were out of sight. Ophelia knew he would most likely report this, but hoped it wouldn't be enough to raise a proper alarm.

"Who the fuck are you?" asked the elf, clearly on edge. His hand was still behind his back.

"Calm down," she said.

"We're on the same side."

"Like hell we—wait, you're Samuel's apprentice," he said, squinting slightly.

"The one and only." Ophelia gave a light curtsey, as if wearing an imaginary skirt.

"Now, can you tell the rest not to attack? We have someone inside the mansion, and it will go to shit if you go in right now."

"I—I can't." Ophelia was about to go to threats, but the elf continued.

"I can't communicate with them. Once a commotion at the front gate breaks out, they'll infiltrate. But they have a way around the alarm."

"A sure way?" The elf looked to the side.

"We were improvising." Ophelia sighed. Improvisation seemed to be the theme of the night.

"They'll go in anyway," the elf said.

"But they shouldn't raise the alarm until they locate the girl. Hopefully…"

"When will they go in—assuming there is no commotion?"

"In five minutes." Ophelia nodded, then asked him to wait while she sneaked back to the car. The men inside were all looking at her curiously.

"And?" Darius asked immediately when she opened the door.

"The good news is I stopped the elf. The bad news is that their team will attack in five minutes anyway. They are hidden along the wall. I could go with him to look for them…"

"Dooon't. I doubt demihumans will leave the saint to outsiders. As I know the elves, they will attack anyway."

"Fuck." Ophelia went for the earpiece and waited for confirmation that they were listening.

"We've got the elf under control, but there's a larger force ready for an attack, and they won't stop. You have five minutes. There is a chance they won't raise the alarm, but the guy didn't look confident…" The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. There was a pause as Sam must have discussed something with Luna.

"We'll go in four if William doesn't come out." Darius nodded at that and adjusted the straps on a large backpack sitting in the trunk. Ophelia went back to the elf and told him they would attack in four minutes, and he could join them, but he was responsible for his own life. The man looked confused and lost for some time, but finally nodded in agreement. Technically, they would cause a commotion, just much bigger than he planned. They spent the next three minutes in tense silence.

No news—William wasn't returning.

"Iiii think we should get ready," Myhur proposed, and Ophelia saw the moss on his hands start wrapping around his body as organs traveled upward with a twist of flesh. Darius reached for the massive khopesh lying in the back, its handle visible over the back seat. Ophelia rechecked her gear, adjusting the rapier's strap.

"One minute," she whispered.

"Is that goddamn princely nobling out yet?" Darius asked into the earpiece, tension clear in his voice.

"No," was the short answer—worry clear in Luna's voice, just as much as in Darius's.

"We'll kill our way inside," Sam barked into the earpiece.

"They won't have any time to focus on William." Ophelia recognized the cold, murderous note in his voice—a strange show of worry for the man missing most of what fueled the emotion.

"Forty-five seconds," Ophelia said.

"Get ready," Sam said.

"We will go through the side entrance. Kill the guard when he's close first." They heard him instruct Luna.

"Thirty seconds. I think there's some movement from the side," Ophelia said, seeing a shadow pass in the alley.

"Get ready—Wait!" Luna almost shouted into the earpiece.

"He's out." They all felt relief wash over them. In just a few seconds, another voice could be heard in their communicators. It was William. He was breathing heavily.

"We don't have time from what I hear, so listen. There is a bodyguard-style security system. The good news is it's a simple one. They have a ring on the person the golems are to protect. But the bad news is that the person with the ring doesn't command the golems—i saw a control scepter, and I bet it must be attuned to do anything. I didn't get close to the golems, but I counted two—scary-looking things. We need that ring off the girl, and I don't think we're destroying the golems. I say we go straight to Plan B."

He wheezed into the earpiece, then was handed something by Sam, and gulping could be heard. Darius nodded at the words and went to strap on the large backpack.

"Well, you heard it. It's go time," Sam said.

"You get the opening number." Hearing the words, Bakari smiled. Rings on his tail lit up, and hastily drawn runes on all the pedals reacted. They didn't have time for the gearshift enchanting, so Ophelia put the car in drive. Bakari grabbed the wheel, locking his claws into the leather, and the car leapt forward, using the high beams to blind the guard. The tiger was racing straight at the gate as they all braced for impact, holding on to whatever was in front of them.

Ophelia caught a surprised look from the elf in the alley as they sped past. The guard went for his dagger, but reacted a heartbeat too late and had to jump to the side to avoid the speeding car. He managed to roll out of the way as the machine flew past him and straight into the gate. Some sort of magic was activated on the metal, and at the same time, a circle drawn on the hood shone with magic. Finally, the metal gave way with a loud whine, followed by a snap.

Ophelia felt the impact in her hands pressed against the dashboard. The tiger drifted the car to a stop, getting out in the same motion, using the swing of the machine to leap on the scrambling guard. There was no loud alarm, but a commotion in the mansion could be heard as people started to rush out of it. There were many, but Ophelia didn't feel any high magic signature.

"Get ready!" Darius shouted, and once the backpack was secured on his back, he started swinging the massive khopesh over his head in wide arcs.

"Come!" Ophelia then felt a guard appear right behind Myhur. He was an assassin of sorts, as his magic materialized right before the strike. Ophelia didn't have time to warn the mycanoid, but she didn't have to. Myhur rotated to the right, out of the way of the small axe, and then continued into a high kick. The attack connected with the surprised man, and a snap rang out as the assassin fell to the floor, his head at an angle.

The speed of the kick gave the guards in front of them pause, but then a few clearly more powerful fighters came in with the hounds. The others regained their courage and charged at them, accompanied by a few projectiles flying from the back row. Darius shouted a few words in a language Ophelia didn't recognize, and his sword glowed with a reddish-black aura. He then swung it in an arc upward, and the aura left the blade in a vast crescent, knocking the projectiles out of the air.

One of the guards used this to close the distance, holding a sword of his own. Thinking that Darius wouldn't easily recover from the swing, he stabbed at his abdomen. But the dwarf wielded the blade like it didn't weigh anything—he brought it back and caught the attacking sword on the spine of his own, rotating it to the side. He switched his grip to backhand and slammed the hilt upward into the man's jaw, crushing the bone with a sickening crack.

He quickly rotated, switching grips and swinging in a wide arc, bringing the blade down on another enemy. Ophelia tore her gaze from the raging dwarf and dodged a rapier going for her head. She sidestepped the stab and slashed at the exposed throat. The man was no amateur and brought his blade up, catching hers. Before she could do anything, an ice projectile materialized in front of him and flew at her. She cast a Shield at an angle, as Sam had taught, and went in with three quick stabs—each pushed aside.

All to buy time for a spell of her own. Lie of Sight. She finished her cast, sneaking the magic past the opponent's mind, and commanded the spell to shift her blade, just barely by a few millimeters. The man swung at her wepon trying to push it out of the way, but his blade flew through the illusion and into the ground as she continued her stab into his throat. As his body went limp, behind him, she saw an open maw closing at her.

She dodged at the last moment as the massive hound flew past and then was immediately forced to use a talisman to block a cone of flame. She created a Shield and dashed to the side, running along the jet of fire toward the caster. The woman was clearly surprised, and before she could adjust, she had to dodge a Pierce from Ophelia's talisman. Once next to the enemy, Ophelia stabbed—only to be met with a Shield spell. Dancing around it, she repeated the attack, and this time, quicker, slashing the woman's throat.

Her weapon still in the opponent's flesh, she couldn't turn around in time, hearing paws against hard earth as the hound came back to bite her. She felt relief as a large mossy fist flung the creature aside. Another barrage of projectiles came flying, forcing the group to defend. But just then, another war cry could be heard as a group of elves went in from the side, going for the men in front. What followed was a chaotic melee in which the only thing Ophelia knew was to keep close to Myhur.

She could see two of the elves put something in their mouths as their flesh started to balloon and wither alternately until it settled into a strange form reminiscent of a small ent fused with a massive purple spider. The new creatures easily dominated the battlefield, and Ophelia started to think they could just kill their way inside. The enemy was more numerous, but they were weak and poorly trained. They were panicking.

She caught a glimpse of Sam and the rest going for the mansion in the middle of the chaos, with Sam hanging back, waiting for the signal. And then it happened—a loud crash followed by a strange metallic roar reminiscent of a horn. The sound broke the fighting as everyone looked toward the front entrance. There, a massive steel golem walked out, barely fitting through the doorway. Even without getting close, Ophelia knew it was powerful.

"Well, we dragged one out," Darius commented before looking to the side where Sam and the rest were waiting. The massive dwarf nodded, grabbing at the backpack. They would go straight to Plan B.