Chapter 132 Wargames 3

- At August's side

*Schlack*

Another monster had met its end as August's spear ripped it to shreds. He looked around and saw multiple broken bodies of the monsters lying all around him, mangled and gored, as the smell of iron perfumed the air.

'I know that the woodland area around this part is a habitat for this trash, but...' He gripped his spear as his mind moved to analyze the situation he was in. 'This is too many. And I can sense them everywhere... It's messing up my mana dome.'

He was getting annoyed by the horde of monsters in the area. Not only were they a nuisance, but they were also clogging up his senses. He could still pinpoint everyone in the woodland area, but it was getting too crowded to tell who was who, especially since the majority of the monsters were at the same level as his familia members.

"This is getting tedious," he snarled as he spun and beheaded another Ork that came charging towards him.

He concentrated on his dome, making it more refined to see how the others were doing. His face quickly morphed into a frown as he felt something messing with his mana dome. He could still sense them, but it was faint, like looking through a foggy road.

'It feels like something is masking their mana signature, making it harder for me to sense them inside the dome.' He then sensed multiple monsters charging at him. He glanced over his shoulder, looking at the horde of goblins and kobolds moving towards him without any ounce of fear. There was even a troll mixed in.

His mind jumped back to 9 years ago. Something about this feels eerily familiar. He shrugged off the eerie sensation and focused on killing all the trash that was coming his way. 'No matter, they should be fine. After all, they are strong.' He smirked as he twirled his spear and walked towards the monsters, a predatory look on his face.

.

.

.

.

.

- At Denki's side

The young samurai had a frown on his face. If August's mana dome was like looking through a foggy road, he was completely useless right now. He couldn't sense anyone because of all the monsters in the area.

"What the hell is happening here?" Denki couldn't help but grunt at the situation he was in. Helga and Katty looked at him confused.

"What's the matter?" Helga asked, readying herself in case of an enemy attack.

"Monsters," Denki answered, his frown growing larger.

"We know that going in. That's why we chose the woodlands as our safe zone." Helga moved closer to August and placed her hand on his shoulder. "We have no time to second-guess your plan because of some monsters. We need to move."

"It isn't just some monsters..." Denki looked at Helga seriously, his face scrunched up into an ugly frown as he bit his thumb and started to think. "Based on the information I received from the guild, the woodlands are a habitat for monsters such as goblins and kobolds, and as you said, it was the reason why we chose this area in the first place. The monsters would also be a natural barrier for us to use against the Apollo familia. But the guild never said anything about a horde."

Katty's eyes widened when she heard Denki. "Did you just say a horde?"

Denki nodded as he continued to bite his thumb to think, his mind moving quickly, wracking his brain to come up with an alternative.

"How many?" Katty asked, her face growing pale at the new information she heard.

"Too many to know for sure. It's clogging up my mana dome." His answer made Helga's eyes widen.

"Shit, we need to move." She hurriedly urged the two to start moving, and her face has a look of panic. "If it's clogging up your mana dome, then we won't know where the others are. They might have run into the horde. We need to regroup and reevaluate the situation."

Katty and Denki paled at what Helga said. If that's the case, then they needed to regroup as fast as possible.

"I'm afraid we cannot let you do that." A voice made the three of them turn, Denki then clicked his tongue when multiple adventurers of Apollo familia revealed themselves, coming out of the woods with their weapons at the ready and a taunting smile plastered on their faces. At the lead stood a male blond elf, he was hiding his face with a red cloak and was wearing a green long-sleeved top. "We have explicit orders to stop the two of you from helping the rest of Heracles familia."

"Lissos," Helga snarled the name of the elf as she gripped her claymore tightly. 'How the hell did they find us so quickly?' she asked herself as she took her stance.

"Helga Bladswurth, the Valkyrie." Lissos gave Helga a curt nod, he then turned towards Denki and did the same. "Autumn blade, Makoto Denki. It is an honor and a privilege to face both of you on the battlefield. But unfortunately, I have my orders."

Lissos snapped his finger as more adventurers from Apollo familia emerged from the woods, but what came after them made the three of them pale.

*Roar!*

"You gotta be kidding me." Denki snarled as he instinctively took a step back. "A-Apollo familia doesn't have a tamer!"

Helga glared at the monsters while also moving a step back.

Katty gulped as her hands moved towards her daggers, her eyes roamed the area looking for a way out, no matter where she looked, a member of Apollo familia or a monster was standing. "Guys, they have us surrounded." She said nervously.

Monsters ranging from goblins, all the way to a forest troll began to appear, and by the looks of things, the monsters were with the Apollo familia.

Denki couldn't comprehend how this happened. He asked Froke for every bit of information she had on the Apollo familia, from how many members to the strength of each executive. Never was it mentioned that there was a tamer in the familia, and a strong one at that as they were even able to tame a forest troll.

A screech from above made the three of them look up and see a pair of firebirds flying directly above them.

'So that's how they were able to find us so quickly.' Helga put two and two together as she returned her look back to Lissos. "I got to say, you got us on the rope here. Who would have thought that there was a tamer in the Apollo familia." She glared at the elf and continued. "Especially since said tamer was not mentioned in the records. That's a crime you know? Possessing an unregistered adventurer."

A chuckle escaped Lissos's lips followed by the others. "While that is true, I'm afraid everyone in Apollo is a registered adventurer. You can check the guild after this is all over... If you live, that is."

'So they are aiming for the kill,' Denki thought to himself. "Don't make me laugh, there was no recorded tamer in Apollo Familia."

"Let me guess, you learned that from the trash," Garen, a level 2 member of Apollo Familia, laughed mockingly as his face morphed into an amused grin. "How would she know? The traitor left before Master Kuma joined the familia."

"Silence!" Lissos glared at Garen, looking at the man coldly, then turned back towards Denki and bowed respectfully. "I must apologize for the behavior of my comrades, but what he said is right; Master Kuma joined after the Gaé bulge took Froke away from the familia."

Denki's eyes roamed all around, his mind moving quickly, trying to come up with a plan to get out of this debacle.

Helga's eyes met Denki's, and they shared a look. At the same time, they glanced back towards Katty. The two of them nodded, a plan quickly forming within their heads.

"Katty, we will cover for you. Run as fast as you can, head towards the outskirts of the woods," Denki crouched lower as his hand held the handle of his katana near the tip. He took his patented iaijutsu stance.

"What about the plan? You said th-" Katty wanted to protest, but Helga gave her a stern look that shut her up.

"This is an order, Katty. The plans have changed, especially with a tamer involved. Find Lysander; if my guess is right, he'll be targeted for being alone," Denki then turned towards the hume-bunny, giving her a reassuring smile. "Me and Helga will handle everything here. Don't worry about us. You must find Lysander as fast as possible... Do you understand?"

Katty bit her lips and nodded reluctantly. She didn't want to leave the two of them, especially with them being surrounded by Apollo Familia's adventurers and monsters. But she also knew that Denki was right; with Lysander being alone, he becomes a prime target for them to ambush.

Denki then turned to Helga, and the two of them spoke with their eyes as Helga sheathed her Claymore in exchange for her kite shield.

The young samurai then turned towards the elf and the adventurers and monsters with him. "On my count..." he willed his mana to move as it smoothly molded into his body, a bright orange hue exuding a calm and serene pressure began to pulse all over the area.

His mana looked just like a cool autumn breeze. Calm, and peaceful, yet everyone could feel the sharpness of it. After all, Autumn is the season of death.

Helga also began to move her mana, a grey metallic light bursting out of her body. It was wild; you could feel the power in every pulse of her mana. She looked like an impenetrable wall. The greyish metallic mana then moved to her shield, making it look much larger than it really is.

"3... 2..." Denki's feet dug deep into the ground, the adventurers of Apollo Familia also prepared themselves. Lissos unsheathed his sword as he got into her stance, the monsters snarling and growling towards the three Heracles Familia members. "Now!"

Denki rushed forward as his mana went from calm and serene to a powerful torrent, his grip on the hilt tightened as he charged his sword with his mana. "Iaijutsu... Soyokaze!"

Lissos's eyes widened as he could only see the blur that was Denki; his body moved on instinct as he placed his sword at his abdomen, just in time for him to block the slash that was aiming to cut him in half.

Lissos felt his blade being cut; he hastily loaded it with mana to defend against the blow. With their two mana clashing, a backlash erupted, causing a large explosion which erupted right in the middle of Apollo Familia's ranks.

.

.

.

.

.

- At Lysander's side

The former gladiator was hiding amongst the trees. 'So far so good...' he thought to himself as he moved carefully in order to not be spotted by a member of Apollo Familia.

He jumped down to the ground without making a sound. It looked like the lessons Katty had been teaching him had been paying off. He stayed low, looking left and right as he continued to move in the outskirts area of the woodland, not staying at one spot for long periods of time.

'I hope the others are doing well.' He couldn't help but worry about the others, especially since he had spotted multiple monsters in the area. He had made sure to take care of them, killing them fast and quietly so they couldn't make a sound.

Suddenly he heard several voices moving his way. The voices weren't familiar, which would mean that they weren't his allies. Lysander had good hearing and memory; he did not forget a voice once he heard it.

He hid in the bushes, waiting for the owners of the voice to show themselves. He would then decide if it was safe enough for him to take care of them without causing much of a ruckus to attract the attention of the others.

A few seconds later, two Apollo Familia adventurers had entered his vision. And from the looks of it, they were alone.

Lysander looked them up and down, trying to gauge their strength. His hand slowly moved towards his side, where he kept his throwing daggers. He decided that he could take them out while still maintaining his cover.

He took one throwing dagger as he unlocked the sheath of his blade. His plan was to kill the other one with the throwing dagger and take advantage of the confusion as he rushed the other one with his sword.

He slowly raised the dagger up, his eyes never leaving the target. Just as he was prepared to throw it, a voice sounded behind him, a literal whisper in his ear. "Hello. What are you doing here?"

Lysander's body stopped just as his hand was going down to throw; he felt the hair on his neck stand. He never forgot a voice. And right now, he recognized just whose voice it belonged to. 'Shit.' he cursed in his head.

He slowly turned around, while his hand gradually moved towards the hilt of his sword. As soon as he saw the boots, he slashed the throwing dagger towards the person behind him. His other hand then unsheathed his sword as it slashed at the person's neck.

The dagger was dodged with very little effort; his hand then moved to intercept Lysander's sword, catching his attack by his wrist.

Lysander's eyes widened, his head slowly moving up, his eyes glaring at the person who was holding him at his wrist. What he saw was the smiling face of Hyakinthos, looking down at him. "Will you look at that..." he said mockingly. He then kicked Lysander in his abdomen, sending him flying into the trees. "I caught myself a pesky rat."

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

***

Chapter 132 is now complete. How are you all enjoying the story so far?

Anyway...

Please leave a comment, review, and feedback to help me improve this fanfic. Every little thing helps me understand your preferences and will contribute to writing a better fanfic for you all to enjoy.

Thank you for following this fanfic. I hope you're enjoying it.

Have a good day, everyone. Love y'all.