Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 679: Don’t Think, Act

”BELLONA!! AGHHHH!!!” The firestorm had drawn the valkyrie from the city of absurdity. Her wings spread wide, she soared through the skies with a glowing golden blade raised high. Like a star falling from the skies, her blade fell on the colossal arm and for a spectre of time, the hand fell to the ground, burning the sand underneath and boiling the hell’s ocean water.

Watching it happen in less than a second’s time, Raven was relieved to find Helga descending right next to him. Her body was burned from the strike, and the heavenly weapon had turned to ash; all the while, the valkyrie’s rage didn’t show a single sign of being whiffed away.

”What the fuck are you guys doing here?! And how did she come back?!” She screeched through gritted teeth, her head turned to the colossal hand, yet her senses checked up on the other two behind her.

”You know who that is?” Raven asked, quickly turning to the arm as well.

”We’ll talk about that later, first get the fuck out while you have a chance!” Jerking her right arm backwards, the valkyrie warned the hero in a threatening way. Her heart was pounding more than ever, her mind was forcing her to think even though it knew better than to be distracted by the past and the ghost of which stood in front of her. ”WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, TELEPORT, DAMN IT!!”

Glancing sideways, she tried to swing her hand at Raven. Catching it mid-swing, he thrusted it back and gave Amedith a quick look. Nodding at each other, the duo steadied themselves on their feet instead of backing away as the valkyrie wanted them to.

”We need that bracelet, and we’re not leaving without it!” Raven declared, his hand outstretched and his body burning with archaic symbols that allowed him to seal the horrors away.

”YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER AND YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT SOME JEWELLERY!?” Screamed the valkyrie, but the moment she turned her head and noticed the look in the men’s eyes, she knew in an instant that this was no feeble quest about some iron bracelet.

”One of our soldiers has been captured by it...” Amedith added while gesturing for Helga to look back to the front. As she did, the hand was once again erecting itself, but due to its colossal size, it was taking quite a bit of time for it to reach the same height.

”AGHHH! This better be worth it, you morons!” And so with Raven sending out a horror in the shape of a glove with chains hanging down from its fingers, the subjugation of the burning colossal began.

”NIGHTMARE PUPPETEER, HOLD THE MONSTER!!!” Following his command, the chains quickly descended onto the hand. Each finger was quickly bound by chains of darkness that couldn’t be burned. Tugging the hand upwards, the horror tried to open its fingers to let out the bracelet, but when that didn’t work, Raven sent yet another horde of monsters under his belt. ”BLOOD MARRIONETTES, BRING ME THAT BRACELET!”

Small imp-like puppets with disjointed hands appeared out of the general’s skin. They charged up the colossal without wasting a breath, but the burning of their skin was slowing them down, even though Raven was healing them with corruption that he had stored within himself. Slipping under the fingers of the giant, the puppets created even more leverage for the fingers to be opened.

In the meantime, while hell still rained, Amedith conjured from within the ground, even more binds of golden light that stabbed into the creature’s flesh. With the hand struggling yet subdued, Helga reached through her dimensional pocket and brought out a blazing emerald sword imbued with unholy light.

Eyeing the weapon sideways, both Raven and Amedith could feel its necrotic power. In an instant, it was clear that the weapon belonged to a soldier or perhaps an angel of the Nightlord.

”Keep the hand restrained, I’ll cut through its fingers!” Spreading her wings once more, the valkyrie flew upwards at the hand, the sound of the puppets echoing in her head like chimps. The chains rattled right above her as the horror’s laughter rumbled through the night sky, sending such a jolt through everyone who heard it that their hearts ceased for the first time that they heard it.

Helga was no different, but to her, it wasn’t the laugh that made her heart angsty, but rather the creature of flame instead. She knew who it belonged to, someone she thought was dead–but now wasn’t exactly the time to be nostalgic, and so, opening her wide, she swung her blade with a war-cry.

”YOU SHOULD’VE NEVER CAME BACK!!!”

The blade razed through the burning flesh, barely scraping it at first, but the necrotic magic was making its way deeper and deeper the more the valkyrie allowed her warring self to take over. However, shrieking in response, the hand broke through the chains with a jolt. The puppets were crushed in an instant under its fingers, and Helga was just about to be snatched by the inferno.

”SHAPESHIFTER: DRAGON!!” In the nick of time, a dragon the same size as the arm came out of nowhere and bit the wrist of the creature before pinning it to the ground.

Baffled by what she was seeing, Helga shook her head and glanced down. Amedith was still struggling to keep the arm chained within his holy binds, but since the horror’s chains had broken, her eyes quickly searched for its master. To her surprise, Raven was nowhere to be found. That is, until she finally realized the true identity of the dark scale dragon who’d just saved her.

Turning her attention back to the action, a memory flashed before her eyes. A memory of her late husband, a dragon mage and a wizard and a man alongside whom she fought countless battles. A moment’s fondness, however, was shattered by what came next. His death was on her conscience as was the death of countless others that she led.

”HELGA! CUT THE FUCKING FINGERS!!!” Brought back by the commanding voice of a dragon, the valkyrie snapped out of the memory, and instead of moping around and losing another, she decided to clench her fist tight around her sword and do what she couldn’t during the last holy war.

”You’re gonna feel every bit of this you bitch!” And so did the creature; it felt every ounce of hurt as the valkyrie’s blade bled its burning flesh.