Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 911: All Things Are Set In Motion

As the Chapter of her past came to a close, Valentina sat upright in bed while looking around at the crowd gathered by her. Everyone was baffled to varying degrees by the revelation; however, some, more than others, were more willing to accept it all and move on. Raven, Helga, and the hero’s companions were amongst those people, others like the selected bodyguards, and the rest of Valentina’s entourage were struggling to accept it all.

A half fae vampire. No such creature should’ve existed in this world, especially since, with the fae patron’s abandonment, Valentina was neither fae nor a complete vampire. And what was left of her as a person was...was it even human or something in between her two warring selves? The answer was elusive, and none present could simply stumble upon it, thus pushing such thoughts to the side, their mind raced to figure out what happens next. Even so, Helga had one last question to ask her.

”Why did I never hear about another Nightsilver-ranked adventurer?”

”Because you were busy making a life with your dear husband, Andre.” Dropping her shoulders, Valentina sighed. ”Before things went to shit for both of us, I guess. And after that, Robin’s ancestors were the ones who took over my house’s assets. I was also made only to work for their family for a while until they decided to let the others use my services as a gesture of goodwill or some such.”

Turning her gaze to the room’s shut door, Valentina felt glad that Robin wasn’t inside the room to hear what she’d just said. Her family’s assets, property, and all, once belonged to the El’ Edne Rune family, but now all of it had fallen into the hands of the ’Phrodites–someone Valentina could genuinely respect.

”Sifting through her past aside,” taking a step in the middle of the standing group, Aria closed her iron fist tight. ”What are we doing now? That goddess is probably expecting us to attack, and the more time we waste, the more difficult it will be for us to take over her kingdom.”

”The commoners can be hypnotized by the Mistress and the others, but the elites might prove difficult–” Taking a step forward as well, Melicia stretched her right hand forward and created a film of green aura surrounding her hand. ”No greenery, just stone in the elite houses, and the street is cobble with random junk mixed in the cracks. I can use my summons to subdue most of them, but we have to be careful because there are no ingredients for healing or antidotes for poisons present on this soil. Fish might be the only thing they ingest in their system, with how barren this land is despite being so close to water.”

”What about our stock onboard? Can’t we use that in case it’s needed to help them?” Liliyana asked from a dark corner of the room.

Glancing at her, Mel narrowed her gaze a little and whispered in a conspiratorial tone.

”That’s for our soldiers. We’re gonna need our stock for potions and antidotes. Besides, Darius and Aelin won’t even let me inside their workshop to prevent a poisoning incident by some traitor amongst us, like what happened back in Eleanor.”

”If they die,” snapping his fingers, Raven brought everyone’s attention to him. ”Then they die. We can’t save everyone, especially not servants of a god who’s obviously keeping their followers at the edge of insanity.”

For a moment, Raven’s gaze shifted to Jenna. Aesteradia’s corruption by Batimos had left the girl forever tainted. But that was from a lesser god, and what they were facing now was far more powerful–far more potent.

”Prepare three ships to get over Alliance. The rest will stay behind as reserves. No supply ship and no prison ship is coming with us; we need only the most skilled soldiers to knock the sense out of the elites while the devils and Maria work their magic on the commoners.” Turning around to face his crew, the hero glanced first at his closest companions and then at the rest. ”My party and a handful of others will come with me to that goddess’s mansion. About time we test our strength against a divine deity in the flesh.”

”W-wait! Are you sure about this?!” Jumping out of Liliyana’s cleavage, Will-O flew towards the centre of the room. Apparent worry was painted all over her face, and the stagger in her words further emphasized her angst. ”A-a god, fighting it? Are you sure?! Not even a fairy mother can handle a god! And all magic in Atlaris that we use comes from them!”

With the truth about fairy mothers and how they were involved in the creation of Liliyana, and potentially Raven, Will-O had nothing left to hide, and thus she laid it all bare. As surprising as it was to hear how magic stemmed from a bunch of fairies hidden somewhere, after everything the group had been through, little seemed to surprise them–especially after the sudden revelation about Valentina’s past.

”We don’t need more magic than a god to kill them,” closing his eyes in response to the fairy’s worries, Raven took a deep breath and heaved a sigh. ”We have more than enough sources of power to handle them.”

Squeezing his fist with the flames of corruption engulfing it, he opened his eyes and glanced about. Amedith needed no mana to use magic. Melicia’s magic stemmed from Nature, but she was still as swift as the wind with her quiver and reflexes. Aria was tough as steel, and Liliyana’s magic source was a mix of her devilish and fae ancestry–much akin to the power of corruption, albeit not quite it. Erika had Asmodia and could channel Athenia’s avatar to handle any tricky situation.

What better party could they hope for in the situation? It was as good as it could get, even without counting the handful of others whom Raven planned to take with him to the mansion.

”Alright then,” pushing his special gloves onto his hands, the hero puffed up his chest and began moving towards the door. ”One hour and we’re leaving! Get those grunts ready! We’re about to rain down like arrows on that damned, wretched god!”

Thus began the preparations. The preparations to crush all resistance in Alliance, but more importantly to stomp out Kleismeth for what she’d done, were unforgivable after a dark fae of all races had extended a warm hand. However, right before the soldiers would rain down on the kingdom, Moeria would have one last thing to say before the mission began. Only gaining consciousness and control over her new body then, the bearer of foresight was up against a goods and yet...she’d snuck from under the goddess’s nose, something baffling and just as important.