The preparations continued and no one paid attention to the shivering little girl standing in the corner of the room.
After Aetherius gave his order, he returned to his seat without sparing her another glance.
"It'll take a whole day to prepare since they'll be here within five hours"
"A few demon armies are ready. Let's wipe them all out like we've always done" Lyra clenched her fist with a huge grin.
"..."
They continued their discussion while Celina left the palace. Instead of her training, she had been sent out to kill humans. She gazed at the sword in her hand as she walked down the path.
She hadn't even realized when she arrived at the elves' village. Everyone had gathered, preparing for war.
Before she received the door sign, she had thought they were heading for training or something similar. But now, she knew exactly where they were going and their ambitions.
Even after learning the story of how they all ended up here together by coincidence, she still couldn't understand why.
Who had caged them in a dungeon?
Why does it have to be them?
Does that person have a purpose?
"...lina, Celina!"
She heard her name and snapped back to reality. Blinking repeatedly, she raised her head to meet Clyde's gaze.
"You're coming with us, aren't you?" He asked, with a gentle voice. Celina turned away, unwilling to answer.
She didn't want to go, but was she in any position to refuse?
"Don't worry, Celina. As long as you're with me, I'll protect you", he said.
Celina sighed deeply and nodded. Clyde ruffled her hair before walking away to gather more people and give them instructions.
To them, it would take a whole day before the humans invaded the dungeon. But outside the Lost City, the humans were only five hours away from the dungeon.
It had been a hundred years since they were all trapped in the Lost City. Yet only twenty-three years had passed outside the Empire.
They had more than enough time to prepare. A lot of supply of energy potions, healing potions, weapons and other things had been prepared. Some healer elves prepared to join them.
As they readied themselves, Aetherius and the other leaders never came to send them off. The goblins, elves, trolls, demons and also, a few vampires had gathered.
The vampires kept their distance from Celina. They wouldn't be able to control their thirst if she got close to them. That was one of the reasons she never trained with them.
Clyde, as their leader, gave the necessary instructions.
And when only an hour remained, they began their march towards the dungeon's main door.
Celina gripped her sword tightly, staying at the rare, just as Clyde had told her to.
"Hey, human! Don't fucking slow us down"
"Why the hell is she even coming?"
"It was the lord's order. We can't disobey him, can we?"
"Should we just..."
"Shhh! The door is opening"
As the massive door creaked open and they walked through the door, Celina could see the visible light surrounding them, as if they were passing a barrier.
Celina stepped closer and closer till it was her turn.
Just as she was about to cross through, she felt a tingling sensation at the back of her palm, right where the door sign was marked. In an instant, she appeared inside the dungeon.
It was dark with a rocky path, but the road was very wide. The moment everyone had entered, the door slammed shut behind them, and blue-coloured fire lit up the path.
"Let's move!" Clyde commanded as he waved his hand. They all walked, following the path where the fire led them. It's been over an hour and they were still walking. The journey was silent, yet no one was letting down their guard.
Celina gritted her teeth, wondering when they were going to meet their enemy. Her entire body was shivering and her heart couldn't stop beating loudly.
It was her first mission.
She had watched them leave for the dungeon countless times and return victorious.
'This one won't be different, will it?'
She wondered.
She suddenly heard swords clashing and battle cries. Snapping back to reality, she saw that the fight had already begun. They had engaged the enemies, but they were just a few of them.
Almost thirty.
"Archers!" Clyde shouted.
The elves skilled with bows and arrows stepped forward, with Freddie leading them. They drew their arrows and fired a bunch of them in unison. The projectiles pierced through the human flesh. Some of them were lucky enough to be protected with magic barriers and shields.
Ten of them fell dead.
The remaining ones saw that the arrows had stopped pouring in, and they started rushing towards Clyde and the others.
Clyde immediately unsheathed his sword and began swinging it effortlessly, alongside his comrades. Celina gasped, covering her mouth, as she watched the way Clyde slashed them without hesitation.
She was the same person who had the title Enemy of Humans but she couldn't lift her sword to kill any of them. She was trembling in fear and her legs couldn't move from the spot.
By the time the thirty enemies lay dead, another wave surged from the second tunnel. Clyde and the others stepped back to replenish their energy.
"The enemies must have split up. Save your energy!"
"Yes!" They chorused.
After drinking a few energy potions, they returned to the battlefield. This time, there weren't thirty of them. They multiplied by two.
There were sixty with more mage and ability users.
Clyde knew this wave would be much tougher, but with his signals and positioning, they fought back fiercely.
Bodies lay on the floor from both enemies, blood scattered across the floors and walls and stairs the corner, the healers were busy doing their jobs with the injured ones, just so they could go back to fight.
Someone from behind swung his sword at Celina. She sensed it and dodged just in time. She saw it was one of the elves that hated her. She had her own anti-fans.
Especially after they learned that Aetherius had given her his scale to forge a sword. They despised her even more for it. Despite being by Aetherius's side for years, they had never even seen him personally, yet a mere human from nowhere had received something treasurable from him.
"Aren't we allies? Why are you attacking me?" She asked.
"Is that sword just for decoration? Hurry up and use it already!" He sneered, swinging again.
Celina dodged his attack, knowing she couldn't afford to fight back. If she attacked an elf, she might be branded as a traitor.
"If I kill you, the sword will be mine, right?" He laughed and tilted his head to the corner.
"Stop! I don't want to hurt you" she shouted, still dodging his relentless strikes.
In as much as she wanted to hit him back, she was holding herself back because...
Ding!
{Number of Unlucky points: Max (-1000)}
Her points were dropping as she kept on dodging every one of his hits.
"Little girl! Scared little girl" he mocked.
Celina noticed the other elves who weren't engaged in battles watching, yet they pretended not to see her being attacked by one of their kind.
'Ah... So this is how it is. I'm being hated by both sides. I'm really unlucky'
She stopped running.
Unsheathing her sword, she let the scabbard drop to the ground and raised the blade, pointing it at the one who was tormenting her.
She couldn't afford to lose more points. It was difficult for her to gather some points while training these past years because she was already strong enough to protect herself. She hasn't been unlucky these past years, until today....
"That's it! That's the fucking spirit! Go on, swing it at me. Hit me!" He taunted, with a smile on his face.
Celina sighed heavily. She knew their game. They wanted her to fight back so they could turn her into an enemy. But, she wasn't going to give them that satisfaction.
She stood still, holding her sword tight.
Her opponent smirked, waiting for her to strike. He closed his eyes and opened it for a brief moment.
Then she vanished.
"Huh? Where did she?"
"Hey! Behind you!" One of the onlookers yelled.
But, it was too late.
Celina struck the back of his neck with her sword's hilt, knocking him unconscious.
"How did she move so fast?"
"Did she just... teleport?"
"How did she..."
They kept grumbling.
Suddenly, the sound of swords clashing stopped. Celina looked up and saw the humans retreating.
They knew they were no match for Clyde. He was an aura user and an excellent swordsman.
Even the ability users had left.
He and the others managed to kill about half of them before the other half escaped through the first tunnel. Clyde wiped the buds of sweat from his brow.
He picked an energy potion from one of the healers and walked towards Celina. There were a few of them that hadn't engaged in battle yet and Celina was one of them. Her sword was clean, but there was an elf lying in front of her.
"He tried to attack me" Celina muttered, lowering her gaze.
"I see" he replied, downing the blue liquid in the small glass bottle before tossing it to the corner.
Celina raised her head to meet his eyes.
"You... believe me?"
"Of course I do" he patted her head before turning to his men.
It's been five hours since they arrived here. It would take almost a week here to clear them off completely, but now that everyone has gotten stronger, it would take less than a week.
That's what Clyde hoped for.
The enemies have returned to gather and strengthen their barriers and army. They'll return soon.
However, Clyde noticed something different from the other fights he had engaged in.
They never took different tunnels. They always attack at once, retreat and come back again. But this time, they were pouring from the first, second and... He froze and turned his head to look at the third tunnel.
"Shit! Everyone, brace yourself!" He shouted.
More than hundreds of arrows poured from the third tunnel towards them, and screams filled the dungeon.