The Naga with keen hearing were the first who noticed something had happened. Yet, none of them batted an eye at the sound. It was a strange cacophony of too many noises overlaying. The kind of thing that could be the fault of children causing a small accident. Among those who heard it, only a couple noticed the eerie tones behind it all. The crescendo was created by a horror song before the scare. The second group who realized there was something wrong were those near the stables. One by one, they froze in place as a gentle dread caressed the nape of their necks. Each was too stunned to speak, too afraid to turn around like a gazelle, feeling the gaze of a pack of hyenas licking its body. The moment they turned, their fear would be confirmed. Whatever was waiting would come after them. They were trapped in a nightmare, a moment of sleep paralysis while being wide awake. Darkness crept into the corner of their eyes. Not a physical shadow but a defense mechanism created by their own minds so they wouldn't see whatever was about to come.

A roar, loud enough to shake the ground, echoed through the entire city, warning even those far away that there was something terrible wrong. What followed was a rumbling. A localized earthquake shook the stones that held Zaxalam together. Pots and pans fell from their racks, brooms, and sticks dropped to the floor as something broke open the stable doors. All the salamanders and the monsters who were captured came rushing out. It didn't matter if they were large or small, mammal or insect. Every single one of them seemed to have only a single goal. To run.

There was a brief second, a moment of hesitation from all the Naga who snapped their heads toward the incoming monsters. This created hope, hope that this was all, that the dread they just felt was just an odd singularity. Two more monsters came out, running along with the others. A weird winged bird with four legs, with a large armored warrior running on top of it. And a beautiful and unique fish snake that looked like a reef and the foam of the ocean with a being of pure darkness riding it. A darkness that looked like a bonfire in front of the last being that left those stables. It was a gigantic shadow, darker than the night, blacker than creatures that a child would believe to be living under their bed. It was hard to gauge its size. The Naga could barely see its form, only the darkness and the wisps of smoke coming out of it. But that just gave me fear. The dread came from its eyes. Two pale silver lights floated in the darkness, so bright that they pierced all the shadows that tried to engulf it at every second. A color that made all who saw it think of a single word. A single action. Death.

If there was a Reaper. A being that would take you from this world to the next, this was it. All the Naga who witnessed that scene believed in that to the very core of their beings. And none of them believed that the place they would be taken to would be a good one. Not if this was their chaperone. When that realization dawned across the city, all the citizens started screaming and running along with the monster, hoping to flee from that horrible creature.

Hera watched as the Naga ran and jumped inside their houses to hide. She glanced back, seeing Daskka in her shadow mist form. Using the idea of a sneak attack, she added the sense of fear Hera felt so many times during their adventures and the idea that monsters are scarier when you can't see them to react to this new version of her form. The pale eyes were creating a specific type of charm. An illusion of sorts. It would simply create a suggestion in the minds of anyone who looked at her. In turn, anyone who didn't have the right amount of mental fortitude would be influenced, and their mind would fill in the blanks to create the scariest thing they could imagine. The initial attempt ended up being too powerful, freezing all the monsters in place, and affecting even some of Hera's blades. Only after toning it down, and Livy roaring to shock them that the beasts started running. In the end, Daskka decided to add that initial effect as part of the spell. Being able to freeze others in fear was going to be very helpful.

'You are really badass, Daskka. Did you know that?' Livy said with a chuckle.

'I'm also gorgeous, don't forget that,' the silver eyes flickered to red for a moment as the herald lost concentration on the effect, but she quickly returned to her character.

They continued running, with Nimbus and Lurize getting a bit ahead of Hera and Livy. The griffon was much faster than the Sea Serpent when coming on land. Either way, Hera's theory seemed to be correct. As the Naga ran from the small stampede of monsters, the guards didn't even try to close down the door. Most of them were also running, trying to find a safe place, but only the strongest ones were able to push through the fear spell Daskka created. Unfortunately, the 8 that were taking care of the entrance were all able to move around. They had no choice but to let the monsters pass. However, noticed the Empress and Lurize riding two of the creatures at the back of the pack. The tribunes quickly scrambled to try to stop them, but the Sentinel was too quick. Nimbus passed by them and continued running towards the forest, but when it was time for Livy to go by, they detached the tip of their spears and tossed them to one another. There was a metal string attached at the back of each blade, allowing them to create a wire barrier in front of them. Livy growled, seeing that, and pushed forward, dragging the guards for a few meters, but they managed to stop her before she was able to reach the bottom of the slope.

"Hera!" Lurize called.

'Go to Scryotra. Take the babies back to it!' Hera yelled in her mind as Livy returned to her weapon form, allowing the two of them to dodge under the strings. At the same time, the Empress called the rest of her court out, and the giant form of Daskka appeared from inside the city, flanking the guards. Lurize and Nimbus weren't happy about the situation, but they did as they were told.

Hera did a quick scan of the guards to see their levels.

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Naga Tribune - Level 18

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Every single one was on the same level, and she couldn't even see the name of the Naga who harassed her when she arrived. But she recognized him as the one farthest away from her. The Tributes got into position, preparing to fight. Half of them were holding their spear-like one would expect, while the other half kept the edge detached from the shaft but still being held by the metal string.

"I guess this is the boss fight," Hera said with a smile.

"Then let's wipe them out," Livy appeared in her bipedal form.

Two of the tribunes, using simple spears, dashed at Hera, baring their fangs in an attempt to intimidate her. The Empress replied in kind, doing the same thing and unhinging her jaw just to play around. At the same time, she activated the Pool of Styx spell. Before coming to the city, she had summoned the snakes from her bracelet and told them to make a spell circle around the entire mountain. Thankfully, they had finished, and it was time to put it to work. As the spell triggered and all the Naga inside the city were affected, Hera felt her stats skyrocketing. It was a shame that she could only double her attributes since the system wouldn't allow her to get past that, but it was still a welcome buff for her and her court. Following that, she created a rare venomous glaive to block the incoming attacks. Since they were using spears, if she used something with a smaller range, she would be at a disadvantage. Especially when considering that they weren't alone. She lunged at the one on the right, using her [Grasshopper Stab] with just a bit of mana to poke them and already managed to injure that tribune. In response, its partner spun his spear and went for an upward swing, but Hera made a small step close to the ground, stopping the momentum of the weapon. That stone made the Naga almost drop his spear, but he quickly fixed his movement to continue the attack. Despite his effort, the Ophidianite had more than enough time to step back and evade while flinging a few poison needles at them.

Seeing that the Empress had this handled, Livy jumped forward, skipping those two and reaching the next pair. They had the spears with the whip tips and waved their staffs to intercept the Leviathan. She blocked the attacks with her war axe, but the bladed tips came flying at her, trying to wrap her head. With a smirk, Livy just hit the hands of the Naga with the weapon to trigger the effect of the Draconic Vortex, pulling the two of them closer as well as the tips of the spears that were going on large orbits. That change messed up with the momentum and caused the two spears to get entangled. The tribunes quickly retracted the whips and tried to recover the control of their weapons, but Livy ducked, getting low to the ground before pushing forward to grab the two by the waist, if Naga had waists. She raised them to the sky before slamming both on the ground. Together with the impact, she triggered the [Draconic Eruption] skill, creating a massive wave from her body that crashed down on both tribunes and pushed the others away.

While that was happening, Daskka and the rest of the court handled the other four guards. The herald shifted to her silver mist form, allowing her to have a large physical body, and attacked Vriztz. She tried to bite and slam her tail at the Naga, but the man was quick. He dodged most of the blows, but the speed at which each attack came didn't give him any chance to counter. The tribune called for his partner, but the other Naga just stared at Daskka with a conflicted expression. The guardian beast of the Naga was a giant snake, and fighting something so similar was something that those devoted to their religion struggled a lot to do, even when the snake was the one attacking them.

Lucky for him, the rest of the court also joined the fray, allowing the tribune to focus on the floating swords and daggers instead of the snake. While Hera and Livy took care of two guards each, and Daskka held Vriztz at bay, the remaining seven blades focused on the three Naga left. Between the fire, lightning, and blood attacks flying around, it took less than two minutes for the number of tribunes to be reduced to three. Hera was playing around with her enemies, focusing more on how they fought than on defeating them. She knew one fighting style the Naga used and decided that this was as good a chance as any to see a different one firsthand. But she got bored easily. They were not using something unique, not really. Sure, some movements were odd from what the Empress knew, but they were not far from martial arts and fighting styles that were very well documented. With a sigh, she avoided an attack and used another [Grasshopper Stab] and [Weapon Break] combo to pierce both Naga at once. Their bodies dissolved before completely falling to the ground. With yon Vriztz left, the Ophidianite approached and stabbed him on his back with a venomous longsword. The tribune was too focused on his fight against Daskka to notice the incoming attack.

He growled and tried to fight back, but Hera just brought his sword down as she said, "I guess you are the one who got gutted."

'Damn…. That was cold,' DJ gasped.

"That guy really annoyed me. And this is the only place where I can do this kind of thing," Hera replied with a shrug, trying not to think too much about when she became this cold.

She looked down, but there were no drops from any of the Naga, which frustrated her a little. She expected to at least get some gold. Before being able to think about anything else, several groups of Naga appeared from the surrounding forest. There were about 200 of them, and every single one was wearing one of those yellow capes. Hera took a deep breath and cracked her neck before getting ready for another fight. This wasn't the first time she killed an army of Naga. At a quick glance, most of them seemed to be level 18, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to handle it.

The Naga started marching towards her, and the Empress triggered all the buffs and spells she had available. The Pool of Styx was still working, but it wouldn't reduce the attributes of the reinforcements. Suddenly, one entire hunting party vanished inside a hole. Then another, and another. A fourth party was flung to the side at a blinding speed, almost like an invisible truck had just hit them. The Naga who came from the woods were all wiped out in a matter of seconds. Being squashed like bugs. When there was no one left, and Hera started backing away, going back to the city, Nimbus and Lurize appeared from the woods.

"Hera! We got it!" the Royal Tutor yelled.

"What?" the Empress asked.

"We got the children to Scryotra!"

As Lurize explained, Scryotra appeared in front of them. The creature was much larger than before, and its obsidian exoskeleton now had shades of green. The praying mantis part of its body had an extra set of arms, and one of the scorpion's pincers was considerably bigger, almost like a crab with different-sized arms. From its back, five small versions of itself appeared, looking around to the ground and waving at the Empress. Scryotra itself was also staring at Hera with a satisfied expression. Or at least, that's the feeling the Ophidianite got.

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Scryotra - Captor's Bane - Level 55

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Hera smiled, "From being a tool to a symbol of freedom. Yeah, this feels right."