Trap
Dark forests blocked the sky, hindering all light. All sorts of twisted branches lay on the ground, the dried out old bark black as if they were the arms of devils and demons. It caused the forest to seem sinister and frightening.
This was a famous area in the north, the Moonwood. After the orcish empire was established, the Blackblood Tribe took this place over. All intruders were killed upon entry.
However, a black-robed wizard was now walking indifferently through the forest, and the werecreatures and mutated beasts didn’t even seem to see him as they walked straight past him.
“Moonwood, Blackblood Tribe… It’s been a long time.” Leylin observed the familiar terrain as scenes of his time at Silverymoon appeared vividly in his mind. Still, it was but a tiny section of his long life, and he regained his indifference once more.
Making his way to a cave, Leylin seemed to walk through some barrier to disappear inside. He then heard an impatient voice ringing by his ear, “You’re late.”
Two figures showed themselves from within the darkness. These were legendaries he’d seen before, the druid Alegor and Lillian. The Paladin Patrick was around as well. Surprisingly, the four of them had taken on a mission together since they’d met, as if something like fate was pulling the strings.
“My apologies… I needed some time to make preparations…” Leylin answered apologetically, “We’re dealing with a true god. While this is only an avatar, we need to be ready…”
The others did not retort, evidently accepting his explanation.
“If your side is done, what’s next is Patrick’s side…” Lillian continued, as if implying something.
Indeed, this group of legendaries had planned to kill the God of the Hunt, Malar. After their secret meeting, a few of the other legendaries who ‘wished for justice’ had been called in. They had joined in on this project, which included many faces Leylin had seen in the secret meeting.
Although they knew these legendaries weren’t pure of mind, the church of justice and Queen of Silverymoon still accepted them. After all, Alustriel lacked the power to rebuild her kingdom and was in urgent need of help from these powerful beings.
As for their motives? Mystra and Try may have known what was going on, but they did not pay much attention. After all, even gods had to reward legendaries if they ordered them around. Most of them kept one eye closed to legendaries coveting divinity or divine spark. After all, these gods were using their power for their own gain as well.
It wasn’t as if there were no legendaries with divine force on the continent, but it was only a minor boost to their strength. They wouldn’t ascend to godhood even in hundreds or thousands of years.
Divinity was just the first step on the path to becoming a true god. They had to ignite their godfire, obtain a divine domain. All this was even more difficult. Besides, the avatars of gods were not so easily dealt with. Leylin and the rest would have to be amazingly lucky to get even a thread of Malar’s divinity.
In general, the two greater gods were more at ease even with Leylin and the other legendaries plotting against them. However, they had no clue about the kind of terrifying thing that had entered this group, definitely becoming a huge variable in their plans.
“Good. Once we set up the greater isolation array, even a god’s avatar will lose a part of its strength. The trap has been set, what’s next is to wait for the prey to walk in…” Lillian spoke softly.
The gods were very powerful. Even mere demigods were immune to spells, and even Leylin’s Timestop spell would be useless against them. The same could be said for lower-ranked spells. What they would face now was just an avatar, but they still held a trace of the might of the gods. They were immune to spells below rank 7, maybe even rank 9. They also possessed all sorts of unimaginable buffs to their bodies and regeneration.
Even with all their traps and plans, Leylin and the rest would be facing a terrifying peak legendary monster!
“Is it alright at Patrick’s side? Are you sure Malar would be so enraged as to send his avatar down?” Leylin frowned.
A god’s avatar was basically their most powerful body in the prime material plane. Avatars and true bodies were also closely related, and the avatar’s elimination would damage the true body itself to a degree. He was honestly rather skeptical of whether the prey could be lured out.
‘Come to think of it, Malar is quite unlucky. Legendaries like us are coveting his power, but on top of that even the church of justice won’t stand his existence…’ As a lesser god allied with the orcish gods, Malar was a huge target. Even without Lillian pushing for it the church of justice had determined that he was to be eliminated.
At the start of time, it was very common to weaken an opposing god through a battle of their avatars. Leylin had his eye on Malar’s divinity, so he naturally didn’t hesitate to join in on this mission. Rafiniya was rather gratified, thinking that Leylin had separated himself from some sort of vulgar interests and made his mind up to join the mighty project of saving the north.
“There’s no problem. The Blackblood Tribe should be holding a legendary hunting ceremony right now to please Malar… Records state that this ritual is very important to him. If it’s interrupted, he will immediately become enraged… And if his followers and subordinates fail to find the person who caused this, then there’s a large possibility of him sending his avatar down…” Lillian did not hesitate when mentioning Malar’s name, not even trying to avoiding it.
They now had two powerful greater gods on their side, which was enough to shield them from Malar’s senses. This would allow him to enter the trap without having his guard up.
*Roar!* *Rumble!* Meanwhile, large sounds and violent tremors could be felt through the boundaries. Even with the great distance and layers of weakening, there was still a huge ruckus in the cave. Leylin and the others immediately twitched.
“It’s begun.” Chaos reigned as the cries of werecreatures closed in. Evidently Patrick had succeeded in stopping the ceremony, and he was now being pursued.
“Get to your spots and make sure the connection is good so you can hear my commands.” Lillian’s eyes glinted as her body turned into a soil puppet that soon crumbled. Her true body had already left.
“The time to get rid of the disharmony in the dark forest has arrived…” The legendary druid Alegor muttered and left, his large beast body as agile as an elf in the trees.
“What a spectacle! Looks like Patrick really riled up these werecreatures quite a bit…” After opening up the teleportation gate, Leylin narrowed his eyes, watching the werecreatures that filled the grounds. These beings that were very similar to the orcs now had reddened eyes as they pursued a white streak of light.
*Roar!* At the moment, there was a black ape-like creature over five metres tall in front of the werecreature team. Its scales reflected a metallic luster, and claws with rough, long nails ruthlessly pushed apart everything in its way.
*Swish!* It was as if the air was cut and pushed away, creating an intense blast.
“Hah! Holy Light Protection!” The figure amidst the ray of light suddenly turned back, a large sword that seemed to be made of crystal emitting holy light to form a large wall. A large figure seemed to clash against the pursuers.
*Boom!* The trees and soil were shaved off, sending numerous weaker werecreatures flying. Making use of this opportunity, the paladin darted to Leylin’s side and took a breath, “Be careful, they’re coming…”
“You even lured out a legendary Hunter. What did you do?” Leylin was rather curious about how the paladin had achieved this effect. He instantly recognised that the monster following right behind the paladin in a crazed state was something mutated by Malar, a guard of his divine kingdom. It was a Hunter!
Unlike the previous monsters, though, this one had already become legendary. Even Leylin himself would find it difficult to take this being down.down.
“Hehe… I just stole all of the legendary blood that the Blackblood Tribe has amassed. There’s this too!” The paladin Patrick tossed a large ape head away. This was obviously a legendary hunter as well.
Seeing this, the werecreature soldiers grew more fervent in their pursuit. They roared as they pounced, like they’d seen a mortal enemy. Which was the case anyway. Since the ceremony had been interrupted, Malar was now enraged and had even devoured a few high-ranked priests. Those were people he usually liked a lot….
If they could not capture these sinners and sacrifice them, there was a possibility that Malar would give up on all the werecreatures here. After all, what did anyone have to say to someone who was half a beast?
“If we wipe out all these soldiers, he’d probably send his avatar down, right?” Leylin nodded in approval, and then unhesitatingly cast a spell.
Blazing rings of fire immediately lit up around him, causing the skies in this region to darken. Traces of red emerged from dark clouds, as lava fell like raindrops.
Legendary spell, Skyfire Rain!