Fate of Mirithia [LitRPG, Isekai]

Meera quickly counted their numbers, and it was like the force that had left the Spire to deal with her, and the sorceresses had followed them here. That was the only feasible explanation for the cultists to have arrived so fast. Their numbers would certainly say so.

They hollered and threw their ice attacks about, freezing the huts and locking people inside. The sorceresses were shocked at their arrival. Meera's first thought was, where were the daughters? Why hadn't they signalled them of the cultist? Unless they had hit too hard and too strongly, killing off all the daughters.

But Meera had seen the daughters make a game of the cultists back on Gethys, as if they were nothing. She couldn't rightly believe they were taken out so quickly. Then the only thing that remained was that they had betrayed them, but seeing as how much Aksha loved the sisterhood, that was impossible as well.

Then what the hell happened?

Meera put that thought away for now, as killing needed to be done. If she sat down to ponder what-ifs, then the cult would overtake them and, in one fell swoop, kill off their army. The sorceresses had dropped whatever they were doing and gone into fighting stances. After all, these were the women who survived the dragons; these were only men.

The bulk of them were coming from the south, so that was where Meera went. She couldn't use her flashier moves like Quaking Fist and Heaven's Storm in her camp, but that didn't mean she couldn't dispose of these ice mages.

She blasted out mirror shards as she flew to the enemy's ranks. There were about fifty of them, maybe a dozen more. It was hard to tell, given that they were still pouring out of the forest. If they hadn't taken them by surprise, they wouldn't have to worry about them. But as it were now, they were laying waste to their camp, which was not good.

She needed to end them, here and now.

The cultists saw her coming, and they must've realized what she could do, so instead of taking her head on, they scattered. They ran down the village's streets, not even bothering to look behind them. They had spread themselves out to lay waste to everything the sorceresses had set up. By scattering themselves like this, they had made sure that Meera would have to pick and choose, thus leaving the others to do more carnage.

She heard the scream of a woman from her left. She gritted her teeth and shot a Mirror Shard Fury into the ones that were coming through the forest. They were seemingly prepared for it and raised a thick wall of ice. Her shard slammed into the wall but failed to penetrate it. She activated Mirror's Wrath and blew up those shards, and the ice wall blew to smithereens, taking some of the cultists with it.

Then, without bothering to check how many she had taken out, she dashed off in the direction of the scream. She sprinted through the lane to find a trio of cultists standing over a sorceress, whose hands had been pinned to the wooden hut by ice javelins. That was not all, the woman was bloodied and beaten to the verge of death.

One of the cultists raised an ice cleaver to take her head off or cut off her limbs. They took too long, and Meera cut off their heads with her chakrams. The woman's eyes widened in shock as her face was washed with blood.

Meera went to her after recalling her chakrams. "Relax, it's just me. I'm going to pull these javelins out. It's going to hurt, but I'll give you a Health potion to deal with the blood loss."

She nodded in understanding.

Meera activated the Druvis Might and ripped the javelins out, which had been bloodied with the woman's blood. To her credit, she didn't scream and only grunted in pain. Meera handed her the Health potion and dashed off to see who else needed help.

They couldn't lose half their forces in the first skirmish. The princess was right, that this was all the forces they had, and her father was not sending any reinforcements.

She dashed down another lane and found a pair of sorceresses taking on nearly ten Frostweavers by themselves. Meera fell upon their backs, and before they knew it, half of them had been cut down. Seeing their comrades fall so abruptly, their resolve faltered just enough that the sorceresses capitalized on it and three more died instantly.

"You got this?" Meera called.

"Yes," replied one. Then after a long pause, she added. "Thanks."

Meera nodded to her and continued. After that, she followed the sound of fighting and found herself in the town square, where the fighting was the thickest. It seemed like a true war, with skills of all kinds flying at the cultists who should've been on the back foot, but their sheer numbers gave them the advantage.

Meera was wrong back at the Spire. The two hundred cultists that she had seen were not the bulk of their forces, because there were nearly two hundred here. There was no way the Hierarch would send them all and leave the Spire totally undefended. If it kept going like this, it wouldn't be long before the sorceresses' line broke and the cultists would finish them off.

Between the discord of sounds, she heard a sound, commanding the sorceresses. She didn't even have to look to see that it was Duinith. Meera backed up into the lane that she had come from and flew to the roof of the hut to her left. From there she located Duinith, who was commanding the sorceresses, with the help of Firaan, who had here eyes closed in concentration. No doubt, she was reading everyone's mind and telling Duinith where to direct their sisters.

Meera blasted off towards the pair. The cultists noticed her immediately and tried to shoot at her, but she was too quick for them. A few moments later, she landed safely beside the sorceresses.

Duinith gave her a look that one would give an annoying fly that they couldn't swat.

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"I cleared up some streets, where they were about to overtake your sisters," Meera said. "But I'm sure more cultists are going about destroying everything in sight."

Duinith stared at her for a long, hard moment, without saying anything.

"She's telling the truth," Firaan quickly said.

"Are you reading my mind again?" Meera asked.

"She's reading the battlefield," Duinith replied, gaze softening just a smidge. "Her consciousness is floating above the entire town, watching everyone, trying to discern the best possible route of attack."

"I see…where do you need me?" Meera asked.

"We still have a lot of sisters trapped down that street." She pointed to the left. "Some of them cannot fight. Ilona is one of the sorceresses who is trapped there, and I don't need to tell you about her importance. I've dispatched three of my sisters to get them out, but that was before the enemy sent such vast numbers."

"On it. It's probably best they stay there."

"No, bring them to the princess's hut. That is the most secure location in the village."

Meera nodded. "You sure, you don't need a hand here?"

"First, get them out. We've got things handled here." Then she added in a stern voice. "Don't make the mistake of underestimating the sisterhood."

Meera shrugged and dashed off down the street that she had pointed to.

She didn't encounter anyone until the street ended. Then she heard the commotion of spells flying and people roaring as they tried to kill each other. The worst part was that it was afternoon, so she couldn't even turn invisible. There were no shadowy areas that would let her take cover as she surveyed the area before she attacked. But that didn't mean that she couldn't look around corners.

She formed a small Mirror Tower Shield and floated it towards the shouting and saw that the three sorceresses that Duinith had sent were Jephena, Meryana, and Faeria. They had their backs against a door to the hut, which most probably contained the other sorceresses. They were holding their own, but any moment could spell disaster for them.

Meera didn't wait a moment longer. She turned a corner and hurled five of her chakrams and cut down five cultists on the spot. The others turned towards her, and their eyes widened. But before they could pivot to this new threat, the three sorceresses took advantage of this and unleashed varied spells. The cultists died on the spot.

"Duinith sent me to help you escort the sorceresses inside to the princess's hut," Meera quickly explained.

To their credit, they didn't argue or proclaim that Meera was lying. She figured going on that excursion to the Spire and saving their lives had something to do with this. There weren't that many sorceresses in the hut, only three, including Ilona. She noted Meera and gave her an appreciative nod. Meera led the front while the other brought up the rear. They emerged into the town square that was engulfed in battle. Meera couldn't be sure, but if she had to put money on it, she would say that the sorceresses had been pushed back some.

Still, they were holding the line and keeping the princess's hut secure in a way that it wasn't too apparent that the princess resided there. But anyone with a brain could gauge that the big, mansion-like hut was important. It was a good thing Rehia hadn't shown herself either, or she would become a prime target for the cultists.

Jephena led the three non-combatants to Rehia's hut while Meera joined up with the sorceresses. It had gotten so that even Duinith had joined the fight. Though Firaan was still concentrating on the battlefield, Meera didn't know what she was doing until she heard her voice in her head.

"Though my sisters will never admit it, your help is sorely needed," Firaan said.

"Are you reading my mind again?" Meera barked in her head.

"No, my dear, I'm communicating with you through my mind. Though if I wanted to, I would, but since I fancy my life, and given that we're facing a veritable army, I have my hands busy with other things."

"Fine," Meera replied. "Where do you need me?"

"Towards the left flank. My sisters are bloodied, and they look like they will fall at any moment."

"Okay."

Meera dashed to the left flank, and sorceresses were indeed bloody, but there was one that seemed mostly okay, and it was Meera's dear friend, Kithra. She had some injuries, but nothing major. Any skill the Frostweavers threw at her crashed against her shield and failed. She was the sole reason the left flank hadn't fallen entirely.

Meera figured there was no way the woman would appreciate her help willingly. She shrugged and fell in step beside her. Kithra immediately sneered, but before she could even tell Meera to leave with some colorful adjectives, the cultists unleashed a massive wave of ice. It was a Frigid Wave, but four of the cultists had joined together to form a gigantic wave, as if the ocean had risen to attack them with an icy wave.

Kithra raised a barrier in front of them and covered the entirety of the wave, while Meera raised two layers of Mirror Tower Shield in front of her barriers. The wave froze and then shattered her mirrors and smashed into Kithra's barrier. Her barrier cracked but held. If Meera hadn't put up her shields, they would've been done for.

The sorceress glared at Meera. "Your help is not needed."

"It clearly is."

Kithra didn't like that response. But Meera didn't have time to tiptoe around her feelings. She looked at the injured sorceresses, and their injuries were bad. She quickly fished out two Health potions and handed one to each. They chugged them down quickly.

"Can you make it to the healer?" Meera asked. "I saw someone healing the wounded by the princess's hut."

One of them nodded, with a sigh as the Health potion mended their wounds.

"Good. Then get to it."

The Frostweavers chose that moment to attack. Meera called forth three shadow warriors and sent them at the cultists. They ran through the cultists' ice beams, and before the first of the enemy even knew what was happening, they cut off their heads.

"Now would be the time to attack," Meera said to Kithra, who stared wide-eyed.

Meera was done applying band aids. She took off all her chakrams—from her arms and back, and kept them floating around her as she rose into the air. Some of the cultists stared at her and had just turned their hands to riddle her with their attacks, when Meera let fall her rain of chakrams.

Like she had done back in the Rawaki jungle, her chakrams fell like razor-sharp hail, cutting into the enemy again and again, hacking off limbs and cutting off their heads. Seeing the enemy in plain confusion and pain, the sorceresses redoubled their attacks and riddled them with holes.

The enemy had no option but to cut their losses and run.

A cheer went through the sorceresses as they had just won their first battle.

Meera recalled all her bloody chakrams and floated down to the ground. Then, to no surprise to anyone, no one came forward to congratulate Meera, nor did she expect it. After all, this was a group that hated her to the bone.

She turned toward Rehia's hut to check on the princess when she heard a sound that froze her in place.

A dragon roared, silencing everyone.