SHHHH—SPLASH!
Suddenly a high-pressure jet of water sprayed toward Ysabel's face, but she dodged it with a sharp sidestep. The jet missed her entirely, splashing harmlessly against the stone wall behind her.
It seemed like all of Luna's skills were proving useless against the guard's expertise.
"Blazing Spiral!" Ysabel shouted, activating her skill.
She spun her spear rapidly, the flaming tip creating a vortex of fire that spiraled outward in all directions. Sparks shot everywhere like a deadly firework display, scattering in wild arcs.
Some of them struck Luna, the slime's shapeshifted form hissing as small burns appeared on her skin, but the damage was not high enough to take her down.
From behind Ysabel, Lyssandra struck!
The woman's slime lance came slashing down toward the guard, but Ysabel reacted instantly, spinning her body around with practiced ease and blocking the attack with a quick spin of her spear.
"You are a human! Why are you doing this?!" Ysabel shouted, her voice carrying genuine confusion as she blocked another strike.
"You've beaten my underlings, and now you're asking why you're getting ass kicked?" Lyssandra retorted coldly, her strikes coming faster and more aggressive. "Such irony."
KRAANG!
Ysabel's spear tip struck Lyssandra's ice armor, the impact deafening. A loud crack appeared in the breastplate, the frost surface fracturing beneath the force.
'Can't let this continue,' Lyssandra thought desperately as she felt the ice beneath her armor weakening.
"You're… what? Who are you talking about? I was fighting monsters in—"
"WAIT!" Ysabel's eyes widened in realization.
"Yes, dummy, ARCHERS!!!"
Lyssandra's voice roared through the corridor.
From both sides of the narrowing stone maze, enormous shields suddenly lined up, five on each side completely blocking the entire path.
Then from both sides, the shield bearers separated just enough to let the archers behind them unleash a volley of bolts toward their prey in the center.
Ysabel dove, rolled, and deflected with desperate speed, her reactions sharp. The bolts whistled past her, some clanging off her armor where she managed to position her spear just in time.
The archers positioned on both sides shot at each other, the bolts creating a crossfire of chaos. Some of the shots struck their own shield bearers, but the hobgoblins and swift goblins behind the shields were protected.
Then from both sides again, two white webs burst forth simultaneously.
One from Lyssandra. One from Morgana.
They shot across the distance and wrapped around Ysabel's feet, the sticky strands of white silk coiling around her ankles and lower calves. She struck at the ground with her spear, trying to break free, but the webbing held firm, pinning her solidly to the stone floor.
"SHIT!"
She struggled, muscles straining, but it was useless.
From both sides, two small daggers suddenly struck.
They were so fast that Ysabel couldn't even track their trajectory to deflect them. They punctured her upper thighs, one on each side, blade sinking deep into flesh.
"AAAHHH!"
Blood poured out instantly, staining her leggings crimson.
The force behind them was so strong that they pierced through a shield from the opposite side, impaling the thighs of the hobgoblin behind it. He slumped down, but his shield remained raised, still protecting his comrades.
Ysabel collapsed onto her knees, her hands still clutching her spear as she tried to stand up, but the wounds in her legs were too severe.
"Y.. you… coward…" she groaned between ragged breaths, her face pale with blood loss. "If… if you're… so brave… come… and fight me… head on!"
Even wounded, she still tried to maintain her honor.
But there was no honor here. Only survival.
Then from both sides again, Luna and Lyssandra suddenly dashed toward their fallen prey.
Each stabbed at an upper arm of Ysabel, one on the left, one on the right, blade and lance tips sinking deep into flesh and drawing even more blood.
"AAHHH!"
Ysabel's grip on her spear weakened. She fell completely forward, her eyes wildly searching for something, someone.
"Princ… ess…"
In the chaos, she saw Rosalinda being dragged away by more hobgoblins, but there was nothing she could do before the darkness began to claim her completely.
"Fighting head on when the difference in level was more than 10?" Lyssandra smirked, pressing her heel against Ysabel's head. "Are you stupid?**"
"With my [Map] function, their movements were displayed clearly. Too easy to lure and trap them"
She tossed a small healing potion toward Luna, this one could heal but with minimal potency. Just enough to keep the guard from dying.
Luna caught it, the bottle splash as she popped it open and poured the content directly into Ysabel's mouth, forcing her to swallow the potion even as she remained unconscious.
Then, the slime shifted.
Her form flowed around Ysabel's entire body, wrapping the wounded woman inside her slime mass. By this method, Luna's slime could block the holes in Ysabel's wounds, sealing them so she wouldn't bleed to death.
"How is the jail I ordered you to rebuild from the old one before? Did you finish it?" Lyssandra asked, turning her attention to a nearby swift goblin.
The goblin quickly nodded his head. "Yes, Great One! It has already been done. Now each cell is entirely made from the steel that you brought us, sturdy enough to withstand even the devastating daggers of One!"
Lyssandra turned her gaze to the figure being carried back by his comrades.
One, the one who had shot the two daggers from before, crippling Ysabel and creating the perfect opportunity for them to strike her down.
"One dagger was his limit, but he used two, which led to this situation," Lyssandra mused aloud, her expression thoughtful. "But it got the job done, so I won't complain."
-
-
-
-
Inside the metal cell - the prison that held the princess and the guard.
Rosalinda's eyes fluttered open. She groggily pushed herself up from the cold floor, blinking away the fog of unconsciousness as her gaze swept around the cramped space.
"Where… where am I?" she muttered, her voice shaky and confused.
"Ysabel…? Where are you?"
She raised her voice a little, but there was no answer.
Then it hit her, the memory of her first step inside the dungeon, the monsters chasing, and the fear so strong it had knocked her out completely.
"Anyone! Anyone here? Answer me!"*
She stumbled to her feet, her hands gripping the vertical metal bars that separated her from the outside world.
*'No… this can't be… We are captured by the monsters… They will eat us alive!'*
Panic seized her.
Her breath came faster and faster, shallow and desperate.
She felt the walls around her closing in, squeezing her chest within its grasp like a vice that refused to let go.
Worse, no one knew she was here. Everyone was used to her antics of sneaking outside the palace.
At first, a few times, royal guards had been mobilized to find her.
Then slowly, only the disguised guards followed her in the shadows to watch from a distance.
But now?
Only Ysabel had been her companion, because the things she wanted to do had to be in secret.
And now it had come back to bite her.
"Please! You can't keep me here!" Rosalinda's voice became a desperate yell, tears and snot smearing her pretty face. "I don't want to die! Help me! Please!**"
"Shut up."
The voice was feminine, coming from the corner of the cell where another figure sit motionless in the shadows.
"Your voice is hurting my head."
"Someone… *sob*…?"
Rosalinda strained her tear-blurry eyes toward the dark corner where the figure began to slowly stand up.
Beautiful.
That was the only word that could even begin to describe her.
Blue eyes, vivid, striking.
Long, dark eyelashes.
A high, elegant nose.
Full, red lips.
Blonde hair that cascaded down past her shoulders in luxurious waves.
Enormous breasts, barely contained by the provocative black bodysuit that clung to every curve.
Wide, shapely hips that swayed enticingly with even the smallest movement.
A slim, impossibly narrow waist.
Long, sleek legs that seemed to go on forever.
Everything one could desire in a dream counterpart was right there, before her eyes.
Rosalinda was bewildered by the sight, even as her tears continued to stream down her pale cheeks.
As if realizing she was being observed, the woman's expression remained cool and composed.
Rosalinda quickly wiped away her tears and snot with the back of her hand, her cheeks still flushed with embarrassment. She crawled forward, her legs still too weak to properly walk until she was close enough to clutch at the stranger's thigh.
The scent hit her immediately, musky, intoxicating, utterly male despite the feminine form before her and it completely wiped away what remained of her fear.
"Who are you? Never mind, can you help me get out of here?!"
Rosalinda's voice was desperate, her grip tightening on the woman's leg as she gazed up at her with pleading green eyes.
"I can give you anything," she babbled, tears still dripping from her chin. "*Money, high position, pretty men. Anything!"