[Job] Changeling Fantasy (LibertyGear/Lily Ambrosia)

Job Details:

While dryads were considered spirits of the forest they didn't have much to with the spiritual realms. They represented the supernatural, mystical elements of nature, but they were still solidly part of this world, unlike other spiritual entitites who could be considered invaders from another plane of existence.

As such while many might believe that Lily might have a better idea of what happened to all the people who had disappeared recently she honestly wouldn't have a clue. She knew that there were creatures who took an interest in kidnapping living beings for some reason or another but she wouldn't know more about them than someone from civilization, especially if they'd taken the time to study up on the subject and research past cases.

So to put it simply, Lily wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to be doing. She'd heard that people had been disappearing without a trace and wanted to help, but she wouldn't have the first idea where to start. Going to places where people had gone missing would probably be a good start but she still would have to figure out what to look for once she got there. Maybe she was just supposed to find anything which looked out of the ordinary and only afterwards start thinking about what might be the actual cause.

She'd asked Libbier to help her out, because while she didn't have any reason to believe that her friend had a close connection to the spirit world she was an enthusiastic explorer who might have learned something during her travels. Most of the dryad's journeys just involved her moving from one piece of wilderness to another, which didn't really offer a lot of clues towards the behaviour of otherworldly creatures.

Right now Lily was waiting outside of a village which uniquely had every single one of its inhabitants disappear. It was a small settlement, more of a hamlet than a real village, which was probably why everyone had disappeared. Larger towns and cities were in an uproar but this place just seemed... empty. There was no sign of life except that which had strolled in after the people who lived her had gone... wherever they'd gone.

As usual the dryad was sitting on top of her friend and companion, Basin the earth guardian. Ze didn't have any idea what this was about either. In a way ze had even less life experience than Lily because while the girl was younger in years she'd spent her years wandering about, whereas the stone figure had spent most of zirs existence guarding a single location before the dryad had convinced zir to come explore the world with her.

The weather didn't tell of anything being out of the ordinary, a wide open sky with some clouds promising rain later. Lily had tried to agree upon meeting with Libbier a bit later than during the winter solstice because this village was a bit out in the middle of nowhere and... she had no idea how long this would take. Maybe they'd immediately figure out what was going on and solve the problem within an hour (which she doubted but maybe they were lucky) or it could take days in which case it didn't really help to be a couple of hours earlier. One might argue that every minute could result in the deaths of those who had gone missing but there hadn't been any sign of those who were lost being in danger. There was no blood, no signs of struggle... They were just gone and that was that. That didn't mean she could just loiter about trying to figure out what was going on but it also made it a bit questionable whether hurrying would actually help.

As she waited Lily hummed somewhat nervously. The area might seem calm but watching the hamlet devoid of life was still unnerving because she didn't know what had caused it. Civilizations came and went and she was aware of this fact, but usually it was just the way things progressed. Things were born, matured and eventually withered away, and civilizations were no exception. But this was a much more abrupt change, and it was putting her on edge.

She hoped Libbier would arrive soon. Basin was a reliable companion but the more friends she had with her the more at ease she'd feel.

WC: 727
PWC: 727/7,000
TWC: 727/14,000

Having learned of what was happening in several villages around Fiore, Libbier had grown curious as to what could be causing such events to take place. However, she had never decided to act on it since for all she knew, the authorities should be working on it already, and she did not want to interact with them much, lest her other side goes on a rampage and gets arrested. Still, when she got a message from Lily asking for help to solve this issue, Libbier was unable to say no, and as a result, she made her preparations and left together with Nero towards the meeting point.

There were a few things that Libbier was always wary of. The unknown was one of them, while at the same time, that was exactly what made exploring so exciting. The fear of not knowing and the adrenaline rush when figuring something out was what made Libbier both a careful and aggressive explorer. Then again, it might be that her other fears are far scarier than this, including getting arrested and losing her freedom, that in comparison the unknown is just a walk in the park. As long as she steered clear of relevant authorities that is.

Libbier was riding on the back of Nero as he flew towards the meeting point. She was wearing her trusty combat armor as well as her trademark muffler. Her motion sickness when using mechanical means of transportation was a serious set back the first time she became aware of it but considering that her friend Nero could travel by air for very long distances negated things for the most part. Then again, if needed Libbier could also take flight herself to fight.

"What do you think has been happening exactly?", Nero asked with sincere curiosity as he knew Libbier would have looked into it already.

"That's the thing.", Libbier replied while looking down looking for the meeting point, "There is no information or clues about the whereabouts of the missing people. Its almost as if they were spirited away."

"Don't make it sound so ominous.", Nero complained, "Then explain to me again. Why are we going to investigate something that we already know has not a single clue to follow?"

"Cause its interesting.", Libbier answered, "Who knows, maybe there is an artifact that allows teleporting people over great distances."

"Yeah. I guess so.", Nero agreed, but then added as he turned his head to face Libbier, with suspicion clearly visible on his eyes, "And the real reason is?"

Libbier froze for a moment when she saw Nero eyeing her in suspicion, and while she first thought of playing it cool to make it look like she was innocent of whatever she was being accused of, she knew that Nero would figure it out the moment they landed.

"Lily asked for my assistance.", Libbier finally replied mildly blushing.

"I see.", Nero sighed, "Well, I won't say anything, but you better not play around with serious business here."

Libbier did not say anything but glared at Nero as if saying, 'I know how to be serious about stuff!'.

Soon enough, Libbier spotted the village she had agreed to meet with Lily at. It didn't take long for Libbier to spot her friend sitting on a large pile of rocks that could easily be identified and the golem Basin that always accompanied Lily.

"LILY!", Libbier shouted as to catch the dryad's attention.

As Nero landed a little farther away from Lily's location, Libbier jumped off his back and ran towards her friend.

"Did you wait for long?", Libbier added while sounding excited, to which Nero loudly coughed to remind her of the previous talk. Libbier looked back, and made an 'Oh right' face, before continuing, "Have you been able to find anything that could give her a clue as to what happened here?"

Nero rolled his eyes at Libbier's excitement and while Libbier spoke to Lily he made his way towards his festival combat body.

"Hey there, my rocky friend.", Nero greeted Basin while patting the golem's arm, then getting closer and whispering so that Libbier and Lily could not listen easily, "Good job on those repairs. Luckily the people in charge were pleased with it and didn't annoy me on the days after the incident."

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As she waited for her friend to arrive Lily took a closer look at the hamlet despite honestly not really wanting to. As unnerving as the desolated place was maybe she could find some clues if she looked at it from a distance? But... there really was nothing. The dryad frowned as she strained to see even a single thing. There were some things strewn about on the ground but from this distance she couldn't be sure what they were. They didn't appear to be magical though. Once Libbier was here they could check it out but she couldn't form any theories yet.

Given the small size of the settlement the buildings were small and simple and only the main road was cobbled, leading out of the hamlet and leading to the nearest town. Most likely peddlers and merchants would occasionally come down that road to pawn their wares, and people from the small place might travel up the road to sell some of the crops and other wares they produced or when a big festival was going on. It was easy to forget that while Lily and other mages lived exciting lives where they could find themselves in the middle of the jungle or fighting off sea monsters most people lived mundane lives, one day not much different from the next. Of course that would just make disappearing like that even more distressing: if you'd spent your entire life as your average villager and suddenly were pulled into the kind of scenarios adventurers usually found themselves in you'd freak out. Lily just hoped that the people were all right.

It was a relief when she picked up on a familiar magic aura approaching, quickly joined by the beating of wings. Turning around on top of Basin the dryad's expression broke out into a wide smile as she raised both hands to wave at Libbier. "LIBBIER!" She shouted back a greeting, already feeling a lot better now that her friend was here. Basin remained quiet for the moment, silently observing as the other woman landed and ran over towards where the two protectors of nature had been waiting.

Lily slid off of Basin's back as Libbier approached, walking up the girl and hugging her before letting go again. "A while, but it's okay. I'm glad you're here though: this entire thing is making me feel nervous." She shook her head in response to the slayer's second question and then turned her head to look at the village. "Not a thing. I looked around a bit but it really looks as if everyone just disappeared with a trace. But I'm not that great at sensing magic so maybe you'll have better luck."

Basin straightened up as Nero approached, looking at the exceed and nodding while raising a large hand in greeting. The repairs had been pretty easy once he got used to the way that humans build their homes, but it was good to hear that it had the desired effect of placating the people of Magnolia. Not that he had been able to repair everything but at least nobody had to sleep without a roof over their head, which in the winter was already very important. Richer people might have complicated heating systems to make sure their houses were of an appropriate temperature throughout the year but for the lesser off people a destroyed roof could be a serious issue.

Lily meanwhile looked concerned once more, her happiness at seeing Libbier again overshadowed by the situation they were facing. "This isn't the only place that this has happened, but this is the only place I know of where everyone was taken. I was hoping that it'd be easier to find clues here, and from what I hear in the bigger settlements people are panicking. If we can't find anything here we might have to go to the nearby town and see if there's any clues there." Her gaze dropped to the ground, her ears lowering as well. "I'm sorry for asking you to help with something where I don't even know what exactly we're looking for." She sighed deeply, but then looked back up at Libbier with a serious gaze. "However we might as well try, even if we don't know what we'll find. Shall we look around?"

WC: 718
PWC: 1,445/7,000
TWC: 2,162/14,000

Listening to Lily's take on the situation, Libbier began to ponder on the possibilities. There should certainly be something that was causing this. Still, her mind was slightly elsewhere as she could still sense Lily's smell from the previous hug. It was one of those situations in which Libbier was both glad and bothered to have a heightened sense of smell, as she had come to love the sweet smell of flowers that came from Lily, but had found herself having trouble to focus when she did.

Although Libbier had slowly become accustomed to Lily, she was still mentally recovering from the surprise hug she was given, but she quickly recovered and when Lily took on a serious expression, so did Libbier, as she knew that Lily wouldn't usually ask for help unless it was a complicated situation. Not that Libbier would reply with anything but a yes if asked to help with something simple either.

"Don't worry.", Libbier replied with a gentle smile to Lily's apology and request to look around, "It's not like I mind the difficulty of the reason you called me for. I'm actually glad you relied on me.", Libbier said, nearly murmuring the last part due to embarrassment, before continuing, "I'm sure we will be able to find something."

Turning towards the empty village, Libbier thought about what to do next. It was not like the clues would just present themselves just because there were more people looking for them. They needed to have a new perspective on the situation.

Nero was looking towards the village himself, thinking that maybe everyone had just run away when the first people disappeared and that was what caused the village to become this empty. But then again, if they had run, they would certainly have contacted the authorities about the problem, and of course, they would have swarmed the place looking for clues themselves. Or maybe there were so many similar situations happening at this time that they didn't even have enough people to handle them all. This thought made Nero wary of the possibilities that this could be way beyond his and everyone's head, but still, unless he found proof that there was definitely something wrong that they should avoid, then there was no reason to voice his opinion out.

"Nero.", Libbier called out to her exceed friend.

"Yes?", Nero replied while already expecting what he was about to be asked of.

"Could you take a look around the village from the sky?", Libbier requests while pointing to the clouds, "Maybe we will be able to find something that cannot be easily noticeable from the ground."

"Yes, Ma'am!", Nero saluted before launching himself into the air and flying to a decent altitude from here he could still pick up details of the ground floor.

With that done, Libbier turned to look at the village once again. There could be something inside the village that made it a target, or maybe it could be that it was the village's location that was at fault for it. Still, being in a village that had the entirety of its population disappear into thin air was rather odd. It felt like one of those ghost stories Libbier used to hear.

"Well, let's take a look ourselves inside the village first then.", Libbier said as she turned back to Lily, "Can you tell me where have you looked already and if you found anything that looked even slightly odd?"

In the air, Nero began to run circles around the village, slightly increasing the radius of his laps as he systematically looked for anything out of place or that could be a clue to the current situation. Maybe, just maybe, there was something close by that would give then an inkling of how to go around this problem.

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Lily looked relieved when it was clear that Libbier didn't object to being called out here, even though the dryad didn't actually know what to do next. She'd been worried that maybe the other girl would be impatient and annoyed that the two of them were standing out here practically in the middle of nowhere with no plan. Her ears perked up as she heard the mumbled part, the dryad giving a slightly embarrassed smile herself. "I'm also happy to see you again." She answered Libbier's softer words. "With the two of us we should be able to figure something out I think." She didn't actually have much confidence in that but she wanted to believe it to be the case at least.

She was looking at the village and worrying about how to proceed when Libbier asked Nero to scout the area from the skies. That was actually a good idea, and Lily had wished she'd thought of it herself. Rather than beating herself up over it though she looked at the abandoned hamlet, then at Basin. The earth guardian had so far remained rather passive, only really greeting Nero and otherwise letting the three smaller people do all the talking and the reasoning.

"Maybe it's also a good idea if you keep standing guard Basin? I don't know if you could find anything but if something approaches you could greet it." Part of the reason why Lily made this request was because the hamlet was so small that Basin might have a hard time moving about. Ze could walk over the main road leading in and out of the settlement but all the other paths were too narrow. This wasn't a city after all, there was little need for wide streets which could accommodate carts and wagons.

The earth guardian considered this, then nodded and settled down again. While the exceed explored the area form high above ze would keep watch from down here on the ground. If someone approached the hamlet ze could take care of it whether it was a hostile or a friendly, so the two women could focus on exploring the hamlet for clues.

With both of their companions having adopted their rules of scouts and watchers Lily turned back towards Libbier. "I haven't really gone inside the village yet, but I've seen some signs of people carrying things about before they disappeared. Apparently whatever happened didn't affect the stuff they were carrying so maybe that's a clue?" She began to walk into the hamlet, the tip of her tail brushing against the slayer's leg as an indication that the plantgirl was expecting her to follow.

The objects that Lily was talking about were out there on the middle of the main road, haphazardly spread out with no real pattern behind them. A basket with pears, the green fruits having rolled out of the woven container once the basket was dropped. One of the applies had split and had clearly already been partially eaten by some vermin. There was a ball, leather patches stitched together and wrapped around something Lily couldn't immediately figure out. A half-carved piece of wood, vaguely resembling a humanoid figure but with no identifying traits.

Looking at the various items the dryad grabbed one upper arm with the hand of her other arm, frowning both thoughtfully and with some measure of worry. "These all look like whoever was carrying them just disappeared out of nowhere." No matter how one looked at it there wasn't any sign of struggle or even magic. "Do you think that maybe-" Whatever it was that she was going to suggest died on her lips as a shiver went up the leafclad girl's spine. Looking around she tried to figure out where the sudden sense of unease was coming from, but there was no clear culprit: just the sensation that suddenly the entire area felt strange. It was a subtle shift, but what had first looked like a perfectly normal, if deserted, settlement of civilization now seemed... not entirely real. "Do you feel that?"

From that point on it practically happened in a moment. The town shimmered, the air became hazy, and then the world fell away in a gust of wind. It was too quick to react to, and by the time either of them could have tried to figure out what was going on it was already over.

The dryad and the slayer were now standing in what looked like a bamboo forest, the long stalks reaching far above their heads and at places growing close enough together to practically form physical walls. There was a fog everywhere, crawling over the ground and floating overhead, resulting in the entire place looking gloomy even though it was supposed to be the middle of the day. To one side there was an incline with regular wooden steps forming a hybrid between a slope and a staircase, leading upwards into the fog. To the other side the ground remained even until it was swallowed up by the fog. There was no sound other than a soft whistling as far above a light breeze danced between the stalks, with the occasional soft clacking as the long bamboo rods collided.

Lily blinked, trying to take in their surroundings. Despite the fact that this clearly had to be magic she couldn't figure out what exactly it was that had just happened, beyond the obvious fact that they'd been relocated... unless this was a dream? "Is this... real?"

WC: 917
PWC: 2,362/7,000
TWC: 3,714/14,000

Nero was long gone, flying around the area trying to find something that could lead to something. In the meantime, Libbier was watching as Lily gave instructions to Basin. The large golem would indeed have trouble walking around such a small village, and while it was not impossible, it was not desirable, since with its size the chances of finding something on the narrow streets were far less than actually stepping on them. So despite the fact that splitting up was not always the best idea when facing the unknown, play for one's strengths was also something that could be done to speed up the process. Just like Nero flying in the air would give them an advantage should they face trouble, and if trouble would instead come to them, Basin would definitely be the first to be noticed, which would allow Lily and Libbier time to prepare.

That was, of course, the idea if they were facing an enemy they could prepare too, like bandits or invading forces of some kind. The two girls, however, had yet to realize what they were going to be facing if anything at all.

When Lily turned back to Libbier, she mentioned something around the lines of the personal objects that were being carried by the population of the village to remain in the same place as they were while being used. Lily saying it could be a clue was correct, as it clearly showed that either the population was caught completely off guard, or the items were placed like this in the intent of making others think everyone had just run away in panic.

Libbier's mind was already processing all the information when Lily finished talking and turned to walk towards the village. Her tail then brushed against Libbier, causing her train of thought to derail completely, as she froze from the unexpected contact. Still, Libbier quickly recovered and caught up to Lily with a light job, before matching her pace. Her mind was still a little off track for a while as she stole glances at Lily's tail.

As they walked, Libbier was finally able to see what Lily had mentioned. Every single item that was on the floor, was as if it had simply had been dropped for no reason what so ever. Food, boxes, bowls, toys, tools, everything was where one would imagine it would be normally used. Everything was just abandoned, and yet, the fruit still looked fresh enough.

When Lily began talking with a voice filled with worry, Libbier placed her hand on her shoulder. But suddenly something changed. Lily had also noticed it. The entire area had begun to warp, in ways that made Libbier highly apprehensive. It was not the first time she had felt something like this. Her past as an explorer had led her to find herself in strange situations, but one that will be forever carved into her memory caused her to grab hold of Lily. If Libbier was right, this was a teleportation spell or a magical phenomenon that would cause the effects of one, and if this was indeed a natural effect, chances were that Lily and Libbier would be sent to different locations if they were apart.

Then, as quickly as it began, it was over, and the village they had been on was replaced by a completely different landscape. Libbier had been right in her instincts as to the nature of the distortion, but as to if the source had been natural or artificial, that was yet to be seen. Her mind, not even registering the sudden hug that she had just performed previously, went into full overdrive, as the adrenaline was pumped through her entire body by her panicked and excited heart. Where were they sent? Was there anyone else here? If so, would they be friends or foes?

Slowly letting go of Lily, as she doubted about the reality of their situation, Libbier began to focus on her senses. There were a lot of smells going around that she was not familiar with, but she could somewhat find a hint of humans in the air. Perhaps the villagers had been sent here as well? But then where are they?

"We were just teleported somewhere.", Libbier began to try to explain, what she could figure out to this point, to Lily as she continued to look around, "I do not know what or who did this, but I can tell that someone else came through here.", then turning to Lily she added with a smirk, her mind already half-filled with her adventurous thoughts, "Well, you wanted to find clues. This has to be the best one we got, wouldn't you agree?"

---

In the meantime, back at the village, a few moments after the two girls were sent somewhere else, Nero flew down from the sky, landing near to the position he had lastly sensed the girls as well as something else. Still, since he had not noticed any signs of a battle, Nero had not figured it would be that important.

"Hey, I felt something coming from this area. You guys alright?", Nero asked, "What th... Hello? Girls?"

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Lily's tail was a bit unusual looking due to it lacking any fur, feathers or any features beyond just being a tail. It was long, whip-like, and smooth, of the same oak-like brown as the rest of Lily's body. It trailed behind the dryad as she walked, staying close to the ground but clearly helping out with balance and stability. Given how the tip occasionally curled and flicked it was also clearly prehensile, for those who might be interested in that.

Leaving observations of the dryad's tail aside, the clues on the ground might be indicative of the situation but they didn't tell the foliage-clad girl anything about how to recover the people that went missing... if they were still alive. She was still wondering how they were supposed to proceed from here when the freak accident occurred. It came and went so quickly that Lily barely had time to reciprocate Libbier's protectice gesture, wrapping her arms around the slayer and holding her tight. However by that point the warping had already ended, leaving the two women to figure out what happened and whether this was an opportunity or misfortune.

Libbier clearly was optimistic about the incident, which helped give Lily some courage as well. The explorer could be a bit reckless but she was experienced in dealing with the strange and the unusual, so if she wasn't losing her mind that was a good indication that at least the situation wasn't critical.

Letting go of her partner the dryad looked around as well, wondering if there'd be some way to ascertain whether this really was a completely different location or if it was merely a trick. Her senses all told her that this place was real, but the transportation had been so sudden that she still had to come to terms with what had happened. Seeing the slayer sniff the air the plant girl followed suit, catching some hints of humans as well although she couldn't immediately say how old it was or which direction it came from. "It looks like it. But I can't tell where we are... this place feels strange." The ground was still the ground and the bamboo stalks were also real, but it still didn't feel like any place Lily had been to before. There was something strange in the air, the dirt, the plants. Something which wasn't immediately wrong, but definitely strange.

Seeing how her companion and partner seemed to be more excited than anything else Lily decided against suggesting they'd first figure out how they got here and how they were supposed to get back. They were here to investigate the missing people so now that they had a clue they might as well get to work.

"You're right. We might as well use the opportunity to see if we can find the people that went missing. Can you figure out in which direction we should go?" The dryad tried to pick up on the trail but the scent of humans was rather faint, and she wasn't too used to using her nose to find the way.

"Someone had to put those steps in the slope, so maybe we should head upwards and see what we can find at the top?" Artificial constructions were a sure sign of intelligent life after all. If there was a staircase there was something at the top of the staircase, and that might be the best place to go right now. The dryad wouldn't want to make all the decisions here though, since she was pretty sure that Libbier was more experienced when it came to exploring foreign and possibly hostile territory. The plant girl was much more familiar with jungles and forests where she might sometimes be an outsider but never truly a stranger.

---

Basin had been fine with standing guard, since that was what ze was supposed to do anyway. However when Lily suddenly disappeared the guardian immediately began to move, heading over to where Lily and Libbier had been just moments before. At least the two females had been on the main road at the time so ze could reach the spot without crushing any buildings.

Looking up ze raised a hand when Nero descended from the skies, using the other hand to point at where the two mages had been standing. Ze then once again began to grow moss in specific shapes to communicate, using zirs own large torso as the base.

'They were here, now they are gone. I think something took them like the people that went missing.'

While ze didn't show it the guardian was worried. Ze was used to having Lily around, so the dryad's sudden disappearance was cause for concern. Especially since it meant that the big stone figure had no way of tracking her down and helping her if she was in danger. For now ze'd have to wait and rely on Libbier to make sure the two of them would remain safe.

WC: 828
PWC: 3,190/7,000
TWC: 5,403/14,000

A new place, a new discovery, a new adventure, Libbier was ruled by these words at the moment. It was hardly something that hadn't happened before, but Libbier enjoyed this kind of situation to the core. It was the bad things that usually happened in these same situations that left Libbier wondering what kind of luck they would have. But it was this exact thought that dozed off the flames of excitement from her heart to manageable levels, as she knew that as much as she wanted to explore this place, it was most likely somewhere inhabited by something that could use or control teleportation magic, and had, in fact, kidnapped not only the two girls but also a lot of innocent people which fate was yet to be discovered.

At this point, although Lily was the first to voice it out, both her and Libbier started to notice how strange the area they were in was, but one thing was for sure, finding the missing people should be a priority over exploring and finding an escape route, even if the latter options were an important part of the first one as well.

"Yeah, I think I can follow the scent towards the place where everyone might be."; Libbier responded to Lily's worries and then added after Lily mentioned the artificial steps that could be seen, "I think whoever brought us here might have had a hand in that, although we cannot be sure of it yet. Still, shall we go?", Libbier asked while holding out her hand to Lily.

As she held out her hand, Libbier's tattoo began to glow and her defensive focused equipment materialized into existence. Fortress Tri-Shield was Libbier's best equipment, composed of three separate large shields that could even, thanks to its ability to float and be controlled by its use without the need for physical contact, carry a person in each of them. Libbier had taken it out as considering they were inside an unknown forest, surprising attacks could come out of anywhere, as such her fortress shield that was designed to endure sieges, would be a valuable asset to deal with any unforeseen circumstances that might target them. The best part was that considering she could control the shield herself, Libbier could also protect Lily as long as she was within range of the shields.

Going forward, Libbier's mind began slowly adapting to the situation, bringing her closer to a normal state of mind, as the initial surge of excitement began to dry out. Right now Libbier could begin to formulate a plan to deal with whoever or whatever was controlling the area. The best idea was, of course, to kill everyone that gets in there was but unlike her other self, Libbier had no intense pleasure or will to kill people, as long as she could. Besides, killing everyone would be counter-productive as they did not know how strong is the real monster of a man.

Regardless, Lily was with libbier at the moment was for sure a good influence, although Nero was far more used to dealing with Libbier's other side, Libbier could only hope and pray that the exceed would not be necessary to win against the out of control Libbier.

Moving towards the direction of the strongest smell she could detect in the area, Libbier made her way towards her target while focusing her mana to control her shield to protect herself and Lily. Libbier had no intention of letting any kind of harm to befall onto Lily, as the shield was in position, continuously serving as protection against a first attacker.

The forest was dense and even the bamboo was enough cover to launch an ambush, as such Libbier moved, as fast as she could walk as to not miss any possible signs of danger. And to be honest, Libbier's weapon was not the most indicated to use in such a close quarter's combat but considering that Libbier's specialty was close quarter's it was always nice to make other's misunderstand her strengths while holding a long-range weapon. As she and Lily walked thru the forest of bamboo, and now that the early excitement had subsided, Libbier began to wonder about Lily's reasons. Not that she thought helping others was wrong, but Libbier wouldn't normally go out of her way to help strangers.

"So Lily. If you don't mind me asking.", Libbier started as she looked at Lily while walking, "Why are you so interested in helping these people?"

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With Libbier's affirmation that she would be able to track the scent of the humans which had been teleported to this area they at least had a plan of how to proceed, which already made the dryad feel a lot better. They were brought to a completely unknown location by an unknown power, so the leafclad girl was a bit concerned. However at least Libbier was with her, and the slayer was a formidable adventurer, explorer and combatant. With her around Lily already felt a lot safer, so she could focus on figuring out where they were, who the culprit was of the kidnappings, and how to solve this entire situation.

"It's either the ones who brought us here or some other person we don't know. It doesn't look like any humans live here other than the ones who got kidnapped." Humans, even the ones who tried to live in harmony with nature rather than conquering it, left recognizable traces. This bamboo forest had some signs of intelligent life, but it didn't really match the profile of humans that Lily was familiar with.

For one thing the steps were not quite the right size for humans. It was subtle but once you caught notice of it you realized that they seemed to be shaped for something slightly bigger. Lily mostly noticed it because she could feel the steps through the ground, but once they were walking up the step she'd be able to confirm what she was guessing at.

She gladly took Libbier's hand, giving it a light squeeze as she watched her friend summon three impressively sized shields in case of an ambush. For her part Lily didn't have much in the way of equipment, but she could at least give the both of them an enchantment which made their bodies sturdier in the case of a sudden attack. Among the civilized folk the spell was normally called Stoneskin.

As the two of them began to walk the strongest scent did appear to come from the upwards slope, meaning that the two of them had the best chance of getting somewhere useful by going up the steps. Walking between the nearly solid walls of bamboo Lily was glad that she could feel both plant and earth, because she was pretty sure she would have felt blind otherwise. She was impressed by how calm Libbier seemed to be despite the circumstances, although then again she herself felt safer because of Libbier's presence so maybe the slayer just knew she was strong enough to handle whatever this place might throw at them.

When Libbier asked her why she even decided to help the missing people in the first place Lily's first thought was to ask her what she meant, since she didn't really see the point of the question. However she visibly took several seconds to consider the question. She didn't think her friend would ask that question if she wasn't legitimately curious, which meant that the dryad had to give a better response than 'just because'. What would bring her to help these humans, who were creatures completely unalike herself and who she'd never met before.

"Well... What caught my attention was that all these missing people were from all over the place, and there didn't seem to be a pattern to it. This entire village was caught up in it but there's also cities where large portions of the people have gone missing.

If there had been some connection between all the people who disappeared I might have thought that there was some meaning behind it, and that I shouldn't get involved since I'm not a part of humans or civilization. But the only connection is that only humans have gone missing, and that's not enough to be an explanation if those humans go missing in random amounts from random places. If someone was kidnapping humans for a specific reason they would have gone about it more systematically.

So so far as I can tell the people who went missing are just unlucky, with no real purpose or reason why they would be chosen." Lily's expression changed, showing mild amounts of both anger and sadness. "I don't like pointless cruelty. In nature all living things struggle to survive, but even when a predator hunts prey there's no malice or sadism in it. Even if it looks horrible on the surface there's always a reason behind it. Intelligent life may not have created the ideas of violence or ruthlessness but it definitely is responsible for the idea of doing horrible things to others just because you can." Her gaze shifted down to the ground in front of them. "Of course that's not entirely true... even in nature sometimes pointless cruelty occurs. But whether it's from the civilized folk some creature living in the wilds I don't care for it."

She then looked back up at Libbier and gave a smile even as she gave a rather careless shrug. "Well that and I just want to help others if I can. Whether you're made from flesh or wood you're alive and I'd rather be a friend than an enemy if I have a choice."

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While walking, Libbier waited for Lily's response. Libbier did not know if Lily would actually respond since she seemed to be thinking about something instead of answering. Libbier even wondered if there was something else happening that she was unaware of. Of course, at this point, there was no way Libbier thought that Lily had lured her here or that there was any type of ill will associated with the request for help. But then again, Libbier had nothing else to do in the short moment it took Lily to begin her answer so she just allowed her brain to run wild.

However, the moment Lily began to speak, Libbier turned her entire attention towards her. Libbier would do nothing but agree with the first statement, as she also failed to find any kind of connection between all that have been affected. Then hearing that Lily didn't intend to become involved in the matter if there seemed to be a reason behind it, for the reason of she herself not being part of humanity and civilization. To this Libbier wanted to retort, as she didn't even care if Lily was human or not. In fact, Lily had shown to be more human than a lot of people Libbier met in the past.

The fact that the only connection between the ones that disappeared were all humans was an obvious fact since if it wasn't there wouldn't have been such a response from the authorities. Still, something caught Libbier's attention, the fact that Lily didn't consider herself human, which is indeed true since she is a dryad. This means that there could be something else that could be targeting humans without caring about who they catch.

Libbier continued to listen to Lily, as she mentioned that everyone that disappeared, had done so merely by pure chance as there were no other indications that could lead to them being picked over anyone else. And then Libbier finally found the reason for Lily's actions as Lily's facial expressions clearly showed her emotions as she spoke. She didn't want pointless cruelty, even if it were to come from some random creature, she didn't stand for anything that would do harm just because it could be done. Libbier could understand this feeling, as she herself disliked acts of which sole goal was to cause harm to others. Even if Libbier never truly cared about the rules or laws of the society, abiding by it only if it allowed her to eat her sweets in peace, she did have a few rules of her own that she would never ignore.

For a moment there, Libbier recalled a similar conversation with an old group of friends she once had. Much like Libbier, they enjoyed exploring the unknown, living outside society's rules as much as they possibly could, striking out only when something was done to them while ignoring anything that wasn't outright cruel and purely evil. Libbier could almost hear them talking about their reasons and she could most definitely see the similarities of their's and Lily's reasons.

Then Lily's smile brought Libbier back from her nostalgia, and Libbier couldn't but smile back as Lily simply stated that she just wanted to help and be friends with anyone regardless of who or what they were.

"Yes. You are right.", Libbier replied while simply holding Lily's hand slightly tighter, "Making friends is far better than fighting.", then Libbier's smile became gentle but also sad, as she once again recalled her old friends and the reason they were lost to her, "It's a shame that not everyone thinks the same way. Even the ones that do so...", Libbier looked away from Lily and into the sky as she thought about her own situation, "... sometimes become unable to do what they believe to be right."

Libbier closed her eyes, suppressing the tears that began to form due to her recalling a painful part of her past, before turning back to Lily with a smile once again, "Well, I was trying to liven things up, and this was the result.", she said mocking herself, "Anyway, we should just do what we believe to be the right thing and avoid any regrets in the future. So, if you want to help these people, I also want to help them and for the same reasons."

Libbier did not want to let Lily be sad, so helping a group of strangers, even if there was no way of knowing what happened to them, was no longer something that Libbier could avoid doing. So she pressed forward, bringing Lily along by the hand while Tri-Fortress floated around them for cover. But they had covered a good amount of ground while they were speaking and had come far closer than they thought to their goal.

Then something caught Libbier's attention. A smell. Not something she had never sensed before, in fact, she had sensed this smell the moment they were teleported here, but it was so faint that only now Libbier began to pay attention to it. Like something that had always been around but only now was close enough to detect.

"Wait! Something is not right.", Libbier said in a tense tone while coming to a halt. She was scanning the surroundings while trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. Could they be against the wind? No, there was no wind to speak off, so maybe there had been something here that left recently? But that would leave a trail to follow, this smell didn't go anywhere... or didn't it?

"Look out!", Libbier shouted as she noticed something coming from above, moving her shields into formation in order to block the incoming attack.

Looking up, Libbier could see the attacker. It was hard to see from afar but was clearly flying using black wings and had a weird mask on the face while wielding a bow as its weapon. The fact Libbier forgot about the possibility of an attack from the sky was annoying Libbier to no end since she forgot Nero wasn't around, and he was usually the one to scout up there.

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The member 'LibertyGear' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Monster Dice' :

If Lily had been able to read Libbier's thoughts she'd have been able to answer some of the slayer's ideas, but as it was the dryad was just glad that she had someone who listened to her as she tried to put her own thoughts into words. She wasn't a stranger to being alone, and wasn't particularly averse to it: in a certain manner of speaking she was never alone, as there was always life around her in some form or shape. Even if she was walking through barren lands there was the earth beneath her feet, as steady a companion as any (with Basin acting as a more literal companion).

But she did also really like being together with others, especially if she could talk with them and share experiences with them. The best life was a life shared after all, and she was very happy to have Libbier with her on this journey into a strange and unknown world. That she went so far as to ask Lily why she even bothered might have been seen as intrusive, but the dryad considered it a thoughtful and considerate act, since it gave her an opportunity to get her feelings across on the subject while also improving their understanding of one another.

As she finished talking she listened attentively in return as Libbier explained that she by and large agreed with Lily's stance, although she then noticed that on a certain level her words had touched the slayer in a way which caused her some measure of sorrow. The dryad didn't need any hints on what to do next, using the hand that was holding Libbier's to pull her friend into a hug. She didn't say anything, as there wasn't anything she could say given her lack of knowledge on what specific event Libbier might be referring to, but at the very least she could offer her friend some comfort through a warm embrace.

When it looked like Libbier had returned to her normal cheerful self she released the hug and smiled in return, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it. Just don't be afraid to talk to me if something is on your mind. That's what friends are for after all!"

With the two of them in full agreement on helping the humans the dryad followed along with Libbier, her hand still holding onto the slayer's even as she looked around in the hope to get a better idea of where they were. Unfortunately although they'd already covered quite some distance the bamboo forest looked as forboding and mysterious as ever, tendrils of fog slithering their way between the tall stalks and the only sound the soft whistling of the wind and the clacking of bamboo against bamboo... and the beating of wings. "A bird?" Lily wondered this out loud even as Libbier also noted that something was off. Why would there suddenly be a bird amidst the silence?

Fortunately the slayer reacted in time to block the first attack, an arrow which slammed against her Tri-Fortress with enough strength that for a moment Lily was afraid that it might knock the shields out of the way. What kind of bow was the strange creature above using that it could generate such force with a simple arrow?

Looking up she also noted the masked and winged figure, but before she could do anything about him two others also showed up: one was also an archer, already knocking an arrow, whereas the last one had a spear and was getting ready for a nosedive in an attempt to skewer the two outsiders.

"Can you keep the two archers busy?" Lily asked quickly even as she let her magic flow freely throughout her body. The earth beneath her felt solid, the bamboo stalks that surrounded them were like spears rising up from the ground... she could make use of this. Fighting a dryad inside a forest, even once she was unfamiliar with, was generally a bad idea.

As the spear-wielding tengu made a dive Lily's first reaction was to launch six rock spikes, each one flying wide so the tengu barely had to dodge... only for a high speed magical seed to hit her shoulder. The effect was almost instanteous: the seed erupted into a mass of roots which wrapped themselves around the tengu, binding her limbs. With her wings disabled rather than striking at Libbier and Lily with a deadly charge the female tengu dropped like a rock, a painful collision with the ground only prevented by Lily using some more roots to catch her. Of course she also used this opportunity to strengthen the bindings, the winged assailant quickly being neatly wrapped up in a tangle of wooden vines which made it look like she'd flown straight into a particularly dense briar patch.

Using one root to pull the spear away from their bound adversary Lily returned her focus to the archers, hoping that Libbier didn't have too hard a time dealing with them. They probably wouldn't be happy that one of their own was taken out so easily, even if it was a practically harmless method.

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TWC: 8,896/14,000

Libbier looked closely as she began to notice the numbers she and Lily were up against, as well as the weapons they carried. Considering that the impact on Tri-Fortress was enough to make Libbier wonder if they were carrying a cannon of sorts, she couldn't but wince a little when she noticed the blows and spears the birdmen like creatures, they were facing, were carrying. Still, Libbier repositioned her shields to better respond to the next projectiles, slanting the shields in order to deflect incoming ranged attacks, rather than block as she had done just now, as she doubted she could endure a barrage of attacks like the previous one head-on.

Once the second and third bird-like enemies joined with the first one, the one wielding a spear immediately began a charge attack using the height advantage to gain increased momentum. To this, Lily immediately responded asking Libbier to hold the two archers down.

"Leave them to me.", Libbier replied with confidence, as she could not just let the trust, given to her, hang in the air. Easy enough, but considering the situation Libbier couldn't go all out, as it could risk her other side taking over, and causing all kinds of problems. "First, things first tho.", Libbier added as she began to channel her mana and cast her three main early combat support spells, Earth Armor, Fire for Effect and Ice scales. The mixed energies of earth fire and ice quickly began to swirl around the area before focusing down on Libbier and Lily giving them not only a defensive cover of the earth but also a sizable boost of fire and ice on Libbier's strength and Lily's spell power.

With that done Libbier's tattoo began to glow once again, as this time Libbier took out her trusty sniper rifle. Hecate was a simple sniper rifle if seen from the outside, but it great synergy with Libbier's abilities while providing a way for Libbier to deal a good deal of damage at great range. Surely the bird people thought they were safe while that high up in the air, but they would be mistaken, as when Libbier took aim, all she could see were too sitting ducks with nowhere to hide.

Of course, the birdmen did not stand idly as Libbier and Lily made their preparations and immediately began to fire arrows to support their charging ally. This was all for naught, however, as the arrows were swiftly deflected by Libbier's shields. Additionally, Libbier had finished taking her aim and pulled the trigger, using Hecate's Long Snipe to deal heavy damage to one of the flying foes. Even so, considering the power of the attack Libbier used, and the amount of preparation she had done before she attacked, Libbier was expecting for her attack to at least have taken down both, however, her foes looked far sturdier than she anticipated, and only one of the two archers was taken down. This left Libbier surprised but still not hopeless, as she noticed Lily capturing the charging foe with her vines.

Assuming Lily was going to catch and hold the falling bird, Libbier turned her attention to the third and final foe they were facing right now.

"Hey, Birdman!", Libbier shouted, "I have no idea of who you are, but we came here in hopes of finding a few people, and if you don't surrender, sooner rather than later, you will end up like your friends.", she added while gesturing towards the allies of the remaining bird mand that were now on the ground.

The remaining bird-like foe took a while to think about, and while Libbier had no idea what could be going thru the last guy, soon enough it lowered its weapon, as much as a bow and arrow could be lowered without dropping at least, and began to fly downwards the two girls. As soon as it was within ear shout, it began to speak.

"You talk big human, for one that can not even distinguish us proud tengu with simple birdmen. It's pretty brazen to insult us like that within our territory, for we control everyth-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah.", Libbier replied in exasperation, as she thought it was going to take it a very long time to finish this conversation, before adding, "What the hell is a tengu anyway? You look like birdmen to me no matter how you spin it."

Ignoring the self-announced tengu, Libbier turned to Lily.

"Are you ok?", Libbier asked out of concern, "This attack came out pretty much out of nowhere."

Considering the situation, they could count themselves lucky that only this many had come, possibly they were just a scout party or something like a guard of the area. Regardless, they had committed a serial offense by trying to hurt Lily so Libbier was slightly pissed of at the moment.

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Lily was somewhat surprised when she felt Libbier's magic swirl around and then enchant her form, enhancing her magical power. She could feel the elements of frost and fire, harmless but still potent, flowing through her. The earthen armour was something she was more familiar with, as she had access to earth magic herself, but the other two elements felt rather strange and alien. Still she could tell that they would strengthen her own magic, and she wouldn't even consider the possibility that Libbier's gift was useless or dangerous.

"Thanks!" With Libbier's enchantment boosting her performance Lily's takedown of the spear-wielding tengu was even more smooth than it otherwise would have been, the roots she used to bind the woman having very faintly glowing ripples of fiery orange and chilly blue travelling across the surface, like the shadows of the water surface on the riverbed. With her target restrained Lily could see how Libbier was faring, only to see that the slayer was having little issue dealing with the two ranged tengu. This was the first time she saw Libbier use her sniper rifle, and she winced as the sound of it firing assaulted her own sensitive ears. Shaking her head she reached out with her roots and capured the falling tengu as well, binding him the same way that she'd bound his charging partner.

Speaking of that one, she was still securely tied but was glaring furiously. Lily could feel her pushing against the roots, trying to find a weakness she could use to break free. So far it didn't look like she would succeed but it would probabably be a good idea to remain on guard. Keeping this in mind Lily kept her two captives separate from one another as she used some vines to pull the bow and quiver of the second victim towards herself. They didn't appear to possess any magic, and even if they did if they knew how to break free on their own they probably would have done so already.

In the meantime Libbier had managed to convince the remaining enemy to try his hand at diplomacy, primarily because losing both of your allies within the first minute of the fight was usually a good sign that things weren't going as planned. And even then he wasn't very good at being polite: he talked as if he wanted to assert his dominance in the situation, which honestly sounded a bit silly with his two friends already tied up. And now that he'd lowered himself he was even more vulnerable... he was entirely surrounded by earth and flora after all.

He also clearly didn't appreciate Libbier's equally rude response. The plantgirl was pretty sure she could see a vein threatening to burst on the tengu's forehead before she turned her gaze towards her own friend. Hearing the concern in Libbier's voice Lily smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine, don't worry about it. More importantly I think we should try to talk things out."

"Are you done ignoring me down here? You're lucky I haven't pierced your skulls yet."

Lily looked up at the tengu and sighed, glancing sideways at Libbier. "Give me a moment."

Stepping forward she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling the world around her. Opening them again her vivid green irises glowed, and the world began to move. The unreasonably long bamboo stalks all shivered as countless long, thin branches shot out and formed a cage around the five of them, thin strands interweaving and locking together while leafs covered many of the gaps. The forest was already rather dim, with a thin fog covering everything, but for the moment their little area was cast into a deeper darkness, the darkness of the deep woods.

The ground also moved, swirling as several stones slowly rose up from the ground with many roots wrapped around them and reaching towards the skies. When stillness returned to the scene it was like the tengu was looking out over a forest of naked branches and stone trunks.

"I'm sorry for making you wait, but understand that we're only here to look for the humans who have gone missing. We don't mean you any harm and if you can tell us where to find the missing humans we'll be on our way."

Lily would really prefer a peaceful solution to all of this, but from what she'd seen so far this winged man wasn't going to be cooperative for as long as he believed he had the upper hand. In the wild it was common for creatures to rely on intimidation rather than outright violence to resolve conflicts, and the dryad hoped that the same could be accomplished here.

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TWC: 10,489//14,000

Libbier was surprised by Lily's statement. Did she want to talk it out with someone that had outright attacked them on sight? If Nero was here he would have questioned her sanity, so it was good that he wasn't otherwise Libbier might have found herself knocking him out with a well-placed jab. And the bir- tengu was still yapping his mouth trying to get anyone's attention, gloating as if he had the upper hand for some reason. In the end, it was pretty much just something that was buzzing around like a fly. Normally, Libbier would have swatted it down already, but she was intrigued by Lily's desire to talk it out, and considering the talk they were having previously, Libbier felt compelled to comply with Lily's wish for 'parley'. Of course, in the end, it was something that required both parties to be able to come to common ground on the subject at hand.

Libbier was interested in how Lily was going to go about it when the dryad just outright flared her magic and it was almost as if the forest itself was trying to cage the tengu in. Libbier was more astonished than surprised at this point, since she knew Lily's magic, just not its limits. But with this, Libbier thought she had an idea of what Lily was trying to do. Negotiation through intimidation was a viable option regardless of the situation it was used in, although the effect would vary depending on how and where it was used, but since Lily was going to use it now, Libbier would go along with it.

Or that was the initial thought, but Libbier couldn't exactly display her magic in the same way, as not only was she not very good at focusing and controlling it much like Lily, but the fire was not exactly the best thing to use in the middle of a forest, and ice didn't exactly inspire much dread outside actual combat. As such Libbier decided to leave the magic display to Lily. In fact, isn't this like one of those fabled, 'good cop, bad cop' duo that Libbier had read about? Wait. But Lily despite doing all this was still speaking very politely... oh to hell with it. It was something fun to try, and since she didn't have many more options anyway, why not?

"Hey.", the tengu complained, "What are you trying to do?"

"Honestly.", Libbier sighed, "You just attacked us out of nowhere, tried to kill us, threatened us and now you are asking what WE are trying to do?", Libbier spoke with an increasingly aggravated tone, "Isn't that what we were supposed to ask you? What are YOU trying to do? Eh? You mocking us?"

"Er... wh-wha?"

"Er... wh-what?", Libbier mimicked the tengu, "What happened to you? Did the cat catch your tongue? Or did it get tired from all your yapping earlier? You are lucky my friend here wants to talk this out, cause if it was up to me, we would have been having some fried chicken wings right about now."

"Yo-YOU DAR-", the tengu began before being cut off.

"YES I DARE! YOU ATTACKED TO KILL!", Libbier shouted back, before returning to a more quiet but threatening tone, "And those who kill should have no complaints in being killed in return, and yet, after having beaten every single one of you guys here, in what could be considered mere moments, you are still breathing. Of course, that can change just as fast as you got beaten in the first place, so, your choices are: ONE, you talk with us, listen to us, and help us, OR TWO.", Libbier made a small fire in her hand, "I turn you three into fried chickens."

The tengu was slightly taken aback from Libbier's speech but after looking at his other two comrades, he decided that the best choice was to trust Libbier's words. Or at least that's what Libbier thinks he decided.

"Very well. Speak.", the tengu said, still trying to maintain an overbearing tone.

"Don't look at me. You already know what I want to do.", Libbier said while shrugging her shoulders, "It is her that wants to use the dialogue route right now.", Libbier looked at Lily with a mischievous look, "So Lily, they seem to want to cooperate for now. What do you think?"

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It looked like the plan was a success so far. The tengu wasn't giving in completely yet but at the very least he wasn't quite as self-assured as he was before, given that he was now effectively caged in. In a cage controlled by one of the people he'd been trying to assault together with his currently tied up allies, no less. Even as arrogant as he was he recognized that at this point bluster wouldn't get him very far, so far the very least he'd have to show some willingness to talk things out.

Of course that entire idea became a bit tenser as Libbier then spoke up and basically bullied him verbally, adding her own two cents to the entire situation. Clearly the slayer with the multi-coloured hair wasn't quite as forgiving as the dryad, given the fact that her little speech boiled down to 'listen to what we have to say or I'll burn you and your friends to a crisp'. It wasn't quite what Lily had in mind, but she wasn't about to interfere. Especially since it seemed to be working. As insulted as the tengu might be, it looked like he was at least understanding of the fact that he was no longer in a position to make demands or act like he had control over the situation, as grating as that realization might be to him. The leaf-clad girl smiled back at Libbier when her beloved friend informed her that she would have to be the one to continue negotiations now that everyone knew what the exact situation was.

"Thank you very much Libbier. Let's hope they can tell us what we need to know." There was of course still the possibility that, even after all of this, these birded people weren't involved in the capturing of the humans and didn't know where they were being held captive. But even if that was the case, at least they could help out in some way, right?

The dryad stepped forward again, returning the tengu's focus to herself. She gave him a smile, trying to reassure him even as she spoke. "As I mentioned before, the reason why we're here is because we're looking for the humans that have been disappearing from all over Earthland. Well, we're also here because someone moved us to this place, but we're here to return those humans. Do you happen to know anything about this?"

"The humans?" The tengu, his feathers still ruffled but not quite as bad as before, tilted his head as if he found the question rather peculiar. "Why would you care about those? You're not human in the least, and your... friend, well..." Clearly he didn't have a very high opinion of Libbier. "She doesn't exactly fit in with the humans either, does she?"

Lily frowned, her expression actually becoming tense as she lifted one hand. "I'd rather you didn't put it like that. That said, we don't need a reason to care for others. We simply do." She indicated the tegn still bound in their respective briar patches, immobile and looking more annoyed and bored than alarmed by this point. "If we didn't care for others simply because they're different from us we wouldn't have had any reason to take down your friends harmlessly, or to ask you to help us rather than to demand it." Of course Libbier was basically turning it into a demand with her threats but that was besides the point.

The tengu was silent for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, whether you're speaking the truth or not, it doesn't matter much. Some of the other creatures living here have been capturing humans for sport. We tengu have little interest in the weak land-chained humans, but if you want to try and help the humans you'll have to keep walking up the hill. You'll find the one you seek at the top." He pointed down towards the other two tengu with his bow. "Now free my friends and be on your way. We won't attack you again, but I can't guarantee that nothing else will. There are rarely, if ever, outsiders who come to this place, much less as anything but prisoners and slaves. There will be creatures who are... interested by the fact that the two of you are walking around."

Lily nodded, smiling again. "Thank you for your help. We'll get going then." She made some motions with her hands, and the cage of wood and leaf disappeared as the branches retreated back into the bamboo shoots and the rocks sank back into the ground. The briar patches holding the other two tengu in place also withered away, allowing the two winged assailants to return to the skies, upon which they and their third friend flew away without another word.

The dryad looked at Libbier, then motioned towards the path before them with a small motion of her head. "Shall we?"

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Having played the role of the heavy-handed one of the two girls, Libbier passed the 'ball' to Lily and it seemed that Lily was all in for a peaceful solution as Libbier initially thought. Although Libbier didn't mind being rough, especially with rude people, her rather unique condition did not allow her to go too crazy with her emotions and considering the way Lily had expressed her reasons to try to help people, Libbier needed to play things cool, for Lily if not for herself. Thankfully her plan did seem to be working perfectly as the tengu was far more cordial with Lily now than moments before.

The tengu seemed surprised that the two girls were looking for humans, and even questioned why Lily even wanted to help humans when she wasn't human herself. The same question had crossed Libbier earlier that day too, but in the end, Lily wouldn't be who she is if not for that side of her so Libbier would not question it further. The next comment that came out of the tengu did make Libbier's eyebrows twitch as she felt it was an extremely rude one at that, but she let it go as it was Lily's show now, and she was just a side character. Feeling that the questioning of her humanity had negatively impacted Lily's did make a part of Libbier a happy, but mostly she just wanted to smack the tengu for ruining Lily's mood.

Fortunately, the tengu was very cooperative for the most part and learning a little about the way things worked in this place did help. Still, the fact that it was other demons that were hunting humans, not the tengu, made things slightly more complicated as now they still had to find said demons and start negotiations from scratch. Having a direction to go towards was a big step forward tho, so Libbier couldn't be too critical of the results, and at least the tengu said they wouldn't attack again, so it was one less potential enemy for her and Lily to deal with.

Staying true to her word about releasing the trapped tengu, Lily undid the cage she had formed around them and they quickly left the place. Then Lily motioned towards the path they had been indicted by the tengu with her head while inquiring Libbier about continuing through that path.

"Yes, let's find this guy he mentioned and end this."Libbier smiled and nodded in agreement and moved to accompany her dryad companion while resetting her shield formation to protect them once again.

As they walked, Libbier was working on the information she got so far. There was nothing hinting at what they were going up against and the tengu only said there were others that would probably attack them regardless, but other than where she didn't know the who or why, unless sport was really the only reason there was to this. Then another thing got into her head. The tengu mentioned something about her not being able to fit with humans either, and as much as she was happy for Lily's reaction, it still odd that such a comment would even be made. A bunch of questions started to pour in. Was she too harsh and the tengu was not used to such an aggressive human? Or could they sense something else in her? Or someone? Could Lily do the same? Did she know something? Could she feel it?

Even tho she was not showing it on her face, Libbier did remain silent as they walked, far longer than she would usually be, to the point that even she realized it.

"I guess we will soon find out what happened to those where were taken from all those villages.", Libbier said with a smile and an upbeat tone, but even she knew she was a little off her usual self. This sudden influx of questions was starting to affect her, and she knew she had to always be mentally strong to avoid a situation. Regardless of the answer, she couldn't afford to harbor doubt for too long, so she might as well just ask.

"Hey, Lily?", Libbier said as she stopped an turned towards Lily, with a gentle but serious tone, "What do you think the tengu meant when he said I also did not fit with other humans?"

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Lily could tell that Libbier wasn't happy with the comment of her not fitting in with the other humans, which was part of the reason why the dryad had gotten angry about it. While she wasn't one to really feel the need to be part of the crowd she understood that being told that you were an outsider to your kind was still not something most people wanted to hear.

With the situation with the tengu resolved the two of them could proceed once more, so the leaf-haired and leaf-clad girl would once again walk uphill together with her friend, the mist once more surrounding them and the only sound beyond their own being the soft clacking of bamboo reeds far above them as the nearly non-existent breeze made the thin stalks sway and bend. It would almost be peaceful if it weren't for the fact that it all had a feeling of a place unnatural, or at least a place outside of their own world. That there was nothing but that soft clacking, that the fog seemed to come from nowhere but lingered eternally... This entire bamboo forest had a ghostly feel to it, as if it wasn't entirely real.

The fact that Libbier didn't say anything just emphasized that sensation. Lily knew that Libbier was usually a pretty energetic and outspoken woman, at least when the dryad was around. She didn't think of the slayer as a real people person but when she was with friends nothing stopped her from speaking her mind and letting herself be known. For her to be so lost in thought was unusual, so Lily kept a quiet eye on Libbier just in case something was really bothering her and she was in need of help. While they were here to save those humans that had been kidnapped she wasn't about to fail to notice if something was wrong with her beloved friend.

"I just hope they're all still okay. I don't know too much about these creatures but if they're all similar to those tengu it's not impossible that they've gotten hurt..." If they were willing to capture humans for sport they might also be willing to do other things for sport, and clearly they didn't care much about the opinions the humans might have on the matter. The dryad wasn't a human in the slightest, but she was still strongly empathetic and didn't like pointless cruelty no matter who the target of it was.

"What is it Libbier?" Lily came to a halt as well, staring back at the slayer with a lightly tilted head and a friendly smile. She knew that there was something on the other woman's mind, but she didn't want to push the issue. When Libbier finally posed the real question the dryad remained still for a bit as she considered how to answer. "I... don't know." That was the honest truth: she didn't know what reason the tengu might have had to say that, even if deep within she hadn't felt like the tengu's statement was untrue. Libbier was a bit unusual, even if it was hard to say exactly what made her so. "Maybe because of the magic you use? I've heard that most humans can't use magic and that even amongst those that do the type of magic you use is special. Something about how it slowly makes you more like the thing you're imitating." While the magic that Lily wielded was extremely similar to slayer magic it wasn't quite the same, at least in its execution.

"What I do know is that if he was trying to be insulting he was way off." The dryad grabbed Libbier's hand and gave it a light squeeze. "I can't deny that you're a bit different from most humans I've met but you're a wonderful person and if you're different the differences are all good ones. Most humans are a bit awkward around me after all." She wasn't intimidating enough for people to be scared of her, but nonetheless her nature as a dryad meant that quite a few humans didn't know how to react with her or how to deal with her. Lily's smile became wider. "Maybe he meant that the other humans should be jealous of you."

Of course there was the other possibility... Maybe the tengu had been referring to what was hidden inside Libbier, that thing that would make the blue in her hair turn red and which turned her from a friendly and energetic girl into a violent and merciless slayer. Lily didn't know exactly what it was, but maybe it was unusual enough for the tengu to consider it inhuman? Or maybe he'd just been referring to how Libbier was a bit of a wanderer. There were so many possibilities, but Lily would rather that Libbier didn't get lost in those thoughts.

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Libbier was becoming more and more anxious as to what Lily was going to answer and adding that to her already existing doubts, Libbier was on a rather questionable mental state, one that she had mostly placed herself into do to her question. Still, this was in part cause she believed Lily and she knew that whatever the answer was, it was something that she would have to listen sooner or later. Even so, even if it was something that she would have to know, Libbier felt apprehensive the moment she let her question out, has even her view of Lily was thrown around her swirling emotions. But all of that came to a stop the moment Lily began to speak, and Libbier's mind latched on to her voice as an anchor in hope of respite.

Libbier could tell Lily was doing her best to come up with the answer to such a sudden question, and she noted every single reason to which the tengu said that Libbier was not exactly like other humans. Her magic was not exactly something anyone could get, but it wasn't exactly rare, as her own magic was basically a copy from the magic used by dragons, given to her by lacrima she came across her explorations. Albeit rare, it was not something that could be considered out of reach for other humans. Libbier was pretty sure her ice magic could be easily recreated with 'normal' lacrima. Still, Libbier could not deny that the two dragon slayer magic she possessed did give her abilities akin to dragons, albeit far weaker than the real thing. The possibility of it all being an attempt at insult was not that farfetched, however, Libbier could tell from the tone it was said at the time that the tengu was sincerely expressing doubt about her humanity.

As Libbier hear Lily state her final opinion, her heart was gripped by fear by her initial words. Libbier could tell that no matter the preparations she made, what she was about to hear was going to hurt a lot. Or so she thought, as the words that came out of Lily's mouth were not the ones she expected. Something like, the differences being all good compared to normal humans was not something that Libbier had ever had crossing her mind. Maybe due to everything that had happened to her due to her 'other-self', Libbier had already come to expected others to be wary of her. And despite everything she had done to hide it from Lily, Libbier was pretty certain that Lily had already begun to become aware that something was not how it should be with Libbier, something that had helped Libbier's doubts to further increase and had just now lead to her question. Libbier knew that eventually, she would have to come clean, but the mere thought of doing something like that was alien to the current Libbier.

With the end of Lily's reply, Libbier felt as if a giant mountain had just been lifted from her shoulders, and breath returned to her lungs. Having someone she cared about giving an answer that completely disregarded the existence of something bad made Libbier so happy, she almost felt her heart skip a beat. To a normal person, it would have been a rather plain answer, but to Libbier it was more than enough to clear her head from doubts. Libbier could tell that Lily truly didn't say any falsehood and this simply caused her to be unable to think once again, although for a completely different reason. This time, however, Libbier recovered quickly.

"Thank you, Lily... Eh?", Libbier said with a wide smile before noticing some tears of happiness running down her cheeks, tears which she quickly wiped while trying to play it cool, "Look at me getting all mushy.", she added before turning to hide her face and quickly walking ahead, "Let's go. We have people to help."

It didn't take far from that point to reach the edge of the forest they were in and since Libbier was walking ahead, she was the first to get out and reach the summit of the mild incline. What she saw stopped her on her tracks.

It was a large plain, which in itself was not something that noteworthy. However, it was filled with all kinds of demons and lots of large cage-like buildings that anyone could clearly see were filled with nothing but humans, of all races and sizes. But that was not the main problem here. The problem was the sheer amount of demons that were surrounding them. Libbier could see from the most commonly known oni, with a variable amount of horns on their heads, to one-footed cyclopes wandering around the cages. and that was just the beginning as the moment Libbier had come across such a sight she could feel a gaze coming straight at her, and soon afterward, all eyes became glued to her. The mild crowd noise that could be heard on the distance disappeared as if she and Lily had never left the quiet forest, to begin with.

"Well, that was not what I was expecting at all.", Libbier said out loud.

In the distance, a large demon, larger than the remaining crowd, began walking towards the two girls. Libbier could tell it was strong and this was where the true rescue mission would now begin.

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It looked like Libbier had been expecting Lily's answer to be painful or at the very least uncomfortable, the way she visibly took a posture as if preparing to receive a blow. The dryad wasn't going to comment on it, but a part of her was sad at the thought that her friend was so worried what her answer might be that she had to mentally prepare herself for the possibility of being hurt. It wasn't like Lily was incapable of saying harsh things when necessary, but she didn't think she had a habit of beating people up with words.

Of course it could also just be a sign of how insecure Libbier was about her own nature, which was even sadder. The leafclad girl hoped that she could help Libbier become a bit more comfortable with herself if that was the case.

Fortunately Libbier took Lily's words as the supportive answer that they were meant to be. It was almost cute the way she was caught off guard and showed such relief and happiness when Lily told her that the dryad could only see positive differences between the slayer and other humans. [color:ec9d=228b22]"No problem Libbier!" She giggled when the slayer noticed that tears were rolling down her cheeks, then gave her a quick hug. "Don't worry too much about it. I know that for humans being part of the group is more important: you're social creatures after all." It could be considered a drawback of the same thing which made humans strong: they could achieve many great things by banding together, but they were also dependent on each other. Even someone like Libbier who mostly lived on her own still didn't like being called non-human.

The rest of the uphill journey was silent, but when they reached the edge and came upon the prison area with its many jailors Lily came to a dead halt. She'd expected some creatures similar to the tengu to be hanging about, but instead they were faced with a veritable crowd of mystical spirit creatures. At least all the humans that had been captured were also here, but they were surrounded and getting them free would be very difficult if the youkai didn't cooperate. In fact escaping here with just Libbier and herself could be a problem if the youkai proved to be hostile.

"Me neither." She hadn't expected anything like this at all. It could bode poorly for them if the youkai were all organized and working together. The tengu had given the impression that youkai mostly did their own things in small groups, but this... this was something else entirely.

However she didn't have much time to be concerned or surprised. As silence fell upon the clearing the largest of the youkai approached the two of them slowly, a weak tremble travelling through the ground with every step. The youkai was clad in thick, dark fur, and had a large muzzle. Its hands were large, clawed paws, and while it was walking on two legs it looked like it could just as easily drop onto all fours and charge them if it wished to. Combined with its size such a charge could be a serious issue.

All in all it looked like a really big and really tough bear. Even compared to the onis and the cyclops it looked tough.

The dryad was very grateful that it didn't look aggressive... for the moment. Instead it just walked closer until it could lower its head and sniff at them, releasing a wave of warm air that was strong enough to play with Lily's leaf-like hair. "You two aren't here by accident. Why did you come here?" The bearlike youkai snorted before lifting its upper body, towering over the both of them. Its large body compared with its sturdy legs made it look like its hind limbs weren't that long, but Lily still would rather avoid putting its speed to the test. "If you're here to free the humans, you might as well leave. They're ours now. And if you don't depart quickly you will be ours as well..." Its voice was already enough to make it feel like the ground was shaking. It was deep and powerful, befitting of the massive ursar.

Lily swallowed as she tried to think of how to proceed. Fighting was out of the question: this thing could flatten them both just by using its body weight. And its hide looked too tough for even stone to penetrate. "We, uhm... We are here for the humans yes. Can you tell us why you took them? We couldn't find any clue as to why so many humans would be taken away all of a sudden." Maybe if they just talked things would work out. She glanced towards Libbier out of the corner of her eye. Hopefully Libbier would agree and also settle for diplomacy before things went really wrong.

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The large youkai was approaching with a very slow but steady pace, the ground tremble to give a very accurate indication of the weight that those steps were carrying. Being right next to Lily, Libbier moved a step forward, as to be able to cover Lily with her shield in case something went wrong. It was not the time to act, but Libbier had to ready herself to do so at the moment's notice.

The sight of this towering youkai was something else, Libbier could already tell that if a fight were to break out, never mind the numbers, this guy alone would be enough to cause a lot of trouble by himself. Fortunately, it seemed that he was not immediately hostile and conversation was possible, so maybe something could come out of talking things out, although the youkai did seem to be a bit overbearing, which fits his overall looks amazingly well. Libbier did not expect to be asked to leave though and didn't really know why the massive youkai would give that suggestion right off the bat.

Lily on the other hand immediately began to try and find out the reasons for the youkai's actions behind the kidnapping of so many people. Libbier noticed that Lily was clearly trying to avoid fighting, but honestly, she could not see how this situation would go well with simple talks.

"Ah!", the large youkai laughed as the question, "Why did we take them? What a silly question.", he added with a sly smile, "Why does anyone do anything? Sheer, absolute, boredom! We have been living on these lands for millennia and did pretty much everything we could do to entertain ourselves. Alas, nothing lasts forever and we have in recent years become unable to feel any sense of fulfillment."

Libbier was astonished at the reason and how easily it was given, a reaction that the youkai did not miss, to which he added.

"You must be wondering why I would say all this for no reason to complete strangers that have nothing to do with us, right?", he asked. It was somewhat true that Libbier thought it was strange but it also felt like the youkai was somewhat overthinking stuff, not that she would point it out of course, "The reason is pretty simple. You look a lot more fun to play with that this other spineless humans that can do little more than tremble at my presence. So what do you think? Do you want to try and fulfill the role that we envisioned for these humans?"

Libbier was speechless. This just went from bad to worse, as the youkai had clearly taken interest in them and would not easily let them go like previously stated. But then again, it might an opportunity to free all the people here.

"So what exactly did you plan to do with these people for entertainment?", Libbier asked, trying to probe for some clue on their intentions.

"Well.", the large youkai lifted his right hand to his chin as he thought, "After all this time we had planned to have them fight each other with the price of being sent back, to where we took them from, given to the sole winner."

"What kind of fight exactly?", Libbier asked but a part of her already knew the answer.

"Oh you know, a free for all, what do you humans call it now? Ah yes, a battle royale."

Definitely not what Libbier wanted to hear, even if she was expecting it. Basically, these guys were into blood sports. But if she and Lily were to take the place of all these humans, then would that mean?

"So if we were to take their place..."

"You would need to fight each other.", the large bear-like youkai answered with a grin, before making a face as if he had found a flaw on his own logic, "But then again, it wouldn't be a long battle if it's just one versus one, so the free for all feel to it would be lost.", he then turned around and looked at the swarm of youkai behind him, "I can't have you fight all of us all at the same time as there would be no one to enjoy the fight.", then turning back to Libbier and Lily, "Well, you look fairly strong so what about this. It will be a series of matches, where both of you will face a number of us. But we can't have you fight for too long as it would make things boring, so...", the large youkai brought his hand to his chin as he began to think, "Thirty percent. No, twenty-five percent. Yes, that's it.", he then lowered himself to the two girls while raising four fingers, "Four matches against four groups, for each of your wins we will let twenty-five percent of the humans here go. How about it?"

Libbier was flabbergasted. This was supposed to be negotiations with life on the line and yet it felt like some random contest were both sides were arguing the rewards, through a monologue. But then again, she barely negotiated anything and the result would end up the same anyway. She and Lily either fought for the youkai's amusement or forced their way by facing all of them at the same time. Unless Lily had something against it, Libbier didn't really know any better alternatives. Either way was fine with her if she was alone that is. With Lily around, Libbier couldn't be careless about the way she did things.

"Lily.", Libbier said facing Lily, not forgetting to keep her shield and attention facing the large youkai, "I don't really mind accepting his conditions, but what do you think? You are the one that decided to start this investigation so whatever you decide I will support you."

Libbier felt bad that in the end, she was pushing all the decisions to Lily, but she also would not go back on her words, and regardless of Lily's decided Libbier would back her up.

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Lily could tell that Libbier was tense and wanted to start taking action. However the dryad still wanted to try and resort this with minimal violence if possible. Leaving aside the fact that she wasn't that fond of fighting there was the fact that they didn't have their companions with them, and there were a lot of youkai here. If a fight broke out and all the youkai banded together against the outsiders the two of them would be vastly outnumbered... and many of the creatures here didn't look like they'd be easy prey. Especially this big bear in front of them, who could put up a fight all by himself against the two of them.

Even if Lily wasn't pacifistic she'd still have wanted to try and resolve this peacefully. Self-preservation was important.

Unfortunately it looked like this bear wasn't the type to easily be dissuaded. His personality was as strong as he himself was, and even if she tried to reason with him he'd most likely shrug it off and keep pushing his own ideas. The fact that they were motivated by boredom was both fortunate and unfortunate: they could offer the youkai anything substantial, but maybe if they could provide some form of entertainment...

Perhaps also fortunately the bear appeared to think that the two of them were in fact capable of providing entertainment. Although given that the suggestion came from the big youkai who thought that kidnapping was fun the dryad wasn't sure if she liked the implications. She was glad that she had Libbier here, because if she was on her own she'd be unnerved to the point that she'd be unable to hide it.

"What would you want us to do then?" The leafclad girl asked before the bear continued to explain that he and his companions had hoped to have the humans fight each other for their freedom. It sounded barbaric, although then again the dryad hadn't ever really been part of civilization so she was in no position to make such observations. The best she could say was that she found it unnecessarily cruel... and she despised unnecessary cruelty. In the wilds animals hunted and ate each other without remorse, but cruelty was another matter. It always had a person, only intelligent creatures found entertainment enough of a motivation in itself to hurt others relentlessly.

The idea to fight Libbier was also shocking to Lily, her green eyes widening as she first stared at the bear, then at her friend. She didn't want to fight and possibly Libbier, and even if she was willing to do that the truth was that she didn't think she would be a match in a fair fight. They both manipulated three elements freely, true, but Libbier's elements were a very bad matchup for Lily. Her water would get frozen, her plants would be burned, and her earth would be cancelled out by the slayer's. And her friend also was simply the better fighter of the two of them.

Fortunately the big bear realized that there was a flaw in his plan, Lily sighing with relief as they quickly moved on from the suggestion to have her fight Libbier. The next suggestion wasn't exactly more reassuring... but still preferable. Fighting the youkai that Lily was willing to do even if she'd hoped to avoid it, but it was a lot better than getting knocked around by the slayer girl with the highlighted hair. "If doing so will free the humans..." She said slowly as she considered the bear youkai's suggestion. They'd have to win four fights and then all the humans would be sent back home. She didn't know whether the two of them could manage that, but it was the best shot they had.

Although there's one condition she still had to add to this agreement.

"If we manage to win all four fights we get sent back home as well." It would be rather ironic if the two of them ended up stuck in this realm of spirits because they secured a way out for the humans they tried to rescue but forgot about themselves.

The bear laughed at that. "The agreement is that for each fight twenty-five per cent of the humans goes free. If you want to get out yourself you'll have to win a fifth match." His rumbling laughter filled the air, and was joined by the laughter of other youkai in the distance.

The dryad frowned and bit her lower lip. She'd been afraid of that... She looked at Libbier. "I don't think we have much of a choice Libbier. There's too many of them for us to deal with, and they're willing to resort to violence if it gets them what they want. At least they're willing to give us a fair fight so it's more entertaining for them." She gave her friend a small smile. "And I believe that you'll be able to carry us through this. You're a better fighter than I am."

With it being clear that the two mages would accept the challenge the bear turned around and walked back towards the centre of the clearing, scraping his throat and roaring to get everyone's attention. "All right you dunderheads! These two ladies will be our entertainment! Form up into four groups everyone who wants to fight them! First group get in here and get cracking, and everyone else get out of the way!" With that he moved to the back of the clearing, the youkai entering a flurry of activity as those who were willing to rumble began to form groups for the two adventurous spirits to fight.

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The situation as not getting any better than what it already was, as the bear began to make the final deliberations when he heard Lily mentioning their own return. So with that, it became a five-match battle that would be amazingly hard to deal with or stupidly easy depending on the foes they got to fight. Lily was clearly not happy with the result, nor was Libbier, but she was clearly aware of the consequences of not going along with the bear's plan, so both of them simply had to brace themselves for what was to come.

Having given Lily her full support on whatever Lily decided, Libbier was already pretty sure that regardless of how things would end up, considering everything that could tell about the giant demon bear by the way it talked and carried himself, she would not change her decision. He was by far stronger than anything around what Libbier could see and seemed fixed on watching something fun. Was entertainment really that lacking on these parts? Regardless, Lily was similarly fixed in saving everyone, so of course that only meant that for now, they would have to go along with the bear's whims, which also mean a tournament like the battle of humans versus this youkai. One that left the human side in a clear disadvantage since they would have to fight five teams with a single one if they were to save everyone and themselves.

In a way, Libbier was somewhat happy to actually be actively doing the right thing, but part of her was also seriously pissed off that Lily was going to be endangered by this bear's decisions. As such, there was only one real choice in what to do. Libbier would have to go all out to cover her friend. Especially since as far as Libbier could remember, Lily, depended on a fair bit on her rocky friend to deal with the frontlines. But it was not here, so Libbier would have to take its place herself. It's not that she wasn't used to dealing with enemies in close combat, in fact, her magic was highly effective in close-quarter combat far more than ranged, but the reason the preferred to deal with enemies at the range was to reduce the chances of losing to her other-self in their constant fight over who controls her own body.

Seeing Lily make the decision to fight, Libbier moved closer and placed her hand on Lily's shoulder and silently nodded as to show full support for the decision. Then Libbier moved in front of Lily, shield still in hand.

"So since it has been decided.", Libbier spoke while eyeing the huge bear, "Who shall be our first opponent? I get that you like to do this stuff for fun, but we are pretty much in a hurry and would prefer to finish this as soon as possible."

The bear was momentarily silent but soon burst into laughter.

"Hahaha. Aren't you too eager to die?", the bear asked in between his roaring laughs, "No. I guess you wouldn't be standing here talking if you were. Is this the so-called human ingenuity? Or was it called something else? It doesn't matter anyway. What matters is that we will be having our fun regardless of the final result, so I guess we should be thankful."

The bear's tone did not appear to be a mocking one, still, Libbier couldn't but be somewhat annoyed to the way he said it.

"Nevertheless, you do make a fine point.", the bear continued, "The faster we begin the faster we get to have our fun. HEY YOU LOT! MAKE TEAMS AND COME HERE! EVERYONE ELSE GET BACK AND START YOUR BETS! AHAHAHAH."

The youkai immediately began to stir, the massive crowd moving to and surrounding the two girls while leaving a comfortable distance away, creating a somewhat round area where the only ones standing were the two girls and the giant bear. Some cheered others sent insults, but the majority was just shouting in excitement as the first team quickly stepped forward.

They were a team of three youkai that pretty much looked like dogs standing up in two feet. It was somewhat awkward but they seemed to be decently organized between themselves. Clearly they hadn't teamed up in a hurry and were familiar with one another from the looks of it. Libbier could tell that their smell was far too similar to just be due to being the same race.

"Oh! And the first challengers arrive.", the bear cheered, "A trio of inugami, now that's something. Clearly they have the quantity, but do they have the quality to face off the two girls?", even talking normally, the bear's voice was easily able to be understood amidst the background noise coming from the 'public', "It's time to place your bets, the fight shall begin soon."

Libbier was getting less and less into it, as being made a spectacle of was not something that she looked forward to. Even so, this was what had been decided and she was not going to step back.

"Lily.", Libbier said while standing between her friend and their three opponents, "Leave the front to me, take them from afar."

As if taking Libbier's position as its queue, the bear shouted.

"BEGIN!"

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Lily looked around as she watched the other youkai burst into activity, forming a ring with their bodies which would determine the size and shape of the arena. At least the arena was big enough that they wouldn't necessarily have to engage in melee combat if they didn't want to: Lily wasn't much of a physical fighter, she usually relied on Basin to handle that task. She was only now realizing how much trouble she might be in without her rocky friend around to serve as her other half.

It was therefore even more fortunate that she had Libbier with her. The dryad felt immensely grateful that her friend had shown up to help her with this job, now more than ever. Were she here on her own she wouldn't have known how to deal with the current situation, but she trusted the slayer to be able to take care of these youkai as needed for them to win this impromptu tournament. It was enough to make her smile, and for her tail to sway back and forth behind her.

"I don't think that the onlookers will interfere: some of them might want to, but they clearly listen to what the big bear wants." Lily told Libbier in a low voice. The fact that the edge of the arena was decided by the throng of onlookers meant they'd have to be careful, but she sincerely doubted that said onlookers would actively try to interfere with the fight if not provoked first. She didn't know much about the culture of these strange creatures, but the bear youkai certainly sounded like he'd be willing to knock some heads if they ruined his fun, even if they were his own subordinates and friends.

"...Thank you for being here with me Libbier. I don't know what I'd do without you." Lily gave Libbier a grateful smile before their first opponents showed themselves. Three doglike people. Wolves were good at cooperating and hunting in packs, so it wasn't a surprise that these youkai would take a similar approach. Other than that she had no idea what to expect from their first enemies. Were they strong? Were they weak? Did they focus on strategy or raw strength? Would they use physical attacks or magical attacks? From what she could sense of them they had some kind of power in them, but when it came to the supernatural her sensory abilities weren't as sharp as they could be. What was certain was that they had a lot of life force in them: they wouldn't go down easily or get winded.

"Do you happen to know anything about inugami?" Lily asked before quickly nodding as her friend told her to keep her distance. The slayer was more suited for melee, so the leafclad girl didn't have any objections to sticking to a ranged position. "Be careful Libbier." With that she closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath as she focused. The skin on her feet became bark-like as her toes dug into the ground, turning into roots that helped entrench her in her position and allowed her to directly draw her power from the land itself. Raising her hands she began to gather energy, roots bursting from the ground around her and forming an impromptu barrier so she wouldn't immediately get knocked aside as she tried to cast spells.

With the bear having announced the beginning of the fight the three dogs all sprinted towards Libbier and Lily, tongues hanging out of their muzzles as they moved in unison. One of them placed his hands together and then spread them forward, a dark fog erupting from his palms and quickly enveloping the arena. The fog was... unnatural in a way: it was too dark, with a purple-blue tint to it, and it was heavy despite filling the air rather than falling to the ground. While it wouldn't hinder the movements of either the slayer or the dryad it made seeing anything impossible, and the scent of the inugami was also masked by a rich smell of burned wood and coal.

Closing her eyes again Lily focused on the tremors through the earth. The dog youkai might have blocked sight and smell, but she could feel their footsteps nonetheless... "From the left!" She shouted as she lashed out with one of her roots. As one of the inugami charged straight at Libbier from amidst the fog another tried to flank the multi-haired slayer. Lily's root strike forced that one to step back and block the vine-like appendage, eyes narrow as he focused on Lily instead.

While the other dog continued his frontal assault on Libbier Lily tried to figure out where the third one was. He wasn't moving which made sensing him harder... But she could feel a spike of mana in the middle of the arena. It was the same one who'd created the smoke screen, and clearly he had some other spells up his sleeve as well.

WC: 832
PWC: 2,593/5,000
TWC: 4,474/10,000