Chapter 51 - A Friendly Exhibition

Narhas smiled as she approached the front of Wailing Manor. Even though she had to lower herself to the same level as the lowly adventurers to get here, it was worth it to see her baby sister again. Embarrassing her during a broadcast, even better.

“Are you sure about this?” Seraphine asked her nervously. “The Manor has a certain reputation for chewing up teams that come unprepared, and I’m not sure I can keep the abyss strider under control for long.”

“You just need to get me to my sister, and send your pet to crush that annoying pest following her around. Remember, you’re all expendable as long as I get to my goal,” Narhas snarled.

The two mercenaries just nodded, they hadn’t been paid to ask questions after all, but Maria and Serephine exchanged a quick glance behind Narhas’s back. They’d learned long ago not to question Narhas’, or any of her sisters’, orders, it didn’t mean they had to like it.

Ever since they’d been told about this assignment, something felt off. Narhas had received permission directly from the mistress, but no support. Instead of pulling one of the other sub bosses from the dungeon, Narhas had to spend her personal funds to hire some professional-level adventurers to escort them, and that wasn’t cheap. It was almost like the mistress didn’t care whether they won or lost.

None of this mattered to Narhas. Ever since she’d found out Talia was at the rival dungeon the arachne princess had been obsessed with confronting her sister.

“We have a match to win, don’t keep me waiting,” Narhas snapped as she stepped into one of the nearby projection stalls and began the transfer process. The two sub bosses rushed to follow.

—

I watched as my sister rushed head first into the forest, her ogre mage one step behind her throwing fireballs indiscriminately.

“Didn’t your sister do any research before coming here?” Bella asked, disappointed with the display.

“She’s overconfident, and thinks she can heal through whatever the dungeon throws at her,” I replied without taking my eyes off the screen. “The aerosolized toxins will probably drop one of them before they even get to Voss.” I switched cameras and focused on Seraphine, and the monster next to her. It was an abyss strider, the evolved version of the abyss stalker and a nearly uncontrollable killing machine. Most people weren’t crazy enough to try and tame one, and the fact that Seraphine had it even a tiny bit under control was impressive.

“That’s going to be a problem,” I muttered. George growled, at the back of my tablet. He couldn’t even see the image, but somehow knew it was bad. As I watched, the spider disappeared, teleporting a short distance away and impaling a dryad that had attempted to ambush the party. “A big problem.”

—

“I expected more from you two,” Narhas sneered at Illis, the Kobold stalker, as soon as they stepped into the first safe room. The poor mercenary was struggling to breathe, but that didn’t stop the arachne from berating him. “Your partner didn’t even get through the first floor.”

“Against the Manor? We’re lucky that we only took a single casualty in the forest, Voss has WIPED teams before,” Illis managed to wheeze out. “He probably would have crushed someone if that beast of yours hadn’t ambushed him.” He sucked in a deep breath before continuing. “Besides, he wouldn’t have died if you hadn’t insisted on him burning the fucking forest. Everyone knows the toxins in there are lethal.”

Narhas narrowed her eyes, “Don’t you DARE try to blame this on me,” she spat.

“Lady, I think we should focus on preparing for the next floor, instead of concentrating on what went wrong on the previous floor. Who cares if the mercenary died? You’re the one that’s important, right?” Maria said, trying to sooth her mistress’s temper.

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“True… and it’s not like I was really in any danger,” Narhas said, before standing tall. “You tried your best, I will be merciful,” she said to Illis, waving her hand and purging the toxins from his system.

“Thank you, great benefactor!” he cried. Narhas didn’t seem to notice the dripping sarcasm, and just turned towards the exit, pleased by his praise.

“Your boss is a bitch,” the kobold hissed quietly to Maria as she stepped past him, following the arachne. Despite hearing his complaints, she decided not to berate him.

—

“I feel bad for the kobold,” Bella said, as we watched the team cross the Parlor. “He’s certainly skilled, too bad that your sister of yours is too impatient to let him work.”

“I told you… none of my sisters like being told what to do. Their egos are enormous, and they’re impatient. Once we get to the actual match they’re going to try and one up each other constantly, and we’re going to take advantage of that,” I explained.

On the screen I could see Narhas berating the kobold, and distracting him at a crucial moment, which allowed a nearby mimic to strike. The fake wardrobe swallowed him whole, then ran back towards the start of the floor. Even though the man was alive, and would be for a few minutes, my sister didn’t bother trying to get him back.

“They’ll be here soon,” Bella said, slowly looking away from her tablet. “Are you nervous?”

I gripped my tablet a little tighter. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t,” I admitted, “but I can do it.I know everyone here has my back, and that gives me the strength to confront her.”

“Do you think you can beat her?” she asked, with a slight smile.

“I KNOW I can beat her,” I said confidently. “As long as you can deal with that sword master,” I added quickly.

“Atta girl,” Bella said, patting me on the back. “I’ll give you all the time you need.”

George growled, a low rumbling sound that shook the stage Bella and I were sitting on. “I know you’ll try your best too… but don’t go overboard. Slow and steady is best, right?” I said as I ruffled the hair on his head. He huffed in response. “Seriously, you know how dangerous an abyss strider is, right? Don’t push it!” He harrumphed in response. “Up to you,” I conceded.

I glanced down at my screen, only to find Narhas and her team already entering Luther’s room. Maria, the sword master, rushed directly for one of the dummies around the room, while the spider immediately jumped on another. Although I’d given Luther plenty of tips to deal with my sister and her goons, I’d only planned to take out the mercs before they got to the Ballroom. If Narhas wanted a fight, I was going to give it to her.

Luther’s dummies put up a decent fight, one managed to cut deeply into Seraphine’s side. Unfortunately that was nothing but a minor inconvenience for my sister, so the drow was back on her feet even before a wave of magical force blew the duplicate apart.

The three women, and one spider, worked in perfect unison. Unlike the mercenaries, these three had worked together for years, and constantly stepped in to intercept and counter Luther’s attacks. It didn’t help that my sister was probably Luther’s equal. With the two sub-bosses assisting her he didn’t stand a chance. They slowly ground down the various duplicates until Luther had no place left to hide, then smote his real body upon the floor.

Narthas swaggered into the break room, not even giving Luther a second look, her two lieutenants behind her. I did my best to suppress my nervousness as I threw my tablet to the side of the orchestral stage, it was time. “Places, everyone!” I yelled.

—

Narhas paced excitedly. Talia was just a few feet away, just beyond the next door. “Neither of you are to interfere with my battle with my sister,” she announced, not bothering to look at her underlings. “I have to defeat her myself.”

“We’re aware, Mistress,” Seraphine said quietly. “I will direct the abyss strider directly at that abominable crusher, and back up Maria once it’s been destroyed.”

“And I will deal with the Banshee,” the lizard-woman added, “she’ll be no match against my magical blade.”

“Excellent. Once I prove my superiority over Talia, we’ll finish this run, and return home,” Narhas declared. “Then I won’t be a laughing stock, and I’ll prove my superiority to those bitches back home,” she muttered.

Her two underlings briefly exchanged another glance with each other before a chime went off, announcing the end of the rest period.

Narhas immediately lifted her mace, and shield, and turned to her followers. “It’s time,” she said with glee.