The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'-Chapter 309 - Handprints Seen And Unseen, Luck Be A Lady Tonight

Chapter 309: Chapter 309 - Handprints Seen And Unseen, Luck Be A Lady Tonight

Elua gripped tight to the obsidian mirror once again.

"The leader watching through these creatures... it might recalculate the threat. Right now, you’re just a particularly effective cultivator to it, and that’s manageable. If the Guilds start to suspect me too soon... I need to remain unnoticed."

Seeing the protest forming in the tall girl’s spirit, mint eyes narrowed with a teasing smile.

"Not going anywhere. I’ll be right there, just not... visible to others. I promise I won’t let you face the rest of tonight thinking you were alone again."

The Yecine wanted to argue - even knowing her insistence was childish. But she recognized the strategy in the girl’s words. Understood what sort of questions and accusations others might level once her loved one’s abilities became common knowledge.

Instead of begging her to reconsider, she leaned down and pressed a fierce kiss to her wife’s lips - one more moment between them... that she was now more sure she’d live to do again.

’Moments that I’ll make sure to live for.’

Drawing away and seeing the vantablack handprint on the cute face she’d just held close made her brain stop for a moment. The swordswoman was torn between guilt over leaving the filth there... and a small sense of intrigue at the unique sight.

"Stay close."

"Always. I’d be clinging to you right now, if I wouldn’t just be in your way. Speaking of clinging to each other, you might want to fix your hair. It has turned completely blonde at some point."

The faint shimmer produced around her presence showed the tall girl that Elua was fading from the senses of others. As she moved down the road to catch up with those ’others’, the Limited Reforge technique worked at speed to return the strands to their raven hue.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, her hand returned to her sheathed blade’s hilt. Kefa and Ryder emerged from the dark without their lanterns. Their weapons were also already drawn and expressions grim.

"There you are! Thought you might have gotten yourself killed with that stunt."

Relief flooded the older woman’s face when she spotted the heir... but the man scanned the area as if sensing something was not quite right.

"You managed to lose them?"

"For now. But they’ll regroup soon and attack. We need to rejoin the evacuation and provide cover."

The fragment in her chest pulsed with approval at her command tone. Deep down, Elua wished that sort of thing would be used much more on *herself* instead of these people... but she knew that desire was not the sort of ’shared responsibility’ that her husband-wife wanted to encourage in their relationship.

’Though maybe someday I can simply convince her to roleplay and spice certain things up...?’

Kefa sheathed one of her blades and gestured back the way they’d come.

"The Army’s established their defensive position about a mile from here in that section of tunneling caves. It’s not going to be a pretty night."

"The others were wondering why you haven’t returned yet. We should get moving."

Ryder’s tone held slightly less hostility than before. The Void Defense Society member had come back to search alongside the woman without complaint. Whatever his feelings about the Yecine, the shared concern of the Ironclad Order members had overcome his initial reluctance.

He’d worked with some before and didn’t think any of them would be so concerned with Anper... and not just because he was a Primalist. The progeny of that man held up a hand to stop them from turning around.

"Not yet. Listen."

The faint shrieks of disoriented Voidlings still filtered through the air, but they were growing more organized. Pulling together again before moving in force. But they knew where they would be going - and there was only so much space to fight in at the cave entrance.

So the swordswoman was busily trying to come up with an effective plan that used the two now with her. While also trying her hardest to not walk over and palm the forehead of her mint-drop... who was getting *extremely close* while looking over the twinned short blade wielder.

"The creatures pursue me more aggressively than any other target."

The Void Defense member scrunched his face up. That much had been obvious.

"I’ve read a single entry of a similar effect only once. Though that cultivator did not survive for us to find out what happened. I imagine it is your unclassified Physique?"

With a nod, Qat confirmed it. There was really no reason to hide how the ability worked to her knowledge... especially if she intended to make use of them to kill more Voidlings.

"You seem to have gotten extremely lucky after being dealt a very unlucky hand. By the looks of you, it was not easy to survive."

A sigh and a shake of her head came before she told the truth without actually explaining. Knowing that the words she spoke were for herself and for the hidden heiress.

"To be honest, I would not have made it without... luck. You’re right. There is certainly something ’auspicious’ on *my* side."

It took everything she had not to make the point by looking directly at her little wife - who was squatting and poking at the calves of the older woman. The ’annoyance’ for being teased and ’jealousy’ because it worked pulsed into the brunette’s heart.

She giggled, more than pleased that her own Old Tongue name meaning had been worked into the warning.

"Alright, alright. No touching. I was just thinking that her clothes are remarkably clean for the way she fights and wondering how this speck of human blood landed here. I’ll be good."

As the Goltbred bounced up and danced away, Ryder held his chin in his hand.

"I can guess why you aren’t in a hurry to return. If we use that effectively, we can potentially goad their forces to attack where we want."

The Yecine nodded again and started to walk slowly. It was hard to gauge how much time they had left, but she knew it would be unwise to push herself. Without all the enemies with their eyes on her, the Cynosure’s side effect had not worsened again... but it didn’t eliminate the fatigue.

"Instead of letting them split their focus, I can pull the bulk of them toward me. You two can then eliminate them more efficiently from the flanks."

"You admitted yourself you nearly died doing exactly that just minutes ago."

The woman’s skepticism was evident as she kept pace, but Qat knew that her statement - while true - was not the whole of it.

"That was because I was alone and could only kill a limited number before being surrounded again and again."

The cultivator hadn’t been sure the distraction would work *so well* before she left the group. At least, had not been perfectly sure that there was no chance the Voidlings would follow her the whole time... and not break off and go back to attacking the army.

"If I focus only on defense and moving, while the two of you *carefully* attack... we can manage to bring a lot of them down before they potentially change tactics. Especially with your speed."

Her attention shifted to Ryder next... which is when her explanation introduced a few small lies to prevent speaking about what her wife had told her in the past.

"As far as I could tell, these Voidlings specifically track me when we are aware of each other. How much do you know about their tactical adaptation?"

An inquiry about his knowledge base seemed to surprise the man, making him slow for a few steps before catching back up. The Yecine were not well known for seeking a lot of outside advice.

"They learn quickly. If we use the same approach repeatedly, they’ll develop countermeasures within this cycle."

"Yes, that is what I read, but experiencing it was strange. When I kept leaping too far away they began to throw each other at me across the rooftops."

His eyes widened and he fully stopped in place.

"They used their Catapulting tactics on a sole cultivator?"

A mischievous snicker that followed was for the ears of one swordswoman only. Elua had seen that moment... and despite the dire situation had a brief moment of amusement. That a technique for shooting troops atop the walls of a fortified structure had actually been used on her ’fortress’.

"A group of them tried, yes. Slowing me down at every avenue became their goal. After all... with the number of them out there they only needed to catch me once."

The man swallowed hard. He had seen the number of them that surged after the young man and into the town. Ryder could also clearly see the amount of unnatural substance staining their clothes.

’I would like to think I would do as well in their place. As much as I prefer to never be in that position.’

Bravery was an easy word to use to describe the heir, but considering the march forward and talk of more fighting... he felt ’insanity’ might be a better fit. Trying to add some more variables made it different from hacking the heavy blade against the same eldritch wall. But not by much!

"Alright, then that means we have to pay attention and vary our patterns. Kefa starts striking first and see what they do as a whole. Then I’ll draw them to me while you start to attack from behind."

Eyes gleamed with growing appreciation for the strategy. The twin-blade wielder definitely loved the idea of working with someone that allowed her the freedom to move as she pleased through a crowd of enemies.

Shield bearers functioned best by keeping an enemy in one place - and that was fine. Kefa could sneak around and slash after they were stopped in their tracks. But this would be a whole new tactic.

"Chasing down as they chase you down. The hunted becomes the pack of hunters. I like it, Yecine."

While she had already liked the young man well enough, her voice now held newfound respect that was tinged with amusement at the audacity of the plan. It was only a shame to her... that such a good choice of ’untainted’ fresh meat was wasted on the likes of an immature little girl.

Trailing the three, a certain brunette made an adjustment to the spiritual marker she had placed on this ’Kefa’ a bit ago. Her cloud of intent thickened but did not press around the woman. Not yet.

Her Qat needed her blades... for now.

’As I thought. Pushing her towards fame will attract things like this. Perhaps I should just fully embrace my mother’s duelist path in this life?’

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