The Nova Ranker - The Sword Almighty

Chapter 27. The Battle on Devil's Domain.

"So, are we all down with the plan?" I chimed in, moving to stand in front of the chain link fence, my sword rested on my shoulder.

Franny placed both her hands on the grass and closed her eyes. After a moment, she looked up. "This forest is dying." she announced, eyes still closed. "Aside from the literal mines buried all over the place, there's tripwire mechanisms that will cause hidden guns to shoot until the clips are empty. It'll also send an alert to the security of Black Reaper that there are intruders."

We all took a moment to look at Franny, unsure of how to respond to that much information. Avi raised their hand and pointed it into the forest. "... She's right. I feel metal everywhere. Dug inside the ground, carved into the trees. Even the tripwires I can feel."

"How'd you know?" Joey said, as he slung his bow over his shoulder and looked into the forest with mild worry. "How're we getting in?"

"To make a long explanation short, plantlife is all connected into one single network thingy." Franny pulled her hands away from the ground and opened her eyes, she was wobbling slightly and trying to catch her breath. "Through Spirit Magic and Wood Magic, I'm able to tap into the network, and learn about their physical status."

"But it drains you." Andy said helpfully, stepping forward to catch her before she fell.

"Doesn't answer the question of how we get in. Do we wanna... try to get in carefully? Stealth around the minefield? Maybe go around the forest?"

"That would take too long." Avi looked into the forest nervously. "Maybe I could spring all the traps at the same time, but it'd ruin our surprise attack."

"... What about we go above?" Andy suggested and turned to Joey. "I saw what you could do with those arrows. Couldn't you... make us a bridge?"

Joey looked at his bow and then at the forest. "Listen, I think I could do something like shoot us into the air but..."

"Franny." I interrupted their conversation and looked at the forest. "... You said the forest was dying right? What did you mean by that?"

"The forest has been rigged with too many traps. The trees have huge holes in them. The grass has been poisoned. Every nymph that lived in the plant life has been mortally wounded."

"So... it'd be more humane to just... let them die?" Avi looked back towards the forest. "Kill them?"

"Right. We're gonna do this the loud way." I announced, and everyone else fell silent. They all eyed Meteor Blade warily as I pointed it into the forest. "Once the front assault team gives us the signal, we will set off every trap in the forest at once. It's sure to start a forest fire big enough to distract anyone still inside the building."

"We all join the fray." Avi tapped their dagger against my sword. "We make sure they all see the sword. That they see you doing all the damage you possibly can with that piece of red silverware."

Another buzz of annoyance from the sword that I decided not to mention or even acknowledge.

"What'll we do once we're inside?" Andy piped in. "We're just gonna waltz up to the leader and politely ask him to surrender?"

"We kill him before he has a chance to escape." Avi said matter of factly. No anger in their voice, but that didn't fool me. I could feel seething rage ebbing from them. "Hopefully in front of his men to make sure they surrender."

"Grim." Joey said, turning towards the forest. "So... how do we do this? Spring every trap at once, I mean."

"I'll do it. We just wait for the signal." Avi said, stepping up to the car and looking down at it sadly. I could imagine this car meant a lot. From its age, it probably was as old as Avi, if not older. Avi had probably gotten into this car thousands of times. Spent so many hours there. I could imagine Avi sitting at the passenger seat, being nagged by Calev for getting into trouble at school. Or maybe I was projecting a little bit. Probably.