Dodge!

Your body moves nearly on its own as you thrust yourself backwards a moment before something cuts through the air with the sound of a snapping whip. However, you may not have been its target regardless. You turn your eyes over to the side as you tumble away to see the purple band holding Serafina captive now sliced in half. As soon as this happens, the magic dissipates, leaving her free once again. Not only that, but this newcomer isn't alone. Your ears perk up to the sound of somebody else coming down the hillside, though with far less stealth and tact than their initial ally.

The green blur stops to reveal itself as Ariusia, the mantidae insectrin from the Sports Festival! She grins at you with vampire-like fangs. Her skin is pale green, while her hair is a much darker shade, and her antennae twitch while her sharp gaze darts about at the myriad of enemies she's just engaged with. Behind her arms is a second set of sword-like appendages that bend around ready to strike. Just like last time you saw her, she's dressed in an outfit that resembles black one piece swimsuit but with fishnet stockings into sharp heels. She still has her silver chain wrapped down her left arm as well. It's impressive how swiftly she can move with such footwear. If it wasn't for your Kitty Sense and experience in combat, she could have easily come for you and sliced you right open.

To follow up her ****, a red and silver blur tumbles down past Ariusia and right into the angel. The two of them tumble away, only stopping when they collide with a boulder. Dizzy, the second newcomer stands up to reveal herself to be Anastasia Phairgem, the human you met back when you popped back up into Dragonhide Manor--the cleric who nearly exorcized Mela. Her hair is a brighter shade of red than you've seen from anybody around--a beautiful young woman, though quite unlike many of the others you've met, as she's from the Kingdom of Varat. She's garbed in a more realistic and modest suit of light metal armour, and arms herself with a shield and mace. Hooked to her belt by a chain is a golden censer.

"Woah... The world is upside down," Serafina mumbles.

Anastasia turns her gaze back to her angelic companion, though her focus is mostly on you. "Get up quickly! We received your distress call, and we're here to help."

A bit in front of her, Ariusia stomps her feet into the grassy soil as the blades from her back move in front of her midsection to grind against each other like sharpened metal. "You think you can just raid one of our bases, huh? Big mistake."

"We're not here to fight, Ariusia," says the cleric. "We have to leave. We're outnumbered here."

Finally, Serafina begins to float up from the ground. "And they have flying allies too. Let's go!" With ease, she soars upwards and attempts her escape. She doesn't even need wings to fly, yet she moves through the air like a dolphin through water.

"I don't think so!" Niki calls out. Quickly, she points her shield straight upwards and shines the a beacon of glowing magic straight up at the angel like a spotlight.

The angel gasps in shock. While she doesn't tumble down, perhaps due to the nature of how her kind flies to begin with, she shudders aggressively with hands immediately between her legs as she hovers firmly in place. "Ahhnn~!" She purses her lips and trembles as she continues to be bathed in Niki's special magic. Realizing it must be from the shield's red light, she attempts to float awkwardly away from it, though Niki simply turns her shield to follow. Now she gasps. She pants heavily, and silently pleads for escape. "Ah... Oh, oohh! Aaahhh, y-yes... Ahnn~! Wh-What's happening?!"

Anastasia turns red. "That's what they did to me last time! This is incredibly uncouth!"

"Relax," whispers the mantis. "Reinforcements are about to arrive."

The angel squirms. "H-Help me up h-here, guys! I'm about to c--"

Amara perks up first with her sensitive ears easily detecting the insectrin's words. "Watch out! We are still in a dangerous area for ambushes."

"I'll scout upwards," Taiga says with a salute. She leaps, and with her wings buzzing, she continues upward.

"That magic item of yours is really annoying!" shouts Ariusia before lunging forwards with two bladed strikes.

Niki swings her shield back down. First, it hits Taiga above, however.

If the bumblebee wasn't buzzing before, she certainly is now. Even if it only hovers on her for a couple moments, she lets out an incredibly embarrassing noise. It caught her completely by surprise. Wobbling, she nearly plumets back down, though she manages to stay afloat. "Ah... N-Nobody saw that," she mumbles.

However, it then points right at the mantis at the same moment it blocks the ****.

Ariusia's bladed limbs clash off the shield, and she stumbles back with a face flooded with colour. Her antennae twitch rapidly as the pleasure is **** by magic into her body. "S-Stop, I--Nngg..." She falls to a knee with clenched teeth, trying as best she can not to moan. But as she struggles for a moment, she peers her eyes to the side with a grin.

Coming down the hillside next is a series of copper spheres. You recognize them immediately. Suddenly, you're taken back to that horrible moment when you first hit 10th level. You were slashing apart constructs just like these when you nearly lost yourself. After that, King Thadius could more easily put a bounty on your head, and the rest was history. These automatons each have a small glowing cyan eye, and all you remember is that while they do go down easily, they come in big numbers and explode on ****. Dozens of them pour down into the small valley your party is in, followed by a few centipedes--some of the spherical robots linked together to form long, bug-like fusions.

Niki is **** to turn her attention, and the rest of the party joins her.

"We don't need Serafina!" you call out. "That's not why we came here. We've already got all we need. Quick, fight off these robots, and then we'll get outta here!"

Anastasia, Ariusia, and Serafina slowly maneuver away, the latter of which does so through the air. While you may be able to catch them, there's no reason to do so. Just as you said, you took everything important, and you know the location of LAB #4. The mission is now to survive in order to escape.

The first to attack is Niki, of course, and she crushes two of the spheres at once beneath her boots. They detonate, though the shock does nothing to her abnormal body. "These things are weak. Damn it. They're just here to keep us busy. This isn't even going to be fun."

"And off they go," Eva comments as her eyes follow the trio disappearing into the distance.

"It is fine," Amara reiterates. "Our quest was successful."

Luna lifts up from the ground to distance herself from the oncoming combat. "Indeed. It seems that Elok Daven is now the one on the defensive."