"Where's 'Galia?" After checking the camp outside the church three times over, Raven finally began questioning everyone about the missing wolf-girl. Moxy and Linkle instantly informed him about her departure for the ship, but none had seen her come back which worried him to no end.
'We really should have a way to communicate over long distances for situations .'
Running into the church to ask Erika about Regalia, he stormed through a crowd of people who'd gathered to hear the priestess read out Athenia's gospel.
Although surprised by the sense of urgency in his stride, Erika kept her emotions from showing for the sake of the people looking up to her already. To them, she was the only person who could connect them to this radiant god full of blessing, and with their fields bearing harvest in just a day's time, they wanted to grow closer to Athenia themselves.
"Is everything okay?" Erika asked in a whisper, her hands grabbing Raven by his arms.
Staring into his eyes as he panted for a second or two, she knew that whatever he had to say couldn't have been good.
"Regalia, she didn't return from the ship last night," slowly moving Erika's hands off his side, Raven peered back at her face with a stern expression. "Have you seen her?"
Shaking her head in denial, Erika turned Raven's doubt into reality. Something was wrong, Regalia wasn't one to wander off without telling the rest of the group. Being a war general and a royal guard, she had more sense than to head off somewhere without informing others of her whereabouts.
"You want me to come with you and look for her?" Closing the gospel's copy, Erika set it aside on the podium. "She has a ring, right? We can just teleport to her, no?"
"Yeahhh, but…" Reaching for the necklace, Raven took it out from under his shirt. "If she's in trouble we should take the rest of the party with us, just the chosen though. I don't want the others to teleport into a trap or something."
Raising an eyebrow at his presumption, Erika moved her hands closer to her chest and asked.
"You think someone trapped her? Who?"
Looking up at her, the mage took a deep breath and sighed.
"I'm not sure, but my gut feeling says she wouldn't wander off so, maybe that witch hunter got her?" Reminded of a real rifle being in her possession, Raven conjured his own and handed it to Erika. "We're gonna need a bunch of these, just concentrate enough of your magic in that barrel and it should kick a hole through a wall."
"Wa-wait what?! Why do we need these?!" Having heard what the hunter's rifle was capable of; just holding the replica in her hand was enough to make Erika character in front of the congregants.
Lifting a finger to her nose, Raven explained to her as he'd read in the blueprints Darius had shown him.
"Conjure a solid mass with your magic and then shoot it out with a simple fire spell, it will shoot out much faster than our bodies can naturally send a projectile hurling towards someone." Grabbing her hand with the quick explanation, Raven didn't wait for her to finish the sermon before taking her outside where everyone was already worried sick about Regalia's whereabouts.
Handing everyone a rifle, Raven readied everyone who he intended to take with him. Putting on their lamia scale earrings as well as their weapons, Aria, Mel, Amedith and Liliyana quickly got ready to teleport to Regalia. And though Moxy, Maria and even Reina whispered to tag along, for once Raven didn't waste time arguing or even trying to convince them. Simply activating the necklace and teleported away.
Coming out on the other end, however, Raven found himself drowning in the middle of the hell's sea. Water rushed into his lungs as a surprised gasp escaped him, the others felt the same pressure on their bodies and their limbs began to cramp from the sudden coal surrounding them. However, the very next instant the rune sewn fabric fabric of the clothes by the Red Madam pushed the water out of their lungs and filled them with breathable air. Their bodies began to lift to the surface as well, but as they came the shock from the experience had yet to subside.
Thrashing around for a while trying to gather their breaths, the party rushed towards the shore with little to no cohesion to their hand strokes. But as their bodies hit the mud, they instantly noticed Regalia's fur coat just lying on the bay.
"Wh-what the fuck happened?!" Mel stammered, still panting to catch her breath.
Thinking in the same vein, the others turned their heads at Raven expecting him to answer her question. His hand planted on the mud and his mind racing with potential reasons, Raven figured that Regalia had either dropped her ring in the ocean or she was sleeping a deep sleep on the ocean bed.
Glancing over to the coat again, however, its wetness inclined him to believe his first assumption more than the next. She had swam to the shore just like them, but where was she now? He had no idea. Picking himself off the ground while the others continued to stare at him, he looked around for more footprints and that's when he noticed not just Regalia's boots but a pair of sandal prints just beside them. Trailing them with his eyes he noticed them heading to the plank that led into their ship, and once his eyes were on the ship itself, the massive hole in its side became apparent.
"She was probably knocked out and taken back in…" As precise as his assumptions were, the mere possibility of it being untrue kept him on edge.
Looking back at his party members with that explanation, he urged them to get up and follow him to the ship. Spanning wings of darkness, he suggested Amedith and Liliyana do the same and carry the others directly onto the ship. Once on board, he conjured more rifles since the ones they'd brought had sank into the ocean. While handing them off, he could hear the sound of someone walking around downstairs.
Trying to avoid making the sound of their footsteps, Mel led the group forward with invisible steps just above the ground. Following her tracks, the party managed to slip inside the hull undetected. But then came a grunt from Regalia that stopped them in their tracks.
"Let them come, I'm gonna make them suffer just as Amber and Gunther had!" Hearing Baylee's voice from the inside, everyone's eyes widened in shock.
'Fuck…so she was just waiting for an opportunity to take revenge, huh?'
Thought Raven, reminded of her indifference to her siblings' deaths before starting the repairs. Her emotionless tone and expression–they'd helped her keep the act authentic.
"What should we do?" Asked Erika in a whisper, her eyes darting back and forth between the door and Raven.
Deep in thought Raven ignored the priestess's worry, for deep in his mind he was already brewing the best possible strategy to get Regalia out of that death trap. The room was filled with black powder barrels and dare they attempt a fight inside, it could easily turn their bodies into scrap. So what exactly was the answer? How could they free her without a head-on fight?
'We're sneaking in and that too fast…'
Turning his head towards Aria, wore a devious smile while relaying his plan.
Note: Rest of chapters coming in a few hours(last minute edits and such remaining)