Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

'What the fuck?!' Staring at her veins now devoid of mana, Linkle's eyes quivered, for there was little she could do without her magic. And by the time she hesitantly lifted her head, Tris, June, Hannah, and Aradin fell unconscious to the floor with the sound of something blunt hitting them in the back of their heads.

Panting with angst, she quickly glanced over to Shamisha. The socceress was still standing, but her scaredy nature as a bunny had frozen her solid. Slowly, as her hand reached for her shoulders, however, the sorceress's eyes blinked and her body nearly jumped in horror. Upon realizing that it was Linkle, she calmed a little, but that didn't quench her fear all that much.

"We need to fight," Linkle said, and although the words hadn't even set in Shamisha's head, the witch quickly grabbed a potion of visibility and sprayed it in an arc that splashed onto the bodies of the invisible intruders. The liquid turned everything that it touched visible again, but that's all it turned visible.

A hand, a small portion of a chest, an eye and nose, and lastly another hand, not inches from Linkle's face. Two of them were trying to get close to the remaining two while the others were possibly kneeling by June, at least that's what it seemed to be from their limited visible frames.

"As if I'll let you touch me!" Grabbing another potion, Linkle sprayed acid on the hand, and it quickly retreated with a squeal. But in the moment that Linkle turned to Shamisha to see if she was out of her head yet, the other person hit her head with a blunt weapon.

Watching Linkle's body hitting the floor, Shamisha squealed in fear and yet her mechanical arm stretched forward. She tried to touch the man charging at her next, but evading her easily, he placed a hand on her shoulder instead. The next thing she knew, a bright light consumed her, and what remained of her consciousness ceased, and her body was turned into a pearl that sat pinched between golden wires of a bracelet.

She could feel herself rolling back and forth between the parallel golden wires that made up the jewellery, and before long, someone else was added to the bracelet, but instead of a pearly white, their glow was pale, almost greyish.

"Do we need that sorceress? We have our target already," said one of the men as they began walking away from the unconscious pile of bodies.

"She can do good for our kingdom. But more importantly, we don't want her making anything to advance civilization anywhere near this place."

In silent recognition of their leader, the group disappeared into nothing. Making their way home would be a long journey, but they had to make it in just a few months, or everything that they've done would've been for nothing.

"Be on guard, the Valkyrie is supposed to be in this city, and her daughters should be by the port." Knowing absolutely everything there was to know about this land, even the otherworlder taking Mono's place, the king's guard didn't wanna stick around for when this kingdom eventually goes to shit.

Thus, sneaking out of the city walls in a matter of minutes, they decided to camp in a secluded place in the forest to tend to the acid-born injuries and recover some of their strength before sailing into the hell's ocean.

An hour past their visit atop the spire, Linkle and the others were finally coming back to their senses. Shamisha and June were gone, but with none of them having seen what happened and where they were taken, they had no clue what to do or what the hell these strangers even wanted from them.

"WHERE'S JUNE?!" His heart pounding with adrenaline, the leader of the group frantically looked around, trying to find some clue as to where she could've been taken. Hannah, although just as worried, took a moment to calm down by hugging Tris's shoulder for a moment.

As for Linkle, her eyes wandered as she tried to find out what must've happened through her magic. But even now, her mana was only slowly recovering, making it so that she couldn't do anything until at least a few hours had passed. And by that time, any string of magic that could lead the group to the kidnappers would've disappeared already.

"I'm going to look for her!" Declaring that with a visibly shaken demeanour, Aradin tried to quickly leave through the elevator, but Linkle yelled at him in response.

"STOP! WE NEED HELP!" Still frustrated about the baby thing, she marched forward and glared into the man's eyes. He glared right back, his nose flaring in anger and frustration. He'd lost his lover to some intruders, of course, he was made, but the witch couldn't let him be an idiot.

"WHAT IF THEY RUN AWAY BY THEN?!" He screamed right in her face.

"Aradin!" Tris exclaimed, trying to make him see sense.

"OH SHUT THE FUCK UP! WE ALL GOT OUR ASSESS BEAT IN A MATTER OF SECONDS AND YOU WANNA GO AND GET YOURSELF KILLED NOW?! HUH?!" Pushing Aradin back, Linkle clenched her fists and added. "YOU WANNA DIE WHEN YOU HAVE A BABY ON THE WAY? WANNA LEAVE JUNE TO HERSELF EVEN IF WE DO END UP SAVING HER?!"

Taking another step forward, she pushed him again, but this time, instead of just taking it, Aradin pushed Linkle right back. Being physically inferior to the man, she landed on her ass, but given her size down there, her body was cushioned well. Even so, glaring up at him while the other two rushed closer to the man, she cursed.

"You wanna show off that you're a real man, right? Then accept that you need a plan and come with me and talk to Raven first!" Noticing Hannah's hand outstretched to her, Linkle took her help to herself back up. Even so, staring back into the raging look of the soon-to-be father, she yelled. "Stop thinking like a man and start thinking like a father if you're gonna knock someone up! We need to get her back, but also make sure that kid has a father later on!"

Aradin tried to step closer to Linkle again, but with Tris's hand on his chest, he was quickly contained where he stood. Glancing at the demi-bull, he huffed and puffed, his head red with rage; however, containing himself, he turned back to the witch.

"I'll just turn back to that corrupted monster and get them back now."

"And what if you can't turn back into yourself? Who knows what kind of price that power exacts every time you turn?" Silence took over the roof for a moment, only the whistle of the wind could be heard until it was broken again.

"She's right, Aradin, we need help," Hannah said.

And for once, their leader seemed to truly listen. Shaking off Tris violently, he gritted his teeth shut while his head twisted and turned, trying to contain the helplessness that was eating him.

"FINE…" Looking up at Linkle, he added. "Let's not waste any more time and get back to the general now!"

Nodding back to the man, Linkle grabbed her teleportation necklace and brought everyone to Athenia, right in front of the general who'd only just teleported back home as well. Her eyes met with Raven's in an instant, and without saying a word, the hero already knew that something was wrong.

"Tsk, to the meeting hall. Tell me what went wrong." He ordered, and the others followed his command.

Soon he would learn of the king's guard–a group only a handful on Atlaris have ever heard of. And to go after them, chasing after the kidnapped girl…needless to say, was going to be a foul mission for sure.