Aquatic Nightmare

The Imperial Tower is greatly displeased at the continued denials at this vital piece of information. The kingdom of Dalka is reported to be making great strides in interdimensional research. In dark times like these, do we not stand together as humans? All that stands between us and our many foes is no doubt the might of our combined magical accomplishments. Yet your continued refusal to even show us the failures says otherwise. As such, we have deemed it appropriate to inform the Empire as a whole of our findings. You will hear from us.

-A letter found in the chamber of the court mage of Dalka, after alarms indicated something teleporting in

POV His Majesty King Rufus of the Kingdom of Dalka

It was quite the surprise to receive a message from one of the otherworlders. But I suppose that expecting anything from the otherworlders is setting a bad precedent, considering they are quite literally from another world.

"Some of the nobles have already requested meeting and many requested seeing the otherworlders, but I don't believe they are ready yet".

"The nobles are far from important right now, I think that they are getting ready for the demon lord".

My wife and daughter are in a heated debate about how to handle this news, as the plan was actually to wait and let them get settled in while also distracting the nobles with empty promises about the exalted heroes.

"Your Majesty, the men of Rossya have arrived and request an audience". The captain of the guard says it in a calm tone, but his hand being close to his weapon while he looks around betrays his nervousness, something about these men have the entirety of the guard on edge.

"Well, let's go see what the fuss is all about".

As the men enter the throne room it becomes obvious what has the guards so on edge, the confidence in their stride while not having a lick of magic about them, they look more like hardened raiders than military men. They also seem to carry around odd metal clubs with curved protrusions and... are those small shovels by their side? It feels more like I am entertaining a group of orcs in my court today rather than human soldiers, let alone the people of prophecy. Looking closer, the men even carry a symbol of a human skull with small shovels behind it. Were it not for my wife's spying I would think them to be grave robbers or necromancers, but luckily she found out they didn't even know anything about necromancy, so that's one diplomatic incident nipped in the bud.

"Your Majesty, we have come to negotiate the nature of the job and its payment".

That fast? These men either didn't understand their situation or had more of a grasp than would be usual, well that makes things easier I hope.

"Is there a reason why you all seem to be in such a hurry? This situation is a bit odd way to go about it". Marie, the love of my life saving me again by posing the question I didn't want to ask.

"We are disconnected from our home and any supplies it has, our weapons are limited in both ammo and spare parts".

So those clubs are like a sort of bow or crossbow? "We can arrange for the supplies to be produced, there is no need for haste". Plus, I haven't gotten the chance to show off the otherworlders to all my opponents.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, this kingdom does not have the facilities needed to make the ammunition needed, and we have reason to believe that our capabilities being unknown will be our strongest advantage. We have to move now in order to maintain the advantage".

While I doubt the statement of the ammo I don't doubt the statement about hidden abilities, I know enough about my own palace to know that there are few things that remain secret even to the blasted demon lord.

"Even with you wanting to move fast, there is little we can do to arrange the army to go with you this fast or your aforementioned payment". Drawing away an army might also lay me open to the ambitions to the east but taking out the demon lord is too valuable.

"We believe a strike force in two days on the chapel near the demon lord's castle would be the best move, records indicate demonkind practices a religion based around worshiping the moon with the demon lord also acting as a pope, the plan would be to use some of the tamed great eagles to insert us on top of the chapel and strike during the ceremony".

And that was probably the scariest thing I have ever heard from trained killers. In about half a day time they gathered enough information about an assassination of where and when, which also saves the trouble of needing to identify the demon lord.

"Then what about the reward you requested upon arrival?" After all, this might end up with costing me an arm and a leg.

"We would request a significant chunk of the land currently under control of the demon lord as the reward, we deemed it fitting to the situation and within your capability to pay".

The land of the enemy? They didn't request wealth or even try to ask how to get back to where they came from, so it can be assumed they want a more permanent stay in a position of power to figure it out themselves.

"Granted, and see the wisdom in your request for speed, Johnathan here will help you get what you need and any more information we might have on the demon lord, Goddess protect you heroes".

I cannot believe it, these men really must be from the prophecy if they move this fast. I catch a glimpse of my daughter giddily bouncing around and my wife giving a smug look, things are finally looking up for us after two thousand years.
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POV S-3

During the day things have been busy. Guards are moving with great haste and the robed men (wizards apparently). Have had quite a few chats with various members of the team (or attempted to in S-5's case). According to the royal beastmaster the trip would take a day and according to our timetable we won't get another chance for a month after this.

"You afraid?" S-1 looks at me while saying it.

"Yes" after all who wouldn't be when preparing to face down a being as old as counted history.

"What do you think of running from all this?" normally such a question wouldn't even be asked in a military operation, but this isn't exactly a run-of-the-mill situation.

"I think we were trapped the moment we got here, there is word of us being men of prophecy, but I don't see fate being kind to us, and we will have to work with what we have, how would you rate our odds?"

"Three on two if our information is correct, one in three if our information is wrong".

Those are surprisingly good odds considering everything, S-1 notices my surprise. "I did a slight bit more digging into what S-2 said about demons, and it all looks to be true, right down to how they apparently need to protect themselves from magical sound and light attacks frequently used by human defenders".

I wait a bit for S-1 to explain further. "But the flaw in that being is that they only protect themselves from magical light and sound attacks, anything more, and they risk blinding or deafening themselves".

"If our weapons are that effective, why are the odds so bad?"

"Cu'z we don't get backup on this mission, remember that success entails enough of us surviving to fulfill this prophecy thing while also killing the demon lord".

At that moment, princess Alicia comes over and excitedly gestures for us to follow. "Come on, your stuff is almost ready, we are bringing along some of our finest mages to conceal yourself along the way".

Well, I'm never one to delay the moment of truth as I fall in behind the princess, gathering some odd stares from the servants in the process.

"So, what's with the stares?" The princess gives a quick glance to the servant before continuing along happily.

"They probably aren't used to me being this happy so openly, all the nobles are so stiff all the time, and I'm often forced to act like one of them, but today I decided not to care".

Right, nobles are a common thing on this world, we can only hope that they never find out what the red star on our patches mean, else we are gonna have a problem.

As we pack our final pieces of equipment on, the eagles S-4 approaches me.

"You read the book on high ranking demons and their capabilities?"

That book was a blessing of valuable intel. "As much as I could in a day's time, we can go over it properly during the trip".

S-4 looks at the great eagles for a bit before looking annoyed. "Those oversized birds do not look like a comfortable enough ride for me to sit through another one of S-2's rants on floating deathballs thrown by Delta's".

S-4 looks like he's having fun, at least to the point that he already gave our enemy a name. "Fuck it, ill bite, why Delta's?"

"Because D-mons and Delta's".

S-4 gives a shit-eating grin as he brings forth his great revelation.

"Very creative, keep it up and S-1 might promote you to latrine duty for a month again".

Before S-4 can give a response, S-1 says over radio. "Quit pussyfooting ladies we got a job to do, we are leaving".