An Owl's Rise

If Evelyn felt confident that their group could take on those humans, she would have ordered them to lay in wait and ambush them once they left the dome. Unfortunately, they were heavily outmatched.

"What if we try to negotiate with them. I know that you have had some bad experiences with humans, but I have read that in some places beasts and humans get along, living together in harmony." Rehni said.

At this Evelyn scoffed, remembering what had happened to the city state called Atsabala which had been a place where intelligent beasts and humans lived together.

Then entire city had been wiped off the map by an attack from humans that could not accept what was going on there. Evelyn could remember the saddens on Lucia's face when she told her about fleeing from the attack and the loss of her home.

"I am sorry Rehni, but the chances that those humans are willing to sit down and talk it out with us are pretty much zero. More likely they would kill us and take us for all we are worth. We will save trying to negotiate with them as an absolute last resort. Our best bet is to keep away from the crystal dome and build up our strength while waiting for them to leave. The nine of them are clearly powerful enough to have little difficulty here. Hopefully they will decide to ascend to the next floor soon and we can make our exit."

"But what are we going to do about the magic spring. It will be activating soon, and we won't be able to reach it if we are stuck here." Aralee said, a worried look in her eyes.

Sighing, Evelyn just shook her head.

"We will just have to give it up this time. Getting spotted and attacked by those humans is not worth the risk. It is a shame that we cannot use it this month, but there will be plenty of time in the future. As long as we stay alive, we can continue to grow." Evelyn said, wearing a resigned expression.

"Actually, their might be something else we can do." Otis said, drawing Everyone else's attention.

None of the others had any better ideas and had accepted Evelyn's proposal. Even if it left a bitter taste in their mouths to simply hide out and abandon their base. But Otis had come up with something the others had not thought of.

"Those humans just arrived, so they presumably do not have any tokens and cannot leave right away. If we rush the crystal dome and get inside, we can use the warp pad and leave without being followed."

After listening to Otis's suggestion, Evelyn gave it a good deal of thought.

It was true that if they got inside the crystal dome that they would be safe.

The dome was not only a zone where the creatures living in the forest could not enter, but it also prevented others from attacking each other. Evelyn and her companions had thoroughly tested this function. If they got inside the humans would be unable to take aggressive action against them.

Still, tis came with risks that could not be understated. If the humans intercepted them before they reached the dome, they would have to fight through them and that was likely to lead to casualties. And even if they managed to get inside without issue the humans would at least learn of their presence and it would be far more dangerous to ever return.

'This is quite the conundrum.' Evelyn thought.

Missing out on the magic spring and returning toe the Roost for a short amount of time would limit them. There was also the matter of their food and water supplies. In this domain there was nothing for them to hunt that was edible. If they were stuck here for too long, they would eventually run out of supplies.

Evelyn had a difficult choice to make and one that needed to be made soon. If they did not act quickly, it was possible that the humans would gather enough tokens to follow them out of the domain once they left.

"I have come to a decision." Evelyn sated to the rest of her companions. "Otis, as you are the most suited to stealth due to your size and would have the best chance of getting away if noticed, I want you to keep an eye on the dome. We want to try and infiltrate it when none of the humans are there, if possible, but if at least five of them are gone we will make our move."

Receiving Evelyn's directions, Otis nodded his head, and began making his way back towards the crystal dome to keep an eye on things.

As for Evelyn and the others, they moved a bit closer and waited for Otis to return.

For what seemed like several hours despite only being around forty minutes, all of them waited in anticipation for what would happen next.

It was almost agonizing to simply sit around without having a clue about what as going on, but it was all that Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee could do.

Thankfully, Otis came back as Evelyn was worried that he would be found and killed.

When he landed, he gave his report of the situation, and it was relatively good news.

"It looks like we are in luck. All of them have left the dome and I did not see any of them on the way here. If we go now, we may be able to slip out undetected." Otis said, giving his report.

"Okay. This is our chance. Let us get out of here." Evelyn said, taking the lead and flying towards the dome.

Swiftly the six of them made their way towards the dome, but an unwelcome surprise was waiting for them.

In the time that Otis had left to tell them what he had found three of the humans had returned to the crystal dome. At the very least though, it was not all nine of them.

"We are pushing through. Keep a tight formation and stay on the defensive. If you see an opening to kill one of them, go ahead, but do not try and push them. Our goal is to escape not win a battle." Evelyn said.

Not long after she gave her instructions di the humans notice their approach.

The three humans were momentarily caught off guard to see a group of six owls flying around, but quickly got their wits about them and ran out to intercept them.

The woman in the lead who had golden hair that ended in red tips and was wielding a spear made several motions with her weapon before pointing it forward towards them casting a spell.

"Flare Blast!"

Watching the spell the woman had just cast, Evelyn was stunned that it did not require any hand movements as she had seen all humans use. This was her first time seeing a person use a weapon to active a spell instead.

With an astonishing speed a large burst of flame flew towards the six of them and threatened to swallow them all.

It was certainly a powerful attack and not something that the average low tier arcanist rank human could cast. The people that had entered the domain were clearly very powerful.

Luckily it was fire magic that had been cast at them, and Evelyn dove in without any worry.

Spinning around and generating a twister of flame and wind she cut through the magic attack and aimed her body directly at the woman wielding the ornate spear.

Evelyn activated the enchantments on her armor and extended her horns and aimed to pierce right through the woman.

Of course, the target was not going to sit there and take it, flicking her spear forward with a twist.

"Flame Spiral." The woman shouted casting another spell.

Evelyn met the spear with her horns like a descending meteor and pitied her power against the other woman's.

'Extreme Press.'

As they stood at a stalemate, Evelyn increased the gravity around the woman and she staggered momentarily, as her legs were unable to accommodate for the sudden massive increase in her weight.

Using this opening Evelyn broke past her guard by turning her body and managed to slip past the woman's defenses.

Yet as it seemed she would pierce through the woman, a defensive talisman activated, and a powerful barrier was erected around her target.

For a few moments she was completely stopped, but her heavenly flame managed to burn a hole through the barrier for a moment and Evelyn connected with the woman.

It was a glancing blow, but her extend horns sliced into the human woman's side deeply and caused a devastating injury.

Normally Evelyn would have taken this opportunity to finish her opponent off, but she instead turned towards the crystal dome and flew towards it while keeping an eye on what else was happening.

Currently Otis had managed to distract the other two with Bylur and Rehni's help, and Aralee and Verrader had almost reached the dome.

'Jet Javelins.'

Firing off one of her most practiced attacks, Evelyn launched four dozen missiles of her heavenly fire wrapped in wind magic towards the other two humans.

This gave Otis, Bylur, and Rehni the openings they needed to push their opponents back and force their way towards the crystal dome.

Just before the four of them flew in, Otis used his magic to raise a massive wave of sand and sent it towards the humans that were pursuing them.

This forced the three humans to stop and take up defensive positions for a few moments and allowed all of them to slip into the crystal dome.

Inside, Aralee and Verrader had already activated the terminal and now all they needed to do was pay the forty-two tokens necessary for all of them to leave and they could warp out.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Evelyn said, pressing the button on the terminal and activating the warp pad.

Instantly the necessary tokens were taken from their bag and the six of them were engulfed in a blinding light just as the humans were running into the dome. Irate expression on their faces.

Looking towards the woman she had clashed with; Evelyn could not help but giving her a victorious smirk before disappearing.