Li Zhao
The explosion and ensuing shouts caught Zhao off guard. It seemed like the situation was getting worse by the second. At the mention of "kobold", her brow pinched together with confusion. "What is a kobold?" She wondered. Her eyes followed the source of the commotion. Small, beastly creatures fell upon the armored warriors one after another. She squinted to make out the details, but instead she felt her eyes relax, feeling a little warmer.
"Mystic Eyes Level 1 acquired."
Despite the several meters of distance between her and the front line, she could see everything in vivid detail as if she were standing next to them. Between the gaps in the soldier's ranks, she could see furry demons snarling, biting, and clawing their way through the soldiers. Their fur was matted and unkempt, and their armor was the shoddiest woodwork she had ever seen, but their small beady eyes were the color of molten iron. A sinister intelligence gleamed through.
The commander barked at her again, and Zhao wrinkled her nose with derision. It wasn't an act. Being falsely accused for everything little thing was tiresome enough, but her patience was running thin. Before she give a pithy reply, one of the girls nearby sprinted towards the sound of battle. She stared in awe as the girl beheaded a dozen monsters with only a decorative rope cord. "Unbelievable... Is that the power of the Goddess?" One of the foreign boys too joined the fray, walloping and freezing any of the creatures that broke through the formation.
She balled her fist and blinked hard. It took all of her self-control to not get carried away by the moment. She had heard of Taoist sorcery before, but until now believed it was only a myth. With how powerful they were, she wondered what blessing the Goddess Kaireth had given her. She had so many questions, each incessantly nagging at her for attention, but still Zhao remained calm.
She noticed the youngest among them, a small boy (@Sedjwick), retreating closer to her. His skin was a pale as white jade, but she recognized the tension in his face all too well. It was fear. Caught between a bevy of armed warriors and a raiding party of monsters, she would be scared too, if she wasn't still in the throes of shock. Seeing him reminded her of her younger brother, Li Huang. Her chest tightened. She crossed the distance between them, and knelt down to put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "The battlefield must be a scary place for a child." She said quietly, her expression softening. "Don't worry. I won't let them harm you."
Despite desperately wanting to prove that rude commander wrong, and prove her intentions by jumping into the fray, but she couldn't bring herself to leave the boy's side. Besides, the others seemed to be efficiently handling the raiders. She stared critically at the old knight. "As I said, we're not spies and we're not your enemy. We were sent here by the Goddess. Or is seeing Heaven's envoys in action, still not enough for you?"
