“Is everyone ready?” Cecilia said, glancing at her teammates, while casting her reconnaissance Arcanas.

  “Everyone has been waiting for you.”

  “…Then let’s get going,” Cecila said, just as strange wave of fluctuations spread from her as their centre, before turning around and rushing into the forest. Following right behind her, Alnea and Norren flanked her from her either side, keeping abreast with her pace, assuming an inverted ‘V’ formation.

  Behind them, Fran led Ralph and Aren in a similar formation. Since he had to defend the two of them though, he did not run too far ahead of the two, making their formation a bit flatter than that of their vanguard. In contrast, Vestia, who had a similar duty of defending their team, lagged behind the first two formations, and ran along with Yuri, preferring to use long range methods like her arrows and Arcanas to fulfil her duties. That left Zain and Karl to bring up the rear guard of their team. Just as they had discussed.

  That, however, was the extent of what they had planned before coming to the Final World. Exploring an unknown region always came with its risks. Especially if they did not even have the basic information about the area. At least with the Night Canyons and the Black Desert, they knew what to expect, and where the dangers might come from.

  In the Final World, they knew nothing about their surroundings. Making any elaborate plans to aid their exploration was futile. On the contrary, the more they planned, the more likely they were to get trapped within the confines of their plans and end up making mistakes. As such, Alnea had made only a rough outline of what they were supposed to do, and how to react to different situations.

  For instance, when encountering some Initial and Intermediate phase Oren Beasts along the way, it should have been the vanguard’s duty to take them out. Yet, the moment any Oren Beasts came into their view, Vestia’s arrows would take them out before any of the vanguards could even make a move.

  “What are you doing, vixen?” Cecilia said, glaring at Vestia with a pout.

  “I am just doing my duty,” Vestia said, sticking out her tongue, while giggling to herself, as she strung her bow back to her shoulders.

  “…You have to focus on our defence!”

  “But I thought offence was the best defence?”

  “…At least leave some of them to me to practice my hands!”

  “Tsk. Fine. I will leave the next few to you.”

  Which she did. Not because she wanted to show her goodwill to Cecilia, but because there was no way to take out the next enemies with just her arrows.

  “Oronir’s beard!” Ralph cursed, as he quickly cast a barrier around the entire team, blocking out their enemies. “Why did we have to run into a colony of Purple Winged Poison Moths?”

  “Because this is a damp forest,” Vestia said, pointing to the forest around them. “This is just the beginning. Given how the conditions here are similar to that of rainforests, I am sure that with time, we will find even more Oren Beasts of the insect type. Like ants and wasps. Though the most populous type of Oren Beasts in these types of forests should still be snakes—

  “Stop talking, and just get rid of them quickly,” Ralph said. “Are you not supposed to defend our team?”

  “I am, but someone asked me to let her handle the next few groups of Oren Beasts we encounter…”

  “But she is a Warrior. It is obvious—

  “Let me out,” Cecilia said, snorting at Vestia, and began walking towards the group of moths trying to force their way into the yellowish barrier blocking their way. Before she could even take a couple of steps though, Alnea reached out to grab her hand, and stopped her in place.

  “Where do you think you are going?”

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  “To take down these moths,” Cecilia said, tilting her head, as if it was a matter of fact. And she was right, in a sense. Even if the moths outnumbered her by more than a thousand times, if she truly went all out against them, it would not even take her a minute to take them all down. But…

  “If you really took down these moths, exactly how much would you have to pay?” Alnea said, staring Cecilia into her eyes. “Half of your Spirit Power? Maybe more? And what if we let others handle them? How much would they have to pay? A tenth of their Spirit Power? Maybe even less than that. What do you think should be the better way to take down these moths?”

  “…But it is my turn…”

  “…There you go again,” Alnea said, letting out a sigh, before taking on a solemn look. “I can understand your competitive spirit, but you cannot let your intrusive thoughts win. As our scout, you need to be the calmest of us all. Only then, would you be able to make the right decisions. Be more rational, and do not let your emotions get to your head, or I might have to take over the task of scouting from you.”

  “…I will be more careful,” Cecilia said, shooting a glare towards Vestia, with the latter responding by sticking out her tongue once again. But this time, Alnea did not plan on letting her go.

  “You too, Vestia,” Alnea said, turning towards the troublemaker. “Do not just keep provoking Lia, and focus on your own tasks.”

  “…I understand,” Vestia said, restraining her smile, and nodding solemnly to match his expression. Whether she was truly serious or not, only she knew. Just as only Cecilia knew whether or not she would be more careful. These two…

  “Yuri, since this is a battle situation, I will leave the commands to you.”

  “…What are you doing?”

  “Giving you the command of the team.”

  “That is what I am asking,” Yuri said, furrowing her brows. “I do not see you being occupied by anything that might prevent you from directing us. Why are you still asking me to give the commands?”

  “Think of it as familiarising yourself with the role. We need you to learn how to make the best use of our resources in order to face the challenges lying ahead of us in the Final Trial.”

  “If you are not confident in my ability to command, then why ask me to command in the first place?”

  “You know what I mean. With the situation we are in, we cannot afford to make any mistakes.”

  “…Although your words sound logical, for some reasons, I do not like them.”

  “I am just being a little careful. Is that not what you wanted?”

  “…Only while we are in the Final World,” Yuri said, before glancing towards the rest of their teammates. “Ralph, keep maintaining the shield. Aren, force the moths together, and keep them from flying away. Zain, the moment that Aren brings the moths together, take down all of them at once. And make sure not to use any Mysteries that might destroy the forest on a large scale, or set it on fire.”

  Ralph, Aren, and Zain nodded in unison, before following Yuri’s instructions. Of them, Ralph had the easiest, followed by Zain, and then Aren. After all, controlling was always more difficult than destroying. Aren though, just happened to specialise in trapping his enemies. He just had to ensure that the Arcana he casted was large enough to trap all the moths. But that only cost a little more of his Spirit Power.

  And so, a few moments later, all the moths were drawn together by a sphere glowing in a pinkish yellow light, only for the sphere to expand, and trap them all within its confines. Moments later, a gust of black wind blew into the cage of pinkish yellow light, eroding the wings of the moths. Letting out wails of pain and fear, the moths broke away from the lure of the light, and rushed to scatter into the forest, only to be reduced to dust before they could even reach the edges of their cage.

  “Good Work,” Yuri said to Aren and Zain, before turning to Ralph. “You can disperse the barrier now.”

  “How was it?”

  “Perfect. I could not have done it any better myself.”

  “Did it bring up your confidence in my abilities?”

  “…I have always been more confident in you than myself,” Alnea said, flashing a smile to Yuri, before turning towards Cecilia. “Although this is not as far out as thousand metres from the swamp, it should not be much different. The chances of any more Oren Beasts living in this area should not be high. Still, just to be sure, let’s just go ahead and explore these last few tens of metres. Once we are done with that, we can start with other directions.”

  “Got it,” Cecilia said, not bothering to hide a little trace of dissatisfaction in her voice. Or maybe she was deliberately showing it to him. He would probably have to think of a way to coax her later. Dissatisfied as she was with him though, she still listened to his orders, and rushed out towards the depths of the Forest, with the rest of the Star Seekers following behind her.

  Moments later, the Star Seekers reached the mark of a thousand metres from the swamp and confirmed that there were no more Oren Beasts in the direction they were exploring. Rather going back to swamp and selecting another direction to resume their search though, the Star Seekers just began sweeping the forest in a circular fashion, clearing out any and all Oren Beasts they met, securing their first base in the Final World.