“Ralph!”

  “…Done!” Ralph said, finishing the last stroke of his Glyphs, before infusing it with his Oren, summoning the Mysteries of the Origin Sea, giving a golden glow to the disc. Yet, right in the next moment, the same Mysteries urged the golden glow to break through the bounds of the Glyph Disc, and coalesce into a ball of golden light, before dragging it to drift above everyone’s head, illuminating everything within a hundred metres with its brilliant golden light.

  It was almost as if the Mysteries were trying to create a miniature Enn in the forest. Unlike Enn hanging above in the sky though, the miniature Enn that the Mysteries were trying to create did not grace anyone with its warmth. On the contrary, it looked as if it was trying to unleash its wrath upon the Greenshield Wanderers. Especially on the two Wanderers standing separately from the rest of their team.

  Then again, the ball of golden light was hanging right above their heads. Though they did have a layer of fog between them, it was neither dense nor thick enough to dampen the scorching heat that the rays of golden light carried with them. It was only natural then, for the two Wanderers to bear the greatest brunt of its wrath. Like the sensation of having Flame Glyphs activated within their bodies.

  The man was fine. He had just casted an Arcana, and had not yet had the time to prepare another attack. Or maybe he had already prepared the attack, but just had not launched it yet. In any case, the man only suffered from an uncomfortable heat flowing in his veins. All he had to do was subdue the uncomfortable feeling within his Heart, and he could join the fight once again.

  The woman though, was halfway through her Glyphs, when the uncomfortable rays of the miniature Enn hit her, interfering with her concentration, and making her pause in her actions. That was one of the greatest taboos for Wanderers. Letting themselves get distracted whilst in midst of summoning Mysteries. Fortunately for her, she had not been casting Arcanas, or she might not have needed the Star Seekers to deal with her.

  Taking a deep breath, the woman tried to subdue the uncomfortable feeling in her Heart. And when that did not work, she chose to just grit her teeth, and finish her Glyphs anyway. So long as she did not let herself be distracted when summoning the Mysteries, it would be alright. Most importantly, she could not let down her teammates. She could not let down—

  “Are you ignoring me?” Norren said, brandishing his twin swords, as he rushed towards the woman, glowing in green and golden glow of his Aspects. Though his actions did not go unnoticed by the Greenshields.

  “Bras!” yelled the Greenshield Captain, deflecting another shark, while glancing towards his two teammates at the back.

  “Leave it to me!” yelled the Greenshield Wanderer carrying the largest shield of them all, as he rushed out of the—

  “Not so fast!” Cecilia said, stepping in front of the man with the largest shield, sending her right fist, glowing in green and red lights, straight towards his head.

  “Ivold’s twines!”

  Cursing at the sudden appearance of the enemy, the man brought up his shield to block her fist just in time, only to regret it in the very next moment, as he took nearly half a dozen steps back to stabilise himself, wishing that he had dodged her fist instead.

  “This bitch is a beast in a human skin.”

  “What did you call me?” Cecilia said, glaring at the man, as she sent another fist crashing down on his shield, before kicking him back to his teammates. “Say that one more time, and I swear I will twist off your limbs while you are still awake.”

  “…Vamos.”

  “There are still other enemies—

  “Shut up, and go support Marian and Konas!”

  “…Got it,” said the Greenshield Wanderer with a shield and short spear, as he rushed out of the encirclement of the sharks, and sped towards—

  “Did you not hear what I said earlier?” Cecilia said, stepping in front of the man with the short spear, before throwing her right fist towards his chest. “No one is going anywhere on my watch!”

  “Get lost, little girl,” the man said, deflecting the punch with the shield in his left hand, before thrusting his spear towards Cecilia’s chest. “Or do not blame me when you get hurt.”

  “Aren’t you thinking too much of yourself?” Cecilia said with a sneer, punching right below the spearhead with her left hand, deflecting it away from herself, as she loosened her right fist, focussing the red Aspects towards the tip of her fingers and the green Aspects on the back of her hand, before clawing towards the man’s face.

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  “…You chose this yourself,” the man said, bringing his shield up to block his face once again. “Be prepa—

  The man stopped in midst of his words, as he felt an unusually overwhelming force slamming against his shield. But that was impossible. Unlike his teammate, who focussed on bearing impacts, he preferred bouncing the attacks away. That was what he had done earlier. So, how—

  “Do you have a problem with my choice?” Cecilia said, as her claws sank right into the man’s shield. Flashing a grin at the man, she released the Aspect she had concentrated at the tips of her finger, blasting them into the man’s shield. Fortunately for the man, the shield did not break apart with just one of her attacks. Still, she did manage to claw a hole out of it. And the debris of the shield that she blasted out still flew towards the man’s face.

  “If so, then you should just take it to your grave.”

  “…Ivold’s shield!” the man cursed, as he hurriedly ducked down to avoid the splinters of his shield. “She really is a beast in human skin… Narkhan! I might need some help here.”

  “Bras!”

  “I am trying, but these bastards would not let me get close to them!” yelled the man with the largest shield, as he ducked, and rolled on the ground to dodge a ball of fire, before quickly raising up his shield to block a barrage of spooky black arrows. Though it was not just the colour of the arrows that was strange. The way they pierced through the protection of his Aspects was even more strange.

  Fortunately for him, the arrows lost most of their piercing power against his Aspects, not carrying enough strength to pierce through even the outermost shell of his shield. Or so he thought at first. After a blocking a couple of barrages though, he noticed that the black arrows were not falling off his shield. Instead, they were dissolving into black mist, and submerging into his shield where they had struck, leaving black patches on its surface.

  Black mist? Patches? With a grave hunch in his Heart, the man immediately waved his shield, trying to check its weight. And as he had expected, it had indeed grown lighter. And weaker. With the black patches as their centre, cracks had spread all over the surface of his shield, making it seem as if it was on the verge of falling apart. Though it was not just the shield that was bearing the impact of the arrows. Even his hands had begun to grow weak and numb, as if the arrows could pierce through any shield and defence…

  “Be careful! There is an Arcanist of Death amongst them!”

  “Nassi!”

  “I am already on it,” said the woman with a shield hovering next to her, moving of its own accord to protect her against the sharks, as she finished the last—

  Golden yellow light surged from the midst of the Star Seekers, transforming into a giant sword, at least three metres long and half a metre wide, before descending upon the woman, coming straight towards her head. Yet, the woman did not pay much attention to the sword. She just willed her shield to block its path, and continued to finish—

  Hearing the crunching sound of her shield getting pierced, and noticing the golden glow of the sword still coming for her head, the woman cursed, and gave up her Glyphs, choosing to save her life by rolling away. A decision that she reaffirmed as the correct one, when she saw the sword stab into the ground right up to its hilt.

  “Narkhan!”

  “…I know. Onah, Ostan you go help Vamos. Bras, you lead Nassi, Unas, and Etar to deal with those bastards.”

  “But these sharks—

  “Do not worry,” said the Greenshield Captain, as he trapped a shark between his shield and the ground, before finishing it off with his sword. “There is only four of them left now.”

  “Then Konas and Marian—

  “Leave them to me. You just focus on holding on until I come to you.”

  “…Understood,” said the man with the largest shield, before turning around, and leading the woman and two other men with him towards the group of Wanderers near the ri—No, not the river. In the short time that he had been occupied by the beast in the green robe, and the sneak attacks that had been directed against him, the other Wanderers had split into two groups, and rushed into different directions, with the group of two Wanderers following behind the green robed beast.

  “…Vamos, I will leave those two to you,” the man said, as he turned towards the larger group. “Be careful. The Arcanist of Death may be amongst those two.”

  “You take care of yourself first, and stop worrying about me!” said the man facing Cecilia, tilting his head to dodge her claws, while thrusting his spear towards her Heart.

  “Ungrateful bastard… Nassi, you just focus on casting your strongest Glyphs. Unas, you try to control their movements. Etar, you will come with me to face them head on.”

  “Got it.”

  “Understood.”

  “So long as I am not interrupted when casting my Glyphs.”

  “…Leave that to me,” said the man with the largest shield, before turning towards the three Wanderers. “For Ivold!”

  “For Ivold!”

  Noticing the two Greenshield Wanderers charging towards them, Yuri just released the Arcana that she had prepared in advance, summoning the Mysteries of the Origin Sea. In response, the Mysteries transformed the sea of fog around her enemies, trapping them, along with the two Wanderers behind them into a cage of deep black fog. The Cage of Despair. An advanced version of her Cage of Decay, incorporating the Mysteries of Death, Decay, and Night.

  Yet, no matter how advanced or esoteric the cage was, it was still just an interpretation of some Peak Stage Mysteries. Trapping four Peak Stage Wanderers was already the best it could do. And if she left them to their own devices, it would not even be able to keep them trapped for long. If she wished to take them down, or even keep them occupied for long, she had to face them herself. A fact that she knew all too well.

  So, after glancing at the rest of the battles, ensuring that everything was going according to her plans, Yuri stepped towards the cage herself, prompting Aren to follow right behind her. Though just before she stepped into the cage, and vanished into the mire of the black fog, she turned back towards Alnea, and added, “Do not keep us waiting for too long, Captain.”