“Man the perimeter!” Dorian roared out as he dashed ahead toward the Fire Soul. As he looked back, he gave Jodie a pointed look that made him stop in his tracks.
Gritting his teeth, Jodie had no choice but to stay behind. He knew what Dorian was asking of him. Now that they had this excuse, it was the perfect time to set up their original formation.
Dorian and Vaeilina worked best together, and it was only natural that, as the third strongest of them, he remain behind. Plus, he didn’t stand a chance against even one of them, let alone both of them at the same time.
In this case, he got the short end of the stick and could only accept it.
“Princess, stay behind!” Selena spoke out in a rare instance, dashing after them as well.
Of those here, Thessa had the highest chances of subduing the Fire Soul. But she was too weak to get involved in this sort of battle.
Thessa hesitated, but in the end, she remained in place as well. She trusted Selena. The two of them had practically grown up together despite the age gap. With her going, if the Fire Soul was retrieved, Selena would do the right thing.
The only one here who could seamlessly integrate with the Fire Soul without missing a beat was her. If they could do that, victory would be certain.
Plus, as a Firewing, Selena had an advantage the other three didn’t—a Fire Mana affinity.
As for who the third was, that was, of course, Ironvale.
In a blink of an eye, the three had vanished.
Thessa’s head snapped toward the direction of the Thistle faction.
“Stop them from doing whatever they want to do!”
Thessa didn’t care what the plans of the Thistles were, or how they would execute them. All she knew was that she had to stop them.
But to her surprise, they suddenly fanned out. Directed by Jodie, they vanished in all directions.
Thessa bit her teeth, hesitating. Jodie might have been last ranked amongst the Core Disciples, but he was still a Core Disciple. Without Selena here, dealing with him would require at least three of their best to ensure that nothing went wrong and there were no casualties. But it was difficult to both deal with him and stop the others at the same time.
Clearly, Jodie knew this. Because he was the only one amongst them all that didn’t move.
Ultimately, Jodie knew how to play his role well. He forced Thessa’s hand. There was no way they could allow him to just roam freely and pick them off one by one—which was exactly what would happen if they fanned out to deal with the enemies around them.
“Reland, Joesii, Popsy—take him down. I will support from the back.”
The three were her protectors and hesitated upon hearing the order until they heard that she would remain nearby. Since there were still two others, it should be fine.
“Yes, princess!”
They rushed out, pincering Jodie from three sides. There was no choice but to try and decide this battle quickly.
…
DENG! DENG!
“The Firewings are quite shameless,” a disciple sneered, his eyes dashing about as he seemed to be looking for something. “This is the Nightingale Province, not your playground.”
“Oh? You know it’s the Nightingale Province too? Why don’t you wag your tail and get your masters to scram out of here, then?”
“You’re really asking for it.”
“What? You know how to speak but can’t take it yourself? As expected of a lapdog.”
“You—!”
Chi.
The sound was so silent neither heard it even until their deaths.
Theron appeared silently and vanished without a word. Their bodies hadn’t even fallen to the ground before they were lit on fire by the heat. Without their protective covering, even Silver Fire Mancers wouldn’t last long in this region.
How could he not take advantage?
…
Theron was like a specter on the battlefield. The constant eruptions of steaming geysers made visibility low, and with the Mana being so volatile, Third Eye was likewise incredibly limited.
Using the underground tunnels, Theron seamlessly moved from place to place.
The strongest were only Third Resonance Silver Mancers at best. In a situation where Theron had to assassinate them, it only took a single stroke of his blade. It only made it easier that they were locked in their own battles.
The numbers continued to slowly decline, but no one seemed to notice. It wasn’t just sight that was so limited, but hearing as well. How could they notice the battlefield getting quieter and quieter when there was another eruption every few seconds?
…
‘It should be here…’ a disciple under the Thistle’s faction hurried away from the corpse of a Firewing he had just managed to deal with. Bending down, he pressed a palm into the ground, sensed for a moment, then nodded.
After this, he brought out a piece of Bloomstone.
Eruption Bloomstone.
He made a move to start digging into the ground, but just as he was about to focus on this task, his expression changed.
It was too late.
His head fell from his shoulders, and Theron caught a piece of Eruption Bloomstone.
This was already the 17th he had collected, making him extraordinarily curious. What exactly were the Thistles planning on doing with this?
‘Anything that requires using Bloomstone like this would require an incredibly deep understanding of the Forbidden Spell associated with it. But as far as I know, no one has that understanding aside from maybe the Patriarch himself…’
What Theron didn’t know was that the Forbidden Spells were mostly a mystery even to the Patriarch of the Luminescent Moon Sect. But that would only go to prove his point all the more.
‘Unless… they learned something from the Verdant Bloomstone? No, it shouldn’t be that either…’
Then it clicked for Theron.
He knew from the start that the Thistles were very interested in the Sect. That was why he knew giving Dean Thistle the Verdant Bloomstone would set things in motion and save his life.
But what he hadn’t thought enough about was exactly why they were so interested. Or in this case, how had they come about gaining this interest?
‘The Eruption Forbidden Spell was amongst the old guard of Forbidden Spells already unlocked before I got there. Could it be that it was a Thistle that gained it?’
Theron felt like he had just gained an important piece of the puzzle.
With a step, he vanished again.