Chapter 27 - The Rescue.
On the other side of the forest, at the same time when Danny's party was captured in the borders' web, Mantis' squad wasn't faring any better.
They were forced to fight the entire time due to not having their mounts summoned and no one with Levi's great detection skill to warn them of ambushes.
Thus, as they were running towards the entrance of the forest while fighting simultaneously, they had already lost six members of the squad.
Only Mantis, Masai, and two more decent Daywalkers were left running for their lives with bodies painted red in wounds and yellow in spiders' juices.
"Keep running! There is only one kilometer left!" Mantis shouted femininely, "I am not dying in this shithole! And so are you!"
Masai and the other two showed looks of great resolve as they sprinted with everything they had even when their legs were beseeching for rest.
After everything they went through, the only thing keeping them standing was their adrenaline and hope that the borders' were just around the corner.
While they recognized that no help awaited them behind the borders of the forest, they knew that the spiders must have been ordered to remain in the vicinity of the forest.
They weren't certain about it, but it was their only salvation.
Alas, in this new cruel and merciless era, life rarely smiled upon the weak...
"Is that...no, no, it can't be..."
Mantis was the first to come to a full stop the moment his illumination strips landed on the massive network of stinky liquid, stretching for as long as his eyes could see in the dark.
"We are so doomed..."
Masai murmured with a despairing smile as he stood next to Mantis. His ears picked up on the terrifying rustling sounds of spiders behind them.
"We can't even burn out a path, we have wasted all of our totems..."
Their situation could only be described by the infamous quote by Tariq ibn-Ziyad, *The sea is behind you and the enemy is in front.*
'Screw this, I have tried my best to be the hero...They are unsavable, and the authorities will see it once an investigation launches.'
While his party already lost hope, knowing that the only way to get past the web was to burn it with their Assault totems, Mantis wasn't in the same boat as them.
If he wanted, he could easily survive by using a tramp card that no one knew of. He just didn't want to ditch them so fast and be held accountable back in the city.
'Do what you have to do, but make it seem like you truly tried your best until the very end.' Ti'nna backed him up inwardly.
'Smart.'
Mantis turned to face the incoming spiders' army and extended his weapon at them with a stern expression.
"As your leader, it's my duty to give it my all and protect you until my dying breath. Run alongside the web and try to summon your mounts, I will use everything in my powers to buy you time."
"Mantis..."
Masai and the rest of the squad were left stunned for a moment, not expecting such a heroic action from him. As Daywalkers, they were used to everyone being selfish and seeking their own benefits.
It was like the moment a Daywalker was born, he would start prioritizing only himself and his contracted nightcrawler.
It was an understandable development when considering their partnership would last for a lifetime unless they reached their defined goal.
"STOP ADMIRING ME AND GO!"
Mantis yelled one last time and then charged toward the incoming wall of spiders with his hand inside his backpack.
The moment he gripped his tramp card, which was in the shape of a peculiar wooden symbol, he started murmuring the incantation under his breath.
But, just as he reached the last part, a sudden lethargic voice resounded near his ear akin to being hand-delivered by the wind.
"I suggest you stand back."
'Is that?'
Mantis knitted his eyebrows in confusion, recognizing the voice to belong to the smoker guard standing at the outpost's gate. His deadpan voice was stuck in his mind after he checked his giant army's IDs one by one.
Before he could think too much about this development, the same voice echoed around the area.
"Zephyrian Wind Arts: Roaring Tornado."
Whoosh!!!
Out of nowhere, a powerful wind draft manifested hundreds of meters away from Mantis and turned into a gigantic tornado, razing anything in its path!
Mantis and the rest of his squad were left gaping at the sight of the terrifying spiders' army hurled into the sky, devoured by the charging tornado!
If it wasn't for the trees, dirt, and other picked-up objects, they wouldn't even be able to see the tornado under this moonless night!
In a few moments at best, the roaring tornado died out and everything it ate was dropped from hundreds of meters, killing any surviving spiders.
"Don't go anywhere...The rescue squads are on the way."
Hearing the same lethargic voice from above, everyone lifted their heads and saw only a small smoke cloud left behind...
Mantis returned to his squad and after trading a few dazed glances, one of them finally stuttered, "Zephyrian Wind Arts...Only one man is infamous for such unique arts."
"It's definitely him! It's Sir Feng Ling!" Masai laughed loudly in excitement, "We are saved!!"
Sir Feng Ling earned a massive following in Heliodor's region as he was considered almost a superstar. All due to him being one of the few youngest Daywalkers to become a Solarbound Daywalker at the mere age of twenty-three.
Solarbound Daywalkers had managed to successfully evolve their Nightcrawlers to Tier 5, which was more than enough to earn them a seat at the big boys' table in Heliodor's region.
Alas, a decade later Sir Feng Ling was still stuck at the same stage, which had brought down his hype levels immensely.
The once believed a generational talent that would have helped Heliodor's Region advance and compete against much more powerful regions was nowhere near his prime glory.
No one knew what happened exactly for such a dramatic fall of grace to occur, but he was still well respected among the commoners and Daywalkers alike.
"I can't believe it...Sir Feng Ling was working as an undercover outpost guard?" Mantis murmured, "Did he know about this trap beforehand?"
"Who cares, now he is here, nothing will touch us, not even the Lurker Queen. So, how about we go farm the spiders' crystallized seeds?" Masai grinned as he looked at the depth of the forest.
Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up, and their tiredness disappeared immediately. Even their wounds didn't hurt anymore.
"Let's go quickly before the rescuers arrive and collect them."
Mantis turned around and was the first to sprint towards the tornado's destructive aftermath.
"Mantis, for what you did back there, I will give you 50% of all crystallized seeds I collect."
"Me too, I seriously owe you my life."
"I will rally everything to our agency and recommend you for this year's promotion to a senior captain's position."
"Haha, you have my vote too, and my friends' votes!"
"You guys...I just did what any captain will do."
As they kept admiring and glazing Mantis, all he could do was laugh it off and act humble. If they knew that he was planning on ditching them from the very beginning, their reaction would have been totally different.
'Hehe, they weren't lying when they said that good karma finds good people.' Mantis grinned cheerily, enjoying their attention and blessings.