It didn’t take long for Party B to arrive at the stone pillar where Party A was resting.
With rlin leading the group from the front, Eleiney, Arthur, and Aiden providing support in the middle, and Kahn and Charlie taking the rear, the party slowly carved a bloody path to the stone pillar.
They left a trail of corpses in their wake. No matter how many blood beasts ca at them, they all fell to their spells and blades.
And soon, Party B had arrived at the base of the pillar.
Adam’s three students were the first ones to scale it, followed by Charlie. Kahn turned to rlin and said in a raspy voice, "Go on, then. I got your back."
rlin deeply looked at him, his smile turning wider. "Fafafa, how gallant you are."
He lingered for a mont, turning his attention towards the countless corpses that had ford a bloody trail before them. "Go ahead," he said. "I’ll retrieve the blood cores and et you all shortly."
With that said, rlin did not hesitate for a mont before moving away from the stone pillar.
Before the hungry blood beasts could even pounce on him, the coppery-red-haired youth had already cast an illusion spell on himself and vanished from sight.
Kahn stared at the spot where he had vanished for a mont longer, then turned around and quickly climbed the pillar before more blood beasts could close in.
mbers from Party A didn’t waste ti and quickly tended to the wounded mbers of Party B.
When Kahn arrived at the top of the pillar, he was greeted by a stunned Edward.
"What... what the hell was that?" He blurted out.
Kahn tilted his head, his eyes flickering with slight confusion. "What do you an?"
Edward opened his mouth, but a mont later, he closed it. There was a lot on his mind, and there were many things he wanted to say. But in the end, only a few words escaped his lips.
"Where did rlin go?" he asked in a low voice.
Kahn sat down on the cold surface, then retrieved several potions of healing. After consuming one, he looked at the blue-eyed youth and said with a shrug, "He’s gone to retrieve the blood cores."
"What?!" Edward was stunned. "All by himself?! That is very reckless! He could have asked us to aid him. My party mbers have more or less recovered their strength."
Kahn waved his hand nonchalantly as he drank another potion of healing. A few monts later, he added, "Don’t worry about it. That madman is pretty strong. Besides..."
He paused for a mont, deeply looking at Edward. "He’s very, very proficient in the School of Illusion."
***
An hour later, while everyone was recuperating on top of the pillar, a sudden commotion caused them to go on high alert.
The sound of chaos ca from nearby. It was very close, and it ca out of nowhere.
When the young Magi rose to their feet and glanced at the carnage below, they were stunned to see the blood beasts being attacked... by no one.
But they knew who it was.
Soon, the chaos below gradually died down, leaving only the frustrated and furious growls of the blood beasts—which were fortunate to survive—below.
Then, the sound of shuffling footsteps ca from the top of the pillar.
The young magi turned around only to see rlin standing with a bulging rucksack lying beside his feet. The coppery-red-haired youth flexed his shoulders and exhaled.
"That was a little tireso..."
The young Magi from both parties were astonished, not particularly at the crazy Magus’s arrival, but at the large bag that lay at his feet.
"H-how many blood cores are in there?" Michael couldn’t help but ask, unable to believe his eyes.
rlin turned to him, then said after a mont of deliberation, "Should be a couple of hundred at least. I’m not sure of the exact amount."
A couple of hundred!
Even if these Magi divided that number by a dozen, that still left quite a number of blood cores for each of them present.
"Hahaha!" Mikar burst into hearty laughter. He stepped forward and gave rlin a big hug.
"Thanks to you, we won’t have to worry about getting disqualified, rlin! Nice work!"
rlin simply shrugged. He then greeted the rest of the young Magi, all of whom were ecstatic to et him.
Finally, it was Edward’s turn.
He walked up to rlin and stared at him intently. His eyes flickered with a series of conflicting emotions. In the end, he simply nodded.
"Thanks for your hard work," he said evenly.
rlin deeply looked at him and grinned. "Fafafa, what a polite lad you are."
Edward’s lips twitched. He didn’t reply, however. He simply turned around and walked to the edge of the pillar before sitting down and practicing mindfulness.
rlin glanced at his broad back and awkwardly scratched his chin.
Looks like he’s still mad about the last ti, he thought in amusent.
He then turned towards Eleiney and nodded, giving her the signal. Then, he sat down and greedily drank water. He was a Mana Vortex Magus, so he hadn’t consud all that much mana while dealing with the blood beasts.
But it would be a lie to say that he wasn’t exhausted. He, too, needed to recover to his full strength before they moved to the next layer of the secret plane.
Eleiney took a deep breath and then scanned the party mbers’ faces. "Everyone," she began.
She lingered for a few monts before speaking solemnly, "Thanks to rlin, we were able to scout the terrain of the third layer."
Needless to say, everyone was greatly surprised by that discovery. However, Eleiney’s next words caused their faces to turn grim.
"The third layer of the secret plane consists entirely of a forest," she began, her tone extrely grave.
"Here, in the second later, we could find brief monts of respite by climbing one of the countless stone pillars."
"But in the dark forest... there is no safety," she continued.
"That place is crawling with powerful blood beasts, and there are far more of them than there are here."
User Comments
0 comments from readers