Along with Erik's voice, several chains of fire appeared out of nowhere and tightly bound the Virelian. In that moment, a whirlwind of fire, mana constructs of different elements, and more created a brutal tornado around it. Upon being attacked, the Virelian let out an enraged cry as the formations began to shake—the moment when Elara and Christine hastily activated their magic grenades.
With two gigantic magical spheres at the forefront—one of fire and one of darkness—different spells and flying slashes were unleashed in rapid succession, closely followed by the three activated grenades. At that instant, even before the spells could strike, Erik looked at the silver wolf beside him and gave a cold command.
"Get ready! Kaiser!"
Upon hearing his contractor, Kaiser immediately turned into a lightning bolt and shot into the completely dark hallway. At that moment, all the present youths hastily mobilized their mana to anchor themselves to the Myst platform. Just then, the spells finally reached their target, unleashing brutal explosions that released shockwaves so aggressive they turned the air into a thick fog.
Feeling the brutal inertia from the insane speed, all the youths present staggered violently, but at that moment, they could see magic circles and runic circles forming in front of them. From these, arrows of Myst, fire, and darkness appeared, along with multiple layers of Myst barriers. Instantly, Erik's voice resounded amidst the brutal explosions.
"Keep going full force!!"
With Erik's reminder, all the youths present began conjuring barriers and launching spells with everything they had, making maximum use of the incredible amount of Myst available to them within the lantern's light field. In that instant, a brutal roar echoed throughout the area, so powerful it violently shook the air and even caused many spells to self-destruct mid-flight.
"The formations are giving way!"
Ethan announced with a serious expression as he took out a long staff and began conjuring fog halberds. Erik replied while his hair began to rise against gravity, and the patterns of stars and galaxies on it greatly increased in brightness.
"It doesn't matter, keep going!!"
Erik shouted back as what seemed like a sea of runes along with a large number of magic circles formed around him. From these, hundreds of arrows of fire and darkness formed, along with sturdy Myst barriers. Almost simultaneously, a colossal serpent made of air materialized in the center of the hall. It swept away all the spells and flying slashes along with the smoke with a single tail swipe before shooting toward them.
But just as panic began to form on the faces of those present, a mocking smile appeared on Erik's face—the instant three brutal explosions reverberated through the hall. At the same time, the colossal air serpent began to vanish at great speed, disappearing just before it could leave the hall.
"Full defense!!!" At that moment, Erik fired all his spells at once while creating several more layers of barriers, and Kaiser increased his speed even further.
Following the orders, the mages conjured barriers while hastily drinking mana potions, and the knights raised their shields high, reinforcing their defenses with everything they had. Just then, a pained howl echoed everywhere, and a blurred, dark figure shot toward them at a terrifying speed.
Soon, everyone could see in the distance the gravely injured Virelian surrounded by a barrier of light, its armor glowing faintly. The Virelian had a charred arm, half its face burned and missing an eye, and parts of its wings and tail were missing. At that moment, everyone felt a sudden jerk of the platform, accompanied by Erik's voice, who spoke calmly but with an incredibly cold and emotionless tone.
"Let's see how tough you are."
At the same time, Erik's hair fell, and its glow dimmed significantly. Instantly, hundreds of tentacles appeared out of nowhere and attacked the glowing Virelian, who could only look around in disbelief. But soon, the view disappeared for everyone present as the platform had just turned a corner—the moment the Myst platform slowed down a bit.
"Don't stop creating barriers!!"
Without wasting a single moment, Erik immediately instructed as he sat on the floor and took out a healing potion from his storage bag. Simultaneously, from outside, everyone could hear—along with brutal explosions—the screams of the Virelian. Though Erik didn't understand them, as the Virelian spoke an unknown language, they still brought a small smile to his face, as it was evident they were filled with rage and panic.
Following Erik's orders, the youths focused completely on defense, trying to make maximum use of their wonderful connection with Myst to empower themselves and create the strongest possible defense. Meanwhile, Elara, Christine—who were creating barriers while drinking mana potions along with the other mages—and Tomás and Zoe—who held huge metal shields to form the last defensive layer with the other knights—couldn't help but look at Erik with solemn expressions.
They truly struggled to process everything that had happened. From start to finish, they had only followed Erik's orders to the letter without thinking for themselves, as they had been overwhelmed upon discovering the Virelian and its colossal power. But the results went beyond what they imagined a confrontation with such a being would be like. They had truly gravely injured an Illuminated-level being without suffering a single injury, much less a casualty.
Moreover, from the intensity of the explosions and the Virelian's screams, it was easy to tell it was desperately struggling to escape back to the hall but without much success. So, even if it managed, it would basically be half-dead, and if they hurried, they could kill it without too much difficulty.
It was truly hard to conceive how Erik—who was sitting on the floor with a small smile and closed eyes, looking quite calm and casual as a cookie appeared in his hand after putting away the potion vial—had managed to plan such a trap in such a short time.
Only moments had passed since the Virelian appeared unexpectedly, and while everyone panicked, the star-haired youth had managed to lay a deadly and inescapable trap for it… Definitely a terrifying monster, and this time in a much more sinister sense. Luckily, he was on their side.
"That thing is really resilient. Looks like I'll have to lend a hand…"
While the direct disciples reflected deeply and adjusted the mental image they had of the star-haired youth, he murmured calmly after taking a bite of a cookie. Then, Erik took out several potion vials from his storage bag and began mixing them hastily while looking at Ethan and asking.
"Ethan, could your Illusions trick that Virelian for a few moments to make it overlook a couple of potion vials?"
"In the state it's in, it's quite possible."
"Perfect. What's the maximum distance you can do that from?" Erik nodded in satisfaction as he capped a couple of newly mixed potion vials, then began shaking them vigorously. Ethan quickly replied with a serious tone.
"We'd need to be at least 20 meters back."
"Perfect. Then coordinate with me. I'll send a couple of Myst hands with these potion vials. I need you to hide them as best you can." Erik said seriously as the platform stopped and a lightning bolt landed beside him, soon taking the form of Kaiser.
"I'll do my absolute best." Ethan replied solemnly, then approached Erik, who soon explained exactly what he was going to do as the platform moved backward.
Soon, while explosions could be heard in the distance, the platform began advancing at a moderate speed—the moment two long Myst arms shot out carrying two potion vials, only to disappear into nothingness.
…
Surrounded by several barriers, with its armor broken and dozens of bloody holes in its body—now missing a wing and an arm—the Virelian tried to rush back to the hall with an expression of absolute terror on its face. Never, even in its wildest dreams, had it imagined it would end up in such a situation at the hands of a few human insects.
But it still had hope. As long as it could return to the hall, it could go back to the cave and heal without too much trouble while preparing to tear those insects apart piece by piece. With that thought, the Virelian gritted its teeth and conjured several spells to destroy the nearest tentacles attacking it mercilessly. But just at that instant, the concentration of Myst around it greatly increased.
This event sharpened all its senses as a terrible premonition enveloped it, making it look upward. There, the Virelian could see two potion vials spinning slowly in the air. With all its instincts screaming danger, the Virelian narrowed its eyes and tried to destroy the potion vials, but before it could, they exploded on their own.
The explosion of the vials caused a strong flash of light to illuminate the entire area—enough to blind an Ascended-level being. But that flash was far from enough to do anything to it, leaving it confused for a few moments about the reason, which it instantly understood.
Out of nowhere, the tentacles attacking it multiplied several times and began attacking furiously, soon piercing its barrier and defenses. This left it with an expression full of shock, resentment, and despair as it tried to defend itself with everything it could.
…
"What a resilient thing. It almost didn't die…"
Sitting in the middle of the defensive rings created by the mages and knights, with Ethan beside him, Erik couldn't help but click his tongue with a hint of surprise. This caused everyone to turn and look at him with wide eyes—the moment Elara asked with a hint of disbelief.
"Is it really dead?"
"It seems so. Let's go find it before the tentacles tear it apart completely. But don't let your guard down. Keep the barriers at maximum and be ready to escape at the slightest sign of trouble." Erik ordered calmly as he stood up, to which everyone nodded with serious expressions, and Kaiser once again turned into a lightning bolt.
Soon, the group could see in the distance the Virelian's body split in half and full of holes on the ground, its eye wide open and filled with despair. In that instant, as the tentacles gradually disappeared, Tomás couldn't help but click his tongue and comment.
"It's more than dead… Let's try to take the collar it's wearing before the tentacles destroy it. It must be its storage artifact."
"They use collars instead of rings?"
Erik created a Myst hand with the sticky Myst from outside to grab the collar, not wanting to get too close, while asking and looking at Tomás. The young knight nodded and explained calmly.
"Yes. On the frontier, I fought some and know a bit about them. It's rare to see them with any kind of rings, and they use those collars, which are more or less comparable to our storage rings, so a specialist outside should be able to open it relatively easily."
"I see. Then we might have won a good prize because I recognize the landscape on the other side of the fire portal…"
Erik commented calmly as the collar and a finger with a black ring flew toward him, leading everyone to turn and look at him with questions written on their faces. At that moment, Erik looked at Frank, Zoe, and Elara and said with a serious tone.
"That rocky place on the other side is practically the same as what I saw in the basilisk's cave."
Upon hearing Erik, looks of disbelief formed on the faces of his original companions who knew about the cave—the moment Elara, connecting the dots, commented with clenched fists.
"The air serpents you saw on the island… That air serpent that tried to attack us… Activating the portals… This son of a bitch isn't just the mastermind behind all this. He was the one who awakened and let the basilisk escape!"
"I think the same, though he hardly acted alone. There are human hands here—at least we know of one Illuminated-level human in their group." Erik nodded calmly while carefully examining the collar and the ring now floating right in front of him.
"Certainly, we have traitors in our own species…" Tomás commented seriously, to which everyone nodded with heavy expressions. Ethan, who didn't seem very surprised, looked at Erik and asked curiously.
"But I don't understand why you say we got a good prize?"
"Because in that cave, I found a stone cabin that was like a research laboratory, full of perfectly preserved Jade Slips. Though I didn't take them at the time out of caution, I highly doubt this thing didn't take them." Erik replied calmly, causing everyone's eyes to light up brightly.
***
You can support me on patreon.com/lordanl and get up to 26 advanced chapters.