Unlikely Savior

Greyson could tell those engravings were part of some group spell that they cast. Once they were connected, all of their power grew by almost double as they surrounded Greyson and the others. Perceiving the difference in power, Aeos' expression grew dim as he tried running through as many ideas as possible. The rest of the group grew silent while waiting for his instructions, however, even they were troubled about what to do.

"I know that this type of boosting spell has a time limit and once that limit is met, they will be completely defenseless. At this point, we cannot beat them with brute force so we might as well save energy by playing safe. Just focus on dodging and defending against their attacks. If I see an opening, I will tell you guys and we will try to escape. Who said we have to fight with them anyways?" In the end, Aeos finally spoke up, but his news was not very uplifting. This was the best plan, though. Everyone knew that he was right and that the obvious boost in power of their opponents left them rather helpless. The eight enemies were clearly aware of their time limit, and they only took a moment to familiarize themselves with their new power before attacking once again. There actually was no change in opponents as they attacked the same people from before. Greyson and Rosalie ended up having the easiest time since they both could use the wind element and their opponent was comparatively slow. Everyone continued flitting around trying to dodge. Of course, their success was not perfect, so everyone was taking some minor damage. Fervis, Ferno, and Sloan particularly were not dodging well since speed was not their forte. Seeing the wound count grow on his friends, Greyson was growing restless. He did not allow himself to be distracted, however, since just one hit from his opponent would leave him with major injuries. All of them were just counting down the minutes, trying to endure. The enemies could feel the time ticking down, and they continued attacking with even more passion and aggression.

*BANG!*

Hearing the collision, the group turned to see that Sloan took a direct hit from her fire element opponent. Slamming into the ground, Sloan coughed up some blood and did not recover quickly. Seizing this opportunity, the man sent another blazing fire spell towards the incapacitated Sloan. Hayze reacted swiftly and arrived at her side to Shadow Escape both of them away. Only minor relief appeared on everyone's face as the most pressing concern was handled, however, they knew Hayze could not continue to take care of a second person against two opponents. Biting his lip, Aeos continued to seek an opening, but these men were obviously well-trained. They attacked at different rhythms so that the group was always dodging at different times. This made it hard for Aeos to call for a sudden retreat because there was inevitably at least one person who was mid-dodge while the rest were free. If he were to call for them to retreat at that point, that would mean sacrificing whoever was distracted as the rest escaped. He could not carry out such a cold-blooded action in good conscience. No panic could be seen as the time continued to run out as if they were unbothered by the fact they would soon be defenseless. Aeos hoped they would start to fall apart as their formation begins fading away, but their attacks stayed coordinated, precise, and patient. Ebbing endurance and reducing speed were evident with the group as their accumulating injuries started adversely affecting their abilities. Slight desperation grew on both sides in a tiring deadlock. Greyson and Rosalie slowed down the most. From the beginning, they had already almost run out of mana after their fight earlier and they had the smallest mana stores out of everyone.

"Rosalie, watch out!" Greyson saw his sister was not able to dodge the next attack and pushed her out of the way. Turning his back towards the heavy punch, his Wind Suit spell automatically activated to defend him. The force nevertheless sent him flying out and he landed hard into the ground. Feeling a couple bones crack under the impact, Greyson could not hold in a soft groan in pain. However, he did not take the time to concentrate on the pain and instead sank into his shadow to escape to another location. His previous spot cracked apart with a boom as the opponent had followed up quickly. Although he anticipated a subsequent attack, Greyson was truly stuck. He had no more mana left. Large rock shards were flying towards himself, and he could only watch gritting his teeth in preparation for the impact.

It was at this moment that intense flames blocked that attack. Flames came down on every one of the eight enemies.

"I guess I'll have to step out and save you guys. Otherwise, I'll have to go on another search for suitable mates." A familiar prideful voice spoke up.

"Afina!" The twins exclaimed in sync. Admittedly, this must be the happiest by far they have felt to hear her voice. Compared to the other days, that high-pitched entitled voice was like music to their ears. Although Afina's personal strength was equal to the twins, this princess was the apple of the tribe leader's eye. For her protection, her entourage included many formidable Great Magister servants. She was truly a dependable support.

"Lorn! Garth! Finish up the trash." Waving her hand dismissively, Afina confidently ordered her subordinates.

"Yes, right away, Princess!"

"Wait! Leave one alive!" Aeos requested. Afina just glanced over at him before nodding.

"You heard him."

"Yes, Princess." Two of the Amians strode out. They radiated much more pressure than the opponents, so Greyson assumed they should be around the stage five great magister level. Fiery fire attacks flew towards the group of eight. Putting up a hard fight, they lasted for a pretty long time. However, their power was continually waning as time went on and soon they were unable to resist the heat. One by one, all but one were burned to ash. Earlier on, Greyson was told that each stage had a large difference starting at the great magister level. It seems the difference is rather stark. Although that group were stage one great magister level magicians; their power was doubled under that formation spell. Yet, these two have taken care of such enemies so easily.

The last remaining opponent was the wind element magician who managed to dodge until the end. Noticing this person's speed, the two Amians just randomly decided that he would be the one they left alive. Greyson's group had taken the time during the fight to recuperate. After recovering some mana, Greyson used his light element to heal himself and Sloan whose injuries were the worst. They were not completely healed before he ran out of mana again, but the critical damage was no longer concerning. Before long, the two Amians tossed the last man's body towards the group signifying they should do whatever they needed. Everyone angrily glared at him after thinking of this sudden attack that they suffered.

...

Three days later

"He's still not revealing anything!" Ferno kicked the wall in frustration.

"I told you guys earlier that none of them look like the type we could get information from." Aeos just sighed.

"I've probably burned him in the most painful ways possible, but he does not even flinch. Rosalie leaves him at freezing temperatures almost all day. We've cut into him and broken bones, but nothing forces out a reaction. It's like the man is dead or something!"

Yes, for the full three days since the fight, the group had been trying to torture this last man into telling them more about his identity and the reason for attacking.

"Wait..." Almost immediately after Ferno had had his little outburst, Aeos struck his forehead in disbelief. He could not believe that he did not think of it before! Greyson had also thought of something. Moving past all of them, he entered the room where the man was tied to a chair. Using his light element, he looked into the man's body, and his face grew ugly.

"He IS dead." Greyson remarked.

"Death magic?" Rosalie asked, however she already sounded sure of her guess.

"Yes." Greyson was still rather absentminded when he answered. Looking over the man in front of him, there was no trace of death on the outside. His eyes looked full of vigor and mission which was why the group just thought that he was resisting torture well the entire time. He was even breathing, or at least looked as though he was breathing. During his time at the Academy, he learned about forbidden or rare magic that was outside the elements like time and space. Death magic was one of them. There were only a rare few individuals who were born with the ability to use this magic and most of them inevitably grew up rather twisted. Many infamous criminals throughout the continent were death magic users. Since their practice required the dead, some of them took it upon themselves to produce the supply. The harmless ones live near battlefields and war since they do not actually have to kill anyone.

"I have never met a death magic user. How about you guys? Anyone comes to mind?" Greyson asked.

"No, I've only heard of such magic."

"Me, too."

Everyone felt confused because no one could think of an enemy who would use this tactic on them.

"It looks like we will have to stay cautious. A hidden enemy is considerably worse than a known one. Plus, for him to have sent great magister level corpses, he must be a exceptionally powerful death magician. Otherwise, he would be unable to control these corpses to this level." Aeos did not look any happier even with the new information. The atmosphere grew gloomy as the group felt threatened by this unknown factor.

"Well, let's dispose of this guy then. He evidently will not be any help." Fervis approached the man and burned him to ash. Collectively sighing at this conclusion, the group walked out of the makeshift house the made.

"Well, there is nothing else we can do other then continuing on with our journey. The next closest altar is the Fire Altar. We will have to cross over into the Inferno Territory."

Hearing this name, Greyson remembered the geography of the Beast Empire. It was not split into many parts. Just four mostly that were split apart based on their conditions. Inferno was the area where most fire element magic beasts resided and it was covered with volcanoes and geysers. There were also the Ice Plains, Misty Jungle, and Beast Mountains. All of the names were rather self explanatory. The more extreme weather and conditions were only in a concentrated area, the rest of the large land in between was more moderate. Some tribes purposefully lived on the borders of the territories hoping for neutral conditions. Thinking about it, Halcrem's tribe should be in that territory as well.

"Would the Sun Lion Tribe be on the way?'

"Sun Lion?" Rosalie looked confused before remembering what Greyson had told her about Halcrem.

"Hm... I do not think their tribe is on the way. We can make a stop if you want."

"No, it's no big deal. I just thought it would be nice, but Lucius is the more pressing issue."

"Alright! Since it's decided, let's start heading out. Cerul, how is your condition? Are you fit for some long distance flying?"

"I'm all healed and rested up! There won't be any issues." He transformed into his dragon form almost instantly as everyone jumped up onto his back.

"Let's-"

"WAIT! You guys aren't just leaving, right?" Someone screeched.

Ah. They had forgotten about someone. Like it was practiced, they all turned their heads to look at the twins.

"Afina, we are immensely grateful for your help this time. Truly. But we have to leave now, we are on a mission of sorts." Fervis scratched his head while trying to convey the words as nicely as possible. He did feel guilty to just ditch her after the help she provided.

"Hmph! Don't think you can escape that easily. I heard you guys just now. You are heading directly towards the Amian tribe's territory. You will fly right through it on the way to the Fire Altar. In return for saving you, come and hang out with me for a couple days. I am not going to pretend that I saved you out of the goodness of my heart. You guys owe me!" Crossing her arms, Afina did not back down one inch while proudly admitting to her ulterior motives.

Speechless, they did not expect her to be so upfront about it. They looked at Greyson, since he was the one who was in a rush, but he just shrugged.

"We can just drop off the twins and go to the Fire Altar first. They can meet us there when they are done their rendezvous with their fiance." Smirking by the end, Greyson clearly was poking fun. The rest of group laughed along and eagerly agreed to his suggestion. Both of the twins decided to just accept their fate this time and agreed to the condition.

"Hahaha, awesome! In that case, I will be waiting for you guys there~" Leaving with that last remark, Afina excitedly flew away with her followers.