With the aid of multiple [Spatial Gates] and his spirit reading range, it was not too hard for him to find Silva on this island.
As Emery emerged from the gate, he spotted a figure atop a high cliff; the girl he was looking for was currently sitting in a lotus position with her eyes closed.
Emery carefully approached her, but seeing her expression full of concentration as the winds ruffled her beautiful long hair, he became anxious.
Emery subconsciously halted. He wanted to talk to her, but he did not want to disturb her.
However, before he could decide on how to notify her, the girl abruptly opened her eyes.
"What do you want?!" Silva asked in an unwelcoming tone.
Upon seeing that the girl was no longer concentrating on her own thing, Emery no longer hesitated and slowly approached the girl from behind.
"Silva, I came to tell you that both Annara and I will try to fight the Beholder later today."
The girl fell silent when she heard his words. A hint of surprise briefly appeared on her face, but soon after, a voice full of mockery came out of her mouth.
"Hah. That's stupid, but do whatever you want. Just don't get me involved."
"Yes. I came to give you this."
Emery slowly took out the jar that contained the spiritual souls of the two bloodline magus. He then placed it on the grass, looked at it for a second, and said to Silva.
"If I succeed, I will come back for it. If I don't, I trust you will deliver this to the alliance for me."
"..."
The girl did not answer, and for a few moments, tense silence reigned between them. In the end, Emery was the one who broke the ice.
"Also, if you can, please check out Magus Heorgar's condition once in a few days. I believe your [Spiritual Seed] is good enough to do the job."
[Spiritual Seed] was the flower-like spell that Silva used to heal him right after Emery defeated Lodos at the first Magus Games.
The mention of the spell carried with it a memory she thought she had long forgotten. Without realizing it, Silva flashed a bitter smile.
Even so, she still did not say a word, not accepting nor refusing Emery's requests.
"All right then, Silva. Please take care."
He then turned around, created a spatial gate, and left the girl without looking back to not continue bothering her.
When Emery stepped out of the gate, he was already back in the stone house. As soon as the sight of the familiar place greeted him, the first thing he saw was Annara preparing her weapons and items. At the sound of his footsteps, the girl looked at him and flashed an amused smile.
"So you're finally here. Really took your sweet time, didn't you? Let's go."
Instead of responding to the girl's taunt, Emery walked towards Magus Heorgar first. He checked the magus' condition and healed him for a while before turning around with a resolute expression.
"All right, let's go!"
He was ready to fight.
Emery made a spatial gate for himself and Annara, but just when he was about to step into it, he sensed someone else's presence. Right after, a familiar voice followed.
"You two are not going anywhere just yet!"
The voice belonged to none other than Silva.
"Well, look at who it is. Did you finally decide to join us?" Annara asked with a cheeky smile.
Even so, Silva's expression remained serious. She did not even spare the other girl a glance as her eyes remained on Emery.
"Let's just say that I recently got more reason and motivation to escape this place."
Hearing that, Emery closed the spatial gate he made. The three then sat together to hear what Silva had to say.
Silva started to explain the abilities of the Beholder. It had ten tentacles all tipped with small eyes. Depending on the tentacle eye that attacked them, its magic could petrify, dispel magic, and shoot out energy rays. The creature was packed with many means to launch powerful magic. It even had eyes that could heal and restore the injured ones!
However, its most troublesome ability lied in its main eyes. The second a person entered its field of vision, depending on the person's strength, it could paralyze and even kill the person within seconds with just its gaze.
The worst of it all was that all 11 eyes could work together at the same time.
Normally, an unfortunate person who saw a Beholder would either be paralyzed within a second and quickly turned to stone or be blasted off into ashes by its energy ray without even having the time to say a word.
Finally, even if in some fortunate chance a group could decapitate all 11 eyes, the Beholder still had its main method of physical attack; its sharp teeth. Each tooth was as strong as a high-quality tier 4 weapon, which meant that weapons of the same tier would not be able to break it.
"It is almost impossible to fight that thing by yourself, but it would be even worse if you fight it with many people without the right tactic."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Annara disagreed.
The red-haired girl came out with her ideas, "What about using illusions? That should do the trick, right?"
However, instead of being amazed, Silva's face was full of confusion. Annara did not know if it was just her, but she felt as if the white-haired girl was looking at her like she was an idiot.
"Are you dumb? Do you really think you can fool all 11 eyes with illusions? Not a chance!"
...Silva indeed thought she was a fool.
Despite her discomfort, Annara was not willing to be outsmarted. She huffed before continuing, "We can just surround that thing from multiple sides. One of us will be targeted by the main eye while the rest whittle it to death. Easy."
However, Silva only huffed in amusement when she heard those words. Even without words, her gaze was enough to belittle Annara. This reaction only poured fuel to their rivalry, and the red-haired girl's expression twisted in anger.
Feeling that they would bicker if this were to continue, Emery quickly interjected.
"If we want this to work, you both have to stop fighting!"
Both of them were clearly reluctant, but Annara relented after a moment, albeit a little begrudgingly.
"All right, fine! I'll keep the peace until we get home if you do the same! What do you think, snake?!"
"I wouldn't trust a bloodthirsty bat, but as long as you don't try to stab me in the back, yes, I will maintain peace until we get out of this place."
Silva quickly changed the subject and told the stories from rare survivors of the Beholder. The three tried their best to relate the stories with their respective strengths and find out the best tactic to get out of the situation.
For that to happen, all three must be willing to give out the specifics of their spells, abilities, as well as their weapons.
Emery used the chance to show the emblem-like artifact given by the headmaster. Seeing the artifact, the other two girls quickly nodded.
"I think we have a better chance of survival now,"
To make sure nothing went wrong, the three spent three days practicing together against the high-ranking beasts of the island. They were not only trying out their tactics and seeing how it would hold out in a real battle, but they were also trying to get their teamwork in tune with each other.
They set out on the fourth day, and this time they were a lot more confident to succeed.. When they finally arrived, Emery could not help but stare at the castle standing on top of the mountain, his eyes filled with resolution.