The powerful best feram suppressed the mana inside the whole Fersch Kingdom. It greatly decreased the firepower of all the mage inside the dukedom.
The ordinary people didn't have the strength to fight back against this strong and berserk energy. They fell on their knees as they were having a hard time breathing. Everyone began to panic at this point. They don't know what's happening right now.
"W-What happened?!"
"H-Help me!!"
"My son!!"
Several screams asking for help rang around the whole Fersch dukedom. The adventurers who have a certain resistance tried to help the ordinary people but their numbers were too low to help all the people in the dukedom.
The guards too were helping the people but even then... It still wasn't enough.
The Adventurers Guild immediately immobilized a party that will help the people in the dukedom. Their response was fast but what happened next was outside of everyone's expectation.
Boom! Boom!
The ground trembled and countless dark vine eaters emerged from it. They made a hole on the ground and came out of it. It caused destruction in any part of the dukedom. Everyone was stunned when they saw this.
Without waiting for them to regain their senses, several dark vine eaters killed the guards and adventurers. At this point, the other guards and adventurers snapped. They pulled out their weapons at the same time and tried to fight the dark vine eaters.
Lumilia and Brando looked around at their surroundings with a gloomy expression.
In just a few minutes, the whole Fersch dukedom changed. Everything inside the dukedom was chaotic. The adventurers and the guards were trying to fight back against the dark vine eater. But they were at a disadvantage because of the best feram that was covering the whole dukedom. Plus, the numbers of dark vine eater was more than they could handle.
"Best feram? And this level of energy... It was stronger than Souta when he used monster potion back in the Gripen city." Lumilia muttered as she felt the suppressing energy of the monster in the atmosphere.
"Are you sure?" Brando asked Lumilia. He wasn't present in the battle in the Gripen city so he didn't know how fierce the battle that happened there. He didn't even know how powerful Souta when he was using the best feram.
"Yes... This best feram is entirely on a different level." Lumilia nodded at him. This was the terror of the monster. She wouldn't be able to properly use her mana if the monster was powerful.
Boom!
A dark vine eater emerged from the ground and appeared before them.
Brando immediately raised his shield and used a combat arts that he knew.
[Shield Bash]!
He smashed his shield on the huge body of the dark vine eater.
Bang!
Lumilia pulled out her sword and charged towards the dark vine eater. With her level of power, the best feram in the atmosphere could prevent her from using any kind of spell. If she pushed herself to use a spell, then there's a high chance that it would only explode in front of her.
Swoosh!
She arrived at the side of the dark vine eater and slashed her sword. Her sword managed to cut the body of the monster.
Roar!
The dark vine eater roared in anger. The three vines on its back stretched out. It flew towards Lumilia as it wanted to stab her to death.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Brando appeared in front of her and blocked those vines using his shield.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Thanks. I'll leave the defense to you." Lumilia said before she jumped over Brando. She then aimed her sword at the dark vine eater before she stabbed it in the eye.
[Lightning Stab]!
Blood spurted out as her sword pierced the eye of the monster. The monster roared in anger and it swept out its tail but Brando was here blocked any attack of the dark vine eater.
Brando reacted quickly and blocked all the incoming attacks that came from the dark vine eater.
The combination of the two was exceptional as they managed to kill a single dark vine eater in just a minute.
"Luckily, I knew some sword arts of my family," Lumilia said with a sigh. She was thankful that she learned this skill when she was a child. She knew that without her mana she wouldn't be able to defeat a single dark vine eater. But Brando was here. She knew that Brand would be able to protect her against the attack of the monster.
"Huff..." Brando exhaled and said, "The power of the dark vine eater is stronger than I imagined. I could only use combat arts but without buff spells, I wouldn't be able to fight against many dark vine eaters."
Lumilia glanced at Brando before she looked around at her surroundings. She still could see a lot of dark vine eaters rampaging across the whole Fersch dukedom.
Boom!
The ground suddenly shook and a dark vine eater burst out.
Swoosh!
The monster flew in the air without any signs of life. A figure flew in the air and grabbed the body of the monster. The figure then threw the monster on the ground.
Boom!
The impact created a small crater on the ground.
"That's..." Brando was surprised when he saw the figure.
"Bryan!" Lumilia exclaimed as she recognized that this person was none other than Bryan.
"Oh, you two are here!" Bryan turned his head and looked at them with a surprised expression.
Lumilia and Brando approached Bryan. Lumilia glanced at the dead body of the dark vine eater and asked, "You're still fighting."
"Yeah, they kept coming at me," Bryan explained to them that even though he took down a lot of dark vine eaters a lot of them were still alive.
Bryan fought and defeated more than twenty dark vine eater on his own in the sewers. But he found that their numbers wasn't decreasing at all. No, in fact, their numbers kept increasing.
He was retreating when the best feram suppressed all the mana in the whole land. Countless monsters appeared before Bryan and he didn't have a choice but to fight with his bare hand.
"I see..." Lumilia nodded and she noticed that Bryan was covered in bruises all over his body. Blood was flowing out in some of his wounds.
"Where is Souta? I thought that he is going to investigate to duke's mansion." Bryan asked as he didn't saw Souta with them.
Brando and Lumilia looked at each other when they heard his question. Lumilia smiled wryly and explained to him what happened to Souta.
...
"What?! Souta was captured!!" Bryan exclaimed in a loud voice. "What are you waiting for?! Let's rescue him right away!!"
"Bryan, do you think that Souta needs our help?" Lumilia asked Bryan a simple question.
"Yes, why?" Bryan simply answered her question.
Brando and Lumilia sighed when they heard his answer. Brando said, "You see, Souta could have escaped from the guards with his strength but why he didn't try to escape?"
"Brando is right. From our information, Souta was wearing a mask at that time. He even removed his mask to let the guards know his identity. That way, even if Souta escape from them they could easily post a wanted poster about him." Lumilia added.
"Oh, you are right. But why Souta let the guards capture him?" Bryan asked as he tilted his head in confusion.
"I don't know but Souta formed a plan in his mind after discovering the secret of the duke." Lumilia paused for a moment as she looked at the dark vine eaters. She then said, "So right now, we only need to focus on the problem in front of us. I think defeating these dark vine eaters would help Souta."
"Oh! I see..." Bryan nodded and he looked around. He smiled and said, "Then, let's quickly finish all these monsters at once."
...
Every prisoner inside the jail was causing a commotion. They don't have any idea what's happening in the dukedom. Some of the weak prisoners lose consciousness due to the pressure of the best feram.
"Hey, you!!" One of the prisoners shouted at Souta.
Souta lifted up his head and pointed at his nose. "Me?"
"Yes, you. You have a sword there and it seems that most of your belongings are with you. Why the heck the guards didn't confiscate those things?" The prisoner said to Souta in a loud voice.
"Hmm..." Souta smiled as he rubbed his chin. "Maybe, they are afraid that I'm going to kill. After all, I threatened them not to touch me."
"What are you saying? Use that and help us escape from these cells!" The prisoner said to Souta while pointing at the sword on Souta's waist.
"Why should I do that?" Souta smiled as he stood up and looked at the prisoners. He then patted his clothes while saying, "Well, I won't help you as all of you don't have the qualification."
Suddenly, a crimson red light glowed on the upper part of Souta's shoulder. The crimson light passes through his clothes. And with a simple looked everyone could see that the crimson light was the face of a fierce bear.
"Come, Yuko," Souta said in a low voice and the crimson light glow brightly.
After a few moments, a loud roar echoed in the whole jail.
Roar!!