Lynn slumped on the ground after casting several barrier spells. She drained her mana by casting these powerful barriers that could hold a few B-ranks for half an hour.
This was by far the best barrier spell that she casted in her entire life. This was the result of her training.
"Thanks for the hard work." Souta smiled as he gave her some mana potions.
"No, I'm glad that I could help you." Lynn shook her head.
"Stay here and continue to pour your mana in barrier spells. Yuko and I will handle the rest." Souta said to her.
"I'll do my best," Lynn said to him with determination in her eyes.
'It's too early for you to see what will happen next.' Souta thought as he walked beside Yuko.
'You're being considerate to her feelings. It's a good improvement.' Saya said to him.
He doesn't want to show Lynn what will he do to the people inside the barrier. She had to take it step by step if she wanted to get used to brutal scene. Her mind wouldn't be able to handle it if she skips a step.
He knew how kind Lynn is so if she suddenly saw a brutal scene much less if he was the one who did it.
Then...
She will be traumatized and Souta doesn't want that to happen. That's why he's keeping her away from the meantime.
His opponents have several B-rank in their forces so he didn't want to fight them in a head-on battle. They will undoubtedly lose unless Yuko used her blessings. That's why Souta had to get tricky to defeat those B-ranks.
Well, he already had a plan in his mind.
Souta and Yuko entered the barrier and Lynn closed it after they've gone inside.
...
The shielder and his comrades were looking around with a wary expression. The thick black mist was blocking their vision so it was hard for them to make a move in this situation. They didn't even know the abilities and skills of their opponents.
"This mist decreases our strength and senses..." The mage opened his eyes widely as he realized the effect of the mist.
He waved the wand in his hand and casted wind magic to blow the black mist.
Swoosh!!
The wind blew the black mist but it was futile. The black mist still covered them after a few seconds. No matter how much he used wind magic, the black mist will appear again and again as long as they were inside the range of the spell.
[Dark Cloud Hunting] was a spell that could enhance the caster's ability and decrease the opponent's ability at the same time. It was a powerful spell of Souta that he unlocked after promoting his class to Battle Mage.
"It's useless to blow the black mist." The mage said while gritting his teeth. He then waved his hands and casted buff spells to his comrades.
"Leader, the one who attacked me is the commander of the Dark Oculus Legion." The woman named Ramie said to the shielder. Her expression was bad but she could now handle herself compared to when they found her.
"That man! So he decided to move..." The shielder was surprised at first but he understood that no one could easily defeat a B-rank except for the founder of the Dark Oculus Legion.
He understood it himself that the newly established legion didn't have that much manpower so Souta needed to make a move himself to decrease the burdens of his subordinate.
"I will never forgive that man." The swordsman said with anger in his eyes.
"Shh! I hear something..." The rogue in their party said.
Everyone shut their mouth and perked up their ears. They heard faint howling sounds like someone was whispering in their ears. It coming in every direction so it was hard to pinpoint it.
Every second the voices grew louder. Voices of people grieving and crying were all over the place.
It shook the heart of the people that heard it.
"We wouldn't get anything if we stayed in this place. I think we should send some people to look around to see if the enemies are here." The rogue suggested to them.
"Fine, but who will lead the force?" The shielder asked.
"I will lead the other rogues." The rogue replied to his leader.
The shielder and the rest agreed to him. Then, the rogue departed to check the area around them. He brought five people in case something happened to them.
"What do you think will happen to us?" The shielder asked the mage.
"I don't know but I have a bad feeling about the voices. The voices are real, they are not illusions." The mage shook his head. "I'll try firing some spells."
The mage stepped forward and casted a series of powerful spells.
[Wind Cutter]!
[Gust Blade]!
[Gale Bomb]!
The spells landed on the barrier and caused a loud explosion. The explosion shook the entire area but nothing happened to the barrier. His spells didn't even manage to scratch it.
"Just like what I thought. We wouldn't be able to shatter this barrier." The mage said. They healed and woke everyone for half an hour so the enemies prepared this barrier in that time so there's no doubt that this barrier was tough.
He could create a barrier as strong as this one if he prepared it for half an hour but it was hard to use it to imprison his enemies.
"I understand so reserve your mana. We need your strength." The shielder said to him.
After a few minutes, the rogue and the rest came back.
"There are no people but I could feel that someone is watching us within this thick black mist." The rogue said while shaking his head. "Also, I've found that this barrier is one hundred-meter in radius with us the center of it."
The area inside the barrier was huge. They could instantly guess that this place was like a maze of death. Creepy things were lurking around in the shadows watching their movements.
They could break this barrier by combining their strength but what if the enemies were waiting for them to exhaust their strength by breaking the barrier. Just one wrong move and it will lead to their doom.
While they were talking several black tentacles emerged from the ground. They quickly moved away as the tentacles stretched out towards them.
"Everyone retreat! Move away from these vile things!" The shielder and mage shouted at the same time.
The black tentacles moved and targeted the weakest members of their group.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The swordsman and the rogue swiftly moved from side to side as they tried to cut the black tentacles.
But the problem for them was that the number of black tentacles. No matter how much they cut it another one would just emerged from the ground.
"There's no end to it, Frankie," Ramie said to the swordsman.
"It doesn't matter. Just move back to away from these tentacles!" The swordsman named Frankie said as he slashed his sword left and right.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
One of the tentacles managed to grab one of their C-rank members. The tentacles pulled the man away.
"Argh!!"
"Help me!!"
"Frankie, help!!"
"No!!!"
The voices of their comrades echoed as the tentacles broke their defense and took the weakest members of their group.
The black tentacles weren't a problem for B-ranks as they could easily avoid it but for C-ranks... It was a nightmare for them.
Frankie widely opened his eyes as he watched the black tentacles took his comrades one by one. The scream and cry of his comrades rung in his head.
"AHHH!!"
He roared as he tried to help his remaining comrades.
Before everyone realized it they got separated into two groups. The shielder's group and Frankie's group.
"We've got separated from, leader. This is bad. Splitting us is the true motive of our opponent." The mage said with a pale expression. He gritted his teeth and said, "We should've gone all out from the start. This wouldn't happen if we weren't too cautious."
He looked at them and took a deep breath. Their force was still great as they have four B-rank in their group. Ramie, Frankie, the healer, and he were all B-ranks. They were a force to reckon in the circle of adventurers. Plus, there were seven C-rank adventurers with them.
If they anticipated the opponent's movement then they could win this fight.
In this battle, he realized one thing. By splitting their group means that their opponents wanted to avoid a direct battle against them. It means that they have a chance to win if they could find their opponents and force them to fight.
"We need to find our leader as soon as possible." The healer said with a pale expression. It seems that she too understood the plan of their opponents.
"Yeah, they will attack one of our groups." The mage nodded with a gloomy look.
In the mid-air close to the barrier, Souta was looking at them with a wide grin on his face. He drunk a bottle of mana potion and said, "It seems that they treasure their comrades, right?"
'Ufufu, what an evil goblin you are...' Saya chuckled at his words.
"I admit it. They are strong but... hehe~ what about if I break their mind... Can they still show those skills of theirs? This is just the beginning of this show."