6
Elemire ran up to her leader, Tien, reluctantly relaying the news.
"They were thoroughly defeated. Two died and the rest fled, Tien. One of the deceased was, practically, burnt to death"
The huntress expected her leader to cry out indignantly, either that or he would vent his frustrations on the brothers. However, neither of that happened. He was concentrating his thoughts somewhere else, apparently unbothered by the defeat of their guinea pig.
The monk looked up to see the wizard signal them with Sight. Turning to his guild, he gave the green light, not before handing each of them a fly wing.
"Von will come in as soon as you head in. Your jobs are easy, simply distract them" Tien assured them.
With that said, Elemire, Galor, Agis, Wart, Von and Opium, readied themselves and barged into the infiltrated base and formed a tight group. The Avenger, surprised at the unexpected invasion, immediately took up their weapons and anticipated the onslaught. But the appearance of a wizard distracted them. The wizard, striding purposefully into the base entrance with his hands full of blue gemstones, caused the Avenger to mistake him for Sagi. Their brief misjudgment ended as they realized that the wizard was wearing white robes, unlike Sagi.
The strange wizard, his face hidden behind a Masquerade mask, tossed the gemstones into the air and waggled his fingers. Then, the blue gemstones in the air glowed and halted in the midst of the fall, slowly circling and widening the diameter of the circle formed. With a sharp command, a broad, pinkish pillar erected, encompassing the whole of State Overlord, rather than the normal safety wall than only protects each person individually.
The Avenger let their breathe out in disbelief, for before them stood the erection of a large version of Safety Wall. Nobody had cast this out of the ordinary spell before, not even in the history.
"How in the name of Odin did he do that?" Cerberus murmured.
"I've never seen this before," Pay exclaimed, his arm still disabled from the earlier attack on his shoulder. They had already removed the arrow, but Manald was still unable to heal the hideous wound completely. The hunter had asked her to stop, so she could save her energy for the rest instead.
"I wish Sagi was here though," Nimmber hoped.
They continued observing the phenomenon, none wanting to attack, well aware that the massive wall of protection would repel all sorts of hostility.
The wizard, by the name of Von, started towards the large safety wall – and the earth beneath him vibrated violently before it exploded. A plot of the earth thrust upwards, sending the wizard flying a few feet up the air and then plummeted face first. Recognizing the Heaven's Drive spell, Cerberus turned around to see Sagi standing behind them, his arms still extended after the spell casting. The safety wall suddenly vanished following Von's fall.
The female rogue stared wide-eyed at Sagi, saying something that sounded like, "He sure appears at the right time."
"Where have you –"
"Well, well. Sagi to the rescue yet again," a deep voice interjected. Tien stepped through the castle doors with the sticks still in his hands, looking surreptitiously at Sagi.
"What do you want?" the wizard asked.
The undeterred monk continued advancing, as if unaffected by the fact that he was unarmed. On the contrary, the rest of the Overlords began to increase their awareness due to the deprivation of their battle gears, plus, their only means of protection, the mighty safety wall, was dispelled.
"King Tristan and this accursed city of his are going to perish, all because of you underhand bunch," the impassive monk continued, shifting his stare to Skull as he spoke, silently pointing out the culprit of the corrosion incident.
The defenseless Overlords looked tempting to exterminate, but Cerberus held them back firmly, reminding them that killing a defenseless opponent will deem them a coward since it is not a fair combat.
"How noble of you, Sir Knight. Unfortunately, it'll be the last time you're going to play the good guy," Tien said, noticing the lecture Cerberus gave.
"You see, knight, what I have here, is more than enough to wipe out Prontera, not to mention, you fools here," he said, holding up four dead branches.
"You bas–"Pay halted when Manald clamped his mouth shut, telling him not to provoke anyone in his debilitated state.
"You should go, my men. Goodbye," Tien spoke in a bizarre tone, preparing to chant the incantations needed to invoke the dead branches into any monstrosities at random.
"Don't get excited too soon, filthy monk. Four porings might come out instead!" Piffy mocked.
Ignoring the alchemist, Tien continued chanting the incantations not everyone knows. He spread his palms out over the dead branches which started to illuminate brighter than a torch. A sense of satisfaction and power coursed through the monk's body, causing him to chant louder and faster, but incoherently. After a brief pause in his chants, he let the branches fall, much to the Avenger's curiosity and maybe even, trepidation.
"Divine heavens and shadowy hells; grant the existence of the merciless beings!"
The four thick dead branches emanated such white, blinding light that everybody at the scene was forced to shield their painful eyes from the light. An ear piercing howl intensified the phenomenon, threatening to destroy their eardrums and replacing their courage with horror. The howl then became a menacing growl, that of a blood-thirsty werewolf.
When the light slowly dissipated and the debilitating screams died, the apparitions standing before them were nothing of resemblance to werewolves. Instead, four humanoid warriors were brought into existence through nondescript yet vicious branches.
The Overlords stood staring at the four unusually humongous warriors wide eyed and with drooping jaws, totally forgetting about their planned escape until Tien frantically shouted at them. Recovering from their shock, they fumbled for a fly wing and teleported to elsewhere.
During the summoning process, when the white light blinded everyone, Sagi took opportunity of the spellbound Avenger and sneaked to the entrance, then out of the base with goggles shielding his eyes from the hurting light. He made use of the doors to hide himself, at the same time surveying the scene attentively. Other battles were still going on, but not as destructive and exciting when it just started. The cheers subsided, most of the audience enthralled, a minority affected with a sore throat from the incessant screams.
Seeing the four demonic warriors materialize, he immediately acted accordingly as planned. Gathering his magical abilities, he summoned walls of spike-topped ice pillars along the entrance. Summoning a few more rows of ice walls behind the first in case it wears off, he smiled to himself as the entrance was sealed tightly, barring the escape route.