"Hmm? Is something wrong?" Paige, the leader of the fourth squad, asked after seeing Phoebe stop walking.
Her squad met up with Phoebe's squad after killing the Platinum Tier Manipulators that were chasing after them. She was initially planning to end her mission here but Joran seem to have made a mistake and was targeted by three Diamond Tier Manipulators and was trapped inside a dungeon.
She had no choice but to assist in extracting the man…
However, as they were following the path headed to where Joran was trapped, her instincts tells her that she should just give up and return to their base.
As soon as they were getting closer to the dungeon, her instincts is telling her that something was off but she can't find what was wrong…
As soon as Phoebe stopped, she immediately asked her question as the Apostle might see something that she can't.
"I can't sense the thirteenth squad ahead of us…" Phoebe suddenly said.
Paige frowned at this as there could be a few reasons… She wanted to extend her senses as well but unfortunately, she can only sense about 50 meters around her. It's already quite an impressive range but it's obviously not as great as the Apostle.
She had no choice but to wait for Phoebe's decision…
"Should we observe the surroundings first? Let's try to contact Squad Leader Belch again…" Paige suggested.
All the other members weren't just idling around and listening to their conversation as they already formed a defense formation to protect the two leaders at the center.
There was no way that Phoebe would make a mistake… If she felt something was wrong, then there must be one and they have to trust her…
"I already tried… He must've cut it off since there will be energy fluctuations once he activated the communication crystal. He probably found an enemy nearby and needed to hide." Phoebe tried to analyze but she still shook her head.
She can't sense any other people aside from some random Savage Beasts that were living here in the forest.
"Did he perhaps enter the Dungeon? He probably couldn't wait and was worried about Joran's condition…"
"There was no way he would be that brave… If Joran can't win against three Diamond Tier Manipulators with his six Celestial Beings, there's no point making him a Deacon… Belch must have encountered an enemy… We don't know if it's from the Star Garden Peak or it's the Guardian of this forest…" Phoebe replied.
After a few moments, she continued.
"Let's move in an arrow formation… Davy, get in front and use your heavy shield…"
Finally, Phoebe decided to advance as she knows that she can't just retreat after coming here. Even if there is an ambush or their plans were compromised and leaked to the enemies, it wouldn't really matter if they were stronger than them.
As an Apostle, Phoebe was confident that even if a Sage comes forward to deal with Joran, she would be able to do something with her current level of strength.
There was no way she would show weakness here.
After two more minutes of careful walking, Phoebe was able to observe the surroundings better. The moonlight coming from the gaps in the canopy of trees helped her notice the extremely hidden formation arts…
These types of formation arts can not be sensed using normal Mana Sense but they would leave some markings where the mana flow changes.
'Did Belch and the others set up these formation arts?' Phoebe thought as the 13th squad was indeed tasked to create a Formation Art to isolate the dungeon.
If they really arranged this, then it would make sense that she can't feel their presence at the moment.
'Am I overthinking things?' Phoebe mused as she looked at Davy in front. The man wasn't just heavily protected by his Magic Tools but he also has a Mystic Eye that allows him to see abnormalities in the surroundings.
If they were caught in a trap, he would able to sense it first.
As Phoebe was thinking about how they should call the 13th Squad to inform them about their presence, Davy suddenly burst with mana as he activated his shield to the limit!
Haaa!
Without any warning, a burst of purple light came out of his shield and created a corrosive barrier. As soon as he triggered this, the Mana Bullets coming after them were immediately blocked and dissipated…
Nevertheless, the rain of Mana Bullets continued… From this, they can guess that they are facing 10 or more Magicians that specialized in this Tier 2 Mana Art. It never comes across their mind that only one person is firing these Mana Bullets…
After all, each of them is packed with power and could easily break steal based on how the corrosive shield trembles each strike.
At this point, there was no need to ask about the origin of their enemies as everyone realized that they were ambushed. Belch and the rest of the 13th Squad may be defeated by now or at worst, were already killed by the enemies.
"Be ready… Once they exhausted their mana, we'll attack!" Phoebe said as she knows that the perfect time to attack magicians is when they were exhausted after casting some Mana Arts.
Crack… Crack… Crack…
To their surprise, the attackers weren't stopping yet and the shield is already about to be destroyed.
"Twenty Magicians? This is weird…" Phoebe muttered to herself.
Although Manipulators can also cast Tier 2 Mana Arts because they are quite simple to do, she still can't believe that they would use this low-level technique to deal with her, the Apostle of Eiqehin!
They should at least bring out dozens of Platinum Tier or a few Diamond Tier Manipulators if they want to kill her…
As soon as they felt that the shield was about to break, the rain of Mana Bullets finally stop…
Thud!
Davy knelt on the ground as he exhausted his energy just now. Within this team, he's second only to Phoebe when it comes to energy capacity…
Since he was already exhausted and had to kneel on the ground, they would be in deep trouble if another bombardment rained upon them.
However, at this moment, looking at the surrounding grass, six figures of people came out of the grass…
They surrounded them from different directions, the weapons in their hands flickering with cold light.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m