"How would you like to die?"
Arto asked Lagartha imposingly, his last-stage Awakened aura manifesting around him. It was clear that he had basically ignored Eren because of his Meta rank status.
Eren wasn't worthy of Arto's attention. At least that's what Arto thought.
Lagartha chuckled at Arto's threat before responding to him.
"Heh! Only time will tell who dies and how. Meanwhile, catch these throws."
Lagartha had loads of Meta rankers in the audience bound by the vines she sprouted from the ground. The vines had grown long and thick enough for them to lift the Meta rankers off the ground. They couldn't get away from the vines' bindings even after firing multiple spells at them.
Lagartha also started to siphon the rankers' mana and life essence through the vines. She would use these siphoned essences to grow and power up her vines even further. Plus, the vines weren't something the Meta rankers could break free from since they were cast with rank-2 mana.
As a result, when Lagartha threw these Meta rankers like balls, they couldn't do anything to prevent it. All of them were hurled at Arto at the same time from various angles.
Arto narrowed his eyes at Lagertha when the Meta rankers were closing in on him. A moment later, he had drawn his golden sword from its scabbard. A distinct and powerful mana pulse was spread around him as various slashes appeared out of thin air and cut through the flying Meta rankers.
The Meta-ranked Spiders succumbed without putting up much resistance. The victims died before they were allowed to process pain and scream. Only their chopped body parts touched the ground as they died in the air.
Nothing touched Arto. However, there was a crescent-moon-shaped half-circle of chopped body parts, organs, blood, limbs, and torsos around him. The man didn't hesitate to chop up his own guild members instead of giving Lagartha any openings.
"Aaaaargh!"
Raul screamed in pain just after Arto was done with the Meta-ranked Spiders. The latter looked in Raul's direction to find out that someone had really used the window of opportunity Lagartha had created to launch an attack on his side. And it wasn't Lagartha.
Eren had appeared behind Raul– his ax lodged in his right shoulder. The battlemage wanted to target Raul's neck. But the latter had finally snapped out of his confused state of mind at the last moment and prevented a fatal injury. Still, the injury he did receive in exchange wasn't small at all.
Erne summoned his Bear armor right away before deciding to use Hex spells right away. He gripped his axes hard before casting his weapon-based spells.
Lightning-fire Wave
The ax blades released attacks infused with elemental fusion. The battlemage spun around and attacked Raul's right thigh next. The intent imbued into the attack was so strong and piercing that it managed to break through Raul's defenses and injure him even further.
Eren then used his movement spell Blitz Bolt to run away from his position. He was being threatened by a blade storm coming his way. Raul retreated towards Vasemir for the time being. He felt awkward seeking permission from the same guy he had attacked just a few minutes ago with all he got. But it couldn't be helped.
The trio of caretakers realized that Eren couldn't be ignored because of his Meta rank status. The guy could injure and hurt an Awakened rank entity. Agreed, he had used Raul's mental status and Lagartha's opening to his advantage to pull this feat off. However, having the courage to pull off something like this alone told the trio that Eren could be as threatening to them as Lagartha if not more.
Eren appeared beside Lagartha when he was done attacking Raul. It seemed to be regretting the fact that he couldn't finish Raul off in the small window available to him.
"Who the fuck is this paleass bastard?"
Arto asked Lagartha while keeping his eyes on Eren. The latter looked up at Arto before running his fingers through his hair. Raul answered that question for him when he finally recognized Eren from various reports about him.
"White-haired battlemage. He… he is Eren Idril. The guy who got so many important Spiders killed."
By this time, only Eren, Lagartha, Arto, Vasemir, and Raul were present at the scene. Most of the Meta rankers were eliminated by Lagartha and Arto. Others chose to run away instead of waiting to be slaughtered by either side.
"This is not all."
Vasemir spoke all of a sudden. He looked at Eren as if trying to figure out what was so special about him. He then looked at Arto before speaking up.
"This man came here after killing Bobby. He killed him with his own hands. He and his aids made the Awakened rankers from both sides get involved in the battlefield meant for Meta rankers."
Arto had a stoic look on his face when he heard that Bobby was killed by Eren. He wouldn't have called Bobby a close friend. But the guy's death needed to be avenged nonetheless.
"Eren Idril, huh? The name certainly rings a bell. It seems like I underestimated you."
He then looked at his armor carefully and something dawned on him.
"So you are a Hexer. This was how you could kill Bobby it seems."
Arto cursed an entire generation of Hexers when he found out Eren was one of them. Hexers always played spoilsport in many personal and organizational conflicts. And it seemed that Eren was only perpetuating stereotypes.
Eren had to say that Arto was a very astute observer. He first figured out the weakness behind Ariadne's spell. And now this. The battlemage knew that battling Arto wouldn't be easy for him. He did not have any weaknesses to exploit. And he seemed a balanced ranker who would look after both the offense and defense parts of his battle style.
***
Eren and Lagartha had their conversation in secret while both sides were observing an uninitiated stalemate. They were discussing the next phase of the plan. Something that concerned the success or failure of their three-person raid.
'Lagartha, you need to handle Arto for a while. I'll take care of Vasemir and Raul somehow. The drug should have kicked in by now in Raul's body. So it won't be that difficult.
Once I'm done with both of them, I'll take on Arto while you empty all the critical resources from the warehouse with Ariadne. You girls need to make a run for it. I'll hold the other Spiders and any possible pursuers you might have.'
Eren had an ambitious plan to loot all of the warehouse's resources for himself. He planned to stay behind to make this plan a success.
Lagartha looked slightly panicked by Eren's self-sacrificing plan. She knew that there would be other Spiders coming into the warehouse to fortify its defenses. The ones they had killed were only the ones that were already stationed here. More Spiders will be dispatched here once they figure out the mess in Eren's previous battlefield.
Eren's plan seemed okay on the surface but he assumed too many things to make the plan work. How would he kill Vasemir and Raul, get rid of Arto, and prevent other Spiders from pursuing the escaping Lagartha and Ariadne? Nobody knew.
Plus, staying behind meant he would have to face the wrath of Spiders' reinforcements as well as members from his own guild. And since he was doing this raid behind his guild's backs, it couldn't expect any support from its members. He would die here no matter how many trump cards he had gained from the Hexers' grounds.
Eren knew what Lagartha was thinking. He smiled to himself before adding further.
'Death is no problem for me. To begin with, this was a synth body. I'll just come back to Gilaahan using my real body if this one gets destroyed.'
'But…'
Lagartha tried to talk Eren out of his plan. However, Eren shook his head before responding to her through voice communication.
'This is the plan we came up with together. There's no backing out now. Some sacrifices are necessary to achieve something greater than usual.'
Sighing, the battlemage said to Lagartha. He was speaking big to relieve Lagartha's stress. He was very afraid to die as well. This is even though he had died without any safety net in the past.
Plus, there were various side effects of destroying the synth body. He wasn't even sure that he would wake up right away. However, there was no other way the raid on the warehouse could have been successful for all three of them.
Lagartha could only sigh at Eren's decision. She also respected it as she replied.
'Fine. You seem awfully trusting of both of us. Fine. I'll try to hurt Arto as much as I can before I leave. Let's do this.'
Eren and Lagartha both looked at each other and smiled. They fist-bumped at each other before disappearing from their positions.