"Master!"
Ember reacted almost instantly, creating a noose and throwing it in my direction. I grabbed it just in time before I was completely sucked into the red portal.
"Ugh! No!"
However, it seems like Ember alone couldn't prevent the powerful force from pulling me inside. She was dragged several steps forward as my legs entered the portal.
"Not on my watch!"
Ying Yue quickly stepped in, grabbing the rope from the middle and pulling hard. My legs got out of the portal thanks to her effort, but the pulling force became even stronger.
"Arrrgh!"
My head ached as if it were being knocked by hammers on all sides. The voice from earlier repeated itself, making me lose strength in my hands for a moment.
"Will!"
Ying Yue tried to jump and grab my hands, but the pulling force was too powerful. Before she could even lean forward, I was already on the other side of the portal.
As soon as I landed, the pulling force vanished. I looked ahead and saw that the red portal was rapidly closing. Before it could completely close, however, three figures jumped in.
"Master, are you alright?!"
Ember was the first one to approach, ignoring the red portal closing behind her. Ying Yue quickly scanned the surroundings, keeping watch for any enemies that would approach. Fina rushed to my side and worriedly grabbed my arms, just like Ember did.
"I'm fine; nothing happened. But where are we?"
I asked as I looked around. Before us, nothing but barren land could be seen. As I was confused, a loud boom echoed from above, sending shockwaves that forced us to roll on the ground.
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
Explosions echoed continuously, sending us rolling further and further from our initial position. Ying Yue managed to recover her stance and slapped the ground with her tail, preventing her from rolling any further.
She grabbed me by the collar while she stepped on Fina's back to stop her. Ember was out of her range, so she ended up rolling a bit more. A few meters away, Ember took out a clone and morphed it into a pickaxe, swinging it powerfully to the ground and holding her in place.
As we finally gained the leeway to look around, all of us stared up at where the explosions came from. There, two figures were fighting a vicious battle. One figure was covered in blue energy as he kept swinging a large blade, while the other was covered in dark energy with tentacle-like appendages protecting him from the other's attack.
It wasn't hard to identify who those two were. It was none other than God Zeshion and Noir.
"We came to the middle of a god's battlefield?!"
I almost panicked. If we stayed here, then just the aftershocks of their battle could more or less injure us. A stray shot would sign us up for a one-way ticket to heaven.
"Young Lady!"
At this moment, a familiar voice echoed from behind. There, standing near Ember, was Vermeil, who had a bloody wound on her left shoulder. Her clothes looked battered, as if she had just gone through a gruesome battle.
"Why did you come here?! It's dangerous!"
She shouted as she collected the four of us easily before flying away. Still, getting carried by the collar while flying rapidly at a high altitude is a pretty exciting experience... No, honestly, it was just plain scary. I was even having a hard time breathing, as the collar of my shirt was already choking me. Is this a new form of torture?
A moment later, we approached a nun-like woman who had a barrier set up. She was busy blocking the attacks from something moving at high speeds, so she didn't even have time to greet us.
"Back off!"
Vermeil yelled before sending a wide-area flame breath, clearing the immediate surroundings of the barrier. She was like a dragon from the movies, spewing hot flames as she rapidly descended.
She threw the four of us at the nun, who was surprised by our sudden appearance.
"Blanc! Take care of our young miss and the others!"
Vermeil shouted before zooming away once more. She disappeared in a flash, showing that she actually slowed down for us earlier. The nun glanced at us before showing a gentle smile.
"Welcome back, you two."
The nun, whom Vermeil called Blanc, addressed Ying Yue and Ember. I only realized her true identity after hearing her name, revealing that she was one of the only five god-tamers.
"You must be Will, right? I heard of you from Grandpa Blue."
"Pfft!"
I couldn't hold back a chuckle as I heard what she just called God Zeshion. Although I did hear that Goddess Blanc was picked up and trained by God Zeshion himself, hearing her call him casually with "Granpa" as a prefix was outside of my expectations.
As she spoke with a sweet smile, however, her arms kept on moving around, as if swatting something away. Outside the barrier, I could see golden discs moving around and swatting incoming projectiles and energy attacks. Her control and precision were astounding!
*Crack!*
A worrying sound echoed from behind me, making me turn around in panic. There, the barrier had cracks spreading wide as three red crescent waves of what seemed like claws came into contact with it.
I looked ahead from where it came and noticed the familiar red figure floating above.
"The Succubus Lord!"
I shouted in reflex.
Upon hearing my words, Goddess Blanc pulled my shoulders forcefully.
"You know what that monster is?"
She asked with eyes shining with expectation. However, I gently shook my head in denial.
"No, I only know its name and that it's stronger than a Void Beast."
As I replied, I could see how Goddess Blanc was disappointed. However, she still smiled and patted my head gently.
"It's fine. At least we now have its name. Great job."
After enjoying the brief moment of having my head patted by a goddess, I quickly turned back to the Succubus Lord. In my eyes, it was radiating energy like the sun. I looked at it keenly, scrutinized its properties, and tried to find some weaknesses.
"Although I don't know what it is, I have something that can damage it, at least."
I quickly took out the gun from my storage ring, morphing it into one of the forms that I only used once in training. That is...
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺