Among the scout group, everyone there has a specific skill that lets them suppress the fluctuation of their Energies for a time. That way, even if they will come into the range of the enemies, they will not be detected easily. And even if they're detected, they can just run back to the nearest scout or run directly towards us, the attacker group.
After around 20 minutes of cautious traveling from the Blue Core, Monady who acted as the leader of this group put a hand up, signaling us to stop moving.
"One of our scouts found traces of battle at the northeastern side of the big golden circle." She said without looking back at any of us.
With her limited vision, she looked from left and right before consulting the map up above.
We're near the middle of this castle town ruin. The big golden circle is located at a supposed town square in the middle. We could already make out the town square and the structures surrounding it from where we are. However, because of the darkness limiting our field of vision, whatever that big golden circle is, we will not know unless it entered our 100-meter range.
I followed her gaze and checked the map, the northeastern side of it has at least three golden circles. And the scout which was indicated by the blue circle was remaining stationary near one of the golden circles. It's glowing which indicates that it's inside that scout's 100-meter range.
"If it's only traces of battle and given that the golden statue there is still standing, the enemies probably retreated." Monady continued and this time, she scanned her gaze towards us, waiting for someone else to give their opinion.
And seeing none of us wanted to speak up, Irja took it upon herself to do it. She contemplated for a while before opening her mouth. "Maybe they also noticed our scout. Let him retreat first."
Satisfied with her opinion, Monady gave her an approving smile before using the crystal in her hand to communicate with that scout.
I guess I can leave the decision to these two women. They're both thinking clearly anyway. I just don't know about the other three why they're not voicing out their opinion.
As soon as she finished, the stationary blue circle from earlier started moving back in a careful manner.
However, before he could gain some distance from that golden circle, five red circles suddenly appeared and entered the 100-meter range around him. The five's positions were encircling him which meant that even before he contacted us, those five already positioned themselves to ambush him.
In a blink of an eye three of the five red circles charged towards the lone blue circle.
"He's being ambushed! Let's go!" Monady shouted and immediately leaped. She landed on a roof of a ruined house and continued to leap from roof to roof, taking the shortest route towards the ambushed scout.
Following her, the other Dafirae Transcendent produced another crystal to relay the situation back to Grenol. Although they can also see the map, making decisions will be better if it is backed up by actual information from us.
To speed up our response, I thought of using the Support Hero's Haste but decided against it. It's better to reserve it for a truly critical situation. The scout might die, true, but it's better to have a contingency plan in case the worst-case scenario happens.
With every second that passed, the red circles continued to rush towards the scout. However, with the resiliency of a Rank 2 Transcendent, he still hasn't gone down.
Around two minutes later, the darkness in front of Monady opened up as her 100-meter range merged with the scout's 100-meter.
As soon as he entered my field of vision, I started examining his current status. The scout who is one of the freed Transcendents was already in tatters. Broken arm, bleeding hole on his side and pale face due to the loss of blood as well as dwindling energy reserves. He's already spent. One more hit and he'll die.
"They're here. Hurry and finish him!"
Upon noticing us, one of the enemy Transcendents whose legs were swollen to a point that he started to appear like a giant with a human-sized upper body shouted to the enemy Transcendent nearest to our scout.
The enemy Transcendent didn't dawdle and immediately leap to deliver a final blow to the scout.
"No! My movement skill will not reach in time. Anyone. Save him!" Monady frustratingly shouted.
A loss of one person will instantly put us at a disadvantage in this 20 versus 20 so her reaction is acceptable.
Since no one appeared to have a movement skill that will traverse the remaining more than 100 meters distance.
"Follow after me. I can save him but I don't think I can last longer than a minute against them." I said before taking out the Totem.
I didn't wait for their reply as I immediately moved to cast the Elemental Spell.
Skipping the first two steps due to its Proficiency being at Skilled, I moved on filling up and arranging the six Elemental Nodes of the Elemental Spell. Spending a few seconds on that, it was followed by enclosing it with its Magic Trigger.
As soon as that happened, I didn't hesitate and immediately poured more Flux Energy into the Totem to activate one of my strongest Movement Spell.
Vanishing Steps!
Compared to the Flourishing Steps which was an accelerating Movement Spell that allows it to traverse a longer distance, Vanishing Steps is its opposite, it instantly bursts with its full speed and the constant deceleration will happen halfway through its maximum range of 300 meters.
Whoosh!
As I heard the whistling of the wind in my ears, the scout and the enemy Transcendent zoomed in my vision.
Before I landed on his side, I already lifted the Willful Sword to block the enlarged fist of the enemy Transcendent.
Bam!
Sparks were instantly created as soon as his fist and the sword hit each other and the force of it made my feet embed deeply in the ground.
Feeling its explosive force, my Adaptability gauged the strength of my opponent. He's nearing 400 UPL! Even with my activated Domain of Valor, he's still a lot stronger than me. And due to it being deactivated, the force of his fist was enough to make me feel some pain that blood started dripping out of my mouth.
"What is this? A brave Rank 1 Transcendent? Die with him then!"
Although the enemy was a bit surprised at my sudden appearance by blocking his fist to save the scout behind me, he smirked upon recognizing my current strength.
In response to my meddling, he lifted his fist was planning to deliver another attack.
At this moment, my Adaptability continued to work and identified more of his traits. The guy has a vigorous Energy Intensity. Because of that, all of his attacks are overflowing with his Energy. Although that was truly excessive, if someone was subjected to it, if their mental state is a bit awry, they will be overwhelmed and will start thinking of dodging rather than blocking.
Upon seeing that, my mind continued to work on how to survive this situation.
Since I charged in quickly to save the scout, I hadn't had the chance to activate any of my buff skills. That's why as soon as he lifted his fist, the three Jewel Skills; Domain of Valor, Bulwark of Invulnerability and Bedevilled Outburst was activated simultaneously.
When the enemy Transcendent saw the Energy Explosion Projectiles and Quintuple Shields materialized around me, one of his eyebrows raised.
Instead of only hitting me with another of that fist attack which embedded my feet on the ground, he lifted his other fist to deliver an additional attack.
BOOM! BOOM!
With two enlarged fists dropping on me, the Quintuple Shields broke open in just a few seconds and even with the Energy Explosion Projectiles hitting the surface of his fist, it could only reduce the force of his attack for a bit.
Weighing in my choices, I instantly decided to turn around and dodge. Picking up the weakened scout and carrying him on my shoulder, I cast the Mastered three-nodes Aether Steps to get out of his fist's way.
"What the hell are you doing? Can't you--"
Amidst the rubble and the force made when his fist hit the ground where I was previously stuck, I heard the enemy Transcendent from earlier shout but was immediately cut off by something.
"Hurry and save the two of them!"
"Ember!"
I recognized Monady's voice as the one who first shouted and probably the one who cut him off. The other one was Irja shouting my made-up alias.
Even if I couldn't see clearly yet, with my Adaptability and Energy Sensitivity, the surrounding Energy experienced a turmoil as each and every Rank 2 Transcendent at this place activated a skill that clashed with one another.
Thanks to the other five of the attacking group marking each of the surrounding enemy Transcendents, the yellow danger warning from my Adaptability stopped.
When the dust settled, I looked back to the enemy Transcendent only to see Irja who's riding a broomstick-like equipment that completed her witch-like appearance blocking my view.
With her back turned to me, her arms were moving quickly as numerous and colorful attacks launched towards the enemy Transcendent with two enlarged arms.
While she's doing that, Irja turns her head sideways, enough to look behind her and shouted.
"Stop being dazed there. Stand up and help me!"
Since we're out of danger, I put down the scout and put one of Alwyn's medicinal pills in his mouth.
Afterward, I extended both Bulwark and Domain to her, giving her a boost in all of her stats. "Thanks for the help, Irja."
Upon hearing my voice and feeling the boost in her stats, she smiled and gave me an approving nod just like how Monady did it earlier.
Without wasting any more time, Irja increased the attacks being sent to the enemy Transcendent. In just a few seconds, screams of pain started to escape from his mouth.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel