“Let’s avoid Hatillup for now. No need to confront him.” Dunzhia led the way toward the left.

  With everyone fighting chaotically, their group made their way through the battlefield with ease. More often than not, it ended with a 2-on-1, so they just made quick work of the cultists. However, they soon face the first obstacle. Four freshly looking cultists headed toward them from the front. That number couldn’t be a coincidence.

  Zalanir erected a shield on his arm and used that to block the opponent’s fireballs. His resources weren’t ideal, and he had made it clear to Dunzhia already, so he just needed to hold on until help came.

  As expected from someone who pressured even one of the two bosses of the cult, Dunzhia sliced the cultist in half in a downward strike before coming to his spot. It looked like just a normal day in the office for her.

  Though the surprise had to be on the skinny man. Or rather, a lizard man, as the man now had donned an orange, tightly packed scale armor from the top to bottom. He ripped apart a cultist’s arm using his two hands with ease. Or perhaps calling them claws would be more accurate. The front limbs were twice the size of his normal hands, with big, black, curved claws perched on top.

  It didn’t take long for them to finish the rest before being on the move again. Half way. Not a ton of enforcers and hunters this deep in this area, so the resistance became harder and harder for them to break through. The enemy’s attention rested firmly on them now. Zalanir couldn’t just play defensive any longer, as the enemies were converging to their spot.

  “Hey Dunzhia, what are you doing?” A ball of ice spikes dropped on their left, separating three cultists from their spot. A familiar face appeared a moment later next to Dunzhia. Her hair was still as neat and clean as the last time he saw her at the beginning of their arrival.

  “The ritual. We have to stop it.”

  “How? Did the captain tell you anything?” The ice mage inquired.

  “No, but we can’t put everything on him. Look. Wagenner was still alive. It has been this long already.”

  Hearing their conversations clearly, Zalanir was surprised at Dunzhia’s response. So it wasn’t just because he himself had asked her for help. The woman herself had also considered this option already. Perhaps his coming to her was just the impetus to set this charge in motion.

  “And how would you plan to do that? What’s the plan?”

  “He will do that. We just need to give him a path.” Dunzhia pointed her finger at him. That action put him under the scrutiny of the ice woman.

  “Him? You trust a bait?” the ice mage whispered.

  “What? Bait? What is that?” Zalanir couldn’t believe what he had just heard. A bait? When did he become one?

  “You heard that? … Never mind, it’s fate. I hate to leave everything up to fate, so I don’t trust you.” She shot him a cold gaze.

  “We have no other option. Even if we go to the captain’s place, it isn’t a guarantee that we could help kill Wagenner. A backup option like this is good. In the worst case, we could be a distraction to the enemies.” Dunzhia tapped the ice mage’s arm three times. “Let’s go. We are running out of time.”

  Indeed, time wasn’t on their side. The emerald sphere was spinning and shaking like a pottery wheel on steroids already.

  Though what they said earlier still stuck in his head. What was this bait that they mentioned? He replayed everything in quick succession from the start of this battle, but nothing stood out. The stag? No, it was him who went there and helped Dakrua. Now? Not really. He was even saving his resources for the moment he got there. When he got to the altar? Possibly, but if that was the case, then how would the ice mage know that? She just got here, and from the way she quickly corrected the word, she had to be the one who slipped up. This was annoying.

  And to make matters worse, Hatillup was heading their way with the big flail on his shoulder.

  “Tell me. How confident are you?” Dunzhia turned to him after they were stuck again in the thick of the enemies. Eight cultists in total, with at least five more coming from his quick glance.

  “Like I said, I don’t know. This ritual is bigger and seems to be more complicated than the one used to summon the stag. But if I have to give an estimation, probably 25%?”

  “That low?” The ice mage was fuming. The cultist in front of her got a bag of ice powder exploded on the face.

  “Everyone goes ahead. I will hold this place.” Dunzhia kneed down, clanked her two blue swords together and rested them on her shoulders.

  “Dunzhia, you—” The ice woman stretched her hand forward.

  “Go!”

  “If you fail, I will kill you!” The ice mage dropped down a ball of ice spikes again, and rushed ahead when a clear path was open.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Zalanir was still in confusion as to what Dunzhia would do in this situation when her body moved. With a jump to the air, she swirled around with both arms stretching to the sides. The swords hummed with tin, tin sounds and, in a shocking fashion that he couldn’t believe in his eyes, projected two other swords on their tips. As she kept on spinning, two more swords appeared, and soon another two. A lemon yellow shade radiated and hugged all of those swords.

  “Bladestorm: Judgement.” A soft whisper entered his ears in a split of a second before Dunzhia crashed to the middle of five cultists and headed toward Hatillup. Her swords pushed back the enemies, just enough for them to not be close to her, but also still kept them within the whirlwind. A cultist’s arm got sliced off near the shoulder, and said arm continued to be cut into four other pieces before it even dropped to the floor.

  Good luck! He hurried after the other three. That attack seemed like a suicide or ultimate one, so hopefully she reserved something to get out. That trust, though. His heart dropped a beat when the gravity of such a belief was on him to success. He had to make it.

  “Sorry. This is as far as I can go.” Gota stopped after they were about fifteen meters away from where Dunzhia was. “I will hold three enemies here, but that’s all I can do. Have to keep myself light.”

  The lizard man folded his right “hand” down and bumped it into Gota’s. No words said.

  There were only three of them left, but the distance was just shy of about thirty meters from the altar now. The ball of emerald light was already within reach. Just a bit more, and they could be right on top of it.

  A familiar feeling descended upon Zalanir. A bit of fear, but most of that was thrill and the affirmation to prove himself. The captain and the prophet were still fighting in the opposite direction, with the summoning altar acting as the middle point, but the general interest doesn’t seem to be on that fight anymore.

  No, it was their spot, their charge, that was the center of attention at the moment. Waves of cultists were converging on their spot from all directions, and the same was also true for the enforcers and hunters.

  Twenty-five meters remained. The lizard man pounced onto a cultist while blocking another, and then he just lifted both of them up and slammed their heads together. Blood spurted out from the cracks on their foreheads. The ice mage dropped another ball of ice spikes, but it was melted by a flamethrower that originated from a cultist’s mouth before hitting the floor.

  Twenty meters remained. A rain of kunai showered the zone to Zalanir’s left, pinning down four cultists temporarily. So she had come to help as well. Haha, looked like even she had lost faith in the captain as well. If only they had unlimited time in that case. But an if was just an if in this particular moment. Nothing more, and nothing less.

  Sixteen meters remained. Zalanir conjured a pane in front, but still, his body was knocked back by a shoulder ram from a bulky cultist. Not that the enemy’s body was muscular or something, but there was a rock layer covering outside that was like the guy was manning a robot.

  Pushing up and spitting out the warm blood in his mouth, Zalanir shot a salvo of sound bolts. Got to buy time. That emerald sphere was shaking like a washer in spin mode now and could go off at any moment. He wasn’t sure what the final step was like, but it wouldn’t be that far off. The legs of the “rock avatar” also got frozen in a thick ice layer, so that helped as well.

  Eleven meters remained. The lizard man dashed forward, jumped, and slammed his body onto two cultists. Several purple bolts hit him at the same time, but that action opened a path. Only five cultists stood between Zalanir and the summoning altar. It was within reach—

  For the second time of the day, Zalanir found himself being blown into the air again. It was like an air pillar shot right under his feet, bringing with it pain and tremor that continuously ravaged his body. No, not a second time.

  In a moment of desperation, and perhaps luck as well, he reacted by erecting a barrier that lay parallel to the floor. Then, with a light shift in the air, he succeeded in angling his right shoulder to collide with the shield, rolling on the ground after dropping down and leaning onto the momentum to kick his body up.

  His heart drummed and raced. How would he pull that off? He didn’t know, but the fact that his body was still up and running was all that mattered.

  Five meters. He was alone now, but only five meters left. He could reach it. Zalanir stretched his right hand out and leaned forward. The tremor was still raging inside, twisting his internals and making each of his steps shaky. Even a light push from a kid could easily destabilize and throw him to the dirt floor now.

  And he cursed it out loud. This was already the last distance. Two or three seconds more and he could get to the altar, but why did it have to be this hard? Hurukele Whirlwind. Perhaps he had to cast it, after all. This was the last resort, but he wasn’t confident that he could survive inside the raging vortex once it formed. But if not for it, then he truly had nothing left to prevent the charge of the rocky guy. Looked like the ice woman had failed to keep that man out of commission for long.

  Mentally shouting out the ski—

  An explosion stopped him from finishing the action. His body edged forward, only an arm span left before reaching the top of the altar. From the corner of his eye, the rocky man was down on the floor only two meters away. A still-shaking arrow pierced the spot right above the clavicle.

  He didn’t need to turn back. There was only one person in this area who could do that, and that man was on his side. That bastard had to wait until the last moment, huh? But this was a surprise that Zalanir would gladly take anytime of the day. What an annoying class!

  His left hand gripped the smooth, cold edge of the altar. Everything paused at the moment. No sound, so sight, and no thought. Only the raging, soccer-size emerald ball of light floating in front of his face was present now.

  Before this, he still wasn’t sure about all of this. Why did he care so much about helping the enforcers? Was it really about the direct path to Yebin? No, he had plenty of chances to leave and head straight there. Was it about vengeance? The cultists were a bunch of assholes, but was this justified?

  But now, after having the objective floating centimeters away, everything became clear. It was for himself, and himself alone. This was the championship point for the challenger tournament. Enforcers, cultists, and hunters — all of them were just the spectators. This was his ticket to the greater stage.

  Soul Collection. The skill had guided his way in this conflict. It had made him an active actor ever since that encounter with the birduomera. No, even before that, when he first acquired the skill from that butterfly. And to his view, there would be no reason to refuse that notion. He had played along, and now, in the final match, after a long, tiring battle, he would be crowned as the champion.

  All eyes were on him, and he would give them what they wanted. Or feared. In a fluid motion, his index finger stretched forward and touched the glowing trophy.