That was his staff. How dared that man hold on to that? The skill was basically useless for his mastery, after all. Sure, there might be a defensive case where that man would use that when the enemies were approaching, but if it came down to that, then Zalanir doubted even if the whirlwind could help.

  Zalanir dashed toward the battle at the center, evading and using Energy Barrier to block two strayed attacks flying his way. He could’ve gone the other way, but it would be too obvious for the enemy to recognize his intention.

  The moment to strike came right when the man dodged an arrow to his left, where his feet landed near the edge of the platform. How did those two archers even get there to begin with? There were no stairs or lower podiums to use as the intermediary. The wall? Some protruding and bumpy rocks could certainly be used as stepping mediums to propel them upward, but that platform was still fricking about five meters up. Parkour?

  Zalanir activated Wind Rush, squeezed through the gap behind the back of a sword enforcer, and released a salvo of air bolts. They were the fastest bolts out of the bunch, even faster than sound bolts for some reason, so using them would be the logical choice.

  Only two bolts out of five hit the cultist in the back, but that was enough to distract the man and earned Zalanir a swear that his ear picked up with no difficulty. I should be the one saying that, not you. Zalanir murmured while squatting to avoid a swipe from a halberd.

  Looked like his actions didn’t go unnoticed, as a muscular cultist guarding near one of the pillars gave him a series of assaults using a red and black halberd. Seriously? Even applied their color code to this weapon?

  Thanks to the last moment of Wind Rush still being in effect, Zalanir tumbled to the right and barely avoided a slam. Thank God he got away there. That axe blade was just several centimeters short from catching him.

  Erecting Energy Barrier in between, he used the time it bought to leap backward. Not done yet. That pesky archer was still hanging there. Why hadn’t the archer on his side be—

  Two explosive arrows hit the cultist squarely on the chest, pushing the man off from the platform. There you go! He nodded at the enforcer archer and rushed to the falling enemy. His eyes were firmly fixed on the brown staff on the man’s back.

  An arrow punctured his lower stomach, shooting pain into his brain. Damn! Energy Barrier wasn’t destroyed or expired yet, and he kinda forgot that when rushing in. Should’ve summoned it on his arm instead of on the floor. Also, he had been subjective in not treating the archer with enough consideration. The man was falling, after all, so the attack had kinda taken him by surprise.

  But his feet were still on the ground. Zalanir soldiered on and released a salvo of sound bolts this time. As expected, the man failed to do anything after being staggered by the bolts and landed on the ground with his face down. Considered it a payback for that arrow just now.

  The halberd cultist was on his back, but he had to finish the archer off first.

  With nothing in his arsenal at the moment, Zalanir resorted to the purest weapon that he had. A sad situation for a mage like him, but anything would do. Before the enemy could get up from the fall, he gave the archer a kick right in the face, and then a stomp in the chest. Oh, it felt good delivering that.

  Still alive? Zalanir jumped to the side after the halberdier came to the archer’s rescue. The situation wasn’t good, as blood was oozing out after he pulled the arrow out from his stomach. If this was still on Earth, there was no way he would do this. But this world had given his body far more resistance to these types of wounds. He had learned that much after all the time being here.

  It was a moment of stillness before help came his way. That was right. At least that man knew how to play fair.

  An arrow homed in on the halberdier’s back after the man jumped out of its fly path. Unexpected, wasn’t it? Zalanir grinned and shot another salvo of Adaptability Bolt. Two found the standing cultist, and one hit the archer currently groaning on the ground.

  Dashing in, he erected a big barrier and slammed them into the halberdier, pushing the man backward a couple of steps. It wasn’t to damage the man by any means, it was just so that he could separate those two and thus allow him to knee down, punch the archer in the face again, and pick up the staff.

  While this happened, he saw in the corner of his vision the cultist with the halberd retreated to the center area. Even though he was a bit disappointed that the enforcer archer couldn’t finish this one off, he was still content with his involvement here.

  With a weapon in hand, the rest became rather simple. The cultist archer tried to wrestle and fight back, but as if Zalanir could allow that. Three staff slams later, and the notification came.

  You have slain [Human — Level 45]

  After huffing for air and cheating a quick rest for a minute, Zalanir ran toward the nearest battle where the chef was fighting. Did they need his help? Didn’t seem like it, as they were still rather fine on their own, but his coach once taught him an important lesson that he intended to follow in this situation: always prioritize pressing the current advantages to put the opponent off their game rather than covering his weaknesses.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Not always the case, but he remembered the match when he won by basically giving up on chasing after each and every dropshot the opponent hit. It was a rush battle where he directed the ball to the opponent’s backhand all the time in the third set when his stamina had dropped and edged out a victory in the end with a close 7-5 scoreline.

  The center battle was definitely the enforcer’s weakest, but they were handling themselves there pretty well now with the help from the hunters. Hiina’s part was obscured from his current position, so no idea what was going on there. The ice mage went there right from the beginning though, so perhaps they were okay.

  “Hey you. Still kicking?” Dakrua asked Zalanir when he joined the forces after pushing off a cultist using the spear shaft.

  “Haha. And here I thought that you were in logistics only.”

  “What is logistics?” The chef furrowed his brow.

  “Never mind. What is a chef like you doing in the middle of a battle like this? Your techniques with the spear are incredible.”

  “Don’t underestimate cooking.” The man laughed and then suddenly, his spearhead was bathed in an intense flame, and he cut off a cultist’s arm in a clean strike. “Protect me!”

  Zalanir was caught off guard by that, but he erected a barrier in front of him and took a hit for the man. Taking advantage of the situation, he also released a salvo of earth bolts at the wounded cultist and unexpectedly gained the notification.

  You have slain [Human — Level 40]

  Oh, just a weakass. No wonder the kill came off that easily.

  While he was still wondering what all of this was about, Dakrua took out two warm-white nutty fruits, ate one, and threw his way the other. He wasn’t sure what this was, but since the chef had eaten one of them and was pointing at his mouth, Zalanir followed and threw the nut in. Sour. Like lemon. It melted inside his mouth, so there was no need for chewing.

  You have eaten [Dakrua Frostburn Pecan]

  Increase passive regeneration by 33% for two hours

  What? Zalanir widened his eyes, looking at the giggling chef. He was about to thank the man for this incredible gift when another yellow, slightly bigger nut flew toward him again.

  This one was spicy and hot, forcing him to actually chew to get the notification.

  You have eaten [Dakrua Sunburn Pecan]

  Increase attacking prowess by 10% for one hour

  Another mind-boggling effect that Zalanir experienced for the first time, though this one was a bit vague. What did attacking prowess affect? Melee attack for sure, considering that was Dakrua’s style, but would the boost apply to his skills? 10% wasn’t a lot, but the fact that this effect existed was already significant enough. Perhaps this pecan offered only a 10% boost, but what if Dakrua improved his cooking skill and one day made this effect 100%?

  “Are these all of your cooking?” He knew this question was dumb, since the name had confirmed that, but still, he had to ask.

  “Now what do you think about cooking? The thing you said earlier means back-liner, right? Don’t underestimate food. For an individual, it might not seem significant. However, imagine the whole unit has that …”

  Dakrua laughed while parrying a fireball heading his way with the spear shaft. The man said it so casually and left it in the end, but the intention was pretty clear. Its effect was indeed massive if the quantity was big enough, and he had no doubt that every single enforcer fighting here at the moment had these buff effects active.

  Zalanir joining this group had definitely freed Dakrua to be more aggressive with the attack. The man was strong and capable, but now with Zalanir guarded on a side, they started to push back the cultists further onto the pathway, separating them further from the chamber.

  But not long after, a huge roar on his back signaled that something major had happened in the main chamber.

  “Let’s get back.” Dakrua led the way back to the entrance of the archway.

  Zalanir only had minor injuries thus far, so he was still pretty much good to go. The wound on the stomach had also started to go numb a little, reducing the pain he had to endure.

  The main chamber had indeed gone through significant developments, both good and bad, though looking from the perspective of the enforcers, they were no doubt worse off.

  The good news was that Hiina, the ice mage, and the other enforcers who were fighting near the prison were currently battling the cultists near the center. The fact that there were some new hunters that Zalanir didn’t recall going with him to the vault earlier mixed inside as well could only mean that the battle to rescue the prisoners ended in their victory.

  But there were plenty of bad news.

  A bicolor stag was currently wrecking havoc around the battlefield. Its charge left the ground ablaze and some enforcers with their bodies flying in the air. The two men in charge of handling this beast earlier in the previous chamber were nowhere to be found.

  Hatillup and the rest of the run-away cultists were naturally also here. Dunzhia once again assaulted the flail man, but now instead of the spear old man, she had the hunter who was crazy for her by her side. Zalanir had caught the man’s name was Gota from his conversation with another hunter earlier, and apparently he was a pretty strong mage using wood magic.

  The ritual at the center had also seen major progress, with the most obvious one being a green ball of light floating on top of the summoning altar. It was still slightly larger than a nut only, but with Hatillup and the re-emergence of the cultists, it didn’t look like the enforcers could do anything there soon.

  The last piece of bad news was that the enforcer archer was currently being bothered by a man with a long staff whom Zalanir remembered being one of the four who had defeated and caught him. The archer was huge in providing cover for the battle from his elevated position, so this development had certainly made the life of the enforcers down below much worse.

  “All of you stay here. I will handle the stag,” Dakrua said and left running toward the rampant beast.

  “I will go as well. You guys could obviously handle this place.” Zalanir ignored the stare from the chef and went in another direction. The stag was no doubt a major concern, and this position to guard off the cultists as well, but he had to be at the center. If another stag appeared, that would very much be the end.

  He hated it when his mind came up with a crazy and risky idea, but this time, it was needed.