> The Svaneke islands have always been open to the public, until the Kraej Family illegally claimed it as their private property.

> —Mayor’s speech at the 159th town hall meeting, Svaneke

Asteria

Preparation is the key to success.

In “Tales of Vesterland,” there were many mini-boss and boss encounters, but only three of them were Iah spawn. The first was in the secret laboratory under Oren’s hometown. The second was in the remote abandoned mine in Virklund. The third spawn’s location was the most problematic since it was swimming somewhere in the eastern Kraej ocean.

Those three were the biggest things I had to prepare for, but I couldn’t neglect the less earth-shaking but important events. The ruined temple complex was the place where the hero and his companions took a break to affirm their bonds and gather their strength before they continued their quest. It was my job to prepare what they would need.

“The ruins of the Ancient Temple,” I said.

Seraphiel, Sariel, Uriel, and I had ridden on our dyr for three days to reach the Pleasant Mountains. Once we’d left the vicinity of Kraej City, the air had cleared and given way to farmland. Farther out was the wilderness where monsters roamed freely.

My special skill, Astral Authority, allowed me to control the movements of low-level monsters by ordering chibis to spread out over an area to attract or repel monsters. On the way here, I’d used it to speed up our trip by making monsters avoid my party.

Below us, nestled in between two mountains, was a valley with a small lake. Daffodils, tulips and hyacinths were in bloom. Dotting the scenery were fallen pillars and crumbling stone walls, the remains of an ancient temple complex sacred to the moon goddess Iah. After a piece of the moon had fallen on Verden and a monster had devastated the land, Iah’s temples had been gradually abandoned until only ruins were left today.

“Time for some spring cleaning,” said Uriel.

All of us were wearing spring camping gear: comfortable but tough pants, boots, long-sleeved T-shirts, and light jackets. It was strange to see the ELs fully armed but wearing casual clothes.

“There,” said Sariel, pointing at a tall tree that stood alone near the center of the valley.

We made our way to the tree where we tied the dyr’s reins to some low-hanging branches.

Uriel put his gloves on. Light glinted off the Constellation Crystal on his bracelet.

“Ready?” asked Uriel.

“Ready,” said Seraphiel. His sword was still sheathed, but he had a coil of rope in one hand.

“Ready,” said Sariel. The Radiant Vortex on his red crystal wand was already glowing.

In one smooth move, Seraphiel picked me up and leaped to a high and wide tree branch. He put me down as soon as our feet touched the wood.

“You’ll be safe here with Sariel while Uriel and I fight the monsters below you,” said Seraphiel. “Shall I tie you to the tree?”

“Okay,” I said. I sat down as comfortably as I could. We were pretty high up, and I was afraid of slipping. Using the rope, Seraphiel made a loop around a branch above me for me to hold on to. Then he made a loose safety harness and tied me to the trunk of the tree.

Sariel jumped up to the branch and looked around. He said, “I want a clear line of sight in all directions.”

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Seraphiel unsheathed Starfrost. The Sidereal Protector had been equipped on its pommel. He jumped to a thin branch above us. It swayed alarmingly, but with one slice he cut off the top part of the tree. Then he jumped down to join Uriel. There was a loud crash as half of the tree’s crown fell to the ground, making our mounts whine. Uriel soothed the dyr.

“Ice wall,” said Seraphiel.

Instantly, a twenty-foot-high circle of ice enclosed us.

“Ice wall. Ice wall.” Seraphiel cast the spell twice more so that three ice walls protected our position.

“A triple circle of protection. He never does that for me,” said Sariel.

There was a very good reason for that. Shield spells used a lot more anima than attack spells. Whereas one only needed a quick burst of anima to shoot fire from an artifact, a shield drained anima from the caster constantly.

“Now?” I asked.

“Now,” said Seraphiel. He and Uriel jumped over the walls with ease and took their positions, Seraphiel to the north and Uriel to the south.

Closing my eyes, I envisioned anima as a crowd of cute chibis surrounding me. I ordered the thousands of chibis to spread out in all directions for five miles around and drive all of the monsters to my location.

“Astral Authority,” I said.

All of a sudden, a terrifying cacophony of sound tore the air as hundreds of monsters bellowed, roared, and bugled a challenge. The peaceful valley came alive as a huge horde of maddened monsters rushed towards us.

“Holy cow!” I said.

“What’s a cow?” asked Sariel.

“Uh, can you guys handle that?” I asked. My heart was pounding and my head swam. It wasn’t a side effect of using my skill. I was just scared.

Sariel looked down at me in concern. “Why are you shaking like a leaf? This is nothing to us. We do this all the time; don’t worry.”

“Okay,” I said. I put a hand on my chest over my heart and tried to stop trembling.

Uriel ran towards the front line of monsters. His fist hit a crosos, an elephant-like creature, which was catapulted ten feet away, crushing smaller monsters under it when it landed. Uriel moved fast for such a big man. His punches were so powerful that the monsters he struck were either thrown far away or pulverized. A stomp of his feet produced earthquakes that stunned the monsters.

“Vortex,” said Sariel.

Sariel extended his wand in front of him and cast a vortex of Fire, Ice, Earth, Gust, and Bolt spells. The group of monsters that had been headed towards Uriel was set on fire, frozen, electrocuted, hammered by rocks, and flung into the sky before falling down dead. The monsters never stood a chance. It was an incredible sight. I felt much better when I saw how effective his area-of-effect spells were.

“I’m faster than Uriel when it comes to killing lots of lower-level monsters,” said Sariel. “But he’s better at killing the big ones.”

Uriel and Sariel continued to punch and blast away at the monsters on the southern side of the valley. On the northern side, Seraphiel needed no help.

I stood up on the branch to better observe him, holding on to the loop of rope for balance.

Seraphiel was wielding Starfrost with the grace and expertise of a master swordsman, moving so quickly from target to target that I could barely follow his movements with my eyes. Larger targets were mowed down like grass. The smaller monsters were swiftly dispatched by a swing of his sword that produced an arc of deadly ice spikes that impaled the monsters to the ground.

“He’s showing off,” said Sariel. He rolled his eyes.

“Isn’t this how he normally is?” I asked.

“He’s slowed down,” said Sariel.

“How is this slow? I can barely see what he’s doing,” I said.

“He’s normally too fast for non-ELs to see,” said Sariel.

“Oh my,” I said.

I stopped trembling, and my heartbeat went back to normal. The hundreds of monsters were clearly badly outmatched by the three S-class ELs. In just half an hour, the once peaceful valley was littered with corpses.

“You guys are incredible,” I said.

I was glad I’d transmigrated into this world in time to save them. Now that I’d seen what they were capable of, it was time for me to test my own skills.

“Bolt,” I said. A golden lighting bolt struck a monster, instantly vaporizing it. My monster hunting trips with Oren and Katja had greatly improved my aim. It helped that, as they often advised me, I picked a big and slow-moving target. Seraphiel and Uriel glanced back at me. I waved to them to show I was alright.

“Nice, but you just destroyed the core along with the monster,” said Sariel. He looked down at me with a new respect. A normal bolt spell wouldn’t have been that strong.

“Bolt,” I said again. This time, I used a little less anima, but the monster was still vaporized. “Bolt. Bolt. Bolt.”

It took a few more tries before I found the right amount of anima to use. I wanted to instantly kill a monster, but leave its valuable anima core unharmed.

“You’re not tired?” asked Sariel. “Non-ELs don’t normally have enough anima to cast that many strong spells.”

“Sariel, you still don't believe I could destroy a mountain if I wanted to?” I grinned up at him.

“Bah!” said Sariel, but I could tell he was a little impressed.

In a few more minutes, there were only a few dozen monsters left. We’d managed to clear the entire valley in less than an hour.

Seraphiel took down his ice walls and helped me down from the tree.