“Heh, heh, they’re close enough already. I’ll attack first and take more living beings,” one of the shadows congratulated itself in advance, thus ordering a first wave to move forward.

“Heh, he. That fool is attacking too soon. I’ll wait for them to get tired and for him to exhaust his strength. Then, I’ll take more lives and more merits,” planned the other.

As soon as the corrupted beasts began to advance, the adventurers established a defensive perimeter. It must be said that they weren’t very convinced of that operation, as they feared they would be outnumbered. Many frowned when they saw them approach. However, they could no longer back down.

The goshawk smirked, or so the elf felt. Several flying corrupted beings were coming towards her, but not only their levels were lower, they had just taken flight. So, they were unable to quickly achieve enough speed while flying upward.

With the advantage of being on top of them, she Plummeted, and used Slalom as she did so to partially dodge her enemies. The goshawk had the speed of her side, so she could maneuver more agilely and place herself in advantageous position. Besides, even though she seemed to only dodge them, the albino bird was taking advantage of it to attack them with her claws and wind.

Of the ten who were after her, three were falling uncontrollably, and two others were seriously injured. Though five were still unscathed, she hadn’t slowed down.

Still accelerating, she flied a wide arc in the sky to turn around, and attack again her pursuers. They had no chance before the goshawk’s speed and her maneuverability. Thus, while she was boasting of her little battle, ten enemies had crashed into the ground and disappeared.

While armed with shields, several warriors guarded the perimeter. Behind them, others were weakening their enemies, although they weren’t finishing them off. They didn’t understand the orders very well, but they followed them, as their commander seemed to have a plan. In this way, they were buying time, but not advancing in this battle.

The wizards stood by, and only cast some minor spell from time to time. Some of them were ready to defend the group if projectiles rained down. It was a somewhat strange situation, but not chaotic, since everything seemed to serve a purpose. The question that many were asking themselves was which one.

The squad of the lynx disguised as panther was the only one advancing. They were more than a dozen, and they were looking at the panther somewhat puzzled, because there seemed to be no tamer with her.

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Not many enemies were targeting them, but they were in danger of being isolated in a sudden attack, so they were beginning to worry. However, they trusted those two draconians of a much higher level than the rest. It was strange that they were there, but they killed enemies with great ease.

Unexpectedly, after two corrupted beings died, the panther, who had remained in the rear, Jumped on something like a darkened buffalo, in whose jaw had grown prominent fangs.

Without her enemy having time to react, she Jumped again, thus positioning herself behind it. She didn’t forget to Shred it during her stay on its back, with the added effect of Purifying Touch.

That kind of corrupted buffalo tried to turn, but was too slow to catch up with the lynx. Besides, it was a serious mistake to turn its back on the adventurers, who took the opportunity to finish it off.

The feline had taken advantage of the ample free space to advance quickly, while dodging a couple of enemies with ease, and avoiding the slow attacks of the corrupted trees without major problems.

She soon arrived at her destination, ignored a snake that was approaching her, and directed her gaze towards a place that could be clearly observed from her location. Through her, her sister discovered her target.

Immediately, three arrows shot out of her bow, two toward the target near the lynx and one toward the one watched by the goshawk. After them, three more emerged, this time with inverse proportions.

Three arrows struck each of the trees that had a general, although in reality only one of them would have been needed.

“They’re gone!” exclaimed the fairy with exultation.

“I’m done with them,” the elf reported.

Immediately, the information was relayed to the commander, who ordered a change of strategy, to eliminate the enemies. The adventurers didn’t understand what was happening, but they did it more than gladly. It was what they wanted to do from the beginning.

When she later ordered them to attack the rest, but making sure to conserve mana and energy, they began to do it somewhat reluctant, as it was dangerous to advance so close to the corrupted forest. However, they soon found out that they weren’t being attacked, that somehow a strange strategy had been used to paralyze them.

They didn’t know that their enemies were simply waiting for their generals to order them to attack, and that these generals had died.

The squad that was with the lynx had advanced after her, slowly, because they couldn’t simply ignore the enemies. They were surprised when she returned, and more when she continued on her way, thus leaving them behind. They didn’t understand anything.

“Mission accomplished. Let’s go with the rest of the group,” announced a draconian to the incredulous group of adventurers.

They didn’t know what had happened, nor why that panther had advanced first and retreated later. They didn’t even know how that could be called a mission. However, no matter how much they asked, they weren’t going to get answers.

When the lynx and the goshawk arrived at her sister’s side, perhaps they were a little tired, especially the feline as she had run there, but they were also exulting. They had always enjoyed doing missions together, and that was precisely what they were doing. Despite the danger, or perhaps because of it, they felt extremely satisfied.

The vislzar looked at the drelf, and she nodded.

“Let’s go,” she said.

A new portal opened, and the five of them appeared in a zone of level around 55, where another three were waiting for them.

“There’s one,” the fairy reported.

“There, one,” the elf repeated.

Immediately, all the adventurers who were wondering what they were waiting for were ordered to march. The third round of Operation Jump had begun.