Zzzooom!
The members of team 1 that running toward an Elite Division outpost also noticed Asherit and Thyriel heading off to another area.
On the other hand, the array signal allowed to track the position of the others for ten seconds, so everyone noticed when Aldvid began to move towards them at an impressive speed and surely accompanied by all those mercenaries.
"Shit!...",
"Use your speed array and don't hold back while running, FAST!" Hearing Malduin's cry of alarm, Mariel's face turned pale as she nervously tried to activate her array.
The suits of the Elite Division were undoubtedly made with the most prominent magical advances and had dozens of useful arrays for various situations, to activate the array of the suits belonging to the lowest ranking soldiers in said Division, it was only necessary to imbue a little of its mana in the array.
This knowledge was taught to all new recruits in their first 3 months of training, so they could show better performance when having to use their suit.
However, the nerves being her first mission, and the fear of being pursued, influenced the dexterity of Mariel who accidentally used the magic defense array.
Crack-Crack-Crack
"Aah"
Hearing the sound of the ground being divided and Mariel's scream, everyone turned their gaze to her and were surprised at what was happening.
Mariel's tears ran down her face as she continued to scream in horror, and that is, a small shell of rocks was surrounding her and immobilizing her.
This was the defensive array rock shield on the new recruits' suits, although it was able to withstand some attacks from Low F-Rank cultivators, it had a disadvantage, as, when executed, the user could not move from his place unless the shield was destroyed or 15 minutes passed and it vanished by itself.
"Guys help me!, Help me please!" Hearing Mariel who was being covered by a shell of rocks, everyone felt a chill run through their skin.
"Malduin.." Ransar called out to Malduin and as he looked into his eyes, he shook his head.
"Tsk ..",
"Mariel, we can't do anything but I promise we will bring help as soon as possible, everyone, let's go!" Malduin commented and without waiting for Mariel's response, he activated his speed array and began to flee the scene even faster while Grund, Findra and Ransar followed him.
"Thanks for buying us some time, hehe" With a cruel smile, Ransar commented who was the last to activate his speed array and retreat.
"NOOO!..." A desperate scream was the last that they heard from Mariel as everyone moved on.
… ..
Zzzooom!
At the same time, when the array fired the signal, Asherit's clone obviously sensed it too.
'Mm, five people are heading to what I remember marked as an Elite Division outpost, a sixth person seems to have started following them after the tracking array was activated...' while maintaining his current direction and pace, Asherit's clone was analyzing the situation.
'Ooh, someone from the first five people stopped, the situation is a bit strange but they are the only ones in the detection range of the array so it will be enough' it wasn't until the ten seconds passed and the array stopped showing the position of each, that the clone of Asherit made a decision.
Since spirit energy was his main source of control, he didn't want to waste it checking the situation of a few new recruits, so he decided to find out everything with his own eyes and set off with impressive speed.
...
"Young master.."
"Mm, we'll be in front of whoever was left behind in a few moments, everyone be vigilant" Obviously, Aldvid also noticed that one person was left behind, they were all elites even among the new recruits, so he thought that this person had a plan or some measure that gave him the confidence to retain them, at least until the others reached the outpost.
Shua!
Shua!
Shua! ~~
All the mercenaries with Aldvid stopped in front of what looked like a shell of rocks.
"Hahaha these bastards sure are good at alerting me for nothing...",
"Don't worry guys, behind that shell, there's just an idiot, probably scared to death, hahaha", seeing the shell, which was most likely summoned by the suit's defensive array, Aldvid had an idea of what It had passed and his caution dropped a bit, even so he ordered.
"One Peak G-Rank Mage and 3 more Low G-Rank wait for the fearful here, the rest of you follow me" Thinking that these men would be enough to deal with the fearful person behind the shield, Aldvid continued his pursuit against the others.
Meanwhile, Mariel who could hear everything from within the shell of rocks, was shaking to the bone not knowing what to do when she suddenly heard.
"Hey old Ridelf, the young master said to wait, but, those beauties in the group won't wait for us.."
"Mm, Seltor is right, why don’t we help this fearful man out of his tortoise shell?.." Hearing the message from two of his brothers, this pouting old man named Ridelf also thought it would be a disgrace to be the last to comfort those two beauties.
"Mm, then everyone start attacking this damn shell and let's hurry to show those beauties what a real man can do"
"Hehe"
"Haha come on!"
Boom!
Booom!
Crack!
Boom!
Mariel's heart almost stopped when listening to the conversation of these men, she was beginning to imagine the worst when the explosions and the movement of the stone shield woke her up.
'If I don't do something my destiny will be destroyed by these beasts ...',
'I still don't use my speed array, also, I have some attack arrays that can give me a certain boost and at the same time slow them down, maybe with that I can escape..',
'Otherwise, I'll use the auto detonation array so those bastards can't touch me, hopefully I'll take one of them with me...' After biting her tongue and bleeding a bit for courage, Mariel began to devise a plan in her mind to get out of this situation while the mercenaries continued their attacks.
...
It had been a few minutes since the tracking array activated and the Asherit clone was already very close to the person who stopped.
Boom!
Just when he was about to arrive, he observed about 100 meters as several men attacked with magical techniques what looked like a defensive shield of the Elite Division suits.
Boom
Crack!
With one last attack, the shell shattered and several rocks shot out in different directions.
Swish
Next to the rocks, a silhouette shot in the opposite direction of these men.
"Ridelf, that.."
"That's a girl, CHASE HER!"
"Yeah, HAHAHA"
Swish-Swish-Swish
Everyone went crazy with joy to know that the person they were waiting for, was actually one of the girls, thinking that they would have certain privileges after being the first to capture her, they did not hesitate to use even their most explosive movement techniques to reach her.
ZhzhZhzhZhzh ~
A cloud of greenish smoke was thrown from Mariel's back and seeing this, everyone was alerted.
"Be careful!, Make a way through this cloud of poison and do not breath…"
Fss
Boom!
"Aaargh"
Old Ridelf was trying to give orders, when, a fiery serpent silently struck out at a Low G-Rank Mage.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Although such an explosion was not fatal to this mage, he could not hide his surprise, thus letting out a scream that caused him to inhale a large mouthful of poison.
Then, everyone saw this man turn purple and then slam into the ground.
"Wariu!"
"Damn it!, Everyone be careful with this bitch!, That suit of hers has many annoying things" Ridelf commented upon seeing one of his brothers fall, and with great caution, they all continued to chase this young recruit.
'Ooh, this girl is good, although she is in a desperate situation, she keeps trying to create opportunities to escape' As the Asherit clone observed everything from the top of a tree, he was somewhat interested in the capabilities of this new recruit who, still without being a ranked mage, she was using all her available resources to survive.
Swoosh
After they got away a bit, the Asherit clone arrived next to the mercenary who had previously inhaled poison.
'Unbelievable, this man has almost no chance of survival, such poison is impressive' With a quick review, the Asherit clone captured the situation of this subject, and raising his index finger.
Fss
Swish!
A needle of fire shot into the heart of this man, leaving in its wake a large charred hole.
After a moment of searching for something useful in the body of this mercenary, the Asherit clone continued to closely pursue these subjects.
Swish
Boom!
Crack!
Rumble ~
"Old Ridelf, this bitch is quite persistent"
"That's right, we're wasting too much time with her"
Everyone knew that this old brother of theirs was not going seriously because he wanted this woman alive, however, they all felt humiliated at having lost a brother and on top of that they still couldn't catch her, so they began to comment with some discontent.
Hearing the tone and message of his brothers, Ridelf realized that he could not continue like this and after a bit of internal fury he used a technique that forced his speed to face this girl.
Boom!
Swish!
Mariel on the other hand was filled with panic when she saw this old man appear in front of her, she had no more cards to use and now she had been surrounded.
After a quick glance at the stage she was on, a sharp resolution crossed her eyes as she continued straight towards this old man.
The Asherit clone had long since positioned itself in a blind spot for all these people, and when he saw the development of the situation and the determined gaze of this recruit, he immediately imagined her plans.
'This girl…, awesome…' Without saying anything else, a bow made entirely of fine wood and an arrow of the same material, came out of the chest of this Asherit clone.
Hiss
Xiu-Xiu
Out of nowhere, this bow and arrow caught fire with an embracing flame and as if nothing else, the Asherit clone stretched the bowstring and fired the scorching wooden arrow.
Fss-Swish!
Although the process of describing all this may have been time consuming, the Asherit clone's actions actually took place in less than a breath of time and it instantly reached its goal.
BOOOM!
The arrow went through Ridelf's blind spot, just behind his ear, the impact was so fast that this old man could not react in time and could only feel his last breath being stripped while a burning tunnel was created in his skull.
On the other hand, although the arrow made this tunnel cleanly, the remnants of force from the impact still threw Ridelf's body in a ridiculous way until he crashed into a tree that was smashed after the collision.
Wooh ~
The scene fell silent after this, Mariel who was about to activate the auto detonation array stood still in place without knowing what was happening.
Fss-Swish!
Fss-Swish!
"Aaargh...", "NOOO!..."
BOOM!
BOOM!
Two other burning arrows were heard and after them, the screams of two mercenaries who could only do that while they were destroyed after receiving these arrows.
Woosh ~
Seeing a silhouette in the uniform of the Elite Division, Mariel snapped out of her earlier shock thinking that her companions had managed to reach the outpost.
"Ma-Major, thank you very much for saving me, I-I.."
"It’s Okay, we have little time, tell me about the situation" The Asherit clone, after all was actually Asherit, and he thought the same way, being called like this, he felt something strange so he slowly took off his hood while questioned.
Mariel on the other hand almost choked upon seeing this young hybrid whom the whole kingdom hated, but who in event after event had shown his abilities as a monstrous genius.
"You're good?" Not hearing an answer from this girl, the Asherit clone asked again.
"Y-yes, thank you very much seventh prince",
"The situation is as follows ..." in a quick summary, Mariel began to recount everything that had been happening to her team in recent days, making the Asherit clone think for a moment and then order.
"Very well, I will bring the others to this point so for now stay to rest here, remember to be aware of your surroundings"
Swish
After leaving these words, Asherit took the route these young recruits had moved in the direction of the outpost.
...
Boom
Booom
Swoosh
Pha-Pha-Pha
Crack
In another area a few miles from where Mariel stayed to rest, Aldvid and the Dead Rose Mercenaries had recently caught up with the remaining members of Team 1, though these young recruits defended themselves well using all the advantages their suits offered them, they were still quickly surrounded by the 3 Low F Rank cultivators.
"Aldvid, damn you, you are betraying the Elite Division and the Abysmal Kingdom with your actions, don't think you'll get out of this alive!" Findra yelled in fury as she saw the leering stares of these surrounding men.
"Haha, you are wrong girl, I am just getting rid of the garbage that is not qualified to enter the Elite Division",
"Sure, you still have the opportunity to serve my men if you behave well hehe",
"HAHA", "Yes girl, you will know how good it is to feel like a woman",
"I choose to go after the captain",
"Hey hey bastard, are you crazy?, Who said you could choose without telling me?"
"Both close your damn snout, according to seniority, I’m the one who has the right to go later"...,
"It’s Enough!" These mercenaries were barbarians after all, seeing that there was only one girl here they had started to argue heatedly, so Aldvid had to stop them.
"My patience is wearing thin, you still have a chance to live, just have to use the tracking array to send a distress signal" Aldvid commented calmly.
"Bastard, you think we will believe your words...", this time, it was Malduin who answered him.
'Still, that's our only option, but…, we'll do it our way' after taking enough resolution Malduin yelled ordering.
"NOW!"
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK ~
"NOO, CAPTURE THEM QUICKLY!" Seeing that everyone had thrown the defensive array, Aldvid started to get nervous.
With his family's contacts within the Elite Division, he had managed to break down the communication array of whoever received his messages and calculated that for about 24 hours he would be safe.
As for the outpost a couple of kilometers from here, it not only disrupted their communications but also caused their tracking array to break down as well, even though these recruits from Team 1 activated the array in distress, no one in the outpost would notice it and he just had to keep them from getting too close.
However, he was not sure that the members of the outpost would not start patrolling the area due to its inconvenience, for that reason, he did not want to wait 15 minutes for these guys so close to the outpost.
Swish
Boom- Boom-Boom
The attacks of various mercenaries, including those of the Warrior and the Low F-Rank Mages, fell on the rock shells, however, unlike when Mariel activated her array, the rock shells of these young recruits formed in an instant and this was because they consciously activated it and infused enough mana for this.
“Damn!” They all stopped at the sight of this fully formed defensive array, and upon seeing them Aldvid's fury increased.
Zzzooom!
Zzzooom!
Zzzooom!
Several signals with some frequency shot out of Malduin's tracking array that was now within a shell of rocks.
Malduin, Aldvid, and the other new recruits for Team 1 caught a glimpse of a map that came to mind from the tracking array.
Malduin's dot was red as it blinked, and the others were perceived as yellow as usual.
When everyone analyzed the map, Malduin and the other boys were filled with terror and began to sink into despair.
Aldvid on the other hand, although he was somewhat upset, he was still calm.
And it is that in the map that this array showed them, apart from them, there was only one point that indicated another new recruit in the area of scope of the array.
Since it was a point near the location where they last saw Mariel, everyone began to assume that it was her.
"Hahaha, what a pity that bastard and that elf are no longer within the area..",
"On the other hand, my mens must be having fun with that girl Mariel, HAHAHA..." Aldvid said.
"Tsk those lucky bastards, they took one of these beautiful girls so easily",
"If I had known this, I would have offered to stay in his place",
"Dogs luck is always the best",
Hearing Aldvid's comment, as well as the taunts and complaints from his mens, Malduin, Findra, and the others only grew more terrified.
Although Asherit and Thyriel might no longer be in range of the tracking array, they were very close to the Elite Division's outpost, logically they should have appeared on the map and come to their aid.
However, such a scene did not occur and instead they only learned of the suffering that their partner should be going through.
"Don't stand there like idiots, keep attacking them!" Aldvid ordered a bit annoyed, although his plan to lure Asherit and Thyriel had failed, he could not leave these new recruits alive as they now knew enough.
Fss
Boom
Crack-Crag
Xiu-Xiu
...
Swish
As the attacks continued to rain down on these youths, the Asherit clone was getting closer and closer to them.
Although these youths diverted their steps and camouflaged them to try to mislead Aldvid and his mens, for the Asherit clone this was not even a problem due to the abilities Asherit had put into him.
On the other hand, this Asherit clone imagined that if the youths were hit, they would activate their defensive array and then send a distress signal and as such their position would be discovered.
Therefore, the Asherit clone took the tracking array and placed them within the sandbox of its core, thanks to Asherit's methods being too deep, these arrays seemed to be separated from the world and that is why the array of Malduin and the others could not detect them.
Shua ~
Asherit's clone stopped on the top of a giant tree, about 200 meters from him, the scene of several men fiercely attacking 4 turtle shells made him understand the situation in an instant.
'Since they're inside the defensive array, they won't be able to see me, I think it's better that way...' Thinking that it would be much easier to keep one person quiet than 5, the Asherit clone thanked their good luck and decided that in this time he would not reveal his identity.
Swosh ~
Without further thought, the Asherit clone began its attack…
Pha-Pha-Pha-Pha
They all turned when between the explosions of their attacks, they heard a thudding noise and seeing that such noise was caused by 4 bodies of their comrades falling on the ground, they all became alarmed, the weaker minded ones even started to tremble.
"A-ALL ON GUARD!" Igrel screamed in terror, instantly, four of his mens had died beside him and no one knew how, including him and the two low F-Rank Mages.
Aldvid was also terrified, a bad feeling began to scare him more and more and he slowly approached the recruits of Team 1 within their defensive arrays.
Swoosh ~
Pha-Pha-Pha
Barely a few seconds had passed and three other men fell without anyone noticing how yet.
"DAMN!",
"Show yourself you damn coward!" The captain yelled full of fury and fear, when suddenly.
"Capt-ain",
"What..",
Pa!
Igrel turned his gaze towards Richard his sub-captain thinking that he had discovered something, however, his face paled and he could not even finish his question when Richard's head separated from his body cleanly and fell to the ground.
Shua
A cloud of haze began to manifest in front of these men, slowly the flames began to show the figure of a man and when Aldvid noticed that he was wearing the uniform of the Elite Division, his face lost some color.
"S-sir, I didn't know that these young people were members of your group..",
"You have taken the lives of 8 of my best mens and we have not harmed any of yours, however, since it was our mistake, we will withdraw without saying anything..",
"Everyone, LET'S GO!" After saying this, Igrel and his mens began to move with all their strength to leave the place, but...
Swoosh ~
Shua
"S-Sir?" A cold sweat began to run down Igrel's back as he saw this man appear in front of him in a ghostly way.
"I never said you could withdraw..",
"I have more important matters to attend to so I will finish this quickly..." Hearing this man's words, everyone finally understood that their fates were sealed, but in an attempt to fight to the end, Igrel gave one last order to his mens.
"Use all your trump cards as we part ways to escape!"
"I hope we meet again my brothers, ATTACK!"
"Whaaa", "Aaah", "Bastard!",
They all started using their most powerful attacks in an attempt to distract their enemy, some even using explosive magic devices as they ran in a random direction.
"If there is a hell, there is a possibility that you will really see each other again, because today everyone is heading there" The Asherit clone commented before beginning to move against these mercenaries.