Mi was lost.

The two golden blonde-haired women that always stuck to her left her behind. Moreover, the air was filled with danger. The red and white puppy’s instincts were screaming at her to run away. However, she didn’t know where to go. There was that human male who had the same smell and eyes as the wolf that she had met. His right eye was white and his left eye was dark brown. It looked weird, but she didn’t hate it. Mi wanted to go back to him, but she didn’t know where he was. She had to find him. He would be lost without her.

Battling Rosaminta was impossible for even extraordinary men, let alone ordinary. Most of the invading forces were doing their best avoiding her attacks and staying alive. That was why Gerard was fighting her head-on in his giant form to attract her attention. Lovel was in charge of commanding their troops, having them harass Rosaminta with magical attacks whenever they could to support their leader. On the other hand, Hames was acting on his own.

Moving around at great speed, he was cutting down vines, roots and branches like a fiery wind. In his hands was a single-edged sword clad in red flames, a magic sword. It was given to him solely for the sake of completing their mission. While being empowered by the Artifact, he was protecting his allies and interfering with the Gatekeeper’s attacks, doing his best to help his master, Gerard. It was difficult since the plant monster could attack multiple opponents at once.

With her plants that kept popping out of the ground, she truly was like a small army. Moreover, the Gatekeeper was beginning to change her assaults as, instead of killing her opponents outright, she was trying to capture them with her vines. Hames did his best to save them, but a few had already fallen prey.

“(Damn it!)” [Hames]

His eyes caught sight of one of the victims’ body that was lying on the ground like a discarded shell. It belonged to a man who had become a dried-up corpse in a matter of seconds upon getting wrapped in green vines.

“(So it’s true. This monster can drain people’s energy until they shrivel up and die, and use it to heal herself.)” [Hames]

Hames thought as he gritted his teeth.

“(That guide wasn’t lying.)” [Hames]

In the back of his mind, he bitterly admitted that their guide, Melda, had truly been helping them every step of the way. The elf had provided vital information that they had used to plan their attack, including the plant monster’s abilities. He didn’t know why she was betraying her detestable kind, as she only said it was for her darling, but he didn’t really care either. Before anything else, Hames had a duty to fulfill.

“(Even if an army manages to march through that monster-infested swampland, every man and woman would basically just be her food. Even an S rank, once caught, would just be drained to death. They’d need to be on Master’s level, or have a skill as ridiculous as his to protect them. If we don’t defeat this monster here and she decides to attack a city full of people…)” [Hames]

Shuddering at the thought of a city filled with thousands of dried corpses littering the streets, the black-haired young man swore that he would do all he could to kill the Gatekeeper.

Unfortunately, such convictions were blown away when one of the elves present attacked him. Dodging the hail of jagged boulders that came flying at him, his eyes locked onto three elven women. Instantly, his face twisted in hatred and like a bull, he madly rushed at them.

“YOU BASTAAAARD!!!” [Hames]

In his eyes, their figures distorted and overlapped with the one from his memories as a shade of red colored his sight. Standing in the middle of his burning village, with countless fireballs raining down on the villagers, an elf was smiling. A hideous smile that reveled in the deaths of Hames’ loved ones.

“(Don’t cower…! Don’t hide…! Don’t fear…!)” [Hames]

No matter how much time passed, the scene that he saw as a wailing child, the smell of burning flesh and the sounds of death throes never faded.

“(No begging! No crying!! No mercy!! Find them all…! And…!!)” [Hames]

Driven by wrath and a thirst for revenge, he charged at his hated foes.

“I’LL KILL YOU AAAAALLL!!!” [Hames]

That was why he became strong.

With his magic sword in his left hand, Hames reached for the Thunder Screamer that was holstered on the right side of his hip with his free hand. He glared at his targets, who were Meirith, Ninith and Itoca. As all three chanted, the first one was surrounded by fireballs while the second one had rocks floating around her. The first two elves were incessantly bombarding him with a rain of rocks and fireballs twice his size. However, his inhuman speed allowed him to slip pass them all while his magic sword cut down anything in his way.

But, right before he could reach them, Itoca had finished her chant. Wrapped in wind, she raised her hand towards Hames, and a whirlwind like a drill charged at him. It stopped him in his tracks, forcing him to kneel down and stab his sword deeply in the ground to not get blown away. Unfortunately, it left him defenseless and he was repeatedly pummeled by projectiles of rock and fire.

Seizing that chance, both Meirith and Ninith also finished their chant and released another powerful spell at the black-haired human. Right as the storm stopped, boulders the size of a house squashed the spot where Hames was kneeling at, forming his tomb. Next, a continuous torrent of flames engulfed the area. Meirith watched her handiwork as the flaming sphere she conjured was continuously releasing a breath of fire. It had a diameter of two meters and was floating above her head while small fireballs were spinning around her and rapidly shooting fiery projectiles.

“Let’s end this quickly. We need to hurry and pick up Honohono.” [Ninith]

“Ninith, sadly, now’s not the time to focus on Honohono. Meirith, please endure.” [Itoca]

“I understand…” [Meirith]

Despite looking uncomfortable, the young elf gritted her teeth and did her best to bake her enemy alive. She and her friends knew that he wasn’t dead yet and didn’t let their guard down. No matter what, she had to kill him because of the threat he posed. Plants under the control of the Gatekeeper were harder than steel, yet the human was running around and handily cutting them down. He appeared to be on the same level as the other two that her group were confronting.

The amazons had held the duo back for a while, but the battle had quickly become chaotic. Before Meirith knew it, Riteinia and her warriors were taking on the large man while her father was fighting the one with two swords. However, the former was doing most of the work as she was the only one strong enough to take on her opponent. It would have been better if some of the other amazons supported her father, but because of his fighting style, they would only get in his way.

Honestly, Meirith wanted to send Ninith and Itoca to help him, but she knew that she needed them more than him. Her opponent was as dangerous as the other two. The Gatekeeper was fighting a monstrous man of steel and fire along with his allies. The High Elder and the Matriarch were also both busy in their life or death struggle. Meirith believed that she needed to eliminate her own foe or they might get overwhelmed, even if she had to disobey her father’s order to escape.

Both Ninith and Itoca shared her sentiment, so all three agreed to battle the human wielding a sword of fire. Unfortunately, none of them could react in time as he smashed through the glowing red rubble, jumped high above the unceasing current of flames and took out the weapon he was shielding.

BAM

A loud, explosive sound, much like thunder, filled the air.

“Eh?” [Meirith]

Feeling a Pulse disappear, Meirith looked to her side and her face was gradually dyed in horror. Ninith was falling backward, with a bleeding hole in her forehead.

At the edge of Hossylei Nac, elves on lookout noticed the emergency. Their Gatekeeper had revealed her true form and was fighting some sort of humanoid giant and perhaps more enemies. They immediately sent word to the Elders for instructions.

As they uneasily watched, a fire bird rose from the lake. They inwardly thought it was one of their own. Sure enough, it was one of their ways of communicating with each other and the bird, formed by magic, began to dance as they expected. One of the elves chanted a spell in their language and released a fire bird as well. It descended and began to dance with the first one. With that, it was confirmed that the one at the bottom was a friend.

Unfortunately, their assumption would soon be proven wrong.

The group, standing on a large platform of rock, rose to the city thanks to a water column. As they did, the elves on lookout finally noticed that something was off. First, they saw that one of them was an elf, while the rest were hooded figures donning black cloaks. Then, as they got closer, their Pulses could finally be felt.

Fear. Tension. Hostility.

The elves on lookout knew, without exchanging a word, that the new arrivals were enemies. However, before anyone could react, several fire birds flew towards them. They burned their flesh as they engulfed them in flames, flying around the area and taking down the agitated elves. Then, a hail of fire, ice and wind rained down on them, quickly taking out any survivor and clearing the way for the new arrivals.

“Damn it! FORM A LINE!! FORM A LINE!!!” [Gawain]

Gawain shouted, having assumed leadership for their group. They were less than fifty, but they were the first ones in history to have stepped foot in Hossylei Nac. He and his allies had managed to get that far, which was a monumental achievement. Sadly, no one had the time to rejoice over it. After all, they were less than fifty and they were in the middle of a lake, inside a city filled with enemies. If any one of them messed up, they would all be wiped out.

Just as the cloaked individuals formed a tight line, the elves were rallying. As expected, their little bout drew attention. Once the elves understood the situation, shock, fear and confusion swiftly spread. Then, once they saw the bodies of their dead brethren, anger, sadness and the will to fight overtook all of their emotions. It spread through everyone in the vicinity thanks to their empathic abilities, giving rise to a united force that was fully prepared to eradicate their enemies.

“WE HOLD OUR GROUND HERE! NO MATTER WHAT!!” [Gawain]

Gawain yelled as he stood with the front lines, his shield raised and ready. Thirty people formed a curved line while the rest stayed at the back.

“Hurry it up, you dolts! Why even bother putting it back in the bag?!” [Marilyn]

Marilyn ordered two men who were setting on the ground the large bag that Gawain had been carrying.

“This piece of junk! To think it would break on our way up at the worst possible time! Some secret weapon!” [Marilyn]

“We were told that it was still just a prototype, so there might be issues!” [Gawain]

“Worthless excuse! The elves are already upon us!” [Marilyn]

Fear and anxiety could be heard in Marilyn’s voice during her short conversation with Gawain, but her pride stopped her from showing it in her behavior.

“You, elf, hurry and get out of here. We’re about to activate the Fang. You still have a job to do.” [Marilyn]

Just as the blue-haired woman haughtily spoke to Melda, the latter was already leaving as she walked to the edge of the city.

“I told you, don’t order me around, human. And don’t you dare deploy that thing when I’m near.” [Melda]

The elf said coldly before jumping down as currents of wind wrapped around her and controlled her descent. Using her magic, she glided towards the shore of the lake, fleeing from the scene.

“(She despises humans, but she still willingly betrays her people. Just what is her goal?)” [Marilyn]

Marilyn contemplated the reason behind the elven guide’s actions for a brief moment before pushing those thoughts to the corner of her mind. They were currently in a dangerous situation with no S ranks to support them since those two idiots ignored the plan. Moreover, right before reaching the city, as they tried to activate their secret weapon, it didn’t respond at all.

Still, ignoring the latter matter, Gary and Peter would definitely be needed since the other team had to take on the Gatekeeper as well as several elves and a group of amazons. However, that meant that her team was in more danger than planned and the Fang was dormant.

“(Well, in the first place, this was a highly dangerous mission. Which is why I accepted. Like Gerard said, if I succeed, I’ll make history. This’ll be a colossal feat that neither my family nor HER could possibly surpass.)” [Marilyn]

As Marilyn and those around her were ready to cast magic, the two men that were handling the big bag were busy revealing its content and setting it up.

“How’s it looking, Marilyn?!” [Gawain]

“We’re working on it!” [Marilyn]

Gawain asked anxiously and Marilyn answered him brusquely.

“READY THE THUNDER SCREAMERS!!!” [Gawain]

Hearing Gawain’s loud order, Marylin focused her gaze in his direction and saw that, in front of him, several elves were beginning to group up while keeping a distance. Some of them had water, fire, wind and earth dancing around them. They were effortlessly sustaining their magic and getting ready to hit the invaders with a powerful blow.

“This is it… Oooh, this is it…!” [Invader]

“Treat it like a crossbow and I’ll do fine. Treat it like a crossbow and I’ll do fine. Treat it like a crossbow. Treat it like a crossbo-.” [Invader]

“No, you idiot. It’s not like a crossbow at all. We’re not shooting arrows.” [Invader]

“B-but I still need to worry about the wind a-and distance a-and aim a little highe-.” [Invader]

“Just stay calm and aim carefully like in training.” [Invader]

Some of the invaders couldn’t help but nervously talk among themselves because of the tension and fear. However, everyone had simultaneously reached for the Thunder Screamers hidden under their cloaks, as per Gawain’s order. With their hands outstretched while holding the weapons, they pointed them, at the elves.

“ON MY MARK!” [Gawain]

The Thunder Screamers were L-shaped objects that were black in color and could be held in one hand. Their dark bodies strangely gleamed, even under the grey, cloudy sky.

“R-READY!” [Gawain]

They were not products of magic nor were they commonly used or known. They were ranged weapons like bows and crossbows, but belonged in a class of their own.

“AIM!” [Gawain]

They were semi-automatic pistols.

“FIRE!!!” [Gawain]

Thirty gunshots resounded in Hossylei Nac as bullets flew towards the gathered elves, killing them. Those at the back who saw their brethren get riddled with holes were stunned and frightened at first, wondering what sort of magic the humans just used. But, with their home threatened and their people killed, the elves, far from shrinking away, were full of fighting spirit.

First, they quickly retreated and got down to chant several defensive magic before carefully approaching the enemies to box them in. Once they were close enough to hit them with magic, multiple elves started firing weaker attacks with short chants to keep them pinned down. Others were hanging back and conjuring more potent spells that required more time and concentration to cast.

Magic and bullets flew through the air between the elves and the invaders.

Gawain’s side was being bombarded with spells. Their magicians at the back made boulders of stone to use as cover and Marilyn also raised a veritable wall of ice. However, as seconds passed, more and more attacks went through. Arrows, pellets and blades of fire, ice, stone and wind rained down on them. The elves had set up a proper barrier and powerful spells with increasing intensity were being unleashed.

“MARILYN! HURRY!” [Gawain]

Gawain shouted as he hurriedly protected a nearby teammate from a ball of fire the size of a man with his shield. As he strengthened his body with magic to resist the impact, he poured even more mana into his tower shield to make sure that it could weather the blow. Upon doing so, Gawain could feel how his mana easily flowed through his weapon and empowered it.

“(Thank the gods I was given all this gear for the mission. The First Order really don’t spare any expense.)” [Gawain]

It was several times more effective than when he did it with regular steel weapons and armors since his current shield was made of dragoon scales. The materials let mana flow freely through it, so the effect of his strengthening magic was not dampened. Moreover, his armor was made of dragoon scales as well, which greatly heightened his defense.

“(I wonder if it was a blessing that Elura got attacked by dragoons. We were able to get a lot of dragoon materials thanks to it.)” [Gawain]

As if to prove its quality, the shield easily repelled that flaming ball of magic as it slammed into it. The same went for the other attacks of different elements that incessantly rained down on them. Gawain no longer had time to shoot his Thunder Screamer. His hands were full with protecting his allies as their covers kept getting punched through.

The wall of ice that Marilyn had raised was already half destroyed. Pellets of rock rapidly slammed into one of their boulders, smashed through it and pummeled anyone hiding behind it into bloody pulps. Blades of wind cut up the large bodies of stone before doing the same to the ones hiding behind them. Fireballs that kept growing in size and numbers lit the grey, cloudy sky as they burned any intruder hit by them.

The elves’ magical attacks kept getting worse. Marilyn and the other magicians were making more boulders and walls of ice, but it was only a matter of time before they would be annihilated. The exchange between the two sides didn’t even last a minute, but all of the intruders could see the outcome. The elves kept using more and more powerful spells without pause.

The greater the spell, the more mana it consumed. Pumping more mana than necessary into a spell would increase its output, but controlling it would be harder, not to mention it would be more cost-efficient to cast its higher level version. Moreover, creating multiple magical objects, such as fireballs, would require greater mana and control. As such, it was vital for magic users and magicians to manage their mana and stay focused.

However, the scene before the intruders’ eyes betrayed such common sense. The elves were throwing magical attacks at them like water. Furthermore, while chanting the next spell, their previous one was still active. An elven woman had twenty fire birds flying around her and she unleashed them at the intruders one by one. Meanwhile, she was chanting to call forth an even greater blaze that would burn down her enemies.

It was the Traveler, Fiamma, and next to her was Undiriel.

“(Die! Die! Die! Burn like that pig!)” [Fiamma]

“(Please disappear. Please disappear. Please die and return to the earth.)” [Undiriel]

While Fiamma was burning with anger, the latter was filled with disgust. Nevertheless, the two former slaves were trying their best to kill the uninvited visitors.

“(It’s really just like Melda said. Maybe the Order was right. Maybe what we’re doing is the right thing to do.)” [Gawain]

Seeing the elves effortlessly juggle different deadly spells and continuously supplying them with mana, Gawain keenly realized how dangerous their existence was. It was especially so when he saw dozens of boulders floating in the air above the elves as large blazes of flames set them on fire. There was also a small tornado that was taking form and a huge snake of fire that was staring him down. At that moment, he could clearly see humanity getting blasted to bits by the elves.

“FANG READY!!!” [Marilyn]

Marylin shouted with a hint of joy in her voice. Next to her, the two men had managed to activate the Fang.

“MAGICIANS, SWITCH TO THUNDER SCREAMERS!” [Gawain]

Gawain urgently ordered so. If the Thunder Screamers gave them an advantage, then the Fang would bring victory.

“DEAD FIELD FANG IN 3…!” [Gawain]

The trump card was a black object the size of a man’s torso. It resembled a curved cone, similar to a fang, which might be where its name came from.

“2…!” [Gawain]

Engraved symbols spiraled on its smooth surface. These symbols were glowing with a purple light. On one side of the cone, near its base, were three gems of purple color that were faintly shining.

“1!” [Gawain]

One of the men poured his mana into the gems and, following Gawain’s signal, activated the Fang’s power. The curved cone glowed in a sinister purple light as an invisible field was deployed.

The elves were unaware of their enemies’ scheme. When the shootout began, they raised powerful curtains of wind or slabs of stone, and thickened their defense when several bullets passed through. Those at the front formed, maintained and repaired the protective walls. Those at the back peppered their foes with spells or focused on invoking more powerful magic.

Also, because of the commotion, more and more elves were gathering. Although their response to the invasion was sluggish, news would spread throughout Hossylei Nac. Soon, the entire city would be upon the invaders. Victory was imminent.

However, the elves’ hopes and expectations were dashed. As an unpleasant sensation travelled through their bodies, suddenly, all magical phenomenon disappeared. Fire vanished, wind dispersed, water scattered and earth crumbled. Everyone felt it. They couldn’t use magic or their empathic ability anymore. Moreover, their bodies had become heavy and weak. One by one, the elves fell to their knees as they had trouble just standing. Bewildered, no one understood what was happening.

“Wha…? This feeling…” [Fiamma]

Except for two certain Travelers who had gone through a similar experience.

“… Magic shackles…?” [Undiriel]

To Fiamma and Undiriel, the feeling of having their magic cut off and their bodies weakening was a familiar one. The two Travelers were constantly in that state when they became slaves until Ryner rescued them. Before Fiamma‘s eyes, her fire had vanished like smoke. Next to her, Undiriel weakly tried to chant again to summon forth a large ball of water, but nothing happened.

Right now, they felt like they were cuffed with magic shackles once more.

And sadly, their enemies weren’t going to do nothing as they were rendered helpless.

“NOW!” [Gawain]

Fiamma and Undiriel watched as the cloaked figures rushed them, went over their walls and pointed their weapons at their defenseless forms.

“(So in the end, humans became our deaths…!)” [Fiamma]

Fiamma gritted her teeth in grief and anger.

“N-no…” [Undiriel]

Undiriel uttered in a frightened voice as tears stained the corners of her eyes.

Then, triggers were pulled, bullets flew and pain flooded their minds as their consciousness sunk into darkness.

“IT’S WORKING! LET’S MOVE! PROTECT THE FANG! DON’T LET ANYONE GET CLOSE!” [Gawain]

Finally, Gawain’s team would be able to truly fulfill their mission. Gunshots sounded out in Hossylei Nac as the massacre began.