The horses moved through the forest, trotting alongside the stagnant river. As they moved, the smell only became worse, a fogginess beginning to hang in the air.
The mist accumulated, making it difficult to see what was happening ahead.
'There's Mana in the air too…'
Theron found that when he tried to use his Third Eye to combat the limited range of sight, he received pushback in return. Third Eye always struggled in regions where Mana fluctuated, and had as tough a time moving through streams of dense Mana as it did solid objects. But this situation was particularly odd.
The Mana itself wasn't very dense, or else Theron wouldn't have had to deploy his Third Eye first before noticing the issue. Somehow, this mist was mimicking the effects of a concentration of Mana that was easily hundreds of times more dense.
'Formation? No. That would be too obvious. But it's also not far from the truth either…'
The jumbled thoughts in Theron's mind didn't seem to make any sense at all.
"We need to tighten up," Gengh called out. "I think it would be smart if Ray and Supra took the vanguard for now. There might be danger very soon."
Ray was the Fourth Year of the military stream, a powerful Flux Mancer from the Brien Marquis Clan. He had quite a wide stature and seemed to carry around a weight so heavy that his steed's hooves sank into even the nutrient-stripped, hard soil beneath them.
The two didn't show any refusal toward this suggestion. They had yet to do any of the work, and technically guarding the academic stream geniuses was their task.
Theron let them go on ahead as well, but he followed behind. He would have to do double duty anyway. But since he was a First Year, he could get away with relying a bit more on his upper years, so he took advantage.
His eyes continued to scan the region, trying to make out what was so special about this fog.
If there was anything he knew for certain now, though… it was that they were being targeted. The spies weren't the only ones on this trip.
But that much should have been obvious. How could they be so bold as to target a mission one of the strongest Mancers of the Empire was on without a backup plan, and likely a backup to their backup?
There just might be a cultivator on this mission that—
Theron's eyes suddenly sharpened, his head ducking down with such swiftness that he couldn't consider the balance of the rest of his body.
He tumbled down the side of his horse's back, nearly being trampled beneath its weight.
If it was just a normal horse, that much would have been fine. But these were Silver Mancy steeds. There was a very good reason why they could withstand Ray's weight, and now that positive was a hair away from turning into the negative that cost Theron half his skull.
The sound was delayed, distorted through the mist. It made it difficult even to tell exactly where it was coming from in the first place. Had Theron not felt something pulling on his blood, causing him to react on instinct, he would have lost his head to that pulse of Mana just now.
The Immortal Jellyfish had saved his life.
'We're not being targeted. I'm being targeted.'
Theron reached the conclusion in a breath of time, just barely rolling out of the way of his horse's hooves and unsheathing his blades. He sent a glance back toward where General Pennel should have been, only to see that the man and Aliza were nowhere to be seen.
He looked ahead to where the team of remaining academic and military stream students should have been, to see that they had vanished as well.
This wasn't a coincidence. The mist had grown thicker.
In all likelihood, they were still right there. But in the event that they weren't…
Growls reached Theron's ears.
He didn't bother to turn in the direction he heard them. That arrow's sound had come from his right, so he fell down the left side of his horse's body. But the wind pressure he felt came from his left.
Sound was being distorted in an odd way here.
Yet, Theron was still sure that it wasn't a formation. It was something else.
Theron's eyes sharpened. Was he dealing with another Water Mancer? No, it wouldn't be a Water Mancer; it would be a Mist Mancer.
Mist Mancers were so rare that Theron had only come across them once in a book. They were described as a genetic defect possible in variations of Water and Ice Mancer bloodlines.
If Water Mancers were considered weak in combat, then Mist Mancers were still somehow the little brother to Water Mancers. They were utterly and completely useless. They were purely auxiliary and could only be deployed in very specific situations.
However… this Mist Mancer felt different. There was something…
Theron realized what it was, and he made the connection to the stagnant river. But there was still something that he was missing, something that wasn't quite right.
Mist Mancers couldn't just become Poison Mancers just because they felt like it. Much like with Raiden and his unique Echo, they would have to take drastic measures.
That was when Theron understood. The poison was still accumulating, and the source of that poison… was the stagnant river.
They were on a ticking timer right now. If the poison's concentration increased to the point that their Mana could no longer naturally detoxify it, then they would likely all die beneath this mist.
By the time the others realized that poison might be what they were facing, it'd be too late. If not for Theron's affinity with Water Mana, he wouldn't have even sensed the issue either.
'Find them. Quickly.'
Unfortunately, as Theron was having these thoughts, the growls echoed once again. This time, much closer.
Pairs of crimson eyes began to slowly glow around him.