With her pink eyes darting among the ten white-masked cult members surrounding her, Rin remained firm. Compared to the trained strength of knights, their power pulsed like a dense fog—something unnatural, raw, and wrong.
Gregor’s bravery crumbled beside her. With panic in his black eyes, he ran toward the cultists. He cried out, "I-I’m not with her!" "Just let me go, take her!"
Rin’s jaw tightened as a look of disgust crossed her face. "Coward," she muttered under her breath. One masked figure moved forward, his motions uncannily fluid. Gregor’s fervent request turned into a feeble smile as he hoped for mercy.
Instead, the cultist’s fist sent him flying after slamming it with bone-crunching force into his gut. He collided with a tree, his body limp as he slumped among the roots, unconscious.
Rin’s heart was racing as she gulped down, but her defiance surpassed her fear. With a sharp voice, she spat, "Touch me, and I’ll make you regret it."
With a head tilt, the chief cultist spoke in a flat, icy tone that sliced through the atmosphere like a knife. . "The vessel resists. Subdue her—use force if necessary." The ground beneath Rin trembled violently as he raised a hand.
Chains of dark mana burst from the earth, writhing like snakes, their tips glowing with energy as they shot toward her.
Rin reacted instantly, channeling mana into her staff. With a sharp thrust, she cast a flight spell, launching herself into the air, her dark pink hunting outfit fluttering in the wind. The chains twisted after her, slicing through the air with unnatural aim.
She spun mid-air, her staff flaring as she unleashed a freeze spell. A wave of icy energy surged outward, coating the chains in a crystal sheen. They froze mid-motion, then shattered into sparkling fragments, raining down on the forest floor as she landed lightly, her boots barely stirring the leaves.
A cultist lunged from behind, his hands reaching to grab her. Rin sensed the movement, spinning with her staff aglow. A pulse of raw mana erupted from her, slamming into the cultist like a hammer.
He flew back, crashing into a tree with a sickening crunch, his body slumping to the ground. Three more cultists drew their swords, their blades glinting in the dim light, but the leader raised a hand, his voice sharp. "No blades! The priest’s orders—she must be taken unharmed."
The swords were sheathed, but the cultists surged forward, their movements eerily matched, tightening the circle around her.
Rin fought like a storm, her staff a blur as she unleashed a barrage of spells. Ice shards tore through the air, forcing cultists to dodge or take piercing wounds. Mana bursts knocked back attackers, sending them sprawling.
Vines erupted from the ground, snaring legs and tripping her foes. But their numbers were too many.
A tall cultist at the circle’s edge raised his hands, casting a shimmering mana field that enveloped Rin. Its heavy weight pressed down, sapping her magic. Her staff flickered, her spells fizzling as she stumbled under the invisible force.
With their white masks shining like ghosts in the darkness, the cultists drew closer, their hands reaching for her.
From the trees came a black blur—Nimbus, a huge panther now instead of a little cat, his purple eyes blazing with untamed intensity. He pounced on the mana-field caster, claws raking through the cultist’s arm, severing it in a spray of blood. The shimmering field collapsed, and Rin gasped, free.
She stared at Nimbus, shock mixing with his presence far more than that of a mere familiar.
Nimbus spun, his shadow tendrils slashing out, and the cultists froze, equally stunned. Rin winced, believing they were directed at her, but a soldier approaching from behind was pierced by the tendrils, piercing him through the chest. The tendrils drew back, and he fell, dead.
The cultists froze, their confidence fell. One staggered back, gripping his dagger, and yelled, "What in the abyss is that thing?!"
Another backed away, his words shaking, his mask awry. "This is one of those Ruler’s shadow summonses that the Pillar of Treachery warned us about!"
Rin’s eyes widened and she fixed them on Nimbus’s purple ones. A flash of insight ignited in her mind as she whispered, "Ruler?"
"Nimbus....Leonhardt?"
At Point C.
The four mercenaries who suffered mutations loomed over Leo, their hideous bodies a twisted parody of people. Black ichor was dripping from their wounds, sizzling as it burned through the parched leaves on the ground, and their swollen bodies bulged with raw muscle and jagged bone.
Their deep roars shook the trees like a nightmare, and their luminous red eyes blazed with uncontrollable rage.
Leo scratched the back of his head, a faint smirk tugging at his lips as his crimson eyes narrowed. His voice was dry as he muttered, "Chloe would have loved this."
"Like something from one of her monster movies."
With the air whistling with the force, the closest mutant, whose arm was a mass of tendrils spiked with bone, swung a huge fist at him.
Leo dodged with smooth precision as the blow smashed the ground, leaving a deep crater of broken earth. He flicked his wrist, his chained blood dagger flashing through the air, its mana-charged blade glinting with fire.
It only caused a small, shallow scratch on the creature’s iron-hard skin when it struck its chest. Irritation flared as Leo’s smirk vanished. With a growl, he dragged the chain to his dagger and said, "Tough bastard, huh?"
Another mutant lunged forward, whipping out its writhing tendrils. Leo’s hand moved quickly, drawing his katana out of item space with a flicker of mana. He channeled fire mana, and the blade burst into flames, its edge glowing a fiery orange. With a wet thud, the parts of the creature fell as he swung upward, the arc of fire slicing it in half.
However, with a guttural snarl, the creature rose again as the flesh twitched and the wound knitted together in a matter of seconds.