n

n

n

"John?!

" Shouted Serena.

nJohn had stopped moving, and a dark mist now surrounded him, and completely covered him. Serena and Ariel couldn't see John and he couldn't hear or see them.

n

"Ventus hastam!

" Said Ariel Translation: Wind Spear.

nA wind spear was formed and propelled straight at the man, but instead of dodging, he simply created a dark shield and blocked it with a sturdy shield that was similar to John's Ice shield but sinister.

n

"Serena... Try to get John... I'll hold him back...

" Spoke Ariel.

n

"Understood, I haven't used this in a while but...

" Serena replied.

nSerena started chanting, and the man simply watched. He seemed curious about what the two girls before him would pull off.

n

"Fire lion

" Said Serena once she finished her chant.

nA lion made of pure fire was formed beside Ariel.

n

"It'll help you, I'll get John and be-

"

nSerena was interrupted by the man who leapt straight at her with his right arm stretched out as if trying to grab her.

nShe leapt to Ariel's side and looked straight at him.

n

"Doesn't look like he'll let us approach John...

" Said Serena.

n

"But... If we don't do something... John might...

" Ariel replied.

n

"Calm down, Ariel. He won't hurt John... He needs him for information...

" Spoke Serena.

n

"That's correct, but it appears that your black-haired friend can use it too, I wonder if you can use it yourself, Silver-haired elf.

" He said as he looked straight at Serena.

n

"Ariel... This guy's dangerous... Let's use that...

" Said Serena.

nAriel nodded.

n

"Very well, I won't move an inch off of this location, Go on.

" Said the man.

nThe man's shield only protected attacks from one direction, so Serena and Ariel decided to go with a multi-direction attack.

n

"Sagitta ignis

" Muttered Serena Translation: Fire Arrow.

nShortly after, arrows made of flame began to form themselves around 10 feet away from the man. 30 Arrows were formed. Ariel began to gather air behind each individual arrow

/

n

"Now!

" Said Serena.

nWith the help of Ariel, Serena propelled the fire arrows straight at him. Yet the man didn't move, all 20 Arrows pierced him while the rest were deflected by the shield. They seemed worried about whether or not they had killed him, but were still more concerned about John.

nAs Serena and Ariel lowered their guards, thinking that they had won, a voice came from behind them.

n

"So you can both use magic without chanting...

" Said the man.

nChills went down their spine as they hastily turned around.

nAs they did, he stretched out his hand to try to grab on to their necks. But thanks to the harsh conditions and battles they fought in the dungeon, they instinctively jumped back at the same time and avoided him.

n

"That's not good... You're supposed to sit still...

" Said the man as he stared at the sky.

nSerena and Ariel looked over at the body that they had hit with the Arrows, and it dispersed into the air.

n

"A spell which creates some sort of dummy... What do we do..?

" Asked Ariel.

n

"We got stronger a lot stronger compared to when we first entered the dungeon... But this is another person... Fighting a person is completely different... Not to mention, he's a strong mage...

" Said Serena.

nSerena and Ariel looked back over to where the man was a while ago, but this time, he was gone. They couldn't feel his presence or anything.

n

"Don't drop your guard...

" Said Serena

n

"I know... There's no way he'd just leave us like that...

" Said Ariel as she hastily looked around.

nWhere is he? Left? Right? Above us?

nThey looked around but found no traces of him; he had either completely sealed his presence or left.

nThey slowly approached John as they stood side by side, right when they were just a few steps away from the John who had been cloaked inside of a dark sphere. Serena felt it.

n

"Ariel! Jum-

"

nAn elf's senses were higher than a human's, a human can achieve senses higher than an elf if they trained enough. Serena not only had sharp senses, but she trained them, making her notice things, considerably faster than others.

nBut by the time she realised it was too late. The man rose up from their shadows and grabbed on to their necks.

n

"Caught you~,

" He said.

nSerena struggled to release his grip off of her neck but it was tight, Ariel struggled just as much but even with magic strengthening, he wouldn't let go.

n

"You know... originally I came here on an assassination request of the merchant Floyd's daughter... But you three are clearly worth a lot more than that...

"

nSerena began to move her mouth, forcing herself to say something.

n

"Hm? What's that?

"

n

"D..rop... Dead...

" She said as she cast ignis in front of her arms.

nShe then slammed the Ignis and her hand on to his arm, which resulted in it being burnt, He slightly loosened his grip once it happened, but it wasn't enough.

n

"Interesting... So you can cast without being able to talk... A magician's greatest weakness is to only be able to cast once he's said the words... You are truly interesting.

" The man spoke.

nAriel gathered air a few feet behind them and secretly propelled it at him as she did her best not to let him notice. She propelled 5 of them straight at his back, and also subconsciously lowered the power so that it wouldn't kill him.

nJust a bit more... She thought to herself as they were about to hit him.

nThere was contact, the 5 wind blades all managed to hit, but it wasn't what she wanted. It hit a shield he had formed on his back, shortly after she propelled them.

n

"Was that your doing?

" He asked as he looked at Serena.

nSerena smiled at him as she nodded.

n

"Lying won't work on me. It was you, wasn't it?

" He asked as he looked at Ariel.

nAriel nodded as she had run out of air, her consciousness was fading.

n

"Lea..ve... her... al...one...

"

nDamn it... I'm the older one... Why am I so useless... John... Sorry... Thought Serena, as tears streamed down her eyes.

n

"P...lease... Don't... Hur...t... the...m...

" Said Ariel as tears flowed down her face.

nShortly after that, they both fainted.

n

"What? Done, Already, how boring?

"

nThe man let go of Serena, and Ariel and they fell straight to the ground.

n

"Hopefully this wasn't enough to kill you. Ah well, it's fine, there's still that kid, speaking of him, I wonder how he's-

"

nThe man was interrupted by John who said,

"Serena... Ariel..?

" as he walked over to them.

n

"You... How did you break through my dark domain?

"

nJohn ignored the man and walked over to them, it was clear that he was drained from the way he was walking. He had used up most of his magic to break out of the Dark Domain.

nThe man simply watched as John kneeled down beside them.

n

"Serena... Oi... Wake up... Ariel... Come on... Stop joking around...

"

nJohn's mind wasn't in the right place. He had spent time in a domain which consumed the person's mind and exhausted his mana. He didn't even check to see if Ariel and Serena were still breathing.

n

"Can't you see? They're dead,

" Said the man.

n

"They're not... They'll be fine...

" Said John as tears began to stream down his face.

n

"No, they're dead, I killed them

"

nJohn turned his head and faced the man as he stared straight at him with a blank expression.

nThe man stared back with a nervous expression.

nShortly after, John fainted and collapsed onto the ground.

n

"Did I really feel threatened by a kid...

" muttered the man.

nDark clouds began to gather above them, and a storm was coming..

n

"Well, time to take these three back...

" He muttered as he moved his hand to grab them.

nBefore he grabbed them, his hand was stopped. It was John; he grabbed on to his hand. John's grip was strong. The man tried but couldn't shake it off. As he was distracted by that, he failed to notice that John was mumbling something.

n

"Earth Spike,

" Said John.

nOnce the man heard that, he felt a chill go down his spine. The man used all of his strength and managed to break free of the grip, and took that opportunity to leap back.

nA split second after his jump, the earth rose in the form of a spike in the location where he was at. Shortly after the earth regressed back to normal and John stood up.

nHis eyes were closed, and he began muttering something again.

n

"He's unconscious?!

"

n