Chapter 467: I was a little careless, huh…

“Grr…”

Above the Shrouded Wilds, three large flying beasts glided effortlessly when one of them suddenly paused and growled, its eyes glowing faintly with golden light.

“…What is it?”

Its rider—a woman with short white hair tied into a braid—asked as her hand rested gently on the beast’s neck.

Seeing her beast act like that, the other two beasts stopped as well, their riders turned towards the woman with a frown.

“Saria, what happened?”

One of them questioned.

The woman stared at him before turning back towards her Drake.

“Grr…”

The creature once again let out a low growl, and Saria instantly realized that the growl wasn’t out of anger but from… unease.

A solemn look appeared on Saria’s face; she stared at the Shrouded Wilds beneath them silently.

From above, the forest looked endless—a sea of darkness and mist. No sunlight touched it, no shadow shifted. Only the faint, strange glow of bioluminescent plants broke the grey monotony.

“Something’s wrong,”

Saria muttered.

“Ferus is feeling uneasy.”

She spoke, constantly patting her Drake—Ferus’s—neck, trying to calm it down.

“Are you sure?”

Her teammate—a man with pale armor marked by the insignia of the Sky Kingdom—asked.

“Ferus’s instincts have never been wrong before,”

The third scout added.

“Should we check it out?”

“We’ll move lower.

Get in formation.”

Saria nodded once.

Their beasts tilted downward, wings slicing through the mist as they descended. The air grew colder, quieter, and Saria narrowed her eyes.

“Visibility dropping fast…”

The second scout muttered.

“It’s like the fog’s—”

“Grrr…”

Before he could say anything, his beast growled as well, its piercing brown eyes staring far ahead, looking at that irregular cloud of mist hovering above the Wilds, moving in a particular direction.

“Varis.”

The rider called out; from their connection, he too realized that his Bond, Varis, wanted him to move in that direction and see what it was seeing on his own.

“That way.”

He pointed out.

The other two didn’t hesitate. Like how Saria’s Ferus had strong instincts, Varis had sharp eyesight; if Varis wanted them to see something, it was wise to check it out.

“Should I tell Vision to check it?”

The third scout asked carefully.

Vision was another one of his Bonds, one that could share its vision with him. After all, if Ferus was feeling uneasy, it meant that whatever it was, it wasn’t something they should take lightly. Having more information about this possible enemy was better.

Using Vision would also ensure that they wouldn’t have to take any unnecessary risks, and honestly, if this was a normal situation, the other two scouts would have agreed with his suggestion but—

“Varis says whatever it is, it’s moving away quickly. We do not have the time for Vision to see it, share its vision, and act accordingly.

We need to act right now.”

The second scout shook his head.

“Then… should we at least inform the Operation Leader about this?”

The third scout asked. Maybe it was because he was new, but he was being more careful than the other two.

“What are you even going to report to him? That Ferus is feeling uneasy?”

Saria shook her head.

“We need more information. We will report once we have something convincing.”

The woman ordered, the other two scouts nodded, and then—

They continued moving, chasing whatever Varis wanted them to chase.

But then—

Whoosh.

Suddenly, something happened.

The flow of wind changed and… it didn’t seem a natural shift.

The air seemed to curve around them, swirling in strange patterns.

“Did you feel that?”

The third scout questioned; his instincts screamed, warning him that something was going to happen.

The other two had wary expressions on their faces as well.

“Hold formation.”

Saria ordered instantly, but her Ferus was already uneasy. It let out a sharp growl and flared its wings wide, its scales glowing faintly blue in instinctive defense.

“Grrr.”

It let out another sound, as if talking to Saria.

“Something’s coming, be pre—”

Saria was just about to relay Ferus’s words to the other two scouts but then—

Snap

A strange sound was heard.

The sound of a small twig breaking.

A sound they shouldn’t be hearing when they were so high in the air, but in the silence of the skies, this quiet voice felt… deafening.

Instinctively, the third scout looked below and his eyes widened.

“Movement—!”

He shouted, but before the words fully left his mouth—

“Rrroooaaaarrr!!”

His beast let out a sharp, guttural cry and twisted violently mid-air.

Whoosh

A streak of red light slashed through the group, passing through the scout’s face, leaving a faint trail of heat across his cheek. If his beast hadn’t reacted at the last moment, he… he could have been burned alive.

“Enemy attack!”

Saria shouted.

“Report to the Operation Leader—”

She spoke as she herself brought out the communication crystal while she tried to turn and face the unknown enemy that had attacked suddenly—but the moment they did, dense mist appeared around them, limiting their vision.

And it didn’t end with just that; the mist continued to change, moving as if it were living.

Shapes flickered inside it—silhouettes of wings, faint glimmers of flame—and then nothing. The fog folded over itself, muting every sound.

“Where—where is it?!”

The second scout shouted. His beast spun its claws, slashing at the empty air.

“I can’t see!”

“Above us!”

Saria shouted.

But by the time she looked up—nothing.

Only the mist.

Then the temperature dropped; her breath came out white, water condensed on her armor, then suddenly froze.

“RROOOAAARRRR!!!”

Her beast screamed again, its wings locking up midair, frost spreading along its feathers like veins of glass. Her heart raced; she reached for her spear, trying to fight back, but because of the constant movements and confusion, she couldn’t find the right balance to be able to use enough force.

Then suddenly, her eyes widened.

“What—”

Crash

A blast of compressed air hit them from below, like an invisible wall slamming upward.

“ROOOAAAAARRRR!!”

Her Ferus roared as it was thrown higher, spinning; Saria herself completely lost her balance. At the same time, she felt something hit the back of her neck, but before she could realize or even think about what it was—

She blacked out, her body that barely kept itself mounted, fell—freefalling towards the ground.

“RROOOOOAAAAARRRR!!!!”

Ferus roared in urgency, instantly chasing her, preparing to catch and protect her from crashing on the ground.

As for the free-falling Saria, the last bit of her consciousness managed to see… something.

A figure.

A blurry figure she couldn’t make out because of all the mist that limited her vision. The only thing she could see was that it had a human-like body and… he didn’t have wings.

A question—how was he flying in the air—would have appeared in her head if she were in a condition to make out such thoughts. Her last speck of consciousness had disappeared as well.

With Saria and Ferus out of the picture, the other two scouts, who were already having a hard time facing multiple enemies, now felt an even stronger sense of urgency.

At the same time, they couldn’t make out just how strange the enemies they were facing were. The two of them and their Bonds had teamed up, but almost nothing around them made sense.

They couldn’t even tell the exact number of enemies they were facing. The only thing they could tell was that these multiple enemies continued coming at them, and if they blocked their advance, they would be able to hold them off successfully.

The problem was, every time they blocked these enemies with their swords, their swords felt… weightless.

As if the enemies didn’t even exist, as if… it was all an illusion that someone was making them see.

But…

The moment they failed to block one of the approaching enemies, their bodies were pushed back, ruining their balance. Their attacks weren’t particularly heavy, but they were well-coordinated. If they didn’t focus, they might even get dismounted from their winged beasts.

“Bring out the rest of your Bonds—”

The second scout shouted, wanting more reinforcements since he could no longer take on the continuous assault, but then—

He too felt something heavy hit the back of his neck, and he blacked out. The last thing he felt was someone grabbing his barely conscious, helpless body and throwing it to the ground.

“RRROOOAAAAAARRRRR!!”

His Bond, sensing the danger, moved quickly, preparing to catch its master.

Just like that, the second scout was out of the picture as well.

And the only one left?

He met the same fate, being attacked from behind and falling from his mount.

But this time, something happened—

Unlike the other two Bonds, who were quick enough to catch their masters and save them, the third scout’s Bond was much slower.

“ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRR!!!”

It roared, pushing itself past its limits, but it could tell that it would still fail. The scouts’ other beasts did not have time to come out of the Sanctuary and protect him either; neither could the Bonds of the other two scouts do something since they too had their hands full with their own masters.

Nothing could be done.

The third scout would crash on the ground headfirst, and he would die.

Or at least, that is how it should have happened—but just before he reached the ground—

He stopped.

“I was a little careless, huh…”

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