"Boss, they are here. The Shamans sensed a small group outside the barrier and we spotted them at the foot of the mountain," Black said with a hard face.
His voice nearly echoed in the large, luxurious tent that had a beautiful overhead light, a neat desk and chair as well as two beds.
A man decked in a polished true sapphire armour – its pauldrons with the designs of fierce wolves, the same exquisite craftwork present on the chest plates and knee guards – was sitting on the chair as he seemed to be reading through a book, his lowered face depicting how completely unconcerned he was by anything happening around him.
"Is that man you mentioned among them?" this man asked as he raised his head, revealing gun metal blue eyes and a pointed nose under his spiky, black hair.
"He has to be. There is no way those Knights would attack our base without him," the last of the twins said with an intense determination.
"Very well then. We've overstayed our welcome in the region. His arrival means there might be more reinforcements on his level arriving soon whether we manage to defeat him or not," the boss said as he reluctantly stood.
The armour he pulled apart bits of dust in the air and hissed a threatening feel of energy around him.
Black gulped.
This armour was the reason his boss was so successful and well respected even outside their band.
This armour was a beyond Legendary grade artefact and its effects fit his position as a boss.
While Black felt anxious while in his leader's presence, he also felt reassured now that the man with the blue armour seemed to want to move things along himself.
"Take the Forced Displacer and take two thirds of our remaining men with you for an ambush. Make sure the Shamans are well hidden to keep the barrier up. Once you have those rats cornered I'll kill that man you spoke of," the boss said to which Black nodded eagerly.
BOOOOM!
Suddenly...
Unexpectedly...
A shocking force caused the entire mountain to rumble, the vibration dying out as it reached the top!
"What?!" Black shot out of the tent to find the trees and rocks quivering, the force of the impact just now dying down.
The boss followed after him with a sharp look in his eyes.
Roughly 95 bandits were settled in their own tents around the boss' and all of them quit what they had been doing to focus on this phenomenon.
Right then, someone came rushing in from beyond the clustered shelters and reached the boss, giving an urgent report.
"Boss! Boss! They are attacking the barrier! One of the Shamans sustained some damage from the shock! What should we do?!"
What?
The band was confused.
Someone was attacking the barrier with enough force to harm the Shamans who set it up?!
But... that would mean whoever this enemy was packed enough of a punch to overwhelm the total energy from all the natural forces, plants and elements that the Shamans were drawing from to power the barrier!
Was someone of that level really here?!
Some of the bandits brandished their blades while others turned to the boss, truly afraid of what was next.
To their relief, their boss was unfazed.
'I thought whoever this person was would opt to attack the Shamans with Mind Casting means since the barrier cannot effectively block mental energy. Their method is... unexpected,' he thought as he turned to Black.
"Proceed as I said," he ordered to which Black nodded and called for most of the bandits here to come with him.
Soon, Black handled the Forced Displacer and inserted mana according to the relevant conditions – this item charged mana according to the distance you intended to travel. It took lesser mana to travel to somewhere you had been before while holding the cube but the cost would still be exponential if the distance was large.
If the user wanted to teleport with another individual, they also had to add more mana, though it was the same rate of charge for similarly sized entities, with the dead or difficult to identify targets barred from the effect.
Black breathed out from his nostrils.
Aura surged from his body and his muscles stiffened.
Being a Master Stage expert allowed for one to use their Aura multiple times a day if they could generate enough, unlike for Advancement Stage experts who were limited to using Full Body Aura once a day because their bodies were learning to reach the production of Perfect Aura which was flexible.
With his Incarnation close to being formed, Black psyched up his fellow bandits before teleporting with them to the foot of the mountain.
As soon as he appeared, he and his men felt...
"Urgh!" Black grunted as he almost stumbled.
What was this?!
A blue vapour covered them, obscuring their vision and senses.
No. That was an understatement.
The moment he came into contact with the vapour, his mind immediately began to feel sluggish, his body weak and something deep within him felt like it was weighed on by enormous blocks of steel!
"What... is this...?" he muttered as he staggered and reinforced his Aura around himself.
To his surprise, most of the men he came with were lying on the ground convulsing while the rest were barely holding on their consciousness.
The only reason Black was fairing so well was because he had a Genuine Incarnation and by extension more robust Aura that defended him.
"Damn it! They got us! It's the thing that man used before..." Black mumbled. His vision blurred.
Frankly, the blue all around him disoriented him even more as there was barely any distinction of direction whenever he turned his head.
But, from this same blue, a figuring adorned an edgy outfit with chains wrapping around his waist emerged.
He took slow, confident steps that gave the enemy a deep sense of unease and when he kept getting devoured by the vapour, further hiding his full figure from complete view, Black lost it!
"It's him!" he yelled while clenching his teeth.
His weakening body churned out resolve and he forced his clarity back, conjuring his Genuine Incarnation which manifested as a large black dragonfly with stripes of purple!
"Die!" Black screamed as his Incarnation then rapid fired shots of condensed Aura!
The loud noise and the unseen destruction that followed caused the men behind him to ignite their Auras as well and battle the fierce weakness they felt as they charged, somehow assuming that there was only one enemy!
Sadly, Black's target wasn't slow.
In fact, the man didn't even see him dodge the Aura projectiles as when a breath passed, he was already before Black, flinging a right hook that the bandit sloppily defended against with his Aura!
...!
Black's heart shrieked.
He dreaded to be hit with that heavy punch again, especially to the face!
He didn't know if he could take it, especially now that he could barely maintain solid thought!
A terrified howl escaped his mouth as the punch connected and he was sent flying backwards!
Black rolled a distance away within the blue... but found to his surprise that... this didn't hurt as much as he thought.
His men that followed him up swarmed the man in the dark outfit but a silver Aura burned from him with staggering intensity and the luminosity of a star, forging an armour over his body that defended him!
Then with ridiculous, calculated movements, the man dispatched his men with a large, silver tower shield that appeared in his hand!
"Wait... That's..." Black said as he struggled to focus.
This wasn't right.
What was going on?!
His confusion was broken apart as suddenly, from the blue vapour, figures dashed towards him and his men from all around them!
"This...!" Black growled.
They had been tricked!
With their minds clouded by the blue vapour, it was hard to think properly and now...
As he saw the man in the black dashing left and right with a silver armour over him that did his previous fashion, he grunted in rage!
That wasn't...!
*
The boss in his true sapphire armour looked down on the battlefield clouded with the blue with his arms folded.
He stood at the edge of a slope on the mountain where the barrier could be seen, vaguely.
Past it, the defeat of his men was taking place in a rather pathetic fashion but he didn't pay that any mind right now.
A few dozen meters behind him, a feminine figure wearing what could only be described as a shawl of roses and orchids could be spotted seating cross legged on the ground.
Her eyes were closed as she took in deep breaths every now and then while swiping away the remnants of blood on her nose.
Around her were five men who were guarding and monitoring her condition to ensure she wasn't being attacked or suffering another backlash of energy from the attack on the barrier.
'Curious,' the boss thought.
There was some excellent level of timing to this.
Black and his men were being taken out spectacularly.
'Where is he?' the boss wondered.
Where was the man who made the barrier quiver?
The boss was ready to counter any unexpectedly ridiculous techniques after taking into account the information that Black gave.
Whoever it was, since they were unable to wipe out Black along with Brown, they couldn't be an Honoured Level Capital Service combatant or a high level Mage.
In that case, he could take them out instantly as long as they showed themsel—
A bright flash of light from below, within the cloud of vapour that obstructed his view, interrupted the boss' thought.
It shone brighter than all the flashes of clashing energy within the all encompassing blue and shortly after it, shot up towards the barrier with a staggering intensity!
'There!' the boss growled within as his body blazed with a radiant, pristine white Aura and blasted from his position, seamlessly passed through the barrier, crossing paths with the impressive pillar of condensed mana aiming for the barrier and sinking into the vapour!
Unlike with the other Masters, the boss wasn't affected by the vapour in the least!
His figure left glaring after images as he stretched out his gauntlet covered hand and grabbed the individual who had shot the burst of mana just now!
This individual wore casual clothing, surprisingly, and this casual clothing was the first to be affected by the effects of his armour!
Yet...
This victim, this man he was holding by the shoulder didn't seem fazed by the tragedy striking his flesh at all.
Instead, an insidious grin etched itself on his face as he gazed at his foe with blank eyes, skewed into crescents by his unsightly expression of joy!
....!
The boss frowned.
What was this fool happy about?
Did he not realise he was about to die?
Did he think he would live for another three seconds before being erased from existence?
Overconfident idiot.
However...
To answer the series of unspoken questions within the boss' head, his victim revealed something in his hand.
Something that made the boss' spine shiver.
An unfaithful grey cube that could fit in the palm.
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