Chapter 249: A Seemingly Unreliable Team
"They're allies!"
Ayrin immediately put Rui on his back and swiftly made his way towards the two figures alongside Rinloran and Stingham.
"It's you guys?"
As Ayrin approached, he quickly recognized the two fleeing figures. It was the tall captain boy and demure girl of the House Eclipse Moon arcane team which had come looking for him in Eichemalar.
Their faces were currently grim and full of killing intent.
"You should have agreed to cooperate with us in Eichemalar!"
As they desperately fled, the tall captain turned his head and roared at Ayrin, "From the moment you decided to clash with House Baratheon, you have already become House Baratheon's mortal enemy. Considering their house's behaviors and methods, any kindness you show them will only be repaid by your death!"
"But shouldn't we be focusing all of our energies on the Evil Dragon Followers right now? The Evil Dragon Followers are the enemies of all arcane masters!"
Ayrin looked back at the two House Eclipse Moon arcane masters as he continued, "I can't believe that they are taking this time to try and kill us. Say, brave warriors, did you all come to complete missions and fight against the Evil Dragon Warriors as well?"
"We can to kill Megan and the others. We never expected that House Baratheon would have already prepared a trap for us," the tall captain sullenly responded as he looked Ayrin in the eye, his face full of grief.
"What an idiotic conversation…" Rinloran thought. He felt speechless as his gaze swept between Ayrin and the tall captain.
"We ended up like this while searching around after coming across the corpse of one of your teammates. Shouldn't you have one more? Where are they?" Ayrin immediately asked again after feeling crestfallen for several seconds.
A faint light of bitterness flashed through the tall captain's eyes as he responded, "They should have already reached the Eternal Hunting Ground."
"Eternal Hunting Ground? Where is that?" Ayrin confusedly asked.
The tall captain seemed to feel a little helpless as he replied, "It means he has probably already died from battle. My House Eclipse Moon believes that as long one dies an honorable death in combat, one's soul will join the ancestors in our spiritual land, the Eternal Hunting Ground."
Although Ayrin somewhat admired House Eclipse Moon after hearing the tall captain's explanation, he still couldn't help but mutter, "Regardless, everyone should be focusing on our collective enemy, the Evil Dragon Followers, first."
"……" Rinloran felt completely speechless.
Several black lines had also emerged on the face of the tall captain.
"Is there only Hanson and Neilson?" Rui suddenly interjected at this moment.
"Outside of Crazed Alchemist Hanson and Skin Flayer Neilson, there is also Konte!"
"Konte?" Although Rui didn't recognize the name, he could hear the gnashing teeth of the tall captain as he said the name.
"Although he isn't well known to the public, he is one of House Roland's most powerful arcane masters. If not for his participation, we might not have fallen to such a miserable state."
"There's another?" Stingham suddenly cried out. His face had long since turned green as he silently struggled to keep up with Ayrin, Rinloran, and the two House Eclipse Moon arcane masters.
"You guys knew that there were such terrifying enemies, yet you still came to our rescue! You guys are truly good people!" Ayrin sincerely said.
The tall captain turned and glared at Ayrin as he sternly retorted, "It's pretty much impossible for us to defeat them. We only rescued you guys because with you all, we might be able to go down swinging and take one or two of them with us!"
"What? You rescued us because you want us to help you fight them?" Stingham's face became even greener as he shouted, "Not happening unless…"
"Not unless?" Ayrin and Rinloran's eyes widened in surprise.
Stingham, who normally did his utmost to skip practices and battles, was actually trying to talk terms right now?
Considering his normal character, they had expected him to say something along the lines of, "You guys go and stop them, I'll strike when I find an opportunity."
"Unless what?" the tall captain asked with some suspicion.
"Not unless she's willing to chat with me!" Stingham combed his hair as he somewhat shyly pointed towards the nearby female House Eclipse Moon arcane master. "She's so beautiful! Can you tell me her name first?!"
"You idiot, how can you still be thinking about such things in this kind of situation?!"
At that moment, everyone barely resisted the urge to beat up Stingham on the spot.
"You two exposed yourselves and came to our rescue because you two believe that you cannot shake off these three?" Rui abruptly asked as he observed the tall captain and quiet girl.
"Although Konte is one of our mortal enemies, we do not know much about him. All we know is that he uses an extremely strong taboo skill called 'Seven Surges'. When he moves, he can accelerate further beyond the limit up to a total of seven times. Thus, the greater the distance, the faster he ends up moving."
The tall captain looked at Rui as he continued his detailed explanation, "But as no one has ever escaped from his clutches, we believe that he has some kind of special tracking arcane skill."
After slightly pausing for a moment, the tall captain added, "We immediately fled from their ambush after we realized we couldn't defeat them, but they ended up catching up to us here."
"Was Konte injured during your previous fight?" Rui asked.
The tall captain shook his head as he replied, "No."
"So two of them are uninjured. And although Neilson is heavily injured, he can still use one or two arcane skills. It will be incredibly difficult…"
Rinloran felt his palms become clammy with sweat.
"I asked because I have sensed another powerful arcane energy fluctuation coming from our northeast. It seems like Konte is about to regroup with Hanson and Neilson," Rui stated as an incredibly faint arcane energy fluctuation rippled from his body.
"The northeast? That would be where we were hiding earlier." The face of the tall captain turned even uglier.
"Teacher, how are you still able to use arcane skills?" Ayrin exclaimed in surprise, "Didn't you just exhaust all of your arcane particles?"
"I condensed enough for that skill just now," Rui explained.
"Wow! Teacher Rui is so strong!" Ayrin's face was full of respect, "Even after suffering an injury, you are still able to control your body well enough to condense arcane particles!"
"Dumbass, now is not the time to be giving useless compliments. We need to think of a plan!" Rinloran shouted as he knocked on Ayrin's head.
"Haha, even the two of you are fighting now! You guys are really just too unreliable!" Stingham broke out into laughter as he ridiculed Ayrin and Rinloran.
"You can still laugh at a time like this?"
The two House Eclipse Moon arcane masters began feeling like Ayrin's group was completely unreliable.
"Think of a plan? This is…?"
After getting bonked on the head by Rinloran, Ayrin refocused. As he looked at the receding surroundings, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Teacher, it seems like we have once again entered the territory of the Poisonous Nighthawk Lord!"
His voice became excited as he continued, "The Fire Caracal Lord and Poisonous Nighthawk Lord should be about as strong as our pursuers, right? What do you think about attracting them over? Do you think they would be able to deal with Hanson, Neilson, and Konte?"
"This?" Even the decisive Rui fell into a daze as he heard Ayrin's suggestion.
"Poisonous Nighthawk Lord? There is a Poisonous Nighthawk Lord in this part of the forest?" The expressions of the two House Eclipse Moon arcane masters changed yet again.
"It is a possible plan, but the issue is that we do not know if the two lords we attract over will attack their group of three or our group of six," Rui replied after taking a deep breath.
"I am for Ayrin's plan." A light of decisiveness flashed through Rinloran's eyes. "Unless one of you has a better idea?"
"Teacher Rui, as well as the two of you, do you have any other plans?" Ayrin asked as his gaze swept across the two House Eclipse Moon arcane masters.
"Do you guys have a way of attracting the two lords?"
A look of excitement emerged on the tall captain's face as he anticipated the mutual destruction, "Only the scent of their favorite foods or the aura of another powerful lord can cause them to charge right over."
"Let's go to where I roasted the Fire Caracal cub and take a look?" Stingham excitedly suggested. "Perhaps the Fire Caracal Lord is still there grieving and reminiscing over its cub."
"What? Even with your abilities, you guys dared to kill the Fire Caracal Lord's cub?" The two House Eclipse Moon arcane masters nearly screamed in astonishment.
"Can you remember the way over?" Rui asked as he looked at Rinloran.
"Follow me!" Rinloran succinctly said as he immediately charged into the left side of the undergrowth before them.
……
"We're here… it's right here!"
Although everything within the forest seemed exactly the same under the cover of darkness, under Rinloran's careful guidance, they were able to find their way. Ayrin immediately recognized the large patches land which had been scorched by flames and shattered by arcane energy.
"The Fire Caracal cub that I killed should be right over there," Stingham gleefully said to the female House Eclipse Moon arcane master as he nodded his head towards a patch of earth which had been burnt particularly dark.
Afterwards, he asked, "Could you tell me your name?"
"I am Christine. The captain is Jano," the demure girl softly replied after a moment's hesitation.
Stingham's eyes lit up as he looked at Christine and said, "Christine? My Holy Dawn Academy team captain is called Chris. Your names are so similar. Perhaps this is also fate. Furthermore, the next captain of Holy Dawn Academy's team is definitely going to be my most handsome self."
"You idiot! There's not a single trace of the Fire Caracal Lord here. Stop trying to boast in front of the girl and hurry up and think of a plan!" Rinloran's face had already darkened to the limit.
"Great boss Fire Caracal Lord!"
"Great boss Poisonous Nighthawk Lord!"
At this moment, Ayrin took a leaf out of Stingham's book and called out into the darkness.
"If it's like this, then those three will arrive before the lords do."
The expression of the House Eclipse Moon captain Jano had become extremely grim.
After shouting several times into the darkness without any change in their surroundings, Ayrin awkwardly scratched his head as he wondered to himself, "Did it work?"