Carrying a motionless Rinsyi, the four members of the Maelstrom Team swiftly swept through the gray swamps.
A curious current of wind flowed around each of their bodies and melded harmoniously together, forming a special field around them.
Their coordination allowed them to move at a shocking speed while not consuming too many arcane particles.
At this moment, all four members of the Maelstrom Team abruptly stopped in their tracks.
A set of floating robes appeared before them. These robes looked exactly like the ones which the Maelstrom Team members were wearing.
Upon closer inspection, the faint outline of a human figure could be made out from under these robes.
Indeed, it was the fifth member of the Maelstrom Team!
This almost transparent fifth member looked at Rinsyi, who was being carried by Rintucci, as he hissed, "How was it?"
"The legendary Holy Dawn Evil Six are just that, but those youths with them all possess threatening potential," Rintucci replied as he looked this his transparent counterpart in the eye. His tone turned chilly as he added, "Rinsyi was beaten into this state by Ayrin himself."
"The plan to use Rinsyi to get rid of Ayrin has failed… what a pity…" The transparent fifth member's smooth voice rang out once more. "Trash like this can only be turned into a mindless weapon."
"Also, they have a faerie dragon," Rintucci snickered.
"A faerie dragon?" The transparent arcane master stiffened slightly.
"We pretended to not notice it and I deliberately allowed it to steal the Eyes of Bewitchment statue from me." A look of satisfaction flashed through Rintucci's heterochromatic eyes as he added, "They will definitely fall for it."
"The Holy Dawn Evil Six… will we finally have the chance to exchange blows?" The transparent arcane master cackled. His voice was full of arrogance and expectation.
……
"Hey, just what kind of clockwork puppet are you?"
"What skills do you know?"
"Ayrin, can you ask it what kind of clockwork puppet it is?"
As the party traveled, Stingham constantly tried to pry into Merlin's identity as he asked it question after question, and also tried to get Ayrin to ask.
But whether it was because it couldn't understand or because it didn't have the ability to respond, the clockwork puppet called Merlin remained silent and emotionless.
It just continued to carry its massive metal case and walk beside Ayrin.
Chris had already become very fond of this clockwork puppet which looked like a little girl.
Merlin's doll-like appearance and behavior made Chris feel as if it was a lovely child which she had to protect. It had aroused her motherly instincts.
Meanwhile, Stingham was completely the opposite.
The reason Stingham was so intent on getting to the bottom of Merlin's identity was because he was afraid that it would suddenly transform into a crazy metal devil with blades for hands and a mouth full of sharp teeth when night came.
Who was to say that the clockwork puppet hadn't been designed to look harmless so as to deceive the arcane master who found it?
"Teacher Liszt, Teacher Carter, where are we going to now? What kind of training are we going to undergo?"
Although Ayrin was also curious about Merlin's identity, after witnessing and hearing about the terrifying abilities of the Maelstrom Team, he was even more focused on becoming stronger.
In particular, his failure to kill Rinsyi worried him. Rinsyi might not pose a threat to him anymore, but with all of House Baratheon's plotting… what if they released Rinsyi again and he went after his friends?!
"First, we are going to go to River Bend Academy. I would like to drop by and say hello to some of my friends and seniors. We will train there for a while as we await information about the finals. However, if the finals occur soon, the training will wait until after… if there is not enough time before the finals, we will help Chris prepare a special training session." Carter turned his head and looked at Chris.
"A special training for Chris?" Ayrin stiffened slightly, but then immediately followed up, "Are we going to the Roland Forest to help Chris obtain the bloodline of the Emperor Evil Eye?"
"Correct," Carter nodded.
Flames erupted in Ayrin's eyes as he yelled, "That means I'll have the opportunity to fight some of House Baratheon's arcane masters, right?"
Beside him, Merlin's silver eyes also began to glow brightly.
"Such a strong fighting intent. Was it truly Ayrin's unyielding and fearless fighting intent which awakened it even though its era has passed?" Rinloran's eyes lit up in excitement.
"Its eyes lit up the moment Baratheon was mentioned. This clockwork puppet wouldn't be something they created, right?" Stingham muttered in a low voice, causing Rinloran's face to darken as his urge to kill soared.
"Even the time we are traveling cannot be wasted. Moss, your performance greatly exceeded my expectations, but you must not become conceited. You were only barely able to display Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun, just barely able to form and release the blade forward. You weren't even able to control the distance." Minlur's hearty and warm laughs rang out as he continued, "You still have a long way to go if you wish to perfectly utilize Explosive Impact and Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun. So let's start training now!"
"Why can't you forget about this!" Stingham cried out. Although Minlur was only talking to Moss, he knew that the others would follow in Minlur's footsteps.
"Teacher Minlur, I will not disappoint you. I will definitely become a true King of Sudden Attack!
"As long as you can perfectly utilize Explosive Impact and Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun, it is possible for you to surprise anyone with a sudden attack, even one of the members of the Maelstrom Team!"
Upon hearing this, Moss couldn't hold back any longer.
Minlur's words echoed in Moss' mind as he let out a great yell and shot forward.
Countless streams of hot air gusted behind Moss as a massive flaming blade appeared and shot into the swamp before him.
"Boom!"
As everything settled down, a ten plus meter long ditch appeared in the swamp before the eyes of Ayrin and the others.
"So fast! What power!"
Although it was now the second time he had seen Moss do this, Ayrin couldn't help but cry out due to Moss' shocking speed and the great presence released by Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun.
"I really still can't control the distance." Moss' excitement was quickly replaced by a strong sense of disappointment.
He could only send the massive blade forwards. He couldn't stop it nor could he call it to return, much less send it wherever he looked.
"Mer… lin…"
Stingham jumped backwards in fright, almost falling right into the arms of the Dark Queen Mermaid beside him, as the clockwork puppet walking beside Ayrin abruptly spoke.
"What's it about to do?" Stingham screamed in terror as countless horrific scenarios passed through his mind.
"What is it?" Ayrin looked curiously at Merlin.
Merlin's body trembled as the many springs and cogs within its body went to work.
Its bronze, blade-like hair abruptly swayed slightly as it extended its hands before it.
A faint arcane energy fluctuation spread rapidly before its palms.
"Whoosh!"
Countless fine strands of bronze light abruptly shot forth from its palms and intertwined, forming a three-dimensional image in the air before it.
"What is this?"
"These are the methods for Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun?!"
Looks of deep shock appeared one the faces of Moss of Minlur.
The three-dimensional image created by the clockwork puppet contained a single arcane master standing within it.
Countless lines of blue light flowed throughout this arcane master's body, forming an endless cycle. It was continuously showing the flow of arcane particles within an arcane master's body!
The image caused Moss and Minlur to immediately think of the charts they had seen within the scroll containing Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun.
"Teacher Minlur, there seems to be some differences!" Moss exclaimed.
Indeed, as they looked closer, there were indeed some subtle differences between this and what they had seen before.
"What could this mean?"
Ayrin, Rinloran and the other youths were dumbfounded.
Liszt, Carter and the other teachers exchanged looks. A strange light flashed through all of their eyes.
"Moss, carefully study this image. An image like this is much clearer than the charts contained within the scroll, and could prove beneficial, even if there are some small differences. After all, you have already mastered the most critical components of the skill. At the very least, studying this image will not hurt you or waste too much time," Liszt suggested. "Why don't we study the differences between the two."
"Differences…"
Moss took a deep breath as he tried to regain his composure.
Several minutes later, Moss vigorously nodded his head towards Liszt and Minlur.
A fiery arcane energy fluctuation emanated from his body once more.
"It's the same as before?"
The massive burning blade reappeared and shot forward in a manner no different than before.
"It… contained some wind type arcane energy?"
Liszt and Rui's expressions changed simultaneously.
They could sense some wind type arcane energy get absorbed as it was invoked this time, seemingly making the blade's flames burn hotter and the blade's speed as it shot forward and revolved a little faster.