Fire with Fire

-Near Simple Village-

"Are you sure they went this way?" Celeste asked one of their trackers.

"Yes, Ms. Celeste. The tracks are clearly theirs. It seems that they visited the village nearby according to paths,"

"Ms. Celeste, Mr. Zeth's on his way. It will not take long for him to catch up to us," One of the guards reported.

"Ok, that sounds good. They won't have any choice but to surrender."

-Aries' Home-

I went in front of Mari's room to wake them up.

"Sis dinner is ready! It's really late. You really should eat something soon," I called my sister.

"Sorry bro, we'll eat later. We are doing something really important right now. We are already in a village, getting closer to our target," Oh, looks like they are already near us, though it will take two to three hours for them to catch up to us. Better keep moving later.

"Sure, just don't forget to eat ok?"

-Dark Forest-

I went back to the game too as soon as I finished all the things I need to do.

"Oh, you're back!" Akko said. I was surprised too. They're finally back.

"Hey guys, aren't you too early?" Shouldn't they have housework or something?

"We're kind of worried so we logged in as soon we're done eating," She really looks worried.

"Well, it looks like they are already in the village that we visited earlier. And they're using mounts. We should go now," I suggested.

We entered the forest. It's like the last time we went looking for a dungeon and it turns out it's just a hideout. I also read some articles about the forest near the Vanguards Stronghold that it is still infested by some Walking trees that attack when disturbed, forest Trolls and some Bigfoot. The only problem is the trolls because they are aggressive. Bigfoot doesn't want any attention and flee when players get near it.

(WALKING TRESS RANK: C)

(FOREST TROLLS RANK: C)

(BIGFOOT RANK: C)

"Hey, Elou, please use some skills from your archery and tracking abilities so we could know if there are some monsters around or the people chasing us are nearby," I suggested.

"Alright. I'm on it," He answered.

So far there are no hostilities in the area as long as we take the path that leads to the Stronghold. We can't let our guards down. We continued our journey running straight and not looking back.

"Hey, Scy, the people who chase us are almost near. What should we do? We're still far from the stronghold," Elou sensed them.

"Just continue running. This will be harder than the last time. I'm sure Celeste would be with them this time," I replied.

Unfortunately, they caught up to us after a couple of minutes. This is not a good time for us. I could outrun them alone but I can't let my party behind.

-Almost out of Dark Forest-

"Well well, if it isn't Scytooth and his friends," The brat is here with a couple of trackers, spellcasters, guards and even Mari! The jerk is also here even Azzie. Jeez. If you count them up, they're around fifty. I think they are the best in their guild. They're overestimating our capabilities or they just want it to be done fast. I can tell that they can only get this many because more people means going slower. A couple of low Rank B guards, spell caster and support... this will be bad.

"Ms. Celeste, it is Scythus," One of her guards corrected her.

"Oh, really? Why don't you just quit playing and go teach elementary students!" She replied and really pissed. That would make teachers feel bad, Celeste.

"Well, to tell you the truth I'm a high school teacher," The guy once again corrected her.

"Jibber-jabber... Do I look like I f*cking care? Anyways, why don't you just give up Scythus? No one should die here. We go back to the castle and clear the misunderstandings and we're good. How about that?" The brat suggested.

"Sorry, Ms. Celeste but I don't think it will happen, not to mention someone like Deandre in your group makes me want to puke," I replied irritated.

"You B*tch! You're so cocky I'm gonna smash your face!" Deandre, as usual, with his mouth.

"Stop that Deandre. Isn't it enough to get beaten up twice?" The brat said.

"Sorry, Ms. Celeste." He replied.

"If you don't want to go back to the castle, I don't have a choice but to force you. Get ready," The brat is preparing her attack. Wow, she's really going to attack us!

(CELESTE / MAGE: A)

"EARTH GOD STOMP!" This is the spell she used when we fought the Ravens!

"GREATER BARRIER!" Lili's powerful shield managed to defend us. The brat's attack made a small crack. It was a powerful spell to even scratch our best defense.

"Ugh..." Lili's not doing well... the brat's attacks are really powerful!

"Not bad, little girl. How about this! Azzie give me some of your power! GIANT METEOR!" Just like the last spell of Azzie but this time there's a giant flaming boulder coming from above! It was a unison attack! Damn it this is bad!

"Lili! Let's do it!" Akko's preparing to do something as well!

"FLAMING GREATER BARRIER!" What!? They created a shield infused with flames increasing the barrier's fire resistance!

The moment the meteor hit the shield the meteor shattered into pieces and just like that it didn't affect us much! The fire spell fused with barrier increased its fire-resistant nullifying most of their fire spell.

"What?! They blocked our Unison ultimate attack! They used a Unison defense! That was unexpected," The brat was surprised just as I do. I didn't expect they can do something like this.

"Good job guys. But how did you do that?" I asked them.

"While you were gone earlier, we practiced some spells and manage to come up with that idea. Cool right?" Akko answered. That's really cool. It was just like my dark flame, a flame infused with dark magic.

"Spellcasters! Use your best spells! Deandre, Charge with your warriors!" Celeste ordered.

Lili and Akko maintained their barrier and defended from the attacks. The attacks were too much, random magic projectiles and warriors trying to break the shield with their powerful melee attacks.

"Elou it's your turn," I whispered to Elou hiding from the top of a tree.

"ARROW RAIN!" He used his powerful attack again. This time it's aiming for their spell casters and supports.

"GREATER BARRIER!" It was Mari! She used the same spell as Lili! It blocked most of the arrows making it hit nothing. But he didn't stop with that. He fired another arrow rain to restrict Mari's defensive capabilities and focus on maintaining her barrier.

The attacks reduced Akko and Lili's mana a lot. The brat's team is doing their best to break our barrier too. We're almost out.

It's time for me to attack.