Chapter 22) The Atlas Conquerors.

Even though Kim Sao Chen was an accomplished mystic in his own right, he was still awed by the powerful group of Wizard Mystics that had just made their presence known by vanquishing over a hundred Horned devil grizzlies within one minute.

He was familiar with them. He normally joined them for training at the Academy. At times even dinner. This meant he knew how much powerful they were, and all they had to do to command the reverence they got from everyone.

Festus Hermsworth stood out as the largest of them, with sheer bodily strength behind every attack he made with his twin axes that were as huge as tree trunks. He was of the Fire affinity, which explained the flames pouring from the blades of his soul weapons. A mighty tiger with flaming red stripes all over its black body roared beside him, eyes wide and ferocious. That tiger could reduce anything to ashes with a single stare if Festus willed it.

A humongous thunderbird flew over their heads, setting off lightning all over the sky. It was a beautiful yet terrifying creature that would've passed for an eagle if not for its two pairs of wide wings, and the fact that it could create lighting blasts. Sitting on top of it was Nadia Oregon, the Air Mystic. Pearly sparks formed circular patterns around her as she scripted runes that shot down great bolts of lightning over the waves of beasts. Kim Sao knew that her uncountable array of throwing stars were hidden all over the inside pockets of her coat. Nadia never missed a shot.

Kye Nakamura was the silent but deadly one. The Earth affinity mystic of the group. He had a special skill with snakes of all kind, which was why his soul creature was a viper. Ever since the day Kim Sao had witnessed the viper in the heat of battle, he avoided it like a plague. It could multiply itself into numerous pieces and even enlarge to the size of pythons. As if that wasn't creepy enough, Kye was highly skilled with the tiny Saber knives he only brought out when necessary. You never saw his killer strikes coming until the very end. You want a sleeping potion, a poison or deadly plants to cause havoc on your enemies, Kye was the mystic to meet.

Then there was their leader, Vashti Verona. They called her the water spirit for a reason. Her petite frame and forever radiant heart-shaped face hid her immense power too well. Her soul weapon, The Emperor Trident, was taller than her. Little was known about the origin of the weapon, but it was rumored to had belonged to one of the Celestials centuries ago. Her soul creature was not in sight, thank goodness. Kim Sao was yet to accept that such a creature could exist.

They were all dressed in black hanfu robes similar in design to the one Tantai Xi had on. Theirs was trimmed with gold helms and patterns along the arms and flared skirt. This was the normal attire they wore at the academy during the training of possible recruits, and meant that they had gotten little time to prepare before coming here. The Atlas Conquerors normally wore white steel armor when destroying dungeons.

Once all the beasts in the vicinity had been cleared off, the four of them approached Kim Sao and Tantai Xi.

"If the High Lord of Celestial Academy is here, then there must be big trouble." Festus observed loudly.

Nadia gave him an amused look. "Wasn't the red clouds gathered in the night sky above us enough to tell?"

Festus laughed. "Red cloud, blue cloud, invisible cloud, they all look the same to me."

"How about the hordes of beasts we just vanquished?" Nadia asked him.

"That's a normal day on my calendar. Seeing Tantai Xi outside the walls of the Academy is something strange." He patted Kim Sao's shoulder, his beefy palm almost squashing the slim mystic. "What's up, Kimmy?"

Kim Sao sighed. "For the hundredth time, Kimmy is not a funny name. You know I don't like it."

"That's why I call you like that. It's very hard to get a frown out of you, so I have to try really hard."

Vashti walked over with a serious expression on her face. "Tantai Xi, Kim Sao Chen. What is going on here? System is saying something about the Domination Ritual."

"A rogue mystic is performing the ritual as we speak." Kim Sao motioned towards the hospital building. "She has a novice mystic under my charge captive."

Tantai Xi looked at Vashti. "We must get there and put a stop to the ritual. When complete, there's no way to reverse it. The entire universe will be doomed."

"What are we waiting for?" Felix was already getting excited about the thought of having more action. "Let's head over there and put this rogue mystic in her rightful place. We send her to Abyssal for good."

The ground vibrated under their feet, causing the buildings around them to groan and creak dangerously. Confused, they looked at the two Earth affinity mystics in the vicinity.

Kye's face remained unreadable as usual, but Tantai Xi shook his head. "That wasn't my doing."

"What's going on, System?" Kim Sao asked.

[The Bosses have been released from the Dungeons.]

Almost immediately, the metallic doors of the dungeons around them groaned open slowly. Then the bosses of the dungeons emerged, one from each dungeon.

If the grizzlies had been hideous, then this ones were beyond that. The bosses were about ten feet tall and almost as wide, with mounds of pure muscle bulging everywhere inside a covering of black fur. Their bullish heads sprouted multiple sharp horns and flaming red eyes. Add the scaly armor over their backs and chest, plus the rows of pointy claws on their sturdy limbs.

As if that wasn't enough, they had to have wings. Said wings were bat-like and expansive enough to carry their weight. Standing on their hind legs, they looked like ferocious giants about to cause desolation throughout the city.

"You should go on to the hospital." Vashti urged Kim Sao, her trident already raised to attack. "Tantai Xi will be with you. The rest of us will take care of the bosses."

Kim Sao looked around the street. There were fifty or so Bosses prowling out of their various dungeons. Leaving now would mean having only four Mystics to take care of that number of beasts. He wanted to argue with Vashti about such odds but kept his mouth shut. The Atlas Conquerors had probably had it worse than this before. And she was right. Someone had to get to the hospital before the situation went any worse.

"Elsa!" He called out.

The Snow peacock materialized beside him, and he immediately floated unto her back.

He opened his lips to say something encouraging to the group of Mystics he was leaving behind but Vashti interrupted him before that.

"You must hurry. The chaos has gone on for too long that it might just get permanent soon. System has warned me about it, and I'm sure it has done same for you too."

Kim Sao nodded. "Alright, meet us at the top floor of the hospital when you're done here."

Festus set his axes ablaze. "We are going to have so much fun tonight."

"Try not to get wounded in the process." Nadia cautioned, withdrawing a few throwing stars from inside her robe. "You know how queasy you get at the sight of your own blood."

The four Atlas Conquerors readied themselves and their soul creatures to attack the incoming horde of Bosses.

Tantai Xi nodded at him. "I would've accompanied you on Elsa but you know I don't do well with flying. I'll make my own way on foot. Meet you at the hospital."

"Alright, Tantai Xi. Let's see who gets there first."

The Phantom Mystic simply grinned knowingly before scripting runes in the air that summoned his dagger-sword back into his hand. Then at a leisurely pace, he started down the street in the direction of the hospital not minding the few Bosses on his way.

At Kim Sao's command, Elsa flew high into the night sky till the street became a thin line among many others beneath them before soaring towards the hospital. He didn't want any of the Bosses to break away from their ranks and follow them. This move wasn't successful though.

Five Bosses soared up to meet them in the air. They attacked from below, their huge wings flapping like wide canopies.

Elsa swerved right to avoid them, and Kim Sao released a blast of Wind Waft. He followed it up with Lightning Storm, raining down bolts of raw energy over the heads of the Bosses.

"They absorbed the lightning!" Kim Sao muttered in shock afterwards.

That was exactly what had happened when the lightning met the bosses. The charge was collected by the sharp horns on the heads of the beasts and passed harmlessly into their bodies. In fact, the bosses seemed stronger than before, as if the lightning blast had increased their attributes.

"I guess we would have to do things the hard way."

He summoned the Million Stars of light. The sword glowed brightly in his hand. He patted Elsa fondly.

"Do you remember what we practiced yesterday morning?"

The snow peacock whistled in reply. That was a very loud yes.

Kim Sao grinned. "Alright. Let's show this Bosses who are the true Masters of the Air."

Sparks ignited around Mystic and Soul Creature as they released mana to strike the incoming group of Grizzly Bosses.