Whoosh!

In a blink of an eye, that reinforced arrow wrapped with the elf’s magic passed through that dome-shaped barrier and had almost pierced the hood of the Black Witch when her staff moved to block the sneak attack.

The arrow burst into splinters the moment it hit her staff.

“Enemy!” the woman yelled.

The moment the arrow passed through her magic barrier, the dissonant magic on the arrow alerted the Black Witch and she was fast enough to dodge that arrow coming towards her. From this, it could be seen that either her intuition was sharp or that she was someone experienced in battle and never let her guard down in any situation.

Even before the others could react to her, two majestic tigers appeared from the forest, roaring together with a sonic attack, pulling their attention towards them.

Meanwhile, another set of arrows was shot at the Black Witch, but she was adept at hitting them away using the staff in her hands. As that witch turned in the direction of the unexpected meddling archer, she didn’t realize that her momentary lapse of concentration resulted in the barrier becoming unstable.

Aureus, who was holding Seren, had noticed that silver-haired elf the moment he had shot the first arrow. Being the feathered race, his eyesight was sharper than most supernatural beings and with his divine bloodline, it was even possible for him to spot anyone even in the pitch black darkness.

‘The barrier weakened!’

All he knew was that this unknown elf had done something to help him and he didn’t wish to miss this chance. The moment he saw the raging black winds that would tear his flesh apart show signs of instability, Aureus used all his strength to boost his wings, wrapping his divine power around his body as he fled upwards to break through that barrier.

Bloody cuts appeared on his skin as he neared the black wall as the destructive magic merely weakened, but did not disappear. It made him cut a sorry figure, but with this, he confirmed that both he and Seren could survive. The moment he was about to pass through that barrier, his large wings surrounded Seren’s entire body, hiding every inch of her as much as he could so that that black energy barrier would not be able to injure her severely. pᴀɴᴅᴀ ɴ(O)ᴠᴇl

Once the young shapeshifter forced his way out of the barrier, his majestic wings were no longer golden but coated in blood. Still, he fled away with all of his remaining strength while he glanced at the elf now running away towards the forest.

Meanwhile, the two tigers had also done their work of distracting others and retreated from the glade. The moment they saw the Divine Eagle successfully fly away, they ran away in separate directions.

The hooded woman lifted her staff as she threw a spell toward the escaping Divine Eagle, but at that time, her barrier stabilized and rather than the winged man, her spell hit the black wind. Letting out a curse, she  ended up missing both the targets of this operation and the sharpshooter who interfered midway.

“The main group, follow me to recapture that witch and that eagle! The rest, kill that sharpshooter!”

Without hesitation, the hooded figures who were supposed to engage with the tigers separated into two groups. Some of them emitted black magic similar to the woman, while the others showed signs of sorcery. One group ran in the direction of the boulder, while the other tracked the fleeing shapeshifter and witch.

Aureus was struggling in the sky. Though he was able to force his way through that weakened black magic barrier, his body was heavily injured in the process. The divine power he wrapped around himself had dissipated. Somehow, his pathetic condition could still manage to continue fleeing, but he knew he wouldn’t last for long.

Every inch of his body was bleeding, and even his wings were covered in blood, his feathers coloured in red rather than gold. With every flap of his wings, blood continued to spurt out from his injuries. The destructive nature of the black magic that had entered his body was ravaging his insides, causing more damage to his internal organs with each passing second.

“He’s slowing down.”

Zaria, the powerful Black Witch, could guess his situation as she continued to follow them with a few of her subordinates. Tracking wasn’t her forte, but since there were traces of black magic in the body of her target, the Divine Eagle could not escape her pursuit.

“Throw as many curses as you can at that injured child,” she ordered. “Only use a weight spell, a fatigue spell, and a slowing spell, and let them stack on him. Do not throw any offensive spells since we need both of them alive. He won’t be able to make it far.”

Meanwhile, the Black Witch was preparing to cast a high-level spell on her own, a trapping formation that could capture the shapeshifter and the witch from the sky. As soon as she’s able to make direct contact with them, she could use teleport on those two even if it meant leaving her subordinates behind.

‘What’s most important is for us to capture them before more unexpected factors show up.’

Aureus felt the black magic spells being thrown at him and tried his best to evade them. However, with each passing second, his body was turning weaker. Even his own consciousness was turning blurry.

“If only I can get rid of this black magic from my body.”

He clenched his jaws as he held Seren tightly, in fear that he might lose his hold on her body.

Just then, his blurry gaze noticed something silver. It was the hair of someone who was moving at the speed of the wind, and after several seconds of forcing magic into his eyes, Aureus identified the person—it was their saviour, the archer who shot those arrows.

After shaking off another black magic spell thrown his way, Aureus noticed that the elf seemed to be slowing down before speeding up, only to slow down again. He seemed to be gesturing at him with his bow… a signal for him to follow the elf.

Not having any other option, Aureus fled in the direction where that elf was moving, squeezing the last of his strength and leaving his pursuers behind as far as he could. Because he suddenly changed direction, there was a lapse in the pursuit which allowed him to put more distance between him and the hooded figures.

‘I can’t…I can no longer…’

.ᴄO,m Aureus tried his best not to lose his consciousness but—

He dropped from the sky.

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