Vincent and the others immediately set forth to the airport after Vincent took the artifact. The others already had their weapons and equipment in hand so they can just head straight to the airport.
The weapons they brought were rifles with physical bullets as its ammo due to the reason that physical attacks are more effective than magical attacks from magic powered guns. Granted, those weapons are indeed loud, but they have silencers prepared just for that. However, silencers or in other term suppressors cannot fully stop the loud sound coming from their weapons.
Fortunately, they can just cast a silence spell. The spell cannot only eliminate the sounds of their weapons, but it can also eliminate the sounds of their approach which could be a great help in their stealth mission.
The plane they got into was a black colored cargo plane. However, the plane was not as big as cargo planes of the military. For the plane was already prepared, they were able to fly immediately.
It took several hours until they landed to refuel, but that was only once. They also waited for a few hours until it was night time then flew back up so they can jump down to the enemy territory right in the middle of a deep night. Of course, they can't wait too long and wait until midnight, it would just be a waste of precious time to wait that long.
At the moment, they were now almost at the airspace of the enemy.
"Attention all passengers, we are about to enter the targeted airspace. Please prepare your parachutes and other equipment. We are about to open the cargo doors in a few minutes."
One of the pilots said.
After hearing the notice. Everyone stood up and readied their parachutes, weapons, and other equipment.
"Alright, make sure to check your every equipment." Vincent said, then he continued.
"Check your parachute and don't forget to wear your goggle."
Everyone indicated their parachute was ready and they wore their goggles for protection against the wind as they fall down.
"Weapons."
Everyone indicated they had their weapons had tied up.
"Attention: Opening the cargo doors in two minutes." One of the pilots said.
"Hey Ben! When the doors open, don't bail out on us okay?"
Frederick said to tease Benjamin while keeping a broad smile. Of course, feeling nervous, Benjamin was quite annoyed by this.
"Shut up Fred! This is so not a good time to play around!"
"Hahaha, yeah yeah."
Everyone all lined up for the jump. They all felt tensed, not only are they going to jump out, but they were also jumping into a territory of where those powerful beings could be. They couldn't afford to mess up, so they must all go according to plan.
"Hey Ben! I have a question, though it's too late to ask, but I must." Mars asked.
"Yeah? What?"
"So, do you know how to use a chute?"
Benjamin shrugged in the ridiculous question. Then he furrowed as he answered.
"Of course I do. Have you forgotten this was part of our training?"
"Oh yeah. Sorry, the fact you're still scared of heights I forgot we must go through such training."
"Hmph! Maybe you're getting senile."
"I doubt that, I'm not that old."
One of the training in being a soldier of the order was sky diving. Of course, every single one must go through such training. One can never know if skills like that might be needed in the future. Additionally, one could say training in the order are almost similar to the military. However, all could say it was not that hard as a real military training.
"But still, after all of that, you're still scared of it all this time?" Noah asked.
"O-Obviously!"
"How is that even possible?" Matthew said like he had no clue at all.
"There are just things you're naturally scared with!"
"Oh? Is that right?" Frederick said while having a facial expression as though doubtful and at the same time a face which indicates him teasing Benjamin.
"That's right! So stop making fun of me, you bastards!"
Even though he said that everyone still laughed out loud.
Vincent on the other hand merely chuckled. He could join in on the teasing as well as laugh. However, Vincent thought it might be rude to do so. The man being teased was far older than he is and Vincent himself was younger, so teasing and making fun of a senior will likely prove rude and disrespectful.
Then the pilot announced.
"Attention: We are opening the cargo doors."
Then the rear part of the plane opened up and strong winds suddenly filled their surroundings. The doors lowered down and all they could see was darkness. It was in the middle of the night after all.
"We are yet to arrive at the target point. Estimated time is one minute."
"Alright everyone, night vision spell."
For everyone was already high level, they can cast that spell. Thus, they cast night vision spell of themselves. Also, the reason why they need to cast that spell now so that they can see where they are about to land, thus, avoiding trouble.
"Don't forget to cast silence spell as you fall."
Everyone responded in affirmative.
The Silence Spell can eliminate sounds in an area or if cast on an individual, can eliminate the sound they made. Granted, this spell was not high tier, so there must be something out there that can hear through the spell. However, this was all they had, so they had to use it. Besides, it was better to use a silence spell for it might prove helpful.
Additionally, the reason they had to cast it on the way down was that they might not hear each other while in the plane. They might have emergencies to say or something like that. Ultimately, there was the time of effect to worry about. Besides, casting that single spell while falling was trivial.
"Arriving at the target point. We'll give greenlight when we're above the point."
"Everyone, get ready!"
Vincent said and everyone began to tense up and prepared themselves to jump.
Then everyone noticed Benjamin was slightly trembling, so Frederick talked to him.
"You'll be fine Ben! Haha, just don't die in the jump okay?"
"Leave me alone Fred!"
During all that, Vincent checked the sword on his hip. He brought the Sword of Salvation with him because Vincent thought it would be better to bring an ultimate weapon, and this weapon might prove helpful especially in the scenario where they might be discovered. It was not only him who brought a melee weapon, in fact, some of his teammates brought a weapon they were used to.
"Closing into the destination. Greenlight to jump on my go: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!
Vincent and his team ran and jumped outside the plane.
"Dammitt!!!!" Benjamin exclaimed as he jumped out of the plane.
As Vincent fell, he spread his arms and legs for a moment to gain control and balance. Then he cast a silence spell on himself.
"All units, as planned, spread out."
Vincent spoke through his headset and his words wear heard through wireless communication. He may have the effects of the silence spell, his voice can still be heard because the mic was close to his mouth, and his allies in return can hear him through their headset.
The plan was when they were going down, they must land far away from each other. If they all land on one spot or close to each other, they might get spotted easily, worse, if the enemy saw them and they will surely kill Vincent and his team in one fell swoop.
Thus, the plan was that every single one must move on their own and of course, must not get spotted. With the night vision spell, they can see their surrounding clear as day, so they didn't need to worry about not spotting anyone because of the darkness of the night. Furthermore, if they need to communicate then they can just communicate through their headset.
They must sneak through stealthily, then when they got close to the mansion. They will need to standby at the front of the mansion and hide on the trees or anything.
Vincent moved his arms and legs in order to descend more quickly. After a few moments, it seemed he was now at the proper distance from the ground to deploy his parachute. He was probably about 2000 to 2500 feet from the ground.
He pulled the handle and immediately the chute deployed and he immediately slowed down in his descent. Luckily, the wind was not strong, so the parachute was stable and easy to control.
Vincent looked around, for he could see clear as day due to the night vision spell, he could see his teammates going down with their deployed chutes. Satisfied and ensured everything was fine, he focused his sights on the ground.
Moments later, Vincent landed smoothly on the ground. He immediately took off the bag and stealthily rushed towards a nearby tree. With that, he can lessen the chance of being spotted by using the tree as cover. Also, he and his team were all wearing black clothes, so that could be of some help somehow.
He knew everyone was able to land safely. Still, it was better to get a status report from his team.
"All units, report."
It took a couple of seconds before someone spoke.
"This is Frederick, I landed safely."
"Noah here, everything's fine."
"Mars reporting in, I'm in the clear."
"This is Matthew, I'm also fine here."
"B-Benjamin here, I'm alright."
"Woah, good for you Ben, you really managed."
"Shut up Fred."
"Alright, let's save the teasing for later. I trust you all still clearly remember the plan."
Everyone stated that they still remembered, crystal clear.
"Then, see you at the river. Remember to keep watch of your surroundings. We'll meet at the river in twenty minutes."
Everyone responded in affirmative.
The river was quite a distance, but Vincent believed they can reach there just fine. He was confident in the abilities and skills of his teammates.
They all landed far from the river because Vincent believed that the farther it is from the enemy base, the lesser the security be. His teammates concurred on this idea. In addition, the reason they didn't land past the river and near the mansion was that they thought that if they did that with the consideration that the enemy are monsters, they might get spotted as they descend.
Granted, they could just land on the other side of the river and a far distance away from the mansion. However, they thought if they did that, there will be a chance of them getting spotted for there might patrolling guards, and those guards might see them falling from the sky.
They also thought that if they used that method, they would need to land to either the sides of the mansion or at the rear. However, they thought that those sides of the mansion are highly likely to have more security. The sides and the rear can be proved the best way to sneak through, so it was best to put more security on those areas. Furthermore, there would be lesser security in the front because the enemy might think that many would attempt to sneak through from the back, and going through at the front would be foolish and obvious.
Those were not all the reasons why they chose to directly go to the front. If they chose to sneak through the sides or the rear, they will still need to move towards the front. The reason was that they needed to make sure if those are indeed the monsters Vincent faced. Also, considering the possibility that the monster might be there, going up over the wall was dangerous, and also, the enemy might have placed traps or alarms on those walls, or if they get spotted inside the establishment, they would die in an instant, and getting inside the establishment was highly likely to get them caught.
Thus, the best option was to go up the front and find a way to make the people living in the mansion come out.
Vincent walked through the forest. As he carefully walked, he closely peered unto his surroundings at the same time holding his rifle with both his hands. Before he made a big movement, he would stay on a tree and scan the area first to make sure there wasn't any hostile.
Every time he took a step, he could feel the dried leaves under his feet. Normally, the dried leaves would release a loud sound as someone step on them. However, with the silence spell, any sound at close proximity to him was eliminated.
Vincent glanced at the sky, the beautiful light of the moon was blocked by the clouds, that was a good thing, they needed the darkness to cover their approach. In contrast, there may be a lot of clouds on the sky, however, there was no signs of rain, which was fortunate.
Now that I thought of it. It's not yet snowing here. It's starting to snow in France. Isn't it supposed to snow here too, or am I wrong? Or perhaps because of climate change.
Several moments had past and Vincent was a bit a distance away from the river when suddenly he heard dried leaves being stepped on. Startled and surprised, Vincent immediately went to a nearby tree for cover. Of course, he would be quick in his actions, who knew, it could be an enemy.
Vincent took cover on the tree with his back on the trunk. He eased his breathing and listened closely to the sound. Again, sounds of leaves being trampled on can be heard.
The sound seemed to be a few meters away from the tree he was hiding. He must make sure what it was, he and his team can't afford to be surprised and it turned out to be one of the powerful beings he faced or one of their guards.
Vincent moved over from the tree he was hiding. As he walked, he could still hear the sounds. When he got closer, he immediately hid on the three nearby. He tried to take a peek, but a bush was obstructing his view.
Dammit.
No choice, he had to glance at what was causing the sound. However, he must be careful in order not to get noticed. Thus, he should just slowly move and take a peek, but of course, he should also have his weapon pointed at it just in case he needed to fire immediately.
He slowly moved over to the bush while crouching. Now, all he had to do was turn around to look.
Alright, breathe.
Of course, he would be nervous, if this turned out to be the last thing he wanted to be, then the whole mission will come to a failure.
Okay, turn to look in 3, 2, 1.
He gently yet turned in a quick pace. He firmly gripped his weapon as he turned around. However, at the second he saw what it was, his eyes widened and his hands relaxed.
Inside he felt relieved at what he saw.
--A deer?!
It turned to be just a deer, the deer seemed to just walked around in slow pace and stopped when it saw something interesting.
Why is a deer even here? I thought animals, especially like this one should be sleeping at this hour. But still, it's a relief.
As it turned out to be something harmless, Vincent calmly stood up and breathed deeply. As though noticing him, the deer turned its head and then it ran off into the forest.
Vincent continued to move towards the river. As he was on the move, there hasn't seemed to be anything unusual nor there was anything that caught his attention. He moved silently through the forest and he heard something like water flowing. He can vaguely hear it in the silent night, but he was sure it was the river.
After a few moments, he could now finally see the river. Vincent hid behind a tree and contacted his allies. They had been radio silent for a while, but judging from the time that all passed, they should have arrived at the river.
Vincent slid off the sleeve on his hand and took a look at his watch. Twenty minutes had indeed passed, so it was certainly the time to contact his team. He was the leader, and the one which carried the artifact, so he must be the one to call his team. If the leader didn't call after a lot of time, it was likely to just consider the mission a failure, for the leader might have been captured or killed.
"All units, I've arrived. What's your status?"
Someone immediately responded to him.
"Frederick, already here."
"Noah, also here."
"Matthew, right here hiding on a tree"
"Benjamin, safe and sound and already here."
"Mars, right here on standby."
"Alright then, let's check the other side"
"Already checked, no hostile or anything right near the river bank." Benjamin said.
"Same to me, all is clear." Noah said.
"How lucky we are that the mansion is a bit far from the river." Frederick said.
"I agree, if the mansion was near to the river everything would have been a lot different." Matthew said
"Okay, my front is clear too, then let's move to the river so we can assemble and go on to the next phase."
Vincent rushed to the river and stood by the side. After a moment, the others saw him and went to where Vincent was.
"So, who got here first? I got here two minutes before the designated time." Frederick said and he seemed to be boasting. Of course, he spoke on a low voice.
"What? Two? Well I got here three minutes before." Matthew said.
"Too bad, for me was one minute." Mars said.
"I got here four minutes before." Noah said.
"Hmph. I got here five minutes before." Benjamin said."
"What? Benjamin? You got here first? Is it a miracle? What about you Vincent? I'm sure you beat him."
"… It sounded like you don't want me to win…" Benjamin said with an annoyed face.
"Too bad, I got here right just on time."
"Whaaat?" Frederick sighed. "I was sure you would get here first."
"Well, I checked something but just turned out to be a deer. Besides, since when had this become a competition?"
"Oh, we got an agreement. Whoever arrives here last gets to treat us with liquor. Since you were last, it's your treat."
"I didn't even agree on anything. But fine, if we are successful here, then fine. Anyway, let's stop the ideal chatter. Noah, go."
"Right."
Noah turned to face the flowing river. He extended his hand and he cast his magic. A freezing wave of magic touched the river, and for a couple of seconds, the water froze.
Noah created a bridge made of ice. The bridge was a bit elevated from the surface level, that was so that the flowing water won't go over the bridge. It might get more slippery if water got on it.
"Alright guys, let's go before the blocked water rises up." Vincent said.
They gently walked across the bridge of ice and when they successfully got to the other side, they cast silence spell again for the spell's effect had vanished when they assembled. After that, they split up again as planned.
This time, they would need to the mansion. If there were going to be guards, they would need to sneak past them, if they can't, then they would need to eliminate that guard. However, this was in the assumption of the guards are also monsters or non-human.
Vincent went straight ahead all alone, he was now more careful than before. He would check his surroundings carefully before moving out of cover. As he got a bit deeper into the forest and passed by a few trees, he noticed something strange on the trees – no, it was the trees themselves.
Now this is strange.
Vincent touched the three which he was using as cover.
This tree looked like it's still, how should I say this, new and fresh? The tree looked so healthy, not even a major mark of decay or something. Totally different from the other side.
He also looked at the surrounding bushes and plants.
Other plants too looked healthy. Almost like how a newly grown plant would be... This place is strange.
Vincent began to think everything was artificial. However, he touched and scratched the tree trunk, but it felt so real, it also looked so real. The trees were tall and this forest was old, thus it should also mean that the trees are old. But the trees he passed through are not.
Could it be these are newly grown trees? No way, if they grew this tall, naturally there would be a major sign of decay or something.
He thought it was illogical in that case, so he decided not to make a lot of thought into it. There was also the possibility of magic, well magic defies logic so it must be that.
Vincent passed by a couple of trees when he saw something. He hid close to a tree and took a peak to confirm what he had seen. When he saw it again, his eyes widened and at the same time convinced.
Is that… a skeleton?
He saw a skeleton in armor holding a sword and standing while looking around. The skeleton's visage was exposed because of his open helm. Some parts of its body were also exposed like the knees, shoulder, neck and its hands. Therefore, Vincent can instantly tell it was a skeleton patrolling around.
The ability to command skeletons? Isn't it necromancy? Then is it a necromancer living here? I can't understand this place.
It was the first time Vincent had seen an undead skeleton. Necromancy was a forbidden magic so no normal person could freely learn it. It was not good to defile the dead. Then it was possible that the person living here isolated himself because of his magic. That said, it also increased the chance of this place being the seven's lair.
The skeleton was looking around. Vincent had to wait until it moves, if not then it would be a problem. This was a forest, so the best way to cover a large area was to patrol all around, that belief gave Vincent the faith that the skeleton will move.
Dammit, this could have been easier with invisibility magic.
Indeed, it would be a whole lot easier if they can use an invisibility spell or magic. With the silence spell, they would no longer need to worry about any sound and getting past any enemy would be easier with invisibility. If Vincent had that spell, he could just perhaps freely walk past this skeleton or better, he can get past any hostile waiting for him.
Regrettably, Vincent and the others cannot cast invisibility spell or magic. That magic could not probably even be cast by anyone unless they had the gift. Invisibility magic was hard to come by – no, perhaps it was more precise to say it was close to impossible to learn a perfect invisibility spell and make that spell commonly used. If they could get a way to learn a spell, Vincent could have already learned it.
There were no instructions or guide or anything that can help learn invisibility spell. There was not even anyone that can teach that spell. One could say there was no such spell existed. However, it was said that in past times, far from the current generation, invisibility spell was a common spell and a lot of people could cast it. But for some reason that was no longer the case. Vincent had no idea why the invisibility spell disappeared.
There were some others who tried to recreate that spell within the Order. However, none were successful to fully create one. The best they could do was be invisible for a second, literally, and something that short cannot be used in missions. And they were trying to recreate a good invisibility spell for several years. Because it was not at all easy to create and very time consuming to recreate the spell, the order decided to focus most of their efforts to other things, with only a small group assigned to recreating the invisibility spell.
With the thought of invisibility magic, one of his comrades which perished crossed his mind. For a moment, Vincent gripped his weapon more tightly.
After several seconds of waiting, the skeleton had finally begun to move away. While the skeleton was moving away and it was now at the right distance away from him, Vincent carefully moved forward while the skeleton was walking away. Vincent was thankful when he got through it.
However, it was not finish yet. Vincent saw another skeleton. He did the same thing and successfully got past it. He did that again for another skeleton which was in his way.
It must be the same as the others.
Vincent thought.
Then after all that, Vincent had come across a real problem. He was now getting close to the mansion when there was a skeleton standing. It stood for several seconds then walked from his original position to another. However, the problem was that it only moved in a short distance, to short, perhaps it only took it five or six steps. With that short distance, Vincent was surely to get noticed.
Dammit, in this case, then I'll have no choice.
Amidst of Vincent's waiting, someone contacted him.
"Hey leader, got a problem here. The skeleton here is not moving at a good point at all." Matthew said.
"Wew, I thought I was the only one." Mars said.
"Same problem here." Noah said.
"Same here. It's been a few minutes, but nothing can help me get through." Benjamin said.
"Also same here. Damn, as we are getting close to the mansion this happens." Frederick said.
Vincent looked at his surroundings. In a few distances at different positions, he could see the other patrolling skeletons. Vincent took a look around and he got to see some of his teammates.
"Same situation for me. But by looks of it, these guys are the last we got to go through. We have no choice, we have to take them out."
"Should we shoot them?" Mars asked.
"That's the easiest method. We're using physical ammo, so this could do a lot of damage."
"Makes sense." Noah said.
"I wish I could use my magic, but it seems it's too high profile." Frederick said.
"That applies to all of us, Fred. If we all use our magic we'll be exposed." Benjamin said.
Indeed, if they used their spells, they would get spotted easily. It was a deep dark night, and their magic will glow a lot in the darkness, so using magic was unwise.
"Then let's take them out at the same time. Focus more on their head, that should take them down, but still, mess them up to make sure. Shoot at my command."
Everyone responded in affirmative.
"Aim."
Vincent took aim at his target.
"On fire. 3, 2, 1, fire."
Vincent opened fire. He carefully fired at the skeleton's head one bullet at a time, of course leaving no chance for it to move or breath – even though it was a skeleton. After the skeleton's head – or rather skull was full of holes, Vincent focused on the other parts of its body, its shoulders, legs, and body. He kept shooting until the moment the skeleton fell down and all messed up.
All the bullets didn't pierce through the skeleton, probably because of the hardness of its armor and bones. However, there seemed to be a bullet or two pierced through, but judging from the direction, the bullets didn't go straight to the mansion, how fortunate it was indeed. It was likely the bullets hit a tree or something.
After confirming his own target was down, Vincent looked at the others, it seemed they had also eliminated their target. As it was confirmed that those were indeed the last guards, Vincent told them to move onward.
For a short while, they had reached the front gates. Vincent hid at a tree and he was directly in front of the gates where he could see the inside. He could see a fountain, a pathway, and hedges.
Vincent looked at the nearby tree and there he saw Frederick and Mars, on his other side he could see Benjamin, Noah, and Matthew.
"So? Who's going to volunteer on bringing them out?" Noah asked.
They hadn't really discussed on who will bring the enemy out. But they all know someone will volunteer so no need to give a lot of thought into it.
"Frederick should do it, he's good at shitting on people."
"Oh now you're teasing back at me huh, Ben." Frederick said and chuckled, and he continued. "But it's fine for me. Should I go now?"
Vincent pulled out the artifact from one of the pockets of his clothing. He held the sphere tightly and gave it some magical energy to activate it. Now the artifact – Fugatrix – could be used at any time. Due to the magical energy, the sphere was glowing quite a bit.
"Wait a second. We took out those skeletons, right? If they're summoned monsters or something like that, doesn't that mean they should have a connection to their master?" Vincent said while intently observing the mansion.
"What are you trying to say Vincent?" Mars asked.
"Then that means…" Benjamin said.
"Yes."
"Huh?"
"Come on Mars, didn't you study about it? Summoners have connections to their summons, then if one of their summons dies, they'll know." Matthew lectured Mars.
"Oh yeah, I heard about something like that."
"See, he heard it, so he didn't study." Noah said.
"Like I would just study something like that in the Order, it's not even part of training."
"So Vincent, you're saying, it's likely they will come out to check what's wrong."
"Yes."
"So we don't need to make them come out? Dammit." Benjamin said while feeling disappointed.
"Lucky me, bad luck for you Ben." Frederick said.
"Still, we're not sure that's the case."
"So, how long are we waiting, it's not good to wait too long." Noah said.
"We'll wait for a couple of minu—"
Vincent cut his words as he saw two people walking at the fountain. The two seemed familiar, to make his view clearer, he peaked his head out more. The others also noticed this sudden change, so they all went serious and kept quiet.
With now a clearer view, his eyes widened in certainty. It was indeed them, he knew those two. One of the two was wearing formal clothing, from the way he was standing, his height, Vincent was sure he saw that guy before. And the other guy wore a black robe, an impressively designed one, and he held a black staff, Vincent instantly recognized that unique staff.
"—It's…"
Then as though sensing his presence, the man in the formal clothing jerked his head towards the direction where Vincent was – no, the man was precisely looking at Vincent. For a moment, Vincent felt like his heart was about to jump. From a distance, Vincent could see the man's surprise for a moment.
And immediately, the man tilted his foot.
Vincent already knew what he was about to do. That must not happen or everything will be a failure, he and his teammates will surely die. Thus, Vincent instantly stood up.
As the man looked like about to run, Vincent extended his hand forward which was holding the artifact. Then the man rushed towards Vincent, in the distance, Vincent could see he was fast, even though he can follow the man, he could say he was very fast. However, instantly when the man began to run, Vincent already used the artifact.
"[Banish!]"
The sphere glowed and at the same time a sphere instantly formed around the mansion, the sphere covered the entire mansion. The sphere destroyed the walls and gates in its instant deployment and instantly dug the ground to form a perfect sphere.
The man was nowhere to be seen, so it seemed he was caught in the sphere just in time before he could get out. The sphere was tinted in black so Vincent could not see what was happening in there and also to confirm the man in the formal clothing was indeed caught in there. But Vincent was satisfied enough.
Vincent stepped forward and stood in front of where the gate was. His teammates also went to his side.
"Holy shit! You used it all of the sudden!" Frederick said.
"So it was a close one?" Noah said.
"Y-Yes it was."
"Thank God!" Matthew said.
"Woah, looked they're really attacking the barrier." Benjamin said.
Everyone looked at the sphere. There seemed to be lights of likely to be magical attacks hitting the barrier.
Vincent looked at the front, and there he could see a bit of the pathway. And suddenly, there was something like a human figure bumped unto the barrier. He could not see it clearly, so he was not sure if it was really a human figure.
Then all of the sudden, black blaze crashed unto the barrier in front of Vincent. Vincent shrugged and was startled in surprise in that sudden occurence. From where Vincent was standing, he could see it really was flames in the color of black and the flames covered a wide area of the barrier.
"Holy crap! That scared me!" Frederick said.
"Yeah! What is that anyway?" Benjamin said.
"That black blaze is familiar, yeah that black blaze was there. Those flames belonged to their leader."
"Woah, really? Damn, well no need to worry about it now! No matter what they do, they'll never break that barrier do—"
Fredericks sentence halted when a cracking sound rang out.
Here Frederick began to sweat, and in fear, he slowly averted his eyes back to the barrier.
"V-Vincent! It's, it's cracking!!" Frederick said in a panic.
"H-How is that even possible?! Mars said.
"It shouldn't be possible, the barrier is absolute!"
"Well it's cracking now!!" Noah said.
"Vincent! How much longer!" Frederick screamed.
"The, the crack is getting wider!" Benjamin cried.
"Dammit! I can't change to the next phase yet!" Vincent said.
The sphere was floating on Vincent's hands. The leaf-like shells which covered the sphere was also floating and revolving around the sphere.
"V-Vincent…" Mars said in a low voice.
"Dammit, if the barrier was smaller, then the switching would be a little quicker!"
Then a loud cracking sound rang out. Everyone worriedly looked at the crack and it was getting wider, and by the sound and look of it, the crack was getting deeper.
"Vincent!" Benjamin exclaimed.
Vincent breathe shakily while severely gazing at the artifact, waiting for the next phase.
Vincent gritted his teeth in extreme anxiousness.
Again, a cracking sound rang out.