"I believe to be quite obvious, no? I must contact the professors so that they proceed to save our classmates."
It was Lhian that said that. Currently, she was sitting on the ground, with Winna's head in her lap. She had a crystal in her hands., of which Mares noticed two things.
Firstly, that crystal had more Astral Energy concentrated on it than they usually do, which reflected how tired Lhian looked now. And secondly, the crystal was touching Winna's forehead, and while her reserves of Astral Energy were clearly increasing, the crystal itself was decreasing.
"Impressive ability."
Mares praised, making a small smile form on Lhian's tired face.
"Thanks."
Even Esen seemed impressed with the silver-blue-haired support capabilities.
'Amazing. Some people would kill to have her purely because of this skill. No wonder her teacher seems to cherish her so much.'
Mares mentally nodded. Because of his huge reserves and the fact that he recovered quickly, consumption of Astral Energy was rarely a problem for him. But for others, it could be a deadly issue. A support ability that let someone recharge fast was very rare after all.
However, the delinquent group did not seem to care about the rare skill they were just witnessing.
"And go back as losers? No way, we should go and kill those beasts. Are you kidding me? Lose the opportunity to brag about saving everyone's butt? Not today!"
Calon was adamant about going after the others.
"Do you really want to put the rest of us, that are absolutely not in a condition to fight, in danger because you want to brag?"
It was rare to hear Lhian's voice in an enraged tone. But now, by the tone of her voice, Callon understood he made a mistake.
Venissino gave a slap in the back of his friend's head, before saying something himself.
"Is not only about bragging Lhian, and you know that. Think about it, we don't have enough time to go back. We are way out of the route. If our assumptions are correct, the time that will take for the night that is ideal for whatever beast is ranking up is way shorter than the time it will take for us to get to the teachers, even if we run non-stop."
Calon had an apologetic look on his face as he nodded his head in agreement with his friend.
From the moment they were ambushed, they understood what was happening. A Void Beast, and considering the type of beasts that went after them, one that was probably at the peak of the fifth rank, was going to advance. Every three cycles was a moment of great change for the Void Beasts, and by the time they were at the fifth rank, especially the peak of it, this was something that they already understood, so great importance was put into the event.
Location and time were key factors but also was food.
Hearing the poison user's argument, Lhian had a thoughtful, but divided expression. While she understood where they were coming from, she had a lot of considerations to make, because of her and her teacher's position. The ideal scenario, and what should have happened, was that she should have been able to send a sign for help, but for some reason, the signalizer her teacher gave her wasn't working.
"Is it possible for Winna to use this same spell again?"
Mares asked, looking for confirmation.
"Out of the question!" Luo answered. "She can't control the direction, and even ignoring this, it took everything from her to use it once. It might take a while for her to be able to cast it again."
He finished saying, shaking his head. It didn't pass unnoticed by Mares the care and protective aura Luo was giving, but the silver-eyed wasn't interested in this matter now.
"How much time do we have?"
Clest asked, looking around at the group.
"Three days." Mares answered, knowing that thanks to Esen. "In three days, at night time the five moons will be visible, meaning it will be the end of the cycle, and as such the Astral Energy in our surroundings will be at its peak. That's what the beast is waiting for."
For Void Beasts advancing through a third stage, independently of which cycle, the number of resources available to them would make a great difference, as it was tightly related to the quality of their development. For two Void Beasts of the same type and strength, when passing through their third stage, the one with more resources would undeniably become stronger.
"We can safely assume no one has been killed. The beast is not going to waste resources before the time, and considering how the other monsters were acting, I doubt they would want to take the risk."
Callon added his part to the discussion.
"And since the things that were after we were of Third Rank, then the one advancing is of either Fourth or worst, Fifth Rank."
Luo said as he massaged his shoulders, which were probably still hurting because of the fall.
'Little bunny, any chances of more than one Fourth or Fifth Rank beast showing up?'
'Unlikely, Mars. This beast seems to have become the king of this region, keeping any adversary that could threaten it is not something these things usually would do.'
At least they only had to worry about more than one, though how many would they have to fight with was still unknown.
"So Lhian, you call the orders."
During Mares' brief interaction with Esen, the group had wrapped up their discussion and were just waiting for their appointed leader's conclusion.
For a moment Lhian seemed unsatisfied but then she just sighed.
"Even if I say we are going back, you all are just going to go without me, right?"
Without a drop of shame, they all nodded their heads in agreement.
"Then the least I must do is to go as well." She said, and following turned to Mares. "I hope to be counting on you."
The long-haired nodded.
"I will do my best, is my job after all."
The relief on everyone's face was visible after his remark.
"Ok, but before going, let me take a rest…"
As Luo finished his phrase, he had already fallen unconscious. Shortly after he was Calon, followed by Venissino then Clest. The last ones awakens were Mares and Lhian, and Esen but except for the silver-eyed, no one knew of her.
"You should rest, is still late and we will need everyone in top or close to top condition."
The gladiator spoke to the student, as he got a seat on the ground next to her.
The crystal in her hands was almost out of light and was much dimmer than before. In contrast, Winna looked much better.
"I will… once I am done here…"
He nodded and for a moment they fell in silence before Lhian begin again.
"Hey, Mars. Do you think… I failed my teacher?"
Mares stayed quiet for brief seconds. He could see in Lhian's eyes how much the idea of failing Quilei scared her. But the shake of his head did seem to bring some relief to the silver-blue-haired.
"Unexpected things happen. Though today's event is not what I would call usual, you did what you could. You are working with a bunch of inexperienced students who were ambushed by a stronger force. Without changing things from principle, like your classmates' strengths, this result was inevitable. But I think you were not on the wrong track with your calls."
If anything, his words seemed to be working a bit, as Lhian was both concentrated and looking a little less distressed.
"Wanting to go after your teachers is not wrong, but the conditions are just not right. If you don't want to fail your teacher, just bring everyone back safely. From what you told me, I bet some annoying guys will make noise because of what happened, but I am sure Qiulei will be proud."
In the second Mares finished speaking, the crystal in Lhian's hand turned into dust and disappeared through the wind. Giving a breath of relief she put Winna, that was looking better, next to Luo and went back to where she was sitting, ready to fall asleep.
"Thanks, you helped put my head in place. I am sorry to keep you awake, but…"
Mares shook his head.
"It's ok, I don't need to sleep either way. Enjoy the rest, things will get busy very soon."
He wasn't sure if she had heard the last part of his statement. Her head slowly fell into his shoulder. The silver-eyed just adjusted her a bit, trying to make it a bit more comfortable for Lhian to sleep.
Then, he looked at his hands, with small silver crystals forming on them.
[…]
Around four hours had passed and the group was back on their feet. The sun was starting to rise again, but very slowly. It would still take a bit more than an hour for the day to officially start.
For normal students, this was still too early, especially after everything they had gone through. At the very least they had Astral Energy to deal with some of the tiredness.
"If we go through this path," Calon said, pointing to the line on the map they had previously made used to stay on the path marked. Callon himself made some modifications to it so it was best suited for their current situation. Lhian was once again surprised that he was able to easily modify the academy's technology. "Going on a decent rhythm, we might get to where our estimations of where the others were taken in a day and a half."
If anything, they were not hard estimations to be made. They had an idea of the general direction the other students had been taken to. Besides that, the Void Beast wanted the best conditions to advance, so there were limited options for where it could be. They already knew the concentration of Astral Energy was stronger in the deeper parts of the forest, it was just a question of calculating the exact where the concentration is at its peak.
With Esen in Mares' mind telling him what to do, and Lhian and Calon as well, that wasn't a particularly hard job.
"But are you sure that's the place?"
Clest asked, a little uncertain. It seemed a bit too good that just some calculations, though ones not simple enough for her to follow along, had worked to pinpoint the exact location they needed.
"Of course not, those are just estimations. Should be good enough though, I doubt they are too off the mark."
Calon replied unworriedly.
"Still, I am surprised you understood that much of this type of equation sir."
Lhian said to Mares while keeping their promise to not spread his name. She wasn't the only one surprised however, all the group had been.
Mares simply shrugged.
"I had a great help with this type of problem before."
In his mind space, Esen had a triumphant smile as she did a peace sign.
"Still, is a bit of a surprise. No offense."
Said Venissino, rapidly adding the second part.
"None taken."
The silver-eyed replied, clearly not caring about their surprise. If anything, he understood it. It was not like he could tell that about Esen after all.
"We are all ready, so we should get going."
Luo said, ready to go. Winna was at his side, it was clear that the two seemed a bit closer than usual. The mage also looked better, even if it was noticeable, she still carried some tiredness.
With Luo's reminder, the group was ready to go. However, one person stayed still.
"No."
Mares' voice had no space for reasoning.