The Blue Cervusus opened its mouth and a dark blue ball of energy formed at the center. The beam of energy gathered more power before the creature twitched and fired its attack.
"Water Jet, now!" Joaquin brandished his sword and commanded. "Priests, increase magic output of the water mages."
"Yes, sir!"
From the sphere of shields made by the knights, a hole was opened at the direction of the Cervusus. A huge beam of water was fired from inside the dome, shooting against the energy ball from the creature.
There was a huge clash between the water jet and the energy ball. The energy ball was trying to withstand the power of the continuous stream of water, but it was failing. The water jet won and it reached the Cervusus, knocking it back slightly.
"Now, Lightning Fork!" Joaquin yelled. He raised his sword beside him and lowered it, pointing at the Cervusus. "Fire!"
The knights inside the sphere switched places, and it was the time for the lighting mages to shine. They fired the Lightning Fork and it reached the Cervusus, roasting it down when it was still drenched from the Water Jet.
"Wow," Gina commended. "He can command his troops just like that. A Blue Cervusus is a powerful creature and they took it down easily."
"Not yet," Glenn said. "John, take care of it."
"Right," John nodded and vanished again.
Meanwhile, the knights cheered for their victory. Joaquin was proud of himself until the smoke that was coming from the Blue Cervusus cleared, showing the creature barely harmed.
"What?" Joaquin gasped in shock. "That's impossible. That was our most powerful technique."
"Sir, what do we do now?" one of the knights asked.
This was the moment that Joaquin panicked. He was lost as he watched the creature only shake its body to clear the small burns around it. It then raised its claw and launched it, crashing into one part of the sphere and taking down several knights.
"Commander Joaquin!" the knights yelled. "What do we do?"
"Lightning Fork did not work," Joaquin whispered. "But that was our strongest attack."
"Bladed Borders."
They turned their heads when John spoke in front of the Cervusus. Suddenly, an outline of a cube that was made of blue flames lit up. It was enclosing the Cervusus.
"We won," Glenn said to Joaquin. "Take your men with me. Let's treat them."
The flame cube lit up and the Cervusus was showered with flaming slashes. Inside the cube was like a rain of slashes from different directions. The cuts were blazing and were deep, causing the creature to yell in pain and anger.
"W-What?" Joaquin stuttered. "But he defeated the Blue Cervusus just like that?"
"You heard Glenn loud and clear, right?" Gina crossed her arms. "Collect your injured men and he will heal them. We will be waiting in that clearing over there."
"R-Right!" Joaquin nodded. "Men! Rescue our folks and bring them to that clearing."
Joaquin led his men to the clearing that Gina pointed. Glenn was already standing at the center of it.
"Alright," Glenn said when the injured men were brought down. "This will be a tough heal, but nonetheless."
"With all due respect," Joaquin said. "Please, do not trouble yourself anymore. We have our own healers in our army. Defeating the Blue Cervusus was more than enough help for us."
"Oh," Glenn nodded. "Well, I'll leave you with your men. Your healers can deal with them and if you ever need anything, I'll just stay here."
Joaquin nodded. "Thank you, adventurer."
Glenn shrugged and let Joaquin be. The young knight was commanding the healers of his troops and take care of the injured ones. Watching him do his work reminded Glenn of himself back in their world.
He would order his team around, collecting the debts and selling their insurance. At the end of the day, he was just another worker trying to earn a living and Joaquin was no different from him.
All throughout their interaction, Glenn had a sense of ominousness around their army. There was an evil lingering in their midst and he was still clueless what it was.
"I know you feel it too," Gina said. "We may not be as magically perceptive as the rouges, but we're certainly more empathetically perceptive. There's someone angry at Joaquin and it's only a matter of time before they show up."
"Yeah," Glenn agreed. "Also, John is really dense. His empathy really needs to be checked somehow."
John appeared beside Glenn and scoffed. "I'm here, you know. You don't have to talk bad behind me."
"Oh, I didn't know that you were here," Glenn smirked and rolled his eyes. "Maybe because I'm not magically perceptive enough."
"No, seriously," John leaned closer. "It would take a fool not to notice the ominous aura coming from a lot of these knights."
"I want you to investigate," Glenn said. "There's something going on here and we have to figure out what it is."
"Right," John nodded. He stepped back and vanished again, now going around without being detected.
"You know what," Glenn slammed his palms together. "Everyone, since you're all here, we might as enjoy ourselves with something delicious."
The knights turned their heads towards Glenn and wondered what he might meant.
"Let's hunt for food and prepare a feast of our own," Glenn said. "There will be a feast in the tribe and we might as well connect both feasts to enjoy a larger one."
"We don't have the time for that, sir Adventurer," Joaquin said. "We need to report back to Kassos and tell them about the aura."
"The aura?" Glenn asked. "What do you mean?"
"The aura was produced by a gathering of a large number of Blue Cervusus," Joaquin said. "The knights reported so."
"Oh," Glenn hummed. "You say that, but what about your companions? Do they wish to report immediately?"
Joaquin turned around to see his troops with expecting faces. It was evident that they want to have a feast.
"Alright," Joaquin sighed. "But only for one night. We leave first thing in the morning."
His words erupted cheers from the knights and they celebrated then.