After extending his spiritual awareness to around 40 meters, Jody started to pale. Numerous dark shadows dashing through the trees and bushes of their surroundings followed them and surrounded them from almost all sides. Only the path directly to the east wasn't completely boxed in yet. Jody didn't feel like he had the time to explain or even speak with Sek about the details.
'Cosmo,' Jody thought, and the [Cosmos Revolving Grimoire] appeared before him in a flash of purple light.
[Cosmos Revolving Grimoire]
'Seal 1: Summoner unlocked'
'Seal 1: Combat Mode unlocked'
Jody could currently keep his source artifacts active for around two hours if he were using them both and for five if he only used one. In truth, he typically only kept the grimoire active if he needed to perform a summon. Another part of the first seal was called combat mode! This ability of the grimoire allowed the combat soul-turned-guardian to advance to its next form during battle. It also created a halo of protection around the host.
Sophomore Sage's combat souls would be freshly awakened to their infant forms.
Infant-form combat souls can only leave the body in astral form. They can't attack and can't be seen by others. They can only absorb and distribute force because they do not have physical forms. Combat souls usually only become visible if the source artifact is summoned. But Jody's source artifact allowed the combat soul to be visible and already a real physical entity, a guardian!
Even though the grimoire had unlocked another part of the first seal and had some type of invisible natural barrier that could protect him from harm, Jody didn't feel challenged sitting back and watching his guardians do all the work. How could he ever be okay with that? This was called using the strength of others. Jody wanted to conquer others with his own strength. This was why he tried not to rely too much on his Twilight system.
The grimoire flipped open to the second page, glowing resplendently.
[Guardian 1: Cosmos Devouring Sky Wolf]
'Compatibility rating: 59%'
'Tier 1 Primary and auxiliary abilities unlocked during combat mode.'
'Summon time: Five hours'
Sylvester emerged from a magic circle in a pillar of skyfall flames on the ground.
Jody grabbed Sek Si in his arms and leaped onto Sylvester's back, "Sly, why did our compatibility drop again?"
"My spatial powers are above your realm, thus straining our souls. Merely, if I use my devouring powers to attack, then I may get carried away. I must wait until you can wield this power without me," replied Sylvester indifferently. "Less of this. We're surrounded."
"Not quite. Go three hunred meters east. You have two minutes," Jody had his own thoughts regarding Sylvester's expenditure of power, but he became focused again after the latter's reminder. He turned his head and called out to the still arguing Hughes and Rondo, "Hey guys, there's big trouble! We're surrounded. Follow me!"
Sylvester heard Jody had finished and took off to the east! The sky wolf had actually covered 300 meters in a mere few seconds of running before he leaped into the sky, defying gravity. However, Jody noticed that his speed decreased substantially in the air after the initial launch. Jody's face became more solemn as they rose higher into the air.
While Hughes and Rondo were initially dazed, Levi immediately followed Jody without hesitation, prompting Sophie to do the same while calling back, "Guys, let's go! The young master could face danger!"
Hughes and Rondo's faces both changed. They recovered and rapidly shot past the girls after Jody. However, as soon as they moved, dark shadows started zeroing in from every direction. Sophie was already muttering an incantation with a violet aura surrounding her. Inside her aura, the force phenomenon was swiftly manifesting.
"Celestial Body!"
"Attack at full power!"
"Where is the boy? Find the boy! Killing the boy is a priority, major!"
Sinister voices begin to shout in the surroundings. The sky was suddenly lit up with hundreds of terrifying forces, and weapon lights flying toward the group of four at horrible speed! Milky white incantation runes continued to fly out of Sophie's mouth as her violet aura exploded outward. Thousands of different colored marble-sized light spheres formed the shape of a fierce-looking shark constellation that swam around Sophie's atmosphere.
The hundreds of attacks landed on them as Sophie screamed, "Immortal Water Barrier!"
The incantation runes that Sophie produced scattered flew into the perimeter. At Sophie's shout, water element started pouring out from the runes, and a huge sphere of water surrounded the four nobles. The attacks all crashed into this barrier in a terrifying way, causing Jody, who watched from above, to shiver. He wasn't sure whether or not those four could survive such an assault.
This was definitely bad.
Even worse, these people seemed to be targeting him. Jody thought this was bold until he realized that if they dared to sneak an attack on him, could it be they had a reason not to fear his mother's retaliation? Could something have happened to his mother? Jody had a really bad feeling. It was like a dark cloud hanging in the skies that you couldn't see the ends off.
This made him nervous.
"Who the hell are these guys?" asked Jody as his rage started to bubble slowly.
"They smell like Dark Elves. Elven warriors who are born with dark power inheritances, like your shadow girl," mumbled Sylvester out loud, completely scaring the shit out of Sek Si.
"IT…It…it can speak? Like, out loud?!" Sek's mind short-circuited.
She had never thought she would meet such a creature as Jody in this small world. She couldn't believe it. His combat soul could talk out loud! It was really fully conscious! She thought the reckless brat had multiple personalities that he blamed on his combat souls. After all, a conscious hollow soul was a contradiction. His combat souls, really being conscious, felt crazy.
"HE can speak. And yes, he can, indeed. Less of that, Sek, how long were we being followed?" Jody, of course, took note of Sek Si's reaction to Sly.
From it, he realized that he couldn't easily share the fact that his combat souls possessed consciousness. However, telling Sek about this was truly no different from telling himself, what did it matter? He honestly thought she already knew.
"I don't know, I was formulating in my shadow space when I felt several powerful auras lock onto you remotely. So I immediately scouted the surrounding shadows. I saw many assassins in leather armor surrounding us when I did so."
"You can sense when others have locked on to my aura? Wait, people can lock on to aura?! Is there anything we can do to stop that?" Jody asked Sek and Sylvester expectantly. "Better yet, how can we help the Frozen Night?"
"There is simply no need for you to act. Have you not yet learned how to detect the spiritual sense of others? Do you even understand spirituality? Are you seriously so ignorant? We are truly doomed," Sylvester said indifferently.
Jody was speechless. He had never learned to do such a thing, in fact, he had never even considered it.
Sylvester spat, "Hughes, those other white elves, and the young noble have already ascertained your location. This is because they have seen me fly before and knew where to look. I assume they're buying you time by not attacking. It should be obvious to a mage that my ability to fly has limitations. A time limit. Time which you waste by asking me questions."
Jody grimaced and firmed his mind, "Let's go find my mother."
Right as Sylvester turned to take off, Jody heard the soft and sweet voice of Levi next to his ear, "Little brother, the Frozen Night Mistress gave you a magic mirror right? Hurry and find the mistress!"
Jody was startled, but quickly pulled out a serenity glass magic mirror from the inside of his space ring. Jody poured serene mana into the magic mirror and a panel lit up. He quickly sent a sound transmission to his mother as Sylvester took to the skies.