Chapter 177: Facing the Manticore

"DRAGON LIGHTNING." Ah this is taking too long. These Serpent Union members are taking a go at me everywhere I go. Neco also left me. He was supposed to be my bodyguard. Yet I'm dealing with all these damned pawns every single day.

"Attack him!" The leader of their group shouted and rallied at me.

"Oh shut up I heard that so many times. I'll end this. It's making me incredibly annoyed. Clouds of Darkness!" Smoke came out of my staff and shot straight up at the sky and filled the bright blue sky to a dark cloudy mess which overshadowed us all. "Imbue Lightning!" Lightning shot up from my staff to the clouds itself and it dispersed into several directions until everything just went crazy.

Like a god's smite as seen in tales, lightning struck from the sky eletrocuting anyone who's unfortunate enough to be struck by this skill.

As their bodies got burnt and the incredibly noxious smell were everywhere. The few who survived had their HP brought down to five percent. They could still keep going but their wounds will take a toll on them. "Dragon Lightning." A recreation of a dragon in a form of a lightning appeared behind me. "Goodbye then." As I pointed my hands at them, the dragon followed and destroyed their remains.

I let out an exasperated sigh since I'm already incredibly exhausted. I don't know how long I've been doing this but I really want to meet Greta.

"Hmm? What's this?" I looked at the system that popped up in front of me.

[Feran is using the skill Message to contact you. Accept?]

[Yes/No]

Feran? I never thought he had a message skill. Of course I'll accept it. "Feran? What's the matter? Also, you have a message skill?"

"Hey Zeta! I just used a one time use scroll given to me by Lam. Anyway, that's not the point. We desperately need your help. Zieglind is here fighting someone but we can't get in to where he is. There's a strong barrier protecting the whole artifact dungeon."

"Leave it to him, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"No, I think he's having trouble with this one. The enemy is a manticore."

"Manticore? I didn't even think we'd come across an enemy like that. Manticores are incredibly rare. Rarer than dragons. Hmm... I don't have to worry about him but it seems that you do. But I h-" I looked around and just saw the dead bodies of the Serpent Union. I don't want to deal with these things again. "Fine... I'll come. I'll teleport to you right no-"

"ARGHHHHHHHH!!!" I then heard Feran's defeaning scream.

"Hey! What's happeni-"

[Message duration ended.]

"Damn it. The message ended. How do I get to him... Hmm... I see. That's one way." Neco is a part of Crimson Knights so that means that we're both in the same party with Zieglind. So if I open this... "Party Member List." Found it. There's Neco. And if I just click on his profile... "Found it." His location is noted here. "He's pretty near. I'll teleport to the nearby village there and fly to them."

I can only teleport to the places where I have been before of I have clearly seen a place. "Teleport!" A nearby village. Everyone was shocked to see me. But I just ignored them. But it seem that's not the only thing they were shocked about.

"Hey mama," I heard one of the kids, "Look at that person!"

"Hush child, that's a royalty. We can't afford to go against them. Just go in the house and everything will be fine." His mother responded.

"Royalty..? Ah-" I still have this stupid ridiculous clothes on. "Gazer Form." I swapped my clothes for the gazer form and flew to the direction where Neco was in.

After a few seconds, I got there pretty easily.

They seem to be covered in water. So the artifact dungeon was underwater? Feran seems to be casting a spell on Rize. She then jumped in the boiling seawater.

"Hey what's happ-"

Feran casted another spell on both of themselves and jumped right in with Rize.

"Mana Search." I casted mana search and, "Holy crap-" The whole seawater is filled with mana. I actually can't pinpoint any single one of them. But I could still try and find a crumpled place of concentrated mana.

"Hmm... there?" I could see three outstanding mana there. So that's Rize, Helga and Feran? I can also feel a faint of mana incredibly weak. And they seem to be carrying it.

But there's also another giant mana source at the very bottom. So that's the manticore Feran was talking about?

I flew down to check. "Inventory." I grabbed the Marestone and ate it. "Fire Resistance." This way I can lessen the pain that I feel from the boiling water.

I dived in head first and I could only say holy crap as the manticore tried to pounce on Rize. "Gravitational Push!" I quickly activated the spell and I knocked the manticore away from Rize to the castle.

The whole structure collapsed on the manticore and covered him in rubbles.

I rushed over to Rize to see if she was hurt. "Hey are you oka-" Terror and fear overtook my body to the point that I can't let out my words easily. "H- hey Rize... Don't tell me that person you're holding is..."

"It's Zieglind." Tears came out of Rize's eyes but she tried to hold back her emotions. She swam up and up to get Zieglind out of the water.

Helga and Feran were waiting for us. But Helga is busy healing Neco. He's literally burnt from head to toe as his body was charred from fire. I can understand Neco being in this state for challenging a high leveled monster.

But Zieglind on the other hand... It's either he underestimated the enemy or simply got caught off guard. "Let's go out of here right now."

"Y- yeah." Rize is trying to cover up the fact that she's incredibly worried for him. Maybe she's blaming herself for this.

Well that's the same for me. If I could've gotten here sooner I could've dispelled that barrier and help Zieglind escape. But there's no time to dwell on that useless fact.

"Board Transport." I summoned a flying translucent board. Helga went up and brought Neco and Zieglind there. She began to heal Neco first.

But what could happen to Zieglind... A portion of his face gone, three of his limbs also gone. But what's interesting is his body. There's no blood coming out or gushing out. It looks like a soulless body or worse, an undead zombie.

"Give. Me. The. Book!" A large roaring sound was then heard. The manticore rose from the seawater and emitted heat everywhere that could be felt tens of meters away from him. The grass withered and burned, the trees around us also went down in flames and the seawater boiled even more and steam came up in the air.

"Tsk. Frozen Field!" The whole is then covered in ice but his overwhelming heat that he's emitting is still too much. I'm the only one who can protect these people. I just need to buy time so that we can escape. "Feran, cast some buffs on me!"

Feran put up his chalice, "Sorcery Boost, Magic Damage UP, Dull Pain, Cast Speed UP, Lightning Damage UP, Health Boost!"

Several flashing lights appeared throughout my body and then disappeared indicating that the buffs worked. "Alright. Thanks Feran. Now get out of here. Don't try to argue with me. Just get out. I'll hold him back."

"Got it." Zeta hopped on and pulled the stunned Rize to the board transport and I sent them away. It'll be auto pathing to Izgoy so I just need to protect them. "Alright. Come on manticore."

"You. Why. Did. You. Do. That. You. Damned. Adventurers. And. Players. Go. In. To. My. Abode. And. Have. Stolen. Something. From. Me. Yet. You're. Fighting. Back? I. Gave. Your. Friend. A. Chance. Just. Give. Me. The. Book. And. Nothing. Bad. Will. Happen. But. He. Declined."

"I don't know what it is they have stolen." If they knew how powerful this creature is, then Zieglind would've easily given the thing he's looking for at him. Is this a misunderstanding? Or is that item that they stole incredibly important? "What is it anyway?"

"My. Book. Of. Resurrection."

"Impossible. Impossible. IMPOSSIBLE. IMPOSSIBLE. IMPOSSIBLE. IMPOSSIBLE. IMPOSSIBLE. IMPOSSIBLE!!! THAT IS ABSURD! Having a resurrection magic is an impossible feat." I know of it. It's definitely impossible. It's even stated in my master's experiments. "If you had that, then you have broken the balance and laws of the world itself! That's impossible. You may be powerful but you're not that powerful."

"That. Is. True. But. I'm. Not. The. One. Who. Originally. Had. That. Book."

"Who's the owner?"

"Ouroboros."

"Why... why does that name keep popping up everywhere. That man has appeared in countless locations and stories from my master. Who the hell is he!?"

"Lord. Ouroboros. Is. The. Winner. Of. The. First. Battle. Royale."