Chapter 285: Fern vs Szaaz ( 4 )

Reiji wanted to collect the Beast Cores of the Minotaurs and other Evil Beasts that Fern has killed within the forest. 

After all, the latter doesn't seem to be interested in those while he has several students with him that he would sometimes need to reward.

However, Fern's reinforcements might arrive in time and cause trouble to the two. He doesn't know whether his Stealth or Traceless would be effective so escaping might be difficult.

"Master… Are we going to return to the village?" Szaaz asked after ditching Fern mid-air. He just suddenly vanished after throwing out a green smoke to use as his cover. 

Fern even thought that the Cursed Arcana would ambush him inside the smoke but as soon as everything became clear, he realized that Szaaz has already escaped!

No matter how hard the sword tried to find them, he was unable to locate them with his current condition.

"Hmm… We can't return to the village yet. Just in case we are being tracked, we can't let them know the location of those half-imps…"

"I understand, Master." The Cursed Arcana obeyed. 

Apparently, he's not aware of the thing about Three-Eyed Imp Cult that worships the Imp Gods.

Reiji has to explain it to him to understand the situation.

"Hmm… So those half-imps were actually part of an evil cult… Interesting, Master Reiji. I didn't expect that. Though I know that they are half-imps I'm not aware of their disgusting method."

"Oh? Is it not popular during your era?" Reiji asked as they flew towards another patch of trees far away from this site.

"No, Master… No one uses human sacrifices for a single Arcana."

"Well, that makes sense. A lot of things happened while you're out. In the meantime, let's make sure that they won't be able to follow us. Do have any Arcane Magic we can use?"

Szaaz nodded at the question and introduced one of his Abilities.

Night Cloak…

"Wait… This is only effective at night." Reiji noticed that the ability even requires a bit of moonlight to become quite effective.

"Yes, Master… but once it's activated even without moonlight, it can still effectively hide us for ten minutes. It should be enough to trick their sensors…"

"Hmmm… I understand. We'll see if it's indeed effective as you said." Reiji smiled after hearing Szaaz's confidence with his Night Cloak.

They have also felt the presence of the multiple Sentient Arcana. Their Aura together is so powerful that many Evil Beasts were moving out of their way as they rush towards Fern's direction…

"You're right, Master… Two of his reinforcements look troublesome to deal with…" Szaaz muttered after using his sensors. He also noticed that they brought six Arcanists with them.

Their reinforcement is basically composed of 2 Sentient Blessed Arcana and 6 Arcanists wielding 6 Sentient Arcana. 

For now, Reiji and Szaaz just have to ensure that they're hidden from their group and avoid leading them to the half-imps. 

If in case they made such mistakes and found those poor villagers, they would surely get slaughtered by this group who abhor their cult.

***

Vivi and her team rushed towards the location where Fern activated his emergency signal. 

Though he didn't bring anyone on his journey, he still has a way to communicate with the members of the Mind Collection.

As soon as they saw Fern's figure on the ground, they quickly scanned the surrounding area to ensure that the enemies weren't planning to ambush and using him as bait.

"I can't feel any hostility nearby…" Neri reported after using one of her skills.

She then ordered the three Arcanists to approach and check Fern's condition first. 

Just by looking at the battlefield, anyone can tell that this is a battle between two powerful Arcana. 

After all, there was no way that Fern would need help fighting against a normal Arcana…

It didn't take long before Fern recounted the story of what happened. 

"Poison? Perhaps it's blessed by Crol or Sabine…" Vivi muttered as she started to investigate the place. 

Even Fern doesn't know too much about the Cursed Arcana that was imprisoned here. His knowledge about his target is solely based on what the leaders in the headquarters have mentioned. 

For now, he rested peacefully thanks to his guards. He needs to replenish his spent Mystical Energy before he could calmly roam this land again. After all, he knows that there are still powerful Evil Beasts lurking around this region…

On the other hand, the two other Blessed Arcana continued looking for clues about the Trident Arcana that Fern battled with.

"Neri, you said that he received a mission from the headquarters to deal with the imprisoned Cursed Arcana." Vivi, the Quill Pen Arcana, asked while looking at the mess on the ground.

She can still feel remnant energy from the recent battle. Perhaps, Vivi is the most knowledgeable Arcana within the Mind Collection considering that her patron is the Wisdom Deity, Ganesh.

Her senses and scanning ability are on a higher tier compared to other Arcana.

"Yes, you're right. Is something wrong?"

"Hmm… It may be subtle… but I feel that those minotaurs were previously under a Magic similar to Mind Control. It feels completely different to the energy that the Trident left behind."

"Well… Fern told us that the Trident has mind control abilities…" Neri replied.

"That's right… But I don't think that he used it for the minotaurs… It has a different aura… Anyway, should we continue looking for it or should we return?" Vivi finally asked.

If even Fern is unable to defeat it easily, the opponent this time might be too powerful. Though they can defeat that Trident with their number, there's no way it would come out again after seeing their group. 

If they are in his position, they would certainly just hide somewhere until their group left.

It will be very difficult to find that Arcana again in this vast land.

Aside from that, they also have to deal with the Execration that is currently causing problems within the kingdom…

"We will retreat for now. I injured that arrogant Cursed Arcana so I'm sure that he won't cause problems in a while." Fern finally said after recovering a bit of his power.

"Haha… As expected of our leader!" The Arcanists protecting him praised as they looked at the sacred sword with the utmost respect.