Chapter 232: Escape

The Arc Raven Mages waited only several seconds for their Darkness explosion aftermath to clear up. On Arch Raven Noah and Lydia's faces, they were cruelly smiling as they observed the utter wreck from below.

However, Arch Raven Kai's gaze was still locked on Darcel's group's previous spot. He was knitting his eyebrows together as he ran his Magical Sense over and over again on that specific spot. 

"Well, would you look at this?" Arch Raven Noah began speaking in a jeering tone while he observed the Crow Leaders' current state. 

"All battered, bloody, and injured. I see no fiery will burning in any of them now."

On the destroyed ground, Crow Theo, Apollo, and Joe were all kneeling as blood pooled out of every pore of their bodies. All three of them were on the verge of passing out. The only reason they're still up is just their own stubborn determination at this point.

The Crow Leaders know if they were to pass out now, then they will simply die. Although what was equally as depressing was that the Crow Leaders knew their death was inevitable either way.

Their chances of escaping were so slim that it was basically negligible. 

The Arc Raven Mages's last attack wasn't even that powerful. Yet, their Magical Powers were currently wreaking havoc in all three Crow Leaders' bodies.

Crow Theo struggled to lift his head up to at least stare at his impending execution. When looking at the Arch Raven Mages, slight confusion swirled in his mind. 

For some reason, the Arch Raven Mages had took their sights off from them and on to another scene.

Up in the skies, Arch Raven Kai, Noah, and Lydia were all narrowing their eyes at Darcel's group's previous spot. 

Their eyes and Magical Senses searched all around, and yet….nothing was coming up for them.

"This is too mysterious. Not even a trace of them is around here. It's like their presences had just up and disappeared." Arch Raven Kai muttered out loud. 

Darcel's group's disappearance did cause a slight sense of worry in his mind.

Arch Raven Lydia didn't feel as much worry. Besides thinking that the trio magically disappeared, she went with the most obvious conclusion. "You know, maybe they're just dead? Their bodies probably exploded or are buried underground."

Arch Raven Noah was in agreement as he nodded towards Lydia's assessment. 

However, Arch Raven Kai still shook his head. "That's not possible at all. They managed to force those Crow dogs to use that Heavenly Grand Sage Spirit Artifact. And even their weakened aura when we had first arrived here gave all of us a small bit of pressure."

Arch Raven Noah furrowed his eyebrows. He quickly expanded his Magical Sense out for several miles, tracing every detail on the ground and air. 

But besides a strange scent filling his senses, he picked up on nothing. "Well, I can't sense them anywhere near us. Or see them anywhere around here. Perhaps they're using some kind of special talisman." 

Arch Raven Kai, Lydia, and Noah began to briefly contemplate this odd disappearance. 

It certainly wasn't out of the realm of possibility those three had used a talisman that made them completely undetectable. Plus if it wasn't a talisman, whatever item they're using was sure to have a time limit.

From the Arch Raven Mages' expansive knowledge, they know that there wasn't anything that can be entirely undetectable for Spirit or Magical Senses for long. 

And the Arch Raven Mages didn't bother with the possibility that Darcel's group could willingly erase their presence.

Such a feat wasn't even possible for the Leader of the whole Raven Mage Order group outside of New Branch City. 

Arch Raven Kai had to shrug on this subject after a few seconds and told the other Arch Raven Leaders, "No matter what they're using to escape, they can't hide from us for long.  And their battered state, I doubt they could even run away that far. Now then…." 

Arch Raven Kai, Noah, and Lydia turned their attentions back on the Crow Leaders. 

The Crow Leaders all began to violently shiver. They fear their death may be upon them.

….

A couple of miles away in some random direction from the ruin and destruction of Darcel's team's previous battle. The trees of the snowy forest maze were still protruding in this area, and there was a slight change of scenery in this specific area.

At this random section of the snowy forest maze was actually a considerably large cave. 

No other Spirit Monster or humans were roaming around this general area. 

And inside the cave, three figures could be seen.

These three figures had seen better days. Although the blood and dirt covering their faces couldn't stop their natural beauty from flowing through. 

These three figures are Darcel, Aniela, and Masami.

Just narrowly did they manage to escape from the Arch Raven Mage's clutches. They had used nearly all of their remaining bloodline powers and soul powers tank their black Raven bird attack.

Thankfully, the Arch Raven Mages still managed to underestimate how much power they needed to entirely kill them off even as two of them joined together. 

And under the guise of the Darkness explosion, they immediately masked their presence and ran away.

Although they couldn't go beyond a couple of miles before their bodies injuries forced them to find a resting place to recuperate. 

Thankfully, they happened to chance upon this random cave, which was the only bout of good luck they received since coming to this independent realm. 

The trio is currently sitting against the cave's wall, slowly breathing in and out. They had plenty of healing pills from the Snow Angel Order group so they could make a haste recovery.

The injuries on the inside of their bodies were gradually healing up, though their appearance still remained battered. 

Their clothes were ripped at numerous places and at each ripped spot, a sum of blood had pooled out of them.

From healing their injuries, their bleeding had stopped, but the scars of battle still remained. As their energy reserves also gradually came back to them, Masami was the one who started talking first.

"Haaah….to think, not even a full half an hour passed, and we're already reduced to such a state. Tch! If we were to fight any one of those groups alone, we would most definitely come out on top!" 

A rising surge of frustration swells in Masami's chest. Not being able to kill either the Crow Leaders or the Arch Raven Mages was a real blow to her mental state. 

And in all honesty, it wasn't as if Masami was wrong in her assessment.

On their own, they would've killed that Spirit Monster Hawk. Masami also had high assurance that they would've been able to completely eliminate the phantom Golden Crow Spirit and kill off the Crow Leaders.

Furthermore, if they would've fought the Arch Raven Mages at full power, Masami knew they could win against them as well. The fact it was repeated fight after fight was the only reason in Masami's mind that they lost.

She even felt a small surge of just going back to those Arch Raven Mages and killing them now that she is in a better state. But, Masami quickly calmed herself, knowing that will do them more harm than good.

In addition to calming down, Masami felt the warmth of Aniela's hand slowly pat her shoulder. 

Aniela was wearing a small smile, feeling most of her high from battle already pass over.

She began to say in a softer, soothing tone, "Well, we can't expect everything to go our way. I have a lot of pride, but it's also good to take a bit of loss sometimes and know just why we lose." 

Truthfully, Aniela also wasn't taking the nasty sting of losing all too well.

But she also wasn't the one to focus on negative feelings for an extended amount of time. All Aniela focused on now was improving from this event and taking a bit of revenge against those lucky Arch Raven Mages.

"Hm…..well, I guess you're kind of right. In any case, once we're back to full power, we'll rip those Mages to shred!" Masami spoke in a determined tone while her two foxtails puffed up to accentuate her point.

She still had a fiery fighting spirit to take on those Mages in the near future and show them who are the actual dogs in battle. 

Aniela was feeling the same fighting spirit, but she believed they shouldn't focus on fighting as of now.

So she began telling Masami, "The Mages will get what's coming to them soon. For now, let's take our minds off them. Our servants did explain to us that there is a good deal of treasure quite literally anywhere in this independent realm. Maybe this cave has one!"

"I'm glad you can always retain that optimism, Aniela." Darcel, who's been silent this entire time, suddenly spoke up while nodding. 

His mind was continually analyzing their previous battle the entire time.

Darcel felt like; honestly, that was the best they could do there. The main thing that tripped them up and severely affected their combat prowess for the Crow Leaders was that Spirit Monster Hawk.

However, it wasn't like they could've predicted the whole sky would've suddenly turned a sickly yellow and for that to provide an insane boost to the Spirit Monsters. Just from the yellow hue nestling in that Spirit Monster Hawk's eyes, Darcel could tell there was a connection.

The only other thing that was mysterious about that whole battle was his own bloodline. 

Even now, Darcel wasn't sure where those rage-filled boosts from his bloodline was coming from, considering that never happened to him before.

He couldn't draw any conclusions about that as of now, so Darcel focused his attention on the girls. 

And when he had finally spoken up, Aniela's smile turned beautifully wide from getting praised while Masami simply huffed in obvious slight envy.

Darcel wryly smiled from Masami's attitude and quickly followed up with, "And of course, you're raging fighting spirit is also good to raise our spirits, Masami." 

Darcel stopped for a second to smirk as Masami couldn't stop smiling from getting praised. 

"Hm." Masami now huffed up happily instead of being envious. 

Slightly shaking her head at her attitude, Darcel continued on. "Like Aniela was saying, I'm feeling a good premonition about this place as well. My injuries healed the fastest, so I'll scout this place a little bit with my Spirit Sense."

"Sounds good, Darcy. But don't push yourself too far now." Aniela readily agreed while also cautiously reminding Darcel. 

"Alright then. Heh, we did find this cave out here, so maybe our luck will turn around for the better again." Masami also readily agreed with a slight rise of eagerness in her voice.

Because they were healing their injuries before, the trio only inspected the beginning area of the cave to make sure it's safe. In the state they were at that time, even using their Spirit Sense caused a heavy strain in their heads.

But feeling far better now, Darcel was inspired with some vigor to see if they could scout out a hidden treasure in this lucky cave.