Act 1: Blue Ocean Pavilion - Chapter 235: The Unknown Group

Act 1: Blue Ocean Pavilion - Chapter 235: The Unknown Group

Oscar expected to find at least one thing on the island that they could bring back to show Elizabeth or perhaps some information about the island's strangeness. Still, he never expected to find another group of people here who stared down at him with hostility and chill in their eyes. Suddenly, his eyes and Prinstyct caught a whiff of Ein, and he swung his bulwark harshly.

A spiky object deflected off his bulwark, falling onto the ground. The spike was a short and thin dagger created from water, but it soon splattered into a small puddle on the ground. Oscar stared at the strange group, eyeing the one who threw the water dagger.

"Not bad, that student has quite the defense." A tall woman with a mature face smiled. She wore tight leather armor with several daggers lined over her waist. Her short white hair did not reach her shoulders, and her black eyes locked onto Oscar. "I'll take on that kid."T/his chapter is updat/ed by nov(ê(l)biin.c/o/m

"Oi. You remember our purpose here." A large burly man, wearing only thick white pants, exposing his thick upper body, slammed his large axe on the ground. "Work together. Kill the students."

The strange glow behind the insidious group caught Oscar's attention. Whatever was back there was surely their goal. Oscar brought up his bulwark and quickly relayed his instructions. "Austin and Mary, go around left. Frederick and Emily, go straight through. I'll go to the right. Get past the enemy and get or destroy whatever is causing that glow."

"Alright," Emily shouted and brought forth her Ein, stomping ahead with her staff. The large burly man was also a Middle Elite Exalt like her, so she targeted him. Behind her, Frederick kept up with winds guiding his steps.

Austin and Mary sprinted left, and Oscar went right.

"Tch!" The burly man cursed. "Split up and get those students. Don't allow them to damage the pillars, or else it's our heads on the chopping block."

The four others split off to deter the students from approaching the stone pillars. The burly man beat his chest and charged at Emily; his powerful axe slammed into her staff, caving in the ground under them. He clenched his teeth, feeling the immense weight behind Emily's blows.

Emily frowned. This burly man had immense strength even to withstand her heavy spell. She stared to the side and found Frederick clashing against the enemy. 'These people are playing defensively. What is that strange glow?'

On the left side, around the rocky hill, Austin and Mary fought back-to-back against the two others. Mary's spear swung with lightning that scorched the ground below while Austin flickered around with his daggers.

"These people are troublesome." Mary cursed.

"Calm down. Less talk, more action." Austin replied.

On the right side, Oscar faced alone against the white-haired lady. He tried to get close, but the lady maintained her distance, throwing several daggers his way. Her movements aligned with that of an experienced ranged fighter, and Oscar cursed as he didn't want to waste his time.

He wanted to ignore the lady and go into the rocky hill, but he drew the short end of the straw and faced toward a very steep cliff that stretched onto the other side. He could scale the cliff, but that would expose him to her counterattacks like a mouse in a trap. 'I can only rely on the others to get past their enemies, or I can kill her and help them, or maybe keep moving.'

"Too bad." The white-haired lady stared behind her at the nearly vertical cliff. She seemed perfectly relaxed. "However, this is perfect for me. I am Natasha; who are you?"

"This?!" Natasha managed to dodge in time, but blood splurted from her shoulder. She clutched it with a pained expression while staring at Oscar. 'What the hell is this speed? Is it even possible? I didn't see massive amounts of Ein flowing into it.'

'It worked.' Oscar formed another 'Silver Star' thanks to the brief respite provided by Natasha's moment of pain. He fired it again with Reis and Ein; however, Natasha had already gotten used to the speed and dodged accordingly, but her face still contained confusion.

'You can see my movements and Ein with the Prinstyct, but you can't predict my Reis.' His master, Draven, had told him that the key factor in overcoming the enemy's Prinstyct was to use spells and anima, or to break their concentration. However, a fourth option existed for Reis users like Oscar; the use of Reis itself never came up in the Prinstyct, so enemies had no way of knowing if an attack would be more powerful than it seemed.

Oscar wanted to break Natasha's concentration so he could move freely, but he underestimated her mental strength.

'What a surprise.' Natasha threw several more daggers and formed her anima, a crossbow. Her Prinstyct focused on Oscar's future movements, and she shot out a sharp bolt with an arrowhead made of torrential waters. 'However, losing one's calm is death in a battle. Your powers are shocking, but you still haven't changed the situation.'

Oscar's deer anima swung its antler against the crossbow bolt. The bolt shattered into pieces while his deer anima remained unharmed. Oscar's eyes narrowed at the sight of the shattered fragments. 'A grade-two anima. So that verifies her many years as a Lower Elite Exalt.'

Oscar wanted to fight back, but his Adamasreis reached its limit.

'Silver Sheen'

A thick silver skin covered Oscar, blocking all the daggers from reaching him. Their water tips failed to pierce past the thick metal. All the while, his deer anima managed to hold itself on its own while destroying some of the incoming daggers.

'Covering yourself in a defensive spell? How unusual.' Natasha's eyes narrowed at Oscar's arms and legs. 'It's strange. Earlier, the water daggers should have pierced deeper into his bare skin, and I did not see much Ein covering his skin. It's the same as with the metal ball; something else is at work here.'

Natasha stopped throwing more daggers and only released bolts from her crossbow anima and a crossbow armament. She planned to save up on her Ein if Oscar was going to hide in his shell.

Oscar furrowed his brow under the silver armor. 'If I use Treble Lance, perhaps I could get her in one, but she's moving more cautiously after my first Silver Star. There's a good chance she'd dodge it.'

Oscar chuckled weakly. For most of his life, he had been fighting against higher-grade Exolsia Exalts, but now he was pressured by someone lower than him. However, none of these attacks could kill him; even her bolt failed against his deer.

'It's back.' Oscar felt his muscles relaxing once again, ready to invoke Adamasreis. Oscar canceled his 'Silver Sheen' and used Adamasreis to save his Ein. 'She's trying to whittle me down, but I can last longer with Ein Awaken and Reis. The issue is how deep are her reserves?'

Oscar had a sudden thought and smiled. He had something else to try. Four smaller 'Silver Stars' formed on his four fingertips.

'Mini Silver Star Fourfold'