Chapter 418 - Not Hostile
Elliot couldn't believe what he was hearing. He tried to shake his head off, thinking he was just hearing things.
"Are you serious?" Elliot asked, trying to clarify.
"I am," Guan Yin sighed. "I'm sorry I lied before. I guess I was scared of you rejecting me. In my mind, I thought that it would be better for you to know who these people are, and how cruel they are. Maybe after that, you'll know why I escaped from there."
"It must be hard for you," Elliot muttered softly. "I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. You can trust me on this."
"Thank you," the woman's face softened. She smiled and nodded at Elliot. "I have a plan on how to defeat them, but I can't risk of the others knowing who I really am. Can I ask for your help on this?"
Elliot nodded. "Of course. You can tell me anything."
"Thank you," Guan Yin smiled and started to explain everything. "Licht has a vast storage for magic, and his range is unbelievable. But that doesn't mean it's infinite."
While Guan Yin was telling Elliot this, the dragons were at the skies in full speed. Hope was the one leading the horde while the three students of Elliot were riding on his back.
He had brought a hundred dragons with him, each dragon carries three Adventurers. It was a large army of Adventurers that was also grouped into squads.
"Have you heard?" Florencia whispered to her friends. "Because I certainly did. Remember that little kid that was following Elliot around?"
"Daniel?" Christina guessed. "I remember him. But that Daniel who was always following Elliot was an impostor, right? I heard that the real Daniel been kidnapped and tortured."
"He was," Florencia said. "But after that incident, the boy rose to the ranks in just a week. Everyone was so shocked at how fast he rose up. From triple digits to 21."
"Impossible," Viper gasped. "That's impossible. To do that, you have to finish at least three Comet quests a day. No one can do it."
"My exact initial thoughts," Florencia said. "But the quests aren't the only measurement for the rankings, isn't it?"
Christina hummed, "Popularity, citizen recommendation, and most importantly, power. Those three were also key ingredients so you could ascend the ranks. But to do that, you should have at least three years of experience."
"That's the thing," Florencia said. "Those four isn't measured individually. They tally points for each requirement and the total dictates the rank of the Adventurer. But they have a fault in that system.
"Daniel's popularity was boosted because of the kidnapping. People also recommended him for his selflessness after he sacrificed himself for his guild mates," Florencia continued. "And lastly, his power level had exceeded every one of the Top 10 to 20. He has an incredible magic that no one knew about."
"Deep Sea Wandere!"
The trio's heads snapped to the direction of the voice. It was an Adventurer who was pointing at the sea. Then, bubbles started to form and the water slowly boiled.
Every dragon in their horde paused and hovered around the bubble. They were all anticipating the beast, waiting for it to attack them so they could ambush it.
Aquarius narrowed his eyes while he watched the bubbles became much stronger. He had seen more of these beasts before, and he could handle it, but something was telling him that he shouldn't do it.
"What's wrong?" Frederick, who was with him, asked. "It's your prey."
"It's here!" one of the Adventurers yelled.
As if on cue, the large beast came out of the waters. The dragons immediately opened their mouths and the Adventurers charged their powers.
"Please, stop!" Florencia yelled, but no one was listening to her. Even when Hope roared to all the other dragons, they questioned him and continued with their charge. "Wait! Stop!"
"What is that child yelling?"
"She's crazy! Go home, kid!"
"Why are you here little girl? Go to your mommy or something."
…
Insults were thrown at her, but Christina didn't listen to any of them. She hopped out of Hope and into one of the othe dragons, continuously yelling for adults to stop.
Her friends also started to stand that it garnered the attention of more Adventurers. They looked at the children, then their hands who were charging their attacks.
After seeing their pleading faces, some of the adults couldn't help but lower their hands. Their magic was slowly stopping and they were about to stop when a yell of command broke through the pleas of help.
"We can kill it with just one strike!" Galaxia yelled, raising his hand as if he was commanding them. "Everyone, get ready now! Three…"
Frederick turned to Aquarius, "Why aren't you participating? One attack from you could end this thing."
"Two…"
Aquarius was silent. He let Frederick talk and just stared at the beast who was now looking at them with a concerned face. "What's going on."
"One!"
"Please, help!"
Aquarius's ears were filled with the piercing voice of Christina. His eyes wandered to the other dragons, and there he saw the girl crying as she gripped someone's collar. "Don't do it. He's not an evil beast!"
"Attack!"
"That thing isn't hostile," Aquarius whispered. Fredrick and Luck turned to him, both their eyes widened. "That thing isn't hostile!"
It was as if everybody was in slow motion. The three men, along with Midnight and Daniel, hopped out of their dragons and appeared right around the Deep Sea Wanderer.
The attacks had been released per order of Galaxia. Everyone's eyes widened after seeing the five me around the beas they just released and entire dragon horde's attack to.
"What are they doing?!" Galaxia gasped. "Midnight!"
"Burning Fortress." Frederick released his red burning sphere around the beast.
'Harmony of Protection.' Luck whistled and added a swirling dome around Frederick's shield.
"Great Barrier Reef." Aquarius conjured thousands of small corals made of his water and surrounded it around the two previous shield.
"Midnight Cradle." Midnight wrapped the beast with a gentle blanket that was made out of darkness.
Daniel lowered his head and raised it, revealing his red glowing eyes and his long sharp fangs. "Blood Orb."
Then, out of nowhere, their world stopped. Everything felt like it was in inverted colors apart from Daniel who was hovering in the middle of them.
The boy clutched his hand in front of him and blood seeped from his body. The blood hovered around the collected dome, draping all over it like honey to a pancake.
The blood hardened and formed red crystals. Daniel chuckeld and raised his cluthed hand, opening it and the world continued from its paused state.
The attacks landed on the red crystal shield. It was so many that the light from all the attacks started to get blinding until the part of the ocean they were at looked like the sun fell at the sea.
"What is happening?"
"Who was that kid?!"
"That was so dangerous."
…
The Adventurers started murmuring to themselves while the smoke from their attack started to clear. They were waiting for the group to reveal themselves and the reason why they stopped the attack.
And when the smoke cleared, everyone held their breathes.
The red crystal dome that wrapped around Aquarius's coral shield was shiny and got through without a dent after all their attacks.