Chapter 72

–Outside the Flux Zone–

The tear in space pulsed blue as it hung like an omen of death in the sky.

Harlequin stood underneath it alongside some other W.S.A agents who had cleared the perimeter and dubbed this particular area unsafe.

The beautiful chubby lady alongside her colleagues were the first to the scene, arriving only about five minutes after Leona and Dean entered.

With nothing else to do after the safety measures were put in place, they chose to wait.

Suddenly a carriage rolled towards the edge of the perimeter.

"This place is closed off," An agent gestured to the carriage before it fully came into view.

It was the carriage of the Valkyrie guild. The doors of the carriage swiftly opened up as three members stepped down.

They were armed and all wore white armor that covered their bodies at strategic areas like arms, legs, midsection and shoulders.

The leader. A tall and well built woman with gray colored hair and deep black eyes. Walked towards Harlequin.

Looking at Harlequin, she sneered. "You don’t sleep at home?"

Harlequin shook her head slightly before looking up.

The guild leader looked up, her eyes widened, stretching the scar around her eyes.

"It’s a blue zone."

She reached for the hilt of the sword strapped to her waist. "Is your work force in there, able to handle it alone?"

Harlequin tilted her head. "It’s not my people inside. Someone got to it first."

The Gray haired woman frowned. "Who?".

Harlequin shrugged. "I’m not sure but..." she pointed to the baby wyverns and the empty carriage packed by the side.

"A saint?" The leader’s frown contorted more. "How annoying..."

"Leona," Harlequin intercepted. "I think that’s hers."

The leader who was looking at the Wyverns suddenly turned to Harlequin again. "Isn’t she military?"

Harlequin who made sure to keep a fair distance from the flux zone gate nodded. "She must have been in the area."

The guild leader snarled. "That doesn’t matter, this is a city gate."

"That’s right, this is not her Jurisdiction," one of her subordinates completed.

There was a moment of silence before Harlequin broke it with a yawn. "I trust you to tell her that when she comes out."

After she spoke, Harlequin simply walked towards her own carriage and leaned her back there.

The guild leader’s expression darkened as steam seemed to be pumping out of her head. "Stupid bitch," she murmured.

At this point, all they could do is wait. A Herald has claimed the Flux zone, whether she was military or not. No one dared to interfere.

***

—Inside the flux zone–

Clang!

The Night stalker, a creature that camouflaged with the shadows has emerged from behind Dean but its attempt to rip through his spine was unsuccessful.

Dean had seen through its tricks after defending against them for the last ten minutes.

Leona had just been watching as if it was a test. Or better still a lesson. She wanted to see how he would handle this alone and Dean wasn’t doing half bad.

The night stalker had retreated back into the shadows after Dean nearly took its head clean off with a rebound enhanced punch.

Aware that it was at the disadvantage with little shadows to work with due to Leona’s fire litting up the area.

The Night stalker retreated deeper into the cavern. If it was one versus one and it was losing, it was smart to retreat now before Leona got involved.

Dean wanted to chase after it but his lungs burned. Even after what he perceived to be short by his body clock, it wasn’t.

"If only Ash was here," Dean thought as he looked at Leona who was still a few inches from the ground.

Her fireball still hung in the air but its orange flames weren’t licking the air as hungry as before.

"Hmmm..." she muttered before snapping her fingers and the brightness increased.

"Let’s go?" Dean asked as he looked at some system notifications from the corner of his eye.

[You have defeated a hoard of shadow rats]

[Rewards: 2500EXP]

[You have single-handedly forced a Night stalker to retreat]

[Rewards: 4000EXP]

[Total EXP: 10300]

[Your bond progression has increased]

[Wind sprite - 10%]

[Familiar 1- Wind sprite has unlocked a new skill.]

[Skill- Wind Scythe: The familiar is able to create a powerful slashing wind current in a short amount of time.]

[Rank - D- C]

Dean didn’t fully focus on the notifications but he was able to grab a few good aspects.

In the end, being unable to access Ash was a blessing in disguise. Because of it, he was able to fight with the wind sprite so far and their efforts together were been rewarded.

Exhaling slowly, he checked on Ash and Rend’s progress again. As he looked at Leona who seemed to be ignoring him and proceeding forward.

The system interface appeared before him and Dean stopped mid-step.

Ding!

[Evolution in Progress]

[Familiar: Ash - Unavailable]

[Time Remaining: 20 Hours]

His mouth was open callously. What the hell was happening. Have they been here for four hours?

That made no sense, they couldn’t have been fighting for four hours already. At most it was an hour.

"Leona," Dean’s voice was a lot sharper now after she ignored him the first time.

"Do you notice anything...different about this environment?"

Leona squinted her eyes. "Are you just noticing?"

Dean’s expression wasn’t really shocked, just confused. "What’s happening?"

"It’s the time," Leona said simply as her fireball shrunk a little.

"I noticed a few minutes ago that my flames are burning out faster than they should," she completed.

"How much faster?"

She raised the fire ball higher. "This skill should burn another hour without my control."

Leona looked at her palm where the flames were dancing on."It’s already dying and would die if I’ve not been maintaining it."

’That’s actually brilliant,’ Dean thought

The explanation was a little vague initially but a moment later, Dean understood her point of view and had to commend her again.

It was actually a brilliant understanding of one’s own limits. And how they are being affected.

But Ash’s case should have been different. It was doing its own thing.

’Then why is my own perception of time affecting that?’

’Unless...’ Dean thought as he stared at his open palms.

"You okay?" Leona looked at him. Her eyes were sharp for inconsistencies.

"Yeah... I’m fine." Dean answered quickly.

"So we got a time dilation?" he tried changing the topic.

"Yeah... zones do that sometimes," Leona said as she hovered a lot closer to the ground that it seemed like she was walking.

"I believe it’s a ratio of 5:1," Dean added after calculating from what the system showed.

Leona nodded. Rather impressed by the boy’s intelligence.

Dean smiled at the confirmation. Because it meant that Ash would definitely finish its upgrade a lot faster in here, since both the system’s and Ash’s perception are tied to his own.

"Let’s keep going," Leona said as the fire ball increases in size again. Flaring brighter.

"This is a blue zone, we have barely scratched the surface of its size."

Dean nodded as they proceeded forward.

***

After another hour of walking. The duo found themselves at a cross-road.

The cave has been twisting and turning, narrowing and growing wider but at this junction.

It branched out into about five deep tunnels that seemed darker and darker the longer they stared into it.

"Pick one," Leona gestured towards the tunnels.

"How about that one?" Dean pointed to the tunnel in the middle.

"Alright," Leona said as she created two more fireballs that went ahead of them and immediately the balls of fire entered the tunnels.

Ear-piercing shrieks filled the air, followed by the flapping of wings as the tunnel swelled and from the depths, hundreds of flesh eating bats emerged.

The bats swooped in with their vast numbers, encircling them but Dean and Leona reacted immediately.

Portions of the rebound armor opened up, even as a burst of volcanic heat emerged from within.

Manipulating the armor. Dean released the heat in an omni-directional wave that encircled the space pushing back all the bats to the walls and ceilings with precision using the clarity granted by Hermit’s eyes.

Taking advantage of this, Leona split a single ball of fire into multiple embers that swallowed the bats in a wave of explosions that lasted for a minute destroying all the bats.

Dean looked up as blue specks of light dropped from the sky like rain.

"Flux cores," Dean said without thinking as he caught some of them in his open palms.

"Yeah..." Leona answered as he stepped into the tunnel. "Let’s go."

Dean followed with a new understanding.

The moment they entered the narrow tunnels, Dean could see the rats scurrying out of the way as bats hid in the holes in the walls.

Dean understood in that moment what this was.

So far, the fights had been well planned, this was by no means random fighting.

’This is a battle of Attrition.’

Dean stopped walking as he looked at Leona’s back.

"All of this isn’t random right? They’re taking advantage of the surroundings toq wear us down,"

"Smart," Leona said without stopping. "You might just pass this class."

Dean smiled and watched the remaining shadows closely.

The Night Stalker was still out there. Probably watching and waiting. Dean could feel it.

The cavern opened into a larger chamber. It wasn’t too big but large enough for them to move properly.

Leona’s fireball illuminated the space. And Dean saw them.

Corpses of rats, bats, what seemed like a stalker. Some were fresh. Some were simply bones but all of them were dead, scattered across the floor like a proof of dominance.

"Something’s hunting," Leona said quietly.