Chapter 278: Two sides' conclusions

"His Darkness seemed very sharp, as you sometimes describe. Probably even sharper than yours, with how much dread I felt by just being inside it. The only reason I managed to notice him is because the way he stalked me was very reminiscent of how it felt when you were stalking us," Lam added.

"I agree with his judgement. The moment he decided to fight us, something about his Darkness changed drastically. I even started to feel like a hen in a fucking slaughterhouse inside it," Amos added honestly.

"Hmm… If even Amos felt like that, then I suppose I can only give up in front of the superiority of his Darkness," Tsoma stroked his chin with a smile, "Anything else?"

"There was also something weird about his World of Fire spell. He used it to burn my binding Luminous spell, and its hue was off as well. I don't know how to describe it," Lam said.

"Huh? Really? He burned a source of light with it?" Tsoma seemed unconvinced.

"It might've been something anti-Luminous World, but I couldn't see any rune pattern on it, and my instincts don't feel that it's something like that anyway."

Tsoma fell into thought for a bit, before making some conclusions.

"Well, let's just be thankful that he didn't decide to finish you two off then and there. After all, he had a whole two minutes to do it, but was probably scared that enemy reinforcements were coming sooner… And besides, if we ever fight again, I'm sure you two can deal with him much more easily, right?"

"Yes, sir!" Lam and Amos replied in unison.

"Good. For now, let's wait for the other two pairs to come back. Also, what did you two manage to learn anyway?" Tsoma asked, and Lam started to recount the story he heard from a drugstore owner named Luiev.

…

"I'm not sure what the man's ability was. My Mana Beast companion says that he was very proficient in defending. After she bit off his legs, he turtled up completely and didn't try to do anything else."

Back inside the Secret Base, Evin was also giving his report on the battle.

"And is your Mana Beast companion alright?" Sannah asked.

"She's doing fine."

After Kyune woke up, she very quickly healed the two wounded girls. The effects of the ice on Enri and Runa wasn't as dramatic as what Evin was making it out to be, but they were still wounded pretty heavily. After they were fixed, both of them fell asleep. Evin had to explain everything to Kyune as well, and the latter just told him to be more careful, considering he was against mages on a similar level to him.

"So, a mage that can use the Luminous World and another World of Water mage that's probably a follower of the True Path…" Sannah rubbed her cheeks.

"Yes, she only used the World of Water the entirety of the fight, and her spells were ridiculously strong as well, with their frostbite effects and ability to explode," Evin said once more.

As Evin was speaking, Ertu and Bull came from outside and from inside a Storage ring, they brought out the same pile of Sorbothium that Evin used to block the exploding needles, which coincidentally, were still lodged onto the pile. And the whole thing emitted a cold white mist around itself, after it was exposed to the warm air inside the building.

"The site was empty when we arrived, and aside from some blood we found on the walls, there wasn't much evidence to reveal the two's identities," Ertu said, "There were also some curious bystanders around the area, but they lacked the Oaths, so I'm sure they were just that, random bystanders."

She then brought out a piece of paper, which depicted the alleyway that the battle took place in. 

After looking at the picture, Sannah walked over to the metal pile and casually touched one of the sharp and spiky ice that the female mage created. And right as Sannah's fingers made contact with the ice, it quickly started to get engulfed in a layer of cold ice. Evidently, the spell's effects still very much active.

'Holy fuck, thank god I didn't get hit by that,' Evin thought as he observed the spell's effects, 'How the fuck did Runa manage to stop that from happening?'

Sannah brought out her blood-red Domain to her finger, which smothered the ice's effects. She then had her Domain engulf Evin's Sorbothium, so the thing wasn't as deadly anymore.

"You really are full of surprises. Even I'd struggle against this if I didn't have my Domain. It really is a blessing to have you on our team," Sannah wasn't stingy with her praise, "And also, do you think you'll be able to better face them the next time you fight?"

Evin thought about the chances of a rematch and sadly, saw that it was very likely to happen again. After all, the two teams had the same goal. As for how he would do in said rematch, Evin wasn't very confident.

"I'll probably be able to keep the woman in check, but since I don't know what the man is capable of, I don't feel very confident in general. Especially because I've exposed many of my abilities in the last fight."

"Alright, if we ever meet the same team in the future, we'll try to match you with the woman. But next time you fall into such a predicament alone, make sure to call us as soon as possible. Even if you want to be more secretive, you need to learn that you have a team to rely on."

Evin noticed that the woman liked to praise her subordinates first before scolding them. A classic tactic that managers opted to use.

"I'm not gonna lie, I completely forgot I could do that," Evin replied wryly.

"Just make sure you remember it next time. And besides, it's not all negatives for us. Since you didn't call for any help, they might think that you're working alone. Or they'll think that you're the strongest your team. The logic being that you felt that your subordinates wouldn't be much help in the fight so you didn't bother to call them," Sannah speculated.

"So, I should continue to work alone?" Evin asked.

"Yep, though maybe be a bit more careful the next time," Sannah smiled, "But for now, let's hear about this Avatar that you've mentioned earlier."

Evin described his meeting with Luiev and retold the story he heard inside the drugstore.

"I'm not sure exactly, but I feel that the secret organization we're trying to find was probably trying to achieve something similar to the Avatar," Evin finished his report with his own little speculation.

"I can see where you're coming from… And I feel the same as well. The other bases we found were also built for a specific purpose, or was built around a specific idea. With this, we can half-expect the things we might see in the base," Sannah said contently.