Now that you’ve had a chance to get to know me let’s get back to the task at hand;

***

While David was down in the Labyrinth Conducting Dhara's summoning; Green Feather, Hikaru, and Seraphina made their way towards the Labyrinth’s main entrance.

They eventually came face to face with a gathering of 50 experts ranging from the beginning stages of Tier 8 to the cusp of Tier 11 who had managed to make their way through Green Feather’s barrier.

The group was made up of experts originating from quite a few of the major powers who had vested interest tied directly to the region the Labyrinth inhabited, such as; The Adventurers Guild whose members often explored the Labyrinth’s depths, the Brimstone Empire, the Vulerian Dynasty, and both East and West Zeln.

As Green Feather and her friends looked the group of experts over, the opposition did the same to them.

The 50 or so experts had gathered themselves into parties of 6-8 based upon their origin, and the woman leading the party from the Brimstone Empire spoke up first; “I know you three.”

Green Feather cast an additional glance at the woman and asked in a playful manner, “You do?”

”Yeah,” The woman nodded in confirmation before continuing on, “You're Green Feather — Codenamed Emerald Wind, and those two are ‘Enya’ and ‘Radiant Flash’.” She indicated to Seraphina and Hikaru respectively.

Her words caused recognition to surge through the various experts as they came to the understanding that their task of reconnaissance just took on an entirely different level of meaning.

As they were all relatively important experts belonging to influential major powers they had long since learned of the group of ‘Monsters’ lead by ‘The Vagabond’ that had begun to rise to prominence about a year ago.

But when they thought back to that information, they were also confused because the last anyone had heard David’s group should still be exploring the Eastern Continent’s southern region.

Green Feather on the other hand squinted her eyes in contemplation as she spoke, “You must be a member of Brimstone’s Stoneguard to be aware of such information. Because as far as I know even though our group has caused a relatively high amount of trouble not that many people should be informed enough to recognize us on sight; especially Seraphina who just joined us a few months back. Being as that’s the case you must be a relatively high-ranking member of Brimstone’s Stoneguard. Do you care to introduce yourself?”

In response to Green Feather the woman motioned for her own companions to remain calm, before returning her focus to Green Feather and the others and speaking, “My name is Selena, the captain of Stoneguard’s Third Unit.”

“As I thought, a captain.” Green Feather seemed to be over come with delight at the fact her assumptions were correct.

Her reaction caused the nerves of the opposing experts to feel uneasy as she seemingly disregarded their existence, such a reaction being especially prominent in th people still at the 8th and 9th Tiers as they remembered the stories they had heard regarding ‘Emerald Wind’.

Suddenly the man leading the party from Vulerian Dynasty asked with a tone of dismissal, “What are you people doing on the Central Continent?”

He was one of the few people here on the cusp of ascending to the 11th Tier and unlike his weaker companions instinctively dismissed the possibility that Green Feather and her friends at the lower end of the 10th Tier could pose a threat to him; even after having heard tales of the feats they accomplished on the Eastern Continent.

Green Feather continued to treat him as air focusing instead on Selena; while Hikaru who stood to her left focused his gaze on the man and spoke with even more dismissal in his tone than the man originally did, “It’s none of your business what we're doing on the Central Continent. And as long as the powers you people represent don’t do anything unbecoming of your ‘status’(Hikaru uses air quotes here) there won’t be any trouble.”

The palm of his hand then rested on the pommel of the sword on his hip as he pulled a section of it out of its sheath and continued on, “Otherwise, I might take it upon myself to cause some bloodshed, even if such a course of action leads to me getting scolded by David later on.”

Silence descended upon the surroundings as the various experts present took in the implications of Hikaru’s words, their bodies tensing as a murderous air gathered about them.

Seraphina shivered in anticipation due to both the scene painted by Hikaru’s words, and the promise of an exciting battle brought about by the tension present in the bodies of the gathered experts.

While Green Feather on the other hand retained her relaxed expression, even in the face of their current circumstances, and asked the group of experts as a whole, “Is a fight something you people really want. Because as my friend so eloquently stated, we are more than prepared to break a few bones if necessary.”

In that moment, both the tone of her voice and her body language made her words all the more chilling.

Making it seem like death would be the only thing they would be certain to receive if a fight were to break out.

But these people were experts that had experienced many battles and spilled much more than their fair share of blood while facing many a powerful foe. 

In addition to that they represented various Peak and 1st Tier powers and as such were not allowed to cower in the face of Hikaru’s and Green Feather’s threats.

Instead, they were forced to respond in kind, or run the risk of sullying their forces' reputations.

As such every 8th Tier expert acted without hesitation, abruptly and straightforwardly unleashing their most powerful attacks in the direction of Green Feather and the two.

Various ranged attacks soared through the air followed by 10 close-combat fighters as they approached the three of them.

In response Green Feather waved her hand forwards and formed several gusts of emerald-green wind which coalesced into a semicircular barrier before the group of three.

The ranged attacks slammed into the barrier producing explosions of sound and light. But, caused little-to-no actual damage as ripples spread across the barrier's surface.

A six-and-a-half-foot tall man suited in silver armor and wielding a massive war hammer arrived before the barrier and concentrated the force of both his body's forward momentum and untold strength into a single swing.

The hammer landed on the barrier and caused spider web-like cracks to spread across its surface.

The barrier then gradually crumbled apart into motes of light as magical attacks continued to bombard it.

The man landed softly on the ground as the barrier crumbled, and his companions dashed passed him in quick succession, rushing onwards.

Green Feather's expression remained indifferent when she saw this and she turned to her companions and spoke, “I’ll take care of the ranged attacks, you two handle the close-combat fighters."

Seeing them nod in agreement she once more extended her hand forward and countless wind blades formed before them.

She then waved her hand for a second time, sending the wind blades whistling through the air to collide with the attacks being launched from the back line the opposing experts had established.

At the same time Hikaru took on his elemental form, becoming a stream of light as he rushed towards the incoming experts, and Seraphina began to speak in the native tongue of Spirit Beings.

As she spoke a Divine Edict appeared behind her, her eyes turned into orbs of golden-red light, a suit of golden-red armor constructed from crystallized flame took shape over her body, and a long sword appeared in her grasp.

She then took a single step forward disappearing and reappearing before the hammer wielding warrior who had just resumed his forward charge.

Her appearance before him caught the man off guard and he was unable to respond in a timely fashion as she swung her sword towards his chest.

Luckily for him his armor was strong enough to defend against the overwhelming force propelling her long sword forwards, yet he was still thrown backwards at the speed of a bullet by the large impact force of her attack, slamming into one of the cavern’s walls.

Before anyone could react to her sudden show of strength, Hikaru reached the vicinity of the oncoming fighters transforming back into a humanoid.

He then unsheathed his sword and swung it in a downwards arc.

The blade of his sword released a brilliant wave of light that slammed into the tower shield carrying warrior that led the charge, the warrior being thrown backwards, tumbling through the air as he did so, with an inch deep sword mark having been left on his shield.

Hikaru then turned back into a stream of light rushing towards his next target.

In the following few seconds Seraphina and Hikaru moved at mesmerizing speeds, defeating one opponent after another with a single swing of their respective swords.

***

Buzz Buzz Buzz

Shoot that’s my alarm. Its time for me to head back to Zerock guys, its family dinner night and my mom is a stickler for punctuality.

I’ll catch you peeps next time.