Unexpectedly, a lone Archaea managed to escape from the Frost Dominion spell and charged in Seraphine's direction.
"Ugh!"
Sir Kingsley threw himself forward and attempted to block the creature, but the giant worm's spike broke through his sword aura and sent his body flying.
Without missing a beat, Seraphine unfolded her fan and swung it diagonally towards the creature, delivering a strong blast of ice that immediately froze its body in place.
She turned around and rushed to check on the old knight, who had made quite an impact with the cave wall behind them. She found him bruised and bleeding, but not in critical condition.
Armand stared at the frozen corpse of the Archaea, feeling slightly bitter that a creature even he, a Holy Knight Commander, struggled to deal with, had been subdued so easily by the mage. His curiosity regarding her identity was even more piqued. He walked over to the slender woman and the unconscious knight.
"Is he okay?"
"Hm.. I don't think he's in any condition to move forward." He'd be a burden, Seraphine thought silently to herself, although she appreciated that he had come forward to her rescue previously. It seemed that the grumpy old man turned out to be quite a nice guy.
Nodding, Armand kneeled beside the knight and started to apply some first aid.
"Why don't you take him back to the junction and wait for him to wake up? The way back from the junction to the entrance should be pretty safe." Seraphine suggested.
"...I'm not sure leaving you alone here is a good idea..."
"...no need." The old knight stirred and, seemingly heard their conversation, grunted. "I'm old and injured, but I'm still capable of making my own way back."
Armand's eyes hardened. "With all due respect, Sir, this is not the time..."
"We're running out of time." Sir Kingsley cut him off. "We need to find the children quickly. Now, leave this old man and go. I'll just rest here for a bit and make my way back."
Seraphine and Armand exchanged a look of concern. Sighing, Seraphine stepped back and stared at the Knight Captain.
"This will sound very strange to you, but make a wish."
Sir Kingsley stared at her back, dumbfounded. "..what?"
"Make a wish that you'd be able to return to the cave entrance without being detected."
"I'm not sure I follow..."
"Please."
Shaking his head in confusion, and perhaps still feeling hazy due to a concussion, he complied. "I...wish I could return to the entrance without being detected?"
"Good, I can grant your wish. Give me the pack of hand-rolled cigars in your shirt pocket."
Sir Kingsley gaped. "How...how do you know that?"
"There's no time! Hurry!" Perhaps fearing the old knight would come to his senses and decide this whole exchange was too outlandish, Seraphine strongly urged him. His hands were unsteady as he patted his chest to look for the cigar box. Finding it, he pulled out a small, plain tin box and handed it to Seraphine.
"Good. I have received the payment. In turn..." As with Flint's golden band, the box was wrapped in silver light before vanishing completely on her palm. Then, she pulled from her subspace a dark, heavy cloak covered in embroideries of ancient runes.
"This is the Veil of Oblivion. I'm only lending it to you, okay? Your payment is definitely not sufficient to own it permanently."
Sir Kingsley stood up and cautiously received the cloak.
"Thank you...whoa!"
Instantly after he donned the cloak, parts of his body that were covered disappeared, even from his own sight.
"This would make you virtually undetectable by sight, smell, sound, body heat, and mana presence. But remember, it doesn't block all noise, so try to move quietly."
Armand and Kingsley looked at the cloak in amazement. They had never seen such an invisibility cloak of high calibre - at most, the ones from the black market would only obscure your presence or grant you invisibility for a short period of time.
Sir Kingsley gazed at the mage with renewed respect and gratitude. He put his hand across his chest and performed a bow. "Thank you, my lady."
Seraphine avoided his gaze. "...I'm just lending it to you, and I've received a payment, haven't I?"
For the first time during their journey together, Kingsley gave a wry smile. "Never thought I'd be this happy to part with my hand-rolled Aurum cigars." He secured the cloak carefully and vanished into thin air.
"..."
After a while, Seraphine looked at Armand. "Well, I guess he's left. Shall we..."
"I'm still here."
Startled, Seraphine gasped and turned around, holding her thumping heart. "What in the World Tree's name! What are you still doing here??"
"Ah, I just thought I should let you know about the search party that came here previously."
****
After confirming that Kingsley had really left this time, Seraphine faced Armand. "We should deal with the monsters' bodies, or else we would potentially block our own retreat route."
Armand tapped on the ice encasing a monster's body. "Are they still alive? I thought you said they are weak against extreme cold."
"Yes, but Frost Dominion is not effective enough against this kind of number. I think some of them are dead, but I can't be sure. Look, the ice has started to melt."
"What's your plan then?"
She traced the air with a slow twirl of her fan. A radiant bolt of golden lightning crackled around the fan.
"Lightning? Are they not resistant to heat?"
"Well..." Seraphine snapped her fan shut. "I guess we can only try, but I'm confident my lightning is stronger than their resistance. One problem is that I will entirely exhaust my mana after that. Doing three area-wide spells in close succession is not easy, especially this last spell."
The spell that she was planning to use next was intricate to conjure and strenuous to execute. Unlike Heaven's Judgement, an area-wide divine spell used by high-ranking holy knights that rained thunder onto the enemy from the sky, Catalyst Bolt was more precise. She could not risk the cave collapsing from excessive force generated from spells such as Heaven's Judgement.
Hearing that, Armand gazed steadily into Seraphine's eyes and stated solemnly. "Don't worry. I will protect you."
It was a natural thing to say, perhaps, towards a comrade-in-arms, especially considering Armand's upright personality. However, Seraphine could not help but feel warmth spread through her chest, although she quickly dismissed it. Due to her powerful magic, she was used of taking care of things herself. It had been ages since there was someone beside Nyra whom she could count on.
She nodded.
This time, she took her time gathering mana and channelling it through her steel fan. Arcane magic was heavily reliant on the mind's eye, so she closed her eyes in an attempt to conjure a vivid mental imagery of thin blades of lightning, piercing the heart of the Archaeas through the ice and burning their exterior. A familiar rune circle appeared on the tip of the folded fan.
"villam sujtás!"
Incantation facilitated spells, and the longer it was, the easier it would be for the magician to execute the spell. However, for Seraphine, an elaborate chant had never been needed. Her fan arched in the air and moved sharply downwards.
With uncanny quietness, jagged threads of lightning struck each of the encased Archeas in precision, shocking their hearts to a standstill and destroying their nerves. The intense heat melted most of the ice and scorched their exterior, killing all of them instantly.
Seraphine felt her knees buckle under her as her mana was being drained. At Mizan, with Nyra by her side, her mana would be continuously replenished, but here in the outside, it seemed she had to manage it more carefully.
As her vision dimmed, she saw Armand reaching out and catching her in his arms in time.