"Why did we stop?" Asked Eleanor who was at the back
"Sphaera Glacies" I muttered
The moment i said that, an Ice sphere was formed around us and engulfed the entire carriage
"We have company. Serena, Ariel are you ready?" I asked as i hopped off the carriage
"Of course" Serena replied
Ariel hastily nodded as she followed behind me
"Okay, let's go"
As i was about to create a hole in the ice for us to pass through, we were stopped by Eleanor who said "Wait!"
"What's wrong?" Serena asked
"I-I want to help..." She muttered
"He's after you. He's not someone you would be able to beat, in fact, you'd only slow us down." I bluntly said
They were harsh words, but it's the truth. She's the target, it doesn't matter if we get him, if she dies, we lose our benefactor and it's his win.
"B-But... Because of me Alfred was hurt... I want to be able to protect him..." She said as she started to cry again
I went up to her and said "But, you need to stay in here and make sure nothing gets inside, your job is already to protect him, can i count on you to do that?" as i pat her head
"I'll be able to protect him..?" She asked as tears streamed down her face
Seeing her like this sort of reminds me of Ariel, she wanted to protect me too... It made me really happy back then
"Yeah, i'm sure he'll be glad once he hears you did your best to help him" I said as i continued patting her head
"John? How much longer?" Asked Serena with an annoyed expression as she looked at my hand
"Ah! Sorry! I got carried away,.." I said as i lifted up my hand
I was so used to giving Ariel head pats that i didn't even notice...
"I-It's fine... It helped me calm down, Thank you..." She said with a smile as she wiped her tears off her face
"I don't know why, but seeing John acting kind like that ticks me off... Don't you think so too, ariel?" Serena whispered
"John is always kind and i like that part of him, but..." Muttered Ariel as she placed her hands on her chest
"Sorry if i made you two wait long," I said as i went back to the ice
"It's fine, why don't you go enjoy yourself more, we won't mind waiting more if you'd like." Said Serena as she made a Hmph sound and turned her head
Eh?
"Uhm... Ariel, what's wrong with serena?" I asked as i looked over at her
"N-Nothing's wrong, L-Lets just go." Said Ariel while flustered
That reaction... What's she hiding... Argh, I'll just ask when the fight is over. Did i forget a promise or something... Could it have been her birthday? Wait how would i even know what day it is? Is there a calendar in this country, Argh! I'm overthinking again!
"John..?" Muttered serena with a confused tone
"Nothing, let's go." I said as i opened a hole in the ice sphere
"Yeah!" I replied as we walked through and closed the gap
2... 10... 20... Where's the person behind it? I felt them earlier with deprehendre, how are they avoiding it now?
"How many?" Asked ariel with an unphased expression
"Around 20, Approaching us, from the side." I said
"What about the other feeling we sensed?" Asked Serena
"Don't worry, it'll show up eventually." I said as i cast levite and furtim
I grabbed on to Serena and Ariel and flew us to the top of the ice sphere. After that, i deactivated levite and furtim.
From an outsiders perspective it looked like we teleported, Maybe i should try to create a teleportation spell... But i doubt it'd work, i don't understand much about teleportation either, let's leave this for later.
"Furtim Glacies" I muttered
4 Walls of ice were formed around the Ice sphere that we stood on. There were no openings and the ice sphere was protected from all sides by the walls.
"We're ready, why don't you come out of hiding?" I said out loud
Shortly after i said that, shadow wolves started pouring out of the shadows of the rocks beside us. We were in a plain close to the forest, we were pretty much in the open.
"Serena and Ariel, back me up!" I said as i leapt straight into the pack
Midair i propelled myself with velox to increase my speed, i was heading straight for the middle. Like i had guessed, there were 20 shadow wolves, that was probably this persons limit.
Wait... Maybe i shouldn't have-
I crashed straight into the middle of their group and made a loud thud, smoke was formed from the dust of the ground and Serena and Ariel couldn't see what happened
"John! That idiot, why does he always just charge in?!" Asked Serena as she cast ignis
"It'll be fine, he always does this." Said Ariel with a smile on her face as she began gathering air in front of her
Shortly after, i Crashed into them, a crackling sound could be heard. Once the smoke dispersed, it was visible, I had landed safely and around half of the wolves were frozen
Right as i crash, i cast froze the ground beneath me and made the ice spread to the wolves around me, I thought of trying this but didn't expect things to work this smoothly
"What should i call it..? Ice and i crashed down... Ice crash... so... Credo glacies?" I asked myself
While i was distracted thinking of a name for my new move, 2 of the shadow wolves jumped right at me
Before they managed to hit me, once of them was burnt by Serena's ignis and dispersed into thin air while the other was cut into 4 pieces by Ariel's Ventus and disappeared
"Don't get distracted! What are you even thinking about?!" Asked Serena
"Uhh, Things! And Thanks for the help!" I said as i dispersed the 2 ice spikes i had formed right before they attacked me
I was going to deal with them myself but it's good to know that they're constantly on the lookout. They're improving. Now then, to deal with these 8 wolves... How should i do that?
As i thought that, the wolves started to howl as they backed away from me. Shortly after, an even louder howl came from within the shadow of one of the trees in the distance.
"So that's the thing that attacked us earlier..." I said as i looked over at the shadows
the shadows of the trees were mixing together and a Bigger wolf was coming out of it.
"Is it just me... Or does it seem stronger than before?" I said as i made a nervous smile