Aside from the deafening clang of blades, small explosions littered the battlefield like raindrops in a storm as colorful barrages of magic bolts flew back and forth. Some of them got deflected harmlessly by Vera’s massive wind barrier while others slammed into the carriage’s built-in barrier.

Then Ryan realized while the only mages on their side were Vera and Mira, they were powerful enough to defend against all the incoming spells while returning fire with their own.

Around the carriage stood a circle of guards engaging in fierce melee combat. Each of Vera’s guard held a long sword and shield. While they couldn’t compete with the attackers in terms of speed and agility, their solid formation and very sturdy stance helped them stand their ground.

Occasionally, one guard would endure a hit to his own armor to deliver a more devastating blow or to step forward and gain ground. This strategy eventually pushed the enemies back, inch by inch.

‘They’re getting desperate.’ Scarlett said, ‘Notice their anxious expressions? They’re expecting something. Keep your heads up.’

As if on cue, a loud explosion shook the carriage. Ryan braced himself as his body was blown towards the other side.

‘I got it.’ Scarlett took control of his body and tried to grab a hold of a handle on the ceiling but failed due to the difference in response time between her body and Ryan’s.

Not wanting to be slammed into the side window, she cast a kinetic burst to break it completely.

Then she used the blow’s momentum to propel herself out of the carriage and landed in a barrel roll.

‘Birdkins have a great sense of balance.’ She grinned. ‘Although you really need to train your body more. I feel like controlling a slug.’

‘I’m not a very athletic person.’ Ryan glanced at the carriage. The barrier managed to stop the attack, but the heat and wind blast generated from the blow was enough to burn one side of the carriage to a crisp.

‘I don’t think the barrier can hold any more than that. Let’s get to Vera’s location.’

‘The blue haired mage?’

‘Yeah.’

Scarlett put up a small wind barrier around herself for protection with some difficulties. It seemed that while their mana pools were shared, their elemental affinities weren’t.

With Scarlett’s swift and efficient movements, Ryan quickly arrived at where Vera and Mira were standing.

“Ryan, are you alright?” Mira immediately rushed over.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Ryan waved his hands. “How is the situation?”

“We’re doing just fine. Moreover, are you really alright? We had never expected that they’d bring siege weapons here. Vera is going to destroy it soon.”

From under the shrubs and trees a hundred meters from them, Ryan could see the outline of a ballista well hidden behind the leaves.

He glanced to Vera. She closed her eyes and chanted a considerably long spell. He could almost see the streams of mana flowing out from her body and forming into the structure of the spell.

“For you to have come all the way over here because the carriage is unsafe, I’m deeply sorry.” Mira bowed her head repeatedly.

“I said I’m fine, Mira. Please focus on the safety of the other guards also.”

The air around them turned cold. Ryan estimated the temperature must have dropped by at least 20 Celsius. Ice crystals started to form around Vera, clinging onto her crimson royal mage dress.

Then she opened her eyes and sent all of the ice elemental mana around her towards the ballista.

The enemy mage tried to raise a barrier, but the ice went through it as if the barrier didn’t exist, engulfing the ballista and its operators.

There wasn’t any visible ice forming around the unfortunate targets, but Ryan could see that their movements have completely stopped. It seemed Vera had lowered the temperature of the target area to the extremes, freezing the bodies of the attackers solid.

With their main offensive plan thwarted, the hostiles began to pull back. Some decided to turn their back and run, an unwise decision as they were promptly shot down with magic.

The guards quickly apprehended those that surrendered while Vera and Mira focused on tending the wounded with healing magic.

“Is it over?”

“I’ve detected no other presence within the area, so be at ease. How did you feel about experiencing a real battle first hand, isn’t it exciting?” Vera smirked.

“Only a battle maniacs would find this exciting.” Ryan scoffed.

Vera’s smile grew wider. “Nonetheless, the carriage should be repaired in a little while. Why don’t you rest for a bit?”

“Alright.” He nodded and then widened his eyes, “Do you smell Old Spice?”

“Old Spice, what's that?” Vera tilted her head. “I do smell something strange in the air, but I doubt it is of any threat.”

‘Wait, what, Old Spice don’t exist in this world.’ Scarlett said.

‘Exactly, this is why it’s so strange.’

‘Let me try.’ Scarlett took control of Ryan’s body, closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

“Fucking shit, we’re fucked!” Colorful words escaped Ryan’s mouth.

“What’s going on?” Vera raised an eyebrow.

“This isn’t Old Spice, it’s a dungeon core bomb.” Scarlett(as Ryan) glared at Vera, “Can you detect any presence of escaping mana within a mile?”

‘What is a dungeon core bomb?’ Ryan asked.

‘No time, I’ll explain later.’

“Are you really sure it’s a mana bomb?” Vera gave Ryan a suspicious look.

Scarlett gritted her teeth, walked closer to Vera and grabbed her collar.

“Listen here, woman. There is an activated dungeon core bomb within a mile of this area. At any moment now, it will start leaking mana in its final phase and then take out everything within a 3-mile radius in a mana outburst so destructive that not even your bones will be left! Now, tell me if you detect any presence of discharging mana anywhere near us.”

Vera couldn’t hide the shocked look on her face, but she still executed the mana scan. Waves of mana permeated the surroundings, extending beyond the range that Scarlett ever could achieve.

“I found a really weak signature 500 meters to the west.” Vera’s voice shook. “If you’re right, then do we have a chance? I’ve only received a few reports of these things’ existence. Never had I thought we would encounter one.”

“Depends, since the signal is still weak, we might have a few minutes. Can you take me there right now?”

“Wait, shouldn’t we be running away from it? I’ve never heard of any report of successfully disabling the bomb.” Vera paled even more.

“Can you run at least five miles within two minutes? If not then our only option is to disable it.” Scarlet said in Ryan’s unwavering voice.

It was Vera’s turn to grit her teeth. “Alright, I’ll take you there. But even then you’d only have a minute to disarm the bomb.”

“A minute is enough.”

Vera pulled out her sword, cut the straps of one of the horses that tied it to the carriage, and jumped on. Then she held out her hand to Ryan. “Can you ride a horse?”

Scarlett shook her head before getting pulled onto the horse to sit behind Vera.

“Hold onto me tight.” Vera began forcing the horse to accelerate to its top speed while casting wind magic to blow away any shrubs or small trees that stood within their path.

‘Are you sure you can do this?’ Ryan asked with uncertainty.

‘Do I have a choice? I only saw another mage did this, and it was when I hovered high off from the ground. So no, I am not sure that I can do this. But do we have any other choice?” Scarlett nearly screamed in her mind.

‘Just in the off chance that we won’t make it, I just want to say -’

‘Don’t say it.’ Scarlett interrupted. ‘I changed my mind. I will disarm this bomb, and I, no, we will survive through this together. So save what you’re about to say for another time.’

The moment Scarlett caught the bomb in her sight, she immediately jumped off the horse and sped towards it.

‘The plan is to use your body as a conductor that leads the overloaded mana within the core to dissipate into the ground.’ Scarlett briefed.

‘Good luck.’

‘I need more than luck.’

Up close, the hovering core looked like a white glowing hexagonal pyramid. Deep red cracks appeared along its surfaces, leaking mana into the surroundings.

She began by placing Ryan’s right hand onto the core while kneeling on his right knee. Strangely, his hand didn’t get scolded or stung at all. The core was warm to the touch.

‘It's not working, shit.’ She spat.

‘Maybe we need to prime it first. I’ll try circulating some mana from my hand to my leg.’ Ryan said.

He then willed his body to start circulating the mana. As if lured by the mana in his hand, the mana within the core began to follow suit.

Slowly, Scarlett could feel the burning sensation as the chaotic mana began to run up Ryan’s arm toward his shoulder.

Then from the shoulder, the mana channeled through his chest but not his heart - which was on the left side, hip and down his right knee into the ground.

She grimaced. Controlling the rampant mana was much harder than he had imagined, as numerous stray mana streams began to run amok, some traveled from shoulder to shoulder while others bounced from the ground back up his other leg. None of them managed to reach his heart yet, for that would be game over.

Then the rampant mana began to stabilize.

‘I’m directing my body’s own mana into the stream to keep it stable.’ Ryan reassured her.

They continued to work in tandem, Scarlett kept Ryan’s body on its knees and guided the core’s mana stream towards the ground while Ryan stopped any stream that diverted from its course.

It seemed that the core had become stabilized, the red cracks stopped growing and expanding.

‘I can’t stop the connection!’ Scarlett yelled.

‘It’s impossible to stop the stream once it had started. We need to drain the core of every drop of mana.’

The plan was easier said than done. Their mana pool was dwindling and Scarlett was growing tired of having to guide the mana stream for so long.

As more mana was streamed into the ground, they began to notice the change in surroundings. Small bushes and trees began to grow from the ground surrounding them and the core while the ground itself turned from a dull brown to a dark blue.

Scarlett began to waver from the fatigue as Ryan’s body’s eyesight began to blur.

‘Let me take over.’ Ryan suggested.

She nodded and gave the control to him.

Since Ryan was only managing a small portion of the mana flow, he didn’t feel tired at all. It seemed the fatigue carried by mana manipulation was attached to the soul rather than the physical body.

With the last drop of mana drained into the ground, Ryan and Scarlett too, had their mana pool completely empty.

Ryan tried to move his body to no avail. He recalled that running dry of mana can cause paralysis or even unconsciousness.

Then his vision went black.

##

There was sobbing.

Ryan opened his eyes to see Mira sitting next to him with wet droplets on her faint cheek. He was laying down inside the moving carriage.

“I’m up.” He croaked.

“Welcome back.” A bright smile bloomed on Mira’s face. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine, just a little tired from exhausting all of my mana. What happened?”

“After you disabled the bomb and collapsed, I had everyone move away as fast as possible in case any of their reinforcements arrive,” Vera spoke while seated in front of him.

“Did you retrieve the empty dungeon core?”

“I wasn’t aware that the core was no longer a threat so I left it where it was. Do you want me to send someone to retrieve it?” Vera asked.

“Please do.” Ryan couldn’t ever pass the opportunity to study one of the most mysterious objects in that world.

“You were quite brave back there.To have assumed that you were a wimp, I apologize” A smirk lined her lips.

“I cannot accept your compliment, since it was only an act of desperation.” He resisted the urge to wipe that smirk off her face.

Only then did he realize something was missing.

‘Scarlett?’

There was no response.

Frantically, he searched within the depths of his mind for their connection. After some thorough probing, he found the very faint link and began to tug on it.

‘Ryan?’ Scarlett immediately screamed in his mind the moment he managed to reopen the link.

‘I’m here.’

‘Thank god, I thought you might have died when our link got severed. Are you alright?’

‘I’m good, don’t worry. I just passed out from mana exhaustion.’

After a brief discussion, Ryan found that Scarlett too had been knocked out by the mana exhaustion since their mana pool were shared.

In addition, they were able to conclude a few things:

If either of them got knocked out physically or mentally, their connection would be temporarily severed. Physical fatigue didn’t carry over when they take control, but mental and magic fatigue did. When either of them was not in control of their bodies, they can choose whether or not to receive senses input such as sight, hearing, and even pain. This meant that they could theoretically share the pain they felt by swapping control.

‘Let’s cut the discussion short, looks like the wolf carrying me had arrived at its pack.’ Scarlett’s voice raised in anticipation.