“Sanctuary!”

Manna spun her pollaxe above her head then stabbed it to the ground while kneeling. A dome of light formed around her, creating protection for herself, Esferta, Nubram, Macepaw, Renma, and Zackhs.

Things weren’t looking bright for them. Nubram’s plan worked at first. Attacking Hilbot was clearly a good strategy, however Renma felt that there was something else lacking during the execution.

The fight was chaotic at best. Although they managed to take down Hilbot and Slicer, they lost four members of the team in doing so. There were several twists and turns that happened as expected, but yet Renma felt like they lacked the ever slight adaptability to twist their plan before executing it.

Renma and Nubram exchange glances before nervously gazing at Tier’s lifeless body. He knew both of them realised that the hunter’s capability to change and provide utility was one of the factors. Renma had hoped that the expertise of the more veteran players could make up for it.

However, he also realised that these veterans were not aware of how reckless and brutal Flick and Rushvatte were. Grok and Arkengrad were dragged by the sheer explosiveness of Rushvatte and Flick’s momentum and fell victim to it due to their positioning going totally off. On the other hand, the more cautious ones, Manna and Esferta, managed to stay level headed and keep their positioning well.

Also, Renma had lost his angelic power. If he was still in that form, he might be able to at least save two of their currently fallen allies. Yet, at his current condition, he even feared that more of them could have fallen if it was not for Zackhs and Manna’s expertise in defending them.

“Get out of your cage, little girl!”

Lyra roared and leaped forward. Followed by her allies, she unleashed relentless attacks at Manna’s light dome. Each attack shook both the dome and the pollaxe that Manna had held tight while the paladin’s MP kept depleting.

Esferta quickly approached Manna and blew some faint blue breath at her. If Renma was not mistaken, that was some sort of warlock’s ability that can recover a teammate’s MP while also increasing MP regeneration at the cost of the warlock’s own HP. Thus Renma quickly casted a healing spell on her.

With a smile, Esferta nodded at the gesture. She then turned to Nubram and said, “Get your mana back, Nubram.”

”I know,” Nubram eroded. He raised up his hands and casted, “[Recollection].”

There were visible droplets of energy condensed on Nubram’s finger after he casted the spell. Along with that, the MP of the wizard had been quickly replenished.

He then reached his cheekbone and commanded. [Alright, Vin, get the [Smoke Steam] ready. Ega, just resurrect anyone you can. We can’t wait for any more signs. We’re sitting ducks like this.]

[Can’t we wait, even a bit longer?] Zackhs asked. He signed to Renma to not heal him then glanced at Tier for a moment. [At least we can start casting and only execute it once the sign is here.]

[Sure, but not for long, not before Mana runs out of MP.] Nubram nodded.

Despite achieving agreement amongst themselves, The ever unfocused Macepaw was not aware of the command at first. But Esferta’s eerie smile had made him aware and thus the shaman started casting.

On the other hand, Renma still had around 35% MP left. It would be enough to resurrect 3 people at once, another one, then fight for a bit. Too bad Rushvatte's body had disappeared. Renma thought that the mystic might have abandoned the chance of getting resurrected by Renma and chose a spirit guide instead. What a fool… really.

Nevertheless, Renma decided to proceed with the plan. He pointed at the three remains of his allies, then rose his hands up, and started casting, “[Spiritual Redemption], target: Flick, Grok, Arkengrad.”

The sound of growling black panther and black wolf was heard in Renma’s ear. The two spiritual beasts leaped to visit the bodies of Renma’s target along with the filling up of Renma’s casting bar.

“Oh, resurrection in the middle of the fight? You guys still wanna go?” Lyra snickered as she stopped her attack. She then gave a signal to DeusVult to resurrect Hilbot. After that, the female shaman stabbed her axes to the ground. Swirling green light started to dance around her palms and arms as she casted, “[Ancestral Call] target: Slicer.”

“What the…”

Renma mumbled with disbelief. His heart sank when he just remembered that shamans could also resurrect allies just like what Ril’Dil had told him.

However, he was not the only one to sigh in disbelief. Nubram and some of Lyra’s gang let out the same expression. It was not for the resurrection process, but something else had drawn their attention.

Renma turned and glanced at where their sights were located and saw something that made him drop his jaw.

Another beast appeared in spirit form, it moved in circles around Tier’s body in a rather playful manner. Then the feline spirit beast walked towards where it usually stood and turned fully into the snow jaguar. Was that the sign that Tier was talking about?

A shot was heard before anyone could react. It was clearly aimed towards the snow jaguar who ignored the attack and just stared at Tier’s body, waiting intently. Luckily, the projectile sent by Mark had met an invisible wall. At that moment, Renma also just realised that the jaguar had no HP bar.

Manna quickly called, “Rina, now!”

“That was too clear to miss, [Soul Keeper]: Release!”

Esferta swung her scythe. Blue dust of light flew from her towards Tier’s body, quickly invigorating the dead body to life.

“Ouch!” Tier groaned as he stood up. Unlike when being resurrected by Renma, it was clear that the hunter seemed a bit stiff this time. He quickly protested, “No resurrection confirmation, really? I was not done yet, the taming stopped at 99%!”

The snow jaguar growled. Tier was stunned for a very brief moment. Without further words, he ran as fast as he could towards the jaguar.

“STOP HIM!” both Lyra and Mal’esh roared. The shaman pulled up her axes, and with that, Slicer was resurrected.

At almost the same time, Renma was done with his resurrection spell. He created an octagram shape with the light from his fingers and clenched his fist to finish the process.

Then, chaos broke loose once more.

Everyone, except Hilbot and Macepaw, were running towards Tier. Manna quickly ran past Tier and the jaguar to set up [Soul-saving Arc] to stop the incoming projectiles from Mark. Meanwhile, Nubram teleported and unleashed [Magma Core] to try to hamper the movement of Lyra’s gang. However, few of them managed to evade.

Flick quickly used his [Sleek Strike] to appear right behind Tier and parried Ikillyou’s attack. Both Xildur and Slicer, who managed to avoid Nubram by leaping over the undead wizard vertically, dove down quickly at Tier. Luckily, Manna managed to block both of them.

On the far side of the fight, Arkengrad was not involved with the chase and busy stopping Mal’esh from unleashing attacks at Tier. Nubram himself was rather helpless in defending from Mark’s attack even with the help of Sid.

“You made it, bro! Awesome!” Grok shouted as he sped up his run. He pointed at Renma and said with a huge grin, “You keep up the healing, bro, and I will keep on rockin’!”

“[Crowd Surfing]!

Grok raised his right hand with a metal sign. His left hand turned the way he held his sword as if he was holding a guitar. He then leaped high towards Tier’s chaser and twisted in the air. The massive sword landed his back right on top of Zullvic and DeusVult.

The two were not stunned nor did they fall down. They both raised their arms and were forced to support Grok’s body like those people in a rock concert supporting band members when crowd surfing. Renma thought that in such a condition, that kind of comedic ability really added up to the chaos.

“That stupid ability, Grok?!”

Lyra roared with rage as she avoided the ability and slashed her axes wildly to push Grok, DeusVult, and Zullvic aside before continuing to chase for Tier.

Sid appeared right before the maddening shaman. Without thinking much, Renma just unleashed [Guarding Radiance] at the creature and a bright flash of light just exploded to momentarily knock Lyra back.

“Well done, Renma,” said Esferta with her seductive smile. “Sid’s just a hollow shell for spell amplification. You figured it out, eh?”

“That’s why it’s easy to destroy!”

Only slightly fazed, Lyra managed to gain her ground and destroyed Sid with a quick slash. She then ran forward with the speed of a raging bull towards Tier who almost reached the jaguar.

Esferta’s spell didn’t return someone with full health, thus causing the hunter to be more than vulnerable to Lyra’s attack. Also, there was no one else to stop Lyra from dealing the final blow.

However, in that moment Renma just realised someone had been rather passive and calm in the whole chaos.

“You made it, buddy. I’ve always known you have that fighting spirit in you,” said Zackhs, who was apparently standing near Renma and Nubram in order to soak up the damage incoming from Mark.

Melancholicly, the avenger said with a rather calm demeanour, “Those eyes that I saw since that first time we teamed up, the blazing spirit that was being held back by the jaded reality. It was the same as her, it was something that I failed to protect.”

“Zackhs!” Renma called the avenger whose feet turned unsteady. He tried to cast a spell on the avenger, but Zackhs gave a sign of refusal.

Then, crackling thunder was heard coming from Lyra. The shaman jumped high with both lightning and flame dancing around her axes. Her target was Tier who was kneeling in front of the jaguar.

“I failed once in real life,” Zackhs said, determined in the midst of the chaos, “At least, let me not fail in this world. Set target: Tier.”

“[Absolute Defender]....”

Zackhs stood tall and stabbed his sword to the ground while resting on it. A dark shadow enveloped Tier right when Lyra landed her nasty yet powerful strike.

However, there was no thunder heard from her position. A loud bang roared right next to Renma, exactly where Zackhs had stood.

There, Zackhs stood motionless while resting on his sword. The avenger was smiling in joy though his eyes were closed and HP was depleted. Burn marks from lighting and flame were apparent in his body and armour.

“Zackhs, no…” Renma whispered in disbelief as his eyes saw the avenger’s lifeless body finally fall to the ground.

A deafening roar akin to that of a tiger was heard coming from Tier’s direction. The whole valley shook as a form of a giant spirit jaguar appeared briefly above Tier.

Then, something pushed Lyra away from the hunter with such extreme speed that Renma failed to clearly see what happened.

“Galung, to my side.”

As fast as Lyra was thrown away, the spirit form of the snow jaguar approached Tier and turned into flesh and bones once more. Above them, Renma saw the shape of an orca's silhouette.

“Did you see that?!” Esferta jumped in joy to Sid that somehow had regained its form again. “He did it, people! He fully tamed the snow jaguar!”

Another confusion struck Renma’s mind. Now he started to think that Sid itself was some sort of camera that broadcasted their actions to the world. Was Esferta a streamer?

“Alvin, now!” Nubram roared as he grabbed Esferta.

“W-wait Nubram, my viewers need to savour this historical mom….”

“No time for that! [Warp]!”

While Nubram brought Esferta away and returned with the help of Sid, Macepaw wildly smacked his shield with his burning mace. Smoke quickly spread throughout the whole area, hampering everyone’s vision.

[[Hunting Pods]].

Tier’s words were clear in Renma’s head along with the heightened awareness that came with it. Now he could see everyone’s movement clearly on the map and even felt it slightly. Especially two bodies that moved rapidly towards him.

Renma glanced at Zackhs and felt melancholic for a moment. The ever positive avenger had stayed calm among the chaos and sacrificed himself at the right moment to stop Lyra.

The priest now braced himself as he stood tall to fight against the incoming assaulter. He knew he wouldn't have a chance to survive this. But at least he could buy some time for his friends.

And in that moment, the call for [Warcy] came to him.