Trapped in the unwavering veil of darkness, all were struggling still, yet to the best of their abilities, they continued to fight against the herd of monsters.

Under the leadership of Utua Taglagas, a group of mages and martial artists were assigned to help the ones in need.

They had taken the responsibility of guarding those incapable of fighting while also making sure the place was optimal for treating the injured. Some were also mobilized as search and rescue teams.

Occasionally, monsters would find their way to their location, causing trouble and striking fear into their hearts.

Yet oftentimes, familiar faces would arrive bringing both comfort and more support.

"Casper, Wendy!" Said Septh upon seeing their return.

Utua also immediately followed suit, as she was truly glad to see them. With a relieved smile, she then warmly said,

"I'm glad to see you all!"

Upon gazing at her friends who were likewise quite relieved to see her state, she then directed her attention to the little lady.

With a soft pat to the young girl's head, the princess then spoke,

"And hello to you both."

Feeling a wave of unworthiness, the two kneeled on the ground. They were, after all, in the presence of the King's esteemed daughter.

Yet Utua gave a subtle look that believed it was unnecessary,

"Please, stand both of you. A friend of Naell is a friend of mine."

"We are too honored with your kindness, princess." Replied the elder while the young girl next to him nervously smiled in awe.

A little while ago, when the incident had just occurred, Anna, her grandfather, and some of the other commoners could only gather in fear of the sudden arrival of monsters.

Luckily, before harm could be done to any of them, Naell and Owly swiftly rescued the helpless guests.

It was apparent that the duo were not actually wandering aimlessly.

• Your feathers sure are useful! •

• Praise me more, HOOT! •

And after saving them, Naell and Owly encountered Casper and Wendy who were guiding others to the refuge zone.

It was then both were briefed on the situation. They were also told of where assistance could be of use.

As for the measures being taken outside, the kingdom and guild alike sent scholars and spies to try and see how this sturdy barrier was created, as even the likes of Sarah Star could not penetrate it.

"It has thoroughly condensed mana and aura combined." Said Aestero, the Guard Captain of the Magic Knights. He was one of the people who tried to create an entry on the said barrier.

Sarah Star nodded. Even her attempt, as impressive as it was, bore no fruit against the blockade.

Among themselves, they discussed and theorized how such a thing could have come to be, when one of the scholars whose face was dyed with grim sternly said,

"It is possible that this intricate spell was made with the life force of awakened monsters..."

In response, all of their faces dropped as they glanced at one another. Only once before had a similar theory been told; collectively, they uttered the same thing,

"The incident of the Noble Summit."

Silence imbued the place until only Sarah Star's words were heard,

"Report this to the guild and the Kingdom... A barrier must be placed and we must evacuate the people within the school's vicinity."

"Understood." Said the knights who immediately took off, assisting and guiding the bystanders to withdraw further away.

.

.

.

"This damn kid..."

"Incredible."

In the present, all of them were bewildered with Naell's sudden burst of mana. For the protagonist's party, his cold eyes and unfazed looks were like a comforting shield amidst their trouble.

As sighs of relief washed over their faces, Viola took a deep breath knowing she could now focus her all onto healing Rinca.

For the others, Note kept grinning as he helped Andrew and Namiku stand within the [ Snow Palace ] Naell created for them.

"Naell's magic to that— musclehead?" Asked Namiku still shocked from what just transpired moments ago. Rizaul who saw it all then further explained what happened.

"Truly, look at his arm."

"..."

Namiku could only clap slowly in amazement. From battling Sult, she knew his aura was quite formidable. Hence seeing how he failed to protect his body meant Naell's mana was far greater than his aura.

"To think Naell was this strong!" Note exclaimed to which his friends nodded in joy.

"Dammit!"

Of course, unlike the protagonist party, a different side was not on board with Naell's sudden appearance.

For Pierd and his companions, his unexpected entry was like a bad omen to their plan. This only triggered Awthra even more.

"You little— bastard!!!"

As she gritted her teeth, her mana trembled. Yet a part of her was still intimidated with the realization she indeed paled in comparison to Naell.

Clunk— the intimidation only grew as the sound of a staff strongly hitting concrete reached their ears.

Clunk— once more, as the dark elven wood, Naell was grasping shone under the radiant hues of water and wind. This alerted all of them of his next move.

Immediately, a vortex of water and wind shot at the location of the trio. Awthra levitated away with the hurt Sult on her side, yet they stumbled due to his injury.

"Are you okay?!" Asked Awthra who saw Sult faltering more while coughing up some blood.

Regardless of whether or not he was complacent, (and they were certain he was not) never in his entire life did Sult imagine his aura would be pierced in such a way.

'Not even my master can do that.'

As they were distracted, Naell once again shot a spell towards the duo [ Spear Blizzard ] yet reacting to this was none other than Pierd.

With his agile movement, he used that sudden chance to close his distance to Naell.

Yet it was as if the young master of Beryldot had anticipated his move, and so Naell welcomed Pierd's advance with his drill-like ice magic.

"Tsk!"

As painfully stinging as it felt, Pierd did not back off. He, instead, began speeding up more in the blink of an eye.

Admittedly, Naell was thoroughly impressed. He knew it took great skill to close such a distance, not to mention, in little to no time at all.

Yet he had no reason to pay his enemy compliments, especially when the said foe had just landed several slashes on his mana shield.

The auratic blades of Pierd had managed to push Naell back. It didn't take long before the trio smiled knowing the mage's mana shield was decimated.

"I have no qualms with you, but die for what you did."

The swift strikes he performed were as serene as it could get. Although Pierd might have been a Tamer in name, his martial arts was revelling- one could say it was as intricate as the protagonist party's.

"Naell..."

The others held their breath, witnessing him seemingly get slashed by Pierd's attack.

Andrew, who experienced Pierd's movement and lightning-like strikes first hand, was by far the most worried.

Yet no sympathy was offered by the vicious trio. Awthra and Sult had even laughed and cursed for Naell's supposed demise.

"That's what happens when you face the pieces of Lucile!"

If there was one in that battlefield who was unfazed by it all, it was Owly. His eyes watched the young master with no ounce of worry. He truly trusted and knew that his friend would be okay.

And as expected, trusting Naell was the right choice. Within a second, they finally noticed that the sound that permeated from Pierd's cuts was not of human flesh.

Immediately, an almost transparent sheen showed itself, covering the areas where he was supposedly slashed.

"It's his snow crystals!" The one who screamed for joy was Note.

Sure enough the smoke vanished and what beheld their sight was the [ Snow Crystal ] floating around Naell.

Not only did it shield him from the sword's auratic slashes, it fired off multiple [ Ice Javelin ] towards Pierd, Awthra and Sult, mimicking what he had done against Lesjon.

The snow crystal then began multiplying by twos, and in the end, it amounted to ten. All equally exuded the strongest pure white mana any of them there had ever witnessed.

With the wave of Naell's staff and hands, he began seemingly orchestrating all crystals perfectly.

Five of it circled around him, while firing off ice javelin against his foes, while the other five worked to deflect and defend from most of Awthra's magic.

"It can't be!" In rage and confusion, said Awthra.

Her spells that could actually overpower one snow crystal, was useless as they seemed to be summoning replacements without limit.

"How dare you mock me!"

She cried out in hatred, thinking that Naell was thoroughly underestimating them.

To actually summon such a complex spell, the mage would need deep concentration, a feat that can only be done when highly skilled or unbothered by other factors.

That was why she and the others all misunderstood Naell's actions. To the trio, he was taunting them by being truly extra, he was afterall, also fighting in a close distance.

Little did they know, the snow crystal Naell summoned was actually more than what it seemed; all ten of them had several inner layers to boot.

Simply put, when one of the "visible" snow crystals would be destroyed, it would once again reappear due to the layers of similar magic hidden beneath it.

That type of automated replenishing magic style was still unknown to even the likes of named mages. As such, it would not be far-fetched to say that anyone fighting Naell that moment, would react the same way.

All that he was doing by then was supplying the mana for the magic to stay continuous, yet even so it had limits.

The complexity of moving each crystal to adjust to the trio's location prevented him from summoning even more, not to mention he had never gone beyond his comfort zone of ten stacks.

Although, Naell's multitasking was exceptional, for it to be almost perfect, he knew ten, for now was the optimal number.

Going back, Pierd almost hit Naell upon outspeeding his snow crystals, yet he instead chose to parry the blusterous attacks thrown towards his companions.

"Focus Awthra, Sult!"

That had woken the duo up as they were lagging behind; Sult was in daze while Awthra was inconvenienced by dealing with the slowing ice.

Immediately, with a clearer head and resolute eyes, Sult shut his wounds with his aura. He screamed in pain while he forced his sadistic smile. He then followed it with an attack against Naell at a close distance.

Meanwhile Awthra with the circular wave of her wand, summoned multiple [ Fire balls ] directed at Naell and the protagonist party.

It was a decisive plan as they knew they had to take Naell down first, all while avoiding tempting the owl to join in the fray.

'Just enough force to keep the bird occupied with defense.' A synchronized thought they all had as a team.

Little did they know, as the battle would go on, Naell would be by far the worst adversary they'd ever face.