Chapter 307 - Darius’s Fury
Just as Theo turned back towards the battlefield, a blinding blue light flashed out.
BOOOOOOM!!!
A deafening explosion followed.
Theo’s eyes locked onto the Dragonfang group.
There, the B-rank Desert Vulture was already on its last legs.
It stood on the ground, large sections of its body completely charred, while one of its wings hung uselessly by its side.
Yet, Darius wasn’t giving it even a moment to recover.
’’HOLD IT DOWN!’’ he shouted.
Several large wind spells lit up the sky above the vulture.
The sheer wind pressure pressed its body several feet into the ground, making it completely unable to move.
SCREEEECH!!!
The vulture let out an ear-piercing cry.
Earth mana began rampaging all around it, sending huge sandstone spikes in every direction.
But Darius had already launched himself into the air.
A huge blue lightning axe lit up the sky, crackling violently.
’’FUCKING DIE!’’
CRAAACK!!!
The axe slammed straight into the vulture’s head.
Its loud screech abruptly stopped as scorched blood exploded into the air.
For a brief moment, the massive creature remained standing...
Then its legs finally gave out.
BOOOOOM!
Its body crashed into the desert.
Darius landed beside it a second later, breathing heavily as the lightning around his axe gradually faded.
’That’s one,’ Theo thought before glancing back at the Imperial Church.
Their B-rank Desert Vulture was still alive.
But only barely.
Its entire body was littered with scorched wounds, while many holes had been shot through its wings.
But just before Theo wished to set off towards them, it suddenly spread its wings wide.
Several Church members immediately prepared a light barrier.
But instead of attacking, the vulture launched itself into the air using its wind element.
WHOOSH!
It desperately flew away using all its remaining strength.
’’It’s fleeing!’’ one of the Church members shouted.
A few spells immediately shot after it.
BOOM!
One struck its already-damaged wing, causing the enormous beast to briefly lose altitude.
Yet, it managed to stabilize itself.
Within moments, it was already flying further into the desert.
’’Leave it!’’ Gabriel shouted, out of breath. ’’It’s not worth it right now!’’
The Church members glanced at him right away.
Some bit their lower lips, clearly unhappy after all the sacrifices in the battle.
Theo nodded slowly though.
’I understand their anger,’ he thought. ’All of this is Gabriel’s fault, and now he even let the one who killed four of them escape.’
’Even so... he made the right decision this time.’
Although eight of their twenty members had died since the start of this journey, if they didn’t hurry up now, they would all soon follow them.
Theo nodded once again as his gaze settled on Nadia.
’Now we’ll just have to see what our guide says,’ he thought, a shiver rolling down his spine. ’We wasted fifteen minutes on this fight, after all...’
For a brief moment, his gaze flickered back to Owen, Jim, Lyra, and Iris.
None of them seemed seriously injured.
The same went for the Dragonfang group. Outside of their summoned beasts, none had suffered anything serious.
Just then, a loud voice roared out across the battlefield.
’’YOU FUCKING MORONS!’’
Theo’s head snapped towards the source alongside everyone else.
It was Darius, whose face had gone red from anger.
He was already storming furiously towards the Imperial Church’s side.
’’What the FUCK were you thinking?!’’ Darius roared.
Gabriel’s already exhausted face darkened.
’’What?’’
’’Don’t fucking ’what’ me!’’ Darius shouted, pointing one of his axes towards the scattered corpses. ’’We stopped those bastards from getting behind us for a fucking reason!’’
Several Church members immediately glared at him.
Despite being just as upset as him, none liked an outsider interfering with their business.
But Darius didn’t care in the slightest.
’’You saw them bring an entire swarm of vultures towards us! You saw us refuse to let them through! And what did you fucking do?!’’
He threw both arms up in the air. ’’YOU LET THEM WALK STRAIGHT INTO YOUR FORMATION!’’
Gabriel gritted his teeth.
’’We didn’t know they were going to attack us!’’ he shouted back.
Darius froze in place.
For a moment, he simply stared at Gabriel.
Then he let out a disbelieving laugh as he dragged a hand across his face.
’’You didn’t know?’’
His expression suddenly twisted with anger again.
’’THAT’S THE FUCKING POINT!’’
Blue lightning began violently crackling around his axes.
’’You didn’t know who they were! You didn’t know why they were running! You didn’t know why an entire fucking swarm was chasing them!’’
Gabriel’s expression grew uglier with every word.
’’We weren’t going to leave people to die just because you’re a paranoid asshole!’’
’’And look where that fucking got you!’’ Darius roared, swinging his axe around him.
The battlefield fell deathly silent around him.
’’Eight people are fucking dead!’’ he continued. ’’My guys are injured and utterly exhausted!’’
’’Much worse, there’s a goddamn sandstorm that could break out at any time and kill us all!’’
Before Gabriel could respond, a loud clap rang out.
’’That’s enough now.’’
Everyone’s attention slowly shifted towards Theo, who’d just walked over after checking up on his group.
’’We have more important things to worry about right now,’’ Theo said, glancing towards Nadia. ’’We’ve already wasted fifteen minutes.’’
Gabriel’s expression immediately darkened.
He was already furious from Darius’s words, and seeing a weakling suddenly acting like he had any authority only made it worse.
’’And who the fuck asked you?’’ he hissed. ’’If your group could carry its own weight, we would’ve never been in this situation to begin with!’’
Theo slowly turned towards him.
For a moment, he almost wanted to start arguing with him.
But in the end... he decided against it.
Instead, he glanced back at Nadia, who was staring far behind them.
’’How much time do we have?’’ he asked slowly.
Nadia didn’t respond.
Her eyes remained locked on the distant horizon.
Theo’s expression slowly grew more serious.
’’Nadia?’’
’’I don’t know,’’ she finally muttered.
Darius’s anger disappeared almost instantly.
’’What do you mean, you don’t know?’’
Nadia swallowed hard before pointing towards the distance.
’’The winds over there have become too chaotic to read,’’ she said slowly. ’’I’d estimate that we have an hour at most.’’
Everyone’s faces collectively paled.
Even at their fastest speeds, it’d take an hour and fifteen minutes.
But now that everyone was exhausted and injured...
Theo let out a deep sigh.
’Feng,’ he said internally. ’You’ll have to help us this time.’