Chapter 340: Chasing the entity

The Lone Wanderer

Percy didn’t even get a moment to ponder over the how or why the entity had responded in the way it had, when he spotted something moving beneath their feet.

“It’s trying to escape!” he exclaimed, already running behind it.

The change was barely perceptible – just a slight shift in the flow of soul mana inside the water. Anyone would have missed it if they weren’t paying close attention. The entity shot away at a dizzying speed, clearly trying to shake them off.

“No, you don’t!” Percy yelled, pushing his boosting art to its limit.

Sol’s muscles swelled with strength as their strides grew longer and their steps more frequent, each footfall sending a new ripple through the still surface of the lake. The silver wisps danced once more, their trajectories seemingly in sync with the twin maelstroms spinning around their cores. Every now and then, the flames grew large enough to sink into their channels, emerging much smaller from the opposite side of their body. That said, the faces of the fallen Melodians sang a more relaxed tune this time, echoing Sol and Percy’s calmer emotions.

The swarm of fiends was dense, but Sol blasted right through it, the Masterful spell incinerating any creature unwise enough to block their path.

‘What the hell is that thing?’ Percy wondered again.

They had already put some distance from the area they had found the entity in, so the water had returned to its normal colour – for the most part. The source of the disturbance was still polluting the area, but the grey colour didn’t have enough time to spread and accumulate. The entity was extremely small, leaving a tiny trail no thicker than a person’s finger behind it.

It moved underwater for most of the time, so Percy and Sol had to rely mainly on their magical senses to keep track of it. Only once every few seconds did the trail brush against the surface briefly, leaving faint dark marks that faded away as quickly as they appeared.

Clearly, it was way too small to be a beast – even a Red one. Most curiously, it didn’t seem to possess a mana core either. It was weird, because even the tiniest bugs needed one to survive. But there was no mistake – the entity didn’t seem to possess a single drop of mana of its own. It merely converted the soul mana around it, giving it the dark grey tint the Melodians had seen before. It was obviously harder for the spectral fiends to pierce through that, protecting the entity from them.

Was it really part of the Mirror Lake though? The will of the Elemental Source, perhaps – having awakened due to the peculiarity of its affinity? Or was it a spectral fiend too? A special one? That didn’t explain why the other fiends seemed hell-bent on cannibalizing it though.

Whatever the case, it was obviously intelligent. It had already demonstrated it could communicate with the natives, and in their own language, no less.

“Give it up!” Percy shouted again. “You’ll get eaten by the fiends if you keep doing this!”

He wasn’t just saying that because he wanted to capture the entity. There was much less of the grey mana shielding it right now, offering no protection against the fiends. That only emboldened the swarm to descend upon it even more eagerly, trying to gobble it up. If it hadn’t been for its nimble movements, it would have been devoured already.

Sooner or later, it was bound to make a mistake, sealing its fate. Its safest option would be to stop swimming away, taking some time for the grey mana around it to accumulate, until it rebuilt the dark blot that had protected it earlier. Why was it being so stubborn, even? Would it be such a bad thing to collaborate with the Melodians, sharing a new technique with them? It had already done that at least once in the past, hadn’t it?

Regardless, Percy couldn’t help but grit his teeth.

He knew he couldn’t continue like this either. Doh and Latt had already fallen behind, unable to keep up with him and Sol. Things weren’t that bad yet, as they weren’t that far apart, and they hadn’t lost track of each other either. But it was only a matter of time until that happened, and they couldn’t afford to split up again.

‘Should we let it go?’ Sol asked. ‘As much as I’d love to learn another spell, it’s not worth risking everyone’s lives.’

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He nodded, agreeing with her. Their mission was already on the cusp of success. They would be fools to throw that away out of greed.

‘Let me have one go at it. If I fail to grab it, we’ll turn back and regroup with the others.’

Closing the gap with the entity had never been the problem. It was fast, but not necessarily faster than them. Not if they went all out. The issue was actually capturing it. The same speed that allowed them to run atop the Mirror Lake without sinking prevented them from piercing through the water to snatch something hiding within. The only option would be to slow down until the surface tension stopped holding them up, but the entity would be long gone by then.

‘I hope this works…’

Fully exerting himself, Percy caught up with their target, running right above it. The entity tried to throw him off, taking advantage of its higher agility to shoot toward random directions – even doing a complete U-turn at times.

Percy had seen that coming from a mile away, however. His sharp senses coupled with the elegant footwork of his boosting art allowed him to remain glued to his mark throughout its tantrum.

Nearly emptying his channels, he gathered as much soul mana as he could in his hands, shrouding them in thick blobs of silver. Then, he tossed all of it in a certain direction, allowing it to spread like a thick blanket as it sank towards the bottom of the lake.

It was a bit of a gamble, admittedly, as he was merely guessing which way the entity would go next. But it was an educated guess, as he’d observed its patterns for several minutes already – and he was a bit of a specialist in analysing an opponent’s movements.

Sure enough, the entity headed straight towards the silver sheet, about to slam into the construct.

Percy watched it with bated breath, hoping the soul mana would obstruct it. This was the second uncertainty in his plan, since his mana didn’t normally interact with physical objects. That said, this thing seemed to be afraid of the spectral fiends, so Percy was happy with his odds. ℟𝔞ɴồ฿Еş

At the same time, he skidded to a stop, using both hands and feet to slow down his momentum.

The silver sheet stretched, the entity about to pierce through it. Percy grinned at the sight, knowing he had already won. The flimsy construct wouldn’t last more than a second, but that was plenty.

Suddenly, the force holding Sol’s body up vanished without a trace, as Percy felt the gentle caress of the lake’s cool water hugging their skin. Yet, he didn’t allow himself to as much as blink, all of his senses still locked onto his target.

Before his host’s body was even fully submerged, he reached out with one swift movement, trying to grab the mysterious creature.

The powerful resistance slowed his hand down. And it looked like his target wasn’t going to give up easily either. No longer trying to pierce the blanket, it moved along the construct instead, nearly evading Percy’s grasp.

“As if!” he spat, unwilling to fail at the final stretch.

Stomping forcefully against the muddy lakebed, he twisted Sol’s body as much as he could manage, rotating his arm by a few degrees. It wasn’t much…

But it was enough.

His fingers closed around the creature – if it could even be called that. It was a hard, round object – one that he was dying to examine carefully, but that would have to wait a few more minutes. The entity still fought, trying to escape his palm. Unfortunately for it, it was way too weak to do so. All it had going for it was its speed, and that was apparently only a consequence of its trivial weight – not true strength.

This wasn’t the time for Percy and Sol to worry about their prize, however. Their stunt had almost knocked them out of the Dance, and they were currently sitting ducks. Well, kinda.

Truth be told, Percy had scanned their surroundings for any traces of the eels or other aquatic creatures before doing this, so he was confident there weren’t any around. That said, he could have missed something, so he wouldn’t relax until everyone was safely outside the lake.

Sticking his head out, he took a few breaths to refill his channels. Luckily, the silver flames seemed to work underwater, still swirling rapidly as they absorbed ambient mana from their surroundings. Before long, their spell was back at full power.

Slapping the surface violently with his free hand, Percy summoned every drop of strength he could muster to push himself up in an impromptu handstand, before rolling swiftly to his feet. By the time he was hopping atop the lake again, Doh and Latt had caught up.

“Did you…?” the Green-born asked, as the Yellow also held his breath.

Percy responded with a toothy grin.

Gesturing at them to follow, he shot toward where he thought was the nearest edge of the lake. It wasn’t until the trio was back on solid land, that his attention returned to the mysterious entity still struggling inside his hand. Having held onto it for a while, he already harboured a few guesses as to its shape and, more importantly, its origins. But he wouldn’t dare believe it until he examined it with his own eyes. The Melodians, too, burned holes in his hand with their gazes – the owner of said hand included, causing him to chuckle.

“Time to see what all the fuss was about…”

Percy carefully pried his fingers off the object one by one, shifting it around his hand so that it couldn’t escape. The entity didn’t miss its opportunity to struggle some more, realizing this was its final chance to get away. But Percy wasn’t an idiot.

Pinching it firmly between his thumb and index finger, he was finally able to confirm his guess.

It was a small round object, made of a smooth material. Its dull grey colour gave the impression that it had been cast out of the cheapest piece of iron, but Percy knew that couldn’t be further from the truth. Examining it more closely, he noticed it was slightly translucent, allowing him to just barely see through it. And it had a hole in the middle…

It was a ring.