Master of Myths

'Looks like she is calming down'

Even though Ellis never stopped weaving illusions around her, she and the others were already out of danger, the enemy, whoever they were, lost her in the riddle of auras produced by the beasts

Still, YuJu did not dally and kept his top speed until he approached the group

Donning his mask he appeared before the redhead and her group, questioning upon entry

"Who chased you"

"Gacha race"

Exactly what he did not want to hear

"Give me the details while we escort these fellows out"

Ellis nodded and filled him in while taking the elite men and women to safety

The encounter with the opposing race turned out to be actually short and free of any big events, during their hunt Ellis and the humans suddenly chanced upon a winged squad of the enemy race, led by a powerful looking spear wielder whose eyes turned gleeful upon spotting them

Thankfully, despite the man stirring into action the second the two groups met, Ellis moved a tad bit faster, managing to cloak everyone to safety at the cost of receiving the spear attack head on

"Is your injury severe?"

"Yes, but not pressing since I coated everything with my aura to stop the bleeding already"

YuJu nodded in understanding, knowing that the consecutive strengthening she received from him already made her body as resilient as that of a beast, she moved so normally he wouldn't have known an injury hid under those repaired clothes

"Go back to the house and let Subrina have a look at you"

"Please let me accompany Master to scout them out, I can hide myself just as well in this aura filled land, the injury can wait"

It was an unnecessary request, put forth only because she wanted to know the power level of those whom they will be fighting against

He did not answer, a silent approval for her to do as she pleases

Thus she tagged along, and with YuJu's masterful tracking they spotted the group of flying Gacha members in no time

The winged men did not appear to be accompanied by those armoured guardswoman, flying alone through the sky, high above the mountains and rivers that riddled the land

One must know however that all they saw was a mere illusion, something the aura beasts had built after the loss of their leader, since it was easy to maintain for separate groups than it was to constantly generate battle focused monster constructs 

The man at the head did not seem fazed by the endless expanse of green and blue, leading his team of elites with a confident air only outshined by the dark golden armor clothing his build

YuJu and Ellis continued to follow behind, expecting them to lead the way toward another base they had no knowledge of, or maybe something more

After observing them for a couple of hours however the two had come to a conclusion

"Master, are they...."

"Yes..."

<br/>"....So this is why they did not attack us all this while?"

"....."

Honestly, it was rather ridiculous

'They even skipped the fortress to tackle us as quickly as possible only to be lost in the maze of auras built by the beasts?'

He could not wrap his mind around this matter, how could they be lost for so long? If the man heading this was half as good as Kasha he would have broken out by now

"My King"

Speak of the devil and she answers out of your shadow

"I recall their leader"

"Is he rather famous among your race?"

"Infamous actually, Galileo is an ambitious winged one who strives for the freedom of his fellow peers, fighting the 'oppressive' earthbound and claiming it is an earthbound dominant race"

YuJu and Ellis gave each other a knowing look, choosing to ignore most of this detailed introduction lest they get dragged into a useless conversation

"Any idea why he is still lost?"

"Probably because he left behind the earthbound sent with him, we are the artisans you see and without us he is incapable of making tools required to escape this maze"

This was the scary part about the aura beasts, even if one knew what they were most would choose to stay away from them unless they had ways to specifically deal with their creations, especially now that they resorted to sneaky ways like mazes instead of just beasts you could plow your way out of with sufficient strength 

"Let me guess, the earthbounds were the two back at the fortress?"

"Most likely so"

In other words, he had no way of getting out of this maze

"Hmm...Then we don't really have to deal with this either"

"Excuse me my King?"

"Just let him roam, knowing your race I bet him dying will activate some sort of mechanism that alerts the ruler"

"That is so, his rank deserves such attention"

"Then just stick to his shadow until he tires himself out, we can use the time to make the final rally and wipe your race out of existence in one fell swoop"

"....."

Despite not giving an affirmative response Kasha silently snuck into the oblivious Galileo's shadow

"Let us head back and treat this injury of yours"

"Alright Master"

The two returned to human lands, with Ellis finally at ease after seeing how foolish the enemy was

On the other hand YuJu, despite showing a nonchalant expression, was quite worried on the inside

'If this wasn't the bad omen I've been feeling then what is it?'

Never had it failed him before, and he doubted it would now either, but everything seemed to be just fine

'Its times like these when disaster really strikes'

And he had to find the source before it ruined all his plans, whatever or whoever it was 

'Maybe I should check on that trader while I am at it, I would like to be otherwise but if one of those olden ones is involved…I sure hope they have no hand in all this'

.....

Second chapter in Volume 6, things got messed up in the Inkstone