There were only a handful of the Black Wolves that I knew would not be affected, or at least minorly affected, by the Oculus Fiends' Illusion magic: Havoc, Nash (after he had adapted), Raeyn (if she was the one that was out instead of Ophelia), and Brand. The rest, unfortunately, were susceptible if they were somehow caught off guard.
Oculus Fiends were Grade 3 beasts all by themselves simply because of their size, which was about seven-foot-something. And they were Grade 1 if they were in a horde. They were almost like Undead, except unlike how Undead were brought back to life by an abundance of mana in the soil, Oculus Fiends were corpses possessed by spirits that were not able to pass on. Slightly different than a Conjured Spirit, which has already moved on and was fabricated again to this life by certain mages magic. Basically, the spirits of the dead found other corpses to embody, which then turned them into hideous creatures. Those were the stories at least. Folklore on the cusp of believability, but believable enough to where it just might be true.
Even so… All these encounters didn't make sense.
First the three Grade 1's—the Noctryss, Tyrannosaur, and Berserker, and now the Oculus Fiend horde… none of these creatures' habitats were in the Forest jurisdiction.
So the question remained… Why were they here?
And I guess a more pressing question would be 'were we even still in the Forest jurisdiction at all?'
I had been walking for about a thousand or so meters already. Ophelia was still snug in my arms with her face buried in my chest; it was both for comfort and strategy. One look at any of the Fiends could entrance even the strongest of mages if they were not resistant to its magic. Jo was a good example of that. However, in her case, even if she was entranced, the Oculus Fiends would have a hard time devouring her. She often slept walked, so even under an illusion, she was most likely still able to move… in this case, cast her magic… violently.
I reminisced to a time involving her and a larger of these creatures… Ironically, the same day I met her. But I got distracted with Ophelia's frequent face rubbing against my chest.
The air nipped cooler the closer I got; the ground was more frosted than where I had first started walking.
I could feel the gaze of the Fiends in the distant shadows of the dead trees all around, but after witnessing how I took out four of their own with only one leg, they dared not test me again. All they could do now was watch.
"I hope you're really asleep, Ophelia… 'cause if this is just a ruse to get me to carry you all the way, I'm making you run laps with Havoc when we get out of this mess."
"Nooo! Not with that idiot!" she whined, lifting her head at last with her visible eye still closed.
"I thought so."
"Aw, you're so mean, Greedy! You couldn't just play along for a bit longer?"
"Can you stand?" I asked, ignoring her quirks.
"Sorta twisted my ankle trying to save you," she replied, voice taking on a caressing tone. "After you went ham on those three Grade 1 beasts, an Oculus Fiend snuck up on you and actually ate you… like for real, I was freaking out, so I went to save you, but you broke free in a matter of minutes."
Minutes, huh? Felt like I was in there a lot longer than that…
I looked at her ankle and saw a small bruise just above her foot. She seemed to have lost a boot too.
"Ah… Don't look at my feet right now, it's not pretty-looking at the moment."
"Can't you switch to Raeyn and have her reverse that for you?"
"She can only reverse what happens during her summon, not what happens before. So, if we switch now, she'd still have this twisted ankle. You'd only be carrying Raeyn instead of me, and I don't want to give her the pleasure." She stuck out a tongue and winked, knocking on her head with her free hand in the form of a gentle fist. Whatever Raeyn had said to her must have been enough to produce a silent back-and-forth between them.
I let loose a long sigh.
"How did we get the jump?" Asking her another question.
"Don't know… you went with Codey to check the leaking fuel behind the Den, and that's when we were all teleported…"
"Teleported?"
"Yeah… I know, trees all look the same… I hate camping!" Ophelia whined.
"We're not— never mind." I probably shouldn't entertain that…
"Anyway, do you know any beasts that have high-level Teleportation magic—even more than Codey?" she asked.
"No, those don't exist… if they did, they'd be higher Grade 1 beasts. People would always be in danger."
"Exactly… meaning, there's a high-level mage who did it."
"And the random monster spawns?"
"Probably the works of another mage—and the same mage that unleashed that Basilisk horde in our last mission."
I thought to myself as we continued toward the icy cold. Our deductions would make the most sense. Two mages. One to separate us, and the other to disorient. Could they be Apostles? Or followers? Code ran into an Apostle follower who ambushed them in his last mission…
But according to Daz, Riot Gang and the Apostles were apparently conspiring with each other. Could they be Riot Gang? Like Drakthor?
Too many questions. Not enough answers.
"Anything else I should know?" I asked.
"That's all!" She buried her head again. I swore she took a strong whiff of me as she dug her nose in my chest.
"Freak…"
Her muffled giggle was her only response.
I had to find the others soon. We had to regroup and find the Den. Envy was still being held captive in there and who knows if Idiot King Daz got caught in the mess like us. Though I supposed I shouldn't be too worried about him. It's not as if these Oculus Fiends could do anything to him either. And Nash was potentially still at the Den, given his two week ritual, so I could at least rely on him if there wasn't anyone else around to protect our home.
And the Arabella maids… They were okay… right?
I then heard a whimper in the distance, followed by snarls. It was from two separate entities: the snarls from Oculus Fiends, and the whimper from something—someone else, heading right toward us.
The whimpers loomed louder as they neared; I looked off into the direction it was coming from, and then from the shadows—
"M-M-Master Greed!" Ulrich shouted, eyes watering from distraught, and with his back half-transformed into a Leomantoise shell.
The Oculus Fiends pursued him near behind, striking at his back the whole time; his shell was taking no damage from their attacks.
"MASTER GREED! PLEASE HELP!"
"Tubs?" I said, followed by a quick dash, appearing between him and the Fiends. My face looked like something of horror to them as they stopped immediately in their tracks, scurrying back into the shadows from whence they came.
"Where are the others?" I asked him, speaking of tall-chick and doll-eyes. If he was out here and not at the Den like I had hoped, chances were they were out here too.
"We were together at one point, but we got surrounded by those… things! And then…" He clenched his hands into fists on his lap, remaining leaned over to catch his breath. I could feel his frustration. "If only I was stronger… I tried to transform fully, but I think their magic is tinkering with my Primal abilities. They hypnotized the other two, but they were only able to disable me… Argh… curse this physique!"
I let him get it all out before speaking again. Typical Primal user… They were normally unaffected by this type of magic. The stronger the Primal user, the more immune they were to Projection type magics. Looked like he was immune enough to not be entranced, but not fully immune to where he could function properly.
"Show me where they are. Let's get them," I said at last.
Ulrich breathed heavily for a moment, and then pointed back to the direction he ran. It was a different path than the one we were originally taking.
"I don't know where the others are, but I know Jo can handle her own even while she's entranced," I said to Ophelia. "We'll head back her way once we have the other two maids."
Ulrich nodded tensely, following behind as we changed paths. I proceeded to ask him what happened to us, and even he didn't know…
***
**Another section of the forest**
Far ahead… something cracked the forest in half.
From the pillar of spiked ice, hordes of Oculus Fiends lay frozen in the wake of a devastating creature. She snarled, breathing in and out of heavy, cold breaths. Her once delicate hands flexed like claws, teeth sharp like razors, and eyes white, devoid of comprehension.
She stood in place from where she had stepped over a horrified Fiend under her heel, and her large dragon tail whipped, whirling the air.
Beastly chatter sounded off all around her as she perked her heavily pierced ears. The Oculus Fiends were wary of her power, even though they had managed to entrance her.
Behind her at the center of this clearing she created, a tall pillar of ice continued to layer as increasing cold filled the area—frost catching onto the nearby Fiends who dared to witness.
She roared ferally, intimidating them all, but then crouched down into a ball, hugging her legs soon after; soft weeping followed her rampage. A curious act to the Fiends eyes as they continued to observe, inching carefully closer with each sob she echoed.
"Everyone…" she whispered to herself, eyes still white with every tear she shed. "Everyone is dead."