"Requip!"
"Summoning, Crimson Marked Tree Monster, Crown of Embers!"
"Take Over · Shadow Wolf!"
Rhode first took out the medicine box, then summoned the Tree Monster to extend Gajeel's life, and finally took over the Shadow Wolf to diligently search for scents in the surroundings.
Besides Gajeel's scent, the air still held the scent of Reby and Li Li, and one unfamiliar person's scent.
Rhode tracked it for only a few dozen meters, stopping abruptly at a large tree.
'Went underground? A Fire Element and Earth Element Mage?'
With the current clues, he could only speculate this much and thought it better to wait until Gajeel woke up to ask.
"Summoning, Cyan Engraved Golem!"
Rhode noticed the sweat on Wendy's forehead and quickly placed a Crown of Insight on her and Gajeel, then hesitated, touching the spider silk at his neck, and added a Broken Ghost Crown on them both.
Red light, blue light, purple light, green light shone upon Gajeel, even if it didn't immediately heal him, it provided Rhode and Wendy with a bit more confidence.
...
Fried stood outside the tent, gazing at the figures rapidly approaching in the sky: "Is that... Li Li and Reby?"
Biguslo furrowed his brow, puzzled: "What's going on with their state? Are they injured?"
"Quick!" Li Li landed heavily on the ground, staggering slightly.
Fried hurriedly supported him: "What happened?"
"Enemy attack! It's Demon's Heart! Gajeel is battling Azuma from the Seven Purgatory Dependents, Miss Reby is severely injured, that guy is strong!"
Li Li spoke hastily, his words a bit jumbled, but fortunately, the key points were complete.
"First take Reby inside, send a signal to the others immediately, Biguslo, come with me to support Gajeel!"
Fried promptly took Li Li into the tent, took out a signal flare from inside and ignited it.
The red signal flare trailed a flaming tail, emitting a sharp screech as it exploded in the sky.
Whoosh~ Bang!
Almost simultaneously, a red signal flare was launched from another direction as well.
Li Li hurriedly said, "It's from that direction, Gajeel's position, has a comrade gone over?"
Fried speculated, "As far as I recall, only the President and the three examiners carry red signal flares with them, has someone passed by there?"
Hearing this, Li Li breathed a sigh of relief, instantly transforming into his small black cat form: "My time is up, but... if there's an examiner over there, Gajeel should be alright, right?"
"Whoa whoa... it's hard to say if he's alright, we might be in trouble." Biguslo waved to summon his puppets, forming a defensive stance.
Fried also drew the long sword from his waist.
Ahead of them, on a large tree just dozens of meters away, a head slowly emerged from the trunk.
Li Li's eyes widened: "It's you! How is Gajeel?!"
"Who knows, he might be dead." Azuma didn't want to converse much with the little cat, instead finding interest in sizing up Fried and Biguslo.
...
At the instant the signal flare ascended, Erza and Mira stood up from the medicinal spring with a splash, not even bothering to cover their bodies.
Kana was a step slower, but her expression also tensed.
Erza jumped out of the spring and instantly requipped: "Red alert, enemy attack?"
"And two at once." Mira too stepped out of the spring and quickly dressed.
It wasn't just them, whether it was the President barbecuing or Kildas fishing, they immediately dropped what they were holding.
"Are we not the only ones under attack?"
"We've got to hurry back!"
Elfman, Ibarglin, Lisana, and Jubia were already on their way back and now quickened their pace.
Natsu and Hapi had initially wanted to investigate the flames shooting skyward, now they were even more anxious: "There really is an enemy, I said that doesn't look like magic used by guild members!"
"Damn it, just at a time like this, the exam will have to wait!" Gray and Loki made a split-second decision, abandoning the exam to face the enemy.
Alone, Lucy was confused: "Red... it should signify an emergency, right? What's happening?"
Before she could think further, she suddenly saw a strange creature flying across the sky, continuously scattering something down below.
Like a butterfly shedding scales as it flew.
"What's that?" Lucy looked up at the sky in bewilderment.
The falling objects were round spheres, their crystalline bubble-like shells reflecting the sunlight, appearing rather beautiful at first glance.
It wasn't until the bubbles neared the ground that Lucy saw that there seemed to be people inside?
The first bubble burst above Lucy's head, and the person inside, holding a knife in both hands, swung down without a word.
"Waaah!!" Lucy scrambled to the side, falling to the ground.
Then bubble after bubble burst around her, surrounding her with a dozen people, with more spotting the target and converging from a distance.
Though Lucy had seen more enemies than this, it was indeed the first time she'd faced so many alone.
She couldn't help but feel nervous, but the enemies attacked without hesitation.
She shrieked as she scrambled to her feet, dodging, and simultaneously drawing her celestial key for River of Stars to counterattack.
After securing a bit of breathing room, Lucy hurriedly took out a key: "Open the Gate of the Scorpion, Scorpio!"
"Yeah!" The Star Spirit of the Scorpio Constellation emerged, raising its tail to unleash a Sand Tornado, blowing away five or six people in one move.
Lucy wielded River of Stars, coordinating with Scorpio to meet the enemy.
Lucy wasn't alone in encountering the enemy midway; nearly everyone who saw the signal and tried to return to the camp was intercepted.
Even Mest and Lahar, who were searching for Fairy Tail members, encountered enemies multiple times along the way, teleporting away each time.
The number of 'paratroopers' from Demon's Heart was unknown; for a moment, it felt as if the entire island was swarming with enemy forces.
They were scouring the island for survivors.
According to Kaburico's orders, everyone except Zeref was to be killed without mercy.
According to Zankuro and Rastillos' orders, upon encountering the Beast King and the Fairy Tail Strategist, ways to inform them immediately must be devised.
Zankuro soon discovered Elfman's position and headed straight to the destination without hesitation.
However, along the way, Zankuro encountered someone else, who sparked his interest.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Strike!"
Natsu spread his arms wide, flames extending along them like a pair of fiery dragon wings. As his arms swung, the fierce flames swept twenty nearby enemies away.
"Strong! But... Fire Bullet!" a smart-aleck among them fired a decently powerful flame magic at Natsu.
Natsu grinned, casually inhaling the flames in one go.
"What?!"
"He can eat fire too!"
"A monster!"
"Just like Lord Zankuro..."
Zankuro approached from behind, squeezing the person's head with a hand: "Who did you say he's like?"
The person was terrified, not daring to move: "Za... Zankuro-sama!"
Black flames surged from Zankuro's palm, engulfing the person entirely.
"Aaah!" The person screamed, rolling on the ground, but soon fell silent.
Others were dumbstruck.
Natsu couldn't stand such scenes, furiously pointing at Zankuro: "You... wasn't he your comrade!"
"Comrade? Hahahahaha..." Zankuro laughed loudly, "The weak don't qualify as my comrades!"
"Natsu! That black flame..." Hapi warned, "Could it be the person Rhode encountered earlier?"