(Master, are you there?) Elizabeth spoke in her mind. She held the gemstone on her bow tighter. (I know you're there, so please speak to me.) Biting her lip, she asked the question she had on her mind. (Why didn't you help us?)
It was a voice filled with anger and resentment. Perhaps, she arrived at the idea that her master would always save her. From killing Emperor Lianghu to protecting her in the Lannisail explosion to intimidating the Featherwind Sect, her life was saved numerous times by Rena. That might have been why she came to the Mordrigan Peaks brimming with fighting intent. Her strongest trump card was her master! Except Rena never showed up. Not even once. And not even now. Her bow remained eerily quiet, as if all her memories of Rena were a delusion she made up. Elizabeth gulped. Rena had not appeared since the war in the Xingyuu Empire ended, half a year ago. It was almost like her master vanished into thin air… Since nobody answered her, Elizabeth sighed inwardly and changed plans.
First of all, where was she? She looked around and tried to find her bearings, but it was too dark to see anything. This darkness was not the type of darkness where one could see through as long as their eyes adapted. No, this was a kind of 'true darkness' where there was no illumination. No matter how long she waited, her eyes would never see anything. The next logical step would be to use an illumination spell, except that would attract danger the second she did. It would be a recipe for disaster. It was times like these that she criticized herself for not advancing to Low Condensed Drop Core Level. A Condensed Drop Arcanist could spread their Magic Perception outward to sense other Arcanists around them. It would have been the perfect tool to find Freon, and the others. Sadly, this was not the place for regrets.
Her body was sore, her Core was empty, and she was all alone. This was undoubtedly her weakest moment. To prevent herself from getting killed the next second, it was necessary to restore her fighting ability. When she focused, thick rainbow threads of World Energy were pulled from the air and drawn to her body. They travelled through her Channels, transformed into Magic Energy, and deposited themselves into her Core. Her Magic Energy reserves increased bit by bit. Luckily, it seemed like nobody noticed the rainbow light. Minutes ticked by, and her energy slowly recovered, except it was too slow. At this rate, she would fully recover in a couple of hours. That was not good enough. In the end, it came down to a recovery method.
Elizabeth felt defeated. It was not like she chose not to find a recovery method when she had the chance. The problem was the lack of suitable recovery spells. In the first place, recovery spells were a specialized area of enhancement-type spells, spells which worked on the body. One would understand how dangerous it was to experiment with spells of that nature. One mistake, and it could permanently disfigure someone. It could even lead to death. Who would willingly volunteer their bodies like that? This risk meant that the development of body enhancement-type spells remained in its infancy. It was worse for enhancement-type spells that worked on the Channels or the Core, since only Arcanists with exceptional Magic Perception could control it. Anyone else trying would just be killing themselves. Therefore, Elizabeth was somewhat helpless with regards to a recovery method.
A rustle from nearby made her flinch. She gulped, shut her eyes, and stayed absolutely quiet, praying that it was not the monster. She was in no condition to run or fight right now. The footsteps grew closer, and her heart dropped. Something was clearly approaching her! Elizabeth kept thinking happy thoughts and tried to calm her crazy heartbeat. The agony of not knowing what was coming tore her apart. And eventually, those footsteps stopped somewhere below her. Hm? Now that she thought about it, it did not sound like insects at all. It sounded more like a person… She turned her head, peered through the silk web, and saw Freon standing there with a fireball spell. He looked up at the same time and gestured for her to stay quiet. Of course, it made sense. Freon was the only one in their group with an external Magic Perception. He could find every Arcanist in the darkness.
Except… how was she supposed to get down? She was stuck on a silk web high in the air. Some wind-type spells might work, but she had no Magic Energy. She glanced at Freon and conveyed her dilemma. He gave a thumbs up, and prepared his movement-type spell, Spring Step. With a stomp, he shot into the air, grabbed Elizabeth, and landed back on the ground. His proficiency at using Spring Step had reached a masterful level. Elizabeth's eyes swept around to find themselves in a new cavern. Aside from the rubble from the collapsed ceiling, nothing else was around. It was eerie, given the fierce battle they had not long ago.
She leaned in and asked softly, "Is anyone else nearby?"
"It's just us."
"Then…"
Freon exhaled. "What's your condition? Can you fight?"
"Not right now. I don't have any Magic Energy left. The only thing I can use is my rapier," she answered, but she sounded unsure of herself. Her rapier skills were mediocre, to say the least. Otherwise, she would have used it in the previous battle.
"I'm in better shape, but we can't fight through multiple battles. My Core won't last."
Elizabeth nodded. "We need to find the others, rescue Nassandra, and get out of here."
"That's the plan."
"Can you sense them?"
"I can sense Benedict, but Shirley…" he hesitated. "She isn't an Arcanist, so I can't find her."
Her face fell. How were they supposed to find each other now? She gritted her teeth, before adding, "What about the others?"
He closed his eyes and concentrated again. "Yuna is by herself somewhere. The Arcane Knights are scattered everywhere. The largest group is two people."
"So, everyone is spread out," she clicked her tongue. "Is your sister okay?"
"I'm trying to find her, but… Damn it. I think we're too far away. I can't sense her anymore."
"Since you could sense her at the cave entrance, then that means… we're deep in the mountains. We might be in bigger trouble than your sister."
"I hope so," he replied. They stopped talking. Neither of them wanted to imagine the worst possible scenario, that Nassandra was already dead. Freon forcefully suppressed his trembling hands, and continued, "We should get moving."
"Do you know the way?"
"No, but… we don't have any food or water. We'll die in here soon, if we can't find our way out. That is, if those bugs don't kill us first."
"Cut it out," Elizabeth said.
She took a deep breath and reorganized her thoughts. Freon's Magic Perception could only detect Arcanists, meaning non-Arcanists like Shirley, Lady Kalasena, and the Grand Knights were neglected. They could be nearby, and she would never know. Elizabeth did not want to ignore them, but… she was helpless in this regard. This was where a Martial Perception would have shined. A Martial Perception amplified the five senses to a supreme level and left nothing out. It would have found both Arcanists and non-Arcanists alike. Of course, the drawback was that it was harder to control, and exhausted people faster. A Magic Perception had its advantages too, but they were not very useful in this situation. With only Freon and her here, they needed a method to find everyone and locate the exit, except how?
Her spells, or rather her combat system, were… heavily attack-oriented. She noticed this flaw now. Aside from her attack spells, Luminous Sky and Formless Step were inappropriate. There was not much she could do. As for Freon, he was also an 'attacker' with few options outside that. Their lopsided combat system came back to haunt them. Elizabeth thought harder. There must be a solution. There had to be! She was a Half-Condensed Drop Arcanist, and Freon was a full-fledged Condensed Drop! They ranked among the top Arcanists in the human world! She refused to believe there was a problem they could not solve. But despite all her thinking, to the point her head hurt again, she could not come up with an answer. They were stuck!