Three summoning circles. Three different directions.
This meant the five-man squad had to split into three teams.
Before Rey could even finish processing the thought, Terence Barrow announced his plan. His tone was decisive, leaving no room for argument.
Rey and Helena would form one team. Terence and the thin wizard would form another. Andre Rosier would operate alone.
Terence assigned the roles so quickly it felt rehearsed. Rey glanced at him in surprise but didn't immediately object.
Terence was acting out of character. From fighting for leadership, to silent support, and now to seizing command of the tactical distribution... everything felt like it had a hidden agenda.
But even if Terence was overstepping his bounds, Rey couldn't find a valid reason to object. Based on the intelligence they had, this distribution was logically the most efficient. It also conveniently isolated the "wild card" of the group—Andre Rosier.
Of the three groups, Andre Rosier was arguably in the most danger operating solo. Rey expected him to protest, but instead, the older wizard simply gave Terence a look filled with hidden meaning.
"If no one has any objections, we'll proceed with this arrangement," Rey said, looking around the group.
Since there was no logical reason to argue, he decided to go with the flow. Whatever game Terence was playing, Rey would handle it as it came.
The five of them were essentially three factions anyway. If Andre Rosier didn't object, no one else would.
Andre smiled, nodded at Terence, then glanced at Rey. He accepted the suicide mission without a single word of complaint.
Seeing the consensus, Terence and the thin wizard departed first, disappearing into the night. Andre followed suit a moment later, melting into the darkness.
Rey and Helena's target was to the South. Seeing the others leave, they wasted no time.
The southern summoning circle was located inside a massive cave. And coincidentally, this cave was the exact location where Rey had been captured by the Black Prison Wizards before.
It was here that he had encountered a squad of Black Prison Wizards and was subsequently ambushed by a Church Ascetic controlling a Fallen Werewolf.
He had been caught off guard back then. If not for Raphael's cloak absorbing the impact of the werewolf's charge, Rey wouldn't have survived.
According to the captive's intel, this location was guarded by these same Fallen Werewolves. The only unknown variable was the quantity.
---
Once they were far enough from the main battlefield, Rey and Helena joined hands and Apparated.
CRACK.
They vanished, reappearing moments later in a different location.
The area where Rey had been captured was near a sparse forest. The cave entrance lay beneath a massive, towering rock formation.
While Apparition is convenient for travel, this was an infiltration mission. Teleporting directly to the destination was reckless. The area was controlled by the Church; blindly popping in could land them in a trap—or inside a solid object.
Not knowing the range of the enemy's sensory wards, Rey and Helena used a series of short-range Apparition jumps to approach cautiously.
Soon, they appeared at the edge of the sparse forest.
From here, they could see the towering rock formation in the distance. Rey could even make out the faint scars on the terrain left by his previous battle with the Black Prison Wizards.
Visibility was surprisingly good for a dark night. This was due to dozens of tall iron braziers lined up on either side of the cave entrance beneath the rock.
The firelight illuminated a large clearing that had been leveled out in front of the cave.
When Rey was here last, he had stood on top of the rock and hadn't realized there was a cave beneath his feet. Now, approaching from a different angle, it was obvious.
The Church made no attempt to hide it. The blazing fires seemed like a declaration: We are here.
It was too easy to approach.
And strangely, there were no elves pouring out of the cave.
The fires were too bright, the clearing too empty. There were no visible guards.
"No matter how I look at it, this screams 'trap,'" Rey muttered, exchanging a look with Helena. Her expression told him she was thinking the exact same thing.
---
The flames in the braziers danced in the wind. Rey watched for a while but couldn't spot the mechanism of the trap.
He drew his wand and aimed it at a fallen log in the distance.
Transfiguration.
Just as the spell could turn a living thing into an object, it could turn an object into a living thing.
There was no flash of light in the darkness, but the log began to twist and shrink. Moments later, a strong stag stood in its place.
Under Rey's mental command, the transfigured stag trotted out of the forest and toward the clearing in front of the cave.
Clop, clop, clop.
The sound of hooves was loud in the quiet night. The stag moved quickly, acting skittish, perfectly mimicking a wild animal that had stumbled into the area.
However, the moment the stag entered the illuminated clearing, the jagged rock face behind the braziers shifted.
Behind every single brazier, the stone rippled, and a massive Fallen Werewolf manifested.
As the stag approached, the wolves let out a collective roar and detached themselves from the rock wall.
Twenty Fallen Werewolves leaped down in unison.
The stag skidded to a halt, terrified, and tried to turn back. But before it could flee, the pack was upon it. In seconds, it was torn to shreds.
The attack was lightning-fast and brutal. After destroying the intruder, the wolves scattered, sniffing the perimeter of the clearing. Once they confirmed there were no other enemies, they retreated to the wall and merged back into the stone.
The flames flickered. The wolves vanished. Silence returned.
If not for the shredded remains of the stag on the ground, Rey might have thought he'd hallucinated the whole thing.
Twenty Fallen Werewolves. No wonder there were no human guards.
Rey thought for a moment, then aimed his wand at a small stone nearby.
This time, he Transfigured it into a common rat.
The rat was agile. It sniffed the air, looked left and right, and then scurried toward the clearing.
The stag had been a large, clumsy target—perfect for the wolves to vent their aggression on. But a small, fast rat? Would they notice it? And if they did, could it escape?
---
Distance is relative. Even for a small rat, the cave wasn't far.
Unlike the stag, when the rat entered the clearing, the stone wall didn't react immediately.
The rat scurried forward, pausing occasionally, moving cautiously toward the cave mouth.
When the distance closed to twenty meters, the rock wall rippled. When it reached ten meters, the wolves finally leaped out.
Thud! Thud!
Heavy paws hit the ground, followed by roar after roar shattering the night.
The rat was tiny; the wolves were massive. Their only way to kill it was to stomp on it or swipe at it.
But twenty massive wolves trying to catch one rat resulted in chaos. Several wolves crashed into each other in their frenzy.
Darting left and right, the little rat ran for its life beneath the deadly paws. Rey and Helena watched with bated breath as the creature miraculously dodged death and sprinted into the cave entrance.
But just as it crossed the threshold, a translucent barrier at the cave mouth lit up.
Hiss...
As the rat passed through the barrier, its flesh was instantly vaporized. It disintegrated into red mist, leaving only a tiny, clean white skeleton to clatter onto the cave floor.
Rey and Helena's hearts skipped a beat.
They felt a chill of terror, followed immediately by immense relief.
Relief that they hadn't recklessly tried to Apparate directly inside.
---