The six people went to the hotel behind to check the situation. Although it was December, the southern part of the Bosco Kingdom had already reached spring. Looking up from the foot of the mountain, all they could see was green.
Makarov casually remarked, "Hmm... the terrain isn't great."
"Leave this to me, please walk a few steps forward." Thinking of possible problems, Vorod added, "This time I'm not joking."
Following his words, they walked a few steps forward. Vorod tapped the ground with his wooden staff, and suddenly a sapling broke through the soil, extending fine twigs to the feet of each of the six people.
Soon after, a rumbling sound arose, and the small sapling quickly grew into a large tree.
The sturdy trunk lifted all six of them, growing until it was slightly higher than the peak across before stopping.
It was Jura's first time seeing Vorod use magic, and he complimented generously, "As expected of Lord Vorod."
Vorod paused for a second, then said, "You will fall in three seconds."
Jura incredulously asked, "What?"
Vorod laughed happily, "Hahaha, I'm just joking."
Jura: "..."
These seniors were really different from the image he had imagined.
Rhode wasn't too surprised; he could achieve a similar effect with Earth Magic and felt that Jura probably could too.
Perhaps Mr. Jura was just too good-hearted, always thinking of staying humble.
Uluvheim frowned, "You, at least take things a bit more seriously when doing proper work."
Vorod pretended not to hear, looking at the mages swiftly advancing through the woods on the opposite mountain.
Rhode reminded, "It's not just the mountain, there are people in the sky too."
They looked up and saw five small single-person flying machines, each shaped like a bird. Someone ignorant might have thought it was someone flying kites on the mountain.
"So it's them." Jura seemed to recognize the identities from the shapes of the flying machines, "Dark Guilds, Snipetail Kite, Black-billed Crane, Grey-winged Swallow, White-headed Magpie, Three-legged Thrush..."
Rhode wanted to say that the names of these guilds sounded like they had stirred up a bird's nest, but it seemed to suit Jura.
Uluvheim looked at Jura, "You know?"
Jura nodded, "I learned a little during previous work."
Hayberion pondered for a moment and asked, "Are they all new faction Dark Guilds?"
"Yes, they were all Legitimate Guilds originally, but two years ago the Council implemented new regulations on Mages' Guilds due to some earlier malignant incidents.
"Although the intention was to protect the lives of new faction mages and safeguard the interests of clients, it also led to a decrease in the number of commissions, to some extent causing some Legitimate Guilds to go bankrupt, and others to choose to become Dark Guilds.
"These five guilds turned into Dark Guilds at that time. They've been moving between the Fiore Kingdom and Bosco Kingdom all year round, initially taking on slightly improper tasks, and later starting to engage in criminal activities."
The people on those five flying machines also seemed to notice the giant tree taller than the mountain and flew straight over to check out the situation.
"A bunch of degenerates, let's just shoot them down first," Uluvheim's body seemed to green and swell again, as if ready to jump into the air to smash them down.
"Wait a minute, if you take action, they will die!" Jura hurriedly stopped him, having heard that this person didn't quite understand what holding back meant.
"It's not right for the seniors to make the first move as soon as a situation arises, let me handle this." Rhode observed carefully, activated the short-term vision skill from Void Swift Crab, and saw the structure of the flying machines.
He raised his right arm, spreading his fingers toward the sky, silently reminding himself to be gentle, gentle.
The sound of electric currents crackled, and a blue spark shot out from each finger.
The electric light appeared as thin as a finger when it shot out, but expanded to arm's thickness by the time it reached the sky.
The flying machines were probably designed with the possibility of attacks in mind, as the five pilots had already activated their Magic Shields when they saw Rhode raise his hand.
The bright electricity made the five pilots squint, then suddenly both they and their shields vanished.
They laughed inwardly, was this the power of the Ten Wizard Saints? If so, the reconnaissance mission could be considered successfully completed, and they might even try attacking.
However, they suddenly felt a sense of weightlessness, as if they were about to fall?
'The Core! The Magic Core is shattered!' Two of them noticed something wrong and tried to shout, but neither their mouths nor their bodies obeyed.
Because after hitting the target, those five bolts of lightning split into three each, spreading toward the nearest three people, with 15 additional lightning bolts crisscrossing, causing all five to immediately lose consciousness.
To those below, it seemed that Rhode had casually shot five bolts of lightning, then woven a magnificent web of electricity in the sky, easily capturing the five 'birds.'
Linked Lightning Chain learned from the Hex-Tech Dragon Soul was particularly effective for group attacks, with added paralysis effects, and slightly higher force resulted in stunning effects.
While others wondered why Rhode used Lightning Element magic instead of the Summoning Element as the intelligence suggested, five red birds fluttered into the air to catch the five unconscious pilots.
Another five ghosts floated up, embracing the five falling single-person flying machines.
The seamless series of actions made the Ten Wizard Saints look over, and when they examined the people and machines delivered by the wild creatures, they found the flying machines were almost only damaged at the energy core, and the pilots were just unconscious, with no life-threatening injuries.
"What a delicate Lightning Element magic," Hayberion complimented, "and... very swift action."
This smooth little series of stunning and snatching moves made Hayberion wonder if Rhode had some side job, like being a bandit or burglar.
But on second thought, it probably wasn't likely.
"Haha..." Rhode smiled awkwardly, feeling a bit bitter inside.
This was practiced when playing fruit-snatching games with wild creatures to train control in the gorge.
If the force was too light, he could be counter-killed and left without food, if it was too heavy, the fruit would easily get damaged, and even winning would leave him without food.
Fortunately, those days were behind him.
Rhode picked one among the unconscious five who looked slightly more pleasing, using a green-glowing finger to tap his forehead.
That person gradually woke up, immediately seeing a fierce-looking old man.
Uluvheim grabbed his collar and sternly asked, "Speak! What are you doing here?"
He tried his best to back away, but couldn't break free from the hand gripping his collar. It took him a few seconds to realize his plight, that he had fallen into the hands of the Ten Wizard Saints.
Despair filled his heart, and with a stiff neck, he cursed, "You old fart, you're doomed!"