The creatures in the distance charged toward them, and Wolfe noticed one very interesting thing about them. They were all formed from the same mana pool. The creature that had come last to address them and chastise them for not letting the Fallen run rampant over their world, had created all of these beings.
That was likely what it thought had happened on Wolfe's world, that they had created an army and then trapped everyone who entered the world in a time loop with it.
Oddly, they were all on the strong side of Rank Five. Wolfe had expected some weak ones, and some strong ones, to balance the weak and strong in the summoned group, but there weren't any. At least not in the first group.
"They're almost here. Set up defensive traps and slow them down. I will hold the barriers." Wolfe whispered to the others, then went to set a dome barrier over their heads.
Only, when he got to the peak of Rank Five strength, he couldn't add any more mana to the spell. He still had all his strength, but he wasn't able to cast a spell over Rank Five.
"Well, that's going to get interesting. They've limited the maximum power of a single spell." Wolfe warned them.
Then, to be certain that his mana regeneration was working properly, he refilled his mana cores to the maximum, while the witches and Molly drew mana from him to prepare their traps for the attackers.
Molly didn't know much, but her shock traps would work like a taser, slowing and stunning enemies without major resistance.
The attackers reached the edge of the swamps that Cassie and Ella had created and looked utterly baffled by this terrain. They had never seen anything like it, plants didn't grow in this realm.
But not all the plants were stationary. Stephanie had covered the entire area in a [Living Vines] spell, so they would be attacked as soon as they entered the shallow waters.
After a moment's hesitation, they charged forward, stepping into the traps and being torn apart by Witch Magic.
Wolfe heard a voice in the distance, one of the announcers, if he guessed right.
[Interesting tactic, the witches are on the offence while the Magi Saint is using purely defensive magic. We know that this one doesn't keep to the ancient ways of pacifism, but it is possible that his magic isn't actually suited to attacking.]
Stephanie must have heard it as well, because he could see her smirking, but Wolfe didn't add any more spells to the mix, as the influx of monsters was already being torn apart quite efficiently by the three witches using his mana.
The leader of this place would know what they were doing, but it hadn't tried to stop them, so it was a valid tactic for the competition, and Wolfe used the time to search for the portal using the mana flows of the area.
"Alright, I found the way out. Most of this group is down now, so we can move forward." He instructed, then grabbed everyone in a flying spell.
He could feel the barrier above them, keeping them low to the ground, but it would be enough that he could fly over the swamp that the witches created, and toward the tunnels where the portal was hidden.
Stephanie laughed as she realized where they were headed.
"Tunnels, really? Their natural forms are huge, but they set the trial in the tunnels? Or did they just copy us?" She asked.
"I think they're copying our trial for the first stage. But that also means they might have set a form of the Tribulation spell in the tunnels when we get closer to the portal. That is the central feature of the fights in our world." Wolfe explained.
Molly was shaking in terror now, and Stephanie was holding her and whispering in her ear.
[How did she end up with us anyhow? Did they just grab some random kid?] Wolfe asked the others.
[We were napping together.] Stephanie replied.
That made sense. If she was with one of the witches closest to Wolfe, then the leader here might have thought that she had some special attachment to them, and not that Stephanie just liked warm and soft places to sleep in cat form.
It was still strange seeing Stephanie as a child in someone else's body, and Wolfe wondered why they hadn't left her as a cat. It would have kept things interesting for their viewers, at the very least.
The entrance to the tunnels was guarded by a large group of creatures with mermaid tails, but who floated in the air, and had large pointed fangs in their mouth.
"I feel like we got off easy with the monsters of our world." Cassie muttered as she looked at these horrors.
Wolfe cast a [Cluster Grenades] spell, and it exploded on the barrier over the creatures, who hissed in anger and began to rush toward them.
"And they use magic. Great." Ella complained, then conjured a large vine patch on the ground to grab the low-flying monstrosities.
Wolfe landed the group, to eliminate attacks from below, and the first of their attackers slammed into his barrier.
Their claws, tentacles, and even the gelatinous looking ones seemed to eat away at the barrier with a ferocity that Wolfe had never experienced before. It was as if their very existence was caustic, and they destroyed everything just by existing.
That would explain the state of their world, but it gave Wolfe an idea.
He switched the barrier from a standard one to [Unholy Fire] and watched them scream in agony and try to flee as their bodies went up like dry tinder.
"Teach me to do that. I like that spell." Molly pleaded once she saw the monsters fleeing.
"Here, I will make an amulet for you with the spell on it. I'm not certain if you can use it, though. The witches have a very hard time with Unholy Magic."
He enchanted a coin from his pouch and handed it to her, then the small catgirl lit up a soft blue flame with an effortless flow of mana.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that. Alright, let's keep going. We're almost to the tunnels now."
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