As the rest of the bounty hunters arrived on the scene, they noticed the grey mist and the sound of tallic clangs signifying an ongoing fight.
"The boss is already engaging the targets. It’s ti to do our part!"
The vice leader of the party ordered and the others rushed to work. The grey mist covered a large area, stretching over 50 ters in radius, even going as far as covering the base of the dungeon’s monolith.
The hunters split up, each mber moving with purpose as they surrounded the grey mist from all sides. Despite the size of the grey mist, two-thirds of the hunters managed to surround the mist while the rest stood as backup.
The clash within the mist continued as the intensity grew. A few explosions went off from ti to ti, and from different areas within the mist.
"Ready!"
The vice leader yelled from his position as he plunged a pole that was two ters long and 3 centitres wide into the ground. A subtle wave of mana quickly flickered from the pole and disappeared into the ground.
"Ready!"
Another call ca from another direction, and soon, many of the hunters signalled their readiness. Very quickly, the number of poles surrounding the mist reached thirty-five.
These special poles were works of magic designed as mana absorption artefacts. The runes and high-tiered cores embedded in their build just needed a bit of magical energy from a person to co to life.
These poles didn’t rely on the user’s mana for the duration of the function and worked by absorbing the surrounding magical energy in the air.
In other words, they absorbed the mana put into spells until there was nothing left. Anyone trapped within its bounds was dood to rely only on physical might to fight.
The poles were extrely sensitive to mana in a given radius, depending on the number of poles used in the encirclent. They were not cheap.
"Now!"
As soon as the order was given, everyone wielding a pole channelled a bit of their mana into the poles, and they quickly ca to life.
The runes shone brightly and then began to pulse as the poles quickly sent brief pulses outward, connecting to the others in their imdiate vicinity.
Once connected to the neighbouring poles, a visible magic circle glimring in purple light shot up towards the sky and began spinning.
The ground trembled for a bit, and the grey mist began swirling and rushing towards the gigantic magic circle.
"It’s working..."
The adventurers backed away from the mana absorption poles in wonder. This was not sothing civilians like them could afford or were even ant to see.
"Alright, get ready."
.....
"Haha... Is this the best you can do?!" Orien taunted as he swung his sword in a wide arc, forcing Jess to evade and jump back.
During their short exchange, the bounty hunter had co to realise he almost matched the catwoman. That ant Jess was just as strong as most Knight Commanders.
This was rare as Knight Commanders of that calibre were not easy to raise. The resources and dedication it took to reach such a level were not just about the quantity of monster cores one had.
"This is getting nowhere," Jess replied and straightened her back. "And I can’t continue listening to your blabbering."
"You!" Orien found offence with that, gritting his teeth in frustration. When he attempted to give a snarky retort, a sudden wave of magical energy, different from what was around, swept past them.
"Finally..." The bounty hunter grinned. "Looks like the wait paid off." The ward around his body quickly faded.
He watched as Jess looked around with a frown. Her grey mist began swirling out of nowhere and rushed upwards, leaving her shocked and confused.
"What did you do?!" The catwoman demanded in outrage as she raised her guard to the limit.
"Ooh, nothing special," Orien replied with confidence. "Just a little sothing to get this annoying mist out of the way. You didn’t think no counter could be developed against this mist of yours?"
Jess growled in a low tone, crouching slightly and ready to act at a mont’s notice. The bounty hunter boss found her actions cute, eliciting a chuckle from him.
"..."
Jess didn’t have to do anything since the man enjoyed hearing the sound of his own voice.
"Once again, Jess, give it up. You won’t be able to use magic anymore." Orien swung his sword to the side, falling into a gentle pace to his left. This forced Jess into the sa rhythm in order to keep a distance.
"Also, my n will be surrounding you soon." He added and ca to a stop, brandishing his weapon at Jess.
"Is that so?"
"Go ahead, I’ll wait." Orien had more patience than ever. "Just know that you won’t be leaving here as a free person. My advice to you: surrender before things get out of hand."
Jess’s eyes continued to dart around the more her mist got sucked away. Soon, she could hear the rushed footsteps of others approaching the centre.
Once the grey mists were completely sucked away, Jess found herself surrendered on all sides. The bounty hunters looked at her like she was so rare piece of at that was caught in a trap.
"Hehehe... Looks like we’ve got her right where we want her." The bounty hunters grinned excitedly. They could almost taste their rewards. "There’s nowhere to run, kitty cat."
"So what do you say, Jess?" Orien asked once more, his grin widening. "Want to give up?"
In response, Jess looked over to the entrance of the dungeon, prompting Orien and the other hunters to do the sa.
"Oh, don’t worry about your partner. He’ll get what’s coming once we deal with you." Orien said, and then turned to the adventurer he t in the mists. "You should get out of here while you still have the chance."
"T-thank you!" The said adventurer gave a curt bow and ran to the back, rushing past the bounty hunters who barely paid him any mind.
"Ah... Those." Orien noticed Jess staring at the poles around. "They are the artefacts responsible for draining the mana within its bounds. Neat, right?" He grinned in excitent.
Unfortunately for Orien, what Jess was looking at had nothing to do with the poles. She had everything under control since the very start, and knew what the other bounty hunters did once they arrived.
’The plan is a success...’ Jess thought silently, narrowing her eyes at the person in the back. ’But what’s he doing here?’
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