"So you separated from the others..." One of the soldiers from the group that had returned to this area with Vicente said with a sigh of relief.
That meant there was still a chance that the deputy and the rest of the group were still alive!
"Sigh! Good! I don't know what I'd do if I had to go home without some of those guys."
"But I'm surprised you got a new pentagram, Cole. When did that happen?" One of the men asked the strongest of the four Acolytes who had just been rescued.
Cole replied as two comrades helped him. "I was lucky enough to find an insect compatible with me while we were hiding from the woodpeckers. It was a level 4 insect with an orange pentagram. I used its distraction and killed it with a single shot.
Upon hearing it, others commented. "It seems we can kill magical beings with our weapons and conquer pentagrams like when we use our skills."
Ever since they had started their hunt, their group had had this doubt about using their weapons in the hunt. As far as they knew, the chances of success in absorbing pentagrams increased when one killed their targets with their skills.
Therefore, Vicente's men had avoided using their weapons to kill their targets these days.
However, that soldier had tested it himself earlier.
"It seems that when we use our mana on the bullets in our weapons, we get the same result as when we use our skills. I thought it would take a while to absorb my pentagram, but in less than an hour, I managed to complete the absorption process." Cole said.
Vicente heard it and spoke. "That is good. We'll pass this on to the rest of the family when we leave this area. In the meantime, we have no more time to talk. Time to get to Rory's group."
"We have no idea how to find the deputy in this maze, boss." One of the wounded men said, eager to leave this dark network of tunnels that seemed to have no end.
As for him and the other three, they had barely escaped from the woodpeckers, as even the rulers of this region didn't know about the complex network of tunnels the insects had secretly built in the area.
"Don't worry. I know where to go." Vicente expressed before he ordered his men. "Distribute some of the ammunition I gave you earlier with them."
Then, Vicente threw the men some resources with free mana, food items that had a lower recovery performance than potions but were useful when one was without those higher-level resources.
They set off, again cautiously marching as Vicente led the way, scanning their surroundings and slowly recovering.
...
A few minutes after rescuing the group of four soldiers from the Mazzanti family, Vicente noticed a disturbance in the surrounding mana that made him uneasy.
Feeling the magical mark of the 3rd stage woodpecker in the same direction where he thought he might find Rory, he rushed ahead of his men in a cold sweat.
Rory wasn't just one of his soldiers. He was his best friend, the one Vicente trusted most in Polaris Realm. He was someone Vicente was willing to make sacrifices to help.
Concerned about Rory's situation, Vice hurried ahead of his group.
"We're a minute away from where the 3rd stage woodpecker might be acting right now. Keep moving forward. I'll go ahead and help our companions." He said as he used his ability to fly on a metal plate resembling a skateboard.
"Shit! I hope the deputy's group has already left the area!" One of the men said as they increased their speed.
...
Meanwhile, further ahead of Vice and his men, the 3rd stage woodpecker had finally gotten rid of the strongest insects in the group behind the construction of these tunnels.
It had followed the mana signal of the yellow pentagram for a while. Still, after Vicente's body had absorbed such an essence, it had lost the signal and was left without a path to follow.
That had led it into the labyrinth of tunnels of the insects' enemies of its tribe, where it had met the enemy leaders and fought for a long time.
It won, but when it was wounded and alone, it felt the aura of one of the humans who had attacked its tribe early.
Following its instincts, it reached the chamber where it encountered three armed humans and a young level 1 Acolyte who had just absorbed his second pentagram.
Seeing part of the group of thieves that robbed its treasure, the woodpecker, who was pretty bad at the moment due to the many feathers it had lost that night and the blood dripping from various parts of its body, attacked the strongest one there without thinking too much.
Like an instinctive creature, its main impulse was to eliminate those lowly Acolytes who dared to act against it!
Sensing someone quickly approaching him and his men, Rory moved the mana through his body, flooding his Magic Gem.
'Fuck! I will need all of myself right after I absorb my second pentagram!' The young redhead thought to himself as he watched the bird fly furiously towards him, its beak as sharp as a sword aimed at his heart.
He didn't hesitate to combine the power of his two pentagrams and form his strongest move right after finishing his meditation.
Fire Aura!
The two pentagrams glowed around Rory, causing orange flames to appear around his body, completely covering him as he jumped toward the woodpecker.
He also used his abilities separately, a possibility for magicians.
Pentagrams gave abilities to their users. However, these abilities could influence each other and create new powers, such as the manipulation of electromagnetic fields that Vice was currently capable of.
However, each pentagram could be used either to create a unique phenomenon caused by more than one ability at the same time or to use both abilities separately.
In short, it was possible to use the ability of the first and second pentagrams and even mix the two abilities simultaneously.
That wasn't easy and required a lot of energy from the magician. But it was mainly possible for people with superior talents.
Aware of the disadvantages, Rory followed the plan anyway because using all of his abilities at once could give magicians like him much more temporary power than they could handle in normal situations.
He made explosions appear near the wounds of the 3rd stage bird while he was covered in flames before using his second ability separately.
Heat Manipulation!
He clasped one of his hands in the bird's body direction, instantly raising the woodpecker's internal temperature by a few dozen degrees Celsius.
"Go to hell, you bastard!" He shouted something he had learned from Vicente as he attacked with all his might.
