Gondel shook his head in denial and sighed before revealing his thoughts.
"You all are thinking in the wrong direction.
It seems obvious to me that the net we thought we could use to target Eren's team is not useful anymore. At least not as useful as we wanted it to be. I am sure others from that cunt's team had also made a run from multiple directions to divide the 12 teams that were pursuing them.
So I have scrapped the plan of cornering Eren's team entirely. I'll let others carry on with this plan to see what they can achieve with it. But that's a different matter altogether.
The thought of revenge has blindsided you guys– all of you. We don't have the luxury to pursue Eren. That's because we don't have a healer on our team.
Oshawa is no more."
Gondel looked at Oshawa's corpse in the distance. Since the battlefield had changed, it had been left at its original location. The geek then looked at his teammates with grim expressions before continuing.
"Do you understand?
Oshawa's death means we won't be able to heal anyone on time if they get critically injured. You guys saw how that bastard fought. Do you want to tell me that none of you would need healing aid if he started fighting us seriously?
Jaaka and Rey are dead as well. A lot of our battle formations and tactics have gone out the window because of these three deaths. We can't take any more risks if we want to claim Sage Lehan's Legacy. Any other serious injury or even death would mean that we wouldn't be able to defend the flags we have collected so far."
Gondel spoke calmly and collectively. He remained focused despite three teammates' deaths as if he had forcefully switched to his pragmatic side. His teammates looked at each other before metaphorically dropping their shoulders. They didn't object to his decision anymore.
One had to say that Eren's way of targeting the healer had paid off this time. That's because Oshawa's special healing spells acted as the foundation for Team Gondel's battle tactics. Their battle formations also made use of her spells. Without her, it could be said that Team Gondel had basically lost one of its limbs.
Gondel and his team eventually disappeared from the battlefield. They did not continue the siege they had planned with the rest of the teams. Instead, they chose to target other teams that were not part of the siege plan.
Under Gondel's command, his teammates were prioritizing Sage Lehan's Legacy instead of getting a share from previous Sage Legacies. They also didn't inform the other teams what had happened to them, wanting them to continue with the plan.
The battlefield became devoid of any presence. The corpses of two rankers, who were killed by Eren, were also made to disappear by the Sansara World.
Unknown to anyone, the killer of the scene had returned to his kill site. Not to admire his work and indulge in vainglory but to do something radical using the hands of his enemies.
What Gondel had assumed as Eren's retreat was only meant to make them give up on him. The butcher dispersed the beaked mask and observed his surroundings for a while. The artifact could only be used for a limited time per day and he wanted to save the remaining time for his next job.
'Have you thought this through?'
Alephee's voice was heard by Eren in his mind. He nodded before replying to her.
'I have. It depends on her, to be honest. Let's see how she performs.'
Eren confirmed that nobody from Gondel's team was following him. He then turned in the opposite direction from Gondel, entering the siege perimeter other teams were busy creating.
***
Blue Fire Domain.
As siege initiators fought their sole target, a hemisphere of blue fire was created. One side contained only one female mage that had created the Blue Fire Domain. The other side contained a team of rankers focused on killing her at all costs.
The female mage's domain spell was very potent.
The blue fire she manifested all around her would absorb the heat from things instead of scorching them. The blue flames would freeze their targets after bringing down their regular temperatures to zero as they burned.
A flame that would freeze one to death instead of burning its targets.
With the help of her element's unique inherent nature, the female mage managed to kill two of her opponents. The dead bodies were shattered after they were turned into ice sculptures. The pieces of their flesh were still covered in an icy membrane, preventing them from leaking blood. It was as if the female mage subconsciously wanted to avoid seeing blood and gore on the battlefield even when she killed for a living.
However, at the end of the day, this trapped female in a siege was a mage.
Most mages were referred to as glass cannons because of their inability to handle close combat duels. And unfortunately for the female mage, she wasn't an exception to the stereotype.
There were still six rankers present inside the blue fire domain. They protected themselves from being affected by the blue flames using their respective defensive spells.
These rankers were caught off guard by the female mage's sudden appearance. She had used her long-range spells coupled with a few unique Perks she collected to eliminate the two rankers from the team. She then tried to flee from the scene, hoping she had caused them enough threats for them not to follow her.
She had obviously underestimated the rankers that were still remaining in the Sansara World. They were obviously intimidated by the appearance of such a capable mage. But that wasn't enough for them to give her a hit-and-run pass.
"Bitch… You are not getting out of this alive."
Angry and frustrated, one of the six rankers spoke to the female ranker. She was a knight– standing closest to the female mage with a layer of orange flames protecting her from the effects of the blue flames.
The blue flames would siphon the heat out of the knight-class female ranker's orange flames, turning them somber in nature. But the orange flames kept the knight from being affected by the blue flames.
It seemed that the blue flames were the bane of the scorching flames and vice versa.
AN: Blue Fire Domain was first mentioned in chapter 249.
