The massive fireball flew towards them, however, the moment it got close, Michael redirected it to the side with the help of Astraea who had greatly slowed down the attack.
Just like the other fireballs, it connected with the ground and simply evaporated, not leaving even a single trace.
Michael saw more of them appear and fly towards them and he decided it was finally time to use his Swords of Light.
Stretching out his hands, he sent the attack all around the two of them, aiming to kill whoever was attacking them first.
But much to Michael’s surprise, the attacks felt as if they were not traveling anywhere, only being lost in the dense fog.
That, coupled with the approaching fireballs, confirmed his suspicions.
‘System, what’s up with that fog’ Michael asked as he created a few shields around himself and Astraea while also still attempting to use his Swords of Light to penetrate the fog.
You are in some kind of a formation, there are 2 ways to leave it, either brute force it out, or kill the caster.
‘What’s a formation?’
Think of it as a barrier that has a trap installed inside of it, the one who cast it can most likely see you clearly, hence the relatively accurate attacks.
Michael groaned out of frustration as the attacks were starting to get really annoying and repetitive.
The one behind this did not seem too strong, maybe a little stronger than Michael, but definitely weaker than Astraea.
But what made it such an annoying fight was their inability to do anything, Astraea was too preoccupied with splitting all of the attacks so Michael could redirect them.
She could likely do it all by herself, however, he thought the mana drain would be quite massive.
But they had to do something, else they were just sitting ducks, waiting to be eventually overpowered by the fireballs.
And for that, Michael decided on brute forcing it, it would not prove troublesome for someone like Astraea to destroy a barrier 1 Tier below her.
Or so he hoped “Astraea, I will hold off the attacks on my own for a moment, can you target a part of the fog with all your power? We could open it up if you do that.” He explained and was met with a nod.
Astraea stepped behind Michael and put both of her hands together, manifesting the threads like usual, however, this time they seemed to be made out of pure mana.
The attacks came for them and Michael stacked his shields on top of one another, blocking the attack with only a few of his shields breaking.
He turned around and noticed Astraea’s silvery eyes glowing, the threads of mana floating around her had greatly changed form, now fully solidified back into threads, however, now they were a different color.
Instead of the usual black, they were now pure silver and just from one look alone, he could tell the amount of power within them had exponentially increased.
Michael blocked a few more fireballs and stepped back, not obstructing her view anymore.
And that’s when it happened. Astraea simply stretched out her fingertips and silence immediately ensued.
He couldn’t see the threads leave her, neither could he see what just happened.
It was hard to process, however, as he looked towards one particular direction, he saw a very small hole in the fog, penetrating it all the way through.
Michael could see her stagger a little bit, but before she fell, he caught her, standing her upright.
“…Did I get it?” She asked in an exhausted voice, it seemed like she really did use all of her power for that one attack.
‘That.. was something’ He was still a bit shocked, he couldn’t see anything or hear anything, in a mere moment she managed to break through the barrier.
Better yet, the fireballs had stopped, she might have hit the one behind this too.
Michael cast a few heals on her to relieve her exhaustion, he was not able to help restore her mana, but making her feel better was something he could certainly do.
Before all of this, he was a healer after all.
As he was in the middle of healing her, the fog suddenly began dispersing and they were finally able to see where they were.
And more importantly, who had attacked them.
Taking a look around, Michael noticed that they were currently on some sort of a mountain, he could see a few caves to the side and more importantly, the very peak.
As for the thing that attacked them, it looked like some kind of red skeleton, though now it had a huge hole in its head from where Astraea had attacked it.
It’s a Fire Wraith, odd to see it in a snowy area, they mostly roam around volcanoes.
Michael nodded and looked around more, trying to spot anything that could be of use to the both of them.
They, after all, had to get back within 5 days or they would be stuck here forever.
He was just glad that due to his training, he was not feeling the cold anymore, back in his world when he fought on the mountain he felt a bit chilly.
And up here was considerably colder, yet he was fine, Astraea was too.
Michael opened his map, trying to check if there would be anything, however, except the location mapped around them from the system’s perception, nothing else was there.
What do you expect? It’s a rift, I have no clue where you are.
‘Yeah, yeah, get to work on figuring that out.. anyway, where is the small rift you were talking about? Am I supposed to see it on the map?’
No, I can only map out the general area, the mana from the snow and the surroundings is actively distorting my perception.
Michael took another glance at the map and noticed many of the areas being blank as if filled in with random details.
‘I see..’
Michael looked to a nearby cave and signaled for Astraea to follow him.
It was best for them to rest up, especially for her since all of her mana was practically gone.
Added to the fact that this place was unpredictable, he couldn’t see any dots indicating whether there were other monsters or not.
The only thing he could see was the two of them.
Michael smiled a little upon seeing the colors, they were both green, her color finally changed from the neutral yellow she had when he first met her.
They walked inside one of the caves, it was relatively small, however, it was warm, a stark contrast to the coldness outside.
Michael learned how to manipulate the mana to make clothing, so he decided to make the both of them a warm golden coat.
He had grown attached to the golden clothing he made, it suited his looks and it provided the same amount of comfort as normal clothing.
And while neither of them felt the cold, it was comforting as the golden clothing made it feel like you were relaxed.
Michael did not know if it was a placebo, but nonetheless, he enjoyed it and it seemed like so did Astraea as she had a small smile on her face.
“Astraea” He called out to her and she turned to look at his eyes.
“Could you tell me a bit about yourself? I feel like we don’t know anything about each other” Michael asked with hesitation, he was not sure if she would accept sharing stories with him.
But much to his surprise, she nodded.
“Okay..”
