Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst-Chapter 154: VOL 2 - 99: Newborn spirit.

"Frank, right?" Upon hearing the student's comment, Zoe turned to look at him and asked in a calm tone, gazing directly into the young man's brown eyes, who answered with evident nervousness.

"Yes, honorable direct disciple."

"Well, Frank, what is the method you're talking about?"

Zoe asked on behalf of the direct disciples, who looked at Frank with three parts doubt and one part suspicion. After all, not even Liliana could pinpoint the enemy group's location, so a mere student shouldn't stand a chance. Yet at the same time, the galaxy was vast, inhabited by all kinds of people and curious talents. Instead of rejecting him outright, they decided to listen. Maybe he could bring them a pleasant surprise.

Frank, a young man with an athletic build, tanned skin, kind features, and brown eyes, wore his black hair tied back in a short ponytail whose tips were decorated with a pale green color. He clenched his fists nervously under the scrutinizing gazes of the direct disciples, but after taking a couple of deep breaths, the young man extended his left hand in front of him. This caused a large amount of air to start swirling.

Soon, the swirling air began to take shape, turning into what looked like a small cloud, which fell gently onto the young man's hand. It then moved a bit, and out of nowhere a pair of large, beautiful eyes appeared on it, as though they had just opened. These eyes looked around briefly, then fixed on Frank.

Upon seeing Frank, the cloud's huge eyes gleamed with joy. Small arms and legs extended from it, which it used to stand on the student's hand and begin to jump around happily with its arms raised, while making cute little noises, almost as if it were cheering in its own way.

"This is Lirio, a newborn spirit. Although it can't do much yet, it's somehow able to 'smell' mana and follow it back to its source."

When the young student said those words, the direct disciples' eyes lit up like flashlights as they looked at the small spirit in the palm of his hand. The women, in particular, fought the urge that welled up inside them to smother the adorable creature with kisses. The tiny being watched them curiously with those big, bright eyes.

"... Are you sure it can 'smell' mana?" After a small, fake cough to hide her emotions, Elara asked with a look of intrigue on her face as she observed Frank, who quickly nodded seriously.

"Absolutely. Thanks to him, I've been able to find buried mana crystals and that sort of thing. And even once, when I was looking for the culprit of a 'prank' I was a victim of, he managed to follow the residual mana of a spell all the way back to whoever cast it. It's pretty impressive."

"That's an incredible ability... Remind me of your full name?" Liliana asked, looking at the young man with eyes shining, almost as if she were using her light affinity to make them glow.

"My name is Frank Svensson, honorable direct disciple." Frank replied, doing his best to remain calm. This prompted Liliana to tilt her head a bit and quickly ask with curiosity.

"'Svensson'? Like 'Svens Shoes'?"

"Yes, honorable direct disciple, that's the company my father founded. It's truly an honor that you know of it." Frank answered, somewhat surprised but evidently proud. Liliana then smiled and commented.

Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.

"Well, my older brother loves the boots they make, and even my silly younger brother likes them."

"My father will be thrilled when I tell him." Frank replied with a huge smile. At that moment, Zoe spoke up seriously.

"We can take care of that later. For now, let's focus. We need to attack, and we're counting on you, Frank."

"By the way, when we return to the space station, let's meet in the common area on the first floor. We have a proposal for you."

Elara added with a confident expression, causing Frank to tighten his grip around the staff in his right hand with joy. He fought with all his might to avoid shouting out loud, instead speaking quickly in a serious tone.

"Thank you so much for considering me, honorable direct disciple. For Lirio to do his job, we first need to have a sample of the mana for him to 'smell'. After that, he can follow the trail."

"Leave that to me. Prismatic Seal!"

Liliana spoke confidently, and a magic circle formed in front of her. A whitish beam of light shot from it, passing through her prismatic barrier and striking a meter-long icicle that was falling from the sky, covering it completely. The beam of light then turned into a prismatic barrier around the icicle, which flew swiftly toward Liliana.

"Will this work?" Liliana asked Frank with a smile, holding the prismatic barrier in front of her. Frank nodded seriously.

"Yes, that's more than enough." Quickly, Frank turned to look at the cute spirit in his left hand. He spoke gently to it, almost as if talking to a small child, while pointing at the chunk of ice with his staff.

"Lirio, see that piece of ice? We need to find whoever made it."

Upon hearing the instructions, the adorable spirit let out a few cute squeaks while waving its chubby arms. Frank nodded and turned to Liliana, speaking respectfully.

"Lirio says, please allow him inside the sphere of light. There's too much mana around here, and it's confusing for him."

"Absolutely."

After nodding, Liliana moved her staff slightly, which glimmered faintly and formed a small magic circle. This caused several light tentacles to appear inside the prismatic barrier, holding the icicle in place. Then a small opening formed in the barrier, through which the cute spirit leaped comically, propelled by currents of air.

Once inside the sphere of light, the newborn spirit began to fly around the large icicle, making adorable gestures as though sniffing at it, which melted the ladies' hearts. They quickly forced themselves to quell those feelings because it wasn't the right time for that.

A short while later, the newborn spirit squeaked sweetly, flying out of the barrier and landing back on Frank's left hand. It let out a couple of cute squeals while pointing in one direction, prompting Frank to nod in understanding before turning to the direct disciples and speaking seriously.

"According to Lirio, the owner of this mana is in that direction, about two kilometers away."

The moment Frank pointed north, Elara turned her head to look in that direction, eyes wide with surprise. She exclaimed urgently.

"Damn it, that bitch is just distracting us, she wants to get into the palace before we do!"

"And she also attacked us before entering. That bitch knows something! Bombard them with everything! Hiyori-sama, please."

Zoe quickly gave the order while assuming a crouched position, placing her hand on the hilt of her sheathed katana. The imposing fox once again formed a sphere of white fire, which shot into the air as a melodious feminine voice could be heard.

"Leave it to me."

Without wasting a single second, Elara, Liliana, and Frank took mana recovery potions. Then, Elara and Liliana conjured magical circles, while Frank surrounded himself with glowing runes. At that moment, they all pointed their staffs north and urgently announced.

"Dragon's Breath!!"

With several magic circles in front of her, Elara cast in haste, causing a burst of flames to appear before her. It quickly took the shape of a dragon's head several meters long, which opened its huge mouth and unleashed a cataclysmic torrent of fire at an absurd speed toward the north.

"Starfall Barrage!!!"

With that, Liliana made her move as massive magic circles formed in the sky above her, summoning hundreds of orbs of light that shot off at high velocity toward the north in parabolic arcs.

"Tempest Fang!"

Meanwhile, Frank spoke firmly, causing the runes around him to spin rapidly. They soon conjured a massive tornado of slicing wind, which merged with the dragon's breath of fire, vastly increasing its power.

A few seconds later, violent explosions echoed in the distance, causing the cave to tremble and sending overwhelming shockwaves that slammed into the barriers, swirling the surrounding mist. Frank shouted urgently after his spirit squeaked sweetly from his shoulder.

"They keep moving!! They're holding on!!!"

"Shit!!!"

After an exasperated cry, Liliana pulled several spheres from her storage ring, each radiating a strong light. They floated behind her in a perfect circle, spinning slowly around each other. Shortly after they appeared, the projectiles of light from her spell grew exponentially in both size and quantity, and even their temperature rose. They began leaving trails of plasma in the air.

"They've retreated!!! Now they're that way, in a straight line!" Frank shouted quickly, pointing northwest. Elara immediately gave a serious command.

"Attack!!!"

"Dragon's Breath/Tempest Fang/Starfall Barrage!"

Without delay, the trio of mages, along with the white fox, resumed their attacks, aiming to the northeast this time and causing more brutal explosions. The adorable Lirio once again let out a sweet squeak from Frank's shoulder, so the young man promptly said in a serious voice, pointing west.

"They backed off again; they're to the west now."

"Stop, don't attack. We need to keep our stealth. Liliana, help Disciple Williams recover. We need to expand the fog even more and trap them in it." Zoe gave a firm order, turning to Ethan, who looked extremely pale with slightly purple lips, and asked with a serious expression.

"Is that possible, Disciple Williams?"

"I'd need full support from Disciple Faye, but it's doable. Still, I'll only be able to maintain it for a maximum of one minute." Ethan replied with heavy breaths, as Liliana hastily cast a healing spell on him, covering him in a gentle light that improved his condition.

"Dawn's Embrace!"

"That's more than enough." Zoe spoke confidently and turned to Elara, asking seriously.

"Elara, do you have a plan for the attack?"

At the question, Elara brought a hand to her chin, thinking for a few moments before explaining her idea clearly.

"Our best bet is to use the element of surprise. Up until now, they've been cautious enough to stay away from the fog. They're probably afraid of Disciple Williams's illusionary fog array. It's very likely the traitors couldn't give them detailed info since we deliberately kept it hidden.

"So what we have to do is move as close to their position as possible without shifting the fog. When we're right on the edge, Disciple Williams will expand it. In the ensuing confusion, we can pick off several targets, and hopefully that bitch Christine, too. If we can take her down, her team will collapse, and we'll be able to enter the palace without too much trouble."

"I suppose that's our best option." Liliana commented in a slightly tired voice, at which point the orbs of light behind her began to dim one by one. They shattered like glass and fell to the ground.

"Then there's nothing more to think about. Let's get moving." Zoe nodded decisively, then turned to Frank and asked.

"Frank, where are they?"

Frank turned to look at Lirio on his shoulder, who, after sniffing the air a bit—making him look especially adorable—let out an excited squeak as he jumped. Frank nodded and then spoke while pointing southeast.

"They've moved around; they're further off in that direction."

"Understood." Zoe nodded and turned to the pensive Elara, asking.

"Elara, do you have the specific battle strategy thought out?"

The blonde-haired mage nodded quickly, then extended her hand in front of her. A gust of fire formed there, taking the shape of an uneven terrain with tall pillars. On one end were ten markers, and on the other, five. She began to explain, moving the pieces in line with her words:

"Yes, we'll launch a double surprise attack. As soon as the fog expands, you'll circle around them as fast as you can, while Liliana, Frank, and I launch a full-frontal assault. If that bitch manages to survive, you'll make an all-out attack in cooperation with your spirit."

***

There are new public images of the characters on Patreon.

You can support me on patreon.com/lordanl and get up to 10 advanced Chapters.