Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain
Chapter 427 - Temporary Partnership

 Furball's coolness increased quite a bit when Ryan bought the tome and made him learn Ice Cannon, a spell one tier below Ice Breath. While the range wasn't that impressive, it was more than enough for the time being. Besides, with his speed, Furball could approach most enemies and attack them before they could react. While they were waiting for the others, Ryan gave Furball the order to train the skill, and he also used some mana potions on him.

"Sorry for the wait," Haruna said after arriving while leading a group of twenty soldiers. "We met again much sooner than I expected."

"I guess so," Ryan said.

 Ryan ignored Haruna's smile and just went straight to the business. If his memories were correct, half of the guys she brought were her old companions, while the other half belonged to Yahiko's army. It was hard to be sure since they all were using the same set of armor. The only real difference was that Haruna's friends still had their old weapons alongside the two katanas the ordinary soldiers carried with them.

"Let's get going," Ryan said.

"Our leader said that I would give the orders once the fight happens, but aren't you going to say anything about what we should or shouldn't do?" Haruna asked.

"I don't know how things will proceed since the enemies can fly, and they are much stronger than anything I faced before, so I can't say what you should or shouldn't do," Ryan replied. 

"You should ask those who had fought the vermillion birds a few times for tips and strategies. All I can say is that once we replace the boss, you guys will have to hold back the minions for me. Trust me. You won't like to stay nearby once the fight starts."

 Ryan recalled that he turned the last part of the dungeon into a pretty decent copy of the north pole to seal Titania's attacks. Normal humans couldn't endure that cold. Ryan only could because of Femradiel's power.

"Anyway, give me the details about the fight last night," Ryan said. "Yahiko blocked the monster's advance, but he didn't do it alone, right?"

"Yes, although we didn't have many chances to act since he went all out to help you," Haruna said. "We used some long-range weapons, but we didn't help all that much. Since the fight, the vermillion birds and fairies stopped attacking us."

 As expected, the monster called Oberon decided to retreat now that he had lost Titania's support. It looked like the fight was going to be more difficult since Oberon knew that he couldn't underestimate Ryan and because he was mad. He killed his wife, after all.

"What the vermillion birds can do?" Ryan asked.

"They can create fire tornadoes when they flap their wings, but they really like it to fire explosive fire arrows," Haruna replied. "When they are about to die, they always try to self-destruct near their enemies. We have to defeat them before they have that chance because the power of the explosion is massive and because they can revive if they manage to kill someone with the attack."

 That was a weird condition to revive. In any case, the monster really looked like the Eastern version of phoenix. Considering its elemental skills, Ryan considered the idea of killing some Azure dragons and making some magic crossbows, but in the end, he changed his mind.

"Lord Yahiko selected the best users of ice magic for this job, so things should be fine," Haruna said.

 Added to that fact, Haruna and everyone else had a backpack filled with mana potions… that wouldn't last even for a single hour of fighting.

"Lord Yahiko will send supplies to us whenever necessary, so you don't have to worry about that," Haruna said.

"See? I told you… you are pretty easy to read." Femradiel said.

"Hey, Yahiko," Ryan said. "If you are watching us, you should prepare a huge supply of mana potions and send them to us as soon as possible. I want to finish this job tomorrow, so don't be stingy. Your people will pay for the potions later."

 No one aside from Haruna could understand what Ryan said, but they could guess based on his tone, and naturally, they didn't like it. Despite that, some soldiers appeared after a few minutes carrying some boxes filled with potions. Ryan stored them inside his storage dimension in order to keep their pace.

 After walking for a while, Ryan frowned since they didn't have to fight a single time, and there was no monster in the distance. Fairies could hide while they controlled their foes, so Ryan's Radar was active but wasn't picking anything.

"Did you guys get attacked by the vermillion birds and the azure dragons at the same time?" Ryan asked.

"... No, that never happened," Haruna replied after she made the same question to her allies. "Do you think the monsters might attack us from behind now that we are so far away from Tokyo?"

"I think that it is possible," Ryan replied. "Do you know if the azure dragons are being controlled as well?"

"We think that is the case," Haruna replied. "But until now, we haven't confirmed that since we never had the chance to enter the dungeon. Lord Yahiko will probably send another team to investigate the remaining dungeon, so when we return, we will probably obtain the answer for that question."

 Ryan's doubts would disappear if someone could tell him the precise time the other team will do their job… in any case, while the possibility of being attacked from behind was small, Ryan couldn't relax.

 To prevent that unpleasant surprise, Ryan gave the order for his steel eagle to fly high and keep its eyes on the surroundings. Hopefully, his pet will notice the enemies' approach and will warn Ryan before the monsters could kill the eagle. Just to be sure, Ryan made his pet absurd some SPE potions, but that was only temporary and quite costly… Ryan has to learn a spell that increases speed.