Chapter 430: Momentum Change

Julius could only shake his head as he sensed the barrier slam into place. He had attempted to stall the activation, but he was a second too late. However, during the little clash of wills, he was able to get a gauge of the opposing Tier 5’s aura. From what Julius could glean from that small confrontation, the man wasn’t as powerful as some of the other Tier 5s he had come across.

It felt less experienced and forged than a combat-focused Tier 5 should have. That led him to believe that this person focused on something other than pure fighting. The barrier was an example of this as well.

The one thing that Julius was worried about was the rumbling of the ceiling and the surrounding stone walls. He should have expected it, but they had literally walked into a space where the enemy could drop an entire mountain on top of them. He should have suspected something like this when he saw the delicately built stone architecture. There were obviously some earth mages around.

Many of the people who accompanied them were frightened by this sudden ambush. Some tried to attack the barrier, but they were just wasting their energy. The barrier wouldn’t break under such attacks. Otherwise, Emil would have already broken it himself.

Speaking of Emil, the man was currently focused on keeping the ceiling from falling on top of them. He was constantly disrupting the earth mages’ attempts and used his domain to smack aside any large stone slabs that made it through.

Some of the calmer ones, including the adventurer team, were helping Emil. They utilized telekinetic bursts and various abilities to support the ceiling and block falling debris. They understood that if they let the mountain fall on top of them, they would be finished.

Julius used his perception skill to see if he could sense anything. Unfortunately, the barrier had some kind of anti-spatial enchantments, and while it didn’t completely block out his senses, he wasn’t able to get as clear a picture.

What he was able to sense was the sudden appearance of a lot of people. It was like some kind of stealth had hidden them. Neither Julius nor Emil had sensed them. Julius wondered if they had been hiding deep in the stone walls with the help of someone’s powerful skill.

The stone was hard to sense through, and he wanted to slap himself for not recognizing the danger when it was staring him in the face.

As Emil was delaying the ceiling from collapsing, he sensed this group of people approaching. However, what really caught his attention was the massive bear shaking the ground with each step.

This bear was ginormous, at least ten feet tall, and it wasn’t even standing on its hind legs. It also had completely stark white fur. The huge monster’s eyes were a cold, icy blue, but what had Julius scowling deeply was the beautiful suit of armor buckled around the bear’s body.

The armor matched the fur of the bear; it was made of some white colored steel and rippled with blue pulses of mana with each step it took. The armor looked like a masterpiece of equipment and art.

What was even more worrying was the fact that this bear was easily Tier 5 and a powerful one at that. It definitely wasn’t the same willpower he and Emil had clashed against moments earlier.

The man riding on top of the bear’s back was likely the person who had activated the barrier and with whom Julius had clashed wills. The man certainly didn’t look like a fighter. He was covered in enchanted armor from head to toe. The armor was just as beautiful as the bear’s, but its elegance was ruined by the smug look on the Tier 5’s face.

Right behind the massive bear were a large number of bandits, as well as around a dozen other bears. They were slightly smaller, only standing around eight feet instead of ten.

Julius was beginning to understand why they called themselves the Frost Bear Clan.

He heard Emil choking out a laugh upon seeing the bears. “Seriously? How much Blightfrost Steel did he use to make all of that armor?” He muttered under his breath.

Julius glanced over at Emil and was glad to see that the man didn’t seem overly burdened from maintaining the ceiling’s structural integrity yet. However, he was curious how long the chief could hold up when that massive bear made its move.

The enemy Tier 5 chose this moment to speak to them; his nasally voice echoed throughout the cavern. “I almost didn’t catch that mark of yours. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was warned, you might have caught us unprepared.”

Julius frowned. What did the man mean by ‘warned’? Did someone from the village betray them and tell the man?

He let out a sigh as the mark he had been feeling suddenly started to move toward them. Julius was half expecting the man to walk out of the crowd, but Julius was surprised when he saw the dead corpse of a man instead. His mark was still active, but the man was obviously dead, and they threw the body at their feet.

“Velton was an idiot, but he at least allowed us to drag you out of your little village, Emil,” the boss stated mockingly toward the chief.

If the man was expecting a reaction from Julius or Emil, he didn’t get one. This non-reaction seemed to annoy the man, and with a twitch of irritation, he leveled his arm and pointed at them.

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The bandits seemed to understand the command and began to prepare their attacks. They had the most aggravated smug looks on their faces as they looked at them. Many of them seemed to be aimed toward the ceiling. Since the barrier extended all the way up, they probably thought it was easier to bury them.

However, as they were busy doing this, Julius used [Void Step]. The giant mass of mana coming from all the bandits hid his disappearance from the Tier 5’s senses for just a brief moment. It was barely a fraction of a second, but that small opening was enough.

Julius didn’t get to truly appreciate the baffled look of surprise on all of the bandits’ faces as he appeared right beside the Tier 5. He ripped a gauntlet created with aura-woven mana and channeled with [Void Strike] toward the man. The bear reacted faster than the man and leaned its rider out of the way of the attack, thinking it was targeting the man with the nasal tone. However, Julius wasn’t targeting either of them, and his fist smashed into exactly where he was aiming.