An Owl's Rise

"Once we get out into the field you will be mostly on your own. If you stick near me, I will try to protect you, when possible, but I doubt you will contribute enough to sway anyone into thinking you deserve the heart of a grand fire elemental if you play it safe."

"Thank you for the offer and warning Lizlul. And I appreciate your willingness to protect me, but I'll fight where I feel I can have the most impact. If it looks like I will be overwhelmed just let me die, I came prepared for that the moment I decided to come here." Evelyn said, wearing a confident expression despite her dour words.

After that the two of them did not exchange any other words and rushed out of the fortress the instant the two giant metal doors opened.

While most of the tortoises charged forwards towards the incoming enemies, Evelyn immediately took the to the air in order to get a better view of the situation.

Despite the persistent haze of smoke and steam in the area she could distinctly see what looked like thousands of glowing lights rushing towards the fortress.

'Echoing Breeze.'

Spreading her wings wide and slowly flapping them, Evelyn created a large but weak gust of wind that blew over the area.

With this spell she was able to precisely investigate her surroundings even though visibility was poor.

'That is a bit of a surprise.' Evelyn thought once her magic had reached the limits of its range.

She had currently detected what could only be fire elementals, the large bulk of the incoming attackers was made up of aberrant beasts.

However, these ones were far different from the mind slave stoat and other aberrant beasts under the Mind Manipulating Mushroom's control.

Each of the aberrant beast in the swarm coming towards the fortress were heavily mutated by long exposer and being within close proximity to the elemental rift. This showed Evelyn that they had not just lost their minds, but their original forms as well.

'It is almost like they have turned into sort of half beast, half elemental monster.' Evelyn thought as she organized the information she had received from her spell.

She had been able to gauge their forms incredibly accurately from the wind magic she had sent out and could tell that many of the beasts had oversized limbs that were spewing smoke, or protrusions like spikes and horns that were made of magma.

Realizing that this was the end result of beasts that became aberrant, she understood what a truly gruesome fate it was.

Still, she was not going to show them any mercy just because of their pitiful fate. Her concern only extends to the few individuals that she had let into her heart and those that proved beneficial to her.

'Seems the battle is beginning.'

From up above Evelyn was monitoring the situation and noticed the Inferno Field Rangers clashing with the first wave of aberrant beasts. Among this group there was not a single fire elemental, but that just went to show that they were not dealing with entirely mindless foes. They had sent a tide of disposable pawns first in order to wear down the area's defenders.

The fierce battle began with a salvo of magic attacks from both sides.

From the aberrant beasts most of their attacks were fire, while the tortoises used mostly earth and water magic which was especially effective against fire.

Evelyn did not participate in the opening of the battle, instead watching and waiting for her opportunity. Simply rushing in and killing enemies might help her to gain recognition, but what she had in mind was likely to work far better. All she needed to do was lookout for the right circumstances.

'The Inferno Field Rangers are strong, and their teamwork is impeccable, but finally a chance has presented itself. I was afraid that my plan wouldn't work because of their sheer competency, though it looks like even they can't beat so many aberrant beasts seamlessly.' Evelyn thought, finding the exact scenario she had been waiting for.

Swooping down, she unleashed a barrage of wind blades on a group of aberrant beasts that were about to overrun two of the weaker members of the Inferno Field Rangers.

Moving about quickly she kept the beasts off of the two low tier tyrant rank tortoise and gave them room to recover.

Once the two tortoises were back in fighting shape, Evelyn backed off and supported them until they were no longer surrounded by enemies.

"So, you're the special guest that is friends with one of our juniors and participating in the battle. Thanks for your help. We would have been in trouble if you had not shown up when you did." One of the Rangers said when they had a slight moment of reprieve.

"Oh, I am just doing my part. I might not be one of you, but no way I can let one of my friends' colleagues die if I can help it." Evelyn said, acting as if she was a saint.

Of course, she had not come to this pair of Ranger's aid out of the goodness of her heart. It was simply all a part of her plan. She figured that if she went around helping those that were in a tough spot, it would generate more gratitude than by just fighting and killing a lot of enemies.

After helping out the first group. Evelyn rose back into the sky and kept her eyes open for a similar situation.

Luckily, she became spoiled for choice as the battle went on and more of the Inferno Field Rangers defending the area got worn down.

It was not long before she had ingratiated herself to dozens of tortoises fighting on the frontline and made a bit of a name for herself.

'Hm, the aberrant beasts are finally beginning to thin out. There aren't any other Rangers in real trouble right now.' Evelyn thought, flying around looking for where she could make the most impact.

Yet, as she continued to keep her eyes on what was directly below her, she failed to immediately notice an attack that was coming right for her.

By the time her instincts alerted her to the incoming danger it was already too late to avoid it. The attack was blasting towards her at an extreme speed and all she could do was put up a shield of magical energy in front of her before it could hit.

Looking like a shooting start streaking across the battlefield, a giant arrow made out of bright white fire sniped Evelyn out of the air.

When it impacted her magical energy shield it erupted into a massive explosion and easily breached her defenses.

For all those watching, there was no doubt that Evelyn had just been killed by an overwhelmingly powerful attack.