NOVPUBFour flying creatures swept low over the forest, moving in unison toward a specific region—the area where the centaur tribe last reported sightings of the elusive light spirits, or as they called them, "fairies."
These were not ordinary creatures, but true spirit beings—manifestations of pure light mana with a conscious that had crossed into the physical world from the spirit realm.
Logan's aerial squad fanned out with planned positions. The dark-feathered vulture soared high above, scanning the canopy with keen eyes, while the three pegasus mounts kept to a wide formation, each separated by about a hundred meters to maximize coverage.
Riding one of them, Logan remained alert, searching for any glimmer of movement or flicker of light that could signal their target. Silvia, flying nearby, did the same, her eyes darting around while trying her best not to overlook anything.
Knowing the fairies could cloak themselves with powerful light magic, Logan brainstormed ways to lure them out. His best idea? Light mana crystals. Their radiant energy would surely be irresistible to fairies—but also to other light- or mana-sensitive beasts in the forest which nulled his plans effectiveness.
It was a gamble, a pretty bad one at that.
Silvia, meanwhile, was mentally cycling through her arsenal of spells. She was planning a quick intercept: one blink spell, instant teleportation, and hopefully she could grab or tag the spirit before it hides itself. Timing would be everything—fairies rarely lingered when spotted, it was as if they knew if someone saw them.
[Silvia, we're close to the spot. Have the mounts act natural—just let them forage and fly as if nothing's unusual. From here on, we'll continue on foot. I'll cloak us so we don't startle them.]
Logan's voice rang through their link just as he leapt off his mount with practiced ease and casted his Angelic Wings. Without missing a beat, he scooped Silvia into a princess carry and activated Shadow Step, blinking the two of them onto a high perch in the canopy of a towering tree.
They crouched beneath the thick foliage, eyes scanning the surroundings in tense silence.
High above, the vulture drifted silently, camouflaged by altitude and cloud cover. Logan had instructed it to circle in a figure-eight pattern the moment it spotted anything unusual below.
The three pegasi played their roles perfectly—each one browsing lazily from treetop canopies, drifting naturally toward the last known sighting of the fairies. Their movements were slow, natural, and unthreatening—exactly what Logan hoped would not be noticed by the spirits.
Now, it was just a matter of waiting.
Logan and Silvia, meanwhile, were already masking their presence using two useful skills.
Logan relied on his Crystal Chameleon's Camouflage Cloak, a perfect tool for stealth after its latest evolution. Combined with Yui's Mistwalk Shroud, the two were rendered completely invisible.
Even Logan couldn't see himself under the effects of both cloaking abilities, forcing him to be extra cautious—not just with movement, but also with Silvia, who also couldn't see him. The two maintained mental communication to keep track of each other's location.
[I've moved six meters from my original position. Hold there—I'll scout ahead and let you know if I spot one of the fairies,] Logan relayed mentally.
He moved silently from branch to branch using Shadow Step again, taking care not to disturb the foliage too much or make unnecessary noise.
[Nothing on my end yet, and Nothra—our vulture—hasn't signaled... wait, it's starting to circle in eights,] Silvia responded.
[It's about forty meters ahead. Try moving twenty to thirty meters forward.]
She blinked forward ten meters at a time using short-range teleports, keeping enough mana in reserve for the potential encounter ahead.
Logan, already nearing the location indicated by Nothra's signal, adjusted his course. Meanwhile, the three pegasi followed prior orders, drifting apart slightly to begin a slow encirclement of the area where the fairies were last seen.
As soon as Logan closed within five meters of the marked position, he saw it—one of the white flying creatures. It shimmered like a firefly, its body pulsing with soft flashes of light.
A grin crept across Logan's face. Finally, one step closer to ending this damn long quest.
He raised his hand, already forming a Darkness Arrow, but this time, he infused it with Assassin's Thread. The resulting projectile would be more for utility this time and nearly invisible—an ethereal web of dark wire, strong enough to rival Regal's silk, and perfect for constricting something so small and evasive.
Logan didn't aim for the fairy directly. Instead, he fired in a spread—one thread after another—laying a near-invisible net through the trees. He carefully set it to block the likely exit paths the spirit might use.
Then he gave the order.
[Alright, bring it to me.] He ordered the three pegasi then he turned to Silvia and also added another command.
[Silvia, get ready. I want that spirit stopped—no matter what.]
The glowing creature had already sensed something wrong. It halted its playful drifting and froze midair. But it was too late.
The three pegasi sprang into motion, cutting through the trees and circling it from behind. They didn't close in fully—just enough to pressure the fairy into choosing the path Logan had left open. That was the trap.
High above, Nothra—the massive shadow vulture—kept to a slow, ominous glide. Its shadow blocked the fairy's only upward escape route, forcing it low.
The spirit, tried to avoid getting caught in a tightening invisible wire and well as the hunters who sped forward as if they wanted to eat it.
Perfect!
Logan readied himself. The fairy was five meters away and closing fast.
On the opposite end, Silvia activated her gravity bind debuff, Arcane Displacement—an emergency spatial lock in case the fairy tried to phase or blink away. Even the centaurs had crept into position, watching from behind the foliage, ready to intercept.
Everything was in place.
But just as it was about to hit Logan's who laid invisible before it, the fairy stopped—dead in the air.
Its wings pulsed once, then again to stop itself from colliding.
A ring of light flickered from its core.
[It knows I am here?]
The spirit had sensed the magic, and more importantly—it had somehow already pinpointed Logan's hidden presence.
"You'll have to do better than that, hero, if you want to catch me."
The voice was light—childlike, but with a mischievous tilt that made Logan tense.
"But… I will praise your tactics. So now, let's turn this into a proper trial. Hehe!"
The fairy's giggle echoed unnaturally through the trees; the sound layered with a slight magical resonance that made Silvia instinctively jumped back using Arcane Displacement to appear three meters back.
Logan blinked in surprise. [It can speak?]
The creatures around them—the vulture, the pegasi, even the distant centaurs—recoiled slightly, all of them reacting to some unseen pressure suddenly beginning to emanate from the fairy.
It hovered higher, the glowing light at its core intensifying, and in an instant, the playful glimmer in its wings turned to a radiant light, Logan could feel it, fairies seemed to have been called up, they somehow connected to each other making the small twelve centimeter tall fairy grow to the size of a human.
