The other group protecting the messenger, Johnny White, stayed huddled together as they moved forward.
Everyone was using their umbrellas to prevent themselves from stumbling down because of the harsh blizzard.
The invisible barrier that was surrounding each of them, the Warmth Barrier, also acted as a shield for preventing snow sticking to their bodies.
Johnny checked the map, and discovered that the two blue dots ahead of them, which represented Donovan and Vincent, had stopped moving.
Seeing this, he yelled to everyone, "Let's move! Faster!"
They hurriedly walked forward. Although they could use their umbrella to fly, they'd get blown away because of the strong winds.
Suddenly, Rayman yelled, "They better give us 10,000 Galacreds for this mission!"
"Agreed!" Nick shouted.
Dean groaned, and yelled, "Hey, messenger guy! Why'd we arrive at this location, when we could have just teleported to the castle Tiero talked about?!"
"You fool! If we had arrived in front of the castle, we'd be minced meat at this moment! The inhabitants of this planet don't fully trust Umbrellas yet, which is why me, a goddamn messenger, is sent here!" yelled Johnny, his voice rising by the second.
As Johnny finished yelling, Sasha shouted, "All your shouting is making everything worse, let's just focus on moving forward!"
Hearing Sasha's words, Dean humphed and looked away.
Meanwhile, at Donovan and Vincent's location.
Arrows made of ice continuously showered them, and unfortunately, Donovan's barrier was starting to show some signs of damage.
Vincent, on the other hand, was firing back at them. His black umbrella was floating on the side, and a technologically advanced gun was on Vincent's hands.
Based on the direction the arrows were being shot at, he had figured out their location.
Vincent was on one knee, firing back at the unknown attackers.
The blasts coming from Vincent's gun, which was white in color and was glowing a bright red, was passing through Donovan's barrier without damaging it.
Donovan, as well as Vincent, was quite unsure if they were even hitting anyone, but one thing they're sure about was that the arrows were decreasing.
Suddenly, Donovan said calmly, "We can't stay here, we're sitting ducks. We have to move."
Vincent shook his head. "If you deactivate this barrier, we'll die. Earlier, we were high up in the air, and we were moving at an incredible speed. Yet, despite the low visibility because of the blizzard, and the fact that we were moving at high speeds, they were still able to hit us accurately."
He continued, "Either we wait here for the others, or I finish blasting them all."
Donovan sighed inwardly. Well, you better hurry, because we're very far away from the group…
I only have three hundred Umbrella Fuel left… This is bad…
Vincent continued firing back towards the attackers.
Then, upon running out of ammo, he sighed as he made the gun disappear and grabbed his umbrella, tapping it on the snow.
As he tapped his umbrella on the snow, a large bow appeared, and he grabbed it instantly.
He let go of the umbrella, letting it float beside him, and he readied the large bow. Then, an arrow made of fire appeared.
In an instant, he shot the arrow, the arrow passing through Donovan's barrier and flying through the thick blizzard. It shone so brightly that it was as if the sun was out.
Then, a few seconds later, Donovan and Vincent heard a loud boom coming from the direction where Vincent shot his arrow.
After the loud boom, the number of arrows that rained down upon them decreased significantly.
Donovan couldn't help but ask, "That was a spell for Rangers, am I correct?"
Vincent looked back at him, nodding. "Blazing Arrow."
Why didn't you just do that earlier, then…? Donovan nodded.
After answering Donovan's question, Vincent readied his large bow, readying another arrow.
"This drains up my Umbrella Fuel pretty fast, so I should be able to use it two more times," said Vincent as he let go of the bow string, firing the arrow towards the enemy, or possibly, enemies.
Then, the two heard another loud boom, and the arrows decreased even more.
As Vincent readied another arrow, Donovan was thinking of something else.
Something's off… They're just firing at us nonstop. And since they know our exact location, they must have technology or something else that lets them see through this thick blizzard.
Hm… Are they living beings or… machines? If they were living beings, they should at least have foot soldiers, right? Why are they just attacking us from a distance?
I'm certain it's a machine that's firing at us, possibly some sort of… defense mechanism. But I could be wrong…
Then, the loud boom coming from the distance made Donovan snap out of his thoughts.
"I'm out of fuel, but there's still two or three of them that's still shooting arrows at us." Vincent sighed, making the large bow disappear.
Donovan checked his Umbrella Fuel, and said with a sigh, "My barrier's about to give out…"
Suddenly, Vincent turned to face him and said, "Donovan, share some of your fuel with me."
Woah, I can do that? Oh, right, I can… Donovan nodded, recalling the steps and how to share his fuel with a teammate through the memories of the original owner of his body.
Surprisingly, it was very simple. All they had to do was let their umbrellas touch, and the one giving the fuel had to press a button on the handle of the umbrella. After that, it'll start the process of sharing the fuel.
At that moment, Donovan and Vincent let their umbrellas touch, and Donovan pressed a button near the handle of his umbrella. Then, he asked Vincent, "How much fuel do you need?"
"Eighty. Is that alright with you?"
"No problem." Donovan checked his Umbrella Fuel, and made sure to give him exactly 80 fuel.
Now, he only had 40 fuel left.
Vincent didn't waste time and summoned the large bow from earlier, and readied another arrow.
"Don't miss," said Donovan.
"I won't." In an instant, Vincent let go of the string, the arrow made of flames flying through the air. Then, they heard a loud explosion.
At the same time, the arrows stopped.
"You want to check what exactly was firing at us, or should we go back to the group?" asked Donovan.
"...Let's check." Vincent made the bow disappear, and grabbed his umbrella.
As Donovan deactivated his barrier, the two linked their umbrella's handle, and flew towards where the arrows were coming from.
Suddenly, Vincent sensed another arrow coming right at them. "Watch out!"
Hearing him scream, Donovan stopped, and the arrow went right past him. If he hadn't stopped, the arrow would have pierced Donovan's head.
Right after that, Donovan flew away with Vincent.
"Looks like there are more of them! If we get near, we'll get hit!" yelled Vincent.
"So are we going back to the group?" asked Donovan. Vincent answered, "Yes!"
Umbrellas, Portal Chamber.
Tiero was seated on a chair inside a room full of people. Null was also there.
In front of them were multiple monitors, and a control panel. One of the monitors was showing a live recording of the mission on the planet Tosla.
Tiero and the others watched as the group kept moving.
Suddenly, one of the people inside the room asked, "Are we certain there aren't any Annihiliths there?"
"Certain," answered Tiero.
Then, the person sitting beside Tiero suddenly said, "If this mission is successful, we'll finally be able to communicate with Tosla. That's one additional branch for Umbrellas."
"Heh, if they're successful," Null added.
Tiero said confidently, "Oh, they will be."
Suddenly, everyone in the room focused as they watched Donovan and Vincent return to the group through the monitor screen.
371-Tosla-91.
The messenger, Johnny, sensed something as he looked up, and saw Donovan and Vincent approaching them.
Donovan landed safely and slowly with Vincent. Then, the two walked towards the group.
Vincent started first, "There's some kind of… defense of some sort that won't let me and Donovan come close."
Johnny furrowed his eyebrows. "A defense… mechanism…? Something like that?"
Vincent nodded. "Yes, one that shoots a ton of arrows. We're not sure if it's a machine or people."
"Well, what did you two do upon discovering it?" asked Johnny.
"We were showered with arrows, and Donovan had to cast a barrier while I fired at… it, them, I don't know."
Vincent continued, "While I was firing back at them, the number of arrows were decreasing. I'm not really sure, since me and Donovan couldn't get close to check."
Hearing Vincent's words, Johnny sighed, and seemed to be lost in thought.
Suddenly, Dean stepped up, and said, "So when you two got close, arrows just started raining down on you two?"
"Yes." Donovan and Vincent nodded.
Dean hummed, and walked away, pondering.
Suddenly, Nick said, "Well, do we just brute force it?"
"No, it's too risky." Clara shook her head.
Suddenly, Dean and Donovan both said at the same time, "I have an idea."
"Ah. You go first," said Donovan.
"Yeah, I will go first," said Dean, emphasizing the "will." Dean walked towards them, and continued, "How about this?"