Upon hearing such troubling information, Orson immediately moved and leapt onto the roof of the tallest nearby building to gain a better vantage point.
Checking the surroundings, he quickly spotted a large group of Magical Beasts moving toward the area, just as had been reported.
In the skies, a flock of Gargoyles flew in formation, gliding close past the buildings.
Gargoyles, they are a group of Magical Beasts cloaked in black fur with a fearsome appearance. Their faces resemble bloodthirsty demonic bats, with massive jaws lined with jagged, razor‑sharp fangs.
Standing upright, their bodies reached nearly 2.5 meters in height. Their upper limbs were bat-like wings, spanning even longer than their bodies, making them appear unnaturally large.
From Orson's knowledge, each adult Gargoyle was ranked at danger level C+, perilously close to level B. That alone made them a serious threat, but the danger did not end there.
On the ground, though his view was partially blocked by buildings, Orson could still glimpse a swarm of black Magical Beasts moving. They resembled giant insects, somewhat like ants or spiders, with bodies clearly divided into front and rear segments.
The rear section was bulkier, bearing three pairs of legs.
The front section rose higher, equipped with a pair of large limbs reminiscent of a mantis's claws. This front part also carried their heads, each adorned with two enormous fangs protruding outside the mouth.
Judging by the structure of those fangs, one could easily imagine them clamping down on prey, holding it fast, while smaller inner teeth slowly gnawed away at the unfortunate victim.
This was a strange species of Magical Beast that Orson had no prior knowledge of. Even so, he could guess their danger level was no less than that of the Gargoyles above.
Realizing the presence of these creatures, sweat immediately poured down Orson's face.
Because of what was happening, the entire city was filled with sounds of destruction, screams, and cries of chaos. That made it difficult to notice the silent approach of the Magical Beasts amidst all the turmoil.
Fortunately, Orson had been warned in time about their presence, giving him a chance to prepare a countermeasure.
Had he not known of the danger lurking behind them and simply rushed toward the mage tower, being suddenly surrounded and attacked by those Magical Beasts could have led to catastrophic consequences, almost certainly death for everyone nearby.
Immediately, Orson leapt down from above and began gathering as many forces as he could find, trying to prepare for the imminent threat closing in.
. . .
* * * * * * * * * *
After leaving the crucial intelligence with Orson, Tris once again focused on the immediate problem he had to face.
To be honest, Tris believed that Orson's group and the nearby adventurers alone were far from enough to handle the sudden threat approaching from behind, a danger he himself had only recently discovered through the scouting vision of his puppet 'Feathers'.
Yet, even if Orson's group lacked the strength to deal with the Magical Beasts, it was still the only option available to them at the moment.
Guildmaster John, along with adventurers Leon and Amy, was currently occupied battling a dangerous enemy.
Captain Marcus and Bishop Peter's team, after the enemy's opening strike, had fallen to the opposite side, positioned on the far flank of the mage tower.
Because of the considerable distance and being too preoccupied, Tris couldn't dispatch a 'Feathers' to monitor the situation on that side.
Even so, he could easily guess that they too were being held back by a formidable foe. Otherwise, they would have already advanced and stormed the mage tower by now.
As for Tris himself, ever since landing from the sky, he had been constantly busy evading the relentless pursuit of the archer atop the mage tower.
From his observation, the attacker was a woman with long blonde hair, clad in tight leather armor that accentuated her slender frame.
For reasons unknown, she kept firing at him without pause, her arrows nearly as deadly as the 'Magic Bullets' fired by the puppet 'Sniper'.
No, saying the reason was unknown wasn't entirely accurate. Tris suspected she had realized he was the one who successfully infiltrated the sealed-off Aldor to retrieve intelligence earlier. Her current pursuit seemed like retaliation.
As for how she recognized him? Perhaps by noticing his use of other puppets.
Tris cursed inwardly: '(╬▔皿▔)╯ Damn it! Was it really worth holding such a grudge just because I stole a bit of information?'
He muttered in his mind while deftly dodging another arrow.
Even though Tris used surrounding buildings as cover, she could still aim with uncanny precision. Thus, he concluded that the female archer must possess some special magic for targeting, rather than relying solely on her eyes, something akin to his own 'Eye From Nothingness'.
To counter her effectively, the key was to uncover the method she used to observe.
Tris began experimenting by attempting to deceive her vision with earth clones.
Hiding behind a large building, he summoned the clones and sent them running in different directions, blending himself among them.
Of course, he had temporarily stored away the 'Berserker' puppet he had used earlier to withstand the rain of arrows. He also ensured the clones remained shielded by buildings, out of her direct line of sight.
The result of the experiment: she still shot accurately at Tris's true body, rather than being confused by the identical clones.
Tris thought: 'So it's not three-dimensional object detection like 'Eye From Nothingness'. It must be something else.'
Tris continued testing with various methods, summoning 'The Twin' briefly to distract while he himself used 'Light Bending', using fire and ice magic to mask his body temperature, and more, but none succeeded.
After a series of trials, Tris began to suspect:
'Could it be that she observes through life force itself? Some kind of Life Magic?'