Elemental Cats

It didn't take long for the mana to wear down Joshua's body, and Joshua collapsed on the ground like a marionette with its strings cut. After Joshua fell down unconscious, the maelstrom of mana slowly dispersed as Joshua could no longer sustain his magic and mana absorption. The light from his eyes and mouth went out like a candle in the wind.

Joan shrieked and rushed to catch Joshua, but Toz was faster. Joan had been biting her nails ever since Joshua's body began trembling and deteriorating, and she wanted to stop him immediately. But she knew that it would only end with the void beasts catching up to them, so she trusted her son.

Toz handed over Joshua to Joan, who carried him in a tight embrace back to the house while crying softly.

After Joan walked away with Joshua, Toz turned to look at Lucy, who was naturally distressed at Joshua's collapse. But Lucy still managed to keep the sphere of darkness up despite his emotional state. Moreover, it wasn't the first time Lucy witnessed Joshua in a less-than-optimal situation. Compared to the time Lucy thought Joshua died, only collapsing from overexertion was pretty good.

However, the sphere of darkness hadn't been enough to hide the island and its inhabitants from the three void beasts.

Toz couldn't be sure since he wasn't an expert on void beasts, and he didn't know exactly what Joshua had done, but whatever Joshua had done when he solidified the barrier bubble had blocked the void beasts from detecting them. Maybe the improved barrier contained their scent, stopping the shark from smelling them. And it would probably be something similar with the two catfish. The barrier blocked whatever caused the catfish's whiskers to react.

It would be impossible for the void beasts to pick up their tracks if they were far enough away, even without Joshua's barrier. But due to the whale's exhaustion, their speed had dropped, and they hadn't managed to escape the three void beasts' detection range.

Their only solace was that the endless horde of void beasts was no longer on their tail.

But the comfort was short-lived as the three void beasts picked up the chase and began targeting the island again.

During the time Joshua channeled mana into the barrier, they had managed to put some distance between themselves and the void beasts. However, the whale was so exhausted it could barely move, and the void beasts were quickly catching up.

Thankfully it was only the three void beasts and not the entire swarm. But they were still at the ninth level. And the fighting power of the island was limited. The one at the highest level was at the seventh level, but after healing the whale, Stitches didn't have too much mana.

Toz and Mindle had blown through most of their mana as well, and the blue cat was completely empty. Nil was in a slightly better state since he had time to recover after he made the harness. Lucy had a talent for manipulating shadows and nearby darkness, so even if he was low on mana, it wouldn't put him out of commission.

That left Scrael and Hods as the only two fully prepared combatants. Scrael was at the sixth level and Hods was at the fifth. Against three void beasts at the ninth level, it looked like a futile fight.

Thankfully, void beasts were generally weaker than other beast counterparts, especially spirit beasts benefitting from Toz's inclination.

And even if Scrael and Hods were the only two in good condition, that didn't mean the others would sit and watch. The blue cat and the whale didn't have much choice since they were nearly paralyzed with exhaustion, but the others could still provide assistance.

Aside from Scrael and Hods, who were already prepared to fight, the others did as much as they could in the small amount of time they had to recover their mana. Though the mana on the island was a little thinner in density than usual after Joshua's stunt, so they didn't recover much. But there wasn't anything they could do except their best.

Lucy dispelled the sphere of darkness since it was no longer of use. Stitches came by shortly after. Stitches had been busy healing the whale and making sure it and the island connect well without leaving the possibility of harming the whale in the future, so when the sphere of darkness disappeared, he figured they were in the clear.

Stitches quickly realized they were very far from safety when his celebratory mood was met with a somber atmosphere. He didn't need an explanation for that since he saw the three void beasts rapidly closing the distance to the island. The shark in the lead with the two catfish, rivaling the shark in size, flanking it on either side.

The shark was a murky light grey color, the majority of its body the same gooey substance as any other void beast, the exception being its jaws and teeth.

The two catfish swam next to the shark, their beady eyes staring straight at the island with a gluttonous gaze.

The smile on Stitches' face that showed his relief at surviving a calamity and at successfully helping a patient was wiped clean off his face at the sight of the three void beasts.

Void beasts weren't that good at controlling their mana, so even beasts and mages at lower levels could sense how strong they were. When Stitches felt the ninth level of power from the beasts, his face sank. But it quickly hardened into an expression of resolve.

Although the situation might be dire, it wasn't totally hopeless, and Stitches would definitely not give up. And since he was at the seventh level, his help would be invaluable to the others, who were preparing to give the void beasts a warm welcome.

The inhabitants of the island lined up and prepared to face what would hopefully not be their last opponents. The blue cat watched on with slightly remorseful eyes. It and the whale were responsible for endangering the lives of everyone on the island. The man in charge had accepted their cry for help and was facing death because of it. But the blue cat would at least watch and witness what it believed would be the final moments of everyone on the island.