But Bruce, who was still waiting on the Elizabeth family to make a move, found himself ecstatic, blurted out the identity of the woman to Zach. He was very surprised that the woman was willing to help them even after Luna's secret had been revealed. Even Barry and Elizabeth family had perhaps left them out to hang after the revelation made by the prince. He couldn't understand why Sarah would put herself and her family as the target of the Norman royal family to create a chance for them to escape.
Zach couldn't figure out the motive of the woman who was currently keeping the panther from moving but at this time he didn't have the leisure of asking or contemplating on it. He could only cast a grateful glance at his savior whom he had never seen before this.
Sarah didn't turn her head towards Zach and the others who were standing behind her and shouted in a melodious but firm voice, "I will hold it here for as long as I can. Go first and don't look back. I won't let it go after you for a while."
Zach was dazed as he stared at her back which seemed quite weak due to her womanly figure but the strength and confidence hidden in her voice made him want to believe in her as well.
Just as he was about to make a run for it so as to not put more burden on the woman who already looked like she was having a hard time holding the berserk panther back, she turned towards him and winked with a seductive smile on her face. Zach couldn't help but find Sarah extremely attractive.
But he didn't let that get to his head as he knew what Sarah meant by that wink. She was by no means trying to seduce him, or even if she was, he could not tell from her expressions. Her only motive that he could be sure about was to remind him that he now owed a favor to her; no, a favor to the entire Macrae family.
Zach didn't wait any longer and waved his hand towards his people and rushed away with his group. They ran like the wind since they couldn't be sure for how long Sarah could hold that beast that was capable of fighting three armies on its own.
Luna stayed at the back of the group so that she could take care of any danger coming from the back, specifically the panther that could come at any time after taking care of Sarah. Zach didn't convince her otherwise either as he began to lead the rest of his group towards what he considered to be a safe zone compared to the current battlefield.
Sarah waited for a while after Zach left as she kept the panther in suspended animation within her water bubble that threatened to burst at any time under the inhumane force of the beast.
Before the beast could break through by force which would cause her to suffer from the backlash, Sarah cut off the supply of her mana to the water bubble and began to chant in an inaudible voice the incantations for her new spell.
This new spell didn't take long to manifest as a sea of water began to formulate behind Sarah hiding everything behind her from the vision of the beast no matter how abnormal it might have become after its change.
The towering and regurgitating water waves sent shivers down the spines of the enemy soldiers who were still encased in a shroud of mist but none could imagine how huge the scale of the attack would be. On the other hand the rising tide further raised the morale of the Macrae family mages who basked in the glory and power of their young lady. They were willing to follow behind her even if she marched through the gates of hell if they could continue to witness this magnificent side of her.
The water from the sea behind Sarah branched off into various tentacles of currents as it looked like some ancient creature from the depths had come to harvest the souls of the living. The tentacles looked as if they were spreading out from Sarah as the center. Therefore to the panther it looked as if Sarah had grown numerous watery tails and was using them to attack him from all sides.
Even though there wasn't much mana invested in those attacks, the sheer volume and weight of all that amount of water made it far too much to handle even for the Black Panther. Therefore, with every lash of the tentacles, the water that made the tentacle would be rendered useless as it would turn to mist after growing out of Sarah's control.
With her fine control, the used water began to replenish the vanishing mist and the cycle of defensive attacks continued to keep the panther and the army in their place.
Even though the panther didn't suffer any damage from these attacks, it was pushed back every time it was lashed with a water current. The panther visibly put extra force behind its attacks as it began to smash through all the currents that Sarah threw at it as it wanted to go through the water wave without trying to take Sarah on who was a troublesome enemy for the panther. Not because she was more powerful but because she was just a difficult opponent in terms of compatibility. Panthers didn't do well with water anyway. He kept being pushed by the whirlpools that Sarah created amidst her waves.
Being pushed back to its initial position, the panther couldn't control its angst at being controlled in such a manner. It bared its teeth at her like it wanted to tear her apart with its teeth but the surging waves of water behind Sarah were the perfect deterrent to keep it in check.
Finding itself truly stuck until Sarah's mana ran out, it had to try something. Therefore, the panther tried to go around the huge sea surrounding Sarah. Even though the magic spell she had cast covered a large area, it wasn't something the strengthened escort mage could not cross in seconds.
Sarah was far smarter than she appeared to be. She wasn't the sole strategist of the family for nothing. Even though she wasn't in as much limelight as Christina due to the battle prowess of her father that overshadowed her talent, she wasn't any less cunning and sly than Christina. She could deduce what the panther was about to do with a minor twinge in its expression or the movement of its eyeballs. As soon as it even thought of moving across the sea she had conjured by using a hell lot of mana, she countered by spending even more copious amounts of mana to increase the size of the sea.
Sarah made it so that the sea expanded in size with the movement of the panther. She wasn't about to let it get away after coming this far.
Angered by the outrageously difficult to deal with magic of the woman in front of it, the panther had a bloodthirsty look in its eyes as it opened its death dealing maw wide enough to fit a water melon through and a black colored ball began to form in between his sharp teeth.
Sarah couldn't understand what it was doing but remained vigilant in case the panther did something outrageous. The future proved that she had been very right to remain vigilant as the panther released the black ball it had been condensing in its mouth.
The ball shot towards her but Sarah managed to redirect a lot of water to form a solid barrier in front of her before the shot could reach her. The explosion that ensued was muffled by the water barrier; otherwise it would have shaken the eardrums of everyone in range considering the power and the amount of mana that had been condensed in it.
Sarah had never seen this kind of mana before. The black ball felt as if it was made of black colored fire but unlike the usual fire it didn't burn her at all. Rather it had a corrosive effect as it was spreading all over her water shield and was basically thinning out her water barrier to make it easier for the panther to cross through it.
The panther didn't stop at the first shell though. It continued raining it towards her as if the consumption of this much amount of mana was nothing for it. She wondered what kind of a monster had it become to sustain that much mana in the body.
The huge explosions in the water tore off a large amount of her defensive barrier as vacuums were created in the sea under her control. It was as if the black explosive shells were capable of eliminating even the mist that should have formed as a result of the explosions. But not even a wisp of that mist remained inside the sea and what replaced it was the boundless emptiness that could only be found in vacuum.
It was difficult for Sarah to maintain her control over the water barrier with the explosive shells taking bites out of her mana reserve but she was still trying to manage somehow. She had noticed that the Black Panther couldn't use more than a few shots at a time and needed a moment of rest after that. As long as the same situation persisted Sarah felt that she could hold it back for another few minutes. She only hoped that this was the monster's limit.
