It's all yours.
Every nerve in his arm tingled with a surge of adrenaline. Pushing harder, utilizing stronger magic - it was what he wanted in his core. But it wasn't what Mark wanted logically. He wanted to be tactical in the application of his magic. Of all their magics. But the impulse was becoming numbing again. It was such a big reason he preferred working alone. The babysitters so far out and the other guild members so much closer made following the darker part of his tactics impossible. The Sergeant's frantic attempts to break through static interference didn't do him any favors trying to go about this with a clear head.
Ignore that! Kill it!
He closed his hand to form another sphere when the smell hit him. Ozone of a coming storm, but there wasn't a storm on the way. And it wasn't from Adelyn. Adelyn, thus far, had not created such a shift in the local atmospheric energy. That meant only one thing. And the coms cleared up just in time for Sergeant to confirm it.
Rather than continue his assault on the red beast - as much as he hated to disengage from his primary objective - he instead temporarily shifted, using Into The Void to phase in and out of where he was to avoid being hit by the lightning from the new combatant. While the red beast was well in hand, and moreso when it fell heavily after the latest hit it took, the lightning beast he knew was not something he could take on while liabilities were nearby.
No! Stay! Fight! Kill.
He could. Surely Kiba would convince Adelyn to follow Sergeant's orders and get her moving toward safety. That would eliminate that threat and he could stop holding back. The arcs of lightning were creating too much static interference. Everything was too loud.
Then Adelyn shouted. Arcs of lightning shot back toward the lightning beast. Dammit. He was not going to explain to Jenna how a lightning mage was killed by the lightning beast terrorizing the forest of Rembrandt.
He took a step forward, teleporting directly beside Adelyn and Kiba. A wall of tentacles sprang up between the three mages and the two beasts in the clearing, acting as a short term barrier to protect them. Just needed long enough for him to grab hold of both mages and pull them with him as he stepped backward...
And Void Stepped all three to appear beside the horses.
Mark didn't care he didn't give them warning or an option. This was his job they were allowed to accompany him. This call needed to be made and he was not going to deal with arguments before he made it. It was...why wasn't it quieter here? Everything was still buzzing too much in his ears. The Sergeant wouldn't shut up.
Go back and kill them both.
The dark haired mage yanked his hands from his companions. A hard breath pressed from his lungs and he closed his eyes. He turned his back to the others and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was the closest thing to showing the others how stressed he was at the moment. Despite how much he was ready to scream, his voice was as level toned as always when he grabbed his COMs and made it translate, "Sergeant, we are clear. Report: is our target still down?"
Okay, she had not planned to focus less on the barrier than she already was but here she was: doing just that. But they were within shooting range for the snipers so...it couldn't hurt too much at this point. She guided her horse over to Nolan and the Corporal. For good news, that was some of the worst she had heard. Nolan's assessment of the Asterin was rather spot on. So much so she was fairly comfortable conserving her energy at this point.
It took barely a thought to let the barrier cascade away without a drop spilt on anyone. "Yeah, if the snipers aren't seeing any within range, then it is better to conserve energy now for the ride back. Odd to think, but I kind of hope it is an ambush scenario. If they are potentially reacting to something bigger, that may be bad for whomever is handling the red beast." Though even conserving her energy wouldn't help her restore enough to be useful at all. Nolan would surely have to do the major lifting in another fight, but then...hadn't he already had to? She'd do better to support them all during the next fight. If there was one.