The nights in the Endless Forest were usually silent, but close to the cave of the rat men, four people were speaking, breaking the silence.
"Arthur we have been waiting for a week and we have got no signal from him, maybe the rat men have killed him."
A bulky apprentice with a magic robe covering all his body spoke to a tall red-headed man.
"Richard, you have already seen the state of the beast he kills, that person can kill Pseudo-Magus level magic creatures with ease. Before I was just being precautious but now, we have to kill him no matter what." Arthur says with determination in his face.
Arthur and his group have been waiting for Zatiel in a zone filled with trees 2 kilometers away from the entrances of the cave.
Although they were three Rank 3 Apprentices and one Pseudo-Magus, they had chosen to hide and wait to surprise their enemy instead of directly fighting with him.
'Luckily we made plans or else, if we fight him head-on, in the best scenario only I could barely survive.'
Arthur has always been someone who plans for every possible scenario and does everything in his power to eliminate every unknown variable.
In reality, he was not angry at his brother for being hurt, but he knows that if someone abuses his men and he does not teach them a lesson, it will create a vicious circle and events like that will happen again, making it very difficult to increase his power in the tower.
In the beginning, he was sure that with his group killing these two apprentices will be easy. But seeing the power displayed by Zatiel; he knows that his opponent is someone who can kill all of them on his own.
Looking at the entrance to the caves, Arthur goes through the plan.
"Martin, is the spell ready to activate?" Arthur asks a thin apprentice by his side.
"The parchment with the Rank 1 spell Mind Break is ready to activate the moment he leaves the cave. We were very careful in putting it in the entrances before he arrived so he couldn't have discovered it."
Martin responds as he focuses on a small mirror in his hand that shows him the scene of the entrance of the cave.
"This is an overkill. No matter how strong an apprentice can get, faced with a Rank 1 spell that can only be created by a Rank 1 Magus, they can only die," Richard says, getting angry as he remembers how long they had to save to buy the parchment from the Tower.
Arthur said nothing about the brawny man, as he looked at the only female of the group.
"What do you think about this scenario Linda?"
Linda was a beautiful woman with an impressive figure and a pretty face, but that was not everything about her. She was also powerful on her own, almost reaching the level of a Pseudo-Magus.
"You have never disappointed us. If you think we should use this rank 1 spell to kill him, then you must have some valid reasons," Linda says smiling to Arthur.
"Thanks," Arthus says smiling back.
"I am just giving my honest op..." before Linda could finish speaking, an immense feeling of terror assaulted her.
From the dark sky, a person covered in shadows materialized itself right above her.
Before Linda could even react to the death threat, a sword fell from the sky passing from her head to her hips cutting her in two exact pieces.
Arthur, Richard, and Martin could barely react to the grotesque scene when the blood of Linda splashed over them.
But as elite apprentices, they got hold of the emotions in a moment.
The first to react was Arthur who chanted a spell and created a dozen shields made of fire around him, the next one was Richard who made his hands glow as he charged at the shadow.
Martin was an arcane apprentice and was not very proficient in battle so he was the last in react, but still, as he got hold of himself, he tried to chant a spell to affect the conscious of the enemy, unfortunately for him before he could even start, four chains came out below his feet and impaled him by going through his body, killing him instantly.
"Bastard!" Richard saw another one of his comrades get killed and he launched a punch with all of his strength.
The shadow reacted with the same move, a blow filled with strength with his free hand.
Richard grinned at the response of the shadow. As a body-refinement apprentice, he was very confident in the strength of his body.
But this feeling didn't last long. The moment their fist clashed, his hand exploded in a ball of blood and flesh, and the rest of his arm was completely fractured.
Richard could not help but scream from the pain he was currently experiencing.
The shadow did not stop and tried to decapitate Richard, but before he could attack with his sword, balls of fire rushed towards him forcing him to separate from his enemy.
Arthur was channeling all of his power trying to hurt the shadow, but unfortunately for him, no matter how many balls of fire he threw, none of them could hit the opponent.
The shadow looked in the direction from where the fire was coming and with a movement of his hand, chains materialized close to Arthur and start attacking him
Although Arthur's shields were powerful, they could barely resist the chains, so he had to redirect all of his attention to defense.
Now that the balls of fire were no more, the shadow attacked Richard again with ferocity.
Richard was too hurt and could not hold for long before his head was separated from his body.
Arthur saw how the last of his comrade was killed, and his heart was drowned in fear.
Although he wanted to run, the chains were attacking from all places and didn't give him any opportunity.
The shadow looks at the last person surviving, but no emotion could be detected from him, just a complete indifference before his enemies deaths.
He bent his knees and you could feel how power was accumulating from the way the ground cracked. After a moment, he jumped towards Arthur.
The only thing Arthur saw was a flash before he felt something crash against his chest. It felt like a mountain had fallen on him.
The impact was so great that Arthur's chest exploded. Being hit with such strength he crashed against some trees before falling dead to the ground.
The person stood where Arthur was previously, and as the shadows dissipated, Zatiel's figure was revealed.
'It was easier than I thought, I wonder if I can kill a Rank 1 being before advancing in rank myself.'
As Zatiel was thinking, he gathered the bodies of the apprentices to see if they had anything that could be useful to him.
When he got to Arthur, he saw how his face was full of regret and unwillingness.
Although Zatiel was indifferent before the emotions of his enemy, he had to admit that this person was someone careful. Had there been anyone else, there is no way they would have detected the Rank 1 Spell.
Knowing of the spell that awaited him at the exit and knowing his enemies were close, he opened a new cave with his chains to go out of the mountain with no one knowing, and tracked his enemies to take them by surprise and finally end this hunt.
