The person that shows up in the sky was an old man with crimson hair.
"Humph, it doesn't matter how talented you are, before a true Magus you are just a toy. Even if I can't kill you directly, I have other ways, soon all your secrets will be mine."
Erick looked at the cave where Zatiel vanished, and his face was full of anger and envy, after all, Zatiel was very young and his possibility of becoming a Magus in the near future were immense, and as for him, he was already in the twilight of his life without the possibility of becoming a rank 2 magus, his life was already closing to his natural end.
'Although Clyde is dangerous, as long as I erase all the evidence of my involvement, he will have no proof and the family head will not let him kill me.'
Ruthlessness radiated from him as he was thinking of the future of the pawns he made do his bidding.
.....
The Magi World was truly enormous, not just its surface but its interior as well. This world has layers, although the surface is the most sustainable and where life can grow most easily, the lower layers have a great amount of life and civilizations, some of them were non-human races that due to one or other reason chose to make this place their home.
These layers are also the place where those who are chased or did not want to be involved with the three great powers of the surface came to live.
Although every layer has a name of their own, a lot of the people just refer to them like the Underground Zone.
Zatiel and Sophia were descending to the first layer. Although the cave that connected to the first layer has no light, with the first one being a Neo-Demons and the second having her eyes mutated, neither of them struggle to see in the dark.
'That old coward would not dare directly attack me, so he must have made some preparation for me to be killed for some races here, as for how he finds out that I was coming here, it is simple, someone of the tower must have told him.'
Zatiel's eyes were becoming colder as he thought that someone dared to play games with him.
'Before, I was just going to kill you, but now, I think "He" will enjoy devouring a Rank 1 Magus alive.'
As Zatiel was thinking, he hears a voice that distracts him. It was Sophia who was looking at him with a worry expression.
"What happens?"
Zatiel got confused at the expression of the woman, after all, they were not even close to finding enemies.
"You have been acting weird since we entered the cave, are you alright?"
Sophia was concerned that something bad was happening with Zatiel.
"Oh, sorry, I guess there are some things that are difficult to get used to it. Don't worry, I am fine," Zatiel's expression returned to his usual relaxed one after the talk.
"As long as you are fine, it is ok I suppose."
Sophia didn't entirely understand what Zatiel meant but seeing him relax, she didn't press the topic.
Zatiel was feeling complicated. After all, accepting that a Rank 1 Magus dares to plan your demise, when there was a time when you could literally change fate with a move of your hands was hard.
But he was not someone who complains about his situation and lives in his glory days, so after a moment, those feelings disappeared.
They continued descending for a couple of hours before they reached the exit of the cave and landed in the first level of the Underground known as the Wastelands.
Although this place was under the surface of the planet and the ground was mostly rocks and land not suitable for farming and the like, it was by no means small, with a height of fifty meters and a landmass reaching several thousands of kilometers.
This place was the home of a lot of species, but of course, the ones that chose this place to live are not very powerful, if they were, they would go to the inferior levels.
According to the information Zatiel has, the lower levels have a living condition not inferior to the ones on the surface and groups as powerful as them.
Although the Wasteland didn't have a sun that gave it daylight, there were rocks on the floor and ceiling that absorb energy and release as light so there was a certain level of visibility.
"We are going to go for some materials that can be found in this level and after that, we will go to kill some races that habit this place, remember, do not separate from me."
Zatiel was serious as he talked to Sophia, as long she stays with him, he will be able to guarantee her safety, but if they split up, her fate will be an uncertain one.
"I understand."
Sophia knows that this is not a playground, so she was vigilant as they advanced.
Zatiel nodded as he saw her attitude and started to communicate with the chip.
"A. I. Chip, use the information I got in the tower about the underground to generate the most efficient path to collect the material and attack the tribes."
Before coming here, Zatiel got all the information he could about the Underground, like the geography, danger zones, and the races that inhabitedhabited this place.
This was so he could use the abilities of the chip to generate the best course of action, after all, the Wasteland is huge and if he starts to explore it in the search for all the things he needs, it will be a massive waste of time.
As always, the voice of the chip was heard in the next moment after an order was given.
[Bip... scanning environment.
Tracing the most optimal path.
Task completed, showing to host]
As the voice of the chip ends, a line appears on the ground in front of Zatiel, showing him the path to take.
"Let's go," Zatiel and Sophia follow the path that the line marked and after a couple of hours they reached their first destination.
In front of them were small mountains with caves that led to its insides, and in the entrance, you could see small humanoid creatures with a lizard appearance. They were kobolds, a race known for their hate for other species.
'Kobolds usually have a power bordering between a rank 2 and 3 apprentices, by what I can feel inside those mountains there must be around one hundred of them,' Zatiel was assessing the enemies and preparing his plan of action.
"We have come here to kill those kobolds?"
Sophia knew that with his power she would not be of much help in a fight, so she was nervous before a possible battle.
"No, what we are after is some mineral that can be found inside those mountains, as for killing those kobolds, although they are dragon spawn, these here are too weak and even if we kill all of them and purify their blood, it will not get us a single drop of dragon blood. Besides, we need someone to mine this place."
"You are hoping that they obey you?"
Sophia could not imagine how Zatiel was going to get those creatures to mine for him.
"Of course, if the only choice they have is between certain death and obedience, I am sure they will take the last," Zatiel spoke with such a certainty like it had done this type of thing hundreds of times before.
Sophia didn't know what to answer to that, after all, although Zatiel is very powerful there is a full mountain of kobolds against him.
Zatiel saw the confusion in her face but did say nothing and commanded the chip "A.I. Chip scan both of us."
[Bip... Analyzing host.
Strength: 12.3
Physique: 14.8
Speed:11.9
Abyss Aura: 15.7]
After eating hundreds of rat-mans, always having for meals the bodies of some magical creature and the acceleration in his abyss aura thanks to his work in runes, Zatiel stats have grown tremendously.
When an apprentice reach a Spirit Force of 15, they get the title of Pseudo-Magus, due to already reaching the level of energy they needed to initiate the process of advancing to rank 1, but Neo-Demons require much more energy before they advance, having to get to 20 points before they can begin.
Although the difference didn't look like much, those last five points will take more effort to get that all the others before them, and from now on, only food that has the energy level of a rank 3 apprentice or more has an effect on his body.
[Bip... scanning apprentice Sophia.
Strength:5.1
Physique:4.6
Speed: 5.3
Spirit Force:7.3
Status of the body: Severe deformation is detected in the organism. Due to the contamination of the body, advancing to rank 1 life form is almost impossible.]
'The contamination allows her to get great physical power even though she has never trained her body, but it also contaminates her energy and constitution.'
Zatiel figures out the condition of Sophia immediately with the chip. He had several ways in which he can help her, but now is not the time, and he focused back on his current mission.
"Stay behind me," having said that, Zatiel walks directly to the mountains without trying to hide from the kobolds.
Sophia didn't know what he was planning, but after a little hesitation, she followed him.
The kobolds detected Zatiel and started to scream threateningly as they called the rest of their members. It didn't take long for a dozen of them to get together and charge at him.
Zatiel saw them attack, and his abyss aura started to burst, but he didn't launch any spell. What he did was releasing all the strength of his magnetic force field.
The moment he did that, a pressure so huge originated from his body that made the kobolds that were running to attack them stop at once, almost falling.
Their bodies started to tremble with fear showing up in their eyes and as Zatiel walked forward, they started to move back.
