"I'm warning you, Kerina! Get your ugly, disgusting parasite away from me or I'll kill you!"
Kerina laughed after hearing his words. "Kill me? Lalu, be serious! How could you threaten me with such words?" She mocked him with a fake frown before letting the monster on her hand grow rapidly. The monster burrowed itself into the ground and re-emerged, attempting to bite the person named Lalu.
Lalu's face turned pale as he began to stutter out a spell, casting a poisonous shield around him. "Clarke, aren't you going to stop her? She's crazy! She's going to ruin our plans! If we fail, it won't end up well for us, including you!"
The fourth person named Clarke remained silent. He was the de-facto leader of the four antimage apprentices.
"Enough, Kerina," with a single sentence, the three collapsed to the floor in pain---Kerina took the brunt, as her screams echoed throughout the forest.
"We dragged this ordeal out long enough. All they have to do is send in a mage and we're done for. We need to kill the apprentices in Bran Village and absorb their essence," he said, glancing at Kerina. "I don't care what you do after we're done with this, but for now, obey me, or die. I'm fully capable of dealing with all of you."
Kerina pursed her lips and retracted the monster back into her palm. She lightly stroked the monster and grinned. She laughed maniacally, "Of course, Lord Clarke! I will be as obedient as these little puppies!"
Clarke rolled his eyes and asked the first person, "Fawn, are you ready?"
Fawn patted the Wind Wolf Leader's head and muttered, "I need a few more hours---the medicine isn't fully active yet. I can't control enough Wind Wolves."
Clarke nodded. "We'll wait until evening."
"Grrr..." The Wind Wolf Leader growled and Fawn's eyes widened. "An apprentice is wandering out of the village... alone."
...
Dark clouds loomed over Bran Village.
After listening to Zach and Thomas' explanation, Adam went out to investigate. He found that there weren't any traces of an antimage invading the village.
Although the number of Wind Wolves that invaded the city was only a mere hundred, if it weren't for Zach and Thomas, the village would have been run over without a single trace.
All of the knights were heavily injured, and some of them lost their limbs and were no longer able to fight. The ordinary townspeople replaced them, but they had no experience in terms of combat.
None of the townspeople evacuated the village. It wasn't because they didn't want to, but that they were afraid. With the incident occurring a few days ago, they quickly learnt that walking out of the village was a death sentence. The only choice they had was to fight to the death.
Conversely, the three apprentices left behind desperately wanted to escape.
In a clearing near the village, William, Riley, and Terry ducked behind some trees.
"We should run, it's impossible for us to deal with an antimage! I never even heard of them before until today!" Riley clambered with her staff trembling along with her.
Terry clasped his hands together, letting the vines caress Riley, "We are only apprentices. This isn't our battle! We need to leave, William."
William wasn't as naïve as them. He also noticed something was amiss on the way here---the reason they made it to Bran Village unscathed was because the antimage allowed them to. He predicted that if they tried leaving, they would die.
"We can't leave," William replied.
Riley immediately fell to the floor, tears pooling in her eyes, "No, that's impossible! We can leave, right? Terry, answer me! We need to leave!"
Adam's words about 'useless alliances' rang in William's head, and sure enough, he was right. The only thing that could help him survive was his own strength.
At this time, Zach and Thomas needed to restore their mana, but they were reluctant to use up their remaining supply of broken ether crystals. After seeing William approach, Zach simply said, "I won't blame you if you leave, but be warned, it is more dangerous to run."
William shook his head. "I'm not leaving. Is there anything we can do to help?"
Thomas smiled at William's response. "You aren't as dumb as you look. I'll be honest, there isn't much you can do---this isn't an apprentice's fight."
William frowned upon hearing this, but Thomas continued, "Since there are four of you, it would be best to divide into two teams of two and use a rune weapon."
Rune weapons were similar to magic items, but they needed to be fuelled by a person's mana.
William froze. "Mr. Thomas... Adam left earlier."
...
Unlike the townspeople and apprentices, Adam was strong enough to come and go as he pleased. Since he found something that interested him, he had no reason to stay in the village and assist them.
The egg had been abnormally excited ever since he left Bran Village. Adam understood that something strange was attracting the egg, and he let the egg lead him to the source.
Although he encountered monsters along the way, all of them retreated into the shadows. Adam could confirm that these monsters were being controlled by something and assumed that they were relaying information back to their master.
Nevertheless, Adam didn't stop moving.
Adam was extremely curious. He continued venturing into the unknown; he wanted to find out what an antimage was, which is why he went out alone to track them down.
Adam's behaviour was just like a mage's---they were devout researchers, and when anything piqued their interest, they would throw their lives away to study it.
"It would be nice if I can capture them alive, but it's fine if they're dead; I want to see what kind of magic they use too," Adam muttered to himself silently. There was a low possibility of him being defeated---as long as he did not encounter a qualified antimage, then it shouldn't be a problem escaping.
The number of monsters in Adam's path started to increase exponentially. This was a sign that he was approaching the strange source. He put his guard up, using telekenetic power to shield himself. Additionally, he started conjuring a spell in case anything decided to attack.
Whoosh!
A dark, green arrow shot past Adam, killing several of the creatures stalking him.
Adam raised his hand and prepared to launch his spell. However, the egg suddenly struggled in his hand. Adam glanced at the egg and used telekinesis to move the egg to block the incoming arrow.
Horrific laughter could be heard, but as soon as the arrow was swallowed by the egg, the laughter stopped.
"Huh?" a figure spoke. "An egg from the abyss, amazing! Hand it over or die!"
Adam responded, "Are you an antimage?"
"You know what we are and you still dared to leave the village alone? Are you looking down on us? Of course, you privileged idiots who live in the light have no idea what's it like to be shrouded in the dark!"
Adam frowned while attempting to locate the source of the noise.
When dark, green arrows shot from all directions, Adam simply threw the egg into the air. Like a black hole, it absorbed all the arrows. Adam could hear the egg slightly whimper, indicating that it couldn't digest that many arrows.
The enemy continued to taunt Adam, "An apprentice like you must have no experience in battle! Did the Academy even prepare you with mandatory duels? I bet not! You idiots are all sheltered and spoiled!"
Lalu thought Adam was an easy target since he was only an apprentice. He had no clue that Adam had already pinpointed exact location.
Another arrow shot out and Adam grabbed it with his bare hands.
The arrow was corrosive. It melted through his psychic barrier before dissipating at the eighth layer. Adam sighed. "How weak."
Adam overestimated his opponent and he was extremely disappointed.
Adam studied the arrow and speculated that it was some kind of curse magic. "No wonder mages abandoned curse magic," he muttered. "It's too weak."
Adam was wrong. Curse magic wasn't suited for direct combat, as curses needed time to take effect. However, Lalu was blinded by his anger for the apprentices and immediately hunted Adam down. This was coupled with how he couldn't bear to stay with Kerina any longer.
Adam had no interest in dealing with curse magic anymore, there wasn't any value in researching it. "Is that all you can do?" Adam shouted. "Who taught you this useless magic?"
Lalu was astonished at his words and roared in anger, "You are nothing but trash! How dare you make fun of us antimages?!"
'Sure enough, curse magic corrodes the brain.' Adam thought. 'Does the practice of ancient magic cause severe side effects... or is it because antimages have been outcasted from society for a long period of time...?'
"Corrosive arrow! Corrupt arrow!" Lalu roared, raining arrows down on Adam.
Adam noticed Lalu shouting the spell's names, not out of habit, but to imbue false confidence in himself. A scoff escaped from Adam as he wondered how antimages were able to survive to this date. Is it because they were, in a way, protected by mages as an endangered species?
"You're boring me," Adam said softly. Rays of light erupted out of thin air, illuminating the dark jungle with brilliant, dazzling light.
"Found you."
Adam raised his finger, shooting out a highly-pressurized beam of water.
The water beam is a relatively complex spell, consisting of eleven runes. The beam of water pierced through the forest and tunnelled in onto Lalu.
Lalu desperately casted more arrows but they were all broken as soon as the water touched them.
Seeing this, Lalu had no doubt that the water could easily slice him in half.
Lalu hurriedly revealed a life-saving scroll and the defensive magic stored within formed a shield in front of him. The shield stood firmly against Adam's beam of water with no signs of damage.
Lalu's face was filled with panic as he roared, "My shield! This scroll was given to me by my master! You will pay for this!"
Although Lalu was insane, he wasn't a fool. He quickly retreated into the forest with the shield trailing behind him. When he noticed Adam was capable of casting such powerful magic with zero effort, he felt annoyed that he couldn't be the one to take Adam down.
Adam strolled over to Lalu's original position and frowned upon seeing the broken scroll left behind. This scroll was crafted by an official mage.
"You're not going anywhere," Adam muttered as he levitated off the ground, chasing after Lalu. He became a flying fortress and bombarded Lalu with barrages of wind from above.
Lalu desperately fled into the forest without looking back. The shield hovered around Lalu and absorbed all of Adam's attacks.
Adam accelerated in front of Lalu and appeared in his path. Adam stomped on the ground and Lalu quickly dodged to the side, escaping from a narrow death.
However, every time Lalu dodged, another thorn violently rose from the ground. He desperately ran to avoid them. The speed of the thorns only became faster and faster, and soon, he was surrounded by a curtain of water, fire, and air.
"Damn it! Damn it! How is this possible?! How could you possibly cast so much magic with no sideeffects?! How?!" Lalu wailed, sobbing as he knelt on the ground.
Clang.
After Adam continuously bombarded Lalu's shield, it shattered.
"No... it can't be... how can a great antimage like me lose to a spoiled brat like..."
Adam didn't let him finish. "Enough."
Lalu was stunned. "Huh?"
"You are nothing but a mouse, and yet, you dare taunt me in the face of death," Adam replied. "Don't you feel any shame?"
Lalu muttered, "Damn you..."
With a single swipe of his fingers, a wind blade sliced off one of Lalu's legs cleanly. "You aren't alone, are you?" Adam inquired.
Lalu screamed in pain, not expecting Adam to cut off his leg.
Adam suspended him in the air with telekinesis. He conjured an orb of fire and branded it on Lalu's stump, stopping the bleeding while roasting the limb into a crisp.
Lalu almost fainted from the pain, he hoarsely said, "You will regret this... you will regret what's coming to you...!"
Adam immediately cut off his other leg. "Answer me."
Lalu's eyes burnt with hatred. But suddenly, he pleaded as he squirmed towards Adam, "Please, don't kill me, let me go." He inched closer and closer to Adam, a smirk slowly forming on his lips.
Adam felt that something was wrong.
"No." Adam decapitated Lalu and used telekinesis to throw the body away from him. He threw the egg towards the corpse and he could hear the egg feasting on it.
As soon as Lalu died, powerful curse magic erupted from the corpse, which was fully absorbed by the egg. The egg bounced back to Adam, seemingly happy with its meal.
"Pleading for your life while trying to take me down with you?" Adam muttered to himself as he treaded deeper into the forest.
...
The other three antimage apprentices were still at the clearing. Clarke felt a pang of pain in his heart, and he immediately unfolded a contract from his arms---Lalu's contract turned grey and dissipated into the air.
"Lalu is dead," Clarke whispered.
Fawn and Kerina raised their heads.
"Lalu's dead," he repeated.
"Who cares?! It's not a surprise that an idiot like him died. Pity! My little baby wanted to feast on his flesh!" Kerina said with excitement.
Fawn muttered, "He was killed by the apprentice who ventured out alone? By an idiot who has no experience in combat?"
Clarke's face turned dark. "Idiot? No. Lalu left us for less than half an hour and he's already dead. Whoever left the village is not weak."
"The Academy actually sent someone strong? I thought all of the strong apprentices died in the war!" Fawn said, realising something was amiss.
"Although Lalu was useless, his magic corroded the Rune Barrier effectively. Without him, we need to act now." Clarke suddenly stood up. "We can't wait any longer. Fawn, it's up to you."
Fawn nodded and smashed his potions on the ground. The mists emanating spread around the air. The Wind Wolf Leader's eyes flashed red.
"Kerina," Clarke called.
"What's the matter?" Kerina smiled.
"Kill that apprentice. I don't care what you do, don't let him approach the village."
Clarke knew better than anyone how crazy Kerina was. If she couldn't deal with him, then they were done for.
Kerina kissed her palm, and the monster quickly grew out, transforming into a snake-like figure. Kerina leapt on the snake and disappeared into the forest, shouting, "Your wish is my command, Lord Clarke!"
Clarke and Fawn walked in the direction of the village. Clarke had a bad premonition that something bad was about to happen.
"Fawn, if something goes wrong, escape immediately."
Fawn sneered upon hearing Clarke's words, "Of course, my Lord."
