"Oh, Who is it? Someone from our academy?" The curly-haired man asked, intrigued. Others in the group also threw interested glances toward Dalton.
Dalton looked at the curly-haired man and shook his head, "It's a guy from the Cloud academy."
"Oh? Cloud academy? How about I help you? The curly-haired man offered.
"No. I will handle him. Let's proceed. We need to finish our mission as soon as possible." Dalton declined and walked deeper into the forest.
The curly-haired man shrugged and turned to others in the group, "You heard him. Let's go." Saying this, he walked beside Dalton. They were the strongest in this group of five, so they could order them around.
The other three nodded, took out the beast core, and followed after them.
...
Somewhere in a remote place, Inside a gloomy cave, an alluring figure was panting heavily as she rested against the cave wall.
She was Rima. Just a while ago, she had been through a tough battle against a group of four wolf-like beasts, three early-stage two-star beasts and one middle-stage one.
'How unlucky! I encountered that group of beasts immediately after parting with Belen and Leticia. If they were with me, we could have killed them easily.' She sighed inwardly. She then ate a mana replenishing pill and took out a few Mana stones to recover her exhausted Mana.
...
Rustle ~
When she had recovered about ninety percent of her Mana, her ears perked up as she heard leaves rustle outside the cave.
Whoosh!
Rima became alert immediately as she looked toward the entrance of the cave. Mana swirled around her as outlines of a wheel started to materialize in front of her.
However, the next moment, her face turned ghastly pale when she saw seven pairs of eyes gradually coming toward the cave. Without waiting for a single second, she dashed deeper into the cave.
Although she was already at the peak of the middle-star two-star realm and had a powerful spell like [Destruction wheel], she wasn't worried about fighting beasts, even if they were high-stage two-star ones.
But it was different if she were to fight a group of beasts, even if they were middle-stage or early-stage two-star ones. After all, her spell was a single-target attack.
She decided to dash deeper into the cave instead of out because the cave was narrow as one went deeper, only enough to fit a single wolf. This means she wouldn't have to fight all the beasts at the same time, giving her a better chance of surviving this danger.
Moreover, even if she wanted to escape from the cave, she couldn't have done since they had surrounded the Entrance, and she knew her speed wasn't enough to throw them off.
Grr~
The beast outside sensed her escaping deeper into the cave and immediately charged inside and chased after her.
Whoosh!
Soon, Rima saw a turn in the cave, and after the turn, it became even more narrow, barely enough for her to stand. Seeing this, she became jubilant and immediately charged inside, and after going in 3-4 meters, she stopped. Then focused on finishing the [Destruction wheel].
Grr~
Just a moment after, she heard a wolf's growl. Following this, a giant wolf's head size of her body entered the cavity and bit toward her. However, it couldn't reach her since she was standing some distance away from its reach.
Bang! Bang!
The wolf rammed its body against the cave, forcefully trying to enter but couldn't. Therefore it raised its claw and aimed to slash at Rima.
Shua!
However, before it could bring it down, the two-meter large wheel shot toward it and cut its claw, followed by the rest of its body into two.
Shua!
It didn't dissipate after killing the wolf in front and proceeded to cut through the bodies of two more wolves standing right behind it because of the narrowness of the cave.
Awoooo~
Seeing three of their comrades die, the rest of the wolves howled in anguish, and their eyes turned red in madness.
Bang! Bang! Slash! Slash!
They started to ram and slash at the earthen walls blocking them.
Crumble~
Although the rocky walls were quite sturdy, they couldn't endure the barrage of attacks from the wolves and started to crumble piece by piece, enlarging the entrance to the cavity.
"Damn it." Rima cursed. She could see that they would be able to enter and hack her pieces in just a few seconds.
Weng!
Mana burst out from her body and started to materialize in the shape of two wheels; however, their size was only 70% of the previous. At the same time, her Mana began to gather inside her throat, strengthening it.
She was going to cast the [Sonic Annihilation]. Although she wasn't too familiar with it since Max had given it to her barely a week ago and there was a risk of hurting herself, she had to use it if she wanted to kill these bloodthirsty wolves. If not, she would be the one to die.
Bang! Howl!
The rocks blocking the cavity crumbled and opened the pathway for the wolves to enter. They howled and charged in.
Rima had moved to the end of the cave and was desperately trying to finish the cast of her spells. Her face paled when she saw the wolves charging toward her, and the fear of death crept into her heart. However, she forced herself to stay calm.
Whoosh!
The next moment, the wolves were in front of her and slashed at her neck.
Qiiiii~~
Just before the wolves' claws could slash her neck off, she opened her mouth, and deafening sound waves hit them, immediately immobilizing them.
Because the wolf in the lead was directly in front of her, it was hit head-on. Its claws which were only a few inches away from her developed faint cracks in them, and blood started to pour out of its eyes and snout.
Thud!
The leading wolf fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious. As for the rest of the wolves, they were immobilized just for a few seconds before recovering. However, before that, two sharp Mana wheels shot toward them and cut off two of the wolves' necks.
Seeing that there was still one more wolf alive and was about to come out of its dazed state, Rima immediately ran toward the exit while taking out an escaping talisman and crushed it. She didn't have any Mana left. So, she didn't have any other way except to escape to save her life.
Immediately, ripples of energy spread from the talisman and covered her body, giving her speed a significant boost.
Howl~
However, as she was about to run past the living wolf, it howled and slashed toward her.
Splash!
Due to the momentum, Rima couldn't move her body in time, and its claw slashed at her torso, and blood splattered.
Whoosh!
Ignoring the nerve-wracking pain, she ran out of the cave and sped out through the forested region.
...
"Mm?" Suddenly, Max opened his eyes with a frown on his face. For some reason, he felt uneasy and immediately focused his senses outwards and scanned the 300 meters around him and didn't find any danger.
"Strange. There is no danger. Why would I feel this way?" He murmured in confusion. He then stood up, dusted his clothes, and started running toward the northeastern direction where Cloud academy was located.
Whoosh!
Two days later, Max traversed the barren region and entered yet another forest. He could have traversed this area sooner. But because he needed to stabilize his Mana core, the journey was delayed. However, he was successfully able to merge two more units of enhanced Mana into the core, strengthening it.
Now he could enhance 200-300 hundred more units to the three-star level without having to worry about his core crumbling or the pain.
However, to be on the safer side, he decided to use two more units to strengthen it before enhancing more units. After all, with his current strength, almost no two-star beast was able to threaten him.
He had encountered a group of the high-stage two-star speed type beasts, but they weren't able to catch up to him when he used his enhanced Mana to run. Of course, it wasn't like he was completely invincible in the two-star realm.
There was a time when a flying beast chased after him. Even with his speed, he wasn't able to throw it off. Fortunately, only its speed was great but not offense and defense. He was easily able to kill it using the combination of [Flame barrier] and [Calidus Brahium].
BOOM!!!
Suddenly he heard a loud explosion from deep inside the forest, which caused the earth to quake.
'Hm? What power! Is some three-star beasts or mages fighting there?' Max exclaimed in shock and looked in the direction of the explosion. Although his vision was blocked by tall trees, the cloud of dust and smoke was visible in the sky.
Gradually, the cloud of dust cleared, and a black figure appeared in his sight. Because it was tens of miles away from him, Max wasn't able to see clearly what it was.
All of a sudden, he felt a pair of eyes looking at him, which was probably the figure in the air.
"It noticed me?" Max was shocked. He was hidden in the trees, and it should be impossible for him to be seen.
[Ding. Danger detected. Host is advised to use all the means to escape out of here, or death is inevitable.] Just as his mind was reeling in the shock. System's somewhat panicked voice sounded in his mind.
