The young woman, covered in blood, was none other than Rima. After completing the mission, when she was returning to the academy, these people in black clothes suddenly attacked her. Because she was already injured, she couldn't defend against them and was captured.
The fat man looked at her angrily and shouted, "What do you know? If I offer them enough money, they... might free me."
This fat man was a businessman. A week ago, when he was traveling in the desolate region to go to another city to trade, these people came out of nowhere and knocked him out, along with his two henchmen, who had already died from the blood loss.
Apart from the fat man, Rima, and three more humans, the rest of the people were of the elf race.
"It's of no use. They won't let any of us go no matter what we offer them." Rima shook her.
Hearing this, the fat man and a few others who were conscious right now glanced at her with terrified gazes.
"W-why? Do they really want to k-kill us?" The fat man asked, and the hope in his eyes dimmed considerably.
Although he asked this, he also knew that these people hadn't kidnapped them for money, etc., because ever since they were brought here, these people hadn't asked for anything and just inflicted injuries after injuries on their bodies so that the blood continued to flow in that strange formation.
"It's because they are dark mages. I'm not sure if you have ever heard of this term before." Rima said, fear flickering in her eyes.
"Dark mages...!" Two middle-aged men similarly tied to the pillars and two elder elves shuddered in fear upon hearing this. It was clear that they knew what dark mages were. In contrast, the fat man had a confused expression.
Rima wasn't surprised that this guy didn't know about dark mages, as the information about them was intentionally being held by the people in power because they didn't want ordinary people to live in constant fear.
One another reason for this was that in the past few decades, the dark mages hadn't appeared, causing most people to forget about them. However, those who knew what the term 'Dark mage' entailed would be terrified and wish they had encountered some ferocious beasts instead of these dark mages.
Dark mages were people who, to become strong, had abandoned their humanity and walked the path of demons, every race's worst nightmare.
Using some demonic spells, the dark mages can improve their strength rapidly, even if they aren't talented. However, because these mages aren't actual demons, they can't directly absorb the faint demonic energy in the environment.
Therefore, they would choose an alternate method to kill the living beings, use their flesh and blood, and refine that into demonic energy, which they can use to improve their strength.
Rarely did anyone captured by the dark mages manage to escape with their lives because the moment dark mages captured you, they would use some demonic methods to seal the Mana core and Mana flow in your body and then use some unique chains that would constantly drain your vitality, causing you to become weaker by the moment. In these situations, how can anyone escape? It was a wonder that the little elf girl managed to do this seemingly impossible task.
Boom!
Just as the fat man was about to ask what she meant by dark mages, everyone heard an explosion going off above ground.
"Hm?" The man sitting in the middle of the formations suddenly opened his eyes.
He then glanced at the four people standing outside the formation, "Go up and check what's this disturbance about."
"Yes, dark knight." The four immediately nodded and rushed toward the exit of the underground cave.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The four charged out of the cave a few seconds later and looked around.
"Hm? There is nothing here." The female figure in the lead muttered in confusion after not finding anyone around the cave.
"Tch, even if there was, could you have seen it in this dark?" A pale white youth said coldly and then ran toward the valley entrance. "Let's go and ask the guards if there was some problem. I don't want to be punished if we overlooked something."
The female sneered coldly and then followed after him. The other two also followed.
"Hm? It seems there was indeed someone." When they passed by the crater that was created because of Max's fireball, the youth frowned.
Whoosh!
Bang!
Suddenly, they heard air whooshing behind them and hurriedly dodged to the side and turned around to see who it was when they heard something exploding.
...
Max, Belen, and Leticia, with the little elf girl, had barely hidden behind a rock when four black figures charged out. If it weren't for Max's heightened senses, they would've found out, causing the difficulty of this 'mission' to increase.
After a moment, the group of four turned their back toward them and moved toward the valley entrance.
"Let's go," Max whispered and immediately charged toward them without waiting for a moment's delay.
In the next second, he caught up to the guy behind the four and punched at the back of his head.
Bang!
Because the guy in question was caught off guard, Max's punch landed on his head without any resistance, and his head exploded.
This was the moment that the other three turned around. Seeing one of their own dying, their already ghostlike faces became paler in shock and fright as they exclaimed in their hearts, 'Thank god. I wasn't behind.'
"Kill him!" After the initial shock, the pale white youth roared, and dark energy burst out of him. A dark bonelike sword appeared in his hand, which he then slashed toward Max.
However, before the energy slash could reach him, Max had disappeared from his place and appeared in front of the second black-clothed guy.
"Die!" The man immediately reacted and punched Max's face, his fist covered in dark smoke-like energy.
When the pale white youth saw his attack was so easily dodged, he was enraged and immediately tried to raise his sword to slash again. The female and the last man also moved toward him to attack.
"Huh?" However, they were immediately dumbfounded, and terrified expressions appeared on their faces because they realized that they couldn't move at all. When they looked down, they saw that at some time, dark green vines had sprouted out under them and firmly wrapped around their feet.
Bang!
Max dodged the man's punch and arrived at his side, and threw a punch of his own, blasting his head off too.
"Fuck off!" The youth and the female shouted and attacked the vines to free themselves. However, just at this moment,
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several sharp wind blades flew toward them, causing their hair to rise on ends.
"Damn it." Both of them felt death loom over them as the wind blades closed in.
Boom!
Suddenly, dark energy burst out of their bodies and formed a shield in front of them. The wind blades collided in the dark shield and disappeared without causing any damage.
"Hurry up and alert the dark knight." The youth shouted at the female before slashing toward Max, who now had approached him.
Bang!
Because Max was only a few meters away from him, and the dark sword was slashing toward his neck at a very fast speed, he knew he wouldn't be able to dodge in time.
A frenzied light flashed in his eyes as his three-star Mana burst out, causing his speed to rise dramatically.
Crack! Crack!
Before the pale white youth could complete his slash, Max appeared half a meter away from him, clenched his neck, and twisted it backward, producing crisp crackling sounds.
Max then looked toward the remaining woman in the group, but she was already dead, her heart pierced by the vines.
Phew!
Max exhaled deeply and looked behind him. Belen and Leticia walked toward him with victorious smiles on their faces.
"Good job!" Max nodded, a light smile on his face. Hearing his praise, both ladies smiled happily.
"Okay. Let's hide. After this commotion, the rest of them should come out." He said, and they returned to their previous position behind the rock by the cave entrance.
Meanwhile, in the underground cave, the middle-aged man sitting in the center of the formation frowned and said coldly, "Start the ceremony!"
