The appearance of another dark elf

"We should be there soon."

Says Jargon while leading us through the forest. He's really been useful these last couple of days. Looks like his days as an explorer finally came in handy.

Beside me is Lyndis and covering our rear is Zalfious.

Upon leaving, I decided to dedicate more manpower towards the black magician elimination and investigation. Even though we might be facing off against a wyvern, as long as I'm here, there shouldn't be any problem at all.

Thus, only Zalfious, who is acting as my assistant at the moment, Jargon, our guide and Lyndis, the only one who can lead us to her village, are accompanying me on this trip.

Everyone wasn't really against my decision to only bring along 3 people, but Elaine seem particularly annoyed at the fact the dark elf coming along with me.

"I'm not against your decision master, it's just that..."

"That girl...her appearance annoys me."

Is what Elaine said while looking over towards Lyndis's chest.

I kinda knew what she was referring to but my instinct told me not to voice it, lest I risk her getting even more annoyed.

But now, back to our trip.

It's been about a week since we set off. For this trip we decided it would be better to just run the entire way since it would've been way faster than taking transportation.

Luckily for us, since the Etelia forest is close to the West of the Corsair kingdom, we entered the forest sooner than expected.

We brought plenty of potions so whenever anyone's stamina went down, we would just refill it easily. I'm glad everyone is doing so well despite running for almost seven consecutive days.

As for lodging, we camped outside the entire time while fighting against while the wild mana beasts that were too stupid to approach us.

Well, I could've just released my aura to make my presence known in order to scare off all the unwanted beasts, but that wouldn't have made for good training for the rest of my companions.

I turn to sneak a glance at Lyndis.

For the past few days I've been teaching her demonic arts. At first she was extremely sloppy with how she used her energy, it's probably due to the fact that she didn't know how to utilize the demon energy within her as she's never learnt magic before.

But I was surprised, just after a few days of learning, she's gotten exponentially better at it. I'm unsure if it's due to talent or her unique physique as a dark elf.

And because of her learning swordsmanship before, Zalfious even decided to teach Lyndis some sword skills.

"You're good at teaching."

"Your kind words are wasted on me."

"Any plans to pick up a disciple?"

"No...my lord, I do not believe I'm fit to teach demonic arts to another person."

"Well give it some thought, I think you're pretty good at it."

"And as a future pillar, you should be thinking of passing down some of your experience."

"Yes, my lord."

That was the conversation we had.

After my comment, Zalfious seems to have given it some serious thought. I'm not lying when I say he's good. Contrary to his belief, he seems to have a talent for teaching.

The pillars always had a disciple to ensure that there is a smooth transition between generations anyway, so I thought it would be good for him to take up a disciple early.

The surrounding is getting chillier and chillier, even though the sun is still up. I can feel the surrounding air getting denser in terms of mana and because of that, it's getting harder to breathe.

To describe it, it's like standing on top of a mountain. The feeling is about the same as getting your breath taken away because of higher altitudes.

Only difference is that in this case, instead of there being less air pressure, there is too much mana pressure that is causing our lungs to take in less oxygen.

It must be because we're heading towards the center of the forest.

But despite the harsher environment, because of the overflowing demonic body, Jargon and Zalfious seem to be alright. Lyndis's also seems to be alright, it must be because she lived here her entire life.

It's always fascinating to see how another race's body works.

This is especially so since dark elves weren't present back in my first and third lives, and I only momentarily met with a few while clearing a "portal" back in my second life.

Since we're on the topic of dark elves, there's something I found weird.

Unlike the Pelunia forest that is only dangerous in the center of the forest, Etelia has mana beasts roaming everywhere within it. From the periphery to the center, it can be said that no place was left untouched by mana beasts.

This explains the many different mana beasts we met while camping out for the past few days.

Because of this, many decided that Etelia was one of the most dangerous places on the continent, with only few other places matching it's threat.

No one in their right mind would there enter the forest without a clear goal, just like what we are doing it right now.

And that tells us something.

Despite being a lawless zone, the fact that the bandits who kidnapped Lyndis and her tribesmen were present on the outskirts of the forest, means that they were specifically aiming for them.

But based on what Lyndis told us before we set off, it seems like those ruffians didn't know there was a village there, they were just lucky.

Speaking of Etelia, there are actually quite handful of stories, tales and even legends surrounding this forest.

"The deathly woodland."

"The ancient cursed boscage."

"The home of all mana beasts."

Those were just some of the names I came across while browsing through books detailing Etelia.

But I think my favorite one would be this.

"A place where an ancient kingdom fell."

I found this piece of information in a pretty old book situated at the corner of the mansion's library. I found out through asking my mom that the book has been sitting inside the Count Raiser mansion since centuries ago.

It looked to be reinforced with magic so as to not break or wear because of aging.

It was a pretty interesting book that talked about how Etelia was once a place where a kingdom known as Kursia stood. It revealed various details about the place. Like how Kursia wasn't overruled by mages, which is unlike most nations today.

Instead, Kursia was a place ruled by another type of fighting force. One that didn't use mana or magic.

Just then I sensed several presences in the distance.

Eleven, ten.

The number of life forces decreased as we approached the area.

Nine, eight, seven.

It's going down faster.

Six, five, four.

It seems the others finally noticed judging from the look on their faces.

As we arrived at the location, we were greeted with the back of a tall man facing off against mana beasts. His muscles looked refined and thick veins are protruding out his body. He had dark skin and long silver hair just like Lyndis. From his appearance, you could tell he was a dark elf.

The man wielded a great sword with both arms and was swinging it as if it were weightless.

Three other mana beasts remain, all of them are 3 star mana beasts.

Left, right, up, down. He cut the remaining mana beasts to shreds with ease.

This man is strong.

That was what the scene that was unfolding told us.

But neither his amazing display of swordsmanship nor his strength was of concern. The one thing that stole the entire show has to be "that".

Violent world energy that swirled with each swing of his sword. Immense pressure that emanated from each of his strikes. A mighty vigor that radiated from his body.

This man is one of the few who control the violent world energy.

This man, is an Auror.

He stops after killing the last mana beast and turns around to greet us. Blood could be seen flowing down his well built body as he gazes at us with piercing eyes.

"Who are you people?"

Says the man in a deep voice.