This Speed...

"I call forth the Spirit of gluttony: Devour!"

As she heard Chauv chant a spell extremely fast, in unknown language even to her, she only understood the last activation incantation he chanted.

Immediately as he said that, the surroundings dimmed for a while, with winds starting to move faster, producing a whistling sound. Then sunddenly, a large mouth appeared near the gravel made up of earth elements.

Even though it appeared to be incorporeal, all the earth elements were sucked inside its mouth the moment it opened. After ''eating'' that attack, the mouth even seemed unsatisfied with its ''meal''. It turned towards Chauv who had invoked it and started licking its lips, as if asking the caster to give more.

Seeing that it's attack dissappeared into a strange mouth that came out of nowhere, the Python was furious.

Hisssss...

Hissing in menacing manner, it suddenly charged at Katty who had just finished reciting a spell.

"Water arrows!"

Suddenly a barrage of arrows formed of water elements rained down on the python, who was coming straight at the girl in blue robes.

Pat! pat! pat!

Striking on the hard black, patterned scales of the Python, the arrows failed to do any substantial damage to it. Coiling on the large tree trunks, it opened its mouth which had two sharp fangs on its upper jaw, trying to bite this ''delicious prey'' in front of it.

Yet, before it could whorl on the small body of Katty, that strange caster's voice again resounded.

"Ray of darkness!"

However, the Python wasn't suprised like the first time. It abruptly turned its snake head and two beams of Petrification rays shot out of its eyes. Converging in midair, the rays formed into a bigger beam of earth elements which started countering the ''ray of darkness'' that was directed at the Python.

The battle which was throwing one spell at another suddenly turned into a battle of attrition of spiritual power. Now, of the beast and the Sorcerer, whoever had the greater spirit to continue supplying their spells with elemental energies would win.

Still immersed in pushing the Petrification ray coming at him, Chauv, without turning to katty, said in a hurried manner.

"Hey bra- I mean Katty, this is your chance. Quickly go ahead while I keep this Python busy."

Katty, who had been choosing which scroll to use again, looked at Chauv as he said that.

'The fluttering of his robes when he is in intense battle with the bad monster...

[A/N: There is no wind.]

...And that ''heroic'' aura he has, all while ''protecting'' me from the dangerous beast. Now he's even sacrificing himself for my sake...' Katty suddenly felt that this ugly-faced boy didn't smell that bad.

Even though she knew what would become of him, Katty still felt obligated to ask.

"What about you?"

'This brat... where did her ''I have to stay away from him'' commitment go now?' Chauv was vexed. But he didn't let any trace of annoyance appear on his face as he replied. "You go, I will make do somehow. Quick! I can't hold it back much longer."

Confirmed that that was his decision, Katty started ''rapidly running'' towards the large moonspring which was ''further away'' from there.

However, there was one problem.

"I said run! not jog." if he could, Chauv would surely want to kill this girl with his own hands. Sadly, that was not possible.

Yet, his shout seemed to have a negative effect as after she heard what he said, Katty would frequently look back while running, Uh no jogging with a look of ''melancholy and guilt'' plastered on her face.

When the girl had finally dissappeared from his view, Chauv was at his limit while maintaining his ''ray of darkness''.

Now that the girl was gone, there was no reason for him to bitterly fight with the beast. He immediately disengaged from the battle, dispelling his spell and briefly cast haste on himself, intending to take his leave.

'Still, it will take sometime for me to get away from this Nekismis Python.' he thought as he looked at the long black snake in front of him which was now furious due to one of its prey running away.

...

After using three Ice elemental scrolls, Aren, freezing the surface of the river, crossed it.

If it had been any other apprentice, they wouldn't be this extravagant. Only he, as an excellent enchanter, could afford to do so.

Previously, due to it being night time and him being injured, Aren had failed to notice that this side of the shore had sparse number of trees. However, they were taller than any other trees, extending towards the sky in a straight manner as if supporting it.

Their trunks were also bigger. If he made an estimate, these trunks were as thick as the combination of three trunks of the trees of the woods from where he came.

Due this peculiar characteristics of this side, sunlight shined upon him abundantly unlike in the dark forest before. Aren continued his stable but quick pace, walking through the forest in neither too slow nor too fast a speed.

After an hour of walking, he was already thirsty. Taking out the wooden bottle in which he had stored some water from the river and opening its cap, he started gulping down mouthfuls of water.

'It's the ninth month now... the months of cold winter are coming soon. I guess these will be the last days when the sun won't be blocked by the clouds.' Aren thought as he drank some more water and put the bottle away.

However, just as he was about to continue his journeyed, he halted his steps. He could see that, a distance away, there was a group of students gathered at a same place. The fact that Aren was concerned upon was not their numbers of 14 but that they were not battling.

As Aren got closer, he noticed that those apprentices were divided into three groups. Two groups had four apprentices while one had all six of them. There was actually a team which managed to gather all six apprentices!

At a closer look, Aren saw that in one of the groups which had four apprentices, Shahil was also there. Although he was still a little farther away, Aren could distinctly recognize that aloof guy.

Seeing someone come over, the group of six all had a frown on their forehead. This was not good. If this hooded apprentice was from one of the teams of four then the situation wouldn't be in their favour.

However, when they saw that no one from the two groups went forward to meet with the hooded figure, they immediately understood that the guy was a loner without any team members by his side.

"Do we kill this guy and take his moonstones? He has four of them." one apprentice suggested which was immediately rejected by a smarter female apprentice.

"No. Let the other two teams handle him. If he can at least manage to injure one of them, then we will have the better chance to fight for the large moonspring. After we get the moonstones from large moonspring, we can always hunt down those others."

Aren though, wasn't worried that these apprentices would gang up on him. As there was no one noteworthy that he had heard about in all three teams, Aren was confident that he could get away from them.

This time, he was not going to engage in meaningless fighting. He had already lost most of his time by fighting that idiotic spiritual apprentice mage and Fernando.

As for the reason why they had gathered here, Aren wasn't one bit interested in that. And as for Shahil, although they were apprentice under the same master, there was no obligation for Aren to help him. Moreover, they were not even from the same teams.

As he organized his thoughts, Aren simultaneously cast ''haste'' on himself and powered up his legs with runic force.

Immediately after, the apprentices got to witness a near rank 2 speed.

Whoosh!

"Wha-"

Before they could even come back to their senses, Aren's ghostlike figure had already left them. If they had been high aptitude apprentices or had greater spirit like seniors who had advanced their runes for sometime already, they would at least had finished activating an enchanted spell in their magical items.

"What is tha- I mean, what was that?"

Only now the apprentice who had cried out managed to finish his sentence. That figure did had a token but how could he have that speed. Was it really an apprentice or just an illusion?

"A spectre?" Another apprentice gave out his thought. However, the questioning and confused expression his face made it evident that what he said might not be true.