17 End of the hunt

The nights in the Endless Forest were usually silent, but close to the cave of the rat men, four people were speaking, breaking the silence.

"Arthur, we have been waiting for a week and we have got no signal from him. Maybe the rat men have killed him," a bulky apprentice with a magic robe covering his entire body spoke to a tall red-headed man.

"Richard, you have already seen the state of the beasts he kills. That person can kill Pseudo-Magus level magic creatures with ease. Before, I was just being precautious, but now we have to kill him no matter what," Arthur said with determination on his face.

Arthur and his group had been waiting for Zatiel in a zone filled with trees 2 kilometers away from the entrances of the cave.

Although they were three Rank 3 Apprentices and one Pseudo-Magus, they had chosen to hide and wait to surprise their enemy instead of directly engaging with him.

'Luckily, we made plans, or else if we fought him head-on, in the best scenario, only I could barely survive.'

Arthur had always been someone who planned for every possible scenario and did everything in his power to eliminate every unknown variable.

In reality, he was not angry at his brother for being hurt, but he knew that if someone abused his men and he did not teach them a lesson, it would create a vicious circle, and events like that would happen again, making it very difficult to increase his power in the tower.

In the beginning, he was sure that with his group, killing these two apprentices would be easy. But seeing the power displayed by Zatiel, he knew that his opponent was someone who could kill all of them on his own.

Looking at the entrance to the caves, Arthur went through the plan.

"Martin, is the spell ready to activate?" Arthur asked a thin apprentice by his side.

"The parchment with the Rank 1 spell Mind Break is ready to activate the moment he leaves the cave. We were very careful in placing it at the entrances before he arrived, so he couldn't have discovered it," Martin responded as he focused on a small mirror in his hand that showed him the scene at the entrance of the cave.

"This is overkill. No matter how strong an apprentice can get, faced with a Rank 1 spell that can only be created by a Rank 1 Magus, they can only die," Richard said, getting angry as he remembered how long they had to save to buy the parchment from the Tower.

Arthur said nothing to the brawny man as he looked at the only female in the group.

"What do you think about this scenario, Linda?"

Linda was a beautiful woman with an impressive figure and a pretty face, but that was not all about her. She was also powerful on her own, almost reaching the level of a Pseudo-Magus.

"You have never disappointed us. If you think we should use this Rank 1 spell to kill him, then you must have some valid reasons," Linda said, smiling at Arthur.

"Thanks," Arthur said, smiling back.

"I am just giving my honest op..." Before Linda could finish speaking, an immense feeling of terror assaulted her.

From the dark sky, a person covered in shadows materialized right above her.

Before Linda could even react to the death threat, a sword fell from the sky, passing from her head to her hips, cutting her into two exact pieces.

Arthur, Richard, and Martin could barely react to the grotesque scene as Linda's blood splashed over them.

But as elite apprentices, they quickly regained their composure.

The first to react was Arthur, who chanted a spell and created a dozen shields made of fire around him. The next was Richard, who made his hands glow as he charged at the shadow.

Martin, an arcane apprentice, was not very proficient in battle, so he was the last to react. But as he composed himself, he tried to chant a spell to affect the consciousness of the enemy. Unfortunately, before he could even start, four chains emerged from below his feet and impaled him, passing through his body and killing him instantly.

"Bastard!" Richard saw another one of his comrades get killed, and he launched a punch with all his strength.

The shadow reacted with the same move, a blow filled with strength from his free hand.

Richard grinned at the response from the shadow. As a body-refinement apprentice, he was very confident in the strength of his body.

But this feeling didn't last long. The moment their fists clashed, his hand exploded in a ball of blood and flesh, and the rest of his arm was completely fractured.

Richard couldn't help but scream from the pain he was experiencing.

The shadow did not stop and tried to decapitate Richard, but before he could attack with his sword, balls of fire rushed towards him, forcing him to separate from his enemy.

Arthur was channeling all his power, trying to harm the shadow. But unfortunately, no matter how many balls of fire he threw, none of them could hit the opponent.

The shadow looked in the direction from where the fire was coming, and with a movement of his hand, chains materialized near Arthur and started attacking him.

Although Arthur's shields were powerful, they could barely resist the chains, so he had to redirect all his attention to defense.

Now that the balls of fire were no more, the shadow attacked Richard again with ferocity.

Richard was too hurt and couldn't hold on for long before his head was separated from his body.

Arthur watched as his last comrade was killed, and his heart was drowned in fear.

Although he wanted to run, the chains were attacking from all directions and didn't give him any opportunity.

The shadow looked at the last person standing, but no emotion could be detected from him, just complete indifference to the deaths of his enemies.

He bent his knees, and you could feel the power accumulating as the ground cracked beneath him. After a moment, he jumped towards Arthur.

The only thing Arthur saw was a flash before he felt something crash against his chest. It felt like a mountain had fallen on him.

The impact was so great that Arthur's chest exploded. Being hit with such strength, he crashed against some trees before falling dead to the ground.

The person stood where Arthur had been moments ago, and as the shadows dissipated, Zatiel's figure was revealed.

'It was easier than I thought. I wonder if I can kill a Rank 1 being before advancing in rank myself.'

As Zatiel thought, he gathered the bodies of the apprentices to see if they had anything useful to him.

When he got to Arthur, he saw how regret and unwillingness were written on his face.

Although Zatiel was indifferent to his enemy's emotions, he had to admit that this person was cautious. Had it been anyone else, there was no way they would have detected the Rank 1 Spell.

Knowing of the spell that awaited him at the exit and aware that his enemies were close, he used his chains to open a new cave and exited the mountain without anyone noticing. He tracked his enemies to take them by surprise and finally end this hunt.