48: Return

Two days later, inside the black forest.

A Ghoul blinked its red eyes and stood near a tree as it was constantly smelling the area.

*Whoosh!* Suddenly, a white arrow was shot.

"Raw!" the Ghoul jumped to move away. While it was evading, there were another three flashes of white light, belonging to the other arrows that were shooting towards it.

Dodging in an elegant arc, the Ghoul avoided the arrows and landed in an open space.

"Kill!" A shadow hopped out from some shrubbery, two hands grasping a short sword, and hacked towards the Ghoul.

It seemed like the arrows earlier had all been there to force the Ghoul into an open area.

A short sword brought about a gale as it hacked at the Ghoul.

"Raw Raw!" The Ghoul roared loudly, letting off an unpleasant noise.

There was a flash of human-like resentment in the Ghoul's eyes and a pair of black claws met with the cleaver.

*Clang!*

The Ghoul was a little larger than the average man, it was only about the size of 2 meters. It had unexpectedly used its black claws to push back Karon wielding the short sword who had enchantment.

"Raw!" The Ghoul roared again, and a few black poison droplets drifted down from its mouth.

Taking advantage of the retreating Karon, the Ghoul actually went forward and clawed at the Karon's face with its sharp claws!

"Fireball!"

A hurried and quick incantation sounded and a ball of flames flew out suddenly, hitting the Ghoul squarely on its body.

*Psshhh!* black smoke rose continuously, and the cries of a Ghoul sounded.

A few seconds later, the screams from the Ghoul completely vanished, and all that was left was a ditch. Lying inside was a charred body which did not have enough time to burn.

"Are you alright, Karon?!"

The shrubbery shook and a few figures made their way through it.

Karon shook his head, "No worries! Although the Ghoul has quite the strength and is poisonous, it is still not an opponent for us humans who wield weapons!"

Looking at the person in the middle, "Wade! The timing of the Fireball earlier was good!"

"It was all due to everybody's teamwork!" Wade smiled.

While they were then walked to the large ditch, used a branch to brush away the skin, and picked up a crystal from inside its skull.

The Crystal was completely black and shone. They released a chilling lustre as if reflecting the mana stored in it.

"Although the might of the Fireball is great, it also charred the Ghoul greatly. Apart from its crystal core, there is nothing left..." Sam said with a tinge of regret. As the heart of these Ghouls could also be used.

"Hmph! If not for Wade, you guys might have paid some kind of price to kill the Ghoul!" Freya objected at the side, seemingly displeased.

"That's true!" Karon sheathed his sword. Right now he had matured a lot and knew that Freya was rather spiteful, so he was not angry at all.

"With this Ghoul, we have gathered enough materials. Should we head back to the school to complete the mission?"

Seeing that Karon and the rest were looking tired, Sam asked.

"Naturally, we have to go back! The forest is too dangerous. We couldn't even have a good sleep during the night!" Freya said immediately.

Jill and Karon hurriedly nodded their heads too.

As for Wade, he also felt a little exhausted as the forest had been riddled with danger.

Even though he had Abby to warn him, he was still in a heightened state of anxiety for a prolonged period. His mind felt extremely weary as well, and right now he was beginning to miss the hot water and bed in the academy.

"Alright! Then let us go back first!"

Sam was a little regretful as he carefully put away the crystal core of the Ghoul, "What a pity! With our abilities, we could definitely kill more of the Ghouls. They are worth much more money than the Iron Backed Bloody Boar from before..."

"There is no end to earning Magic Crystals but right now, our team, as a whole, is completely exhausted and we have reached a dangerous state.

If we do not hurry back to the academy, I'm afraid that we will make mistakes during our next hunt, which may even result in death!" Wade's voice was cold and distinct.

He was a person who kept his cool at all times, and he wouldn't lose his bearings over a little profit dangling before him.

"Alright! Then let us go back!"

Sam only hesitated a little and then nodded his head in agreement.

Hearing Sam's words, the expressions of the other four turned much better. Even Frey, who was feeling spiteful, also loosened up and smiled brightly.

The party packed up quickly and started on the trip home. The chirping of insects could be heard in the quiet forest from time to time, and the lush branches and leaves of the trees covered the sun completely.

Sunrays occasionally shone through the gaps like beams of light. While group were backing away towards the Academy, a shadowy which had just appeared out of thin air, jumped off the path, dug out the soil underneath a nearby Killer Tree, used it's strength to break the thick tree root, and finally saw the material that he had planned to harvest today.

Between the tangled roots and pale white human bones were some small pulpy root nodes. Some were white, some were red, and there were even a few purple coloured ones. It took it and stores it inside itself and later merged with the shadow and returned to Wade's side and gave it to him.

Wade suppressed the disgust he felt and, using a small knife that he carried with him, he carefully harvested three of the purple nodes and placed them into a teat tube. Afterwards, he quickly rushed back behind the group.