Chapter 24: Who said I'm a Mage?
An hour had passed ever since Alseace lured the wargs toward him, and the wargs kept coming endlessly. But even so, he didn't show any sign of exhaustion from the fight, and the craziest part was that he dodged them and danced with the wargs.
It was a sight to see, and when there were at least a dozen wargs around him, he immediately cast Earth Spikes. All the wargs were impaled and died in an instant before they could land a single hit on him.
"Is he really a Mage?" Gilden asked as he hugged the tree and stared at Alseace in disbelief.
Alseace cast the Wind Cutter spell and mutilated all the impaled wargs around him. His body was covered in blood, and the ground that he stood on had turned into a pool of blood. He was fine with the smell while Edgar and the others had to cover their noses because of the strong pungent and fishy smells.
He covered himself with water and cleaned his attire and face from the warg's blood. He then looked at the wargs that started to hesitate to attack him because they learned it would be dangerous to approach him.
"Cleo, do you see which one of them is the pact leader from up there?" Alseace asked as he glanced from left to right.
"I'm not sure, but there are a few that have been staying still in the distance. They're in your 4, 9, and 12," Cleo answered as she looked at the wargs that had been howling and barking in the distance as if they were commanding the other wargs.
Alseace looked at the directions that Cleo informed him, and he could tell those wargs were indeed bigger than the others. Since the title of the mission was a newborn leader, that could mean the one that was being possessed was a pact leader.
"Are you going to run toward the leaders with dozens of wargs in front of you? You're going to die!" Edgar shouted. "You're a Mage, so you should stay where you are and maintain the upper hand that you have right now," Edgar explained, and he looked a bit worried.
Alseace put the staff on his back, and then pulled a dagger that was hidden underneath his suit. He looked up at Edgar as he swung the dagger in his hand and said, "Who said I'm a Mage?"
Alseace dashed forward and started to cut off the wargs' heads before they could react. Every step and move he made, they were so precise that he only needed to swing his dagger once to kill a warg.
Edgar didn't want to blink his eyes because he didn't want to miss a split second of the show. He was amazed and speechless by Alseace's skills and read the situation he was in. The way he dodged, juked, and dominated the wargs made Edgar admire him.
"Wait, what's that? Is that an Aura?!" Alwin asked as he stared at the dark blue Aura around Alseace's dagger.
Cleo was surprised when she saw it too, and her eyes were focused on Alseace's hands and feet. She noticed that the Aura wasn't on his dagger only, his whole body was covered in Aura with the same color.
"(Who is he...)" Edgar squinted his eyes with his heart racing in excitement. "(Alseace LaRoze. I'll dig information about you)" Edgar looked at Alseace's name on the party's panel.
Alseace faced the first pact leader, and the moment the warg pounced at him, Alseace swung his dagger upward. He cut the warg in half and stood in between the warg's body that had been cut in half. He then went straight to the other pact leader, but this time more wargs protected the leader.
Cleo saw that all the wargs focused on protecting the second pact leader, and she saw an opportunity there. She looked at the third pact leader that was only guarded by 3 wargs on his side. Cleo then told the others about her plan to Edgar. He felt like it would be fine if they dealt with the third pact leader on their own.
"Let's go!" Cleo climbed down stealthily as the wargs were focused on Alseace.
They all landed safely and unnoticed. They crouched as they slowly and quietly approached the pack leader from the side. The moment they were close enough, Cleo activated her [Borrow] and leaped forward as she held her dagger with both hands.
Cleo managed to stab the pact leader right on the top of its head, and when the wargs noticed her, they pounced at her. Alwin, Zia, Gilden, and Edgar ambushed them and stabbed them from below.
"We did it, and so is he," Edgar said as he looked at Alseace covered in blood again. "But something isn't right. We dealt with all the wargs, and yet the mission isn't completed," Edgar pointed out as he looked at the mission panel.
"It's not really that weird, and all of this isn't to find the one that's being possessed," Alseace answered as he walked toward them. "I'm doing this to lure it in," Alseace explained and stared at the distance in front of him.
"Lure it in? You're saying that you kill all of these wargs for nothing?" Alwin asked.
"He just said that he did this to lure it in, are you deaf?" Edgar gave a stern look at Alwin and he looked irritated. "Anyway, what makes you think that this will lure the warg?" Edgar looked at Alseace and instantly changed his expression to curiosity.
"Demons tend to be attracted to bloodbaths, and with that being said, this should be enough to bring him in," Alseace pointed out as he kept staring into the distance. "Speaking of demon, he's here," Alseace said as he readied his stance.
They looked in the direction where Alseace was staring, and they saw a big silhouette that slowly became clearer. They were petrified when they saw the warg that being possessed by demonic power was half the height of the trees. His body was big enough to topple the trees around him, and his breath was hot enough that it created steam from his mouth and nose.
"We're going to have to kill that thing?" Edgar asked nervously as he gulped.
"No, I will," Alseace responded as he slowly pulled his right hand to the back. He then threw his dagger as fast as he could and the dagger broke the sound barrier.
His dagger pierced through the warg's head and all the way to his butt. He then grabbed his staff and cast a fireball five times in a row before the warg collapsed to the ground. He had to make sure that the warg died and the demonic power inside him.
----------------------------------------------------
[You have achieved the objective of [A Newborn Leader], and prevented the demonic power to turn the warg into calamity]
----------------------------------------------------
[Choose your reward]
[1. Random Rare Weapon Box (1)]
[2. +5 Extra Status Point (Everyone)]
[3. Random Rare skill scroll (1)]
----------------------------------------------------
[You have 30 minutes 00 seconds to leave the area]
[Leave before time runs out!]
----------------------------------------------------
It was the first time for them to see the reward panel, and the one who could choose the reward was the first person on the party or group panel. Since Alseace was the first one on the list, he had the power to choose the reward, but he let Edgar decide the reward since he was the group leader.
"By looking at the rewards, the first and third options are good, but they only give an item. How about we take the extra status points? I believe they're more valuable than the other options. How's that?" Edgar asked.
Nobody complained and decided to take the second option after they all agreed to it. They all looked so happy to get extra status points because those were worth millions of dollars.
After that, Cleo cut off 3 wargs' left ears that they killed as their hunting points. Since the rest were killed by Alseace, they didn't want to take it and leave them be.
While everyone tried to trace their way back, Alseace felt a bizarre and unsettling power coming from the big warg. He decided to check where the feeling came from, and when he looked at the warg's belly, he knew it came from there. He then took the dagger that he threw and started skinning the warg.
"What are you doing, Al?" Cleo asked as she stood in front of the warg and watched Alseace cut the warg's belly open.
Alseace focused on opening the warg's gut, and the moment he cut the warg's stomach open, the pungent smell struck his and Cleo's nose. They both covered their noses, but he didn't hesitate to put his hand inside while Cleo started to gag and looked away.
He found something shiny, a dark purple crystal as big as a pebble. He looked at it and a notification appeared in front of him.
----------------------------------------------------
[Small Demon Fragment]
----------------------------------------------------
[A fragment with dangerous demonic power. The purpose of the fragment is to give forbidden power to wherever consumes it. It is wise to destroy it or offer it to God before it brings possible danger and disaster]
----------------------------------------------------
"So this is a demon fragment that I often heard from Miss Elenoir and the others," Alseace looked at the fragment on his palm.
"What are you guys doing? We should leave," Edgar said as he looked at them from the distance.
Alseace put the fragment in his pocket and hid it from the others. Cleo and him then regrouped with the others and retraced the path to the portal they came from.
They all managed to leave the vortex, and the moment they went back to Dasmein, Agents had gathered in front of the vortex. They were all surprised to see Edgar and the others come back unscathed. The vortex was closed and it surprised the Agents that a bunch of students could clear a vortex.
Julius and Estian immediately ran toward them and asked how did the portal turn into a vortex. Unfortunately, they didn't know what happened, except for Alseace since he had the Demon Fragment.
"I'm glad that you guys are safe..." Estian said and he sounded so relieved.
"It was all thanks to him. If not, we all might die there," Edgar replied as he looked at Alseace. "Also, are we going to the Emissary for the questioning?" Edgar asked Estian.
"All of you must be tired, so let's head back to the Academy first so you can get some rest," Estian answered. "You guys did a great job, I'm glad that you guys are safe. Let's go back," Estian looked at them with a worried expression.
They all nodded and went back to the Pave Academy.