Where were Evelyn and Nadia?

He was quite impressed with Daniel's talent with swords. Despite the enemy being a Rank-2, he did not fear him and kept fighting, exploiting the latter's blind spots.

Swish!

A pitch-black flame emerged from his left hand as he pointed a finger toward the black smog, shooting a small fire lance toward the screen of poison.

The lance cut through the air, a streak of darkness against the dense fog. The poison was flammable, and the fire instantly spread out, consuming the fog within seconds.

When he saw the fog was completely gone, he cut off his espera, and the black flames disappeared, leaving behind a barren and destroyed land.

He didn't stop and walked up to the old man's dead body. He could see a trace of dark espera, which did not belong to humans, leaking out of his dead body.

If he let the dead body stay longer, it might give birth to demonic beasts in the ecosystem of this mountain, contaminating the environment.

This was also why exorcists had a duty to deal with the dead bodies of these heretics after the fight, to prevent any unforeseeable events in the future.

Oliver placed his palm against the old man's chest, and reddish-black energy erupted from his hand, instantly enveloping the old man.

Within seconds, the old man's body disappeared from the face of the earth forever.

A strange warmth surged through his veins, a faint pulse of power igniting within him. A warm feeling surged in his heart as he felt a burst of power in his body. Clenching his fists, he felt as if his strength had increased again.

He saw Daniel lying far away and reached up to him. Upon closer inspection, it did not seem like he was affected much by the poison; he must have evaded the fog by a hair's breadth, rendering him unconscious.

Oliver picked him up, placed him underneath some leaves and bushes, and went ahead to carry Alphonso and Amber as well.

BOOM!

Just as he was settling them, he heard a loud banging sound from the opposite direction.

He instantly moved in the direction of the sound. In the distance, he could see another terrible scene.

Evelyn and Nadia were both kneeling and bleeding, and in front of them was a burly man with red patches all over his face. He looked repulsive and sinister.

The man's eyes gleamed with malice, his twisted smile revealing a set of yellowed teeth. The man was barehanded and had an ugly expression on his face. Oliver could see the man's arms burned with ice piercing his legs.

'So they were here.'

He had been wondering where they had gone and why it took them so long, and here they were, engaging with the third heretic.

Oliver furrowed his brows. The burly man had a powerful aura, and murderous intent filled his surroundings as he walked.

In a second, the man disappeared from his spot and reappeared behind Evelyn, his fist connecting with her back as she screamed in pain.

Oliver did not wait and closed in on their location.

Another sword appeared in his hand as he jumped down.

Tap.

The burly man turned around as he heard the sound of tapping.

He saw Oliver standing with a sword.

"Oliver!" Evelyn's eyes widened. She could not help but feel regretful; not only had she been stopped by this heretic and was almost losing, but since he had come here alone, did it mean that the woman was dealt with?

She could only suppress her doubts in her mind and focus on the man.

"Oliver, watch out! This man has unnatural strength. Stay back and attack from a distance—engaging him up close would be too risky." she warned.

Oliver, who heard her, nodded. He had already expected as much. When he used his special eyes to scan the burly man, he found that the man had very low espera compared to the other two heretics…

It was likely he was also a physical exorcist but didn't focus on training his espera, only on his brute force.

This, along with the bulging body of the man, was enough to make him aware of his strength.

The burly man furrowed his brows and said, "When we entered, there were supposed to be six of you detestable exorcists. Now there are three of you here, but where are the two who came along with me? They should have finished while I was sleeping."

Hearing his words, Oliver raised a brow as he remembered the trap array Amber had set up. It looked like the man was trapped in the array formation and was asleep.

Oliver put one hand behind his back as he looked at the towering man.

He spoke, "If you are searching for your two heretic teammates, then you shouldn't. They have already been exorcised, and you're next."

The man's face darkened, his fists clenching at the news.

The man's eyes narrowed as he heard the words of the kid before him. He did not doubt his words; they were nowhere to be seen, and he was unable to detect them either.

Were they actually exorcised by these exorcist brats!?

Fumes started to rise from his head as his face turned even redder than it already was. He looked extremely angry at that moment.

"Keep scowling like that, and your face might just get stuck that way. Though, I doubt anyone would notice the difference." Oliver said calmly, but his words sounded extremely provocative to the burly man's ears.

Like a bull, he charged straight at Oliver, no longer caring about anything. He did not care about the old man at all.

But that woman, she was supposed to be his in the future, and now this white-haired brat said that she was exorcised? He did not hold back as a flood of anger clouded his mind instantly.

Oliver took a deep breath, seeing the man charging right at him. If he was hit by the man, even he did not know how many bones he would break in his body.

However, he had no intention of taking him head-on.

"What's wrong? All those muscles slowing you down? Or are you just too heavy to keep up?"

Oliver snickered as he provoked the charging bull even more while he himself ran further and further from Evelyn and Nadia, drawing the man out of range.

With his agility, he did not face much issue keeping a minimal distance between them.

Looking back, he nearly cursed when he saw the burly man closing in.

Damn! Even with his level 5 strength, he couldn't keep up! Was this the true gap between the strength of a Rank-1 and Rank-2 exorcist?

Oliver doubted. These heretics were just handymen; they were partial Ranks, not true Rank exorcists.

The power between the two was incomparable. It was only because of this that he was able to exorcise the two heretics higher-ranked than him with some effort.

Otherwise, if heretics truly started to achieve the power of true Ranks like exorcists, wouldn't the demons easily cause humanity too much damage?

The fact that dark espera was not compatible with the espera training methods of humans was already widely known, and this was also why the major clans didn't pay too much attention to the pesky sects, given their hands were already full with demons.

"You're dead for laying a hand on her!"

The man roared behind him, sending tremors through his ears.

"She's his? That woman?"

Oliver thought of the woman. He had not exorcised her; he was interrupted by the old man before that, so he did not know where the woman went.

Given her mental state, Oliver was not worried that she would cause more trouble for him later.

He could search for her after dealing with all these heretics.

"That woman? I exorcised her myself. You should've seen her face—begging for your revenge, but it was too late."

Oliver did not really know the actual relationship between the two of them, but since the man said she was his woman, he assumed they were lovers or something.

"Face me, you spineless coward!" the man yelled from behind. He was further outraged when he heard his words.

Did that mean that she also harbored the same feelings for him as he did for her? 

If so, why would she always avoid him before?

His orcish mind could not understand, but since he had marked her as his woman in his mind, he would slaughter all those present.

He would give the brat running ahead of him the most brutal and painful death ever for hurting his woman.

However, just as he was chasing Oliver, he saw the kid suddenly stop ahead of him.

He did not stop and sped up, charging right toward Oliver, intending to destroy him.

A predatory grin spread across his face, sensing victory was near.