At the place where Li Wei and the other players decided to part ways, a group of masked men were expressionlessly examining the surroundings.
"It looks like they all went in different directions form here."
"Then, it will be even easier! They only have a ten-minute lead. Let's all take one!" declared one of the masked men.
As they heard their leader speak, the masked men all started acting.
Two of them activated the skill [Tracking]. It belonged to the hunter class which could be obtained at level 20 if one was a ranger. As its name suggested, it was typically used to track people and pinpoint their location. The two masked men quickly disappeared in the forest, going in the direction that the two tanned men and the paladin picked.
Two other masked men activated another skill, [Blood Hunt]. This one was an assassin skill which was obtained after improving the rogue class. It was used just like [Tracking] but it had different requirements. [Tracking] could only be used in the wild and needed to be at a location where the target had been 15 minutes ago. As for [Blood Hunt], the target needed to be below 20% HP or bleeding. In this circumstance, the first condition was not hard to achieve since all the players were poisoned and their HP kept dwindling no matter how many Health Potions they would drink. At some point, they naturally ran out of potions.
The last two masked men were mages. The skill they used was [Presence Search]. They both emitted an invisible wave that traveled through the Mirage Forest and bounced back to them when they reached a player. It was similar to echo sounding but was specific to humans.
Strangely, despite being mages, the two masked men quickly dashed through the forest. They were not any slower than the other masked men. It turned out that one of the two picked the same direction as Li Wei.
Now only the leader of the masked men was left behind but he did not move. Instead he simply turned back and started walking back towards the merchants. He had complete trust in his subordinates. These six should be able to bring back everyone or in the worst-case scenario, would kill them.
...
"Thump! Thump!"
Li Wei was running with all his might forward. The forest was relatively dense, making it hard for Li Wei to move quickly. It was extremely dangerous to run at his peak speed. It was in the middle of the night and the tall trees were blocking most of the moonlight. Branches, holes or sudden elevations could be found everywhere.
Li Wei almost fell more than once but he simply could not afford to slow down. He knew people would chase them and he needed to get away quickly.
"F*ck. Why did I pick this quest? With my sh*tty luck… Not only am I not getting any Contribution Point, I'll even die and have to pay the guild for those stupid ores..."
It has already been 15 minutes since Li Wei chose to leave Maestra and Galaxy. To his surprise, he did not meet any Red Foxes as he was escaping. It was supposed to be the night cycle where the red foxes would be the most active but instead, he did not stumble on even one red foxes.
"At least I am not poisoned and can used all my strength."
Li Wei continued to run forward. He was already lost and did not know where he was heading to. Anywhere he looked, he only saw trees and bushes. It was strangely scary, especially knowing that he was being chased. He felt that he was in a horror movie trying to escape.
Suddenly, the rustling of the leaves resonated in Li Wei's ears. "F*ck, they already caught up!"
He did not even need to turn to confirm it as a few seconds later, a bright light flew towards him. He could see the light emitted on all the trees in front of him and so, Li Wei immediately jumped to the side. A large [Mana Bolt] flew above his head and exploded on a tree, leaving behind a huge hole in the stem.
Li Wei rolled to the side before quickly getting up. While he was getting on his feet, he briefly took a glance at the masked man chasing him. He was still quite far but Li Wei could see the man holding a long staff with a crystal at one end. Around the man, a faint white light was shining, making him stand out of the dark background.
Li Wei frowned and quickly broke into a sprint. Not only did he see his pursuer's appearance, he also saw his level. Just with this information, Li Wei knew it would be pointless to fight! There was no way he would be able to defeat a level 25 mage.
[Mana Burst]
Before Li Wei could run too far, the masked man quickly used another skill and aimed right in front of Li Wei. He purposely did not aim directly at Li Wei; his goal was to capture Li Wei, not to kill him.
The explosion's shock wave hit Li Wei right in his face. It was more powerful than any [Mana Burst] he had witnessed before. Despite not being hit, just the shock wave took out 10 HP. But more importantly, a small tree was hit by the skill and lost its strength. The tree inevitably shook for a moment before falling right in front of Li Wei, blocking his way forward.
Li Wei frowned but quickly started running to the right.
"That guy! He is clearly trying to capture me!"
This small delay allowed the masked man to close the gap to less than 50m. He was abnormally fast for a mage and quickly got in range for other skills. However, he did not dare use them. The masked man did not know how much HP Li Wei had. Considering that he was poisoned, he should not have much. The mage did not dare use a too powerful spell that might kill his target. To accomplish his mission, he chose to only use weak basic mage skills.
The masked man was well aware of the properties of the poison. He was not worried when he saw Li Wei's action. The poison not only reduced the target's stats and caused damage over time. The terrifying part was the fact that once the target would reach 5% of his health, he would stop losing health but would instead be inflicted with a total paralysis of the body.
As a result, the mage did not care about hurting Li Wei, the poison would simply slowly bring his HP down. All he needed to do was to prevent his target from regenerating through potions and eventually, he would succeed.
Li Wei desperately tried to get away from the mage. He was unaware of the mage's thoughts and tried to take weird path to disorientate the mage. He would randomly turn behind a tree and change direction. Sometimes, he would jump into a bush and run in a different direction.
This lasted for a whole minute, but Li Wei was still not able to distance himself from the mage. Instead, the gap was further reduced to 20m and the mage did not even seem to be tired. It looked like he was just taking a stroll in the park.
"Why is he not attacking me? Playing cat and mouse?" said Li Wei to himself as he started to feel despair.
"F*ck! There is no way out! It looks like I'll have to use the pyro bomb here... I hope what the gnome said is true!" grumbled Li Wei.
After another whole minute of direct chase, the mage started to have doubts. It was clear that his target was a warrior who focused on dexterity and so, his HP should not be that high. After two whole minutes, the poison should have already paralyzed his body or he should at least show signs of weakening, but none of that was happening.
"Could it be that he had a powerful antidote on him? Or some powerful religious items?" said the masked man to himself.
"If so, then I can be a bit rough."
After taking his decision, the mage immediately activated a skill, [Mana Spear]. A bright light immediately appeared next to the crystal on his staff and took the form of a spear. The mage did a throwing motion and instantly, the spear flew across the forest towards Li Wei.
The latter was taken by surprised. He did not expect the mage to suddenly stop being passive and attack. The spear flew so quickly that Li Wei did not have time to dodge; it was even faster than a real spear and compared to a normal spear, it could fly in a straight line and did not need to make arcs to cover long distances.
Pain flooded Li Wei's leg as a red number appeared next to it, "-59". Even his high wisdom was not useful in reducing the magic damage. [Mana Spear] was not a very powerful skill, many players already purchased it at the Mage Association, but when used by the masked man, the skill was without doubt more powerful than normal.
The sudden pain caused Li Wei to lose his balance and roll on the ground. He quickly tried to stand up but unfortunately, the mage had already caught up. [Mana Bind]
Thin ropes of light suddenly appeared and wrapped around Li Wei's leg, making him fall back on his butt.
The masked man was standing 10m away from Li Wei. "How did you get rid of the poison?"
The latter coldly looked at the mage but did not answer.
"Trying to hide something from me? Pretend to be strong if you want. It will be interesting to see how long you'll last once we get back to the camp," mockingly said the mage before laughing.
"F*ck you! Why are you doing this!" shouted Li Wei.
"Hmmp! I am merely fulfilling the wishes of God! Once I bring you back, the Messenger will deal with you!"
The masked man slowly approached Li Wei. He tried to get up but fail. Even if his hands were free, the [Mana Bind] not only locked his two feet together, it also wrapped around a nearby branch. It basically tied Li Wei to the branch.
The mage did not seem to be anxious that his prey might escape. Instead, he seemed to be enjoying Li Wei's struggle but as he reached the 5m mark from Li Wei.
The latter coldly smiled. He immediately moved back his arm and did a throwing motion. The mage was puzzled, there was clearly nothing in Li Wei's hand, "Did he become crazy already?" thought the mage.
But suddenly, a sphere appeared in Li Wei's hand a flew out towards the mage. The masked mage did not have time to dodge but he quickly activated [Mana Shield]. His shield was brighter and thicker than the other [Mana Shield] Li Wei had seen.
The Pyro bomb flew in an arc and eventually landed on the [Mana shield]. The second it crashed on the shield, its surface ruptured and a pink liquid came out. It did not even last a fraction of a second that the pink liquid immediately ignited as it came into contact with air. Flames burst out of the liquid and instantly covered the entire area.
The mage who was at the center of his [Mana Shield] could not help but gasp. He had never seen a pyro bomb before but this type of fire? He had seen it countless time. It was a perfect replica of the Hell Fire of the Shadow Realm.
Li Wei who was still tied by the [Mana bind] closed his eyes. A powerful heat wave struck his whole body as the Pyro Bomb exploded. It was even stronger than the one he faced when setting Alyssa's Lair on Fire. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes only to see the [Mana Shield] still holding on.
The mage panicked, he knew how dangerous the fire was, but he was completely surrounded. The [Mana shield] had the form of a sphere, completely isolating his body from the environment. But at the same time, it was acting as a prison which was slowly being licked by the flames.
"-10" continuously appeared on the [Mana shield] and quickly, the shield dispersed itself.
As soon as the protective barrier disappeared, the flames all converged on the mage's body. The latter screamed in pain as his clothes took fire.
[Water Ball]
The mage quick activated a skill but even as water splashed on his body, the flames did not disperse.
"-10", "-10"
The mage's HP quickly dropped down. He was a mage and did not have a lot of vitality. From the looks of it, he would not last for long.
Li Wei stared at the scene both stunned by the Pyro Bomb's effectiveness and scared by its power.
"Maybe I am really a pyromaniac inside..."
"Ahhh!!! AHHH!!!"
The mage screamed loudly, both fury and pain could be heard from his tone. He kept moving around, desperately trying to extinguish the flames from his body but no matter what he tried, the flames did not weaken.
"-10", "-10". The mage's HP dwindled down to 70.
A few seconds later, it was now at 50 but the fire showed no sign of stopping. The fire already burned the surrounding grass and even the man's mask was burned to ashes, revealing a middle-aged man's face.
Li Wei let out a sigh of relief; he was witnessing a terrifying scene and he was the one that caused it! But at least, that would mean he was safe from now on!
However, the mage suddenly stopped moving as his HP hit 30. He became as still as a statue and opened his eyes to look at Li Wei. An evil grin could be seen on his face as he suddenly broke into a laugh!
From Li Wei's point of view, the sudden change in behaviour startled him and even scared him to death. Right now, the mage was looking like the devil himself, laughing loudly with an evil grin as his entire body was being consumed by the flames.
But as the mage laughed, a dark mark suddenly appeared on his right eye, going down his cheek and then moving towards his ear. The mark looked odd like a very curly line. But that mark suddenly lit up. The deep black color suddenly shone and moments later, all the flames that were previously burning the surroundings were absorbed by the mark and disappeared as if nothing happened.
The mage stood in front of Li Wei, continuing to laughed. Finally, he stopped and looked at Li Wei while the mark on his face was still glowing.
"Kid, did you really think I was done for? Hahaha! Maybe it would have worked on the others but blame your luck! Fire cannot hurt me! Did you enjoy the tiny little hope I allowed you to have? Hahaha!"
Li Wei stared at the mage in horror! He simply could not understand what happen. The fire that was previously burning everything was suddenly absorbed by that strange mark. And more importantly, the mage's health suddenly healed back to 100!