A few minutes earlier.
Jinmu, Lucan, and Solordo ventured together in the deep Leeveria forest.
"Academy master said we should be careful. It seems like a demon beast nest has taken occupancy here.", Jinmu cautioned.
Solordo rolled his eyes, "What demon beast nest? I'm going to beat it to death!"
A few clawed monkeys and wolves arrived in front of them.
"Hey Jinmu, you have anything to help us out?", Lucan asked.
"Hmph, don't underestimate me."
Jinmu took out a bunch of papers from his system inventory. There were various shapes inscribed in them.
"Hey, magic traps? Seriously, how many do you have in your inventory?", Solordo was dumbfounded.
"About a thousand or so.", Jinmu indifferently replied before quickly setting up the magic traps in the vicinity.
Although his magic root was crippled to an extent, Jinmu could harness the mana in the surroundings and use it to light up the traps instead. He learned the method after reading the books in the public library.
It was termed as 'domain mana synthesis'. The theory was that when a magic root was crippled, the body only lost the ability to store mana inside its body. A person can still utilize the mana in the vicinity for any sort of magic activity.
Solordo was even more shocked now, "A-a thousand? And how could you manipulate mana outside your body? Is this a method from the public library?"
Jinmu nodded at Solordo's last question, "It's better to create an excess amount of protection you would never use instead of dying unprepared.", then reasoned out the humungous number of magic traps he had created during the past few days.
He adapted the mentality during his earlier days in his village. The villagers, even in the most peaceful times of their lives, would prepare a ton of weapons, traps, and other things.
They wouldn't let the term 'peace' get over their heads and die unknowing of the cause.
Lucan and Solordo approved of the thought. Jinmu's reason did make sense.
"Good! It seems like I won't have to watch your back for a while!", Solordo was elated. He wasn't fond of looking over other people.
The enthusiastic man dove on the group of demon beasts and hacked at them.
Solordo was a trained knight and didn't have any problems killing. He could predict their moves and attack or defend depending on the circumstances.
A clawed monkey tried to sneak behind him but Solordo's instincts noticed it.
"Ha!"
Solordo rapidly turned around and battered the clawed monkey's head.
Meanwhile, Lucan blasted off the demon beasts crawling to him. Jinmu would sometimes help him out when he was recovering the spent mana.
A dark luminous wolf stepped on his trap. It instantly generated a strong gust of wind and blew the wolf away. Jinmu even modified the direction to where the other demon beasts were.
He worked quickly, replacing the used magic traps with new ones.
As the three of them were fighting, they heard a loud crash from the distance. Many demon beasts howled and clashed against one another. The three boys were intrigued and quickly dispatched the demon beasts that attacked them.
After the fight, they harvested the corpses and found out that they could only interact with the monsters they have killed.
"Pretty convenient. At least someone wouldn't be able to cheat others of their loot.", Jinmu eyed the depressed Solordo.
The guy grinned ear to ear earlier, intending to snatch theirs.
Lucan looked at his map and noticed something.
"Wait, academy master is in that direction. Should we go? I'm afraid we might that some ferocious demon beasts lurk over there."
Commander-level demon beasts weren't a joke. They might find themselves surrounded by a swarm of common and elite-level demon beasts under the commander's control before dying a painful death.
"Then we should stay away from that direction. Academy master is powerful, we aren't helpful with our current magic power.", Jinmu concluded.
All of them, except Olivia, were still apprentice mages with Lucan and Solordo both at the full ring. The northerner girl was already a trainee mage and her prowess in battle was greater than the three of them combined.
Even Solordo, who always invited Olivia to a fight, wasn't any worth during their matches. After all, her lightning affinity was too powerful.
Furthermore, they were sent here to hunt demon beasts on their own. Looking for the academy master for shelter would be a disappointing act on their part.
Meanwhile, Eluard made his way to the first group of the stranded elven students in the Leeveria Forest. Although the foliage and trees hindered his vision, the map guided his way around.
"Uhm, Rina, aren't we a bit too deep in the Leeveria Forest? What if we meet some commander-level demon beast?", Rono cowered behind her sister.
Rina sighed, "Idiot brother, why do you think we are here in the first place? It's because of you! Stop being a sissy and don't-", slapping Rono's hands away from her, "touch me!"
Eluard ignored them and found footprints on the soft ground.
'They should be somewhat in front of my eyes now. Did they set up an illusion?'
"Rina, Rono, come over here.", he gestured at the twins.
"Uh…", Rono hesitated.
Rina dragged her helpless brother in front of Eluard, "Senior, what is it?"
At that moment, the space in front of them warped.
"Yo-young master and mistress!", a woman appeared and greeted Rina and Rono. There was nervousness in her voice.
The golden hair of hers fell on her beautiful face, covering some small scratch marks caused by the demon beasts.
On the other side were five students hugging each other in fear of Eluard's mask and robe. However, seeing Rina and Rono together brought a sense of relief to them.
"Auntie Haera, it's glad that you're still alive!", Rina ran over to her auntie. Rono stood in place and didn't move.
Eluard patted Rono's shoulders, "You deal with them. I have other elves to rescue."
"Uh, senior-"
Before Rono knew it, Eluard was nowhere to be seen, 'Strong. I wonder if I could be as strong as him.'
Rono remembered how Eluard faced all of the demon beasts that surrounded them earlier in the cave. He saw it as a courageous bravado of Eluard, displaying his power and will to continue to fight.
"Hey, Rono! Come over and greet your auntie!", Rina pulled him out of his daze.
"Ah, yes!"
…
Eluard moved to the deeper parts of the Leeveria forest. The way he saw it, the other groups of students were gone in the blink of an eye.
Only a few remained and his students were close to them than him. The only remaining spot was this particular point in the map, south of the Leeveria forest near its center.
[ Warning! ]
[ Detecting several commander-level demon beasts in the vicinity. It is advisable to turn around and leave. ]
The system prompted him. Eluard narrowed his eyes and wondered when did the system become cautious.
'I thought that systems like you are all brave and have the front of superiority.'
Even though he just mocked his system, Eluard put it to great importance to tread carefully in the path in front of him.
The map was showing a few green dots in the distance disappearing at a slow pace. This was what intrigued Eluard to come over here instead of going around and saving elves in distress instead.
'Are the demon beasts sacrificing them or are they simply eating them?'
He had a hunch that something different was going on. The demons were definitely behind this strange occurrence but he had to know more.
After all, they were the first line of defense against the demons in Aludia. If Eluard couldn't do his job properly, he might as well retire from his position.
Moreover, he was confident that he could escape even if a commander-level demon beast would attack him.
He fully enforced the dark element to cover his tracks and aura. In addition, he still has his magical deterrence ability.
Eluard could vanish like thin air and even prevent anyone from noticing him through any means. That is unless he was right in front of their eyes.
After a while, he noticed a disturbance nearby. Several murmurs could be heard, alerting Eluard.
Using the earth element, he climbed onto a tree by creating 'earth-based handles' and perched on the top branch.
His eyes blinked many times, surprised at the large dark portal that was created in the middle of a floating platform.
It was emitting a low buzzing sound and on its center was a dark-colored galaxy swirling counter-clockwise. Eluard could hear the cries of agony that originated from whatever was behind that portal.
Large demonic beasts prostrated in front of a tall demonic creature. Their followers stayed under the floating platform with fear present in their eyes.
The demonic creature had five horns on its head, branching out like those of a tree. Its four eyes darted around like crazy and the large canine mouth with long and big razor-sharp teeth moved as he whipped a commander-level dark luminous wolf into submission.
"Throw these stupid elves to the Otherworld, quick! Master Vahalla is waiting, and his wait couldn't be extended any longer. The sacrifices have to continuously pour in or else I will face his wrath, and you, in advance, will suffer!", his ethereal-like voice produced echoes that terrified the elves and knocked them out.
"Look at how weak these creatures are, and to think that Master Vahalla was subdued by them! The historians need to check their facts!", he lashed out before kicking one of the elves into the dark portal with his large hind legs.
Eluard estimated that this demon creature was at least five meters tall, and that was when it hunched its back. Although he didn't see the infamous demon wings from that creature, Eluard could feel its powerful aura permeating the surroundings.
Noticing that something was amiss, the demon creature punched the dark luminous wolf kneeling on the sides.
"Where's the rest of the damn elves, you stupid dog! Didn't I tell you to gather all of them here like the pigs they are?!"
"Bu-but sir…, someone has killed my underlings…", the wolf's puppy-like voice resounded. He felt wronged and his hatred for this 'someone' that interrupted their plan soared to the heavens.
"I don't give a shit if your underlings are killed! How incompetent!", the demon creature spat at him and went to the portal.
"You go hide and repopulate! I will come back here in another time."
Once all the elves were thrown into the dark portal, the demon creature entered and closed it without hesitance. The demon beasts immediately stood up and ran in all directions.
Eluard remained calm despite the number of demon beasts going in his direction.
In his mind, he scoffed at the demon creature's plan. He knew that it would leave regardless of the result anyway. The elves would surely notice their presence, and so would the League of Wizardry and the Knights of Aludia.
At that point, the elves would be more cautious. The demon's chances of capturing anything worthwhile would become nothing.
That was why it left. There was no point for it to stay in Leeveria Forest any longer.
On the other hand, Eluard was also amazed by how smart and tricky the demons were.
"It seems like they aren't really that hot-headed and dumb. I guess I was reading too much back on Earth. Well, I guess if you provoke them, they might be.", he muttered under his breath.
Seeing that nothing else interesting would happen here, Eluard left the area silently.