Ratois Mountain
Inside a cave with little amount of light inside, a large company of grey wolves can be seen
There were tens of thousands of wolves inside the cave. Some of the wolves have crazed look in their eyes while the others look relatively normal
In the center of the cave, a strange scene can be seen
There was a grey wolf that was visibly larger than the other grey wolves. It has the same size as a buffalo and its eyes have the same crazed light as some of the wolves. It was strange to see such crazed expressions from these wolves yet they did not blindlessly attack anyone
This wolf is terrifyingly strong. If it attacks human settlement, it would cause devastating damage and casualties as this is a grey wolf at the 6th fusion rank!
Its power was enormous and it wouldn't be strange for it to demolish an entire building if it wished to!
As a terrifying 6th fusion rank grey wolf, it has tens of thousands of lower level grey wolves serving it
However, a man wearing a mage robe can be seen sitting at the back of the wolf
His face was already old. He would at least be in his sixties
His face and hands were filled with wrinkles but the aura radiating from his body wouldn't make people think that he is just an ordinary old man
He has the aura of a mage at the 5th fusion grade!
As for the reason why a 5th fusion rank mage can comfortably sit on the back of a 6th fusion rank wolf, it might have something to do with his powers
From the ground, streaks of light came out and they gathered in the palm of this mage
Upon closer look, they would see that those streaks of light look like worms albeit they seem to have an illusory body
"My good [Soul Parasites]" the mage muttered with a chuckle as the soul parasites gathered and condensed in his palm
The parasites seem to have melted before solidifying into a crystal state. However, the quantity of the [Soul Parasites] was still far from enough
The mage sensed the parasites and a frown formed on his old face
"Why is there a huge number of soul essence from the wolves? Who killed them? Did the military intervene much more than I thought?" the mage questioned
As to not gather big suspicions, the mage sent and ordered his crazed wolves to not kill too many soldiers
In his plan, he wants to give the military a sense of threat but not a threat that is high enough for them to dispatch high-level mages
If the military were too focused on the Ratois Mountain then even with the preparation he took to hide would be useless
What he wants is the military to send streams of low-level mages!
That is the reason why he only dispatched low-level grey wolves to disturb the ecosystem in the Ratois Mountain
There are many wolves and other magic beasts that were disturbed but all of them are just low-level!
The only threat they posed was that with their numbers, it would be hard to prevent all of them from entering the residential areas but their individual strength was low!
As such, this development has puzzled the mage
"Could this be the doing of Claude Preston? Indeed, he deserves his reputation. But why did the military even send him here when the level of threat is not enough for them to dispatch such a terrifyingly strong mage?"
The old mage don't like this development but it was still not enough of a nuisance for him to be scared or think that his plans were failing
"I have to disperse the grey wolves to prevent them from being easily slaughtered by Claude Preston" the mage decided
If it was Claude Preston, he definitely could slaughter thousands of wolves but that is on the premise that the wolves were in the same place
However, if they are too scattered, it would take him a long time
Moreover, Claude also knows that there is a limit. The top beasts in the Ratois Mountain might not be overwhelmingly strong but the Greenwood City is surrounded by forests and other mountains
If Claude were to exterminate a number of magic beasts that exceeds the tolerance of the top experts of the magic beasts, trouble would follow
War might even happen!
Claude's plan was to exterminate many low-level magic beasts but he also couldn't drive them into extinction!
When the number of magic beasts reaches a dangerously low level, the old mage could then continue his plan and Claude cannot massacre the beasts again!
With that decided, the old mage ordered his mystic gem to come out
Its color was purple and inside it, a circular spiral symbol can be seen
This is not a mystic gem that has an elemental attribute, it was a soul-type mystic gem!
The old mage reached out his palm and a purple magic circle appeared
"[Soul Parasites!]"
From the magic circle, a hundred worm-like soul parasites emerged and they entered the foreheads of the grey wolves
With the use of this magic spell of the old mage, he gained another hundred crazed wolves that he sent out in the different exits of the cave
———
Back at the foot of the mountain, Claude resummoned all of his subordinates
The original dozen subordinates he had were all still alive especially since their average rank was quite high
However, of the 20 reinforcements, 5 of them have died
One group was wiped out and the other group had 1 casualty
If not for Claude deciding to focus on keeping the newbies safe after he saw an entire group wiped out then even more newbies might have died
This was a substantial casualty rate for the newbies and this result made Claude incensed
If the military didn't send newbies then not this many of them would die!
At the very least, the lowest ranking of the mage that the military sent should be at the 1st fusion rank while also sending some 2nd fusion rank mages!
"Everyone, all of you have contributed to the safety of our fellow citizens. But I am saddened to say that five of our fellow soldiers have died" Claude said grimly and the surviving soldiers grieved
These newbies are aware that some or actually many of them would die from the military operations and not of old age but knowing and seeing it was still two completely different things
They already formed bonds with their fellow soldiers, how can they not be sad about their deaths?
From them, Rezen stood up like a sore thumb. He is sympathetic to the soldiers that died but since he doesn't really know any of them, he wasn't that affected
"With this casualty rate, the danger of this operation was higher than what we have expected. I would ask the military department to take all of you back and send stronger reinforcements" Claude announced
It can't be helped, if he didn't intervene, the rate of casualties would be even higher. It was clear to see that these newbies are not enough to remove the danger of the Ratois Mountain
"Captain, no! We have to avenge our fallen brothers!"
"Right, we can't let them die in vain!"
"We will avenge their deaths!"
These newbies don't have much experience but they have the hot blood of the youths
Despite knowing the danger, they are still filled with a sense of righteous justice
"Captain, please let us remain and help. We don't fear the magic beasts especially since we have Rezen here with us!" Pierre also spoke and he even included Rezen in his words
"Huh? What did I do? Why are you including me?" Rezen asks in confusion and Pierre smiled at him
"Rezen, no need to lie with us! You are actually a mage from a powerful family, right? They have surely nourished a great talent like you greatly for you to have such an unbelievable level of power!"
Rezen wanted the smack the face of this Pierre since he spoke about talent
He reminded Rezen of how shitty his talent is!
What great talent are you talking about? Rezen has an ungraded talent! The lowest of them all!
And what is with him having a powerful family? He came from a middle-class family!
If you continue to spout such nonsense let's see if Rezen wouldn't spank you to death!
"What are you talking about?" Claude asks and the soldiers not included with Pierre's team was also curious
"Captain, we now know that you had Rezen help us not only to retrieve the magic beasts' carcasses but also to save and protect us if we encounter dangers!" Pierre said and his team members nodded their heads in agreement
In that, Claude creased his forehead. What save you? Isn't Rezen supposed to be the person that needs protection?
He really is just here to help retrieve the corpses to attract as few magic beasts as possible!
Seeing that the Captain is still continuing the 'act', Pierre showed his phone as he played a recording that he captured earlier
The other soldiers were also curious as they watched the video
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Yawn..."
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Oh wow, I actually killed two grey wolves with one [Sun Blast]. Why are they so stupid? Shouldn't they know that they shouldn't stand that close to each other?"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Munch, munch, munch. Hmm, these pills don't taste bad"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Argh, wolves again. Oh wait, there is one at the 2nd fusion rank"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"What the hell? It also died that easily? Oh, well, it at least managed to endure more than one [Sun Blast]"
The clip was the clip of Rezen slaughtering the magic beasts as if they were just ants
Everyone, including Claude himself, was surprised
They have never seen a person that laid back when fighting magic beasts!
He would just wave his hands from time to time to condense magic circles then in the next second, a [Sun Blast] already exploded on the bodies of the magic beasts
What the hell...
What have they watched exactly?
"Y-you... you completely mastered the [Sun Blast] spell?" Claude asks though he already knew the answer to that
With his level, he has eyes better than most people
To do the same thing that Rezen did, a person must either be a high-level mage using low-level spells or that Rezen is a 1st fusion mage but has a complete mastery with his spell
Of course, by complete mastery, it only meant that he mastered the 1st fusion grade version of his spell
Still, this was enough to surprise everyone especially Claude
Just days ago, Rezen is still just an ungraded rank mage. But now, not only has he advanced in rank but he also completely mastered a spell
What the hell is up with that insane speed?
But thinking of it, there are many geniuses in this world. Claude himself is a proof of that
In fact, when Claude is still a low-level mage, his comprehension is also sometimes higher than his rank
When he read magical theories, it was as if they were as basic as 1+1 to the point that his cultivation can't match the speed of his comprehension
The way Claude stared at Rezen changes. He didn't expect that he would actually discover such a gem
'Brother, don't look at me with those glowing blue eyes. You are melting my heart!' Rezen complained inside him as his body blushed from head to toe
"Rezen, do you want to join the military? I can have you directly join us, you wouldn't need to undergo any tests at all"
With the performance that Rezen shows, he is more than qualified to enter the military
In fact, he was even stronger than the newbies with them!
If Claude pulled some strings, he could make Rezen a target of nourishing with his talent!