But Hayato's slash had no effect at all, the ice crystals that had formed around his sword suddenly shattered without a trace. At that moment, his gaze fell on Rafe, who was standing nearby.
"Now I understand," Hayato muttered with a grin.
Meanwhile, Rafe clenched his right fist. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning enveloped his right hand, the flash so bright that the forest area around them was clearly visible.
Rafe swung his right fist forward as he ran, and at that moment, the flashes spread out in different directions very quickly. The group of Nightwolf monsters that came out looked surprised and tried to dodge by jumping in different directions.
But Rafe's lightning began to branch out like the roots of a tree, spreading in different directions, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of Nightwolf monsters were knocked down after their hearts were pierced by the spreading lightning, their bodies convulsing from the sting of the lightning.
"Effective use of mana, effective and precise attacks on the monsters' weaknesses, the accuracy of the attacks is also very good. This is the first time I've met someone like him, his combat experience is obviously very high," Hayato thought when he saw Rafe's attack.
"You better not waste mana for nothing, you won't be able to control mana when you're near me. You won't be able to use all your magic," Rafe said while jumping over the pile of dead monsters he had defeated.
"Is that your skill?" asked Hayato.
"Hehehe... yes. Actually, my passive skill, Plot Armor," Rafe replied with a chuckle.
"What, a passive skill? What's it called, Plot Armor?" muttered Hayato with a surprised look on his face.
"Now that I can feel it, there is indeed someone in this forest. But the mana aura doesn't feel dark at all," Rafe said, staring at the dark forest in front of them.
"He can feel it? That is even more absurd," Hayato thought with a serious look on his face.
"Yes," Hayato replied shortly.
Shortly after, a huge fireball suddenly crashed down from the distance, all trees that passed the fireball were immediately burned and turned into ashes, the light even illuminated the forest area around Rafe and Hayato.
"Stay behind me!" said Rafe as he ran ahead of Hayato.
Lightning bolts were created in both of Rafe's hands, slowly solidifying into two lightning knives as the bolts continued to flash. Rafe immediately slashed the two knives forward, two sharp lightning blades shot out from the lightning knives in Rafe's hands.
The huge fireball in front of them instantly split into four pieces and shot in four different directions past Rafe's body, but Rafe was surprised because Hayato suddenly jumped from behind him.
"I will prove my strength," Hayato shouted as he slashed at one of the fireballs with his sword.
"Arggh! Hot!" Hayato shouted as his body was hit by the part of the fireball he was about to slash.
"You idiot! What are you doing?" shouted Rafe, who was confused by Hayato's strange behavior.
"I'm going to knock you out, Rafe," Hayato said as his body bounced away.
"You freak, you're dumber than me!" grumbled Rafe as he walked away, he was about to approach Hayato's body lying on the ground covered in burns. But Rafe stopped his foot, which had only taken one step, when he felt an unusually high mana surge from behind him.
"Better not to turn your back on your enemy, boy," an adult woman's voice came from behind Rafe.
The air around them suddenly felt very hot, the forest that had been dark was suddenly bright from the light of the giant flames that shot towards Rafe, the flames forming a giant bird. The wind also rumbled with the attack of the giant fire bird, the leaves on the trees and grass seemed to begin to change color under the impact of the increasingly hot air.
All the trees that were directly under the flames were immediately burned by the heat, and one by one the trees that blocked the magic where Rafe was began to turn to ash. Finally, the giant firebird's magic came closer to Rafe.
"An attack this strong, it's impossible for me to withstand with my current strength, if I run away then Hayato will be affected, really cunning," Rafe muttered while grinning and eliminating the two lightning knives in his hand. Rafe then closed his eyes and pointed his palms forward, as if to directly resist the fire magic coming at him.
"Even though my power is drastically reduced, this should be enough to withstand it," Rafe said.
Suddenly, the giant firebird that was flying towards Rafe shrank when it hit Rafe's palm, becoming smaller and smaller until the large firebird disappeared without a trace. Blood could be seen flowing from both sides of Rafe's mouth, and his right hand, which was facing forward, began to tremble violently.
"Looks like I tried too hard to hold it in," Rafe muttered as he stared at the black shadowy figure hovering in the distance. It was clear from his expression that Rafe was in pain all over his body.
The floating black shadow figure appeared to have long black hair and a silver mask covering her face. From her posture and voice, she was clearly a mature woman in her thirties.
Her black clothing didn't seem to cover her arms up to her armpits, and the skin on her shoulders was also slightly visible, while the lower part of her body wore a long black skirt that flowed down her legs, she also wore a red belt formed by a ribbon on her back, and a white cloth covered her body like a robe.
Her hands and shoulders were also covered with a white cloth that flowed backwards and was fastened with a black button just below her neck. Her right hand appeared to be holding a golden-yellow staff with a red crystal on it. Rafe understood at a glance that this time his opponent was a sorcerer.
"What's going on? He's holding it directly? That is impossible, that attack used up a third of my mana," the silver-masked wizard thought.
"Did he use his magic to deflect my attack? No, I didn't feel him use his magic at all, what exactly happened? My attack should have been able to destroy the protective magic and body of an A-class guardian," the masked witch muttered as she looked at Rafe.
Rafe immediately darted away from where he was standing, deliberately so that her next attack would not affect Hayato who was still lying down.
"What is your purpose in doing all this? Are you going to kill all the people in this group?" asked Rafe loudly as he stared at the masked wizard.
"You don't need to know my business," the masked witch replied.
"Of course I do, because your answer will determine the time of your death!" replied Rafe with a grin.
"Hahaha... you think you can beat me with that little mana, huh?" the masked witch taunted with a laugh.
"Hahaha... you think you can win with such a big mana difference between us? Don't get cocky, wizard! You're an easy target for an assassin," Rafe said as he picked up a piece of wooden branch from the ground and broke it into ten pieces.
"Can an assassin reach me from here? You just have a big mouth," the masked wizard taunted as she raised her wand in the air.
At that moment, the ground on which Rafe was standing began to tremble, and he could feel a powerful surge of mana coming from the direction the masked witch was standing. A red magic circle began to surround the masked witch's body, and huge flames began to burn in the air, forming the shape of a giant firebird.
The air around the forest was hot, and the situation there also became bright as it was affected by the radiance of the flames. But Rafe grinned as he held out his right hand. The masked witch seemed surprised by Rafe's reaction, as if he was about to block her attack again.
"What is he doing? Is he going to block my attack like before?" the masked witch said as she swung her wand downward.
The magical figure of the giant firebird shot back at Rafe, who was still holding his right hand out in front of him. From his gesture, it seemed that Rafe was not going to dodge the coming attack.
Continued...