A pack of red-horned wolves appeared where Albert and Lilia were exploring the forest. There were ten of them, and they had a fairly large size.
"Red-horned wolves," complained Albert.
"Isn't that a monster equal to a stage of a young instructor?" asked Lilia.
"We're truly unlucky," replied Albert.
Morgan continued sprinting past the waterfall to arrive at the location where the monsters intercepted Albert and Lilia. He also kept walking while watching the map menu on his watch, showing his green dot getting closer to Albert and Lilia's.
[Mid Magic: Natural Land Stomping]
Albert cast an earth elemental spell to defeat the monsters. The two of them stood with their backs against each other. Lilia also had to defeat the monsters as much as possible because relying on Albert would only be troublesome for her later.
[Mid Magic: Fast Water Stream]
A magic circle appeared before Lilia, creating a rushing stream of water from within the magic circle. The water circled around them to keep the red-horned wolf pack from approaching.
"We have to hold out while we wait for Morgan to come help," Albert stated. Lilia cleared her throat in response.
Lilia continued to maintain the stream of water as their defense against the wolf pack. However, the power of the water element was not enough to withstand the monster's strength.
When the water magic stream defense was penetrated, Lilia fell to her knees with a labored gasp. Albert turned his head and realized Lilia's mana energy was drained by the impact of the water magic spell.
'Are we going to fail now?' Albert lamented to himself.
Morgan spotted them and jumped towards them. Morgan's arrival was accompanied by a strong gust of wind that startled the red-horn wolf pack.
"Are you alright?" asked Morgan, keeping his eyes focused forward.
"I'm fine. However, Lilia seems to lack in mana," Albert explained.
"I'm sorry," Lilia whimpered.
"It's fine. You're good at using healing." Morgan took the blue gem from his storage bracelet and handed it to Lilia. The girl accepted the gem and crushed it, inhaling the flow of mana gem into her mouth.
Lilia's mana capacity was restored thanks to the blue gem's energy. The girl was back on her feet and ready to help Morgan and Albert, especially restoring their abilities.
"What should we do?" asked Albert, still staring at several packs of red-horn wolves.
"You protect Lilia, let me fight them," replied Morgan.
[Mid Magic: Blaze Armor]
A magic circle was created above Morgan's feet, making Morgan's body start to shroude by the blaze armor, which surprised Albert and Lilia.
[Mid Magic: Wind Spear Gloves]
Morgan sheathed both of his palms with conical spears that were sharp, piercing, and blowing strong winds. The young man leaped swiftly forward, lunging at any red-horn wolf that charged close.
Albert helped with his earth elemental power. Lilia performed another role, protecting the two boys from the red-horn wolf packs.
The young man swung his arms right and left, punching each red-horn wolf until it bounced away. Albert was amazed that Morgan could easily defeat a red-horn wolf.
'What exactly is his power?" Albert asked.
Morgan swung his hand sideways, creating a sickle-shaped wind slash that pointed straight ahead. The red-horn wolf pack was pushed back hard and killed on the spot.
Seven of the ten wolves died, the rest fled as their pack leader had also been defeated. Morgan deactivated his magic, walking up to one of the dead red-horn wolves.
'If I hadn't increased my strength when attacking earlier, I might have had difficulty dealing with these monsters,' Morgan explained.
Morgan crouched down right before the red-horn wolf's carcass. He reached his hand forward to grab what was inside the wolf's body. Light emerged from Morgan's palm, pulling three objects from inside it.
[Items:]
[1 plate]
[1 second-level monster essence]
[2 Amethyst red gems]
The items obtained were not bad, especially the second-level monster essence. Morgan put everything into his black pouch.
Albert picked up items from the other wolf, and so did Lilia. However, when Lilia was about to pick up the items inside it, her body stiffened suddenly, and the green wind began to shackle her.
"Morgan. Albert," Lilia called out.
Morgan looked back, seeing someone wrapped Lilia in wind-shackle magic. Another group emerged from the forest depths, six people in total.
"Two groups working together. Are you the rune class?" asked Morgan.
"Rune class? HAHA! Don't make us laugh. We're not weaklings!" insisted the young man who shackled Lilia with the wind magic.
'Arcana students. It's bad luck to meet them here, especially since there are so many of them,' Morgan complained.
"Let her go!" ordered Morgan.
"I'll do it if you give up all your plates!" the young man pointed at Morgan.
"Don't give him the pouch, Morgan!" shouted Lilia.
"SHUT UP!" insisted the young man, slapping Lilia severely to Morgan's anger.
Morgan picked up his black pouch and showed it to them. They smiled, finding Morgan easy to trick.
"Throw it to us, and we'll let her go," the young man explained.
"Albert," Morgan called quietly.
"When I throw this, you go ahead and grab Lilia!" Morgan whispered.
Albert cleared his throat and nodded, fully understanding what Morgan was planning.
[High Magic: Body Strength Enhancement]
Morgan focused on strengthening his hands and feet without bringing up any magic aura. Morgan threw the black pouch forward, and the young man who shackled Lilia prepared to catch it.
Morgan smiled slightly. He leaped forward with his hands clenched tightly. Morgan's speed of movement surprised the six Arcana students.
"It's not that simple!" shouted Morgan, realizing the young man before him was not ready to block the attack.
Morgan landed a crushing blow on the young man's stomach, causing him to bounce away and crash into the trees. However, the blow did not knock him out.
"Damn you!" the other youth complained.
Five people stepped forward to beat up Morgan and Albert. Albert dared himself even though he knew the difference between his strength and theirs was pretty big.
Morgan could not unleash his true abilities if Albert and Lilia were still in that place. The other young man released wind magic forward, targeting Morgan, but Morgan managed to dodge it well.
Surprisingly, another young man appeared beside Morgan. Morgan hadn't time to cast a defense spell, causing his fist to hit Morgan's stomach and send Morgan's body bouncing off the boulder.
"Morgan!" shouted Albert.
Three other Arcana students came close to Albert. Albert tried to protect himself and Lilia with his earth magic defense. However, his strength was not comparable, which caused him to be hit by their attacks.
Albert bounced off and fainted unconscious. Now, only Morgan and Lilia were left and still conscious. They didn't plan to make Lilia confess because the group leader, Morgan, kept the black pouch.
The leaders of the two groups walked over, a boy and a girl. They worked with each other because they were from the same dorm, and they also had a romantic relationship. Now, the two figures stood straight before Morgan, still leaning against the boulder.
"Just as I thought, you're easier to deal with than first-level monsters!" insulted the young man, followed by loud laughter from his members.
"Now, hand over the black pouch. I'll make sure you return home safely and unharmed!" insisted the young man, holding out his hand.
"Albert is unconscious, and Lilia is shackled. Now, I no longer need to hide my abilities," Morgan declared, making the six Arcana students laugh, finding Morgan's bluff hilarious.
"You want to fight the six of us? Don't be kidding! You're just a Rune student, a trash one." The young man before Morgan clenched his fist tightly, then wrapped the fist in wind magic. He aimed his fist at Morgan's face.
BOM!
An explosion occurred in that place. The Arcana student guessed it came from his power when punching Morgan's face. The strong wind from the wind magic aura in the Arcana student's fist created a puff of smoke.
"Rune student who doesn't know himself!" insulted the young man.
[Absolute Magic: Mana Domain]
Using his mana manipulation, Morgan took advantage of the momentum of the smoke to trap them. Mana Domain had activated within a five-meter range from Morgan.
The six Arcana students fell face down under the pressure of Morgan's mana. Not only did they have difficulty moving, their breathing was heavy with dizzy heads.
"What ... magic is this?" asked the young man, still face down, unable to move.
"Arcana students like you have no right to know," Morgan explained.
He approached the two group leaders and took the black pouches from them. Morgan opened the pouches and put his hands inside, taking out all the items in the two pouches.
[Items:]
[58 plates]
[8 second-level monster essences]
[5 Carmine-type gems]
[7 Amethyst gems]
[1 green Aspirus leaf]
[1 rat jawbone]
Most of the items obtained were useful, but Morgan got an aspirus leaf and a rat jawbone. Morgan shook his head. How stupid of them to pick up such useless objects.
Morgan threw those two objects away since they were useless to him. Now, Morgan's eyes refocused on them.
"That's a lot of money. I have you to thank," Morgan explained, robbing all their black pouches.
"You... my friend is the dorm leader. He will hunt you down and kill you!" insisted the young man.
"Really? I'll wait for that moment to happen," Morgan explained.
"For now, you better rest here!" continued Morgan.
He increased the mana pressure in his mana domain magic until it made the six Arcana students unable to do anything. They collapsed on the grassy ground of the forest, allowing Morgan to be free of them.
Morgan returned to where he had been, seeing Lilia doing her best to heal Albert's wounded condition.
"How are you?" asked Lilia, Morgan smiling at her.
"I'm fine. What about him?" asked Morgan.
"He was injured from the attack," Lilia replied.
"I'm sorry, Morgan," said Lilia, feeling guilty.
"There's no need to apologize. After all, we made a huge profit even though Albert had to get hurt." Morgan picked up his pouch and showed it to Lilia.
"I'll do my best tonight. Albert will likely recover by tomorrow morning," Lilia explained, about to pay for her mistake.
"Is that so? We'd better return to our hiding place. The fight earlier caused a lot of dispersed energy fluctuations. I'm afraid someone is coming close," Morgan replied.
"Energy fluctuations?" asked Lilia, rising from her seat while Morgan carried Albert's body.
'What an outburst!' said Morgan.
"That's not important. Let's go."
Morgan's group left the place. Unbeknownst to them, another group of Arcana students had been watching the fight.
A girl in armor walked out, followed by two of her team members. She arrived at the battle area and saw a Rune student knocked six Arcana students unconscious.
"We'll follow them."