In the Jade forest, a youth with gray hair and deep black eyes was resting on a sturdy tree branch. Excitement had filled his eyes.
"I wish Mom and Grandpa could join me, Darius said wishfully.
"But they would make everything too easy, Darius said and chuckled, thinking about his family.
As he thought about his mother with a gentle smile, an image of a young woman with scarlet eyes and a flawless oval face appeared in his mind. Her lips curled into a gentle smile.
"One day, I'll take Mom and Grandpa. with me to see the ocean, Darius said.
He looked at the simple, plain black ring and started channeling mana into it. Before his departure, Alyra, Darius's mother, had given him this ring.
Even if this ring was plain and simple, for Darius, it was a treasure. A week had passed since Darius left the house, and he was missing the house and his family.
His thoughts were interrupted by a low-pitched howl.
"What's this? That's a wolf cub's howl,
but there are no wolf packs around in this area!" Darius thought in confusion, but his body started moving toward the howl.
Darius used wind magic to jump across the trees. As he got closer to the howl, he could hear human laughter mixed with a howl of pain.
"Hunting a cub is taboo among beasts. According to Grandpa, it's taboo for humans too, Darius thought.
"As Grandpa says, there are always bad apples among good ones, Darius said as he saw five humans corner a gray wolf cub.
"Only two of them are mages. Both of them are at stage-2 like me. I think I can kill them all."
Looking furiously, Darius found that they weren't hunting the cub-they were torturing it and laughing.
Darius's rage grew tenfold as the man with an axe stepped closer to the cub to kill it.
"You filthy humans!" Darius said and used Wind Blade with 20% of his mana reserves.
With the sound of a whoosh, an invisible blade made out of steel-like wind cut off the head of the man with the axe.
The other members tensed up, their eyes filled with fear of the unknown and caution.
One of the mages used mana sense to find the attacker.
Before that, Darius used Blink, teleporting behind the man with a bow and arrows. Darius used Thunder to burn the man from the inside.
Darius's instincts kicked in when he sensed a lightning bolt coming toward him from the left.
Darius blinked behind the first mage and used Thunder Spear with 30% of his mana reserves.
It pierced through the mage's heart, killing him instantly. Darius felt danger
from the right as the first mage's lifeless body fell to the ground.
"You damn humans!" Darius screamed in his mind as he blinked again, but he was seconds late. An ice shard managed to pierce into his right hand.
Darius used fire to melt the ice in his hand and appeared behind the second mage, who had attacked him. This time, Darius was met by a downward slash from the swordsman.
Darius shifted left to dodge the attack, but the second mage had also turned toward Darius, his hand shrouded with powder-blue mist.
"You son of a demon! You killed my group!" the swordsman screamed while attacking.
Before the second mage's hand could touch Darius, he was tackled by the little gray wolf.
Darius smiled and blinked to appear in front of the second mage, then used Thunder Spear to kill him as well.
The swordsman tried to attack Darius
from the side, but he was too late. Darius turned toward the swordsman with a devilish smile.
"You were calling me a demon for giving your group a painless death." His smile
widened as he continued, "Alright then," he paused for a second, "I'll give you a
slow and painful death, Darius said.
He conjured a small bolt of lightning to paralyze the swordsman. A fog of darkness rushed out from his hand and entered the swordsman's body.
The man started thrashing like a fish, but no voice came out of his mouth. His eyes were filled with tears and blood.
His body began decaying like crumbling paper. Ignoring the pained swordsman,
Darius walked toward the little gray wolf, who was lying on the ground, panting heavily.
He used light magic to disinfect its wounds.
"Are you alright, little one? Darius asked with a gentle smile.
Then Darius used Soothing Light to heal minor injuries. The little wolf fell asleep. as the Soothing Light worked on its
wounds.
Darius picked up the little wolf and walked toward a tree some distance
away from the corpses.
Darius repeated the process on himself before glancing at the little wolf.
"I wonder where his mother is?" Darius thought.
"I don't know if she's alive or not, but I can't leave this little one here." Darius
paused and then continued, "I will take him. Then he can come with me," Darius said with a smile.
"Is that okay with you?" Darius asked the sleeping wolf.