"I wouldn't want to use that if it wasn't for the fact that this guy is so abnormal."
Jared whistled softly as the Rune Twin Swords disappeared into his arm, and Caroline reassembled her fine sword to change into an umbrella, sighing helplessly.
In fact, if the enemy was a human, Jared would never use that kind of transcendent technique unless it was a matter of urgency. After all, he was so confident in his own skill that it would be too boring to rely solely on the power of his weapon to fight. In fact, even if you're holding a weapon that can break a thousand pieces of gold, technique and skill are also necessary. Just like launching a nuclear bomb is more than just pushing a button.
It could be said that if they had met an ordinary human, they wouldn't have had to change the form of their weapons. However, it was clear that the opponent in front of them had already surpassed the realm of ordinary humans. Not only would their attacks be blocked, but they wouldn't die even if they were stabbed in the vitals - after all, it's not that easy to die again when you're already dead.
In that case, we'll have to crush it completely.
"Brother Jared! You're amazing! What did you just do, that sword is deformed? How did you do that?!"
Tawana excitedly jumped up to Jared's face and asked him all sorts of questions. Jared just smiled helplessly and did not answer Tawana's questions. Instead, Caroline came up and put her hand on Tawana's shoulder at the right time.
（Tawana, it's going to be dark soon. It looks like we won't make it out of the forest today. Go find some wood and make a fire. Don't go too far away from us.)
"Yes, Sister Caroline."
Tavana smiled and nodded, then turned to the other side of the room to gather dry firewood, while Kylie stood in front of the undead knight's ashes, frowning and wondering what she was thinking. Noticing that no one was looking at them, Caroline gently grabbed Jared's hands by his side. She frowned slightly, staring at the flame burns on Jared's palms.
(Does it hurt?)
"Well, if the treatment is going to be quick, I hope it'll be quick."
Jared was still smiling, his expression unchanged. Caroline sighed, and then she gently covered her palm over Jared's hand for a few moments before slowly releasing it, and the bloody burn in the center of Jared's palm was now completely healed, not even a little scar left.
"I'll keep watch tonight."
Jared patted Caroline on the shoulder while subconsciously playing with her long blonde hair.
"You've used up a lot of your power, save it."
(I know, I'm not a kid anymore.)
Caroline pulled her hair back from Jared's hands, not sure if she was complaining or protesting, while Jared smiled bitterly and scratched the back of his head. Although he was only three years older than Caroline, Jared was much more mature than Caroline in terms of life experience. At the time they first met, Caroline was a greenhouse flower, with little knowledge of the outside world. Since then, Jared had often taken on the role of caretaker for Caroline, and after all these years, it was clear that he still had some of the old habits that he hadn't yet corrected.
Firewood was easy to find, after all, this was a dead forest and nothing is easier than a dry tree trunk. But apart from that, there was nothing. There was no grass on the ground, let alone edible mushrooms. And the Forest of the Dead itself was so devoid of animal life that even a few game hunters could not find a target. As they hadn't expected an ordinary test to turn out like this, the four of them hadn't brought any spare food with them. In fact, after walking through the forest for a whole day and fighting with an undead knight, they had already used up a lot of energy. But they didn't expect to be in a situation where they couldn't even eat a full meal. Luckily, water is not a problem - both Tawana and Kylie can use magic to conjure up a lot of water and ice balls out of thin air, which are not weak for attacking, but the flavor and quality of the water they drink is also guaranteed.
But for how many days?
No one knows.
Jared leaned against a dead log next to the fire and closed his eyes. It looked like he was resting, but in fact he was listening intently to the wind around him. Caroline held Tawana in her arms, huddled by the fire, covered only by a thin blanket. While the two of them were used to camping in the wilderness, it was clear that this was Tawana's first experience. So she buried herself in Caroline's arms and fell into a sweet sleep. The troublesome-looking wizardess had been sitting by the fire since a few moments ago, but she seemed to have a way of dealing with the darkness, so Jared let her be. The fact that he and Caroline had to save her or not wasn't the main issue, it didn't matter if she died there or if they saved her, it was just a small matter.
Kylie naturally did not know what Jared was thinking, she just sat by the fire, recalling everything that had just happened in her mind. She originally thought that the one who fought should be a Necromancer, a lowly Necromantic creature. Although there was only one word difference between Necromancer and Undead, the difference was more than just one word. Necromancers were low-level dead creatures that were transformed from souls that were attached to their physical bodies, and they had bodies that could be attacked and harmed, which was why when Kylie saw Jared and the others were able to hit the enemy, she mistook it for a low-level Necromancer.
But the Undead Knight is a whole different story!
As High Soul Creatures, Undead Knights no longer have the concept of "body", they only have a pure soul. These higher soul creatures have lost the concept of life and death, and they do not hate life as much as Necromancers do. Attacking them is even more problematic, as the undead knight's gift allows them to attack a person's soul directly through their body, but it's impossible to hit them with a normal weapon. Can you fight off a ghost with a burning stick?
Who the hell are they!?
Kylie peeked over at Caroline, who was holding Tawana in her arms as she fell into a deep sleep, a strange young woman who had made quite an impression on her from the start. Although she couldn't speak, she had no problem communicating with Tawana and Jared. Her gold and blue pupils were so beautiful that Kylie felt nervous whenever she looked into them. It was as if those eyes could see through everything. If only she could realize that they were just the instinctive delusions that humans have when faced with the unknown, she would feel more at ease.
With that in mind, Kylie shifted her attention back to the man who seemed to be the one she hated. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with Jared, it was the fact that he didn't even look at her that annoyed Kelly. And even more so, because he was acting as if he was blaspheming against magic. What does he think a wizard does? Bombard a turret with firepower? To feel the spirit of magic, to feel the will of the world, to study it, to understand it, that's what wizards do. And casting magic is their way of communicating with the world. They are closer to the world than anyone else, and rightly so, they are in a higher place than anyone else.
This man doesn't understand the importance of a wizard! How dare he treat himself like this?!
Luckily, Kelly's memory was a little foggy when she first came to her senses, or she wouldn't have gotten along with Jared if she'd known he'd slapped her in the face.
Just as Kelly looked over at him, cursing him under her breath, Jared suddenly opened his eyes.
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing!"
Kelly grunted and turned away.
"Then let's rest early, we have to travel tomorrow, God knows when we'll be able to get out of this forest."
Jared said indifferently and closed his eyes again. Although it looked like he was sleeping, Kelly didn't dare to risk spying on him anymore, and she closed her eyes as she cursed the wretched man inwardly.
Jared wasn't asleep. He was thinking.
The whole thing was so strange, and now that I think about it, it seems like something that was so out of the ordinary from the beginning.
"Kelly?"
"Woo ...?"
Kylie, who had begun to lose her mind and was about to fall into a dream state, rallied herself and responded in a daze, not sounding quite as chipper as she had a moment ago.
"Were you planning on going to the trials in the first place?"
"Of course!"
Kelly replied with some great impatience .
"My lady is a magician, and usually those who participate in the trial are magic envoys, how could my lady lose to that kind of trash?"
"Why didn't you come along when you were a magical messenger?"
"It only took this young lady two months to rise to the level of a magician, there's no need to participate in such a boring test! If it wasn't for my father insisting that I come for mandatory certification, I wouldn't be interested in taking the test with this bunch of losers!"
I see.
Jared finally found the source of the problem.
Kelly Vito.
The only daughter of the Minister of Magic of the San Marino Empire, a magician.
In fact, it was easy to imagine that if she took part in this kind of test, there were hardly any people who thought they could win from her. Although she didn't have any intuitive understanding of the power of a wizard, the information she had received from Tawana showed that a magical envoy would have no chance of winning against a wizard. As a matter of fact, Kylie's participation in this test had already made her the winning candidate. Her sensitive identity could easily lead to some dark secrets or conspiracies. Jared didn't know the situation on the continent, but based on the information he had gotten from his own world, as well as some of the things they had done in the past, he could deduce that kidnapping the son of a high-ranking official and using it to increase the bargaining chips with those in power would be a common thing to do. Of course, in a place as powerful as the academy, it's not easy to kidnap a magician. But what if you change the destination by tampering with the transmission?
Jared thought it was similar to something they'd done before. Their target was the son of a high-ranking official who traveled by automobile to the golf course every day. What Jared and the others did was to use the same car to get there before the car and kidnap the target and take him somewhere else. If that's the case with the teleportation spell, then it was a trap from the beginning.
But Jared wondered why they hadn't ambushed Kelly if they were really after her. Could it be that their goal was to get rid of her? But, on second thought, it was a pretty safe bet. If the Forest of the Dead was really a forbidden area with no way in or out, and their goal was to kill Kylie, they wouldn't have had to send anyone here. And even if Kylie was lucky enough to escape, they wouldn't be exposed, they'd just be suspected.
At that thought, Jared looked very disgruntled at Kelly, who had slipped off to sleep.
"So it looks like we're being dragged into something we had nothing to do with."
He whined helplessly .