162 Near the lake. (1/2)

No matter what they thought about her, she was still the companion of Ozul. Including Rufus, no one wanted to provoke his ire.

After the previous events, everyone who remained in the group had understood that Ozul was at least as strong as a Rank-8 Mage. So they limited themselves only to give her the stink eye.

As if completely oblivious to their contempt filled eyes, Raven remained completely unfazed by this situation.

Ozul had long before drilled it in her mind that she would be ostracized after choosing the Darkness Element. He worried that she might not be able to accept the rejections. However, he ignored one simple point; Raven had long ago stopped caring about other's opinions.

Spending all her time with someone as insensitive as Ozul was bound to have some effect on her psyche.

Unlike her, Blaze was not so composed. If Raven had not stopped him, he would have even picked a fight with the Rank-7 subordinate under Rufus because he was pointing fingers at her!

Only under the intense glare from Raven had he repressed his urge to kill that guy or die trying.

Anyways, Raven did not care about the hate as long as they did not cause any trouble for either her or Blaze. In the first place, she only chose to stick together with the group because Ozul had told them to do so before jumping off the cliff.

Even though Blaze was almost just as strong as her, Raven had undoubtedly become the leader in Ozul's absence.

The next day, Rufus ordered everyone to hurry up as they were about to move to the next city.

———————

Around this time, Ozul jumped from tree to tree with Clara, Cyril, and Mark following right behind him. He ran with a decent pace that even Clara could easily follow him.

They were not just walking anymore since it would take them months to reach the Neutral Lands with that speed. Ozul had confirmed with Mark, who informed him that their current pace would take them exactly around one month.

Cyril let out some of his aura to spread around to avoid the nuisance of a Beast blocking their path. There were no Beasts so strong in this forest who would want to come near them even after sensing his aura as a Rank-8 Mage.

The group ran until the sun was about to set. Ozul wouldn't have stopped just here if he had not spotted a lake in their path.

With Raven, he had gotten used to cleaning the dirt off of his body by her Spell. It was not only convenient but also saved him effort and time.

'Maybe a little soak will be relaxing?' Ozul thought while stopping a few meters before the lake.

Although he could use the Ball of Purity to clean himself as well, he would rather use the water.

As usual, Cyril and Mark took a look around the area to get rid of any nuisances. Ozul did not immediately go to the lake as he had noticed something around the lake.

The lake was about a hundred square meters. And there was Pyretic grass growing all around its edges!

Ozul recognized this grass at first glance. This grass grew only near a body of water. It was not anything rare, but a convenient plant that used the Mana in the air to heat the body of water near it.

However, the grass only did its thing at night time. So, Ozul waited for the grass to warm up the water first. In the meantime, he sat on a branch before taking out the strange book.

. . .

A few hours passed before it was completely dark in the surroundings. Ozul rubbed his eyes open as he got down the tree.

As usual, Cyril and Mark were near him with their backs resting against the tree trunk and cigarettes and wine in their hand.

They watched him lazily walk towards the lake before they returned to their conversation.

Ozul created a hand-like shape with Ball of Purity and helped himself take off the prosthetic arms. Although they did not bother him too much, it still felt off to keep on those chunks of metal. He did not mind taking them off once in a while.

The lake had steam fog all around it because of the water's warm temperature. Because of the lake's size, the Pyretic grass was not enough to make it burn, but the water had gotten warm enough to be comfortable.

After the prosthetic arms, he created another hand with the Ball of Purity to help himself take off the clothes. The steam fog covered his body, which would make just about anyone awestruck at its sight.

As Grandma Carol had taught him long ago, he neatly folded the shirt and the pants before placing them on the grass near his prosthetics.

After that, he entered the lake. After a few steps in, the water was deep enough to reach his neck if he sat down.

Ozul stopped at that point and sat down before closing his eyes. The warm water was comforting as there was no one to disturb him. However, he could not really say that nothing was annoying here since there were no trees to block the moonlight above him.

Though he did not complain and enjoyed the silence for as long as he could.