Chapter 284: Still not back? (1/2)

The old physician on the ground could only shake his head while his body was still trembling from fear after experiencing that menacing aura. In the end, he was only an Initial Stage Rank-8 Mage; a Rank-10 existence was too much for him to handle.

And it didn't help the fact that even his own companions didn't help him in that situation.

While the old physician lamented the fact that he couldn't convince Darcia to let them do a few experiments first, the Rank-10 Mage was flying straight towards the uninhabited part of the continent. She didn't even bother to inform Lammert beforehand.

On the way, Darcia looked for any trail that the Church's people had left behind in order to let them know their route, but she couldn't find anything as such no matter how hard she looked.

In the end, she came to the conclusion that Ozul might have already taken care of those people following them.

'Hm? No matter... It still won't take me long before I find you,' Darcia thought before cackling as she flew in a straight line with a blinding speed.

——————

Back to Ozul and the group, they were blissfully unaware of the fact that a Rank-10 Mage was out to hunt them down and she was even bringing a weapon that might even kill beings above Rank-10!

At this moment, Blaze was fighting another peak Rank-8 Magical Beast with the help of the Rogue Crew.

It was a Golden Roc with Wind Element, so it was quite difficult for them to deal with it in the air as it had better maneuverability in the air.

But despite its advantage in the air, it could only helplessly watch as Blaze led the Rogue Crew to slowly tire it out before killing it. There were over thirty Rank-8 Mages after all.

While they fought with the Golden Roc that had descended from the mountain range in the far distance, Ozul watched over Raven so no stray Spell disturbed her cultivation.

It had been a few hours since she had started meditating and the aura around her was getting increasingly denser.

Kreeeee!!

Just then, the Golden Roc died with a deafening shriek that echoed back because of the mountain range near them.

Blaze had successfully taken down the peak Rank-8 Magical Beast without letting any member of the Rogue Crew get into harm this time. He stored the corpse of the Beast inside his Spatial Ring and descended on the ground followed by others.

Just as he was about to boast around how easily he had gotten rid of the Beast this time, Blaze noticed the sudden spike in Raven's Mana and stopped at his spot.

”She is about to achieve a breakthrough!” Blaze instantly realized as he had gone through the same process some months back as well.

”Keep your voice down,” Ozul looked at Blaze and said with an unamused face.

One would think that he was being considerate of Raven. However, only Blaze knew how much Ozul hated people shouting near him.

His next words got stuck in his mouth as he excitedly cheered for Raven in his mind.

For all his rivalry with her, at this time, it looked as if he wanted her to surpass him instead.

Ozul also examined Raven's body, but his focus was his Scent rotating around her heart instead of her Mana Core.

He had noticed it before too when Blaze was about to achieve the breakthrough to the End Stage, and it truly intrigued him how his Scent would start to spin increasingly faster at the time of their last step towards the next Stage.

He hadn't been able to figure out the reason or what changes it made back then, and no matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to feel anything this time either.

His Scent was spinning at a fast rate around Raven's heart, but everything was exactly the same as it would be with someone who didn't have the Scent. He could spot no obvious differences.

When it came down to things that Ozul didn't know but he wanted to, they kept piling on with the years instead of decreasing.

He sighed before shifting his focus back on Raven's aura. Her Mana had a very dark hue because of her Darkness Element and it made many members of the Rogue Crew frown subconsciously.

They were all aged Mages who had seen many Dark Mages throughout history using Darkness Element to kill the innocents. Although it had been a few days together with her, they still couldn't help but be wary of her.

Fwoosh!

Just then, pitch-black particles began to seep out into the air from the torrent of dark Mana circling around Raven.