Jinmu stood still, alert to his surroundings. The leaves rustled without a hint of what caused it.
A magic trap he set on top of a tree branch lit up and caught a demon beast off guard. Water burst and submerged its victim by forming a pressurizing water prison.
The captive drowned before it could manage to escape.
Its corpse fell to the ground. He approached it and recognized the demon beast.
[ Name: Wind Pathing Monkey ]
[ Rarity: Uncommon ]
[ Power Level: Elite ]
[ Affinity: Wind ]
Jinmu let out a smile after seeing the results.
'This water prison spell is quite faster than I expected. Even a wind pathing monkey can't react to it.'
Despite the elite level of these demon beasts, they weren't sturdy enough to handle such a blow. Wind pathing monkeys simply used the wind elements to hasten their speed, not because their physical attributes were formidable.
And that wasn't all.
Over the past weeks, Jinmu honed his mastery of the domain mana synthesis. It gave him the ability to engrave magic traps anywhere without drawing them in a paryus.
[ Author's Note: I am slowly re-inventing the materials for this story. Paryus will be introduced in Chapter 19 ]
[ For old readers and fans, a paryus (pronounced par-yuss) is a material where magic could be 'conducted' without being destroyed. ]
It boosted his fighting abilities to a high extent because he no longer needed to prepare, nor would his enemies notice the existence of a trap since paryus wasn't used.
Also, his magic traps were visually camouflaged. Magic pa Unless the area was investigated with minute details, nobody would notice a difference until the trap was triggered.
He harvested the demon beast's remains using the system and continued on his course.
Mana flowed continuously everywhere Jinmu went. Magic traps were created on his arrival and would remove if not activated after passing through.
This was to prevent any incidents left by his magic traps during his absence. Leaving them on their own was irresponsible on his part and a reckless thing to do as a student of the academy.
He continued killing demon beasts this way for the past 2 hours. His inventory was already flooding with harvested blue magic crystals and other materials.
Jinmu was having a good time when large humanoid pigs exited the shadows and presented themselves.
It was Harruga and his bandit party.
"My, my, what do we have here? A crippled mage.", he laughed loudly joined by his acquaintances.
Jinmu scrutinized this group of society defects with a calm look.
[ Name: Harruga ]
[ Age: 47 years (141 humans years) ]
[ Race: Greenhorn ]
[ Status: Alive ]
[ Affiliation: Harruga Bandits, Leader ]
[ Chivalric Will Power: Higher Blade – Enlightenment Realm ]
[ Chivalric Core Grade: B ]
[ Chivalric Imprint: Bull Hound (Rare) ]
Harruga was holding a rusty butcher sword. Part of it was chipped away due to prolonged use and Harruga's mishandling of his weapon.
Greenhorns were known to be highly tempered demi-humans and didn't care whatever weapon they used to kill their prey. They'd just slash at things until they were dead.
"Oh, boss. Look! He's trying to memorize our faces one by one!", said one of the bandits.
Jinmu almost laughed at this greenhorn's crooked eyes.
"What you going to do about it boy? Take revenge on us in your next life?", Harruga's mockery instilled laughter again.
"No, I'd like to remember your poor faces before you are stung by these bees."
Jinmu nimbly moved his fingers and used the wind to cut in half a nest of punch-stinging bees from a distance. They were three times larger than the normal bees and each sting packed a punch.
They once swarmed a commander-level demon beast and stung it to death.
"Leader, watch out!"
The bandits turned ghastly when they saw the approaching punch-stinging bees.
The insects minded their own business but these despicable intruders chose to cut their home in half. Now, they were going to taste the might of their sting.
"Ah! Zap them! Smack these bees away!", Harruga panicked as one bee managed to sting his left shoulder.
Although it didn't swell, the pain in his muscles was unbearable. It was similar to having a bruised muscle and someone pinched the softest spot.
He quickly slashed at the bee and cut it in half. The rest of them attacked to avenge their fallen comrade.
"All of you, cover yourselves!", Harruga ordered. He wasn't going to let himself be a target dummy of these insects.
"Might of the Bull Hound!"
A bloodthirsty aura was emitted that knocked out all the punch-sting bees harassing his group. It rained down insects and the nearby demon beasts ran away in fear.
Harruga stepped on a pile of punch-sting bees and angrily asked, "Where is he?! Find him! I want him dead! I want to butcher him a thousand times!"
He found his acquaintances bruised all over. The punch-sting bees dealt a huge blow to their manpower.
"Damn it, move you idiots!"
Left with no choice, they nodded in hesitance and started their search.
"You cripple of a mage! How dare you humiliate me, Harruga!", he blasted the trunk of the wide tree beside him.
The dark elf from before arrived.
"Leader, we should go get the others too.", Kerina suggested, "They must be a group who went here to hunt. If we capture one of them…"
Harruga waved his hands, "Go get some men and do it! I will wait here. Those bastards will pay. Damn it!", gently rubbing the part where the punch-sting bee hit him.
…
Jinmu opened his system panel and informed the other three of the impending danger. This time, he left his traps without removing them.
People were pursuing them and triggering some magic traps in the process could offer him a delay to their plans.
'I need to warn the others to get out of here immediately.'
He looked at the map and noticed something different. There were more dots displayed in the interface.
Centered on the map was a white dot which represented him, the blue ones as students from the magic academy, two green dots approaching his direction, and red dots scattered all around.
The blue dots even displayed the names with Emi headed to the east of Jinmu's current location.
He mused that this was the work of the academy master. Those flames might be the catalyst and the result was this upgraded map and the unknown tower.
'I don't need to worry about this for now. Those greenhorns like to play on their prey. Getting out of here is the better option.'
Unlike the other students, they have the privilege to teleport anywhere wherever they wished. This slight interference from the greenhorns wasn't as impactful as what those bandits thought.
That was unless they were caught.
He put his eyes on the two green dots close to him. They were moving at a quick pace earlier and stopped when they were a few meters away from him.
Jinmu chose a random direction and started walking.
'These guys are tailing me. What should I do?'
Their intentions were unknown, however, their sudden appearance in the Dark Forest intrigued Jinmu.
'Let's try heading into that group of red dots.'
He casually approached the bandits without a care in the world.
Meanwhile, Haera and Veron, the two green dots Jinmu saw on the map, were dumbfounded.
They sensed the presence of the bandits and worried for Jinmu's safety.
Haera tapped Veron, "Uncle, he is one of them. There are still three of them out there."
Veron nodded. He didn't care nor ask who these people were. As long as Haera worried for them, he would too.
Veron placed his hand on the ground and released a sound wave. Through his magical echolocation, he managed to locate the other three.
Instead of the usual 'sound' reflection, Veron's magical echolocation resonated with the mana of its target.
"Haera, one of them is east from our direction. Their magic power is a little weaker compared to the rest. Go check it out first.", Veron reported to her.
Haera departed much to Jinmu's surprise.
'They're splitting up? And it looks like that one's going to Emi. Don't tell me they're here for us?!'
He felt a vibration in the ground earlier. It bounced after hitting him and returned to the green dots' location. Based on his deductions, that vibration was used to locate where Lucan, Olivia, and Emi were.
Jinmu decided to head closer to the bandits. Verifying the green dots' intentions was the better option. There was still time for him to notify Emi if things went haywire.
He wanted to know who these people were, why were they here, and how did they manage to follow them.
"This boy is making my life hard. He really wants me to take care of those small fries, huh?", Veron sighed.
The greenhorns weren't his match. However, his gut has been telling him that something was wrong with all of this but he could not get to the end of it.
'Haera went to the camp and returned quickly? That doesn't sound right especially since Zukov was involved.'
That young commoner elf general rose to the ranks without hindrance. It shocked everyone since Empress Aelin let him do as he wished, something ironic for a misogynistic ruler who was cheated on by her husband in the past.
This pushed the strife between the commoners and the nobles to peak, with the former gaining more position and power in the political strife of the Sanctuary.
Moreover, Zukov was deeply infatuated with Haera. The general letting her leave on her own wasn't in line to his behavior.
Unless Haera's actions was a part of the general's plan.
'Maybe I'm thinking too much.', he shook his head and focused on the current task.
He raised both of his hands and generated a sound barrier in the bandits' location. He was about to cast a spell when he heard what they were talking about.
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