Putting on the mask, I continued my movement, reaching the border of safety in half an hour. The message didn't specify the exact location, so I walked along it, guided by my intuition. After about ten minutes, I sensed the energy of five mid-level third-tier mages not far from me, as well as one barely perceptible aura of a mid-level first-tier mage. It seemed this person was unconscious, and it was easy to guess that it was Xu Zhao Tin and the guardians.
"Well, where is this little one?" a man's voice was heard when I got closer to the clearing, trying to hide my presence.
"Yes, calm down," a woman sighed, I moved closer, hiding in the branches of the trees. It's good that this is a subtropical forest and the leaves don't fall in winter. "We don't know if he'll return to that apartment or not. Yes, we're not even sure it's him. The informants could have mistaken him for someone else, he has a very typical appearance."
"Yes, so what?" the same man objected, turning and looking at the woman. Xu Zhao Tin lay next to her, tied up and unconscious. Now everything is clear, I can act openly. The man continued, pointing at Zhao Tin. "Then what should we do with him? He might give us away."
"Yes, calm down," the woman waved her hand with a bored expression. "We'll ask him to talk less and that's it, say it was a prank. Why should we take on this unnecessary sin?"
"Are you sure about that?" the man asked doubtfully. "Isn't that too simple?" he continued, but seeing the woman's gaze, he said, "Alright, as you wish, boss." After that, silence fell again.
"See, he's no longer in danger," Asura's mocking voice rang out.
"So what?" I asked him, while my mouth stretched into a devilish smile that he usually had. "Anyone who dares to stand in my way or touch my friends will die the cruelest death possible."
Besides this man and woman, who looked about thirty to thirty-five years old, there were two guys and one girl, about twenty-five. The woman had a Russian appearance, the man an Asian one, the young people had mixed features, similar to mine. I must admit, the girl was quite beautiful, her black hair, reaching her shoulders, was like silk, and the curves of her body were captivating. But there's no one better than my Lin Yun Er, I shook my head.
These were very formidable opponents, upon closer inspection, I could recognize their main elements. The woman had earth, the man wind, the girl healing, the guy in the black jacket summoning, and the guy in the white jacket shadow. A very formidable lineup, dealing with them will not be easy, plus they probably all have artifacts and a well-developed second element.
I began to prepare mid-level magic, first wind, then lightning, it was difficult to create two star charts simultaneously. Usually, it took me twenty seconds instead of the standard three, but I could release two spells at once, shocking the opponent. During this, when the wind magic was ready, and lightning magic required the final touches, and I was preparing to attack, a human silhouette appeared behind me.
"Ah, who do we have here in a mask?" he asked and unleashed a third-tier fire wave. Dodging it, I jumped into the center of the clearing, simultaneously activating a whirlwind of wind blades, directing it closer to the guy in the black jacket and the girl. A moment later, as soon as the whirlwind began to spin, I completed the lightning star chart and directed a lightning strike at the woman, her earth magic could hinder me greatly.
"Ah! Damn, where did this guy come from?" the woman's angry cry was heard, followed by a rumble of thunder and lightning hit her silhouette.
I landed exactly in the center of the clearing and immediately began to build two star paths of lightning's wrath. When the whirlwind of wind blades dissipated, I saw that the guy in the black jacket had his arm torn off, but he managed to defend himself with a shield, as did the girl. The man defended himself with armor, remaining almost untouched, the woman was also saved by her armor, although it fell apart. The guy in the white jacket jumped from the tree, directing six shadow spikes at me. Quickly finishing the lightning's wrath, I dodged a couple of spikes and cast spells at the guy, forcing him to hide in the shadows and lose control of his shadow magic.
"Xiao Yu, heal Xiao Feng, and you summon your beasts," the woman commanded, dusting herself off. The girl and the guy in the black shirt obediently ran back and followed her order. "Xiao Han, don't give him a chance to run around, pin him with spikes, finally."
While she was saying this, the guy in the black jacket reappeared by another tree. Using wind step, I headed towards him, but unexpectedly a whirlwind of wind blades appeared in my path, which was stronger than mine and more concentrated. However, I didn't panic and jumped up, using a wind dash and flew over the whirlwind, finding myself five meters from the guy.
"Damn, he's fast!" the guy shouted, launching a fire wave at me.
I easily dodged it, increasing my speed, agility, and striking power with wind step, and directed one of my daggers at his ribs. A moment before the strike, a shell-like armor made of some tough skin appeared on the guy, but my dagger, accelerated by the wind step, still dealt a strong blow. He was thrown aside by it, and a small hole appeared at the point of impact, from which blood flowed in a trickle, and the armor began to crumble.
"This is some kind of monster, be careful!" the guy shouted, launching another fire wave at me and holding his wound.
At this moment, a storm wave was directed at me from the woman's side. I also felt a pain inside me as if my soul was being torn apart. Escaping from under the wave, on the remnants of the wind step, I glanced at the man, his eyes turned dark red, this is curse magic! Gathering my will, I overcame the pain and created a star path of wind dash, flying over the wave. My nightmares began to flash in my head, which used to make me freeze and retreat, but not this time! I overcame it! As soon as I told myself this, the pain subsided, but didn't disappear completely.
In flight, I threw one of my daggers at the man, he needs to be killed urgently, otherwise I might lose because of him! The dagger was accelerated, using the remnants of energy from the wind dash, which I learned to transfer to my hands for strengthening blows and throws. It gained tremendous speed and should have pierced the man through, but it crashed into a stone wall that appeared before him. Cracks appeared on the wall from the impact, but it showed no signs of crumbling. After all, it was a mid-level third-tier stone wall!
Meanwhile, I landed on the ground again. But not even a second passed before shadow spikes flew at me again, which I dodged using the same wind dash. Jumping aside, I saw a scorpion's tail hit the place where I had been a second ago, if I had used a normal wind step, I would have definitely been impaled! Taking a quick look at the guy and the girl standing aside, I saw that one's eyes stopped glowing silver and white butterflies flew around him. Blood from his hand gradually stopped flowing, and the girl's eyes burned with a bright white light.
Landing on two feet again, I put my hand forward, activating spatial claws, which I had mastered well, retrieving my dagger. It flew past the guy in the white jacket, almost colliding with him, causing him to lose his orientation for a moment. The scorpion, whose tail tried to hit me, is a giant scorpion from Western China, these are monsters of high or supreme servant level, but this one has not yet reached maturity and is at the mid-servant level. However, its armor is strong, and its poison is dangerous, I need to finish it quickly. It's likely a summoned, not a contracted beast, so I need to be careful. While one dagger was flying towards me, I threw the second one at the scorpion, strengthening it with a wind dash.
"No!" the guy in the black jacket's cry was heard, and in the next moment, my dagger pierced the scorpion's head and flew towards the woman, who managed to create a water shield, from which the dagger bounced aside, destroying it. The guy in the black jacket screamed in pain and clutched his chest, the death of a summoned beast injures the mage.
"What power, three elements, is this a high-level mage?" the woman muttered, looking at me in shock.
"You dared to kill my Xiao Feng's scorpion!" the girl shouted, stopping his healing and putting her hands forward. "I'll kill you!"
Sensing something was wrong, I grabbed the flying dagger and flew aside with a wind dash, simultaneously creating lightning's wrath. I've never been so glad for my intuition, immediately after I jumped away, a bunch of wooden stakes emerged from the ground, which would have impaled me like a kebab! But there was no time to rejoice, as a fire wave was flying at me again, and my soul began to be tormented by curse magic again, plus the woman launched another storm wave at me.
After quickly assessing the situation, I unleashed a lightning fury towards the guy in the white shirt. Upon meeting, the magics caused a small explosion, which tossed me up again, while the guy took a couple of steps back. The armor on him completely disintegrated, and burns appeared on his body. Meanwhile, I regrouped and tried to protect myself with my shield, as running anywhere was impossible. So the only thing I could oppose to the second-stage storm wave was my two shields, one wind shield and one alligator skin shield.
The wave hit the shield, throwing me back towards the ground and a tree. I hit it hard with my back, losing control of my body for a moment. The alligator skin shield was ruthlessly destroyed, while the wind shield successfully withstood the blow. In the next moment, a vortex of wind blades swirled around me. Pressing myself to the ground, I began to cover myself with the shield, trying to wait out the attack. Soon, green mist entered the vortex; one of them wields poison magic! This is unpleasant, but if it's poison below the third stage of the initial level, it's not lethal to me, even if I fully enter it. The old man gradually gave me various poisons in small doses; it was part of the training, aimed at hardening the body with poisons, and it seems to be very useful.
Soon, the vortex of wind blades disappeared. I jumped to my feet and saw six shadow spikes flying at me. The guy in the white jacket, slightly roasted, stood ten meters in front of me. It would have been the end if I hadn't had a lightning strike ready. Without armor, it would kill this little guy. The spikes dug into my shadow, blocking my movements and magic, and also tormenting my soul. However, the lightning strike descended on the guy a moment later, mercilessly frying him, essentially turning him into a cinder. His death cry, full of pain and surprise, echoed through the surroundings.
The shadow spikes disappeared, freeing me. This means the guy in the white jacket was irrevocably dead; only four remained! But at the same time, from the left, I felt a great danger. Quickly turning, I covered myself with my shield. A moment later, a snake with an open mouth hit it, throwing me to the side. I hit the tree with my back again.
Looking where I had just been standing, I saw a five-meter-long swamp snake! This is a beast that is usually at the level of a mid-leader! But now it's just another child, only worthy of a high servant. It seems to be a contract beast of the guy in the black jacket! Next to the snake stood the guy who summoned it. Regaining my composure, I used a wind dash to fly up, pulling the dagger with spatial claws, and sending the second dagger at the snake's head. Wooden stakes emerged from the tree where I had been a second ago; I need to get rid of them quickly!
Unfortunately, the snake dodged, but using spatial claws, I changed the dagger's trajectory and hit the guy in the leg. His leg flew off, and he himself screamed in pain, falling to the ground. The girl standing a little further away looked at me with anger, waved her hand, and a vine wrapped around my leg. She yanked me down, hitting my back against the ground. From such a strong blow, I spat blood right into my mask. Immediately after that, the girl began to actively heal the guy.
Seeing what I had done to her master, the snake lunged at me, trying to pierce me with its teeth. My legs and arms were bound by the earth; is this some kind of earth wave usage? But all this was useless. I managed to complete the lightning fury and, using the dagger in my hand, directed it straight into the mouth of the snake hovering over me!
The spell hit the snake's palate exactly, breaking its fangs in the process. The snake howled and recoiled from me. Another vortex of wind blades began to rise around. Gathering all my strength in my arms and legs, I broke free from the stone shackles and, using a wind dash, soared into the air. Finding myself above the vortex, I again felt danger from the left and hurried to protect myself with my shield, which was still intact and functional, though holding on by a thread.
A moment later, the snake threw me to the side again and returned me to the ground, although it was injured by the vortex. I hit the tree with my back once more. Vines grew from the tree and grabbed me. I glanced at the girl and saw that the guy had come to his senses after losing blood and was looking at me with malice. He raised his hand, directing poisonous mist at me. So that's why they didn't kill me with wooden stakes right away. The woman also directed a storm wave at me, the man began to torment my soul again, and the snake recovered from its wounds and was preparing to strike.
The poisonous mist had already surrounded me, corroding my skin and lungs. My soul was tormented by curse magic, draining my last strength, and the storm wave was ready to tear my body to shreds. Everything around me slowed down. I felt immense pain as if my body and soul were already being torn apart. There was very little strength left, even my magical reserves were depleted due to the curse magic. My body was covered in bruises, abrasions, and burns from the poison.
"Don't you wish you had gone to save him?" Asura's voice echoed in my head.