Opportunity? (2)

Leaping to the front, Clei kicked the child Battle Mammoth on its head, distracting it for a moment, giving the female warrior it assaulted a while ago a chance to break free.

She struck her sword toward the eye of the child Battle Mammoth and hastily retreated. The child Battle Mammoth let out a fierce roar, and the two adult Battle Mammoths, which were still being bombarded by Clei's [Fire Storm], let out a much fiercer roar.

At this time, the female mage had already retreated back and was on her way toward the male warrior who was fiercely thrown by one of the adult Battle Mammoth's charge earlier.

As for the female warrior who was using a claymore, seeing that Clei had saved the other female warrior, she too hastily retreated and ran in the same direction as the female mage.

At the moment, Clei's [Fire Storm] was already about to disappear, and even though it was quite a powerful spell, it was still not potent enough to seriously injure any of the adult Battle Mammoths.

With the child Battle Mammoth heavily injured, Clei reckoned that as soon as his spell dissipated, the two adult Battle Mammoths would become enraged, and the possibility of escape would eventually diminish.

Clei hastily retreated as he said, "Run away as far as you can! Hurry up!"

After saying these words, the female mage immediately lifted the now unconscious male warrior and ran side-by-side with the others. Clei was now already further ahead of them, and he was rushing back to the direction of his home.

After running for a few seconds…

ROARRRRRRRR!

Earth-shattering roars reverberated throughout the vicinity as the ground shook. Clei assumed that his [Fire Storm] had already dissipated, and the adult Battle Mammoths were now completely enraged because of the child Battle Mammoth's injury.

Without any hesitation, Clei decided to put all his efforts into running away, lest the enraged Battle Mammoths caught up with him.

After a few minutes of running, when Clei was nearing his home, he suddenly felt a powerful aura gradually closing in.

"Life force! Damn!" Clei clicked his tongue as he thought about how unlucky he was. Clei had forgotten that Rank 3 magical beasts, just like Adept Mages and Adept Warriors, could cover their target with their own force and mark them.

In this case, the adult Battle Mammoths had most definitely marked him and the party of four, and because of that, no matter where he hid, he would be very easily discovered.

Clei was cursing himself. He had never thought that just as he tried to become a hero, he would be afflicted with bad luck. If he wasn't careful now, then before this day ends, he would most definitely be a corpse.

At his current pace, before he could even reach his home, the Battle Mammoths would catch up to him, and it would be an understatement to call him dead meat.

Although Rank 3 magical beasts weren't as smart as human beings, they still had better instincts compared to lower forms of magical beasts. They could easily implant in their minds whoever had harmed them, and they would never forget them until they had satiated their vengeance.

Clei gritted his teeth as he decided to run toward another restricted zone nearby, which was also the home of another Rank 3 magical beast, the Crimson-eyed Liger.

Clei was now running as fast as he could as he cursed, "F*ck being a hero! I'll never do that again! Oh damn, they're coming! F*ck me!"

At any moment, he knew that the Battle Mammoths would catch up to him, and if he failed to reach the Crimson-eyed Liger's territory, he would probably have no hope of surviving.

"Here!"

Suddenly, when he was halfway through the Crimson-eyed Liger's territory, a female voice echoed in his ears. He didn't stop, but he did turn his head to look.

Just behind him, the female Adept Mage from a while ago was panting on top of a wide branch of a tall tree. Beside her, the two female warriors and the still unconscious male warrior were also resting.

Seeing them, Clei couldn't help but say, "What are you guys doing? Don't you guys want your lives anymore!?"

As those words left his mouth, he was already a few more steps away from getting out of their sight. However, just as he was about to go further and further away, he suddenly heard the female Adept Mage's voice, "Come here! We have some Lilac Flower Essence!"

"Lilac Flower Essence!" Clei said as he turned around and ran back. The Lilac Flower Essence was a dense liquid that could be extracted from the Lilac Flower. From the books Clei had read, he knew that sprinkling the Lilac Flower Essence on someone's body could remove mental force and life force residue.

It was a must have for adventurers, especially in dire times. However, it was something that could only be found at some restricted zones at the Great Forest of Althea where powerful magical beasts were lurking.

As soon as Clei arrived at the tree where the party of four was resting, he fiercely jumped, and in the next moment, he was already standing beside the Adept Mage.

The Adept Mage waved her hand, and Clei instantly felt a soothing feeling of being freed from someone's grasp. The life force that was covering his body immediately disappeared, making him let out a sigh of relief.

He sat beside the Adept Mage as he raggedly breathed. The branch already had four people in it, so Clei felt reluctant to stay there. However, the danger had yet to pass, so he simply remained still.

Although the life force locking on him had already vanished, he knew that the Battle Mammoths would still arrive in this place and search for them. If they were found, then perhaps it would be the end of their lives—he couldn't just recklessly move.

Only after those Battle Mammoths leave would Clei and the party of four have more time to actually relax.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Not more than thirty seconds after the life force locking on Clei's body disappeared, the ground suddenly shook; it was the sign of the Battle Mammoths' arrival. Clei and the others held their breaths as they cautiously looked at the enrage Battle Mammoths.

After it passed through the tree where they were all sitting, all of them heaved a sigh of relief as they were finally safe.

At this moment, the female Adept Mage opted to open up a conversation, "I am Verdehile, an Adept Ice Mage. I'm an instructor at Serdin's Grand Academy. She is Tasha, an Adept Warrior, also an instructor at the same school. As for the other two…" she pointed at the other female warrior, "she's Medea, an Advanced Warrior, and that unconscious guy is Elmer, also an Advanced Warrior. Both of them are students of Tasha. We came here to find clues about one of the missing students from our academy, but we had never expected that we would stumble upon those Battle Mammoths' territory. We are very grateful for your assistance. If not for you, we would have lost our lives. May we know the name of our benefactor?"

Hearing her burst of words, Clei was immediately at a loss. It was the very first time he had a non-hostile conversation with other people aside from his father, so it took him a few seconds to compose himself and respond.

"Ah, my name is Clei, erhm... an Advanced Fire Mage. As for me saving you, it doesn't really matter, does it? Haha…" Clei spoke as he looked away. Although he still had his black mask on, a tinge of red was still evident on his face. He knew that the way he spoke was really awkward, and he felt embarrassed.

The Adept Mage, Verdehile, was quite surprised after hearing Clei spoke. Evidently, the masked man beside her was quite young, and he also wasn't good at conversations. Contrary to his fierce and domineering voice when he saved them a while ago, his voice was now very mellow, and if she wasn't beside him, perhaps she wouldn't even be able to hear him.

A moment of silence assumed. Clei couldn't hold the awkward situation any longer, so he decided to just leave. The Battle Mammoths were now gone, and he could just safely return home.

But just as Clei was about to stand up, the Adept Warrior, Tasha, suddenly spoke, "You seem to be no older than twenty years old, yet you're already an Advanced Mage. Could you tell which faction you're from?"

As soon as Clei heard her, a rather complicated expression appeared in his eyes. He turned his head and looked at Tasha, saying, "I'm not a part of any faction."

"Really?" At this time, it was not only Tasha; even Verdehile and the other female warrior, Medea, all shouted at the same time.

"Eh?" Startled, Clei looked at them with eyes filled with confusion.

...