Stygian Mage

Soren’s palm hit the ground with high force; water drops blasted off from the force but soon froze into ice pearls.

The masked man was shocked to see Soren’s sudden actions and was even more amazed to see water suddenly appearing there. Then he remembered Soren’s previous actions that didn’t make any sense at that time and his expression changed. He quickly looked down and found himself standing in a puddle of water.

The combination of ice arrows and fireball before had created a puddle of water around there. Soren was trying to bring him in that puddle before but couldn’t, so he had no choice but to dodge the attacks. Actually, Soren was not much confident about this strategy as it was very easy for anyone to figure out what he was doing. But he had no choice as he was still not powerful enough so as to spam his spells one after another; he was aware that his combat style was still in the development phase and would change accordingly in the future.

But while Soren was surprised to see that his opponent had actually fallen to his strategy, he didn’t hesitate at all.

The surrounding water quickly froze and turned into ice. The masked man tried to get away but couldn’t do that on time and had his legs frozen in ice up to his calves.

Since Soren had broken through the 8^th layer and made his spell reach full mastery, their power had also increased. He had only used this spell a moment ago and an area of 2 meters was already frozen.

Soren stood back up on the frozen ice. The temperature dropped severely around them as their breaths turned white.

The masked man tried to apply force to break the ice but couldn’t do so as the ice had become quite hard and he was also exhausted from the fierce exchange before.

Soren took his time to control his breathing and just stood there staring at the masked man.

“It’s over.” He said in a low voice, almost like whispering. He wasn’t saying that to the masked man, it was for himself.

He took a sudden deep breath and hurled a dark bolt towards the man’s legs. Soren knew that the masked man was ready to dodge any projectile sent towards him. But he wouldn’t expect Soren to target his legs as that would also destroy the ice; making him free.

The masked man had indeed planned to dodge as many spells he could and block the rest with his sword so that he could decrease Soren’s Mana reserve. Without Mana, Soren was no better than a 2^nd layer Initiator.

He braced himself and took a defensive position but suddenly he saw a ball of dense and black smoke coming towards his legs. He never expected Soren to target his legs and got slightly flustered. He didn’t know what he should do as he really couldn’t move his legs. Soon though, he recovered and tried to use his sword to block the dark bolt.

Soren smiled as he saw the masked man’s actions and pointed his index and middle finger like a sword towards his spell. This was something he had always wanted to try this but didn’t get the chance to do so before this. It was not a sudden inspiration; it was something Soren had thought of after a desire to have full control over his spells was born inside him.

Suddenly, he felt a stinging pain in his head but he didn’t falter. He focused on the spell and moved his finger slightly.

Following the movements of his fingers, the dark bolt…changed its original path. Although the deviation was quite small, it was a deviation nonetheless.

Alas, that small deviation was enough for the spell to dodge the sword and hit its original target. The dark bolt, in the end, hit his legs head on.

“AHHHHH!”

A miserable cry came out of his lungs. The ice holding him indeed broke apart but he didn’t have the strength to move now. His legs had totally withered and became like a dried tree branch; they looked like they had been decaying for months. Finally, he couldn’t maintain his weight on those weak twigs and fell down.

Swoosh!

An ice arrow flashed forward and pierced the pitiful man’s throat. Blood gushed out like a fountain from his throat. Only a gurgle sound came out of from his mouth as he tried to stop the bleeding with his hands.

His wish was soon fulfilled and the bleeding did stop very quickly, or more like his blood froze and stopped flowing. But his wish took a weird turn as he felt his face getting cold and soon his life was snuffed out as his brain froze.

Soren coldly gazed at the dead body while trying to control his breathing. He then looked up and glanced at the man he had tailed.

He was lying on the ground seemingly fainted due to unknown reasons.

Soren finally took a deep breath and looked in a certain direction that was shrouded in the darkness.

“Are you trying to hide?”

“…….”

“…..Hehe, I was found so easily? Do you have any spell that allows you to see in the darkness?”

A man covered in a dark cloak came out from there while laughing embarrassingly. The black cloak covered his entire body with a hood covering his head. He was also wearing a black mask which had a weird expression; laughing and crying at the same time.

His low pitched voice confirmed him as a man.

“No comment,” Soren replied.

“Eh~” An exaggerated stretching tone came out of his mouth.

If Soren hadn’t felt the pressure coming from this person, he definitely would have thought of him as just an ordinary man who likes to joke.

“Anyway~” There it was again; a stretched out tone.

Soren was ready to act anytime. He had found out about this man during the fight and that was the reason he didn’t use his spell to summon the undead. It was not that he didn’t want to expose it but it was still in the form of Spell Vessel and had a limit. Soren was planning to use it to run if needed and that’s why he had not used it before; saving the use limit.

“I mean you no harm; no harm at all!” This time the cloaked man said in a normal tone.

“Following the rules of our group; you have obtained the right to join us. Will you comply?”

Soren was a little stunned upon this sudden twist as he furrowed his eyebrows. “Huh!” was all he could say.

“Hmm~… Let me explain. The person you killed just now is a member of our group. It is our rule that if any of us is defeated and killed in one on one battle, the killer gets that spot.”

“What a...twisted rule!” Soren could not help but murmur these words.

“Can you explain in detail?”

“I can’t do that. You will only get to know about us if you decide to join us.”

Soren actually heaved a sigh of relief inside after hearing this. He could tell from those words that he at least had a choice in this matter. He was pretty sure he was no match for this man in front of him as he was unable to see any Mana on him and so, Isaac was unable to scan him no matter how many times he tried. Thus, the only conclusion he came to was….

Rank 1!

“Do I have a choice in this matter?” But he still asked just to be sure.

“Hahaha… Do you think we are the same as those ‘famed’ Families and strict Organizations?” He then turned sideways and gestured with his hand. “You are free to leave if you want with just a promise to not expose today’s encounter.”

Soren didn’t leave and just kept looking at the cloaked man.

“Do I have to….sign a Blood Contract to join?” This was something he couldn’t tolerate.

“*Sigh*….Seems like you are also one of those tormented and tortured by them.” The cloaked man sighed as he heard Soren’s question. He then looked at the hooded young man in black in front of him with eyes filled with pity and some sympathy; there was also a little empathy.

“We don’t do stuff like that. We are a group banded together by our own free will. We are not an Organization; that’s why I called us a group. We are just a group not bounded by anything. You are completely free to do anything you want. If you want help, you can ask the group for it. The same goes for any other member; they can also ask for help from you, it is up to you though if you want to help or not.”

For some reason, the cloaked man started explaining about his ‘group’ even though he had rejected to do so before.

“We don’t have any rules; we just look for ways to get stronger and help each other along the way. Of course, it's not all pretty, as you can also kill another member if you want. Since there’s no restriction, the members are basically free to do whatever they want.”

Hearing his words, Soren was somewhat interested but he also hesitated. He didn’t want to rush into anything that he might regret.

And so, he stood there without saying anything; just staring at the ground. He was thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of joining and not joining.

He stood there staring at the ground for almost 15 minutes.

“Eh! Young man! Was I that boring that you ended up sleeping?”

The cloaked man opened his mouth after 15 minutes of silence. Soren looked up at the man who was trying to make a joke…it seemed.

“I’ll join. How do I do it?”

The cloaked man smiled at Soren’s response and then started laughing…..

“Hahahahahahaha….”

Cough! Cough! Cough!

…Until he started coughing his lungs out.

“Ahem! Ahem! So where was I?”

“Nowhere…” Soren said as the corner of his mouth twitched. Just 2 minutes after making the decision, Soren started having doubts.

“Haha…Sorry-Sorry… The way to join is simple. Either get recommended by a member or kill a member in one on one battle; which you did.”

He then pointed to the dead man on the ground.

“Take off his mask and wear it.”

Soren looked at where the cloaked man was pointing.

“No! I don’t want to.” A sudden response!

“Huh!” was the only sound heard but from the cloaked man this time.

“I am not going to wear his mask; I would rather buy a new one.”

“Eh! Bu-but...”

“Is there anything special about the mask?”

“N-no it’s not like that but…something like a tradition.”

“You said there are no rules.”

“Y-Yeah, but it seemed cool to do a ceremony….kind of thing.”

“Then I am not wearing that.”

The cloaked man stared at Soren for a while and said slowly, “Do…Do you have…OCD?”

Soren was stumped by that question but didn’t refute it. That guy was fighting with that mask on; breathing hard in it, spreading his spit in it. He didn’t care if he had OCD or not; he was not wearing that.

The cloaked man looked that Soren was not going to budge so he could only give up.

“Ok then, you can buy a new one. Give me your contact details and I will add you as a member of the group.” The cloaked man asked.

Soren didn’t hesitate and gave him the contact details.

“What alias do you want to use?”

Soren frowned on that question as he hadn’t thought about it before. Multiple names rapidly went through his minds but none remained. He didn’t like the ones he was imagining and soon none came to his mind.

He made a quick decision; since nothing came to his mind, he decided on something that represented nothing…

“Zero”

The cloaked man looked over at Soren and nodded to confirm the name. He registered his name in his communicator and made it final.

“Hello, Zero. My alias is Smiley.” The cloaked man slightly bowed and introduced himself.

Soren nodded politely in reply.

“So what is our group’s name? You didn’t tell me.” Soren asked since he was quite curious.

“Since our group is a gathering place of all those lone wolves, we just decided to name our group as ‘Wandering Wolves’.”

“Wandering…Wolves”

Soren murmured the name in a low voice.

“Welcome to the ‘Wandering Wolves’, Zero. Since you are a new member, we have to give you some kind of gift.”

Smiley said these words and fell into deep contemplation.

“Hmm…Let’s see, what would be a good gift for you now.”

He looked at Soren again and remembered the events of the fight just now and suddenly an idea came into his mind.

“I know! That would be quite good for you: ‘Draconic Blood’”

He finished his words and started walking towards Soren. Soren was already at guard and ready to move anytime but he still stayed calm.

The cloaked man came forward, bent down and removed the mask from the dead body.

Soren was a little surprised to see a face partially covered in red scales. He was a ‘Draco’!

Smiley took out a knife and gouged out the chest of the dead Draco. He then grabbed the blood-colored ribs with his right hand and broke it to make some space. Finally, he cut all the veins and arteries around and carefully took out a cold heart drenched in blood.

He held the heart in one hand and took out an empty bottle from another. He opened the cap of the bottle; crushed the heart on top of the bottle and collected all the blood.

He then used some spell and heated up the bottle; making the blood boil and reduced it to its half the amount.

“You know why you could win so easily before right?” Smiley suddenly asked while performing his actions.

“…..Yeah, I know.” Soren replied after thinking for a bit. He finally realized why his so easy to notice strategy had worked before. This realization came after he found out the identity of the man he was fighting with.

From what he knew about their species, Dracos were a bunch of arrogant creatures who took pride in having the Dragon’s bloodline. But everyone knew, they were just a bunch of hard-headed stupid fools who had evolved from reptiles.

“Here, this is ‘Draconic Blood’. It contains the blood of the dragon but it is almost negligible. Although the Draco people take pride in saying that they have dragon blood running in their veins, they are nothing but evolved lizards. They are stupid like a beast and easily fall into traps.” Smiley threw the bottle filled with blood towards Soren as he repeated what Soren already knew.

Soren caught the bottle and observed it closely. Not finding anything weird, he just put it inside his jacket pocket.

“Put it in water and take a bath in it. It will cover your weakness somewhat. Of course, it’s not a pure dragon blood so don’t expect much.”

Smiley explained further. Soren also knew what ‘weakness’ he was talking about.

“I have given my gift, now it depends on the others if they want to give you a gift or not.”

“Can I get some help instead of a gift?” Soren asked as he thought of something.

Smiley looked confusingly at Soren and waited for an explanation.

“I need crystals right now and that’s why I have accepted multiple assassin missions. It is a bit taxing for me to complete them alone. Can I ask for help on finishing the missions?” Soren explained.

“Go ahead and ask them. You can contact everyone from the group with the communicator.”

Soren nodded and used the communicator to send a simple message. He didn’t have to send it individually; the group had a single messenger which would send a message to everyone in it. That’s what Smiley had meant when he said he registered Soren before.

……….

It was not long before he got some replies. He opened the replies one by one.

“Okay.”

“I am bored anyway, might as well kill some time.”

“Fine, I’ll also help.”

“I’ll help too.”

“I was also bored, might as well kill some~one. Hahaha!”

“I am fine with it. I don’t have anything to gift anyway.”

Soren quickly saw many replies in the group messenger. Smiley also saw the replies and simply nodded.

“Now, let me explain to you why we are here.”

Smiley stopped for a moment and then continued, “We are here for a vestige.”