World Online

Jake looked at the evil mage properly.

A cloaked being that was about four feet tall, which was short and small for something in the Evil Lands, it had two shining gems for eyes that were the only two things visible from it's dark exterior.

The cloak that it had cast a shadow that refused any details of how the evil mage looked. But it's eyes made Jake shiver.

The mage gave out this black aura about it. There was a black haze around it, like it was exhuming some gas from it's cloak.

This was only possible by a tier five or higher existence. A power called aura, it was only possible for the strongest of the strong.

The depraved wolf slowly cowered in the presence of the evil mage, making Jake shiver. For the wolf to take a step aside meant that the evil mage was going to enter the field.

And seeing that the other adventurers were all preoccupied in battle except for him, Jake was going to be the first prey that the Evil Mage would take care of.

"The enemy leader is here! He is in the fifth tier!" Jake shouted in desperation as he raised his sword, putting up a paltry defense against the terrifying opponent in front of him.

No matter what would happen, he was not going to win this battle. He wasn't going to do any damage either.

The same reason that he couldn't touch the Gojira even one bit with his skill applied here. For existences that were way stronger than he was, he could not use his skill to reflect the damage back to them.

He had to level up, and so did his weapon. But for the weapon upgrades to be available, he needed to upgrade his tier to the second tier. It was a vicious circle of events that he was stuck in.

Jake backed up slowly. Even though the evil mage did not make a single move, Jake moved back. Those two eyes were looking straight at him and he knew it. They were looking at prey, not opponents.

That was all he was in the eyes of the Evil Mage.

Then, the evil mage took out its staff. It was a pitch black staff with a single gemstone on top. The gem stone was also black, but it was only visible because the moment that the evil mage took ou the staff, all light around suddenly dimmed.

The light was already dim in this cursed forest where the trees seemed to eat up the sun light and refused to let it pass. And yet, when the staff came out, not just the little light that hit the ground, but also the bright golden light that came from the priests and priestesses started dimming.

The golden color started changing slowly to a more rotten grey color, like it was getting converted.

"An evil mage! This early!" The priests started noticing the opponent that had arrived.

"Fast! Stop casting! You will get tainted, and there is no coming back from that!" Annie shouted as her book closed.

She glared at the evil mage, who had one more bright thing shining out of his cloak.

It was a white set of teeth, curled up to a brilliant smile.

"Zezeze"

The sinister voice that came from the evil mage was like a testament to how powerless everyone was against someone who could taint the holy power that these priests welded.

"You vile monster! You dare try and defile the holy power of gods?" The leader of the party, Ganshin, jumped in front of Jake, and faced off the evil mage.

His sword was large, larger than Jake's. It was a broadsword with a blue hilt and red gems studded on the handle.

There was a blue aura about the sword, similar to that of the Evil Mage, but not as strong. The aura that the Evil Mage gave seemed to be much, much stronger than that of Ganshin's.

It was the effect of the forest around them. The Evil mage had the advantage of territory. Being in its familiar territory where the evil god's powers were much stronger, the evil mage had a clear advantage.

"I will take care of this monster. Stop dallying and take care of the remaining monsters as fast as you can." Ganshin shouted as he jumped forward.

His sword shone, and Jake could hear the sound of water. Water that was crashing against someone.

Ganshin's sword was flowing like water, and as his sword curved to create an arc to strike the evil mage, a waterfall was created behind the sword, and tried to strike the evil mage at the same time.

It was beautiful to look at, and terrifying to face, no doubt.

The moment that Ganshin gave the order, the people who were focused on the evil mage quickly turned to face their opponents who had surprisingly stayed docile instead of attacking like the wild savages they were.

Jake also locked eyes with the depraved wolf that did not move even though Jake was not paying attention to it.

Even though Jake was looking back at it, it did not move. It was waiting for Jake to make the first move.

So Jake decided to split his attention. The battle that was going on between the evil mage and Ganshin was too important to be ignoring. He wanted to know what was going on and who was winning.

He had no doubt that Ganshin was strong, but he had little hope in the leader. The leader was strong, but the battle of auras alone gave the difference. Ganshin was on the losing side the moment the battle started.

,m When Ganshin charged forward, his sword did not hit its target. It was repelled, and Ganshin flew back, repelled by some invisible force.

"It has a barrier. A defensive artifact." Ganshin grit his teeth, looking around trying to see what he could do.

"Wait, Sword Master. This is a tough battle for you. I will try to show this vile beast the true face of god's wrath." An old voice came from within the caravan.

The strongest in the caravan decided to step into battle.

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