"Yes, Your Highness/Prince Master!" the crew answered in unison.
Olivier summoned the giant harpy, mounted with Baobao and Wisey to immediately set off to the direction where their targets were located.
Randel, who had already been recharged from rushing to Eli's cottage, immediately set. He disappeared in a flash. To other people's eyes it would look like he suddenly turned into a shadow and disappeared to nowhere.
But to an S class mage like Leon, we could clearly see that lightning attribute mana covered Randel's entire body and granted him the ability to move with great speed.
Leon nodded in affirmation. Randel's ability couldn't be taken lightly, with a little more training, he will be able to step into the realm of the S class.
Now, finally alone in Eli's cottage, Leon took a second look at the vicinity's protection barrier and ensured he could leave the place without worries.
'Free Lady likes this place.. I must keep it safe too..' He said to himself as he slowly walked outside the boundaries of the protection spell.
Leon took a last look towards Eli's cottage before moving towards his targets. In his face, not a trace of steadfastness was left. Only an overbearing aura of ferocity and determination.
"Kill to protect!"
--
Randel dashed quickly towards the forest.
As a class A mage, he had greater mana capacity compared to his fellow casters in the lower class and a purer mana quality. Of course, his mana capacity was still little compared to the summoners. But a caster's strength lies with how fast he could utilize mana in the surroundings.
Silver Dew Forest was rich in mana. Hence, Randel wasn't afraid of running out because he could convert it with great speed. As long as the atmosphere contained mana, he could cast the spell he needed.
He didn't hesitate to cast a speed spell in his body, which enabled his whole body to move with such great speed that could be compared to a B class devourer who specialized in speed.
Lightning attribute is known to grant speed and penetrative power. Casters with the lightning attribute tend to be great strikers and weak on defense. However, the attribute compensates with speed, making it easier to evade an attack directed at them.
Randel continued to use the spell in his whole body to catch up with the direction provided by Baobao.
Along the way, he would occasionally see innocent forest goers who were exploring the free region of the forest, with a look of confusion in their faces. Indeed, the elves used a disorientation spell to the entire free region, everyone will lose their sense of direction, whether they were innocent or not, no one was spared.
Without the flower provided Azayn, whom he recognized earlier, they too would surely be lost in the forest.
He needed to get to the target's location before the group deviated to the general direction they were previously venturing.
Without minding his consumption of mana, he strengthened his speed spell. Now, visible lightning surrounded his body and his speed doubled.
Soon he could see the traces of a group of beasts on the ground, he could now tell that he had already reached the path his target had ventured.
Deactivating his speed spell he proceeded to stealthily track the group of Spectre.
Threading along the marked paths, following the footprints on the ground, he could deduce that he would indeed face five pairs of human and beast. Based on the footprints, the beasts were used as a mount, they seemed to be a foot print akin to a wolf.
After following the path, he could clearly see that the group drastically changed their direction, most likely when the disorientation spell kicked in. He decided to follow the path and could see that the traces were becoming more and more fresh, indicating that he was near the group.
*crunch*
Five men cloaked with mud brown cloaks were disgruntled. Each of them mounting an eerie looking wolf, occasionally growling in blood lust from time to time. They were actually unsure of the path they were taking.
They were briefed to find a trace of a group of people mounting a giant bird and kidnaped the pregnant woman in that group, who was most probably the Asani they were looking for in the past few days.
However, they had no clue where they were going. They had been venturing for a while and no traces of people could be seen, nor a giant harpy bird.
"How are we supposed to find that group? A woman wearing a Forgerwon Clan fabric?! We only have vague descriptions, we didn't even manage to get a tracking knight to remember and follow their scent!" One of the five men complained with impatience.
"Just suck it up! We are lucky to be finally pulled out in Silvertown, because if not, we could be killed like the ones who were caught by the Argentum!" His companion replied.
"Curse that Argentum! Curse that Forgeworn clan! How did they become so strong that they could even detect the slightest bit of attempts to infiltrate and observe their inner courts!" The complaining man again voiced out his frustration.
"How did they even manage to identify our fellow men and eliminate it right away... Man! Where did they manage to get people to do that!" Another one of the five also followed the suit and started to talk about the happenings in the past few days.
"I was actually happy that we were suddenly summoned to sweep out this area, because if not, I might be the next one to get caught!" He continued.
"But this is boring!"
"Just be thankful, the more we don't see any clues to that Asani, that means we are out of danger!!"
The group continued to talk to each other while they wandered aimlessly to the forest. Since it had already been long since they found any trace off their target, they started to let their guard down and become complacent.
They didn't even notice that there was a man clothed in black who was covertly following their path and heard their whole conversation.
'They seemed to have attributed the Third Prince's elimination of their comrades to the Argentum. I have to inform the master after cleaning up this situation.' Randel thought as he was taking his time observing the group.
He had determined that they were unknowingly heading towards the exit of the forest. This is the perfect time!
From his all black butler coat, he pulled out a handkerchief.
The handkerchief was made from the fabric exclusively worn by the Forgeworn clan. Each fiber of this fabric was inlaid with magical incantations making the user feel warm in winter and cool in summer. Anyone from classes C and up would detect the fine traces of mana inlaid in each fiber of the dress, authenticating that it was indeed a Forgeworn fabric.
While the group was still unaware, he covertly went ahead of the group with a considerable distance and dropped the handkerchief along the way.
Then proceeded waiting for the group to reach that point and detect the handkerchief.
"Stop!" One of the men alerted their group the moment they reached the point where Randel left the handkerchief.
The man then picked up the handkerchief and his mood emitted a glow of viciousness. "It's a strike!! Hahaha, a handkerchief from the Forgeworn clan!"
"For real?!" Others inquired.
"Yeah! Men, let's go fast! They're up ahead!" The man said and soon they sped up towards the end of the forest.
Without any expression, Randel followed the group behind. In his right hand, a spell paper, which was one of the things the Prince gave them before going out, ready to be used.
With the speed of the excited group, it didn't take them long to reach the bounds of the Silver Dew Forest. This led them in shock.
"We are out?" One of the cloaked men inquired.
"Could it be that those people already exited the forest??" Another one said.
However, before they could continue discussing a bright light suddenly flashed, shocking the whole group.
"It's a trap spell!" They all exclaimed in annoyance.
"Who are you! Come out!? They shouted with their senses high alert ready to respond.
No voice replied to their inquiry. Instead, what they saw was the head of one of their comrades rolling off the ground.
Instant kill!
The four remaining men were on full alert as they realized that they were out in the open. They started to utilize their dark magic to try and break out of the entrapment. However, how could an entrapment spell personally written by the S Class Prince budge with their attack?
While they were busy ramming various attacks to break the entrapment spell, they didn't notice that their wolf mounts were acting strangely.
Upon smelling the blood around them, the wolves' blood lust intensified. They growled agitation. They needed blood! Since they were trapped, they could only attack their own human partners.
All the remaining four men were killed by their own mounts. They all died without Randel lifting his hands again to fight.
Randel did not let his guard down. For he could still see something was wrong with the beasts.
The wolves were agitated even as they had completely consumed their humans. Their ferocious eyes glowed dark red, while in their dark grey body, a black malevolent miasma.
He remembered Baobao's information. There was a detesting smell coming from the wolves.