Chapter 153: Self-created Suspicion

The young magicians were all affected by the accident and didn’t want to hurry on with their journey. They had imagined it as a trip instead of actual practice. Their plan was to hire a guide who knew the way to a Hydra’s nest, and then they would kill the hydra together. Even if they failed, they still had their headmaster to help them. Once the task was completed, they would go back to Isolated Cliff City with a magic scroll. In their minds, it was a simple process.

But the reality was totally different from what they had imagined. As they walked into the forest, there were all kinds of dangers that existed which would bring catastrophic consequences to them. A man with a sense of intellectual maturity should not only accurately predict what will happen, but he should also know how to deal with accidents. Usually, there wouldn’t be time for any careful consideration in a crisis. All the decisions should be made through instinct. However, instinct was not something that could be learned, but something that could only be obtained through life-and-death experiences.

Moxinke found a place for them to rest in the upper reaches of the spring and used branches to build two shabby shelters that could accommodate several people. The girls slept in the shelters while the men had to sleep outside in the open. Luckily, it was still summer and nighttime would pass quickly.

However, most of them could not sleep well. The accident hadn’t left any psychological shadows on Han Jin and the others, but it was different for the rest of them. The young magicians, especially the girls, tossed and turned the entire night. Even when they finally managed to fall asleep, they would be awakened by nightmares.

Their heart-wrenching screams were just as horrible as the weeping sounds of wronged ghosts, causing goosebumps all over their bodies. This was the first time Han Jin had realized how horrifying nightmares could be. Under normal circumstances, they would still be able to sleep peacefully after abruptly waking up several times, but this time around, Han Jin and Moxinke could not. In this dangerous forest, they had to maintain vigilance at all times. However reluctant, they had to look around each time they were woken up.

At dawn, they immediately left for the Hydra’s nest regardless of whether they had rested well or not. All of them were eager to finish the task earlier so that they could come back earlier, including Han Jin’s gang. No one wanted to stay longer than necessary in the forest of holy animals.

Moxinke was still responsible for carving out a way for them all. Reg did not slack as much as he had the day before. He and Sunier were guarding both sides of the group while Han Jin and Cessacioun covered the rear. Though they didn’t openly discuss it, they had reached a tacit understanding to help out the young magicians if the situation prevailed since the young girls looked terrible after the incident.

But of course, they were just there to help, not to sacrifice. Everyone in the world has their own selfish motives. To a certain extent, whether one is willing to help someone also depends on whether the receiving party is willing to return the favor whenever danger occurs. After all, no one is willing to make sacrifices without being paid back.

Trust is not something that can be easily obtained. Han Jin’s group had already been together for over one year, and they had gone through countless dangers together, establishing deep friendships between them. A year was not a short time. How many “years” does a human possess? Han Jin had only known the young magicians for several days, so how could trust or friendship be established between them so quickly?

But things that happened after that became even more dramatic…

“Flash Leopard! Move away!” Moxinke shouted. However, by the time he had turned his head, the Flash Leopard had already fallen into a pool of blood. It was then followed by a violent magic fluctuation.

“The Killer Bees…” Before Moxinke could finish his words, a puff of dazzling light appeared. It surrounded the mist-like swarm, along with the four-meter-high honeycomb and ten-odd towering old trees. When the light disappeared, everything it had encircled had turned into ashes.

“Giant Eagle! Watch out! It has considered us as its prey!” While Moxinke was shouting, a streak of lightning came down and chopped the Giant Eagle into two. It rolled down through the leaves while Moxinke was still being scared out of his wits.

He was embarrassed by his actions of shouting and jumping like a clown. With a top-grade magus in their group, what was there to be afraid of?

While Yalina, the genius magus, had become slightly different. She used to be as cold as an iceberg, following behind the queue without saying much. Her responsibility was to supervise and to protect her students. Plus, she had also thought that her assistance should only be given when necessary. But now, she was like a tensed bow who would launch attacks quicker than anyone else as long as an emergency occurred, leaving no chance for her students to practice.

Now that she had remembered that she needed to protect her students, she would also immediately release magic enchantments as protection when they met other mercenary teams, which was an improvement. Plus, it was also a commendable act as she herself was in an extremely nervous state at all times. However, it did become a little ridiculous towards the end as she started releasing aggressive magic spells on mercenary teams.

Upon feeling the violent magic fluctuations, the members of one of the mercenary teams nearly wet their pants in terror and fled in all directions into the depths of the forest, fearing that they might have met a mercenary team of bandits who specialized in killing others. Meanwhile, another mercenary team was prepared for a fight without any delay. Their thieves had launched Art of Invisibility, and their archers had hidden in the forest to shoot while their magicians and soldiers respectively released magic shields and strength of fighting. Moxinke immediately jumped out, desperately waving his arms while trying to stop Yalina’s impulsion.

He then dropped his giant sword, walked over to the opponents, and apologized for the misunderstanding. He explained to the mercenaries that they were a newly-established mercenary team and were still in a state of panic due to a sudden attack they had met in the forest a few days ago.

The leader of the opponents was a reasonable man who showed Moxinke his sympathy after hearing this. They had a good conversation, criticized some of the mercenaries’ bad conduct, and even condemned the ignorance of the Association of Mercenaries. They exchanged their names after the conversation. Moxinke then got to know that these guys were from the Mercenary Team of Reapers, a team that was even more superior to the Red Vanguards in terms of strength, income, and fame. They were ranked as the top three of all mercenary teams in Isolated Cliff City!

If it wasn’t because they had sensed Yalina’s magic fluctuation, they never would have talked to Moxinke or left him their address. They even asked him to have a drink with them after they returned.

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They departed in a warm and friendly atmosphere. Moxinke perkily came back, but his face twisted into a knot when he saw Yalina. It was such a dangerous situation. If Yalina had really released her magic, an intense fight would have occurred. Even if Yalina could protect her own life, what about the others? How would they be able to escape the Mercenary Team of Reapers hunting them?

Luckily, nothing special happened in the next ten days. They walked around in the forest, trying to find the nest. As for Yalina, all the holy animals they encountered became ashes once she waved her arm.

It was undeniable that their gains were very profitable. The contract between them had stated clearly that whatever they got, they would evenly share. Yalina was undoubtedly much more powerful than the Iron Bulls they had cooperated with in the past. Plus, they were in the depths of the Tarasha Mountains. Thus, the magic crystals they were able to obtain had far surpassed those that they had gotten when they were at the periphery of the Tarasha mountains.

Han Jin even suspected that Reg had deliberately done this and had a serious talk with him. But the truth was that Reg had really gotten lost.

The journey became even tougher, causing a large amount of sweat to cover Moxinke’s forehead. The branches which blocked the way were easy to cut, but the thick and tough rattans were not so easily wiped out.

“Wait!” Sunier suddenly jumped down from the trees.

“What’s wrong?” Han Jin moved toward her and asked.

“Don’t you realize? There are less and less lower-grade holy animals. This means that there must be some big animals nearby.” While she was talking, her pointy ears perked up from her long blond hair to capture the sounds that were around them.

Yalina paused and nodded. “The Hydra’s nest must be nearby. It’s impossible for the lower-grade holy animals to survive here.”

“Who told you this?” Moxinke asked, considering that this inexperienced genius magus in front of him would not have been able to come to this judgment by herself.

“No one. It’s just easy to guess.”

All of them looked at Reg. They had never met any Hydras before and didn’t know much about the Hydras’ habits, nor the surroundings of a Hydra nest. They did, however, know that these theories didn’t mean that it was the reality.

“You found it?” The young magicians’s spirits lifted and they quickened their steps.

“No, but it should be nearby. You’d better be careful,” Yalina said in a low voice.

The young magicians were all excited. “Don’t worry, we can take care of ourselves. Thank you, Headmaster,” they said.

Moxinke silently curled his lips. If it wasn’t for Yalina, the young kids would eventually become the Hydras’ prey in the blink of an eye.

Reg was perplexed. The last time he had seen the nest, there were all kinds of holy animals except for the super-holy animal, the Hydra. But this time, the situation was totally different. Were there really some big animals nearby?

Whatever he was thinking, he had to move on.

Moxinke slowed down after Sunier’s warning and was even prepared to run to Han Jin if anything abnormal occurred.

While they were cautiously moving forward, a Giant Eagle appeared above them. Suddenly, a deep growl came from the depths of the forest. The Giant Eagle instantly soared up high into the sky as if it had collided with an invisible wall, and immediately flew away.

The deep growl was like a huge hammer that had hit their chests. Han Jin and the others were still calm, while the faces of the young female magicians turned ghastly pale due to fear and their legs shook.

If even the animal’s sound was so horrible, how strong would the fighting capacity of this holy animal be?

The genius magus’s expression also turned solemn after letting out a nervous sound.