The Mysterious Black Magician

A leg with silver fur had first stepped out from the darkness. It was slim at the lower part and on its feet, there were three fingers with inch-long nails.

Next to emerge was the face, it was pointed to a certain extent. Around its black nose, six whiskers were protruding like metallic strands. Its flaxen big eyes, squinted at them like it was peering at its prey.

They noticed when its shut mouth extended into a toothy grin; then blood colored energy was oozing from its body, sending a chill to its prey.

"W-Wanderer?"

Ultima muttered in a trembling voice. It was clear from his voice and face how shocked and afraid he was at the moment. Never would he have imagined to see such a monster in this place.

He glanced at the Rat Slayer\'s back and thought, "So this is what he meant a while ago.."

Maena and Almina also wore unbelievable faces at the moment, and it was clear that both of them were scared.

\'How can it be that there is this monster down here?\' Almina thought. Maena also had similar thoughts as her. Then both of them remembered what Yman said to them a while ago, the reason why he brought them here. Now Almina and Maena understood why Yman had a Magic Cryst with him.

\'He didn\'t come here for those low ranking rats, but because of this Wanderer!\' They could not believe it. \'Wait, he already had a Magic Cryst with him, so how come there is still another Wanderer beast here?\' 

Yman noticed the others were having puzzled faces.

His mouth extended to one side. It was easy to guess what they were thinking at the moment based on their faces. He as well noticed that they all bore a scared feeling towards the monster.

He opened his mouth and said, "Bit your lips," He advised them. His voice was just enough for them to hear.

The three looked at him and saw that he was serious.

"I-I feel better?" Almina muttered after biting her lips. 

Under the mask, Maena also bit her lips, the scared feeling she felt towards the monster shortly cast away. "Tis, so it\'s some kind of illusion?" Maena said after her bearings returned.

"It was the effect of intimidation and fear," Yman told her without averting his eyes from the monster.

"Tsk, so we are under this kind of ability," Ultima said in a frown.

"Then why you\'re not affected by it?" Maena doubtfully asked him.

"From experience I guess," Yman replied immediately.

Maena shut her mouth and did not bother asking him again. It was known what he was doing since the first day.

"Is that mean that you are fighting this kind of monster for these past days?" Almina couldn\'t help asking. She thought Yman was securing himself for taking a low-level mission, but it seems like it was contrary to her expectation.

He nodded at Almina. Then said, "It\'s coming."

The monster rapidly rushed to them.

The feeling of being scared had already been lifted after Yman instructed them to bite their lips.

Almina with a fire sword in hand immediately intercepted it. Which followed by metallic noise. It was followed by multiple exchanges. 

The monster clearly outmatched her, but whenever she finds herself at a disadvantage, she would use her Rapid Leap ability to distance herself.

Before the monster could chase her, consecutive arrows from Maena and waves of energy from Ultima would rain after it. 

The monster had no choice but to step back. It was a wanderer D+ monster, killing it wasn\'t as easy as killing those normal rats.

Before Yman joined the fight, he signaled to Maena where to hit the monster.

Wielding the Gladius sword in his right hand, he made a sudden swing towards the monster\'s head, but the monster was able to evade it. Yet Almina with her Rapid Leap was already waiting at the other side to where the monster would go when it dodges his attack.

Shing!

Kyaahh! 

The monster cried when the fire sword cut its waist.

The monster\'s health points dropped to 75%.

It tried to distance himself immediately but the wave of emerald energies shot towards it. The monster lifted its hand in front, its body immediately enveloped by flaxen energy. This technique was the same as Kiko\'s Mana Membrane but with higher effectiveness.

However, an arrow enveloped by wind and water tore the space, it rapidly shot to the monster.

The Wanderer squinted its eyes at the incoming arrow, then it casually crossed its arms to guard its body.

Arrowbites! Maena\'s soft utterance of her ability\'s name reached their ears.

In an instance, the monster widened its eyes when a large hole appeared on its chest. They noticed the unbelievable feeling written on the monster\'s face.

The monster dropped dead without knowing how the barrier was pierced by that arrow.

Everyone sighed in relief. All of them did their job efficiently.

"Congrats," Yman said to all.

"How did you know that the monster\'s weakness was on the chest?" Maena asked.

"Ah that, it was Sistela, my deity. Her appraisal ability was a little better," he replied.

"Sistela did a good job," Almina said.

"Mhm." 

<Hehe, see I\'m good.>

He heard his deity\'s proud voice but Yman chose to disregard. It was because all of his money was spent to upgrade Sistela\'s part. Right now, if they were not in resonance, her figure was of that Nixie spirit. 

"Let\'s take the valuable parts," he urged them.

Everyone nodded.

They took the monster\'s Inner Core, Tail, Nails, and fangs. Everyone brightened up when Yman lifted a Magic Cryst.

"I never thought that there\'d be a day for me to see this kind of item again," Ultima tearfully said.

"Kuku, wasn\'t that an exaggeration Sir Ult?" Yman tried to tease him.

"No, it wasn\'t!" Mercenary Ultima Shouted.

Yman and the two girls chuckled at him.

The group continued their advance and they encountered lots of monsters.

There once an Evil Bat that evolved into a Wanderer class.

In order to kill it, Almina and the others bombarded it using long-range attacks. Almina used her flame waves, sending flame in the form of a crescent moon.

However, it wasn\'t an effective long range. It had a short distance and it wasn\'t so fast. She said she was sorry for not being helpful and told them that it wasn\'t long when she learned it, and that she wasn\'t proficient enough to use it. This technique was the evolved form of the technique she used to attack one of the attackers on the hill.

Sistela was also feeling helpless, it was the first time for her to encounter this type of Wanderer, so she could not pinpoint its weak points.

Maena was able to pierce the monster to every part of its body. And the left part of its large wing was skewered by Mercenary Ultima with his wave of emerald energy.

This wave of emerald energy was a secondary class ability. It was supposed to be strong, however Ultima\'s breakthrough level wasn\'t enough to manifest the real strength of this technique.

The Wanderer Bat had the ability to heal itself like the Mustang Spider. It was a headache for them to kill it.

Yman suggested something on Almina. She tried to decline but when she noticed Yman\'s firm gaze at her.

Before she agreed, she bashfully said, "Promise me that you won\'t look up."

Yman felt a little embarrassed at Almina\'s words. But he nodded multiple times.

Almina was on Yman\'s back, waiting for his signal.

It was hard to find a perfect opportunity because the enemy was sending gusts by flapping its wings.

Suddenly, it dove towards Maena who was one of the decoys.

Maena evaded by diving to her side.

When Yman noticed that the enemy was about to ascend.

"Miss Almina!"

"Just call me Almina!" She shouted.

"Eh?"

For some reason, her reply almost stunned him.

"O-Okay, A-Almina!"

Wearing a smile on her face, she quickly stepped on his shoulder. Then Yman used Rapid Leap towards the ascending enemy.

He, together with Almina who was stepping on his shoulder appeared in mid air, closely behind the enemy. 

Then Almina summoned all her strength on her feet and used her Rapid Leap. Because of this, Yman was sent crashing on the ground, while Almina appeared on top of the monster, brandishing her firesword downwards with all her strength.

Flame Wave! She shouted.

Mercenary Ultima rushed and dove to where Yman would land. 

The fire sword sliced the Wanderer Bat neatly, and it was engulfed by the flame.

On the other hand, Yman crashed on the back of Mercenary Ultima. The two of them were lying on the ground, with their backs facing the high ceiling of the underground channel.

"Kyaaaaaah!!"

Maena wanted to rush to catch Almina but he calculated that she would fall on the guys so she decided to let her be.

Before Yman and Ultima could stand up. "Yman, catch meeeee!!!" Almina was rapidly falling. The two boys gulped as they felt a bad premonition.

A moment later they both groaned in pain when Almina landed on Yman\'s back.

Mercenary Ultima and Yman\'s eyes turned white.