Chapter 226 Killing the trio
The sun feather city was situated a few thousand miles away in the south-western direction of the Cloud academy.
For a normal person, traversing such a long distance was an arduous task and would generally take a few weeks to a month or two.
Moreover, because over five hundred miles of the area around Cloud academy was a forested and hilly region, countless beasts resided here, making traveling here even more difficult and dangerous.
However, a figure was dashing through the forest without any concern about the possible danger.
"It's going to be night in a while. I need to speed up." Max murmured.
It'd been around three hours since he enhanced his Mana and had been running at 80% of his top speed, but he was still a little more than 200 miles away from leaving this forested area.
If he continued at this pace, he wouldn't be able to get out of the forest before nightfall, and the danger of the beasts would rise.
Whoosh!
Thinking this, he started to control the enhanced Mana in his core and directed it towards his feet. The instant he did so, his speed increased dramatically. He was only a bit slower than when he was using escaping talisman.
"Amazing!" He couldn't help but exclaim in shock. As long as he had enough stamina, he could cross the remaining distance in less than half an hour.
…
There was a town called Belsh, a few miles outside the forest. It was closest to the Cloud academy in the southwestern area of the Green Leaf kingdom.
Everyone traveling to the academy from this region or vice-versa would rest there. Therefore, it was very affluent, and one could see people entering and exiting the town at every moment.<sub></sub>
Three figures in clocks were hiding some distance away from the town gate. A fist-sized yellow-colored bee was hovering in front of the guy in the middle, looking in the forest's direction.
"How much more time is he going to take?" The female asked, bored. After running away from the ‘three-star beast' who was breaking through, they decided to intercept Max before he entered the town.
"It should be soon." The leader replied after looking at the bee's movements.
"Are you sure that guy isn't dead already?" The other man in the team asked, his brows raised.
"Sigh. I've told you many times. He is alive. My bee's senses are always right, and you know this." The leader said in a displeased tone.
"Your bee had pointed in the direction where that so-called ‘three-star' beast of yours was breaking through. If that Max guy had gone there, the beast should have sensed him. So, tell me, how come he is still alive?" The man asked mockingly.
He was suspicious that it wasn't a three-star beast but something else and wanted to go check that out, but his ‘cowardly' teammates didn't let him.
Neither the leader nor the female had an answer to this question. It should be as he said; Max should have died since no beast would let a threat live in its vicinity when breaking through.
"Maybe the beast didn't bother with him since it was busy with its breakthrough." The female guessed.
"Yeah, right!" The man scoffed and stopped wasting his saliva. He had a feeling that they had made a grave mistake when they decided to retreat.
However, remembering that all three were peak two-star mages, his heart calmed down.
Whoosh!<sub> pᴀɴᴅᴀ ɴ(O)ᴠᴇʟ</sub>
After two hours, they suddenly felt movement in the woods. As they glanced in that direction, they could see the figure of a youth slowly walking out of the forest.
"Mm? He seems to be worn out?" The female looked at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"Haha, it's good that he is, or it would have been troublesome to kill him given his speed." The leader laughed and stored the yellow bee.
"Let's go and complete our mission." The leader said and charged out of his hiding place.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The other two followed behind him.
"Mm? As expected, you guys were hiding here." Max looked at the three figures that suddenly appeared in front of him and revealed a smile.
…
Although Max's speed was much faster after using his enhanced Mana, it exhausted his stamina even more quickly.
When he was fifty miles away from the forest boundary, his stamina had depleted by more than 60%.
Therefore, he rested and replenished his exhausted stamina and Mana before continuing the journey.
However, he didn't use his enhanced Mana again because he wanted to be in his top condition when he left the forest since he knew the people chasing him wouldn't give up and might be waiting there.<sub> ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕ(ꪫ)ꪣꫀꪶ</sub>
That's why right before he exited the forest, he decided to act as if he was worn out to trick them.
Just as he had guessed, they were indeed hiding here.
Whoosh~~~
The three clocked figures surrounded him and circulated their Mana, ready to attack. The female took out a grade two barbed whip which seemed to have a greenish coating on it.
Weng~
Max also circulated his Mana and released his aura at the same time, which caused the trio's expressions to change slightly.
"How can his aura be this strong when he is only a peak two-star Mage?" The man looked at him incredulously.
"Could he have started to condense his three-star Mana already?" The female guessed as panic appeared on her face and clenched her whip tightly.
"Humph! So what if he has?" The leader harrumphed in disdain and released his aura, which was also stronger than a peak two-star mage's.
The other two let out a relieved sigh seeing this. Although their leader's aura was somewhat weaker than Max's, it wasn't by too much.
"Oh?" Max was surprised by this, and when he thought about what would have happened if his Mana hadn't enhanced before meeting them, he shivered.
Thinking this, his gaze became murderous. Following this, he raised his hand, and a football-sized fireball condensed above his hand.
"Heh, what can a fireball-" The trio leader scoffed and started casting his spell. However, before he could complete his sentence, his expression changed dramatically.
Whoosh!
Just after the fireball was done condensing, which didn't take more than two breaths since his mastery over it was almost perfect, faint orange-colored Mana covered his feet, and he seemed to disappear from where he was standing.
"Watch out!" The leader shouted in panic, but it was already too late.
Hu~~
With a gust of wind, Max appeared one foot behind the female and threw the fireball at the back of her head before retreating a few meters.
BOOM!!
The female felt the sensation of death wash over her, but she couldn't even move her head away when the fireball crashed into her head and exploded along with her head.
[Sigh! What a waste!] The system's sighing voice sounded in Max's head.
"Noooo…!" The leader and other man cried out with pale faces.
"Don't worry. I'll send you guys to accompany her too." Just as they were grieving over the death of their companion, a cold voice sounded in their ears, and their hair stood on ends.
"Run!" The leader and other man shouted simultaneously and ran toward the town at their top speed.
After they witnessed him effortlessly and without any resistance killing their companion, their will to fight him disappeared.
As for the mission to kill him, it was ridiculous to even think about. They regretted ever agreeing to complete this mission and wanted to curse Dalton.
pAɴᴅᴀɴ[0ᴠᴇ]ʟ ‘We'll survive if we can enter the town.' Both had this thought in mind as they ran desperately.
Because the Belsh town was nearest to one of the kingdom's top academies, many people came here daily, making the town very profitable. Therefore, the kingdom's royal family made some rules so that people staying in the town won't have any problems.
The most significant rule was that no one could fight inside the town. If anyone were to break the rule, whether a two-star or even a three-star mage, they would have their Mana core crippled or be directly killed.
Max watched them run and sneered, "Do you think I will let you run away?"
He then raised his hand, and fire arrows started materializing in the arrows, radiating intense heat.
…
A few miles away, in front of the town gates, stood two guards and a dozen more on the town walls.
"It seems someone's fighting over there." One of the guards above the town walls noticed the explosion in the distance and murmured.
"It's none of our concern as long as they aren't in the town." One other guard with a big mustache said.
…
Swoosh!
They had run only half a mile when the fire arrows were done materializing. Max turned into an orange streak, caught up with them the next moment, and pointed toward them.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
"Nooooo….!" The leader and other man heard the sound of something Peirce the air behind them, and when they looked behind, horrified expressions appeared on their faces as they cried out in despair.
