“This monster is toying with us,” a Third Year student from Nightfall Academy said through gritted teeth.
They had already been flying for nearly a day, but they still hadn’t shaken the Boss Monster from their trail.
Everyone was tired and wanted to rest, but they knew that the moment they stopped, another battle would begin.
Right now, there were six people traveling together.
Four of them belonged to Nightfall Academy, and the other two were Luna and Rowan.
Since all of them were traveling together, they decided to cooperate and escape the clutches of the Monster as a team.
They had met other Wizards and Witches along the way and warned them of the approaching danger. As to whether they believed them or not, they didn’t stay long enough to confirm.
The only thing they wanted was to put as much distance as possible between them and the monster.
Also, leaving the other Wizards and Witches would also serve as a good distraction, buying them time to escape.
The main reason why Nightfall Academy decided to invite the other academies was to use them as a distraction in order to deal with the Boss Monster they planned to capture.
Yes. Their purpose was to only serve as decoys and cannon fodder while Nightfall Academy claimed the prize they were searching for.
But they didn’t expect that the Boss Monster from the Desert would actually come to the Deathseeker Forest and hunt all Wizards and Witches that they came across.
The death of Cedric’s two teammates was so sudden that they didn’t even have the chance to use their Escape Runes to save their lives.
At first, the members of Nightfall Academy were feeling lucky for having gathered so many of their people in such a short period of time.
But before they could even gather more of their teammates, tragedy struck, and now, they were forced to flee in hopes that they could find their other teammates on the way.
“We need to rest, Brother,” Lilian said with a grave expression on her face. “Even if it’s only an hour, we need to rest. Everyone is exhausted.”
Cedric knew that his sister was right, so he nodded his head in agreement.
“Keep an eye out for a safe place to rest,” Cedric stated. “We will descend as soon as we find one.”
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and paid more attention to their surroundings.
Five minutes later, they found a small clearing, so they decided to make camp for the time being.
The first thing they did when they descended was to cast a detection spell that would tell them if a powerful creature was within a thousand meters of them.
This spell worked especially well against Boss Monsters because, even if they tried to hide their presence, there was still a chance that they would be detected by the spell.
This was the best that Cedric’s group could do for the moment, allowing them to take a breather.
They had no problem with food and water since they had prepared for this expedition beforehand.
All of them had brought enough food and water to last them for a month. Of course, their supplies would last longer if they used them sparingly.
“Rest,” Rowan said as he sat beside his sister. “I will keep a lookout for the both of us.”
Luna nodded and leaned on her brother’s shoulder in order to rest.
Lilian watched this from the side and sighed. Unlike Luna, she couldn’t lean on her brother’s shoulder because Cedric was feeling a lot of pressure at the moment.
Everyone was hoping and relying on him to think of a plan to change their current situation.
Because of this, Lilian didn’t want to act spoiled and simply leaned her delicate body on a tree, closing her eyes to rest.
After two hours, the group was ready to continue their journey.
Originally, they only wanted to rest for an hour. But, since the spell didn’t detect any threat in their surroundings, they extended their rest by another hour to allow them to recover better.
The group once again flew Northwest, hoping to find their teammates, as well as their allies who could help them fight against the Boss Monster.
Along the way, they found two ladies riding on broomsticks, who were flying in the opposite direction.
One was a Dwarf, and the other was an Elf.
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Cedric recognized the two since he had interacted with them a few times in the past. There were even times when they had to work together to conquer one of the difficult dungeons in Grandshire.
Cedric’s group, as well as the two witches, stopped flying and hovered a few meters away from each other.
“Bridget, Sefarina, it’s good to see that both of you are safe,” Cedric said. “However, I advise you not to continue your flight path. A Boss Monster is wreaking havoc in the Southern part of the Deathseeker Forest.
“It’s incredibly strong, and I would greatly appreciate it if you teamed up with us for the time being. Of course, Nightfall Academy will compensate you for your troubles. I promise that you will not be disappointed.”
Bridget, the Dwarf, and Sefarina, the Elf, scanned the members of Cedric’s group.
Their gazes lingered a bit longer on Luna before shifting their attention to her brother, Rowan.
‘This guy is strong,’ Bridget said to Sefarina through telepathy. ‘And very dangerous.’
‘Right,’ Sefarina agreed. ‘Fortunately, he is the brother of our Young Master’s woman. So, should we stay with their group for the time being?’
Bridget pondered for a bit.
They had already done their research and confirmed that the angelic beauty was indeed one of their future Mistresses.
Although their top priority was to ensure their Master’s safety, leaving Luna when she was in danger wasn’t something that they could do.
“Is the Boss Monster really strong?” Bridget asked.
Cedric nodded. “It is a twenty-meter-long giant snake with bronze scales. It usually stays in the Harrowing Desert in order to hunt for prey. But for some reason, it decided to come to this forest and hunt the Wizards and Witches that it came across. It has a very high resistance to magic attacks, but its physical defenses aren’t that strong.
“Even so, it can burrow underground and attack our blind spots. It also has the ability to spray poison that can melt metal. Not only does it move fast, it’s also very intelligent. If we are going to fight it, we need a bigger group that has high physical combat abilities.”
Bridget was a Paladin, so she was very proficient in close combat.
Sefarina excelled in the bow and arrow.
She also specialized in Wind Elemental magic.
This combination allowed her arrows to fly faster, fly farther, and deal elemental damage to her targets.
Not only that, because of her Elemental Affinity, she could control her arrows with her Will and move them as if they were part of her body, increasing their accuracy and deadliness.
“Very well, we will join you for the time being,” Bridget stated. “However, we cannot take any risks. Let us focus on increasing our numbers first. The more people we have, the better our chances of fighting against that Boss Monster.”
Cedric nodded in understanding.
Now that he had managed to convince two powerful fighters to join his team, their chances of beating the Bronze Desert Snake were high.
Of course, he didn’t know that the only reason Bridget and Sefarina agreed to join their team was not because of the rewards he promised.
It was all for the sake of protecting their future Mistress and, in turn for serving as her temporary protectors, forge a strong connection with their Master.
The two had also sensed that one of their colleagues was protecting Luna in secret.
Although they couldn’t see Lilith, they were certain that Luna’s other protector was hiding inside her shadow.
This was how the Orpheus Clan operated, and Bridget and Sefarina were well aware of how their allied Clan operated.
‘Since Master had asked the Orpheus Clan to protect this girl, it means that she is very important to him,’ Bridget said through telepathy.
‘There is also a chance that the Young Master is also looking for her,’ Sefarina commented. ‘If we stay with her, we will eventually meet up with the Young Master.’
The two smiled internally as they joined Cedric’s group.
Lilith, who was hiding inside Luna’s shadow, smirked after seeing her two compatriots.
Just as the two were able to sense her presence, she was also able to know that the newcomers belonged to the Oddfrid and Argus Clans.
‘Mistress, those two are Master’s allies,’ Lilith told Luna through telepathy. ‘But don’t blow their cover. Just know that you can trust them and that they will do their best to protect you.’
‘Understood,’ Luna replied. ‘Thank you, Lilith. I will keep that in mind.’
The group then continued to travel together, gathering more allies along the way.
Cedric planned to launch a counterattack when they had gathered twenty or more people.
That way, their chances of beating the Boss Monster would increase drastically, at least, that was what he had believed before the Terror of Deathseeker Forest made its appearance for the first time.