"Captain, what's with those two? It's like they don't even see us here," Rick said, lifting his left hand to shade his eyes as he squinted toward Jasmine and the young man. His brow furrowed as he observed them more thoroughly.
Earlier, they had puzzled over the massive crater that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Something huge must have fallen to carve out such destruction — and it had to have happened while they were unconscious. Yet, there was nothing there to explain it; only Jasmine and the young man were in their sight.
They quickly pushed the mystery aside, focusing on what mattered most.
"Who cares?" the captain growled, his voice cold with irritation. "That's got nothing to do with us. We simply gotta take back what that bitch stole from us."
But then, Rick suddenly muttered, "C-captain... the thief's a fourth-circle." A shadow of worry creased his weaselly face the moment he sensed Jasmine's power through his mana sense spell. He realised that they were all weaker than her. After all, they were all third-circle mages while Jasmine was a fourth-circle.
"I don't care what they do. That bitch stole my food. I'm gonna skewer her and feed her to the dogs!" Moran's rage resurfaced.
However, Rick didn't pay any attention to the furious hippo this time. He was waiting for his captain's decision.
"So what?" the captain sneered, brushing off Rick's concern with a casual wave. "Even if we're all third-circle, we're three while she's one. And besides, I'm just one step away from the fourth-circle. I refuse to believe that the three of us together can't take down some fourth-circle mage in the lower stage."
The captain's voice was dripping with bravado. And… it worked just as intended.
"Kekeke~"
Rick's worry vanished; a hungry grin split his face as he ran his tongue along his sword. "Yeah, captain. Let's take her down. Kekeke~" His lecherous stare returned.
Moran was still fuming with rage. But nobody cared.
Although the captain showed off to increase Rick's morale, he had reasons to back his bravado. Otherwise, nobody in their right mind would fight against a person stronger than them just for some stolen materials.
'Hmph! Fourth-circle mage my ass. I've already checked her power with mana sense. The fact that I was able to make out the amount of mana she has is proof enough to say that I'm close to her level. And besides, that bitch's mana is so unstable that I'm sure she used a shady method to forcibly make the fourth-circle. Although it will take a bit of time, I'm sure that the three of us can take her out,' the captain's face was brimming with confidence.
Then suddenly, Moran lumbered forward with a bellow, "Captain, what about that first-circle punk?!"
The captain didn't even bother to consider the presence of the young man the entire time as he confirmed he was a mere first-circle mage. But it was really unexpected that the foodie would notice something other than food.
But, it didn't matter at that moment. So, the captain quickly ordered Moran, "You crush him quick and join us. I and Rick'll weaken the thief in the meantime—"
The captain suddenly choked off mid-sentence as the earth heaved beneath them. A sudden tremor rippled through the entire Gutudia Forest.
That earthquake was not cataclysmic in its onset. It was mere child's play to those seasoned adventurers, who dismissed it with hardened nonchalance as they exchanged fleeting glances of mild annoyance. They all assumed that this fuss of a natural disaster would subside within moments.
But the tremor persisted. Its ferocity mounted with each passing second.
Except for the young man, everyone was struggling to maintain their balance. That intense earthquake sowed seeds of doubt in their mind. A creeping unease gnawed at their guts as they couldn't understand what was happening.
A full minute dragged on, but the earthquake didn't stop. The ground continued to vibrate relentlessly.
"Ugh! What's with this earthquake?!" Rick yelled.
"Damn it!" Moran groaned. As he struggled to keep his hefty frame standing.
The captain only gritted as he somehow managed to keep his balance.
And right then, another astonishing event occurred. An oppressive weight descended upon them. They all sensed that the atmospheric pressure around them was slowly increasing, compressing their lungs, weighing on their shoulders with invisible malice.
'Mana suppression!' (x4)
All of them jolted at the realization.
They knew what that pressure was. It was Mana Suppression which referred to an invisible oppressive force exerted by stronger beings upon those who have less mana than them.
Only the young man remained calm at that moment. But the others didn't fare so well under that mana suppression.
The air itself seemed to grow heavier under its pressure, leaving the suppressed unable to move or even breathe freely. They all gritted at the increasing heavy force.
'[Mana Telekinesis]' (x4)
Jasmine and those adventurers reacted at once. They hastened to use mana telekinesis spells. Their bodies glowed with radiant hues as they wrapped their forms in transparent layers of mana to protect themselves from that oppressive mana suppression.
But their power wasn't nearly enough. The ethereal force pressed down harder, seeping through their defenses with ease.
'It doesn't seem like that… Ugh! thief's doing.' the captain groaned inwardly. Gritting his teeth, he peered down toward the crater, searching for the source of that terrible pressure. He suspected Jasmine at first. Though the gap between their strength wasn't large, his instincts urged caution.
But that suspicion shattered quickly. Jasmine looked just as confused and suffocated as the rest of them.
His mind raced, '...Is it a powerful mana beast? But where is it?'
His eyes darted in every direction, panic rising as he searched for a threat that simply wasn't there.
Meanwhile, Jasmine's gaze suddenly snapped to the young man before her. He stood tall, posture impeccable as if the suppression were a gentle breeze. His calm depicted an image of profound indifference.
She was sure that this mana suppression wasn't the doing of the young man.
She then noticed his head tilted rightward, gaze fixed on the trees above. Compelled by a spark of curiosity, she strained to follow his gaze, her neck muscles screaming in protest.
'Ugh! Is a powerful mana beast coming from the inner part of the forest.' Jasmine pondered, dread curling in her stomach.
And right then, before her eyes, something colossal slammed into the earth with earth-shattering force.
BOOM!!!
The crater's rim crumbled. The violent impact unleashed shockwaves that shattered the edges into jagged rubble. Cascades of rock and debris plummeted down into the crater's depths. The air reverberated with cracking sounds as towering trees splintered and toppled, crashing down into the churning debris below.
The sudden explosion grabbed the attention of the three adventurers as well. Their gaze turned to the far side of the crater.
Previously, their captain guessed a powerful mana beast must be behind that mana suppression. So he instantly used mana sense to probe if his assumption was correct.
What he discovered froze the blood in his veins.
He sensed a mana beast lurking behind the swirling curtain of dust, a terrifyingly strong one. Its presence was so overwhelming he couldn't even gauge how many mana cores it possessed. That alone told him everything.
It had to be above level-four.
On the other hand, Jasmine's strained gaze was fixed on the veil of dust in front of her.
"...F-f-five mana cores," Jasmine stuttered at the realization.
She had also used her mana sense spell. But unlike the captain, she found out the exact number of mana cores of that mana beast. It had five of them.
It was a level-five mana beast!
"Damn it! Danger!!! Run—" the captain yelled but couldn't finish his warning.
BOOM!!!
Another explosion erupted, even closer this time. Another powerful mana beast had joined the fray.
Jasmine realised that this one was also a level-five mana beast.
This time the ground beneath the adventurers cracked. They fell into the crater, barely managing to avoid being buried alive by the cascading debris.
But before any of them could gain momentum,
BOOM!!!
Another explosion occurred.
Then another.
Followed by two more.
And... even more.
Ten explosions in rapid succession.
Each one a thunderclap of destruction that blanketed the earth in ochre fog as visibility was reduced to ghostly silhouettes amid the maelstrom of dust.
The mana suppression peaked. Blood trickled from Jasmine's nostrils in warm rivulets that stained her lips crimson. Her vision blurred at the edges as her body screamed in pain.
She was forced on one of her knees due to the sheer intensity of the mana suppression.
COUGH! COUGH!
Jasmine coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood.
ROOOARRRRRRRR!!!
Suddenly, a sky-shattering roar erupted, apocalyptic in its timbre. The shockwave whipped the air into a gale that hurled aside the dust curtain, flinging boulders and soil clods skyward like discarded toys.
By then, those adventurers had fainted with foam in their mouths.
The roar's ferocity crashed on Jasmine. Her eardrums screamed; pain tore through her skull. Blood splattered from her lips in violent bursts. The world lurched into a dizzy spiral. Her knees buckled as darkness crept at the edges of her vision.
But she refused to collapse.
Mustering every last scrap of willpower, she clenched her jaw, forcing her eyes open through the blur of tears and blood.
'Please… don't let it be true…'
Her heart hammered as she prayed desperately that her suspicion was wrong.
But as the mighty roar swept away the dust veil, her vision cleared to reveal... a nightmarish scenery.
Towering before her stood ten colossal mana beasts, their forms silhouetted against the roiling dust like demons.
"How can this be?..." Jasmine was too shocked to learn that her findings through her mana sense spell was all accurate.
"L-level five... all of them... level five…" Jasmine confirmed the horror with her very eyes.
Before her stood ten colossal mana beasts, each towering eight to ten meters high. They lined the broken edge of the crater shoulder to shoulder, their massive forms covering nearly half its circumference.
The first one that came into Jasmine's view was a Gale-Wind Wolf — a whirlwind incarnate shrouded in pristine white fur; its demonic crimson eyes burning with feral hunger, twin infernos that pierced the soul; framed by jaws bristling with fangs like ivory scythes and claws curved like obsidian hooks. Every sinew in its body coiled for carnivorous savagery. The air around it hummed with ethereal winds.
On its right was an Inferno-Wolf — built mirroring the Gale-Wind Wolf's predatory grace yet stripped of fur; its hide a grotesque tapestry of volcanic lava, covered by blackened and cracked stone shells. It seemed as if a river of magma had coursed over its flesh. Heat waves distorted the air around it in shimmering mirages. The ground beneath its paws melted into lava due to its high body temperature.
Beside the Inferno Wolf stood a Thunderfang Wolf, wreathed in storm-gray fur. Sparks of blue lightning danced across its body. Its glowing fangs pulsed like charged thunderbolts, eyes gleamed with electric intensity, while each step sent sharp jolts across the ground, scorching the earth and leaving faint trails of residual lightning in its wake.
Next to it was an Aqua Wolf, then a Frostfang Wolf, a Thornhide Wolf, a Shadowclaw Wolf and several other wolf-type mana beasts Jasmine instantly recognized. At that point, she didn't even need to rely on her Mana Sense anymore; their appearances alone told her everything.
She had hunted weaker mana beasts of these species countless times. Wolf-type mana beasts were the most common inhabitants of Gutudia Forest. But these ones… these were colossal. Their sheer size far exceeded the norm. Jasmine knew that wolf beasts grew larger with each level, and the titanic bodies before her matched only one classification — level-five.
It was quite common knowledge in the cities surrounding Gutudia Forest. Because, the true identity of those ten mana beasts standing before Jasmine were,
"The t-t-ten kings!!!" Jasmine trembled in fear.
These were not ordinary mana beasts.
They were the Ten Kings of Gutudia Forest, rulers of the yellow-tier Beast Domain, predators at the very peak of its food chain. The number of fourth-circle mages they had slaughtered exceeded the thousands. Even fifth-circle mages had fallen by the hundreds.
Reality truly shatters anyone's dreams fairly, both in good ways and bad ways. For Jasmine it was the latter.
Before, when the mana suppression began, she had envisioned only one powerful mana beast. But cruel reality delivered a pack of ten gigantic mana beasts right before her, all in level-five.
Jasmine knew only one thing — ten Level-Five Mana Beasts stood before her. The ten kings of Gutudia Forest, whose names she had only read in books. She had never faced even one of them in person. Yet now, for the first time in her life, she stood before not one… but ten.
Although Jasmine was a fourth-circle mage, she didn't even have the power to stand straight against even one of those mana beasts let alone fight them. They were just that strong. In front of those mana beasts, she was like an insect.
Terror clawed at her throat, strangling her breath into shallow, wheezing gasps. Her chest heaved in frantic rhythm due to the beasts' collective mana suppression. That tidal wave of raw dominance crushed her spirit, blanking her thoughts to primal void. Sweat mingled with blood from her nostrils in salty rivulets down her temple.
"You're much weaker than I thought."
"Huh? Who—?!" Jasmine flinched, her heart lurching.
But before she could even grasp what was happening, a sudden presence prickled at her right side.
A chilling alarm burst through her senses.
"Ah!!"