Black Robe

Ronan planned to have a blacksmith forge him a better longsword to fit him once he moved into town.

Without enchantments, it probably would not cost too much.

He picked up the longsword and wiped the dust from it against his trouser leg before sheathing the One-Handed Sword at his waist again.

He picked up the robe from the ground and draped it over himself.

Compared to a few months ago, Ronan looked like an entirely different person, having completed a magnificent transformation from a sleazy fat man into a sunny, handsome young man.

He had shot up to 1.85 meters tall, with handsome features and a lean build.

Long chestnut curls fell over his shoulders, and a sharp edge seemed to lurk within his lake-blue eyes.

If he took off his robe, plenty of people would believe he had been raised in the knightly way since childhood.

"Let's go home."

Ronan reckoned he had been out for a while and prepared to head back.

The Treehouse Area was a complete mess now. Robberies and murders kept cropping up, not to mention thieves who broke into homes.

Thefts happened every day. Although Ronan had hidden most of his valuable belongings in a secret place, he still could not help feeling uneasy when he was away for too long.

From the lakeside forest to his home, it would only take Ronan three to five minutes at his current pace.

"Rustle, rustle—"

Ronan had barely walked for a while when he suddenly heard a series of faint noises from the bushes beside him.

He stopped at once, immediately going on guard.

Whoosh!

A White-lipped Deer sprang out of a bush ahead of Ronan. Without even looking at him, it darted into another thicket.

Before he could react, goats, foxes, rabbits, and other small animals ran past Ronan one after another, terrified as if some dreadful Natural Enemy were chasing them.

Ronan's first thought was that wizards were fighting nearby again.

The forest had been restless lately. From time to time, wizards would engage in spell duels, forcing small animals preparing to store food for winter to move every few days. He had seen scenes like this more than once or twice.

Ronan stood where he was, intending to wait for the waves of animals before him to finish fleeing.

But after waiting for a moment, he found the rustling in the woods growing denser and denser. The fleeing animals came without end, and they were getting larger and larger. Something's wrong. What kind of disturbance could cause such a massive stampede of wild beasts?

Ronan faintly sensed an unusual atmosphere.

His expression tightened. No longer waiting, he forced his way through the fleeing herd from one side.

The farther forward he went, the stronger the inexplicable unease in his heart became, and the faster his steps grew.

Whoosh—

Passing through a dense stretch of brush, Ronan arrived at a bright, open clearing.

With a burst of speed, he stepped up the trunk of a towering tree in just a few strides, then nimbly climbed all the way to its crown.

Using the tree's height, he looked out into the distance.

In an instant, Ronan's pupils contracted, and his entire body froze on the tree.

Over the vast, dense forest, trails of black smoke drifted in every direction.

Countless birds circled above the forest, darting about everywhere.

Faint explosions and thunderous booms continuously sounded in the distance, accompanied by the screams and roars of humans or beasts. It was a scene shrouded in the smoke of war.

Ronan's face gradually darkened. Looking at the signal smoke both near and far, he could no longer tell who had released these signals.

There was more than one group of wandering wizards like theirs gathered in the forest, and the effects of the Signal Boxes used for calling for help and issuing warnings were largely the same.

"Black Robe."

The words slowly surfaced in Ronan's mind, and his heartbeat began to quicken.

When the thing he had worried about for so long finally became reality, Ronan unexpectedly found that he was not particularly nervous or afraid. Instead, an eager impulse welled up inside him. Taking a deep breath, Ronan gripped the hilt of the One-Handed Sword at his waist tightly, chose the nearest signal location, and rushed toward it.

In a forest clearing strewn with devastation, a fierce battle between wizards was underway.

Seven or eight gray-robed wizards in robes of various colors were joining forces to besiege a Black Robe Wizard who radiated a thick, cold, sinister aura, his face grim and icy.

The gray-robed wizards had a huge numerical advantage, but the situation on the battlefield was exactly the opposite.

Holding a gray bone staff, the Black Robe Wizard controlled a towering, muscular Flesh Monster that seemed stitched together from countless corpse chunks while chanting softly, calmly dictating the course of the battle.

"..@#￥!"

Evil, strange incantation syllables emerged from beneath the Black Robe Wizard's black lips. With a light flick of his staff, a Dark Green sphere of light shot forth.

A sallow-faced middle-aged gray-robed wizard failed to dodge in time and was struck head-on by the Dark Green ball of light.

The next second, the middle-aged gray-robed wizard let out a shrill scream.

The instant the Dark Green ball struck him, it transformed into a puddle of thick, disgusting green fluid that rapidly corroded great swathes of his flesh into smoke. In only a few breaths, the middle-aged gray-robed wizard had been corroded into a puddle of pus and blood on the ground.

"Burney!"

Several Gray Robes standing beside the middle-aged man in gray revealed looks of pity at his miserable state.

A well-rounded female wizard could not bear the tremendous shock and bent over, vomiting violently.

"Roar—"

A chilling, bizarre howl rang out across the field as the Flesh Monster stitched together from chunks of corpses growled and charged toward them in great strides.

The Gray Robe Wizards went pale and retreated one after another. Only a burly figure clad in black leather armor stepped forward to meet it, greatsword in hand.

White light flickered over the burly figure's body as he collided fiercely with the Flesh Monster, producing a huge, muffled crash.

"A Half-Elf knight?.."

The Black Robe Wizard stared at the burly figure wielding the greatsword for a moment, then lost interest and shifted his gaze back to the other Gray Robes.

He lightly waved the bone staff in his hand, his lips moving rapidly. Soon, another Dark Green sphere of light was summoned.

This time, several spells flew out from the Gray Robes' side in time.

Yet only after those spells surged forward one after another did they barely manage to cancel out the Dark Green sphere.

"This guy is a Level Six Apprentice!"

A thin-faced young man with gray hair braided into countless small plaits spoke with an ugly expression.

"So we can only rely on you!"

Among the Gray Robes, a handsome Half-Elf wizard with pointed ears stared intently in the Black Robe's direction and said gravely, "Only you have the ability to hurt him!

The rest of us will buy you time, Linas. You should know a mid-level zero-rank spell, right?"

"Of course."

Linas, the gray-haired young man, gave a cold snort. His face darkened as he closed his eyes and began concentrating on the preparations for casting.

Under the beautiful Half-Elf wizard's command, the remaining Gray Robe Wizards took out their few offensive means and hurled them at the Black Robe.

Unfortunately, the spells cast with all their might by these Gray Robe Wizards—most of whom possessed only Second or Third Level Apprentice strength—were not very powerful. Very few of them posed any threat to the Black Robe Wizard.

Meanwhile, whenever the Black Robe casually tossed out a spell, it was like a disaster for the Gray Robes.