Siblings, Newbie

Siblings, Newbie

Before this, Ronan had simply disliked Linas.

Because the guy was extremely arrogant, always thinking he stood a cut above the wizards of the Treehouse Area.

Even though they were both Level Five, Linas always displayed an inexplicable sense of superiority in front of him.

That sense of superiority had nearly reached its peak after he single-handedly killed two Level Three Wizard Apprentices while on patrol, making a name for himself in one battle and earning the support and admiration of many lower-ranking wizards.

"I used to think this guy was merely irritating. Now I know he's actually this ruthless, selfish, and despicable. Even if she was just a fuck buddy, after a few months, there should've been some feelings involved, right? Yet he got her killed without a second thought... Tsk tsk."

If Linas had died after doing something like that, people would at most spit when mentioning him.

But since he was still alive, everyone immediately and instinctively ostracized him from the group.

The way everyone looked at him was rather cold, and beneath that coldness lay undisguised disgust and contempt.

After learning the full course of everyone's battle against the Black Robe Wizard, Ronan's gaze naturally turned toward the Half-Elf siblings, who were currently the strongest people present.

Looking at the beautiful Half-Elf wizard girl with delicate features before him, his tone softened unconsciously.

Honestly, he quite admired this girl.

Calm, intelligent, decisive. She possessed outstanding leadership skills. Though her chest was a little small, she was by no means just a pretty face.

She was truly rare.

"You're Nicole, right... There's still no news from Old Wells, Venecia, and Jacob. I need to keep looking for them... For now, you and your brother Andre will be responsible for leading everyone to the town. I believe you can do an excellent job!"

Ronan spoke to the Half-Elf wizard girl with appreciation and encouragement in his voice.

The Half-Elf wizard girl readily agreed.

"No problem."

Her voice was not the soft, coquettish kind most girls had. It was somewhat androgynous, full of magnetism.

Ronan's favorable impression of the Half-Elf wizard girl immediately shot up again.

"However..."

After accepting Ronan's assignment, the Half-Elf wizard girl suddenly looked somewhat hesitant.

Ronan asked, "What is it? Is there something else?"

The Half-Elf wizard girl shook her head.

"It's nothing. I just wanted to explain something, sir.

Actually, I'm not Nicole. I'm Andre.

This is my younger sister, Nicole... She inherited our mother's barbarian bloodline. While exploring the path of wizardry, she also trained as a knight."

The Half-Elf wizard "girl" pointed at the tall, burly Half-Elf man beside him, whose body was covered in knotted muscles and who had a large patch of black chest hair, introducing him to Ronan with an earnest and enthusiastic expression.

The smile at the corner of Ronan's mouth froze for a long while... without moving in the slightest.

Within the forest, Ronan was sprinting at full tilt with his physical abilities fully unleashed.

"What kind of fantastical creation could produce such an absurdly surreal pair of siblings?!"

"How the hell did a barbarian get together with an elf??"

Ronan gritted his teeth and complained as he ran.

He felt as though something inside him had suddenly shattered.

That beautiful night he had once thought marked the beginning of every story, the elf girl by the campfire smiling gently at him—"Pah!"

Ronan shook his head hard, trying to fling all those messy images from his mind.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle—"

The sound of branches and grass scraping rapidly reached his ears.

Ronan turned his head and saw two hurried-looking wizards running in the opposite direction.

Neither side slowed down. The moment their gazes met, the other two seemed to want to say something, but they quickly brushed past each other.

"Looks like news of the Black Robe Wizards has already spread. There are probably quite a few Black Robes roaming the forest..."

Ronan naturally knew what the other wizards had wanted to warn him about. The fleeing wizards he had encountered along the way were far from the first group.

In this forest filled with the smoke of war, where countless killings were quietly taking place in unknown corners, aside from Ronan, there was probably no one else who still chose to head against the flow.

It was not that Ronan insisted on playing the hero.

When their small group had first formed, they had sworn to watch over and support one another. If he failed to honor that oath while he still had the strength to do so, then what difference was there between him and people like Linas?

His experience of killing that intermediate Wizard Apprentice Black Robe Wizard had also given Ronan considerable confidence. It had given him a fairly clear understanding of his current strength.

An Energy Missile at the peak of Half-Step Expert Level was powerful enough to rival an ordinary high-level zero-rank spell. Combined with a casting time of only half a second, his combat strength might even surpass that of an ordinary Level Seven Wizard Apprentice.

"Even if I run into a somewhat stronger opponent, with my current physical attributes, it shouldn't be difficult to escape if I'm determined to run."

Of course, nothing was absolute, and everything carried hidden risks.

But if he did not even dare take this much risk, Ronan truly did not know what the meaning was behind his day-and-night cultivation.

Moving through the silent forest, steadily approaching the place where the signal's black smoke rose thickest, Ronan gradually slowed his pace.

He casually cast Detection Spell and carefully watched for any movement in the surrounding environment, ready to enter battle at any moment.

Though he was somewhat nervous now, he was not particularly afraid. More than anything, he remained composed.

His Deerskin Boots, caked with wet mud, lightly stepped onto the forest floor carpeted with fallen leaves, producing a soft rustling sound.

A breeze passed through the surroundings, making the grass and trees sway slightly.

Ronan casually plucked a pale red berry from a nearby bush and placed it in his mouth, slowly chewing as its sour, astringent sweetness gradually spread across his lips and tongue.

"@#￥%"

Suddenly, a faint, dense murmur drifted into Ronan's ears.

It chirped and whispered, as though someone were leaning close beside him and muttering in a low voice.

That was the sound of spell chanting! Someone was hiding in the shadows, preparing to secretly cast a spell on him! Ronan halted, his gaze instantly locking onto a patch of bushes not far away. A cold glint surfaced in his eyes as he prepared to hurl an Expert Level Energy Missile.

But at that moment, the sound abruptly stopped.

Ronan froze slightly, caught off guard.

He had assumed the person behind the bushes had given up casting, but two seconds later, the sound of spell chanting rang out once more.

Ronan frowned and took two steps forward. The chanting immediately became hurried and panicked.

Then, after stumbling over a certain syllable, it quickly vanished. After a while, perhaps once the caster had composed themselves, the chanting began again. This repeated several times, leaving Ronan utterly speechless.

"Your skills are so lousy, and you still want to imitate others by launching a sneak attack? You should learn comedy instead."

Ronan immediately changed his mind.

He simply abandoned the Energy Missile and instead lightly rested his hand on the hilt of the One-Handed Sword at his waist. After all, casting an Expert Level Energy Missile consumed quite a bit of Spiritual Power. Saving some where he could was better.

Why use a sledgehammer to kill a chicken when dealing with a "Newbie" wizard?

With a calm expression, Ronan walked step by step toward the target bushes.

As his footsteps drew closer, the whispered spell chanting coming from behind the bushes grew increasingly rapid and increasingly panicked. The frequency of mistakes rose sharply, and in a short span of time, it restarted who knew how many times.

Until Ronan stood directly before the bushes, nearly able to make out the outline of the figure hiding behind them.

".A...lbaroo~!"

The spell chant, distorted by trembling fear and nervousness, suddenly grew louder. There was no longer any attempt to conceal it.

A trace of coldness flashed across Ronan's face, and the sword clenched beneath his robe slashed out fiercely.

"Rip—"

The cold gleaming blade tore through the air, erupting with a visible crescent-shaped wave of white force. Vast swathes of dense shrubbery were shredded into powder.

Amid countless flying leaf fragments, the sword seemed to strike something, producing a thunderous Bang!

Yet it swiftly continued sweeping onward with unstoppable force.