Strength and Weakness

Benjamin continued deeper into the wasteland covered in red ore.

His main focus remained on searching for rare and unique material samples, and he paid no further attention to those Natives.

Just as Benjamin was immersed in his treasure hunt, the battlefields across the Gray Rock Plane suddenly became brutal.

"Quick! There's a high-value token here!" A young apprentice excitedly pointed at the golden light flickering on a withered tree ahead.

This seven-person team cautiously approached.

As the unclaimed point tokens were cleared away, the remaining tokens had mostly been placed near dangerous Magic Beasts.

However, such tokens were worth more points and represented greater rewards.

Driven by greater rewards, apprentices who had once traveled alone gradually began forming teams, while those who had already formed teams continuously recruited more members to expand their groups.

These seven had all been considered fairly capable "young geniuses" at the Academy. After several days of adjustment, their coordination had steadily improved.

However, the attack did not come from a Magic Beast.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Dozens of arrows coated in fluorescent venom tore through the air, shooting in from every direction with piercing whistles.

The arrows were not made of ordinary metal, but some kind of bone, with faint energy fluctuations visible to the naked eye clinging to them.

"Spread out! It's an ambush!" the captain roared, swiftly raising an energy shield.

Yet several apprentices still reacted too slowly and were struck by the poisoned arrows.

Their movements immediately stiffened, their faces turned bluish-green, and strange totem patterns emerged across their bodies.

"Damn it! Natives!"

Dozens of Native warriors clad in armor and wielding metal spears charged out from the bushes and cracks in the rocks.

Their bodies instantly swelled in size, muscles bulging as they moved with astonishing speed, their eyes burning with the fury of vengeance.

"Attack!"

The apprentices reacted quickly. The moment they recovered, they unleashed fireballs and ice spikes in retaliation.

But the Natives did not linger in battle. Like a pack of wolves, they sprinted forward, hurled their spears, then immediately scattered, using the complex terrain to harry the apprentices.

"Captain, my... my teleportation rune has failed!" a poisoned apprentice cried in terror. The rune in his hand had dimmed completely and could not be activated.

"My Flight Spell won't activate either! They actually have the ability to suppress flight!"

Panic erupted in an instant.

Without the means they relied on to escape, the apprentices were like trapped beasts in a cage, gradually worn down under the Natives' hunt.

Metal spears tore through shields, poisoned arrows seeped through magical power, and wave after wave of screams announced the apprentices' defeat.

Elsewhere.

An exploration team of four apprentices was surrounded at the bottom of a canyon by more than a dozen Native knights clad in heavy armor and wielding battle axes as they ventured deep into a canyon tainted by elemental power.

"Their armor can actually resist our witchcraft!" one apprentice cried out. The fireball he released struck a knight, only sending up a shower of sparks without leaving even a scorch mark.

"Damn it! This world actually has Natives!" another apprentice realized that something was wrong.

The knights did not waste words and charged straight in.

The ground beneath their feet boomed beneath their strength, every leap carrying overwhelming force.

Boom!

A Water Element Shield was shattered by a heavy axe blow. The apprentice behind it spat blood and was hurled backward.

"Retreat! Charge upward!" the captain howled as he activated his Flight Spell.

However, his body rose only a few meters before an invisible force pressed him down completely, making it impossible for him to leave the canyon floor!

Someone tried to activate a ring, only to find that it had no effect at all.

"Space... has been locked?!" The apprentices were completely stunned.

The apprentices' magical power was rapidly depleted, and the rate at which they consumed restorative potions could not keep up with the rate at which they were injured.

Panic and despair spread rapidly through the bloody canyon.

Benjamin was currently deep within a strange swamp.

A peculiar fungus capable of absorbing elemental energy lurked beneath the mud here. It was excellent research material, and he could not help spending quite some time there.

Suddenly, a disturbance came from deep within the mire.

Four bow-wielding "hunters" and two armored knights suddenly burst from the sludge, their spears aimed directly at Benjamin.

They had clearly been lying in wait, waiting for prey to pass by.

"Hmm?"

Benjamin stood where he was with a curious expression, still holding the mushroom he had just picked. He looked as though the sudden attack had frightened him stiff.

One knight let out an angry roar and thrust his spear straight at Benjamin's face with a piercing shriek.

Buzz!

A sturdy earth-yellow shield instantly condensed around his body.

Clang!

The spear struck the shield with a crisp metallic ring, but the shield did not move in the slightest. The recoil even made the knight's body jerk violently.

Another knight swung a massive axe from the side at Benjamin's waist, but it was equally ineffective.

Yet the true killing move came afterward. Four arrows flickering with ghostly light seized the opportunity to close in on his head.

With a thought from Benjamin, the earth-element shield instantly shifted into a transparent membrane of wind.

The force wrapped around the arrows was deftly diverted, and they whistled past Benjamin's side without causing him the slightest injury.

"How... how is that possible?!" Shock flashed through the knight's eyes.

Their pride—their strength and enhanced magical weapons—had actually been completely useless against this wizard?!

Benjamin gave them no more time to think.

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

Four fireballs blazing with violent flames instantly locked onto the six Natives. In the narrow swamp, the explosions completely engulfed them.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Violent explosions rang out one after another, flames soaring into the sky and turning the swamp into a living hell in an instant.

Mud splattered everywhere, and charred flesh flew through the air.

The Natives did not even have time to scream before they were completely swallowed by the terrifying power of the Rune Artifact and reduced to ash.

Benjamin walked forward and carefully searched the swamp for remains.

He picked up several metal armor fragments smeared with mud, then dug out several relatively intact bone spears and used Analysis Art to scan the lingering energy fluctuations upon them.

"These patterns... should be a relatively primitive kind of rune. They should be better suited to this world, so they're quite valuable as reference material..." Benjamin muttered to himself, completely ignoring the smell of blood permeating the air.

From beginning to end, he had not felt the slightest danger. These Natives were as fragile as children before him.

"But haven't these Natives been attacking more frequently lately? I've already encountered three ambushes in the past two days. Could there be a large settlement nearby, so they've deemed me a threat?"

Benjamin felt that the recent ambushes had been unusually frequent, and the enemies were more adept at cooperating than before.

"I should search around. If I can find a settlement, I might be able to obtain knowledge related to these primitive runes."

He put away the materials he had newly acquired, then continued deeper into the swamp.

The enemy's "weakness" left Benjamin completely unaware that a massive purge targeting all Wizard Apprentices was already fully underway outside.