Gan Ning stood beneath a Soul Returning Poplar.
There was no one around. Because of the winter hunt, even the small animals in the woods had long since fled without a trace. Only the wild aura of those Ogres in the distance stood out like bonfires in the night.
He let out a soft breath, removed his mask, carefully folded it together with his black-feathered cloak, and put them away. Then he changed into an ordinary black velvet cape and pulled out an ordinary spellbook.
He closed his eyes and took one last moment to sense his teammates' fading auras. Then he drew in a deep breath. The cold air filled his chest with that breath, making him shudder involuntarily.
He could not help laughing at himself. Turning around, he prepared to head back the way he had come.
"Planning to go die alone?"
Without warning, a faintly mocking voice came from overhead. "You're just an ordinary Registered Wizard. Do you really think you can take on an entire Ogre Tribe by yourself? ...What an arrogant idiot."
A quiet voice beside her immediately tried to dissuade her. "Sister Raven, Brother Gan means well. You shouldn't..."
Gan Ning abruptly looked up, his gaze stern as he stared toward the source of the voices. In the crown of an Acacia Tree not far away, five familiar figures stood or crouched on a thick, slanting branch. Like him, none wore masks, and each was dressed in the standard winter cloak issued by the school.
The Ravens' masks differed from those of the Seven Deadly Sins.
They did not deliberately hide their faces from one another beneath those masks. They normally wore them partly to prevent contamination from experimental subjects during experiments, and partly to keep outsiders from discovering their identities.
What these unmasked