The Mysterious Black Magician

After a small incident of Yman hallucinating the incarnation of goddesses in the background of Almina and the blonde, they directly went into the Underground Channel.

To be honest, Yman didn't plan to bring companions today, but Almina rants at him for forgetting to come in the open forum. Although he didn't forget it, he chose not to come.

Yman said his sorry and told her that he went to complete his mission. Almina asked him if he would be going on a mission again. He told her the truth that he would, but Yman soon realized that he fell into her trap.

She insisted on coming with him!

He wanted to decline because the place he would be going to wasn't suitable for her, but before he could say no, Almina with a pout, soon threatened him that she would tell the other trainees that he was bullying her with a tear forming on the corner of her eyes.

Yman froze on the spot.

He was flabbergasted as to why Ms. Almina was going so far to threaten him just to come with him.

Does she really have a crush on me? A wild imagination happened in his mind, but he shook his head in a second as he thought that he was too assuming.

Yman believed that Almina wasn't serious about her threat, but what if she did that?

Argh, thinking about how popular she was at the moment, Yman felt the unfathomable pressure if ever most of the trainees fledgling to a senior trainee, going to trouble him!

Before answering her, he looked at her and saw her puppy eyes. He thought to himself, it was unfair.

He sighed in defeat and nodded.

When Yman realized that he would be doing a mission alone with Almina, he immediately surmised the consequences. The others might think differently about it if someone saw them. And it probably became awkward to both of him and Almina to be alone. After all, he was not a chatty person.

He decided to hire a mercenary and how their party was made. Although he didn't expect that Almina would bring someone with her too. The least he expected was the someone she brought with her — the whiny blonde.

Well, he also had a bigger reason why he agreed to let Almina and the others come with him.

Before they entered the underground entrance, Yman glanced at his side. "Hey, blonde are you sure you're not going to wear a mask?" He asked Maena. The three of them were wearing a mask with poison resistance and its basic resistance — the bad odor resistance. Only the blonde declined to wear it for no reason.

"Tis, I don't want to as long as it comes from a weakling like you!" She firmly said.

Yman felt an arrow let loose and hit the back of his head.

"Eh, M-Maena, please be kind to him. A-ah, Y-Yman don't take her seriously, she really was a good person." Flustered Almina tried to ease the atmosphere.

But contrary to her expectations, Yman wasn't mad at the blonde, he snickered before saying, "W-Well, it won't be my fault if you need them later. But if that's going to happen, you can only get it if you pay the price."

Yman was meaning to say that he would be selling it to her later when the blonde needed it.

"Hmph." Maena pursed her lips as she looked away.

"Uh, Miss Maena, if you want, you can have my mask," Ultima tried to offer his mask also.

"....."

But what he got was a cold stare.

Ultima cried on his knee while Yman rubbed on his back while saying, "Yosh, yosh, don't take it to your heart, Mr. Ult."

Almina tried to soothe the atmosphere again.

They decided to enter after their resonance. Like him, all the fledgling trainees were able to control their mana this past week. It was also one of the reasons why their training advanced to phase 2.

Since Yman already mapped most of the area near the entrance, they easily reached the camouflage wall, to where the hole was hidden.

When they passed the hole, they noticed that it was darker on this side. They summoned each of their Floating Map. The brilliance of it could illuminate the place.

Yman casually walked in the middle of the group. He already did mop-up the mobs in this area. So if there were beasts to appear it would only be counted at one hand.

When the group went deeper and deeper, everyone noticed the blonde was coughing. She tried to bear it, but as they went deeper, the coughing became intense.

Almina worriedly asked her, "Maena, are you okay?" She replied that she was fine. After saying her reply, she took a vial from out of thin airs, then she drank it after uncapping.

The coughing soothes a little.

"Enemies," Yman warned. Hissing and scraping noises coming ahead of them.

Three pairs if red eyes were peeking from the dark. The two pairs were closed to the ground while the other one was hovering in the air.

"Evil Rats and an Evil Bat." He said.

Before they could summon their weapons, three arrows flew into the dark. It was followed by piercing shrills.

They glanced at the back and noticed the blonde holding her bow.

When they passed at the lying corpse both of them noticed that they were all pierced at the same spot.

"What a scary accuracy," Yman whispered. He could not deny the fact that this blonde was as talented as Almina Amulet. He also wanted to increase his accuracy but it probably took him ages to achieve it.

Not only Yman was the one who admired Maena's accuracy in a bow. Even the mercenary Ultima could only sigh in admiration. Not only to her beauty but also to her talent.

To be honest, junior trainees in this city's academy had pitiful strength. They were poorer than most of the fledgling. Especially those who came from normal families and had average strength. No rich family would bother to sponsor them, they could only depend on their income in finishing a mission, which was too low of rewards. Not even enough to buy a Syringe Of Advancement for them to breakthrough. The scarcity of resources resulted in a price hike to all commodities.

In this regard, even living in normal was hard for them.

The beasts kept coming at them in a group, but they were dispatched easily by his companions. Yman did not even do a thing. He just keeps on checking his Floating Map.

A few minutes later, "Blonde, if you keep being hard-headed you only have yourself to blame,"

He told her. Yman didn't feel soft towards her, he just did not want any unnecessary trouble because of her refusing to wear the mask. Her coughing still did not alleviate and it might cause a weak link in their formation.

"Tis, you don't need to feel pity, it sends goosebumps at me and I wanted to puke. And besides, we are just killing your kin. Something as weak as you are nothing to me. I will rather be poisoned to death than wearing that mask of yours. Cough!"

Yman's brow twitched. He wanted to punch the top of her head for some reason. He sighed.

"Maena, why are you so mean to him? Yman just wanted to help you," Almina said with a sad face.

In Yman's head, I don't even want to help her. I just worried about team formation.

"Tis, hmph!" She pursed her mouth again.

"In that case, you can't blame us when you drop dead later on!" Yman said before turning his back.

Maena was staring coldly at his back.

The group decided to continue.

Cough, cough, cough! The blonde started coughing again. And it was more intense than before. Blood even was coming out from her mouth.

She drank another vial of potion to alleviate the poison. But the soothing feeling lasted for a moment only before the coughing attacks again. As time went by, it affected her battle. She missed a shot at a distance of 5 meters only.

"Maena!"

"Miss! Watch out!"

Almina and Ultima shouted when they noticed one of the Evil Rats moving rapidly towards her. Baring its fang as it leaped to bite her.

But Maena's vision started to get blurry, and Almina as a vanguard was in the front most. She would be late to rescue her. On the other hand, Ultima who was 10 meters away at her right side was being surrounded by 3 Evil Rats.

Maena shook her head to clear her vision but what greeted her was a pair of fangs coming closer at her.

She jolted back, but the rat was so quick and she had no time to dodge. Her countenance turned grim.

In a split of second,

*Snap!*

"....."

Someone snapped the head of the Evil Rat! They noticed it was Yman. Using his right hand, he snapped the head of the rat. It tried to bite him. Yet Yman didn't seem bothered by it. He used the full strength of his right hand to crush the head. It twitched and tried to escape from his grip. However, his right hand had two Strength type Magic Cryst. And right now, he was at level 3. The head was easily crushed by him; muddy black blood was dripping from his hand and splattered on the ground.

"....."

The three were speechless at his mercilessness.