Chapter 317: Start of Battle

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Alright then, Mr. Felic. Please be careful. If something’s not right, you… you can go find a place to hide…” In fact, Jason would not want to arrange it like this if he could. However, this fella had become a burden now—knowing him itself had become bad luck. But, for that 20,000 gold coins, he could not let him die just yet. If he got into danger, whom should they claim the money from?

If it were before, such a burden would not matter to them, as they all had level-15 ability. Yet, the situation was grave tonight. How did they even provoke the Ice Howler? That was a level-17 magical beast. They could try to avoid it on normal days, but now, they had to drag a burden along and start a battle…

“Okay, I know,” Lin Li replied and nodded. After he went back to his tent, he tidied up his things. Since the Ice Howler had appeared, this place was naturally not safe. He had brought along many scrolls, formulas, and maps, among many others. It would not be nice if those were to get damaged…

After doing that, Lin Li went back to the campfire. At this time, the growls of the Ice Howler were much louder. The dense forest trembled, and groups of wild animals scurried in fear. In face of such danger, lions and tigers would have to escape too.

Jason gripped the rune’s adamantine sword tightly and fixed his gaze on the dense forest. Weathor had smeared a toxic substance on the blade of his dagger, and was crouching on the ground in the darkness. Rotiah had begun to recite some prayers. The melodious voice of the blonde beauty was quite penetrative, and echoed throughout the Dragon Mountains like an euphonious piece of music. At the same time, Jason’s rune’s adamantine sword glowed even more radiant.

As compared to the performance of the three adventurers, the employer’s action was really embarrassing. While the adventurers had already begun their preparations to defend themselves from the beast, the employer just started to take out his staff lazily and recite a spell slowly. It took him around 20 seconds to call out that spell which no one recognized…

What the hell is he doing…

The sudden magical wave caused much frustration in Jason. It was definitely his worst luck throughout his time being an adventurer to have met such an employer. How could he use such a long time to cast a spell that had no particular effect? Jason was confident that a scroll would be more useful than Lin Li’s recitation.

Alright, he would just take it that his employer was a rich man. How would an Archmage or Legendary-mage even need to hire bodyguards?

Yet, since he was an incompetent employer, all the more he should not interfere in the battle so recklessly.

That is a freaking level-17 Ice Howler! My God… Do you think all creatures with four hooves are herbivores?

“Liars, you liars!” Just when Jason was feeling vexed with Lin Li’s ‘nosy’ action, he heard somebody crying at the edge of the dense forest.

“What is it now?” Lin Li was surprised, and looked towards the sound’s source. He saw 20 to 30 adventurers dashing out of the thick forest anxiously. While they escaped, they kept looking back in fear. It was as though the Ice Howler had wings and had the ability to swoop behind their backs immediately.

There was a young lady aged around 19 staggering among this group of Adventurers. Her linen-colored hair had been ruffled up messily by the wind, and her elegant dress had been torn by tree branches. She held the hem of the dress while running behind the group.

“You… You guys said you could deal with any magical beast! You liars!”

The group of Adventurers was very patient with her. Those who were bolder took some time to explain to her that the Ice Howler was too powerful for them to challenge it. Those who were more timid, however, chose to ignore her whining and focus on escaping themselves.

“Miss Yvonne, I think you’d better run. This Ice Howler is too mighty. We wouldn’t be able to defeat it…” That was a middle-aged Adventurer, the only person who cared to stop in his tracks to attend to her.

“But you had promised—”

“Little Miss, please. That was just marketing tactics! Any Adventurer team would promise the same thing. Did you really think that we could defeat a level-17 magical beast? If we are that great, we would have been hired by your father at your house as VIPs. How would we be here to risk our lives in the Dragon Mountains?”

“What about my little brother?”

“Your brother—” The speech of the middle-aged man got interrupted by an enraged growl. That ear-piercing sound caused his expression to change.

“QUICK, RUN!”

What followed was white mist that spread like a plague. At once, a bone-chilling sensation could be felt. It was as though they had dropped into an icehouse during a cold winter.

Thanks to his fast reaction time, they escaped the fate of being buried in the snow. The white mist swallowed the forest in an instant and turned the trees into crystallite ice sculptures, and the white and furry Ice Howler made a grand appearance as it trampled its way out of the forest. It was 10 meters tall, and had a body that resembled a hill. The Ice Howler was definitely a behemoth as compared to other magical beasts. The hideous pair of horns on its head was like a pair of bayonets that crushed everything that blocked its way.

“Be careful!” Jason gripped the sword made from the rune’s adamantine. Although he was one of the best Adventurers of Doland, his eyes were filled with trepidation when he looked at that gigantic existence.

The raging Ice Howler was like a streak of lightning that caught up with the two adventurers that were lagging behind. In a split second, the two bayonet-like horns penetrated the unfortunate adventurers. Their blood spilled on the ground, and made the Ice Howler go into frenzy. It created more bone-chilling mist, while its two unruly horns worked their way towards the group of Adventurers…

Two other Adventurers fell.

“F*CK, STOP IT!” That was a young man aged around 20 years old. He was shouting with all his might. He had to be the leader of the group of Adventurers, for the rest of the Adventurers finally made one or two decent counterattacks under his guidance.

However, the difference in abilities was fated to be a hindrance to their battle. In the group of 30, the mightier ones were only at level-13 or level-14, and the weaker ones were not even level-10. Their attacks were as insignificant as scratching the itch to a level-17 magical beast. The Archers’ continuous volleys of arrows could not penetrate the fur of the beast at all, while the Warriors and the Bandits did not even have the courage to launch any attacks against it.

The Ice Howler was like a meat grinder that could turn any living thing into minced meat in the blink of the eye. 10 Adventurers would not be enough to become a dish of that beast.

Despite recitating desperately, the spells that the three mages unleashed on the Ice Howler was like a joke. With it having a natural resistance to magic, spells that were lower than level-15 were insignificant to it. Only spells at the level of an Archmage and beyond would have a real opportunity to threaten its life.

Jason frowned, and held the rune’s adamantine sword in his hands even tighter. The situation was clear. If no one were to step in to help, the entire Adventurer team would perish here.

“LET’S GO!”

Jason had no choice. It was impossible for the three of them to fight an Ice Howler. In order to survive this battle, they had to work together with this team of troublemakers. Although they were detestable, now was not the time to settle the score. They had to first get rid of this terrible beast…

After Jason spoke, Weathor took his dagger and snuck into the darkness, while Rotiah hastened her recitation and released the Energy-enhancing Theurgy onto her teammates. The strong rush of Divine Power was like the tidal waves. Jason’s rune’s adamantine sword also generated a blazing wave of Combat Energy…

At the same time, Lin Li had completed his second spell. After that, he patted the dust on his long robe and called Norfeller over. “Norfeller, I will leave the rest to you.”

“Alright, Master.” The high-ranking Vampire nodded. He pulled on his black hood and transformed into a ball of black mist.

The interference from Jason’s team improved the one-sided battle. The powers of a level-15 Warrior was great. What made it incisive was the help rendered by a high-ranking Priest behind him. It was as though Jason managed to take on the invincible Ice Howler by himself.