"Hoo..."

In the forest of the mountain, two figures appeared. One was male and the other was female.

With her hair tied up in a ponytail, Catherine, who was tall and slender, was already exhausted that she was huffing and puffing. She stared at the dense forest in front of her, which seemed as endless as always, and complained, "Capace, how much further? We've been walking for half a day now..."

Capace's vision went far and deep. He fixed his eyes on the seemingly deep and quiet forest, and said in a low voice, "We should be arriving soon. Let's continue walking, just hold on for a while longer."

Catherine was somewhat helpless but when she thought about the possibility of finding the spell casters' organization that she had always dreamt of somewhere in front of her, she could only stand up and continue walking forward.

"Roar!"

Suddenly, the entire forest seemed to tremble. The roar of a gigantic wild beast rang out.

Capace and Catherine immediately perked up in an alert and looked around.

Very soon, a three-meter tall striped tiger darted out from the forest. Capace and Catherine looked like dwarves from a fairy tale before this gigantic tiger.

"It's a striped tiger but why is it so exaggeratedly huge?"

Catherine let out an astonished exclamation. The striped tiger was a wild beast that was frequently sighted. Its fur had great economic worth. However, this typical striped tiger was only half as tall as a human.

The striped tiger before their eyes now, though, could practically be labeled as a giant. Its entire body was emitting a tyrannical aura; its pair of tiger eyes were dead set on Capace and Catherine.

"Catherine, be careful. Strange things often happen in the depths of the Kurdish Mountains. Some adventurers have even encountered more overwhelming wild beasts."

Cautiously, Capace retreated step by step. To be able to encounter such a gigantic striped tiger meant that it was highly likely that they had already reached the deeper parts of the Kurdish Mountains.

"Roar!"

The striped tiger lifted its head and roared into the sky. Then, with one bounce, the gigantic body that looked like a small hill went for Capace immediately.

There was a whistling sound from the wind as it blew Capace's form-fitting outfit which made fluttering noises. It was sufficient to see how great the force of the striped tiger's leap was.

"Swoosh!"

Suddenly, a thick, Wind Elemental fluctuation burst out from Capace's body. His figure immediately flew toward the striped tiger like an arrow shooting off from its bow.

"Cleave!"

Capace let out a growl. Immediately, he pulled out the greatsword on his back. In the blink of an eye along with a dazzling, red light, he flashed through the somewhat quiet and thick, dark forest.

"Rip!"

The awe-inspiring striped tiger that had seemed powerful and matchless did not even have time to let out a whine. Fresh blood gushed out instantly from its brain.

"Thud!"

With a muffled thud, the gigantic body of the striped tiger fell heavily to the ground.

With lingering fear, Capace looked at the carcass of the striped tiger. He raised and waved the greatsword in his hand, which was as black as ink, and said in a calm voice, "Lucky that I have the Ink Iron Sword. Otherwise, it'd have been really troublesome when encountering this overwhelming striped tiger."

The Ink Iron Sword in Capace's hands was forged out from an extremely rare and precious ink iron ore, and it was sharp beyond comparison. The Ink Iron Sword could easily slash through even heavy armor with the most astonishing defense strength.

Thus, using the sharp-edged Ink Iron Sword in addition to the fact that Capace was a Third-level Wind Swordsman, his speed had become exceedingly fast. Fighting this rather overwhelmingly huge striped tiger was not an issue for him.

Catherine walked forward as well. She gave the striped tiger on the ground a look – its head had been cleaved into two halves. In an envious tone, she said, "Capace, it's good that you secretly took father's Ink Iron Sword out and defused this threat. However, if such an exaggeratedly huge striped tiger had appeared here, who knows what will emerge in front. Should we continue going in deeper?"

Catherine's expression was somewhat complicated. She looked like she had the intention to withdraw due to the fear in her heart.

"We've already reached the deeper parts of the mountains, how can we retreat at this time? Catherine, don't worry. With the Ink Iron Sword, we'll be safe and sound even if we encounter greater danger. Let's go. We'll continue going in deeper. It wouldn't be too late to leave later if we really can't find the Dark Magic Region."

Catherine hesitated for a moment before finally nodding lightly. Following Capace from behind, they continued their journey, going deeper into the forest.

…

"En? There's movement now?"

There was a sudden hint of joy on Merlin's face. He was currently in the forest on the mountain. The ink black ring, which had not been moving at all, had unexpectedly begun emitting a faint glow now.

Merlin immediately noticed that the glow from the ring emanated from the mysterious runes on the ring. It appeared that something had activated the runes on the ring.

Only Spell Casters could understand the profound mysteries contained within the runes. The runes could be arranged into a Magic Circle and could also be engraved onto casting tools, enduing them with mystical powers.

Moreover, this ring was the keepsake of the Dark Magic Region, and with the runes engraved upon it, this item was definitely remarkable! Now that the ring was giving off a hint of light, perhaps it was the clue to finding the Dark Magic Region.

With that thought, Merlin continued walking into the deeper parts of the mountains. As he walked, the glow from the ring became brighter as well. Merlin had a feeling that some unimaginable change would take place when the light from the ring reached a certain level of brightness.

Perhaps, he would then be able to find the mysterious Dark Magic Region.

"Forward... Left, forward, continue straight on!"

Merlin maintained his observation of the ring in his hand. He discovered that the light was becoming more radiant as it had started to shake slightly. Merlin knew that there was definitely some unknown energy from somewhere in the depths of the mountains, attracting the ring. Maybe that was where the Dark Magic Region was located.

"Bang!"

Right at this moment, a deafening noise erupted from the thick forest before him. In addition, it seemed that some kind of a wild beast was moving madly through the forest, accompanied by the rustling noises of densely packed branches and leaves.

Merlin immediately became alert as many strange things had happened in the Kurdish Mountains. Plenty of adventurers had even died in the mountains here, therefore Merlin did not dare to let his guard down.

"Swoosh!"

Suddenly, two figures flew out helter-skelter, coming straight toward Merlin.

"You guys?"

"It's you?"

The two figures raised their heads. Merlin discovered that these were people he knew. They were Catherine and Capace.

"Go away quickly, it's the Icelandic Wolf! Damn it, why is there such a monster in the Kurdish Mountains?"

Capace yelled at Merlin with a panicked expression. At the same time, a gigantic, silver-white wolf, emanating a chill throughout its entire body, appeared behind Capace and Catherine.

"Icelandic Wolf?"

There was a jolt in Merlin's heart. The Icelandic Wolf was not a wild beast. It was an Elemental Monster with a body made not out of flesh and blood, but of a cluster of chilled air, formed by numerous Ice Elements gathered together.

A beginner Elemental Swordsman could not fight an Elemental Monster like the Icelandic Wolf at all. Only the strong and powerful intermediate Elemental Swordsmen, or Spell Casters, could handle Icelandic Wolves.

For example, Commander Cook of Prakash City had killed an Icelandic Wolf before. Since then, his fame had spread throughout the entire city.

Anyone who could kill Elemental Monsters such as the Icelandic Wolf would be hailed as great and mighty warriors!

However, it was very obvious that Capace and Catherine, who were in front of him now, had no way to fight this ferocious Icelandic Wolf. They could only flee in panic.

"We're done for, it's just too fast! I'm afraid we're going to be in a disastrous situation..."

Capace seemed to know the Icelandic Wolf very well. Seeing that it was closing in on him from behind, a horrified look appeared on his face.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz."

The ink black ring in Merlin's hand suddenly emitted a strong glow. The mysterious runes carved on the ring seemed to have been activated now and was beginning to vibrate violently.