*Slash! *Swoosh!*

"Eeek!"

​​

*Screech!*

"Ack!"

The battle started after they stepped outside of the four walls of the royal room. They decided to have Adam as the vanguard as first defense along with Evelyn.

The thought that Evelyn would have shields to her expense and used the guys that Silvester brought vanished when she needed to step up as she saw the monster's physical strength.

'They will get themselves killed if they take the front.' she thought.

That's why as Adelyn, she suggested that she will be the vanguard with Adam. At least Adam would be helpful because the guy loves to kill monsters.

'Crazy…!' she thought as she saw Adam's lips arched ad twitched slightly.

Sir Izzy, Sir Edrich, and Sir Louise will be in the middle as they are the mages and healer that is needed to be protected in this fight. They will help attack the monsters as they casted their spell while running. As for the rear, the Crown Prince Silvester will guard it with the help of Sir George.

They decided to set this up to have a high chance of fighting without stop and getting out of the Stygian Ruins faster.

*slash*

"Ack!"

The quiet and serene atmosphere when they entered the ruins and the bad feeling that Evelyn had since stepping into the black ground and the creepy surrounding of the forbidden city have been answered.

Because after they stepped out from the royal room, the monsters were busy surrounding every nook and cranny of the castle to ambush and kill them

Even if she was an experienced adventurer, there's still a disadvantage when the enemy has a large number with them.

*swoosh!*

*screech!*

*boom!"

A loud explosion can be heard as the battle was still in the process and the mage was busy exploding and burning some monsters.

The indescribable smell lingers in the air. Thanks to the mask that Adelyn gave they can breathe and be protected from the poison at the same time.

Along the way, Adam and Evelyn are busy making way for the group and make a path to escape. Every swing of their sword, a monster will plopped down and be killed on the spot. They're not the S-rank and A-rank adventurer for nothing.

The monsters that they're killing look like a slimy figure with no definite shape and their body is all covered in black and their blood is poisonous along with their acid shooting saliva.

Adam and Evelyn had their calm demeanor even if the monsters that they were fighting with were the first strange monsters that they saw in a while.

While they slash the enemies' body, the mages will set them on fire because the monsters that were covered in black and have a strange shape revived after some time when they accumulated enough black mana.

They're persistent bastards and they're not monsters of the Stygian ruins for nothing. They're giving the group a hard time defending their formation.

While they're fighting, Evelyn starts to make barriers for everyone. One layer of barrier is made for everyone to prevent and avoid the poison from contacting their bodies while they fight.

George, Edrich, and Louise, looked at the woman who casted the barrier. It's the first time that they can witness the power and capability of the two adventurers that their Crown Prince picked.

They were shocked that an A-rank adventurer can cast barriers in multiple locations and precisely protect them while they moved. While the S-rank adventurers were silently killing the monsters with his unperturbed expression when they faced the front with swarming monsters that were attacking the viciously.

Silvester and Izzy were also amazed. They knew the capability of the said woman when they were in the guild and she released her fierce aura that was intimidating enough for Izzy, a mage to plop down. Yes, it was Izzy who was with the Crown Prince that time.

It was the first battle Evelyn had after her mana cap had been repaired. It feels like her mana was depleting at a fast rate when they are inside the area of the ruins.

The mage was also having difficulty casting their spells. They were having a hard time breathing but still tried their best to also burn the monsters with their magic.

They knew that without the mask that the woman gave them they would be dead with the heavy poison in the area as the black mana around the ruins were strong enough to turn the monsters into poisonous beings.

'It looks like the black mana here are affecting the other affinities.' Evelyn thought as she looked at the other mage and Edrich who have an affinity to black mana.

'Sir Edrich looks like he's okay now, he's adjusted to the mana.' she continued to think.

Then an idea came across her mind and called Edrich.

"Sir Edrich, can you make a black mana orb?" she shouted while she's still busy cutting the monsters ahead.

Edrich stopped from casting some small magic spells and looked at his front where Evelyn… no, Adelyn is. They still can't confirm if what they heard from that time was true. And they can't ask their Crown Prince Silvester the details as they have a problem at hand that they needed to solve first.

And what she requested are things that only the people who have knowledge about black magic can know. And this lady in front of him seems to be knowledgeable that she can request like this like it was just a simple favor.

He looked at the Crown Prince as his eyes were questioning him 'how the hell does this adventurer know about my affinity?'

That seems to be the interpretation of his black eyes that darting daggers to his highness. No one knew about his powers except the Crown Prince and his close subordinate.

Silvester just shrugged and began to kill monsters again.

Edrich looked back and forth, it's because his identity was supposed to be a secret and even if he did his part at the black river near the castle that they went to earlier, they decided to do it themselves and let the adventurers guard them.

But now that they have encountered monsters that seem to have impossible numbers for them, they changed their plans and will come back again as the Crown Prince only slipped to get out of the castle to personally do this task.

Their Crown Prince also said that the monsters have already known their presence and it would be dangerous to them if some people from the palace knew that they went to the ruins.

*Slash!*

"Ack!"

"Sir Edrich, what are you doing dazing about while in the battle? Do you want to get yourself killed?"

The sound of the monster's last cry and the angry voice of a woman seems to snap him out of his deep thought.

Edrich clicked his tongue. His true personality will come out if this continues.

"Protect me, I'll cast the spell." He announced to Evelyn who was still pretending to be Adelyn.

"No problem."

"Adam, I'll leave the front to you for a while."

"Okay, Miss Adelyn."

Edrich knew what the adventurer wanted as she suggested using the black mana orb. He also suspected it as he knew that the Crown Prince had taken out a grimoire from the hidden chamber of the royal room.

He knew because there was black mana oozing out from his bag and since he's sensitive and attracted to dark aura, he understood that the monsters have sniffed the pure mana that it is leaking out.

He clicked his tongue again. And he began to cast a spell and a black mana started to form between his hands. It was round and only pure darkness. Usually it would be hard for him to produce this much mana without darkness affinity surrounding him.

But since he's here in the ruins were black mana surrounding the area that you can see it as a black mist were giving him an advantage.

When he finished casting it he started to inform his party about what he's about to do.

"I'll lure the monsters using this mana orb. When this touches the ground, it will explode. Run as fast as you can." He sternly informed.

The rest nodded and Adam began to go berserk to quickly make a path and the rest followed him.

Now, they are against time because the mana orb will explode once it touches anything and the explosion would be big enough to light the sky for a bit. The black mana orb is equivalent to a detonating bomb.

It would be dangerous for them once the monsters found the light and went to go where they were, so they needed to run away from the crime scene.

The slimy monsters that were attracted to the black orb started to go crazy and release poisonous gas from their body.

"Run!!!"

Edrich shouted and everyone ran with all their might. After a while they heard a loud boom where they came from.

They still ran and killed monsters along the way. They needed to get out of the forest because Evelyn started to feel a mana that was dangerous enough for it to send shivers to her skin.