“How long does it take to climb a damned tower?” Elena complained in a random house, looking at the battling people outside.

“She must have gotten herself in trouble. Shouldn’t we go back and check on her?” Jake asked with a worried face.

“Don’t worry for your dear love. She is fine else she would have said otherwise through my bacteria.”

“That’s true…”

A few seconds later, the words ‘I’m ready’ flowed into her mind. “She took her position, let’s go” Elena mumbled in a low voice, resting her hands on the handles of her daggers.

Jake opened the door to a slit and peeked out. He saw one of the King’s men trying to sneak up on one of the city guards he happened to meet. Opening the door, he ran towards the back of the sneaky guy. Noticing Jake, he turned around and swung his sword towards Jake’s neck. Ducking down, Jake headbutted his belly, making him fall on his back from the sudden force.

Jake created and a few earth spikes, which thrust out of the ground, penetrating his opponent’s body. “Devour him,” Elena shouted as she ran past him and threw her throwing knives towards a woman.

Turning around, the woman took a stance while blocking the knives. Elena showed a bright smile for the woman as she saw Dred appear behind her with his Shadow Step and used his huge paw to swipe the back of the woman. His claws bore into her flesh, breaking her bones into smithereens. When she fell face first to the ground, Elena stomped on her head, crushing it into a bloody pulp. Noticing a panther in the middle of the groups of humans, one of the young genius warriors decided to take on the monster.

“Die, you beast!” he shouted as he jumped towards Dred’s back.

He is seventy levels above us. Shit, this sucks, Elena thought in her mind as she latched her shadow onto the guy and pulled Dred to the side. As his target suddenly moved, he ran past Dred but thanks to his quick reaction, he turned on his heels and swung his sword towards Jake’s neck, who was about to strike his back.

“You thought I didn’t notice you, huh?” he asked with a stern voice. Furrowing his brows, Jake realized that he would have no way to evade, so he used Blink to appear a few centimeters away. Shadow Step was usable only if they weren’t attacked. It was a restriction on the spell of Elena’s race made by the world system. But it was perfect for traveling and first strikes since their Ambush passively decreased people’s alertness.

Dred swiped towards the man’s back with his paw and his claws grazed his back. His poison entered the man’s body, causing a great deal of pain. “You shit!” he said through gritted teeth as he turned around and thrust his sword forward. He heard a whistling sound on his left. Listening to his instincts, he rolled to the side on the ground and took a defensive position.

“Heh. What’s up girl, are you trying to cut the air?” he ridiculed Elena for missing.

Thanks to our difference in strength, I can’t fight him in a melee battle. I’ll have to harass him and chip away at his healthy body. Ekilsta will be done soon, let’s see if you stay smug then, she thought with a frown on her face.

“You three are quite good-” he was about to chat more when one of the guards thrust his spear towards his back. Although everyone had an opponent or in worst case more, being as carefree as this man was stupid.

“Don’t move!” Elena shouted in a commanding voice. Ekilsta delayed the signals of his brain only for a moment before they continued on their way towards his limbs, but that delay was more than enough for the guard to cause a serious wound. The guard’s spear penetrated through his flesh, creating a hole in his back. Since he jumped forward, the guard couldn’t skewer him.

But much to the man’s dismay, Dred was waiting for him and since he was within the man’s reach, he couldn’t even swing or thrust his sword. Dred struck his chest while Elena created a small protrusion from the ground behind his heels, making him fall on his back. Jake swung his Uchigatana and cut off both of his arms in one fell swoop. Dred jumped on the screaming man and tore off his head.

Next time don’t block me continuously or I can’t help you, Audrey’s words flooded Elena’s mind as they attacked their next target.

The war continued in the same manner until Elena got a call from Salem. They were in trouble.

---

“I’ve spotted a group leaving the city!” a manly voice left Salem’s communication device. He quickly looked around and noticed five people running towards the plain.

“Cease fire!” Salem commanded and everyone ducked down to hide in the trench. He also notified Elena and her friends, hoping that they had the time to return and help them.

“Where are they? They must be here,” a short, black haired girl shouted as she stood on the plain, looking around in the dark. Only half of the moon was visible, but there wasn’t much light since it had a rather dim light, though the large explosions lit up the darkness from time to time when Bethor and Atelon clashed.

“I found them! These mice don’t even have Mana. Only a few of them do, but even they are utter trash,” a blue-haired boy replied with a smirk on his face.

“Oh? But they have been killing our magicians all this time. The battle is turning harder and harder thanks to these little bitches. We barely get any support at this point,” the black haired girl furrowed her brows, fearing that something ‘bad’ would happen to them.

“Enough talking, let’s just finish them,” a muscular guy interrupted them and ran towards the trench where they sensed the soldiers’ presences. Stopping right above it, he looked down at the hiding soldiers with a smirk on his face. “Well, well, what do we have here?”

Swinging his hammer, he crushed the heads of three people, splattering their brain matters and blood on their comrades’ faces. “Hahaha, these people are so weak!” he laughed loudly, swinging his hammer at his next target. Although the poor soldier tried to raise up his weapon in defense, he had no chance to block an attack which had four million five hundred thousand kilograms in it. His weapon broke into smithereens, along with the bones in his body as he flew into the air and fell to the ground with a loud thump, dead.

“Ugh, I’ve never beaten up somebody this bad. People didn’t break like this in the Magic Academy… I’ll have to hold back a little,” he said with a slight feeling of disgust upon seeing his victim’s mangled body, not being used to that kind of sight.

“Focus fire!” Salem shouted from the middle of the trench, pointing at the muscular man. Of course, the people nearby were already firing at the muscular guy, but their bullets bounced off of his skin like rubber bullets.

“Hey, it tickles, stop it! Haha, I’m not like those magicians. I’ve always trained my body so your shitty weapons have no effect on my tough body!” he laughed at their futile attempt to kill him. That was the time when he saw a flash in the forest. Listening to his instincts, he leaned to the side in an instant and felt a bullet graze the side of his head, tearing off his left ear. Had he not leaned to the side, the bullet would have penetrated his head through his eyes and reach his brain.

“ARGH!” he shouted in pain, holding his wound. Stomping on the ground, the trench closed on a two-meters-long area, burying the weak humans under it and turning them into bloody pulps. Although it wasn’t visible in the dark, the earth turned reddish from the blood that filled it. “You shitty bastards! You will pay for this!” he shouted, clenching his fingers around his big hammer.

“This is why you shouldn’t underestimate your opponents,” the black haired girl shook her head.

“Is that so?” a male voice whispered into her ears before she felt sharp and pointy teeth dig into her shoulders, biting into her neck too. She felt some kind of liquid flow into her body, which had paralyzing and toxic effects. She felt her veins corroding with incredible speed as something else was trying to devour her body. She had no chance to stand up against that kind of powerful, combined attack.

Dred pulled back his head, tearing out a large chunk of meat, bones, veins, and nerves from her body. Only her skin on the right side of her neck connected her body and her head, with nothing else left ‘inside’. Her head fell back and dangled behind her back until her body collapsed and fell to the ground, lifeless.

Dred stood over her dead corpse, chewing loudly, crushing her bones and meat into small pieces and slices. “You are delicious,” he muttered with his mouth stuffed as he Devoured her body.

At the same time Dred attacked, Elena attacked the muscular guy from behind. Thanks to Ambush, she got really close to him before he noticed, but her specialization wasn’t stealth, so thanks to the level difference, the muscular guy still noticed her. Although he jumped forward to evade her daggers penetrate his heart, he still got a smaller hole in his back.

“Oh, my~ I must have been slow. It seems that Dred beat me,” she said with a chuckle, covering her smile with her hands.

“Ugh, this hurts! What the hell?” the muscular guy shouted, feeling some kind of poison corrode his flesh in a sphere of five centimeters around his wound.

“It’s Dred’s poison, do you like it?” she asked with a smile while leaning forward to evade a sword swing. Raising her right leg at the same time, he kicked the blue-haired boy’s balls.

Holding back a shout of pain and the urge to kneel down, the blue-haired boy quickly jumped back and stood beside his other two friends, who held back Audrey’s and Jake’s attacks.

“I wonder what I hit?” Elena asked with a wondering face.

“You… bitch… ugh.” the blue haired boy cursed at her through gritted teeth.

“Pardon me, but no man touched me so I can’t be a bitch, can I? And even if somebody would have done it, it doesn’t make me a bitch,” she tilted her head to the side, refuting his words.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Elena! Thanks for coming back so quickly!” Salem shouted as he ran towards them.

Audrey raised her hand and used a ball of wind to push Salem backward. “Stay further away unless you want to die.”

Salem nodded his head and retreated with his men. “It’s four against four. Or should I say four against three? Since both of you kinda lost half your strength,” she said with a chuckle, pointing at the muscular and the blue-haired boy.

With a twitch of his face, the blue-haired boy stood up with a straight back, while the muscular guy jumped over to their side. In the meantime, nobody noticed Elena drawing an x mark on the ground with her heels.

“Come at me,” she invited him with her finger.

Although he didn’t have much experience, not even he was stupid enough to charge in when they just killed one of his classmates, who was one of the strongest. “Are you afraid of me?” Elena asked with a provocative smile on her face. Clenching his teeth, he stayed silent.

“If you won’t come then I will,” she said as Dred appeared behind the muscular boy and struck him in the back with his paw. He fell forward and bumped into the blue-haired boy. Elena used that moment to use her Shadow Step and appear behind his back. Expecting that much, his friends thrust their spears towards Elena’s back. She changed to her Shadow Form and their spears went through her body, entering their friend’s back.

Her body materialized in front of the blue haired guy and she kicked him in the stomach. Seeing the other two pull back their spears in time, she clicked her tongue as she jumped back. Jake rushed towards the muscular guy’s side and while kneeling down, he spun on the ground, his weapons slicing through his opponent’s legs. As he fell to the ground, Dred tore off his head.

You are next, Elena thought as she ran towards the blue-haired boy and threw her throwing knives towards his head. Raising a barrier around his body, he stopped the knives and then jumped behind his classmates.

“Sorry,” one of them said.

“You couldn’t have known that she had that kind of ability,” the boy replied, holding back his wrath. He knew that they were in a tight spot and if he picked a fight, he would be the first to die.

They have a long reach and are waiting for us to attack. But we have the advantage of numbers. If only Cor was a bit stronger… Well, we will deal with them quickly anyway, she thought, rubbing a scar on her pretty face, which was regenerating at a high speed.

“Your schoolmates are tough nuts to crack. I’ve got a few wounds, but I can still kill you guys,” she provoked them.

Audrey’s elementals flew towards the trio and used all kinds of elements to attack them. The blue-haired boy clapped his hands and a colorful barrier raised around them, defending against Audrey’s attacks. “Let’s see for how long you can keep up those attacks,” he asked with a smirk on his face, trying to make her use even more of her Mana.

Holding back her laughter, a smile formed on Audrey’s face as she continued to bombard his barrier. Seeing her smile even after minutes and feeling his own Mana going down the drain, he realized that something was off. “How is this possible? Your level is way below mine! Thirty levels of difference!” he shouted with a panicked face as he spread his arms and his barrier exploded, pushing back Audrey’s elementals.

“Fufu, I have my secrets.”

“You totally sounded like Elena,” Jake commented.

“It wasn’t intentional.”

“You are putting it as if it was a bad thing,” Elena interrupted their chatter, frowning.

“I- It’s not like that,” Jake turned away as he replied.

“Hahaha, there you go, Elena,” Audrey laughed at her, showing a thumbs up to Jake.

“Fine, fine. You two are warming up to each other and are cooperating with each other against me,” Elena shook her hand, while Ekilsta finished copying the boy’s mind.

“You seem to be really full of yourselves to ignore us. But you made a mistake! Sahib, Vadim, attack now!” the boy interrupted them with a loud shout, being stupid enough to announce his attack.

He swung his arms and two pairs of chains flew towards Elena and Dred with incredible speed. As it latched onto their bodies, they found it hard to move. Sahib and Vadim reached them in the blink of an eye and thrust their spears towards their targets’ hearts. There was a problem though. Before the one called Vadim could reach Elena, a hand shot out of the earth and grabbed his leg.

Vadim fell face first on the ground since he was watching out only for Mana related attacks. Had Elena used Earth Magic to create a trap, he would have noticed it. Audrey and Jake blocked Sahib’s way, while Cor jumped out of the ground under Vadim. His jaws opened wide enough to bite Vadim’s whole face, killing him on the spot.

“Cancel this spell,” Elena said in a commanding tone, interrupting the boy’s spell with Ekilsta’s help for a moment. She threw her knives his way and hit his shoulders. Thanks to her great strength and the boy’s weak body, one of the knives tore off his left arm, while the remaining four bore their way into his legs. He tried to move but soon realized that he couldn’t.

“Sorry, I hit your tendons,” Elena commented on his struggling face, licking her own lips. Turning to the left, she saw Jake beheading Sahib, leaving the blue-haired boy to his inevitable demise.

Elena slowly sheathed one of her daggers and then pulled her finger down the edge of the other, cutting a shallow wound. “Although I’d gain great benefits by devouring your body, we still have enough people to kill. Instead, I’ll use you for a small experiment. We will see if it will work,” she stopped in front of him and drew a formation on his forehead.

“Why are you not moving or attacking? I didn’t bind you or anything, you know?”

His lips trembled as he muttered, “I don’t dare. Please, let me go.”

“Should I? What would I gain if I let you go?”

“I- I’ll be your servant if you wish” he fell to his knees and looked up into Elena’s eyes.

Stepping on his torn shoulder, she pushed his upper body to the ground and then pulled back her leg. “You would never become my servant. You see, I hate cowards and spineless men. Man up and stand straight even in front of death. See him?” she pointed at Jake.

“He thought that I was going to kill him or rather, he asked me to kill him. Now he is standing beside me.”

“You did scam me though…”

“Shh, that’s not the point.”

“Actually, I’m standing behind you at the moment.”

Hearing his words, Audrey couldn’t help but chuckle, while Elena’s brows twitched in her annoyance. Clearing her throat, she continued her speech, “So as I said-”

“I’m standing behind you.”

Stomping on the ground, she shouted at Jake, “Okay, I’m fed up with you! After this battle, I’ll punish you somehow! You too!” she pointed at Audrey, who was laughing at her.

“What?!”

“...” Dred shook his head as he walked up to the blue haired boy, took up his demon form and finished the formation on his forehead. “Just do it already,” he patted Elena’s back, catching her attention.

“Alright.” Closing her eyes, she transformed into her demoness form and used summoning magic. The boy’s eyes bulged and his limbs puffed up. His head blew up in the next moment and every cell in his body turned into a small patch of black liquid, the same as Ekilsta. The patches of black liquid flew into the air and turned into needle-shaped objects. Combining together, the small object looked like a dodecahedron.

It flew towards Elena’s body and entered through her skin. Her veins turned black and moved closer to the surface of her skin for a moment until they returned to their normal positions.

“What did you do?” Audrey asked with interest.

Looking at the place where once the boy’s body laid, she closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she opened them once again and looked at Audrey with a smile.

“Look.”

You have gained a new title: Bane of Minds!

You tried your hand in mind-control related Magic numerous times, improving your methods further and further, until creating a very dangerous entity. People with this title are better off far away from sane beings since no person should trust somebody like you. This title increases your chance to affect people’s thoughts, while their faith in you decreases.

New Spell Acquired: Hive Mind

After summoning a strange creature, you repeated the process with an offering for the second time, calling forth much more of them. But the catalyst was your blood, which makes you into the owner. Under the control of your Mana, you managed to unite them and create a single organism with numerous minds. The creature you named Ekilsta is the main mind, while you have complete control over it. With this mind spell, you can copy or maybe control numerous minds at the same time.

As this spell increases in levels, the size of the hive mind will grow and based on your understanding you may be able to do even more things than just copy and affect minds. Currently used minds: 1 / 50

“I’m already trusting you less,” Audrey said with a humph, turning away in her envy.

“Hehe, why would you be envious when you created these amazing spells even we are using? I bet that you will have even better things in mind!” Elena asked with a chuckle, patting Audrey’s back.

“Our teamwork is kinda shitty. We should improve it in the future,” Dred interrupted their chatter, adding, “And let’s go. We don’t have the time to keep standing here. Salem and his soldiers finished most of the Magicians so the battle is in our hands. We just have to finish it.”

Touching Elena’s cheeks, he felt her smooth skin, “It seems like your wound healed by now.”

“It did, though you reacted quite strongly to it,” she replied with a smirk.

“Of course, you are precious, after all.”

“Aww, I’m melting.”

“Don’t, you can do that later.”

Chuckling, she jumped into his neck and pointed towards the city, “Forward!”

“Sure, sure.” Taking up his panther form, he charged towards the city. Audrey and Jake shrugged their shoulders and followed them in their Shadow Forms. The sun was already creeping up on the other side of the sky when a large black cloud flew towards the city.

Noticing it, Elena and co. turned around. After a few more seconds, they noticed that the black cloud was actually groups of people, wearing Atelon’s tabards.

“Enemies…” Elena clenched her fists. Looking at the rising sun and the reinforcements, she muttered, “With the light of this new day…”