I was now alert about my surroundings.

I stopped jumping around like a crazy monkey as before instead now I was quite sneaky. I had to check my surroundings before leaping on to another tree without making any noise.

A few moments ago two to three wolves just went past by, in a hurry towards the rocky waterfall cliff. Thankfully it didn’t notice me. This fruit paste and soil rubbed over my body worked wonders. Although, it’s a bit itchy but still bearable.

I must be just a dozen of meters away until I reach the edge of the waterfall riverbank. The loud sounds of the aggressive wolves howling and screaming accompanied by explosions of various spells being used can be heard loud and clearly. With the battle screams of wolves and mages, there was also the sound of a waterfall down from the cliff but this sound again would be suppressed by the sounds of the fierce battle.

It wasn’t until few minutes of sneaky and cautious approach that I reached near the edge of the riverbank and hid amidst the lush green leaves of a tree.

It was then the scene of the intense battlefield came into view.

The vast river bank had vast rocky floors spread long and wide. There were just small patches of bushes, no trees around the 200-meter radius of around the stream was flowing.

Behind in the background, there were wide walls of tall rocky cliffs dividing the two grounds. In the center of the cliff, there was a fierce stream of water gushing down like a serpent and crashing down on a wide pool created from the natural erosion from the waterfall.

*Boom*

Just when a bright flash appeared in the corner of my eyes.

I glanced in the direction to find a young boy about 12-13 years old with red fiery spiky hair standing all alone near the riverbank. From the palm of his hands smoke was rising and didn’t seem to bother him much. He was dressed wore a bright red jacket and a pair of black shorts.

To my surprise, he was surrounded by an army of wolves in a circle. Everyone glaring at him and growling fiercely as if they had long enmity since birth. There should be at least hundreds of wolves surrounding him from everywhere. Many of them looked injured and some had burnt skins yet they looked more ferocious.

There were a lot of charred corpses of wolves laying on the sidelines. Some corpses missing bodies and guts laying everywhere, there were also corpses burned to cinders. No wonder the air smells so repugnant.

Although more wolves would appear from the forest and join the encirclement to kill the red-haired brat.

Despite such a horrendous situation, the red-haired brat still had a brazen smile reaching the corner of his eyes.

“Hehe! Is that all you got! You are no wolves just a bunch of incompetent mutts.” he then slammed his fist in his palms. As soon as his fist meet his palm there were sparks of fire.

“Come on, I can do this all day long,” he screamed.

The wolves despite not understanding human language, the taunts from red hair brat irked them.

Soon some of the wolves, first in line charged fiercely.

These wolves were the injured ones among the pack.

The red-haired brat was also quite skilled and his eyes scanned the approaching wolves.

He quickly stretched his both arms and suddenly there were bright flames appearing on the top of his hands. He then waved his arms in a circular manner creating a ring of fire blasting towards the approaching wolves,

“Some roast wolves coming up.”

The fire blast was quite fierce that even I could feel the heat standing here so far away.

The wolves that attacked the red-haired brat were burned to a crisp. No one survived his flames.

“This guy must be the so-called wizard,” I said to myself.

In the books, I read about mana there were people called wizards. They are said to be the best mages in manipulating mana than your average mages.

Normally when a mage who has to use mana needs to rely on a magic circle embedded with runes. Mages would inscribe these circles beforehand on their weapons or other stuff as a medium. A veteran mage can draw a magic circle in the air and then cast spells. For example, how Metrina had cast that healing spell.

But there are some people who can manifest mana at will. They can draw mana just from their bare skin. They don’t need to rely on magic circles to cast spells. They are the ones entitled with the title of ‘Wizards’.

Wizards are quite powerful and even revered as people blessed by mana but the existence of such people is very rare. Most of the existing Wizards are nobility coming from big backgrounds.

The red-haired brat clearly wasn’t wearing any types of equipment on his hands nor there was any magic circle when he used to create flames. I clearly saw bright red flames appearing on the palm of his bare hands. If this guy isn’t Wizard then I don’t know what he is.

He was so young about a 13-year-old wizard who had manifested mana core not too long ago. Still able to show such firepower and skills as a veteran mage. No wonder he was so brave in front of the army of the gray wolves.

Although the other wolves who had encircled the brat were unharmed. They maintained enough distance to not get attacked by the red-haired brat’s flames. They only kept growling and barking at him.

Some wolves would try to attack from time to time but would get burned down to cinders. He still kept on taunting the wolves with a lunatic smile.

I kept watching in distance without moving.

More wolves poured in from the forest joining the encirclement. There don’t seem the wolves would stop coming anytime soon.

Some time passed and the red-haired wizard stood his ground burning wolves to a crisp.

This time he used his flames as usual but his feet suddenly started to become wobbly. His eyes flickered as if he felt dizzy.

That fool must have depleted his mana reserves!

Fighting such a big army of wolves all alone. Even if he’s a wizard that doesn’t mean he can fight all the wolves till the last one of them. What was that fool even thinking?

Seeing this wolves quickly sensed something was off and this time they all attacked at the same time.

The red-haired brat’s eyes were closed and his legs were wobbly. It looked as if he was sleepwalking. He wasn’t even aware of the approaching wolves.

Metrina and Halberd would still take some time to come to his aid. He won’t be able to survive until then.

Just when…

“Oi brat, wakey-wakey” suddenly a female voice echoed.

Out of nowhere shards of ice-long icicles rained on the approaching wolves. The icicle shards were long and thin as a normal arrow but more deadly. These icicle shards pierced through the wolves’ vital points like pin cushions.

But after getting impaled with these ice arrows there was a chilling effect that would freeze nearby flesh of the wolves. Most of the wolves died on spot and many who were injured wolves’ speed and mobility greatly reduced.

Hearing the female voice, the red hair brat finally came to his senses.

He first glanced at his situation and saw the wolves impaled with ice arrows. His smile disappeared and looked quite upset,

“You lowly dogs, I will blast you all to hell.”

Suddenly his body burst into big flames burning any wolves approaching him.

The remaining wolves had no choice to back off.

The body on his flames lasted for few seconds and disappeared.

Red-hair brat glared at the wolves angrily.

He stretched his hand, his palm facing toward the wolves horizontally.

Suddenly there was a fire floating in front of his palm which started to shrink to a size of a small orb. Even if the red orb looked small it was glowing brightly and getting brighter by the second.

With other free hands, he creates a fist engulfed in a fire.

“Eat this!” he then punched his flame fist on the back of his hand which had the orb, “Layrion’s flame gun!”

As soon as his fiery fist came in contact with his other hand, the flames from his fist transferred to the orb and shot towards the wolves. The orb was shot like lightning and hit in the middle of the wolves. In an instant, the orb grew in size in impact and exploded.

All the wolves in the center were blasted to tiny meat fragments and the other wolf were blasted away like rag sacks. Everyone caught in the explosion died or fatally wounded.

Suddenly there was a wide hole in the encirclement.

The remaining wolves backed away in fear.

The red-hair brat grin then disappeared and then turned his head in a certain direction.

“Hey, Artecia! Could you stop calling me brat already? The name’s Belmethor Inyake Radiz. If the names too long you can just call me Bel. I will allow you to call me so.” he then folded his arms, “I don’t owe you any thanks. I could easily handle these mutts.”

So the red-haired brat called himself Bel. From the arrogant tone he’s using, he’s definitely one of those nobles, no doubt.

“Nah, ‘brat’ will do fine.” the female voice responded.

That’s when I saw a girl in a distance sitting on a tree leisurely holding a bow. She had beautiful long white hair and enchanting emerald blue eyes. She was dressed in a beautiful green top and shorts which made almost camouflaged between the trees.

Just when I spot something, her ears. She had long pointy ears poking out of her long white hair. She’s from the elf race.

According to Bel, the elf girl's name was Artecia. From the way she was holding on to the bow, she must be the one who launched those icicle arrows.

She sat back on the tree branch leisurely and let her long legs just hanging around. It looked like she was here to just enjoy the breeze.

“Well, being a noble fire wizard and you can’t even climb a tree? Are you sure you’re up to becoming an adventurer?” she asked with a sneer.

Bel’s face turned red with embarrassment,

“Hey! I can climb a mere tree with ease. I just happened to be in a mood to hunt some wolves that’s all.”

From the way his face turned red, it seems the girl was speaking the truth.

What the hell!

A fierce noble fire wizard and can’t climb a mere tree. Anyone who hears this could laugh it off. No wonder his pride wouldn't allow him to admit it.

“I can help you climb up a tree if you want,” said Artecia with an innocent smile.

Bel gritted his teeth and launched a flame spell at a nearby wolf that tried to attack,

“Radiz family never take favors from others. I am fine, you needn’t worry about me.”

Saying so Bel took out a vile of potion from his pocket and drank its contents in a gulp.

Suddenly there was a glow in his body and his tired complexion turned rosy.

That must be some kind of mana potion.

Potions are quite rare and expensive brewed by witches. They come in very handy during dire situations like this and give mages the explosive power to overcome hard situations. Such potions have saved a lot of mages countless times.

Bel seems to come from nobility so he should definitely have some potions on him. It’s so nice to have such strong background. Although heavily relying on magic potions and magic capsules would also weaken the foundation of a mage. Hence mage's must restrain the usage of such things only if necessary."

“Suit yourself,” Artecia replied.

After saying so, she just lied her back on the tree trunk. She hugged her bow and closed her eyes as if she was taking a nap.

Bel again focused his attention on the wolves and attacked them fiercely.

After killing more than more dozens of the wolves he started sweating a lot,

“Hey, where’s Razor? How long are we gonna sit here!”

Artecia just shrugged her shoulder and didn’t even bother to open her eyes.

For some reason, the wolves weren’t approaching her. It was as if she was invisible to the gray wolves.

“The Leader’s here.” suddenly another voice echoed, “Get ready.”

That’s when I turned my head to look in the direction of this sound.

There was another guy on a nearby tree. He was sitting on the tallest tree around the area and had climbed all the way to the top. From the looks of it, he must be another one of their comrades. If hadn't shouted I wouldn't even notice.

This new comrade was wearing a weird bandana on his head and wore a purple pair of pants and a shirt. Sitting on the top of a tall tree's topmost branch. I couldn’t see his face sadly. And the way he was facing, he was looking in a certain direction.

After hearing the man Artecia opened her eyes and held her bow. In an instant, an ice arrow appeared on top of the bowstring in thin air.

“Finally some real action! He took his sweet time to get here. I was almost about to fall asleep from boredom.” said Bel arrogantly with a wide smile.

“Or from mana exhaustion,” added Artecia with a mocking expression.

“Huh! Stop talking nonsense. I have more than enough mana for the likes of these little pups.”

Suddenly loud rumbling came from the direction the man was looking.

*Awwooooo*

A loud howling thundered from the direction the man was looking at.

The sound was so loud that even my eardrums started to go numb. I had to block my ears with my hands to ease the pain.

Just when there was white light flying in the sky like a meteor heading towards the cliff waterfall.

As soon as it reached the battlefield it changed its trajectory and crash-landed in the army of the wolves.

The white light dissipated and a man was revealed standing there. He looked like a middle-aged man, in his 30’s with long grey hair reaching to his shoulders. He was wearing light metallic armor covering his torso and legs. There was a long green cape hanging on his back fluttering in the air. In his hand, he held a thin sword with a beautiful curve handle.

The wolves were dumbfounded looking at the guy vigilantly.

For some reason, they didn’t attack and backed away shivering in fear.

“Oh, what a group little Bel has gathered to welcome my return. I am flattered,” he said and then gently swung his sword in an arc.

In an instant, the wolves in the vicinity were cut in half, and blood splatter all over the place. Blood and guts of the wolves stained the river bank. Not even I could see how his attack struck the wolves in the first place.

Bel rushed to this man and patted his shoulder,

“Razor! It’s good to see you back in one piece. So did your so-called plan work?” asked with a bright smile.

Razor let out a sigh,

“Don’t worry-”

*Awoooo*

A loud deafening wolf howl again echoed throughout the woods. This time it was louder and closer than before. Cold sweat appeared on my brows. There was strong bloodlust coming from that scream. That grey wolf must be the leader of this group of grey wolves.

Razor glanced in the direction,

“Well, I nearly died confronting that thing. Hope you guys are ready- wait” he glanced around, “Where’s Halberd and Metrina?”

Bel just scratched his head,

“They are on their way here. Don’t worry.”

Hearing this Razor frowned hearing.

“We will need big guy’s earth support magic to take down that ruler class dire wolf.” he then swung his sword and butchered more wolves, “Hope we survive until he returns.”