Chapter 49 : Battle at The Forest (3) Both of the parties stared at each other. In the eyes of Crane and his subordinates were the rage from seeing their comrades being killed. However, aside from rage, there was also a hint of a fear deep inside. "I see you have quite the skill to be able to beat all three of my subordinates", Crane broke the silence by speaking with a calm expression. Even though he was shaken, he needed to appear calm to his opponents. Ragna didn't answer, he just swept his eyes toward his opponents. There were eight of them including Crane and they consisted of various professions except for thief. He quickly scanned them to get some basic information regarding their professions. The composition was actually quite perfect without the exception of the thieves. Two warriors, two clerics, one swordsman, two archers, and Crane himself as the mage. Their levels were ranging from mid 20s to late 20s. One of them even had a level higher than Crane. It was the female swordsman and she was at level 29. Ragna quickly formulated his own tactics. What kind of plan should he use to emerge victorious in this kind of battle? Seeing that Ragna had no intention to accompany him in a conversation, Crane's eyes turned cold. He too was making a similar preparation. The difference was, he had more advantages compared to him. Even though Ragna had insane combat capabilities, he was but a single person after all. "Similar plan to BOSS-Raid, Execute!" Crane shouted loudly at the group channel. In response to him, All of his subordinates quickly moved in a systemic manner. It was as if they were already used to his leadership. Two warriors charged toward Ragna while the swordsman closely followed from behind. The priests started chanting some buffs. From the looks of it, they were chanting a Magic Shield spell which could increase a player's Magic Resistance by a total of 10%. The archer pulled his bowstring tautly. He was waiting for the right opportunity to strike at Ragna. Blue light could be seen swiveling in Crane's staff. As the most important part in Blue Salamander's Set, his staff had an outstanding performance. An eye suddenly appeared inside the Blue Gem which was embedded on top of the staff when Crane started chanting his spell. The Blue Gem was made from the Blue Salamander's eye itself! A level 33 BOSS! Naturally, Ragna didn't just stay idle while everything was happening. He chanted his own spell and started moving backward in retreat. His spell had finished chanting before any attack could be released to him. It was his unique characteristic, a super-quick casting time! Shua! A huge earthen wall suddenly rose up from the ground in front of him, blocking the way and vision of all of his opponents. Even Crane had to halt his attack because of the sudden appearance of the Earth Wall. Both of the warriors made an instant decision to encircle Ragna from both sides. Even though the Earth Wall could halt them for 2-3 seconds, it wasn't anything that could change the flow of the battle. Sure enough, they found Ragna in the place right before he used the spell. However, the Ragna they saw was completely different from a few seconds ago. He had equipped the Shadow Wolf's Set! A dark and shadowy aura started to swirl around him. His appearances changed dramatically into one similar to the death god. The dark leather suit and his shadow-like cloak were supplementing the coldness in his eyes. They were shaken inwardly when they saw the change in Ragna, but no matter how hard they thought about it, there was no way that a single set could change the flow of a battle! They quickly made the decision to attack him while using their skill. The skill was Charge and it could increase Warrior's defense, attack, and speed by 20% but the attacker could only move in a straight line. A smile appeared on Ragna's lips. He didn't retreat but instead made a move toward one of the charging warrior while chanting for another spell. "Courting death!", shouted the warrior who was being approached by Ragna. Before, even with Ragna's astonishing movement and reaction rate, it would be difficult to dodge a charging warrior's attack unless the player moved sideways. Unfortunately, all of his senses had been heightened by the effect of his set. Not to mention the terrifying boost in his speed! Shua! Ragna dodged past the warrior's charge by slightly moving sideways. He had done the feat perfectly! The warrior's face fell. How could he dodge his attack without much difficulty? Unwilling to accept the result, he quickly interrupted his skill to unleash another attack with similar effect to Charge. It was at this moment that the warrior suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet went soft! Quagmire! The sudden change in the terrain made the warriors unable to control their balance. Even though they didn't stumble, their movement speed was reduced considerably. With Ragna's current speed, it was just a dream for them to catch him. Seeing Ragna moved past one of his subordinate, Crane's expression was one of astonishment. Being able to execute that kind of move properly was one of the qualities of an expert. Furthermore, he never saw the equipment that Ragna was wearing. It should at least be an uncommon grade set! The same as what he was wearing! However, it didn't take long for him to recover. Because of Ragna's movement, he was now outside the vision-blocking area of his Earth Wall. He quickly sent out a command in the party channel to start decimating him! The archer immediately shot his arrow to Ragna's position. His job was to disturb Ragna's movement and wait for Crane to deliver the killing blow. Whoosh! The arrow moved with speed comparable to Drom's Bullet Dagger. Crane had his eyes focused on Ragna's every change in movement. The moment he decided to dodge, would be the moment he unleashed his spell. Even though he halted his spell before, the spell had finished chanting and was just waiting to be released. Naturally, he couldn't change the spell and that was the weakness of early-casting it. But that should be enough to cripple him! Seeing that Ragna had no intention to dodge, Crane decided to release his skill. It was an Ice Nova! Ice element! Crane was actually an ice mage! In Maya, Magician couldn't exactly choose what kind of element they would like to focus at. Everything depended on their talent, and maybe luck. Ice element was an improvement of the water element and it had a slowing property aside from its greater attack power compared to the normal water element. It seemed like Crane really had the qualification for his current status. A magical circle appeared right below Ragna's feet and the arrow was just an inch away from him. However, right before the arrow hit Ragna's body, something strange happened! Ragna suddenly vanished from the spot he was at! The arrow hit the ground and the Ice Nova hit nothing but air! Crane looked at the scene with a shocked expression. Never had he imagined that Ragna could instantly vanish right in front of his eyes. "How..? WHERE is he?!" He bellowed with rage apparent in his eyes. His eyes swept around the surroundings. He even checked the area where the Earth Wall was at. There was no trace of him visible on the battlefield! Thud! Before he could spot him, a sound of someone falling could be heard from behind. He quickly turned around but he was shocked when he saw that his archer had fallen lifelessly to the ground. There was a huge hole in his stomach and a dagger wound on his throat. Standing right behind his corpse was the figure of a man in a black cloak holding a dagger dripping with blood. He was, obviously, Ragna. It was his skill, Vanishing Step!