Warlock of the Magus World – Redux

After Kaliweir finished speaking, he took out a black powder-like substance from his robes and sprinkled it onto his legs. He suddenly appeared taller and upon closer inspection, it seemed that not only had his height increased, but there were also tufts of black fur growing out of the bottom of his shoes.

With this black fur, Kaliweir's speed increased tremendously and he disappeared from the forest in the span of a few steps, with a speed faster than Raynor's.

Neela seized a green potion from one of her robe's pockets and threw it onto the ground. A green-colored whirlwind swept up and enshrouded both Neela and Lilisse within its center. Enveloped in a gale of green, the two girls vanished out of sight.

As for Leylin? He was a Potioneering Expert nearing Master. Naturally, he had prepared several potions as his trump cards.

Presently, he had downed one of his strength potions. Not one of those he sold to the public, though. It was one with the true quality he could achieve, meaning it added 3 full points to his STR. Moreover, it also made him unyielding to both physical and mental fatigue for the next 4 hours.

'Aralis, prepare for battle.' -Leylin ordered coldly.

[ESP Matrix engaged. All primary combat systems online!] -Notified the A.I. assistant.

[The attack power of the Violent Hilly Bear is extremely high, while its speed is just as frightening. Although his main strength is his roar, which in conjunction with his unique breath, it is capable of putting lesser beings under a strong hallucination, thus rendering its prey defenseless.] -The A.I. gave suitable feedback to her Master.

'I have already taken appropriate measures to preserve my mind from being assaulted by illusions by carefully placing mental barriers during my mediation sessions. I doubt I can resist anything cast by Magi, but these petty monsters and acolytes, I can manage... Without its main ability, it is nothing but an oversized rabid bear. Time to hunt me a Violent Hilly Bear.' -Leylin smirked with confidence.

Leylin forthwith unsheathed his cross blade with his left hand. He had the sword sheathed by his right side, but since he was ambidextrous, it was not an inconvenience for him.

He adopted the 3rd Cross Blade Stance: Black Cobra. He wouldn't play around with this bear, lest it butchered him in this forest today.

Interrupting the peaceful silence of the sunset once more, a vicious roar sounded.

Suddenly, a black figure appeared in front of Leylin, and with it came a huge bear paw.

Leylin's body reacted, his conditioned reflexes causing him to take out his cross blade and begin slashing in front of him.

The youth used the huge recoil traveling through the cross blade to turn his body around and escape the attack range of the bear's paw.

'This won't work. Its fur is too thick for any of my usual Black Cobra frontal attacks to do any harm.' -Leylin concluded, as he willed the ESP Matrix to calculate the best course of action to deal damage to his weak spots.

The bear did not wait around. It followed up with its offensive charging at Leylin with great speed. An overflowing amount of killing intent was radiated in every one of its moves.

'An impressive aura. It even makes my heart pump with excitement! Hahaha, a worthy challenge!' -Leylin rejoiced in having a good fight ahead of him.

The Farlier heir dodged the charge as his shape flickered on and off to a safe distance near some giant trees. The bear, infuriated by this, charged once more as it let out a fierce roar.

'Now!' -With a seemingly practiced ease, the body of Leylin jumped in the air and his arms and legs flowed like water, evading each of the bear's paws coming straight at him. One paw scratched his cheek, but he did not flinch.

By the time Leylin's feet touched the ground behind the monster, several gashing wounds started to bleed profusely across the beast's body. Nonetheless, the bear was hardly fazed by it, despite how its entire body had been covered in its own blood.

Just then... A huge set of claws struck at Leylin's back, launching him in the air. His armor absorbed the hit, but the bear had sliced it to pieces.

As he fell, Leylin noticed how the bear had counterattacked instantly. The beast roared in a high pitch, resembling a taunt.

The Farlier heir crashed against the ground, though he was able to catch himself by rolling forwards, lessening the impact. He was still good to go.

'This bastard... It's quicker than I expected. Aralis, make the necessary adjustments to my leg muscles; I'll do 'that' move...' -Leylin squinted with an unmatched bloodthirst flashing in his irises.

[Done!]

'Time to test this!' -Just as the Farlier heir thought that, a mystical coat of darkness appeared out of nowhere, enveloping his cross blade in a second.

The bear, not willing to have any of it, decided to once again charge at the human. But this time, it roared all throughout the charge.

'It wants to break my resistance to its hypnotic power?! Learn your place under my foot, lowly beast!' -Leylin met the brutal charge head-on, emboldened by the adrenaline coursing through his body. Or perhaps it was the effect of the strength potion.

Three meters before claws and blade collided, Leylin let out a white mist from his mouth. His expression turned vehement, and he bellowed: "Killing Move: Void Cross Execution!"

The cross blade in his hands hacked downwards, bringing a whizzing sound with it. As it slashed towards the ground, Leylin's body twisted, and great strength was exerted from his solid waist muscles. With the great centrifugal force of the cross blade, he made another horizontal slash. The cross blade itself pulsed with the darkness empowering it. The two slashes seemed to fuse together, forming a sinister purple energy cross that wanted to devour everything around it. It all happened in less than two seconds.

The bear, as fast it was, could simply not escape this brutal area-of-effect attack. It could not react in time to even whine, as the darkness suddenly consumed its head. Then its middle body; then its hind legs.

In an instant, nothing of the Violent Hilly Bear remained.

But it didn't come without a cost. Leylin was panting heavily, and he was drenched with sweat.

[If not for your potion, you would've been knocked out by the sheer amount of stamina and Mana Energy you used in that move. Plus, the constant drain of the Matrix is not helping you.] -Warned the A.I.

'Everything turned out as I planned it. I have tested my theory on the effectiveness of combining Knight skills with arcane energies, and I've finally killed something in a satisfying manner after spending months and months of living as a glorified bookworm... Though I must admit, that magic-enhanced Killing Move was extremely taxing and not nearly as good as a traditional spell combo would've been. Oh well, at least I corroborated that myself.' -Leylin pondered sternly.

[Doctor, get ready! This is not over yet! You got multiple peak C-Class red-eyed ravens incoming!] -Aralis broke Leylin out of his reverie.

Just when Leylin had finally caught his breath, an abominable sound of ravens approximating his position could be heard in the sky.

Leylin raised his brow as he looked to the sky. These were ravens with a higher hazard level than the red-eyed ravens from earlier. Furthermore, there were three of them.

Once they spotted Leylin, they immediately swooped down towards him.

'I am almost exhausted. Luckily the effect of the potion is still going strong... Chugging another one could kill me in an overdose, so that's a no-go. Guess I'll have to use it on such a worthless type of foe.' -He bitterly decided.

A series of black talons came slashing at him at that moment, and Leylin hurriedly attempted to dodge them. In spite of his attempts, the claws of the ravens etched three large slashes into his back.

The teen did not cry in pain, but instead, chuckled a bit. He took a vial from his satchel and threw it at the ravens as they flew past him.

He had left himself open on purpose, since targeting moving flying objectives would've been a gamble, and he would not risk missing his shot with the vial.

The vial exploded violently in a cloud of chemical fire, burning the birds to a cinder not even allowing them to caw in despair.

The vial was an explosive potion he had bought from Woox; it had a stopping power equivalent to a mid-tiered rank 0 spell. Leylin still could not brew them himself, but he would get there eventually.

Angry cries were heard in the sky. Seeing that their comrade had died like that, another group of red-eyed ravens immediately cried out and swooped down to avenge them. They were at least seven.

"Bring it on, you fucks! I'll kill anything that dares lay a claw, paw, or finger on me!" -Leylin lowered himself slightly, coiling his body into position as he drew his cross blade a second time. He was like a leopard who was about to catch its prey.

He felt every artery in his body expanding quickly, and the blood continuously surged, circulating huge amounts of energy into the various parts of his body. A warm current gradually rose in his lower abdomen, and the wound on his back no longer seemed as painful.

"Die, scum!" -Leylin shouted, as he swung the cross blade ruthlessly but without losing focus and precision thanks to the ESP Matrix.

This time, he seemed to have used all his energy, and the warmth in his body constantly responded to him. The sword let out an ear-piercing whistle and directly struck one of the red-eyed ravens as Leylin jumped to meet it in the air.

[Doctor, you did it! You broke through the preparatory Knight bottleneck!]

'So this is how that so-called inner life energy feels like...' -Leylin was mildly shocked.

He had attained the qualities of a preparatory Knight long ago. Moreover, he meditated constantly, so he was almost comparable to an actual Knight. Nevertheless, he had not been able to ignite his inner life energy until now, and he never imagined that he would be able to have a breakthrough at this point. He had more or less given up on that a long time ago and only kept his body in prime condition for obvious survival reasons.

Right at that moment, the warm current in his lower abdomen traveled to his two eyes, and piercing pain in his eyes made them water. Thankfully, Aralis used the ESP Matrix to clear the misty veil he had been under for a second, and now his eyes suddenly had a sharper vision. It was as if they had shed some kind of screen that had blocked them so far.

However, at this moment, one of the other red-eyed ravens had already swooped down right in front of Leylin. It wanted his head.

Leylin's mask fell altogether at that moment. A sinister expression was plastered on his countenance, and he appeared to be ready to slaughter a thousand innocents should they be standing in front of him.

The Farlier heir moved his cross blade once vertically. He then slashed horizontally.

"Killing Move: Cross Execution! To hell with you, HAHAHA!" -This radiant cross was different from the other two instances he had used it. It was not impregnated with his magic this time, but it was a lot brighter than when he used it against the plains direwolves. It was three times its size as well.

Leylin grinned, as several crosses appeared as the original fragmented with each going after a different raven. Just like with the bear, these ravens never stood a chance. Their bodies were obliterated right then and there.

And despite how it otherwise would've happened, the surrounding area had not suffered that much destruction thanks to the precision strikes Leylin had performed with the aid of the Matrix.

[Doctor, are you okay?] -The A.I. asked with concern, witnessing how her Master had now dropped to one knee. He was extremely tired.

'No, I am not. The hallucinogens from that bear are still in my system, and that last attack drained me for good. I think I can barely walk... Nevertheless, it's not like I didn't reap any benefits. I want a full status report at once.' -Leylin commanded with a calm tone that not only contrasted with his current condition, but it also was a 180° compared to his murderous episode earlier.

[Ever since you successfully ignited your life energy, the secretion of adrenaline in your body has been augmented. Blood flow has increased by fifty-eight percent. The natural healing process also had its speed doubled, given how your cells are now healthier and more efficient.] -Aralis dutifully informed.

'This adventure outside the academy has returned all of my invested resources with interest. Anything that means I am more powerful than before is a welcome addition to my arsenal...' -Leylin's mask had returned to its place, but some of the corruption within his soul managed to slip through.

As he sat down to regain his composure, the cracks in the mask were sealed, and he once again looked the part of the goody-two-shoes acolyte.