After arriving near the battle between Commander levels, Dante didn't barge in immediately but decided to hide behind a barricade while putting to work the abilities he learnt as an elite scout.

As the battle between the Commanders was too intense they didn't sense a little Lieutenant level demon hiding nearby.

As Dante kept observing the battle, he understood that he had been underestimating them. Even with his amazing senses and peak Lieutenant level cultivation, he would still find it hard to kill a Shaman without being heavily injured by another Shaman's attack.

As Dante's eyes kept looking for an opportunity, his eyes fell on the only Shaman who wasn't flying, that guy was the strange one of the five as he seemed to be coordinating with the other two Shamans, without caring for the enemy Commander's attacks.

Another peculiarity was that the other Shamans were all at the mid and late stages of the Commander level while the young Hobgoblin Shaman was only at the early stage of the Commander level so he should be at least wary of the enemy.

As he carefully scrutinized the young Shaman, something unexpected happened.

[A worthy follower has been detected. Compiling the follower's profile. Compilation completed. Student can view information about the follower before taking his decision]

A message appeared in Dante's head, as a cold voice began reading it.

It was the Death Mark's voice or something of the sort. 

Dante felt his head become dizzy as new information entered his head.

After a minute of pondering a look of understanding appeared on his face.

"So it's actually like this..."

Every leader needed worthy followers and because the Death Mark purpose was to groom the best leader, it couldn't lack this function. As its host travelled the world and became more powerful, the Death Mark will give him the possibility to choose worthy followers.

Name: Rain

Race: Monster

Species: Hobgoblin Shaman

Rank: Commander level

General information: Rain is a genius of the ???* group led by an incredibly talented leader named ???, since his childhood he has been groomed with the best resources resulting in him breaking through to Commander level at twenty years old, his personality has been badly influenced by all the care he received.

His talent for magic is great but he still lacks combat experience. His trust level towards his Lord is 70 making it difficult for him to defect to your side. He's on a training mission to overcome his lack of real-life fighting experience.

*Student doesn't have the authority needed to view this information. Due to Student having a cultivation of at least two levels lower than target.

[WARNING! With Student's current level and position the chances of having Rain follow you are lower than 2%]

After a minute the message disappeared quickly as it was replaced by another one.

Do you accept Rain as your follower?

[Accept]   [Refuse]

Dante refused immediately, it wasn't just the fact that his chances were close to zero but also that Rain had become his target.

He still had to finish the mission issued by the Death Mark and Rain was the most suitable target.

If he tried to kill one of the other Shamans he would get in the middle of the fight between Commander levels and Dante wasn't confident in his chances of getting out unscathed. An injury would tie him down and delay his escape.

On the other hand, he could use Rain's lack of combat experience against him.

Dante's refusal didn't put an end to the matter as another message popped out.

[Refusal. Beginning Predation. Target: Rain. Predation partially succeeded. Student can now predate the target.]

Dante was stunned, he didn't expect his refusal to cause this reaction. He even thought of the possibility that the Death Mark would penalize him, but he had dismissed the idea right away because it didn't make any sense.

He tried to ask the Death Mark what exactly was this Predatory function but he didn't get any answer, he also tried to ask his teacher, Rayleigh about the matter, but to no avail as even Dante's master was in the dark about it.

"I'm still in a life and death battle, I can't lose too much of my time thinking about it. If Pan really loses and leaves us here at the enemy's mercy... I have to be quick so that I can be at a safe distance no matter who returns. ."

Dante already had some guesses as the name "Predation" suggested a relation with killing, but he didn't dwell too much on it.

Suddenly his pondering expression was replaced by a vicious one, but he hid it away immediately to avoid being discovered.

He waited for a chance.

...

"Fuck, we are at an even greater disadvantage now. I have to act before they get wiped out or I will fail the mission.

I can't let the Shamans cripple another one of us."

Dante was shocked by Rain's abilities, the lad was able to cast magic without chanting and had great control of his spells causing great confusion for the Commander level mercenary.

He could at least understand that because he had learnt the basis of magic from his parents.

"No, I can't let him do that."

Seeing that the second mercenary Commander was about to die, Dante threw caution to the wind and took the biggest risk since the beginning of the battle.

He dashed off at his highest speed towards Rain's back.

Sword in hand, He didn't give time for the young Shaman to react as Dante thrust his sword into Rain's nape.

Rain gurgled as he choked on his own blood, even in his last moments he still didn't understand how he died.

Dante extracted his sword from the hobgoblin Shaman's head, causing the lifeless body to fall to the ground.

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In that moment several messages appeared in Dante's head.

[Student has accomplished a D grade mission, the rewards will be handed the next time Student enters his inner world.]

[Congratulations! Student has exceeded the mission's requirements by killing a 100 hobgoblins and changing the course of the battle.]

[15 honour points will be awarded.]

[Host has killed a worthy follower! Due to Student's lack of comprehension, 60% of Rain's magic comprehension is lost. Due to Student's ??? a 100% of Rain's talent is absorbed. Ownership of Rain's possessions is transferred to Student. Student can now wield Rain's treasures.]

Dante was stunned by his gains, this time he had really struck it rich!

As he read the messages, he felt new knowledge burn itself into his mind as the foggy comprehension he had of magic became clearer and clearer, but that wasn't the end of it.

Dante felt his previously faint connection with mana become so clear that he had the impression of being able to summon a dragon with a flick of his wrist!

That was obviously an exaggeration due to the big difference between his previous and actual state, but the feeling was there.

"Hahaha, until now I didn't even see the tip of the iceberg!"

Still drunk with power Dante suddenly felt numerous connection being established with him.

Among them the last one to form really interested him as it was the first one that began forming a connection with him but showed signs of intense struggle as it slowly lost the power to fight and gave way.

He began to look for that treasure on Rain's corpse.

Anyone looking at him would think that he was a foolish little thief looting a corpse without caring for his life, as the two Shamans were threatening him with all their might.

Dante felt the mana around him quickly gathering above him but he didn't worry too much about it as he kept looking for the treasure which interested him.

After searching for a bit Dante finally found it, it was a seal with a halberd carved on a side and a shield carved on the other. Both were enveloped in lighting. It radiated an aura of extreme power but it seemed to be lacking something.

As Dante looked at it, a wicked grin appeared on his face.

Thanks to the connection between him and the seal he could use it immediately.

As Dante looked up at the two Shamans, he smiled in contempt.

All along he had been aware of the two's moves, but he still let them play to weaken them further. He didn't expect them to be so stupid that they used up all their spiritual energy in a fit of anger.

A mage without spiritual energy was like a soldier without arms and legs, just waiting to be killed.

The mana in the environment heeds the call of the mage's spiritual energy and magic circles to create spells.

In a way spiritual energy was like a general while mana was the soldiers, spells were the formation created by the two with the magic circle harmonizing the process.

Looking at the Fireball falling towards him, Dante didn't budge. Coldness radiating from his eyes.

The moment in which the Fireball's heat began to burn the grass, Dante did a simple motion.

He crushed the seal.

Suddenly a lightning shield surrounded Dante in every direction, the crackling of lightning became the only sound anyone could hear in a radius of 10 km.

All battles stopped in that moment even the other two Shamans stopped their attacks against the Commander level mercenaries, as they felt a familiar aura appear.

"It's the Lord's aura... is Rain in danger?

How could those two dumbasses let the life of the young master be threatened!"

They wanted to leave their battle and go help the young master, but the two Commander level mercenaries didn't give them the chance.

...

40 km from Dante a terrifying battle suddenly halted.

If anyone saw the battlefield they would never think that just a while ago it was a flatland.

The land was ravaged beyond recognition, there was a deep ravine which divided the battlefield into two sides.

On the right side, there was a thick stench of blood as the fallen scarlet trees dyed the earth with their blood-red sap.

On the left side, the land seemed to have been through several earthquakes as molten lava flowed out of the ground.

Two figures were standing on opposite sides, catching their breath.

They were preparing their final attacks.

"I don't know why you stopped now, but I can figure out that it should be related to that extreme lightning energy which has appeared now...

The one who made that treasure should have already researched the realm of laws...

However it doesn't matter, Doron I acknowledge your power. Let's end this battle with our next moves!"

Pan had been horrified when he sensed that aura, he knew that he didn't stand a chance against someone who had attained that level of power, but he quickly recovered as he felt that aura of extreme power quickly fade.

He didn't dwell too much on it as he had a formidable opponent who needed every bit of his attention.

His left leg had been nearly shattered by Doron's power after that freak made a breakthrough mid-battle.

"Fuck, I'm tired of you elf! I'm gonna put my all on this next move! Be prepared, the enlightenment I received during this battle will be put to good use now."

Doron was clearly frustrated as he had been seen through by Pan immediately, but he had learnt to manage himself as a single mistake meant at the very least a heavy injury against someone of Pan's calibre.

Proof of that were the numerous wounds which covered his body.

The two glared at each other as their battle reached its final stage.