Once she was outside of the shop, Hazel scanned her surroundings in search of more Fractured Humans to kill. Moving forward, she stalked the area, eager to find some monsters to fully test her new spells on.

It didn’t take long before she heard the familiar groans of the Fractured Humans and quickly bolted toward the sound. Moving around the corner, Hazel soon spotted a small group of Fractured Humans, aimlessly wandering like zombies. They didn’t even notice her presence even when she was standing in front of them.

Then, one of the Fractured slowly turned around and spotted Hazel before it. Noticing the mage, it released a pained yet hostile groan while eagerly limping toward her. Its groan alerted the other Fractured Humans as the rest spun around as well, seeing Hazel, and moving toward their next enemy.

The chorus of groans didn’t alarm Hazel. If anything, she was far more than eager to face them compared to before. And that was because she had more spells up her sleeve to use than before.

Back when she hunted them with Mana bolt, she simply did so to gather experience and level up quickly. But now, with both Decay and Baneful Sickle, Hazel felt excited facing the Fractured Humans. More than that, she wanted to fight another Fractured Class monster like the warrior.

She didn’t know why, but there was a feeling in her gut that the result of her battle with one would be entirely different compared to the last time. And that feeling swelled up within her, threatening to implode if she didn’t do something about it.

As soon as they were in her sight, Hazel readied her staff, prepared to take down the Fractured creatures with her new spell. Thanks to their slow walk, she could take her time before attacking them.

Using that opportunity, she pointed her staff at one of the Fractured humans, designating it as her first target for the Baneful Sickle spell. She then took a moment to imagine the spell to activate it.

Hazel had recently noticed that a key factor when using her skills like [Mana Bolt] and [Mana Shield], she needed a firm imagination of what the spell was like to trigger it. Simply shouting the spell wouldn’t work since she did that with the Dire Wolf after arriving in the dungeon. So, with Baneful Sickle, a vivid image was also required.

Just from the name alone, Hazel imagined a razor-sharp sickle-like attack, completely composed of mana, much like her mana bolt. A sickle powerful enough to strike down her enemies. No not strike down…to sever them completely from existence.

As if responding to her imagination, her mana build-up within her then flowed toward her staff as particles of purple mana materialized around it. Even as that happened, the Fractured humans still hadn’t gotten close enough to Hazel to disrupt her concentration.

And as soon as her spell was ready, she spoke its name.

“Baneful Sickle!”

Suddenly a purple energy poured out of the staff while taking the form of a sharp crescent blade. It then shot forward, barreling toward the horde with malicious intent, immediately severing the Fractured Human that was targeted along with a few others in their general direction. Both their upper and lower body collapsed on the spot as the cracks spread further across both halves before they shattered completely.

[Level 3 Fractured Human has been defeated!]

[Level 2 Fractured Human has been defeated!]

[Level 2 Fractured Human has been defeated!]

[Level 1 Fractured Human…]

Hazel stood there in a daze, amazed by what she had just witnessed. Her spell took down more than five Fractured Humans with a single attack. A wide grin appeared on her face while her grip on the magic staff tightened.

“Oh, I like this skill.”

Not only was Baneful Sickle powerful enough to take down multiple enemies at once, but the skill also didn’t consume too much of her mana. It wasn’t as big as Decay, but certainly more than Mana Bolt.

Once Hazel reached level six, she planned on putting some more points into Intelligence. The more she could use this spell, the easier it would be for her against the monsters while she was in the dungeon.

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Satisfied with the results of the Baneful Sickle spell, Hazel switched gears and moved on to test her other spell, Decay. She first used it on an inanimate object, that being the wooden plank. Now it was time to use it on a living test subject.

Or…was the correct term an unliving test subject? It probably didn’t matter, but Hazel couldn’t help but let the thought cross her mind. Since Fractured were technically undead, in a sense, unliving test subjects sounded way more accurate.

Raising her staff once again, she performed her Decay spell in an instant, choosing the closest Fractured human as her next target.

“Decay!”

Casting the spell, more purple energy erupted from the staff, turning into ethereal tendrils that slithered around. The tendrils shot out toward one of the Fractured Humans, wrapping around its body until it was fully engulfed in the violet energy.

Hazel then witnessed the cracks spiderwebbed further throughout its body before it couldn’t withstand the pressure then shattered on the spot, bursting into particles of purple light.

Hazel was shocked by this display, her eyes widened, and her mouth agape. She didn’t expect the Fractured Human to simply crack and burst like that. If anything, she believed that it would deteriorate like the plank did; its body slowly decaying until flesh, muscle, nerves, and organs were corroded beyond repair, simply turning to dust shortly after.

Maybe it was because of its Fractured Physiology. Every time she killed a monster in this dungeon, it simply cracked and shattered to bits like glass.

“Oh crap…” Hazel was pulled out of her deep thoughts at the sound of the rest of the Fractured humans, groaning in sync.

They were a lot closer now, to the point where Hazel jumped back to put some more distance between them. But simply moving away from them wasn’t going to work. She needed to kill them here and now.

Thankfully, ten seconds had already passed, and she used Baneful Sickle once more, sending out another purple crescent blade at her prey, mowing down a good portion of the horde with one attack. Their torsos and arms were easily severed, collapsing on the ground and then shattering to pieces, unable to maintain the cracks developing around their body.

She ignored the messages regarding her kills and focused on killing the Fractured Humans. Since both Baneful Sickle and Decay were both now on cooldowns, it was now Mana Bolt’s turn to deal with the Fractured creatures.

She fired a couple of mana bolts at the horde, being mindful of her mana reserve. The bolts easily pierced through the skulls of the Fractured humans, shattering them on impact. While firing her bolts of mana, Hazel noticed that her aim was getting a lot better than before.

Initially, she missed a couple of her shots or either struck their torsos or shoulders while getting a couple of headshots. Now, her aim had improved to the point where she could hit their skulls multiple times in a row. This was likely the case because she was constantly using it, thus letting her gain more experience on how to control the skill.

Suddenly, a chill snaked down her spine, her instincts were warning Hazel of danger. Sensing that threat, she quickly conjured her mana shield, watching the dome barrier form around her, just before she witnessed a throwing dagger getting hurled at the shield.

Watching it bounce off the barrier and fall to the ground, Hazel cocked her head in confusion.

“Who threw that?”

Her question was soon answered when she gazed over at where the dagger was thrown, spotting a lone figure on the roof. It looked like a human, wearing all-black clothing, including a mask that obstructed its face.

Despite the distance, Hazel was still able to identify it from where she was standing.

Level 5

A Fractured being that used to be a Rogue before their world was destroyed by the Mana Overload Event. Despite being a husk of a vessel, these Fractured Rogues could still fight like they used to, making them formidable opponents.

“A Fractured Rogue…” Hazel muttered. “Well, if there was a Fractured Warrior, then it would stand to reason that the other classes were just as likely to appear as well.”

She had only ever encountered the Fractured Warrior earlier, so it came as a surprise that her next opponent was a Fractured Rogue. This also meant that there was the possibility that she could potentially run into Fractured Rangers, Clerics, and even Mages like herself.

The sudden thought of a Fractured Mage conjuring some kind of powerful spell at Hazel made her shudder as she mentally prayed to never come across one while in this dungeon.

Hazel continued to look at the Fractured Rogue, making sure not to take her eyes off the enemy. Unlike a Fractured Warrior, Rogues relied on stealth and sneak attacks, just like how it threw that dagger before. If she hadn’t reacted in time, her situation would’ve been more dire.

Rogues were also capable of close-quarters combat, so this Fractured was proficient at attacking from afar or up close. That made Hazel’s new opponent even more dangerous than she would have liked.

Though, it wasn’t just the Rogue she needed to watch out for.

Behind her, Hazel heard a familiar roar. When she whirled around to see who it was, her eyes shot open as she saw an armored Fractured human charging at her like a bull seeing red. She was afraid that her barrier couldn’t hold and deactivated it while leaping to the side to avoid the storming enemy.

Hazel rolled across the ground before repositioning herself on her knees. Her eyes shifted back over to the enemy that nearly bulldozed through her, watching it take an abrupt stop then turned around to glare at the mage.

She didn’t even need to use identify to know what type of Fractured class it was. It was another warrior; making this fight against two Fractured Class monsters.

“Seriously?” She groaned “Another Warrior? I just took down one of you guys a little while ago.”

The novice mage stared at both the Fractured monsters; a weary expression plastered on her face. Although she wanted to fight another class Fractured, that didn’t mean to have her face two of them.

“This isn’t going to end well, is it…?” Hazel muttered, gripping her staff while preparing for battle.