But Hayato's slash had no effect at all, the ice crystals that had formed around his sword suddenly shattered without a trace. At that moment, his gaze fell on Raff, who was standing nearby.

"Now I understand," Hayato muttered with a grin.

Meanwhile, Raff clenched his right hand. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning enveloped his right hand, the flash so bright that the forest area around them was clearly visible.

Raff swung his right fist forward as he ran, and at that moment, the flashes spread out in different directions very quickly. The group of Nightwolf monsters seemed surprised and tried to avoid them by jumping in different directions.

However, Raff's lightning began to branch out like the roots of a tree, and in the blink of an eye, a dozen Nightwolf monsters were knocked down after their hearts were pierced by the spreading lightning, and their bodies convulsed from being stung by the lightning.

"Effective use of mana, effective and precise attacks on the monsters' weaknesses, the accuracy of the attacks is also very good. This is the first time I've met someone like him, his combat experience is obviously very high," Hayato thought when he saw Raff's attack.

"You better not waste mana for nothing, you won't be able to control mana when you're near me. You won't be able to use all your magic," Raff said while jumping over the pile of monster corpses he had defeated.

"Is that your skill?" asked Hayato.

Raff seemed to smile before answering Hayato's question. "Yes. To be more precise, my passive skill, Plot Armor."

"What? Passive skill?" muttered Hayato with a surprised look on his face. "What's it called, Plot Armor?"

"Now that I can feel it, there really is someone in this forest. But the mana aura doesn't feel dark at all," Raff said, staring at the dark forest in front of them.

"He can feel it? That is even more absurd," Hayato thought with a serious look on his face. "Yes," Hayato replied briefly because he didn't want to lose his cool with Raff.

A short time later, a huge fireball suddenly crashed towards them from the distance. All trees that were passed by the fireball were immediately burned and turned into ashes, the light even illuminating the forest area around Raff and Hayato.

"Stay behind me!" said Raff as he ran ahead of Hayato.

Lightning bolts were created in both of Raff's hands, slowly solidifying into two lightning knives. Raff immediately slashed the two knives forward, two blades of lightning that were so sharp shot out of the lightning knives in Raff's hands.

The large fireball in front of them immediately split into four parts and shot in four different directions past Raff's body, but Raff was surprised because Hayato suddenly jumped from behind him.

"I will prove my strength," Hayato shouted as he slashed with his sword at a part of the fireball that was cut down.

"Arggh! Hot!" Hayato shouted as his body was hit by the part of the fireball he was about to slash.

"You idiot! What are you doing?" shouted Raff, confused by Hayato's strange behavior.

"I'm going to knock out, Raff," Hayato said as his body bounced away.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"You freak! You turned out to be more stupid than me!" grumbled Raff as he stepped on his feet, about to approach Hayato's body lying in the distance. But Raff stopped his foot, which was only one step away, when he felt an unusually strong surge of mana behind him.

"Better not to turn your back on your enemy, boy," came the voice of an adult woman from behind Raff.

The air around them suddenly felt very hot, the forest that had been dark was suddenly bright with the light from the giant flames that shot towards Raff, the flames forming a giant bird.

The ground Raff stepped on was shaking, the wind was roaring along with the giant firebird's attack, and the leaves on the trees and grass seemed to be changing color under the impact of the increasingly hot air.

All the trees that were directly under the flames were instantly incinerated by the heat, and one by one, the trees that were blocking the magic from where Raff was began to turn to ash. Finally, the magic of the giant firebird came closer to Raff.

"An attack this strong, it's impossible for me to resist with my current strength, if I run away, then Hayato will be affected," Raff muttered while staring at the incoming attack. "Real sneaky." Raff grinned and eliminated the two lightning knives in his hand.

Raff then closed his eyes and turned his palms forward, as if to directly resist the fire magic coming at him. "Even though my power is drastically reduced, this should be enough to withstand it," Raff said as he opened his eyes.

Suddenly, the giant firebird that was flying towards Raff shrank as it hit Raff's palm. Its size became smaller and smaller until the great fire magic disappeared without a trace. Blood began to flow from both sides of Raff's mouth, and his front right hand began to tremble.

Raff's gaze was now fixed on the black shadow figure hovering in the distance. "Looks like I tried too hard to hold it," Raff muttered. From the look on his face, it was clear that Raff was experiencing pain all over his body.

The hovering black shadow figure appeared to have long black hair and a silver mask covering her face. From her posture and voice, she was clearly an adult woman of about thirty years of age.

Her black undershirt didn't seem to cover her arms, so her armpits and shoulder skin were also slightly visible, while the lower part of her body wore a long black skirt that flowed down her legs, and she also wore a red belt formed by a ribbon on her back. A white cloth covered the outside of her body like a cloak.

Her hands and shoulders were also covered by a white cloth that flowed backwards and was fastened with a black button just below her neck. His right hand seemed to be holding a golden-yellow staff with a red crystal on it. At first glance, Raff understood that this time his opponent was a wizard.

"What's going on? Why didn't it explode? Did he hold it directly?" thought the silver-masked wizard with a confused look on her face. "That is impossible, that attack used up a third of my mana."

"Did he use his magic to deflect my attack? No, I didn't feel him use his magic at all," the wizard thought. "My attack should have been able to destroy the protective magic and body of an A-rank Guardian."

Raff immediately jumped away from where he was standing, deliberately so that her next attack would not affect Hayato who was still lying down. "What is your purpose with all this? Are you going to kill all the inhabitants of this group, huh?" asked Raff loudly as he stared at the masked wizard.

"You don't need to know my business," the masked wizard replied.

"Of course I do, because your answer will determine the time of your death!" said Raff.

"Hahaha... you think you can beat me with that little mana, huh?" mocked the masked wizard with a laugh.

Raff laughed along with her. "You think you can win with such a big difference in mana between us? Don't get cocky, wizard! You are an easy target for an assassin," Raff said as he picked up a piece of wooden branch from the ground and broke it into ten pieces.

"Can an assassin reach me from there? You're just a big mouth," the masked wizard taunted as she raised her wand in the air.

At that moment, the ground Raff was standing on began to tremble, a powerful surge of mana he could feel coming from the direction the masked wizard was standing. A red circle of magic began to surround the masked wizard's body, and huge flames began to burn in the air, forming the shape of a giant firebird.

The air around the forest was hot, and the situation there also became bright as it was affected by the radiance of the flames. But Raff grinned as he held out his right hand. The masked wizard looked surprised by Raff's reaction, as if he was about to block her attack again.

"What is he doing? Is he going to block my attack like before?" said the masked wizard as she swung her wand downward.

The magical figure of the giant firebird shot back at Raff, who still held his right hand out in front of him. Judging by his gestures, Raff didn't seem to be dodging the attacks coming at him.

Continued...