That bitch dares to command me Karnus was on the way where he had felt the last mana fluctuation of the princess. He stomped on his horse. It neighed and started to run faster. Beside him, forty heavy guarded soldiers were riding behind him. As they passed several small towns, everyone stepped away as they saw the big emblem of the inquisition. Karnus cursed it again. He was previously a leader of a dark guild called Scorpion, which was annihilated the older woman. But after witnessing how the woman slaughtered his entire guild members, he couldn't resist, and he joined the inquisition. Now he was working as an errand boy for the older woman. He witnessed firsthand the strength of the woman, which was well known in public as "silver mother". Each time he recalled her alias, he couldn't hide his disgusting smile, a name which wasn't suitable for a woman like her. He was a free bird, and now he was forced to do the donkeywork. But mostly, he didn't understand why the older woman was interested in a princess who didn't possess any mana. After seeing the princess, she was his type of woman, which he preferred. He glanced around, seeing a small forest far away. Even he didn't like his work, and he couldn't disobey the woman, not at least now.

As they arrived there, they found many body parts scattered around. The ground was soaked in blood. Karnus frowned, seeing this. Even the soldier wasn't powerful, and they couldn't be killed like this, especially without a trace of any mana flow. He saw many golden small items which were scattered around a predefined area. Karnus took one of them and examined it. It was very small, an appearance like a storage barrel. He even could put his little finger inside. There were at least a hundred, even two hundred of them, on the ground.

The soldier quickly descended from their horses and searched fr any evidence if the opponent used some magic.

Karnus sent several soldiers inside the forest as he felt a weak aura that could belong to mana less human. At the same time, he continued to find any clue how the soldiers got killed. The conclusion was that all had many holes inside in their body and there was a cylindro-spherical metal. He came to the conclusion it was man-made. He took it from the corpse and glanced closer. It was a little bit bigger than a thumb. He took the metal and tried to put it into the small barrel which was lying on the ground. He had seen many things, but this bizarre slaughtered he never saw. Even with magic, there was always a trace of magic, even a little bit, but unfortunately, he couldn't find a single one. For a moment, he thought it must be a kind of sling weapon but quickly dropped the idea. Even the best sling weapon could pierce the human body, but not a medium armour.

As he noticed that the seven soldiers mana died out, he quickly got suspicious. "Soldier, be on guard. something is fishy here." His 12 years of battle experience said this wasn't the usual thing. "Soldier, take your formation, we going into the forest" all of them quickly gathered, moved into the forest. It was still evening, so the sunlight was still bright. As he saw the seven soldiers lying on the ground, he wondered what happened. Did they die? Also, here, he couldn't find any mana trace.

As he ordered the soldier to search the area, two soldiers from his left side fell to the ground. He didn't even notice it. "We are on attack", enough to hid themselves. He glanced one was even laying, and something had pierced through his forehead. Again, this strange metallic sphere ball. It seems the using some weapon allow use without magic. As he quickly located where the thing came, he ordered them to swarm and kill the person. He used a spell of level 3, " Shadow guard", allow giving him protection.

However, to send something, they use wind magic at level 4 or 5 but with low mana. Only the highest wizard could make it. According to the intel, the Red Dawn didn't possess such kind of wizard. Could it be someone else? While he moved carefully he several things went through his mind. He already knew that the princess wanted to join or at least meet the Red Dawn.

Karnus stopped as he saw a man. He was holding some strange thing. He had to look twice, and the man wore completely different fashion cloth he never saw, not even in the capital dressed anyone like this. The object he was holding was small, had the shape of L.

Karnus used his detection spell and found that man was mana less. Karnus face hardened. "You filthy heretic, did you killed the soldier?" he asked in anger. He despised people without mana. For him, all of them were less human, also deserved to die. "Did you take the princess?" he asked but didn't get a response. The man pointed the weapon towards Karnus and triggered. Without any thought, Karnus strengthened his shadow wall and stopped the bullets in the wall. "So I see. So did you killed them". Karnus quickly got interested in the kind of weapon. It was fast, also dangerous, better than arrows. "You must be really brave to come alone to face me," said Karnus looking at the weapon.

Karnus eyes were filled with greed. If I get this, maybe I can kill the witch. He saw an opportunity. The only thing in his mind is taking the weapon. He dashed forward at the same time the man retreat, which surprised Karnus.

His speed matched Karnus. He frowned. The next thing stunned him. the man, without any incarnation, replaced the small weapon with a bigger one. It looked more dangerous. Did he used a summoning spell? No way he didn't even have mana. Everything on the man was completely strange.

This time several of the metallic stuff target him. It was faster and deadlier. Not even the special unit of archer could achieve with their enhanced arrow, not such a speed. I need it.

Karnus grabbed his wand, which allowed him to increase the performance by 20% and invoked three "shadow snakes". And send them at the man to capture. But Karnus opponent was able to dodge the snake easy. Karnus frowned again. His speed is abnormal.

Both exchanged blow after blow, but the man was able to move faster and dodged all the attacks of Karnus, but his body got several scratches from the bullets, even he evade many of the flying bullets. Dammit, does the guy have a contract with a devil? No, I can't feel any negative mana. Or it seems a homunculus. Karnus felt frustrated also humiliated by a manless guy who dared to fight against him equally.

He seems to preserve a distance, so this must be his weakness. Karnus looked annoyed, and he already used half of his mana. Also, hat using a spell at level 4 which would deplete another half. "Shadow domain" under Karnus feet, a black pitch hole appeared in short behind the man. The man dodged again, but this time Karnus wouldn't let him go " I won't let you go. Shadow room", he called. Both were trapped inside a black sphere. "Now it is over for you, motherfucker", said Karnus and grabbed the man on his neck. To his surprise, it was metallic, also the weight of the guy.

To his surprise, the man smiled. He stretched his left palm towards him, and before Karnus could react, something bright came out. And the energy pierced his heart like they were like paper. Karnus was under shock "no..light magic..impossible". He couldn't believe it and fell to the ground. The last thing Karnus heard was, "Shit, I used too much blast. I need to optimize the output. If not, I quickly deplete the energy."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

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"Did you record all of this, Alfred?" asked Kevin. "Yes, master. I will analyze it later." Kevin nodded. He took out a cryo coffin and put the A-ranked wizard inside. His goal was to inflect few damages so that he could use this body. Unfortunately, he had a head size hole in his chest. Thanks to Amelia information, he estimated his opponent as he saw that the wizard used shadow magic.

Kevin took the assault rifle from the ground. First, he used a normal handgun which didn't inflect him anything, and then he switched to a B-grade assault rifle. Well, at least I was able to injure him. It wasn't easy to aim him, even with the automatic target system. Maybe it has to do with the magic which interferes with my system. I need to be careful next time.

"Commander, I eliminated all of the remaining targets". "Good Omega, put two of them into the cryo coffins which I have given you and bring them to me," ordered Kevin. "Understood, Commander".

Alpha arrived in front of him. "Master, why did you participate. If you have given it to me, it would have cleared up," said she with her worried voice. "Well, Alpha, I wanted to test m ability. Nothing happened," said he with a big smile. Besides, if I have given you, you would have made him to mince.

He could feel that Alpha was upset, so he quickly switched the topic "Alpha, prepare for leaving. After Beta and Delta arrived, we will leave as soon as possible. By the way, take the coffin with you". She nodded and disappeared.

He got a new notification also 300 Points. He only hoped everything was already by them. He couldn't communicate with them because they were already over the 100m range.

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Delta pressed ahead with her two handguns while Beta followed her. Both dashed through the dense forest. As both saw a green humanoid, they quickly dispersed. The goblin glanced in the direction where he heard rustling.

Delta used her heat sensor to scan the surrounding. "Vice-Commander, there are 51 targets. Their formation chaotic but they moving towards commander camp." Beta nodded. Normally they would see the enemies on the map as red dots, but currently, they have figured it out themselves.

Both prepared for an assault. The number of goblins increased as they passed them.

The colony of goblins moved slowly forward as Delta fired her first bullet from the back of the group of the goblins. It pierced through the green head, and the goblin fell on the ground. Other goblins turned back to see what happened as several bullets hit them from behind. Beta eliminated the first row of goblins quickly before she disappeared behind a tree. The goblins were surrounded. As they noticed that their comrades were dying, they broke in rage, searching for the culprit. Beta and Delta used the mess to eliminate the goblins one after one. The surrounding filled with the sound of the gunshot until no one of the goblins was alive. "I eliminated 27 targets," said Beta as she closed the distance between her and Delta. Delta smile became bigger "28 targets, there were several which joined the group a little bit later," showing her victory pose. Beta looked annoyed.

After a while, both moved without making a noise deep into the forest. Thanks to several hints, they quickly arrived at the settlement of goblins, which was like a fortress. Several goblins were guarding on a small tower. Each one of them was holding a bow. Several goblins were holding a lance. Delta watched for a while and reported. "There are at least a hundred of them and one giant goblin. I don't have any information about the giant goblin. But it seems the leader of the group. Unfortunately, I can't give you a better accurate number. I wished Eta was here, and she is an incredible scouter. This would be a perfect task for her." Beta nodded. The giant goblin was a hobgoblin sitting on a big wooden chair. In front of him, there were two big torches.

"Ok. Delta, you take the right side. I will take the left side," ordered Beta. First, they eliminate the goblins on the small tower, followed the guard. A little commotion broke out the goblins as they saw how several goblins fell on the ground. As Beta fired her gunshot towards the hobgoblin, it rebounded on his skin. The hobgoblin let a furious scream and stood up, glancing in the direction where the bullet came. All the goblins froze on the spot in fear. "I will take care of him," said Beta and jumped from her hiding place into the centre, front of the hobgoblin. During the first raid, they quickly concluded that the goblins weren't a significant threat for them.

The hobgoblin looked furious at Beta and tried to grab her. The hobgoblin was at least twice the time taller than Beta. She dodged it and grabbed her knife. With a fast movement, she cut one of the hobgoblin fingers. As several goblins tried to help their leader, they got shot by Delta. The hobgoblin stumbled over one of the torches. Beta didn't give any time to respond and grabbed his arm. With a swift, she threw him into the horde of the goblins which were coming towards her. The hobgoblin crushed them. She repeated it multiple times. The hobgoblin was overpowered. He couldn't do anything against it. It could only moan. The goblins, which saw how their leader got beaten up, decided to flee but didn't come far. Before they could leave the place, they received a bullet in their head. Delta activated her Quad-wielding skill, allow to hold four weapons at the same time. To compare to Alpha fire-rate, it lacks but it was more accurate than Alpha target.

The whole area was filled with screams and gunshots. It took a while for Delta to kill all of them. Beta used her knife to pierce the hobgoblin stomach and finished with that.

For a while, they both scouted the area to find remaining goblins, but there wasn't anyone.

After a second search in the whole area, they confirmed no one was alive. After that, te both dolls decided to head back. h

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"Arick, don't fidget. You make me more nervous," said Uvia, annoyed by Arick behaviour. Both were standing outside of the autopsy hall. Both had witnessed the bizarre battle between mana less people also the soldiers from the Ariel Kingdom.

They were now in Wizard Academy in Mondstadt, and they have delivered the corpse of one of the soldiers. They went hotfoot to the quest hall and explained to the advisor everything without letting anything out about the witness. It didn't take long that several professors got interested and was examining the corpse now.

Both of them could hear that they were talking to each other but didn't know what. "I'm sure we will get enough points to pass the second year exam. Professor Benedict did already said that we have passed the written exam. I'm sure we have cleared this quest." said Uvia, confident towards Arick. Both were on the last day of their second year. The exam had two parts, the first written part and the second part was to clear a quest in a group of two. The quest was always based on the current situation. Most of the quests were combat-related missions that both didn't like, then the surveillance quest appeared. Get the current situation of the princess of the Kingdom of Ariel. It was a kind of quest which most wizards wouldn't take. First, it was exhausting most of their time watching. Second, there wasn't big combat. So they took the quest.

The Academy is well known for its good education also good preparation for the real mission world. Many good wizards who graduated from here made a big name for themselves. Same time the death rate is very high. In the fifth year and the last year, only one third were able to graduate. The other was either dead or failed the exam.

After a while, an older woman stepped out of the room. She wore the typical black violet wizard cloth with a long hat. Both quickly took their respective posture.

"You two outdid this time," complimented the older woman with a smile on her face. "Thanks, Professor von Hansen", replied Arick with huge respect. Both quick exchanged glances. This is a really good sign. "D..Did we cleared the quest?" asked Uvia.

"Normally, it takes time to evaluate. But I can assure you both have passed. from next semester you are third-year students." After hearing this, both broke in joy. Arick made a fist. "I passed it, Juhu" he was more than happy. But their happiness turned quickly into the opposite after hearing the following message.

"As you both know, in the third year, you will be assigned to a long term mission. Normally you can choose what kind of mission you want to go. But you both discovered something huge. You both will be assigned to this mission. Your goal will be to find all information about two persons, including the princess. Especially about the strange weapon how they are used."

After hearing from Professor von Hansen, their face turned pale. Uvia tried to protest, "Professor von Hansen, we are non-combat wizards. Also, this seems to be the fourth year or even the fifth year mission. I also submitted another surveillance mission, which belongs to my home country.."

"I know it, Uvia, but this is urgent. According to your report, there are weapons or tools which have the same capacity as our magic. It is an essential threat for us wizards. Also, about the maid, even you may have overlooked. It must be investigated. Also, you both witness them. You both know how they look."

Seeing their glooming face, she added, "Don't worry, I will assign someone to you from the fifth year student. I will also assure you will get several benefits," said she.

Both nodded with a complicated expression. "Did you mention it to someone?" she asked them out of the blue. Both said without hesitation, "No, we came right from the pace. We didn't have the time to explain to others, besides our mentor". Von Hasen nodded. "Good, this is also classified as secret A. From now you shouldn't speak about it." Both nodded.

"Don't be upset. This will be a good opportunity for you two. Many wizards are starving for such a mission. If you are able to finish it successfully, it will help you for your future."

Both glanced at each other and nodded again.