The Misty Forest

Two figures darted between the towering trees. One was fleeing, the other in pursuit.

"Horus, you can't escape!"

With a loud explosion from a blazing fireball, one figure fell to the ground like a broken kite.

It was a frail young man clad in a dark gray battle robe, injuries visible all over his body.

He leaned against a tall tree, gripping a rolled-up parchment and glaring at the enemy hovering in the air.

The enemy was a short, middle-aged man in a black robe, his eyes narrow like slits. He extended his hands, murmuring a complex incantation, and mist began to swirl around him. Before him, a complicated magic circle began to take shape.

Horus, the frail young man, looked up at the magic circle, his face turning pale. The hovering figure, wearing a sneering grin, coldly declared, "Farewell, Horus!"

As he spoke, he twisted his hands in the air, and a beam of white light shot from the magic circle, hurtling toward Horus, who lay beside the tree. But just then, the space in front of Horus distorted, and suddenly, a person appeared out of thin air.

It was Karian.

The white beam shot toward Karian, striking him directly, but nothing happened. Karian stood there, bewildered, completely at a loss for what had just occurred.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

What was that white light? How did I end up here? Could this be the effect of that gem, allowing me to teleport to a specific coordinate? And is this the so-called coordinate of [67, 89]?

"Who are you?"

A voice called from above, startling Karian. He looked up to see the short man in a black robe slowly descending, surrounded by a whirlwind, his expression one of wariness.

"Do you want to save him?"

Save who? Karian was even more confused. Teleporting here was one thing, but now he was facing someone?

Turning his head, he noticed a frail young man resting against a tree behind him, his body covered in cuts and burns.

Karian furrowed his brow and began to speculate. It seemed the man in the black robe had been chasing the frail young man, but during the chase, Karian had suddenly appeared between them, interrupting the pursuit.

This wasn’t good. How had he been dragged into this conflict? Both of these individuals looked like powerful high-ranking magicians.

Karian was just a teacher who only knew the theory of magic; he couldn’t even condense magical elements. At that moment, he felt a strong urge to retreat, hesitating about whether to flee.

If a battle between high-ranking magicians broke out, an ordinary human like him could easily be obliterated! But if he ran, would they use magic to kill him before he could get far?

Panicking, Karian stood frozen, frantically thinking about how to save himself.

Meanwhile, the man in the black robe across from him, named Maiko, was equally conflicted. A member of the Hurricane Mercenary Corps, he was a sixth-level magician, skilled in wind and fire magic.

The Hurricane Mercenary Corps had received a mission to set a trap and hunt down Horus, the second son of Count Naka, who was now slumped against the tree behind Karian.

Originally, everything was going smoothly. The mercenary corps had successfully cornered Horus, but unexpectedly, Horus had unleashed powerful energy to escape the trap and plunged deep into the Misty Forest.

Maiko had no choice but to chase him here, injuring him in the process. Considering that Horus had various tricks up his sleeve, Maiko didn’t dare take any chances and opted to use a forbidden spell: “Elemental Explosion,” hoping to eliminate Horus in one blow.