The Greatest Sinner

Whoosh.

Evan cast the "Eye of Truth" and looked at the red monster. The young man muttered quietly: "The first rank, zero broken barriers, one evolution during the zero rank."

Evan had never encountered the first rank monster before, only a zero rank one. After reading the "Pillar of Soul" guide written by Draven, Evan had learned more about how evolutions were displayed in monsters.

If the monster evolved while it was at zero rank, the stripe would appear on the "Pillar of Soul "itself. However, if the monster evolved during the first rank or any other, the stripe would appear on the corresponding platform.

The red monster had got its ability after evolving while being at the first rank. It used it to kill a scavenger and turn its body into a life force.

< Strong and calm, it killed this monster without even opening its eyes. It felt like it didn't even wake up.>

"But... raven, why did you bring me here? I'm not going to fight this monster, I have no particular reason to." Quietly Evan said.

Whoosh.

The raven was about to object, but Evan instantly grabbed it by the beak.

"Quiet... let`s go out of here." Said Evan and was about to jump out of the tree when suddenly he understood why the raven had brought him here.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

Between the trees, twelve men were moving cautiously.

<It looks like something interesting is starting.> Evan thought, and began to scrutinize each of the men using the "Eye of Truth".

"Have you brought me here because of them?" Evan asked quietly, still holding the raven's beak.

The bird merely nodded, whereupon Evan released his grip.

"By the way, you're pretty strong, can't you kill them using your beam?" 

Evan was sure that the purple ray was an ability the raven had gained after evolving.

The raven didn't answer anything, Evan decided not to ask anything more and continued to watch the people.

<Hmm, there are no platforms in their "Pillars of Soul", so none of them have reached the "One-Pointed Star" yet. I wonder what they're going to do? Are they going to try to kill that monster?>

Evan realized there were quite a few of them, but the monster was much stronger than they were. Even if they could win, there would only be one or at best, two people left alive. No monster was worth that kind of sacrifice.

Evan's gaze stopped on the last man in their group. Evan was surprised at what he saw.

<This mantle and this mask... is he really from...?

Evan thought the man was a member of the "Demonic Tree", but he quickly dismissed the idea.

<No, unfortunately, I`m wrong.>

He was baffled to see the red mantle on the man's back and the demon mask on his belt. But, the mantle was tattered, only half of it was left, and the mask had been split in two. Moreover, Evan did not believe that a member of the "Demonic Tree" could be here.

<It's more likely that the "Demonic Tree" member had fought with someone and was injured, and this person just found his mantle and mask. Moreover, his aura doesn't look intimidating at all.>

Evan turned out to be right. This man really had nothing to do with one of the great organizations of the underground world. But, he was the commander of this small group that had already moved into action.

<What are they doing?> Suddenly, the twelve men split into two and quickly surrounded the monster. But they didn't get within ten meters of it.

At that distance, the monster could not reach them. Moreover, they acted quietly and carefully, the monster still didn't notice them. Evan thought that now they would all attack the monster together with long-range spells, but he was wrong.

Whoosh.

Suddenly the six men, one from each team pulled the scrolls from their bags. They placed them on the ground and at that moment, Evan realized something.

<These are spell scrolls, but why have they put them on the ground? Isn't that... formation...?">. Evan wasn't sure if he was right. He had never seen a formation before in his life. This would be his first such experience.

Whoosh.

Next, each of the six men took out yet another scroll. They applied them to the first and then began pouring mana into them.

Immediately after that, various black symbols began to appear from the scrolls, on the ground next to the monster. Eventually, they transformed into a giant magical circle. Evan didn't know this spell.

<How big is it... Its power must be incredible>. Evan was amazed at what he saw.

<If I'm not mistaken, the first scrolls they pulled out showed this massive magic circle, but why did they need more scrolls?> Evan was trying to figure out how the formation worked.

<Hmm, they look pretty tired. It's like they've been drained of all their energy, but that's not surprising. It must have taken an insane amount of mana to create a magic circle like that.>

These six people were responsible for creating the magic circle, but the formation wasn't ready yet.

<Wait a minute, the magic circle only started to appear after they pulled out the second scroll. They poured mana into two scrolls at once, not just one. Is it possible that the second scrolls are needed to create a magic circle of this size, while the first scrolls are responsible for exactly what kind of spell is created?>

Strangely enough, Evan was right. The second scrolls were special scrolls for creating formations. You could say that they copied the magic circle from the first scroll and projected it into the area within the circle.

The more scrolls were used while creating a formation, the more powerful the spell itself would be. But, with each scroll, the amount of mana needed multiplied. In order alone to create this magical circle, six magicians had spent all their mana.

However, this was not the end, the magic circle still needed to be infused with mana and activated.

Whoosh.

Each of the six remaining men pulled a stake out of their bags. The stakes were made of black metal with various runes on the surface. Then the men pierced the scrolls.

The next moment they began pouring mana into the stakes and the massive magical circle began to fill with it. The black symbols gradually changed their color to yellow.

At first, Evan was astonished to see the incomprehensible stakes, but he quickly understood their purpose: <They are some sort of spell activator. What a complex system it is! They've spent so many scrolls and so much mana. The formation must be incredibly powerful, otherwise, all this is for nothing.>

While Evan speculated about the meaning of creating such a large formation, the magic circle was completely filled with mana. Everyone in the group looked tired and exhausted. They had spent all their mana on this formation, but now it was ready. All that remained was to activate it.

The squad leader put his hand to the magic circle of the spell and poured some mana into it.

Rumble. Rumble. Rumble.

A moment later, the magic circle glowed brightly and hundreds of yellow lightning bolts rained down on the monster.