The Mysterious Black Magician

Some of the words of Wisp were doubtful to him. Like for example when it mentioned that the scout bee was sucking its Life Force. He wondered if a ghost type creature had it. It prolly meant Essence of Existence.

Though, it was a insignificant matter compared to the current situation. Three big worms with big beaks and a pair of transparent wings were flying in haste towards them.

"Mister, hurry up! Release me!" The wisp screamed. "Holy, they evolved to such an extent!" The wisp added.

Yman's ears picked the words of the wisp. He guessed that these worms weren't like that when the wisp fought one of them.

He squinted his eyes and guessed that the reason for their evolution must be because of the magical plants and herbs they devoured..

The only thing that wonders him was their reason for entering the cave? It's not like there were magical plants inside.

"Could it be they came here because of the bees?" He spoke aloud the words in his mind.

"They came here for the Heavenly Cauldron!" The wisp responded upon hearing him.

"What? Heavenly Cauldron?" Yman didn't know whether he heard it right or wrong as he could not see a cauldron around.

But when his eyes landed on the mug-like stone, he realised and believed that it meant about it.

A second later, he noticed the other bees noisily buzzing their wings in synchronization with the weird flapping sounds of transparent wings from the enemies. Probably, they were bothered.

The wisp tried to struggle when it noticed the person did nothing and just stood there. Perhaps he was scared. Then it stopped when suddenly struggling when two black spiders on the ceiling shot their webs to the three approaching enemies.

"Eh?!" The wisp was surprised to see it.

The webs constricted the giant worms immediately crashed on the ground after their wings had stopped flapping.

He didn't waste anymore seconds and went for the kill.

Three fortified stones shot like bullets and penetrated the body of the giant worms.

Muddy dark blood splattered from the wounds and stained the ground. He noticed that their health points did not empty on the spot. A little amount of its health points remained, but it didn't last long and the blood continued dripping until the health points turned zero percent.

The wisp went silent for a couple of seconds before it said skeptically, "Y-you're strong, Mister!"

The wisp remembered its fight against one of the worms. It was a hard fought battle. And it took longer to finish. Yet this person in front was easily dispatching the worms.

Aside from that, those spiders on the ceiling were having the same colors at the creature the wisp currently possessing.

"Mister, are those spiders your creation also!"

Yman nodded before he canceled the transmission and walked towards the dead monsters. Perhaps he could gain some points by looting their bodies.

<The wings looked like it was made of good materials; however, it wasn't certain that they were of valuable materials.> Sistela said her assessment.

'Yeah, but… we can least store some in the storage,' Yman decided to cut each pair of the wings and stored them inside his storage. Aside from the wings. He took the beaks. In any case, he can throw them anytime if it turns out invaluable.

He took a glove and tried to poke the body of the worms. Yman learned that it was made of a hard shell.

From his back, the wisp came closer to them. "Mister, thanks for letting me have this body, but what are you doing?" It asked him.

"No, nothing… just taking some samples."

"Samples? I see. However, Mister, what are you planning to do about the cauldron?" Asked the wisp. Because this man wqs covering the mouth of the mug-like stone with a black silk or black web, and he seemingly took it as possession.

"Oh, right…" he stood and took off the gloves then stored it inside his storage. "Do you mean… inside that stone is a cauldron?" He asked. After hearing the wisp calling the mug-like stone as a cauldron, he got to believe that the real cauldron was buried inside it. Regardless, it was surprising to learn that the wisp was able to converse without transmitting with it.

It could send its own transmission to communicate with him without getting overcome by his control.

"Yes, Mister!" Nodded the wisp.

"Will it cause a problem if I took it with me?" 

After Yman asked it, he noticed one of the bees came closer to the wisp. It was buzzing near it. Looking at them, it seemed like the bee was whispering to the wisp. Then he heard the wisp saying, "Yes, Mister. It will create a big impact on the whole mountain. Especially to the magical plants, herbs, and other life forms who are getting benefits from it," replied the wisp.

"Do you mean, the water from it was the source of energy that most of the life forms in here are depending on?" He asked.

"Yes, Mister. But something happened the past few days…" said the wisp with an ounce of sadness within its voice.

"What do you mean?" Yman and Sistela suddenly felt curious about what the wisp was saying. 

"According to my friends, a mysterious person came here and sealed the cauldron. Because of it, the water that was supposed to overflow and gush towards the near lake outside this cave had stopped functioning.

There was supposed to be a river here towards the lake outside."

<Looks like the Heavenly Water was the source of nutrients to all the life forms on the mountain.> Sistela thought so.

Yman was surprised to hear it. Now that the wisp said it. He noticed something about the mug-like stone. It seemed like it was intentionally made using a spell and not by a potter. The seal meant by the wisp must be the Mug-like stone.

He wondered if who was the mysterious person that the wisp told him.

'Looks like, we can't just take the cauldron with us,' Yman said in thought communication.

<What?!> Sistela was surprised that her partner planned to take it with them. <Well, we don't necessarily need to take the cauldron with us, you know! We just need to get a few amounts of Heavenly Water.>

He was planning to take it, and sell it for a huge sum of money after he succeeded in creating the medicine.

"I beg you, Mister. Please don't take away the cauldron!" Pleaded the wisp.

A bead of sweat appeared at the back of his head. Then he sighed. "Okay, but I need to take a few amounts of water," he said with a slight smile.

"Thank you, Mister!" The wisp beamed. And told him to take whatever amount he wanted. After all, the water would continue to overflow.

He then walked towards the mug-like stone and uncovered the mouth of it.

He took an empty bottle from his storage and dipped it inside until the bottle was fully filled.

Before storing it inside his storage, he shook it and stared for a couple of seconds. It had a golden color and he could feel a dense energy from it. A feeling of delight rose inside him. He was delighted to gather it, unexpectedly. After all, he only came here to gather some herbs. But luckily, he found one of the necessary ingredients for the medicine he wanted to synthetize. 

Finally, he was at the starting line of his goal. He thought. 

Then suddenly,"kyaaaaaahh!"

"What was that?"

"What is——"

They suddenly heard a loud yell. "It came from the outside!" Shouted the wisp.

Yman and the others ran outside, and the two spiders were running ahead of them.

When they reached outside the cave, "the worms!" Screamed the wisp.

Near the lake, they saw a group of people surrounded by the giant flying worms.

"Look, Mister! There are some people over there!"

Yman stared at the lake and saw three people surrounded by 10 worms.

<Aren't they the people we encountered while heading here?>Sistela seemed to remember their faces.

"Yeah, they are," he replied. But he remembered they were together with two girls. And now, there were only three of them, and they were all boys. 

"Are they your friends?!" Asked the wisp. The wisp might have thought they were his friends since they were people like him, although they have different ears.

"No, they aren't my friends," he replied. He noticed the people fought back, but they were losing because of the weak magic attack they were firing. They must be a non combative type. Looks like his guess was right. That they were from the other alchemy departments.

"Go!" He commanded his spiders.

The two spiders rushed forthwith towards the lake and fired fireballs to the worms surrounding the three people. After all, the fire element was effective against bug type monsters.

The fireballs hit and directly charred the unlucky enemies. When they noticed the danger, they flew towards the spider and opened their large beaks.

From their beaks, they noticed an air vibration that was seemingly sucking up the spiders. However, before they could succeed, their beaks were shot by webs. 

The worm's attacks turned useless when the webs were covering their beaks.

Then the spiders followed by another shot of fireballs.

The people they rescued were staring at the spiders with gaping mouths.

"What are those?" One of the three asked but the other two had no idea as well.

The other worms left them and attacked the spiders. But just like what happened to the first worms. They also suffered the same. 

"Mister, those spiders are insanely strong. Can you give me one of those?" The wisp suddenly said which made Yman to laugh soundlessly.