The Mysterious Black Magician

The raccoon man was startled when one of the bees spoke. He stared at it and noticed that it was different compared to the other bees. It was exuding a golden aura.

Although he was curious, he chose not to ask the person in front of him.

He knew that the current situation was inappropriate for such a trivial question.

Yman narrowed his eyes at the report of Wisp's friend. No doubt that something was amiss in a weird situation that was currently happening.

Mysterious worms were appearing in waves, and it was strange that they were coming to attack them.

"For now, I guess, we need to hide," he said to them. It wasn't a good idea fighting against the enemy with uncertain numbers.. It would drain out their mana and stamina without proper achievements.

"Bro, my friends are--"

"Don't worry; I'll try to search for them, using my scouts."

"Mister, how about the spider—"

"Later."

He said and sent two scout birds flying. He didn't want to trouble himself with others' problems, but Yman found it troublesome to argue with a desperate person.

He just wished that this person would leave them be and would be going to look for his friends in another area. However, he thought that helping him now would bring benefits to him later on.

Regardless, he sent two of the scout bees to assure him that he was searching. It would be troublesome if he kept annoying him about his friends.

The raccoon man went silent after two of his birds went patrolling in the skies.

However, right after his birds flew a few meters away from them, they transmitted their vision to him that caused him to be slightly surprised.

About a hundred worms together with purple color insects that look like butterflies were coming to their location. Although they look like butterflies, he knew that they weren't the same.

Not only that, the creatures were gigantic, and they looked fiercer. Anything aside from that was just as the raccoon man had described a while ago.

So he believed that it was the evolved form that the raccoon man mentioned.

"This is bad," he subconsciously muttered.

"What do you mean, Mister?" Asked Wisp.

'Wait, could it be--' Yman thought as he glanced to his back.

<Partner, did you find out something?> Sistela asked him.

'I'm not sure, but perhaps they were aiming to enter the cave.'

<The cave?>

Sistela was doubting his partner's thought that those monsters were heading to the cave.

<Hmm…>

Sistela mumbled as she was thinking.

(The next second,)

<Do you mean--!>

'Yeah!' He didn't wait for her to complete her words as he felt that she already figured it out.

Yman and the others headed to the woods not far from the lake. It was on the left side when facing the cave and their backs were facing the lake. In front of the woods was a lofty wall of the mountain. 

But he soon change his mind and rushed towards the cave entrance.

"Where are you going, Mister?" The Wisp asked him.

"Bro!"

"Don't follow me, you guys hide over there!"

He pointed to the near forest.

"But--"

The raccoon man wanted to say something but he already sprinted towards the cave.

"Mister, waaaaaiiiiit!!!" The Wisp screamed and rushed behind him. "What are you planning to do?" It flew beside him and asked.

He could feel the doubt within its voice, but Yman disregarded it as there was a more important things.

"I'm going to secure the cauldron," he replied. He had a bad premonition about those creatures.

"....."

The Wisp fell silent.

"Don't worry, I'm just going to transfer it to a safer place," he added to assure the Wisp that he wasn't planning to steal it.

"Uhm…" The Wisp seemed to notice his reason for doing it. "Don't tell me those creatures are heading here because of the water?"

Yman sent a glance at it while kicking the ground to rapidly rush towards the entrance of the cave.

"Well, I'm not sure, just a hunch..." he replied.

"Oh!" Said the Wisp as it landed on his shoulder. Probably, tired of flapping its wings.

He estimated that the wave of worms would arrive in about 7-8 minutes. Just enough time to secure the item.

When Yman and the Wisp arrived in front of the mug-like stone.

He glanced around and saw a stone as big as his head. He picked and fortified it. Then he used it to smash the mug-like stone.

POK! POK! POK!

He did three successive smashes to it, but Yman was dumbfounded when nothing happened, even a little crack could not be seen.

"Dang, it's so hard. Is this even made of stone?" He whined.

From his shoulder: "I see! It turns out my friend was telling the truth!" Suddenly exclaimed the Wisp.

"What do you mean?" He asked with a frown.

"The mysterious person who sealed it is a strong expert with unmeasurable magical energy. That's what my friend had told me before," said the Wisp.

"What?" He was surprised to hear it. 

A strong expert with unmeasurable magical energy? Yman repeated in his mind as he thought of the person's identity.

Could it be a Real Path Expert? Or perhaps a-- Hegemon?

Yman was asking himself, but he realized that it was a waste of time so he decided to push the thought out of his mind.

He decided to smash it again by using more strength.

POOOOK!!!

A dull sound reverberated inside the cave.

"?" However, he noticed the stone in his hand was shattered to pieces. He stared at the mug-like stone and wondered what to do. It turns out that the person who sealed it was putting into account that someone might see it. He probably used a higher-level spell to toughen the stone to such a degree that even his demonic strength was useless against it!

He felt a chill upon thinking such a powerful person was inside the campus! 

"....."

He fell silent.

"Mister, what are you going to do now?"

He tried to push and kick the mug-like stone, but still, nothing had happened. His kick even did a recoil to him.

He retreated and fell silent. Looks like his strength wasn't enough to destroy it no matter what he did, and he could not use an explosive spell as he was afraid that the cave's ceiling fell onto them. Also, he wasn't sure that it would be effective against it.

He did not respond to the Wisp's question and directly summoned two spiders.

Using their webs, he sealed the opening as he did recently. Then they rushed outside and also sealed the cave's entrance with the web.

"Mister, will it be fine?" The Wisp asked him again, but he wasn't certain too.

Regardless, it was better than none.

"No, but it is the only thing I could do since this stone isn't easy to break."

After sealing the entrance, they rushed towards the forest to hide.

"Bro, here!"

The raccoon man called to him while waving his hand.

When they arrived at the forest, Yman and the others climbed on the trees and they were peeking under the cover of the thick leaves.

They were staring ahead, to where the lake was.

(A minute later,)

"They're here!" Screamed the raccoon man.

"Hey, lower your voice! " The Wisp yelled at him.

"....."

"Bro, don't you think this bee is magical? Look, it can talk." He was finally able to ask the thing that kept bugging him. "I think you will get rich when you sell it."

Yman scratched his head, wondering how to respond. It would be a long explanation if he tells him the truth that it wasn't a bee, but a wisp.

"Hey, watch your mouth!" The Wisp yelled at the raccoon man.

"It wasn't an ordinary bee, and it is dangerous to threaten so be careful because it can understand us."

He said.

A bead of tear appeared at the back of the raccoon man as he hastily said his sorry to the golden bee.

"Hmmph!" The Wisp pouted.

Ahead of them, they saw the monsters crossing the lake and marched towards the cave.

"Oh no, there are about hundreds of them, " the raccoon man said.

"Mister, they are looking this way!" Said the Wisp. Then it added saying: "Do you think they figured us out?"

Yman knitted his brows and stared at it.

(The next second,)

"!!"

The Wisp was startled when a grin appeared on his face. Then he lifted his hand to the Wisp.

Waaii--

The Wisp was not able to finish its words as he snapped it without a second thought. After grabbing it, he stored it inside his Cyber Storage.

<Why?!> Sistela asked.

Beside him was a stunned raccoon man. "W-why did you do that bro…?" He muttered worriedly. After all, he was the one who told him that it wasn't good to anger the magical bee.

But he rudely snapped it. He glanced around him, but he could not find anymore the magical bee.

He wondered where this person threw the magical bee. Or did he hide it? He could not even see a spatial ring on him. 

Yman scratched his face. For some odd reason, Sistela and the raccoon man had the same question.

"A precaution, I think they can sense it," he said.

<Oh, do you mean the water?>

'Yes!'

<I see. Make sense.> Sistela said. She remembered when the Wisp jumped into the mug-like stone filled with Heavenly Water. Then it suddenly become stronger after that— with golden aura that was exuding from its body.

"Is that so…" the raccoon man didn't know why the monsters would sense it, but maybe because of it being magical. "Oh, Look at them," Pointed the raccoon man. "They continued!" He added.

<What? They moved to the cave entrance! Partner, your guess was right!>