The roots continued to plunge into the ground and gradually closed in, killing all the small monsters in their path.
The roots were heading toward us!
"Get up, we have to run!" I grabbed Sierra's hand and guided her to run as fast as possible.
While running, my eyes searched for where Azrael, Aaron, and Emily were...
I pulled Sierra more forcefully when I spotted a large pillar—it was the perfect place to hide!
We hid behind it, breathing heavily, my lungs burning.
The onslaught of roots continued but had passed us.
"Thank you..." Sierra managed between ragged breaths.
I didn't answer, too busy peeking from behind the pillar, my eyes searching for them. But so far, I couldn't see them—all I saw was a huge monster about five meters tall...
'That's the monster from earlier. Did it evolve or something? I've never seen it like this.'
The monster's body, originally small, was now large and sturdy, a green mixture of roots and wood. It had no legs; instead, its legs were intricately tangled roots that lifted its body high.
It was big. But its defense wasn't focused and calm like before—now it was panicking...
From behind the monster, I saw roots being quickly severed, and then from beyond them, Azrael and Aaron appeared, running using the monster's roots as their path.
I couldn't see Emily's position, but her structural magic kept creating wide paths for Aaron and Azrael.
Aaron's arm was slashed by the monster, sending him flying backward.
"Aaron." I had to do something!
But before I could take a step, Azrael had already reached the perfect position to slash the monster.
His sword was already brimming with mana.
Slash!
The slash cleaved the monster into two parts between its stomach and chest, before Azrael finally split its head and stabbed its heart, pulling it out of its body.
The monster groaned, then melted along with the roots enveloping this place as its heart was removed.
Azrael jumped down—his temple was bleeding. In his hand now, he held a round crystal, or what could be called the monster's Mana Core. He grinned looking at it.
"Azrael!" I ran toward him.
He looked at me. "Thank goodness you two are okay," he said, then tossed the monster's Mana Core toward me.
I caught it.
"I'll heal you," said Sierra.
"Yeah, but you'd better heal Aaron first," Azrael replied, pointing at Aaron who was sprawled in pain with a bleeding wrist. Emily was beside him examining the wound.
Sierra immediately ran toward Aaron and quickly activated her healing magic, creating healing roots beneath Aaron.
Suddenly, something moving in my hand caught my attention—the mana core I was holding was regenerating little by little, almost invisible if not carefully observed.
Sigh...
"Azrael, it seems this Mana Core is useless," I pointed it out to Azrael, who was cleaning the blood from his temple.
He nodded in understanding when he saw it. "Then don't destroy it yet, let it live. I'll take the crystals."
I nodded, then slowly stroked the flesh beginning to form around the mana core, forcing it to regenerate anew. The reason this regenerating mana core was useless was that this monster was essentially still alive, and clearly, it couldn't be sold to local guilds like Havient—it would only sell in central cities that experiment on monsters.
But central cities were very far from Havient.
My eyes then focused on Emily, who was killing small monsters easily and very casually. But it wasn't her I was observing—I was interested in her magic, which was so elegant and looked effortless. You just had to imagine something, like a sword, and solidify that imagination with mana until it physically manifested.
But that was very wasteful. Luckily, she was Rank B.
I walked and collected other mana cores from the small monsters. Actually, the reason these dense mana cores formed in monsters' bodies was because it was their self-defense when near death. Their instinct when almost dead was to gather mana—the essence of life for living beings now—into their hearts as densely as possible until their hearts crystallized, so they could still exist even if only as a lump of crystal.
However they were, they were still living beings with the primal fear of ceasing to exist...
But some monsters could regenerate even with just their mana core, which might take about half a week to fully recover. This was an example: Veiled Tangleroot could regenerate.
Aaron and Azrael had been healed by Sierra, and I had collected about seven mana cores in my small bag. Hehe, maybe worth around 8–10 Crowns.
'If only Veiled Tangleroot's mana core wasn't regenerating, it might be worth thirty or more.' Yeah, the higher the quality of the mana core, the more expensive it was, and the better the energy output for electricity and other needs.
We were almost at the portal. Azrael, though bleeding earlier, still looked healthy carrying a small bag of mana crystals he'd taken, and he told Sierra to finish healing Aaron outside so she could focus. That made Aaron grimace in pain, touching his arm while walking because it was only half-healed. Emily was behind me—she was fine, no serious wounds.
Sigh...
Basically, they already complemented each other. Why bring me? It seemed I should leave this party... The reason was I couldn't develop with them, whether because enemies were too strong for me or I didn't get my share of training. And also, something like earlier shouldn't have happened if they had a skilled Mage or at least Rank C—it would've been easier. I would endanger them if I kept joining. In fact, I was just lucky because Veiled Tangleroot's pure weakness was fire. If not? My other attacks wouldn't have affected it because I was only Rank D.
'Alright, I've decided.'
Finally, we all exited the dungeon with relief. The gentle breeze cooling my sweat and the scorching midday sun on my face now felt more pleasant after leaving that stuffy cave...
They all sat resting under a tree. Sierra, beside Aaron, began healing him with her magic. Emily, as usual, was cleaning dust off her clothes, and Azrael, after putting down the sack of crystals he carried, immediately sat and checked his sword blade.
Seeing the dungeon still open behind me, I remembered the Veiled Tangleroot's mana core I hadn't destroyed yet. Taking it from the bag, I said:
"Shall I destroy it?" I showed them the Mana Core from Veiled Tangleroot, which was visibly regenerating bit by bit in my grasp, looking at each of them before Azrael finally nodded.
I tossed the mana core up, then split it into two parts with my sword. The two parts fell to the ground, then turned into blue particles and vanished.
I planted my sword into the ground in front of me, then announced my mature decision to them:
"Ah, right, there's something I want to say." They all turned to me, and I continued, "I think it's time for me to leave this party."
"What?" Sierra and Aaron said in unison with confused faces, including Azrael and Emily, whom I saw reacting for the first time.
"Huh? I'm not hearing things, right?" Aaron tilted his head.
"Yeah, you're not hearing things," I explained. "I want to leave because you should get a better mage than me. Actually, that boss could've been defeated easily if you had at least a Rank C mage, right? I'm aware of my abilities. My presence will only burden you."
"Fool, you're not burdening us," said Aaron.
"What do you mean? You're enough for us, and you managed to injure that monster earlier," said Sierra, her brow furrowed.
"Yeah, but mostly because its weakness was fire," I replied to Sierra's statement, then looked at Azrael. He was tilting his head, his hand on his chin, then he said:
"Honestly, I never thought you were burdening us. You're quite helpful, and most importantly, you're trustworthy. But your words have some truth too. If you keep joining us, you could die because you're not from the Magic Academy trained for this. Especially now that Emily has advanced to Rank B—soon we'll probably be promoted to higher-rank dungeons."
Hearing Azrael's words, Sierra and Aaron could only gape, while Emily nodded, understanding his point.
"That's right," I confirmed. "That's the exact reason... But I won't stop being a Hunter because there's something I want to pursue... Well, I'll form my own party at the same rank so I can develop. So this separation is only temporary, okay? I just want to develop and catch up to you. You all left me behind so quickly even though when we first met, we were all at the same rank. Haha, maybe because I'm from university." I felt my voice was awkward, so I scratched the back of my neck while smiling as best I could.
POV SIERRA AUNSWORTH:
He said this is only temporary and he'll catch up to me... Uh, I mean us? But can he really catch up? It'll be very hard for Adrian, especially since he's from a university where clearly they don't teach Mana Manipulation like we do. Even I, at the Magic Academy, struggle and am very slow at increasing my mana capacity. So what about him?
He definitely can't catch up. I'm sure. But what can I do to be with him? I can't be selfish by telling him to stay here. He's right. He could die anytime like my friend before... We used to chat casually like normal girls, then in the morning, I got news she died with a torn-up body that made me nauseous and afraid to go on missions again... Not just me, but all the students.
The second mage before Adrian also experienced heavy trauma until she left the Academy and chose to become a civilian rather than suffer the same fate. Because the one torn apart was her close friend, it left my party short one mage. And at that time, I realized being a Hunter was as terrifying and cruel as this.
Back then, I decided to become a Hunter only because I Awakened at Rank D, which meant I had great potential to rise in rank compared to someone who Awakened at Rank E. And the other reason was because I really, really loved magic! It was so fun—I could create roots from nothingness just by manipulating the mana within me...
Of course, with a weak reason like that, my mentality immediately collapsed when I heard the news of my friend's death. The Hunter world was crueler than I'd imagined before... Instantly, I locked myself at home, curled up in disappointment, thinking:
"I should've just entered University and lived comfortably as a civilian. I want to quit."
After that, my desire to leave the Magic Academy was firm, and for my farewell to Azrael and the others, I fought my fear—returning to the Dungeon one last time. But there was a new mage with us, though I'd never seen him at the Magic Academy.
He introduced himself as "Adrian Hale. From Havient University, and Aaron's friend."
What? From university? Is he stupid?! I want to leave the Magic Academy so I don't have to deal with Dungeons anymore, but this kid from university who surely lives comfortably wants to enter a Dungeon?! This is the dumbest person I've ever met...
Inside the Dungeon, we fought a huge wolf monster. They all fought with their magic, but I stood behind, trembling, constantly reminded of the news of my friend's torn-up body.
My stomach churned, then unconsciously, a large bat monster lunged at me. I thought I'd die. But I didn't. Someone saved me—Adrian. He pushed me aside, but his back was slashed by the bat, making him bleed.
Long story short, we (without me, I just watched) managed to defeat all the monsters in that Dungeon. Of course, most of it was thanks to Azrael and Emily—they're talented; the Hunter world suits them.
I guided Adrian out to repay him for saving me earlier. I couldn't use my magic for some reason—maybe I was too scared.
Then I asked something that always bothered me: "You're from university, right? Why do you want to become a Hunter? Don't you already live comfortably as a civilian, and I heard your older brother is a Rank S Hunter?"
And Adrian's answer made me realize something: "True... I do live comfortably with my brother being a Rank S Hunter. But do you think that'll last forever? I don't think so. I'm sure someday there'll be another great disaster... And the first to die will be civilians with no protection whatsoever. Civilians will die like ants you crush when they bite you. I don't want to die meaninglessly like that. I don't want to rely on others to protect my life. This life is mine; I'll protect it myself."
"Besides, in dire situations, humans tend to think more of themselves than others. It's basic nature. Small people like civilians, even if they help the economy a lot, will still be forgotten."
That was the answer from someone from University...
That answer made me rethink: Should I leave the Magic Academy? But what if someday a great disaster really happens again and I have no skills to protect myself?
That question flashed in my mind, but one by one, it seemed quickly patched by Adrian's words, then turned into a strong resolve not to leave the Academy...
And since then, I've met Adrian more often. I also got to know him better. Whoa, I just found out... turns out he's a student with high academic scores in school and university, even becoming a lecturer at just 19 years old?! Well, with that intelligence, clearly he could become a professor living comfortably in a central city, but he instead chose to be a Hunter with the principles he holds. I'm amazed and ashamed I once thought about leaving the Magic Academy. He really wanted to go to the Magic Academy, but he said his brother didn't allow it. But here I am, already here, complaining?
I was wrong. I was the stupid one.
Months passed with him. Going to the Dungeon was one of the things I liked most now, because Adrian would definitely be there since our party only entered Dungeons when Adrian had a break from university. That was a rule Azrael made: if one couldn't attend, then none could.
Then February 14th arrived—Valentine's Day. I don't know what I was thinking, but I saved up money to buy Valentine's chocolate in a heart-shaped box to give to him.
At that time, I felt I had to give him something, but I wanted to give him more than just as a party friend...
I...
I invited Adrian to meet outside dungeon activities, just the two of us, and I didn't expect him to accept—he said he needed a break too!
Then when we met, I was surprised—he looked very different not wearing the robe he usually wore in dungeons. He wore all-black clothes that made him look very handsome...
After chatting about ordinary things for quite a while, I gave him the chocolate shyly.
Uh, what am I doing? Why am I like this? Won't this ruin the party dynamics? I shouldn't have done it!
And sure enough, the atmosphere suddenly became very awkward. But he broke the conversation first by thanking me and saying he'd keep it...
That was enough for me. I didn't want to go further either, because it would ruin the party dynamics...
Adrian Hale. He wasn't just a party friend; he was someone who changed my life. Made me find answers to my fears...
And now, he's going to leave me. But I won't stop him or join him. He has to develop on his own path. Besides, if he stayed with our party, he could die. I don't want that. So I let him go, and I'll stay here. In the party, continuing to grow stronger.
"Tch, alright if that's what you want," Aaron, who was recovering, suddenly snapped me out of my reverie. Everyone looked at him.
"Thank goodness you understand," Adrian said with his smile, now looking at me.
"Can I come with you?" I said softly, and not seriously—I already knew the answer. I just wanted to know if he still held to his principles?
"No," he answered briefly with a smile curling on his lips.
"It's okay," I nodded. But my chest tightened even though that was the answer I expected.
Then I saw Aaron's hand was fully healed. I stopped my healing magic and said:
"Aaron, your wound is healed," I then squeezed his hand hard to prove it.
"Ouch! What are you doing?"
I chuckled, then stood up. "Well, then for Adrian's farewell, do you all want to go eat?"