Four years later.

I sat on vines in the local jungle pretending to be a statue. Visibility in this area was zero and there were no trodden roads. I chose one of the most popular but impassable zones. From here it was possible to get into the three nearest anomalous zones at once. The Vrock Lands, the Sea of ​​Decay, and the Caverns of Doom.

In one of the anomalous zones, I had already lost my leg, so I was not going to climb there again. The filthy Vrocks attacked me in a whole crowd. I am lucky to get out of there alive.

The Sea of ​​Decay was an extremely unpleasant and little explored place. Anyone who plunged into the purple mist of the Sea of ​​Decay died without exception, at least if they were originally alive. Only something like golems or souls could survive there. There is nothing to do at this place if your body got flesh and blood even if you are a 2nd rank Mage.

The Caverns of Doom was also a dangerous place, with the main inhabitants being semi-sentient humanoids called Doom Knights. Apparently, there was some kind of weakening aura around them, if a couple of them were nearby, then I would be crushed by the weight of my own armor. In addition to the Knights, other not the most friendly creatures lived there. I myself never was there and did not plan to visit them.

In any case, I was waiting for the next victim. For loners like me, traveling to the anomalous zone is too dangerous, but I could hunt down other acolytes hoping to get something of value.

Every acolyte were trying to get his hands on Tears of Mortals so there was always a chance to loot some from their corpses. I already got a couple, just need a few more.

Michael who originally escaped and Curtis who survived Nissa's operation, both died a little later outside the academy. Curtis was stupid enough to follow me on his own, bringing his friends with him. Otherwise, I did not set myself the goal of hunting for someone specific and set up my "nets" in places where acolytes often passed by.

Silent sound waves were emitted around me in a small radius so that no Vrock could get close without being noticed. Within a radius of 500 meters, underground traps were placed around, which created vibration in a certain radius, expanding the zone of my peculiar eyes. There were also sonic blast traps here and there. In fact, this area was my playground.

Suddenly, a two-meter-long snake attacked me with lightning, trying to bite me right in the face. I grabbed her head with my golden hand instantly killing the snake and burning the mutilated remnants, after which I threw them aside and frozen in place again.

 

Joe Leicester was only 18 years old and he was one of Stephanie Leicester's True Magician's promising students. But he himself was head over heels in love with Stephanie. Having acquired the recipe for a powerful aphrodisiac, he decided that there was no point in waiting a few more years before becoming a True Mage. He needed to act here and now, but he was missing the most valuable ingredient. So he decided to personally go after it.

He took along his servant and mistress Doris, 2nd rank acolyte. He was also accompanied by two Great Knights from the Leicester family. One Knight went ahead, removing obstacles from the path with the strokes of his sword, the other walked at the rear. From time to time they changed each other.

Joe stopped suddenly, his companions frozen with him.

- Something's wrong here. - Joe spoke up.

He couldn't describe the feeling, but he felt like someone was watching him. As if a venomous snake is breaking loose nearby. He wanted to touch the ground and scan it with mental energy more closely, but suddenly he heard an extremely unpleasant sound. A luminous arrow emerged from the jungle, creating an unpleasant sonic vibration.

Although Joe and the Knights heard the noise, but the visibility in the area was zero, they did not have time to react in time to save Doris. A sonic arrow hit her stomach and in the next moment it exploded, tearing her body apart and throwing her mutilated corpse somewhere in the jungle.

- Doris! - Joe could only scream helplessly. - Damn it! The arrow came from there. Find the shooter. - commanded Joe indicating the direction.

Nevertheless, he quickly realized that then he would remain in splendid isolation.

- Wait! You'll stay here for now - Joe changed his order and pointed at one of the Great Knights.

He himself activated his armor. The runes on it lit up and a protective barrier covered him. At the same time, he scanned the area with mental energy, trying to locate the shooter.

One of the Great Knights hid in the jungle. Soon there was an explosion, and then another. The jungle was agitated by the shockwaves creating havoc, but soon all was quiet.

Suddenly something came flying from the other side of the jungle again, this time towards Joe. The Second Great Knight divided the object with a stroke of the sword. The two halves of the first Great Knight's head powerlessly collided with Joe's barrier. He winced as he took a couple of steps back. But suddenly he got angry.

- Can you hear me bastard?! I am the grandson of the True Mage Stephanie of the Leicester family. Do you understand what you're doing? If you kill me, consider that you are already dead. The curse of the family hangs on me, you can not hide nonmatter where you go. - yelled Joe.

In response, the jungle fell into silence, but soon another arrow flew into the Great Knight. He covered himself with a shield and reflected the arrow, the explosion only threw him back a little. The next arrow hit the barrier, but it held easily.

- It's useless! Either come out and fight or get lost! - Joe yelled, realizing that the arrows weren't as scary as they looked.

To his surprise, the enemy really seemed to be led to a provocation and appeared in person, Joe even for a moment regretted that he had said it. A dark golden knight with a white sonic sword jumped from above directly onto his barrier. The sonic sword began to gradually burn through the barrier, but the Great Knight quickly reacted and attacked, pushing him back.

The battle of the Knights has begun. Joe walked up to the barrier and prepared an Ice Lance spell, waiting for the right moment to attack. This spell had the most penetrating damage and hardly any armor could save the victim.

The Grand Knight ignited his life energy by calling for a secret move. He performed five swift sword swings in an instant. The strokes of the sword hung in the air almost parallel to each other, and soon the five strokes of the sword turned into claws, and the life energy into the paw of an unknown beast. The Golden Knight tried to dodge, but the technique materialized and attacked in an instant. The paw crashed into the Golden Knight's armor, the armor was damaged and he was thrown back five meters, pinning him to the ground.

Now!

The Ice Lance went at the golden knight at high speed. But at the same moment, a sonic explosion sounded behind the Great Knight. The blast wave sent him flying out of control right in the direction of the Ice Lance. Everything happened in an instant, the next moment the Great Knight was already helplessly lying on the ground, the Ice Lance hit his back and pierced him through. Blood dripped through the visor of his helmet. Although he remained alive, but apparently not for long.

On the other side, the Golden Knight stood up as if the secret technique hadn't done any significant damage to him and began to quickly close the distance.

- What the hell was that?! - Joe was outraged.

However he a talented student for a good reason. Despite his young age, he achieved considerable success in learning magic. Moreover, at critical moments on the verge of life and death, he became a different person. Focusing on the enemy, he made his move.

Instant cast spell - Ice Lance.

Instant cast spell - Hailstorm.

Instant cast spell - Cone of Cold.

Artifact activation. - Ice Blades.

Instant cast spell - Ice Nova.

Not all acolytes possessed the skill of instant spells. Although this increased the consumption of mental energy, but in such situations, this skill was indispensable.

The dark-golden knight simply dodged the Ice Spear. The Hailstorm didn't do much damage to him, small ice needles seemed to bounce helplessly off the dark gold armor. Joe quickly switched to trying to bind his opponent with Cone of Cold. Feeling frozen from the spell, the Knight had to use a sonic blast which knocked him back again.

Taking advantage of the time gained, Joe activated a one-time artifact in the form of an amulet around his neck, pouring a good third of all his mental energy into it. The amulet glowed with a bright blue color, after which it turned into a mist that hung over Joe's head, in the next instant five ice blades materialized there, shining with their sharpness.

At the same time, the opponent wasted no time in approaching again, but when the Knight approached the barrier, Joe cast the Ice Nova spell. Within a radius of a couple of meters from him, the ground was covered with ice and the Knight's feet froze. The knight is finally stuck! At the same instant, the Frost Blades attacked.

"Now he's definitely finished," thought Joe.

The blades cut into various parts of the Knight's body. One blade for each leg, one for the groin, one for the heart, and one for the head. At the last moment, the Golden Knight only managed to block his head with his sword and groin with his other hand.

The frost blade hitting the head split the sword in two, but most of the momentum was lost and the helmet's frontal armor was able to stop it. The blade flying in the groin pierced the hand, but at the same time that hand was able to stop the blade itself.

The blade that hit the heart for some reason got stuck breaking through the armor and could not move further. The fourth blade pierced through the leg, but there was no blood, as if the leg was not real. Only the fifth blade that pierced the other leg was covered in blood and made the Knight finally flinch.

Joe was amazed, he had used up almost all of his mental energy, but the Knight was still on his feet, pulling the blades from his body along with the frozen pieces of armor and innards. He seemed to hesitate when it came to blade in the groin, but Joe was not at all funny, something had to be done.

- Oh you son of a bitch. I will tear you into small pieces. - Angrily threatened the Knight getting out of the Ice Nova.

- Wait, I'll give you anything, just let go ... - Joe said trying to buy himself some time preparing the next spell.

However, an explosion sounded and the Knight instantly crashed into the barrier with his whole body. This time, the barrier broke down and went out. Joe didn't have time to finish the spell.

"Am I going to die like this?" A thought crossed his mind, and then his severed head flew into the air.

 

I fell to the ground breathing heavily and moaning in pain.

Finally this acolyte is dead. This fight turned out to be much more difficult than I expected. Immediately after his death, a dark clot moved from his body to mine. I tried to stop him with another sonic burst, but that didn't help. It only slowed down a little, but the next moment settled in my body.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not detect this incomprehensible curse. It didn't seem to cause any physical harm.

- What a bastard! - I cursed the corpse

His Ice Blades in the end seemed to have more than 16 units of power. Otherwise they would not be able to penetrate my armor. Apparently he was helped with this spell. Luckily, the hand I covered my groin was a dark gold prosthesis. The heart was protected by an invulnerable figurine from Outland. And finally one of the legs was also a prosthesis, although it was made from local materials.

Due to the fact that this kid completely refused to move I decided to attack myself. I usually wait patiently for the enemy to start moving again and try to reduce the number of enemies staying behind the cover of my traps. But this time the group was pretty small. There were only two people left so I decided that I could handle it easily and save my traps. But this True Mage student made me nervous a bit.

At least this acolyte turned out to be quite rich. I finally got more than enough Mortal Tears. What surprised me a little was the aphrodisiac recipe. It even contained all the ingredients except for one, it is likely that this genius went here for this lacking ingredient since similar ones could be found at the Caverns of Doom. Risking your life by going to the anomalous zone for the sake of an aphrodisiac... Truly the genius of the Lester family. I was speechless.

I have been in various alterations, but this one turned out to be one of the most dangerous. After putting myself together a little and patching up my still living long-suffering leg, I decided to immediately return to the academy. Five years have passed since my arrival at the academy. I was already 53 and I was not as lively as in the old days. To be honest my body was a total mess.