"What the mask and mantle? I don't know what you're talking about." The commander responded defiantly.

Evan came at him sharply and punched him in the stomach with all his might. In terms of physical strength, Evan outnumbered him by several levels.

The commander immediately vomited blood and looked at Evan with a rage in his eyes. If he could he would kill him right then and there. He was bursting with rage, he wanted to strangle Evan right here.

"Answer the posed question, where did you get that fucking mantle and the mask? My patience is not infinite." Evan said stiffly.

The commander said slowly: "My men and I wanted to explore the ruins in the "Half-Dead Forest", but as soon as we got close we saw a scary monster. It was at least of the second rank, I couldn't see its "Pillar of Soul". When we went back, not far from these ruins, I found this mantle and mask. I think you can guess, who they belonged to. I couldn't leave such valuable things lying on the ground."

<Near of the ruins... so my guess was correct, they are indeed looking for something and one of them appears to have been wounded. But, a second rank monster... I can't handle that kind of opponent yet.>

"Who the hell are you? And why does this monster help you? What organization are you from?"

"That's none of your business," Evan said coldly and killed him with a wave of his scythe.

He moved the mantle, the mask, and the green crystal into the spatial ring, then was about to leave, but suddenly he felt the ground shake. Evan thought that it was an earthquake and the ceiling was about to collapse on him, but suddenly a hole began to appear from above.

"What the...?!" Evan knew there was a huge tree directly above the underground shelter. The only explanation for what was happening was that someone had fallen the tree down.

The massive roots ripped out of the ground, destroying most of the shelter. Evan saw that the huge tree had been knocked to the ground by a large monster. Its paws were very wide and powerful and it wasn't too difficult for it to do this.

Evan immediately cast the "Eye of Truth" and looked at the monster's 'Pillar of Soul". The young man was wary as his opponent was of the first rank. It wasn't evolved, but it was still very powerful.

"Shoot!" Evan said loudly and the next moment the one-eyed raven released a purple beam. Evan attacked along with it, he cast a "Magic Missile" and both beams hit the monster.

There was a powerful explosion and the monster was seriously wounded. Evan launched his beam a little later, causing it to hit an already wounded spot.

<Great, that should be enough>. Thought Evan and quickly ran away.

He wasn't going to fight this monster, it was too dangerous and pointless. He still had enough mana, but Evan had no idea how many more times the raven was capable of firing the beam. He couldn't take that risk.

Nevertheless, just as Evan made his way to the surface, the monster's massive paw blocked his path. It clearly had no intention of letting the young man go.

It is worth noting that it was Evan's own fault that this monster had attacked him. The commander of the group knew that the smell of the fruit had practically weathered and had to be replaced. For the same reason, he had sent his subordinate to carry out the task. But because of Evan, he failed to scatter the fruit around the tree.

Because of the lack of fruit, the monster smelled blood. If Evan hadn't killed anyone this wouldn't have happened, but he had no other option then.

"Damn, looks like we'll have to fight, the situation couldn't be worse." Mouthed Evan grudgingly and got ready to fight.

By this point, the monster had already attacked the young man. It was about to swat Evan, like some kind of fly, but suddenly jets of blood spurted from the corners of its mouth.

"What the...?" Evan was dumbfounded. In an instant, the monster's body was pierced by a huge trident of blue lightning.

Whoosh.

A torrent of wind resembling a small tornado appeared next to the monster. Not a few seconds later, the monster's body was torn into small pieces, and its large head fell right in front of Evan.

The young man didn't understand what had just happened. In an instant, the huge monster was killed by just two attacks. Moreover, they were definitely spells, which means a magician did it all.

"Good afternoon, young man."

Suddenly a middle-aged man landed on the monster's head. He had no weapon of any kind and was calmly looking at Evan with a slight smile on his face. It was Reinier Modders.historical

Evan immediately cast the 'Eye of Truth" and to his surprise, this man was on the "One-Pointed Star" level. He stood one level higher than Evan.

Reiner shook his head and said: "Ay, ay, ay, it's not nice to examine others without even introducing yourself. But it doesn't matter, you'll be dead soon."

Evan as well as Raven immediately prepared for battle. It was clear from the man's last phrase that he had not come with good intentions.

Seeing Evan's reaction the man smiled: "You don't have to be so serious. Why have you come here? Well, it's a good thing you killed them, though. I'm tired of working with these useless idiots."

The next moment the man calmly walked over to the monster's remains and pulled a green crystal from its body. It was exactly like the one the commander had received after killing the red monster, but it was much dimmer. The thing was, this huge monster, though was the first rank one, was not an evolved monster.

Reinier wasn't worried about Evan being able to escape. He could easily catch up with him.

Whoosh.

The ring on Reinier's finger glowed and the crystal disappeared.

<That's how they would have carried all this stuff away. This man had to come here, get all the stuff from the warehouse, and get their group out of these woods. Fuck!">.

"By the way, why have you come here? I was just wondering. I wasn't at all expecting someone to kill them right before I left."

Evan wanted to ignore his question, but he quickly realized he could take advantage of the situation.

"What do you care? I'm on a mission, tracking down the "Demonic Tree." The team leader had their mantle and mask. I thought I'd waste no time and find out quickly." Evan answered honestly.

"Hmm, are you from the "Tears of Light"? You don't look much like them, although they have any kind of people in their ranks. Sorry to disappoint you, but stumbling across members of the 'Demonic Tree" is impossible. They've been in these woods recently, but a day later there's no trace of them. They find who they want on their own. Consider this is my gift to you before you die. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA." Reinier laughed loudly and attacked Evan.